A Dog and His House

Even Walter gets festive for this holiday season. There may be beautiful lights around his house, a bow on the top point of the house, straw inside and out, yet it's the deer head (not visible in this picture) that completes his holiday decorations! Gotta love a bloodhound!

Bowling With the Bowling's........... And a Few Tacky Christmas Outfits!

For our Holiday "get together," we decided to spend it at the bowling alley ......... Not without four rented lanes, four hours of cosmic bowling, and tacky Christmas attire to top it off! We had a great time, tried new bowling moves, showed off amazing bowling skills..... haha, enjoyed great company, and possibly made a few dents - oops!

We definitely treasure our friends and the amazing times we get to spend with each other.

Holiday Humor for My Fellow Nursing Friends

I occasionally fill in for the school nurse at my local high school. Recently, I was substituting for her and found some humor in one of the Christmas cards she had received. I had to take a picture of it and share it with you all!

The Traditional Family Holiday Photo

Yes, we are probably one of millions of families in America who take an annual family Christmas photo, yet I believe we may be the only family in America who has a bloodhound and a skunk as part of the holiday photo! So here it is.........

The 2012 Bowling Family Christmas Picture
Wishing you and your family a Very Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season! May Christ be the center of your festivities and traditions, as HE is the reason for this joyous season.

Prayer Warriors Needed!

Please pray for this adorable family. This is Rob and Lindsey Culross with their extremely cute kids. I work with Lindsey at Riley. You can follow their journey at Rob's caringbridge site: www.caringbridge.org/visit/robstrong

Grundy Mountain Mission - Grundy, Virginia

Each year around Christmas time for as long as I can remember, I help my mom buy gifts for a child at Grundy Mountain Mission. It's always exciting to find out the child's one "heart desire" for the year, wrap presents and place into a larger box, wrap the larger box, and deliver it to our church. Our church, along with a few others from the community take turns each year delivering the presents along with providing a Christmas Party for the children. This year, Darin and I were able to get a child of our own to buy for. We were extremely excited and had a great time picking out gifts. The gifts the children receive are usually the only gifts they will get during the Holiday Season. This year West Lebanon Christian Church organized the party and collected the gifts to deliver. Aunt Jo and I were blessed to be able to ride along with them and help with the gifts and party. What an amazing and heart-warming trip! Aunt Jo was able to spend time with her boy who is graduating......she has had him since he was in third grade, I was able to meet the very sweet girl Darin and I bought for as well as her adorable brother, we watched children squeal and shriek with joy over the simplest of gifts such as lotion, shoes, clothes, candy, and scarves, had a wonderful dinner show put on by the drama class, listened to a personal testimony of a former student who now works at the school, visited the tiny kids in Toddler Hall, and were blown away by their amazing choir. What an amazing trip and a great place to visit right before Christmas. It's amazing how the kindness and much appreciation of a few kids in the valleys and mountains of Virginia can set your heart in the right place at the right time. I could have taken them all home with me!

A bit about the school: Since 1921, the school has cared for more than 20,000 children from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, and ages. It functions as a full child care facility including a home, school, and church and operates as a nonprofit charitable organization. The children join the school at any age including infancy through high school. Some children remain in contact with their parents, and a few are able to visit families in the summer. These children who have often experienced neglect, poverty, or abuse, find love and hope at Grundy Mountain Mission School. The educational curriculum is superior with the majority of students attending college after graduation, yet along with an education, these children find Christ and the importance of faith.

Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoosiers!

We had the great opportunity to attend our first IU game together on 12/1/12 IU vs. Coppin State. Darin had been to Assembly Hall before but this was my first time! We had a great time watching the #1 Hoosiers and their amazing talent. The atmosphere of that building was crazy - definitely Hoosier Hysteria!

Church Special.........About Africa

On Nov 4th, I did the "Special Music" at my church; I didn't sing......... even though it would have been entertaining!  I briefly spoke about my trip to Africa, thanked everyone for their donations, shared some of my experiences, and showed a slideshow of pictures. I talked about how moving it was when we sang "How Great is Our God" with all the Kenyan people, and how they love the same God we do despite their poverty  homelessness, desperation, strikes, mud homes, hunger, sickness, and so much more. They are so appreciative of what they have instead of being upset at God for what they don't have. It really opened my eyes to how much I take for granted on a daily basis. I chose to use the song "How Great is Our God" to play during the slideshow. I hope you enjoy this!

Here and Gone

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I love hooded sweatshirt weather, multi-colored leaves, Covered Bridge Festival, driving to the Amish homes to pick out pumpkins and Indian corn, antique shopping, cool evening fires, decorating with mums, and of course..... Halloween! This year it seemed like it came and went. I did find some time to enjoy it and get some pictures. Now I'm already excited for next year!

Halloween party 2012

We had a great turnout and some amazing costumes. Thanks everyone for a fabulous Halloween Party!

Excited for Halloween!

Darin & I love Halloween! Our favorite costume ever was from last year.....the plastic army men. We can't wait till our halloween party to see what everyone has come up with for this year! I'll reveal our costumes after this weekend, but don't get too excited..... Nothing will beat last year!

What to do when delayed.......

While we were delayed on our flights home from California, I found plenty of time to edit some pictures from the Africa trip. I thought a few turned out pretty good so I thought I'd share them! It's still hard to believe I was there!