Comments about Cornerstone

In the last two weeks Cornerstone has had 6 concerts here in south Florida. We are thankful to God that Doyle was able to play his trombone after his episode with the ice. Cornerstone had the first concert of our concert series here at Hobe Sound Bible Church. I am just a little bit proud of them.

Lucas thoroughly enjoying himself.

The guys wore dark glasses for one of the songs. Doyle and Dan come onto the platform playing their trombones.

Jonathan and David with their trumpets--looking cool.

Doyle blasts away!

Emily prepared a wonderful meal one Sunday afternoon. She always has beautiful decorations to make a gathering extra special.

David holds little Natalie Heath.

We decided to go out and eat one night after a concert. Taking 14 kids to a restaurant is an interesting experience. The boys were excited that the drink turned their tongues blue.

Like fathers-like sons.

Here are the Cornerstone Kids. When the concerst get long, we mothers are tempted to turn them loose down the aisle with kazoos.

Julianna holds the youngest member of the Shrout family, baby Laura.

Well, I think the non-Florida members of the group enjoyed bringing their families down to the sunny south. We will come up north this summer for a tour when it is too hot down here.

Happy Birthday, Julianna!!

Julianna celebrated her 12th birthday on Saturday. She wanted a scrapbook party with friends this year, so that is what we did. It turned out real nice. I decided to make her a scrapbook cake-I found the idea on the internet.

We are ready for the girls to arrive.

Fresh flowers from our yard.

We tried an idea that my sister, Esther, gave me. Since I received a marble slab for Christmas, why not use it for the party? We did an imitation of Cold Stone Creamery. We had several toppings to add to the ice cream. Julianna took their orders when they arrived.

Doyle mixed it on the slab, and I put it in the freezer until we cut the cake.

Make a wish!

After cake and ice cream, Doyle played a short game with them while I cleared the table for scrapbooking. They brought a few pictures from home and made a mini book. They seemed to really enjoy themselves. I think they would have worked for another hour if their parents had not come to pick them up.

It was so neat to see their creativity come to life.

She received many nice gifts. She shows off a new scrapbook.

She had to have a picture of her gifts together.

Gifts for the guests-a roller stamp with three different designs.

She declared it her best birthday ever, so that made me very pleased.

A Happy Boy

Joseph had a hole in the knee of one of his favorite pair of pajamas. At first it was small, but as you can see, it grew. I knew he was done wearing them. I started to throw them away, but somehow it was hard to let go of the soft familiar flannel. I did something a little uncharacteristic of me--I stuck them back in his drawer. The next day he told me that he needed a sleeping bag for his Webkinz Gecko. By the way, these stuffed animals are becoming too human.

I immediately thought of the pjs, and said "sure." I even made a pillow for him. The whole thing took a few minutes and he was thrilled.

A happy Joseph and a happy Sparkle Punch.(how's that for a name)

Guess what the other kids wanted when they got home from school?

Christmas Memories

The Second part of our vacation was spent at my mom and step-dad's house. We always enjoy our time together with them and the rest of the family. We made so many great memories to tuck away in our hearts. Here is the clan on Christmas Day.

The 4 kids and Mom.

Kaleesha and Kaleb. These are the kids that I used to spoil. Kaleesha is a student in college and Kaleb is 17.

This is how Doyle spent part of Chistmas Day. He was outside playing on the ice(pulling my nephew on a mop) when he hit the ice face first. Melanie helped him inside where he took his glove off of his face and showed me his blood-covered mouth. His top lip was all swelled up and was cut inside and outside. I think his tooth cut through his lip. It took us awhile to get the bleeding stopped. I was also checking for signs of a concusion. He did start feeling sick, but we were able to get that under control.

This injury was magnified due to the fact that Doyle is a brass player. This means his lip is used for more than kissing me. I tried to make the best decision whether to take him to the hospital or not. My step-brother is a P.A., so when he called to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, he gave me some direction. We decided not to get stitches and I hope I did the right thing. The outside of his lip has healed up, but the inside has some scar tissue that could be a problem in playing the trumpet. He has several Cornerstone concerts coming up--the first one this Thursday night. He plays trombone for them and he is hoping that he will be able to play. He has not been able to practice very much because of the bruising, so we are praying for it to heal properly. There is a possibility he might have to have some scar tissue cut out in the future.

Benjamin and Samuel singing in a children's group at church. I am not sure what Joseph was looking at.

Hannah and Charity (2 of Lou Ann's girls)

Esther's girls (Melanie and Alayna) with my girls.

Samuel gets a new set to add to his Mars Mission.

Joseph is happy to open another gift.

We were glad to have Karen's sister, Paula, and her daughter, Celeste, join us in our festivities.

Doyle does not lack for attention from the kids. Here Daniel and Hannah pose for a picture while Joesph hangs on his back.

Lydia adds a little decoration to her face.

Julianna with her American Girl book of plays to perform.

Lou Ann and I help Hannah put her puzzle together.

Grandpa Dave, Melanie, and Sarah enjoy some snuggle time. I think this is so cute the way Sarah fell asleep and Melanie is holding her little head up.

Mom making homemade biscuits.

Chris gives his opinion while playing a game.

Helping with yard work-Lydia doing the raking.

Samuel making the job easier.

Joseph-busy as a bee.

Josiah turned 4, so we celebrated his birthday.

Joseph and Josiah-real buddies.

Esther made carmel marshmallow treats-Mom and I help with the dipping.

Trying to play in the skim of snow.

Mom and Dave's big house-room for everyone.

The girls really enjoyed being outside in the cold.

We had some time to sew together. Julianna takes her turn at the machine.

After a wonderful vacation, it was time to say "good-bye." Mom and Dave see us off.

Christmas Memories--Part 1

I downloaded over 600 pictures of Christmas memories. Don't panic--I decided not to post them all. I will share just a few to give my readers an idea of how our time was spent. Before we left for the north land, we had our family Christmas here.

Julianna gets her stocking down.

Doyle gets a brain teaser puzzle.

Samuel was excited to get some new kleats.

One of Lydia's gifts was a new dress-up outfit.

Here is Superman to the rescue.

I received a new marble slab-something I had been wanting for a long time. I have already used it for fudge and it turned out so yummy.

We left early Friday morning to head up north. We stayed all night in mid Georgia and then went to my relatives in northern Kentucky. I am very close to my aunt, uncle, cousins, and their families and can not imagine Christmas without this visit.
Here the kids hold gifts from Erma and Marvin.

We also held a concert in Connersville, Indiana. This was a new experience for our family. The kids played their instruments and we sang together. My dad pastored this church for 10 years and it was a real privilege to go back and visit with friends I had not seen in 22 years.

When we are together with my cousin's kids, they always put on a play. Tim, David, and I find this interesting since we used to do the same thing for our parents. This year Julianna and Brittany (the oldest 2 of the group) did an outstanding job of ordering the other kids around and making sure the Christmas story was told with new meaning.

We celebrated Uncle Marvin's 70th birthday. His family did a great job of making sure he was remembered with style.

Aunt Erma opens the chocolate shells I brought her.

Tim and David doing what we do a lot of at Erma and Marvin's house-eating and visiting.

We all went to the Creation Museum one night for their "Walk through Bethlehem" experience. It was so cold that night. Of course we had to take the kids' pictures again in front of a dinosaur.

Here they pose with the soldier and shepherd.

Freezing outside. Patty and Kelly are behind Erma and Marvin. They faired better in the outside elements than the Bozone bunch. When we went from 70 degree weather to 3 degrees in a couple of days, the Bozone bodies had a little trouble adjusting.

Joseph thought that a dinosaur decorated up with Christmas lights was pretty cool.

We said "good-bye" and headed for my mom's house the Tuesday morning before Christmas. If I had had any idea what kind of trip we were going to have, I would have stayed another night. It usually takes 4 hours to travel from Northern Kentucky to my mom's house in Northern Indiana. The weather was brutal-it took us almost 8 hours to get to our destination. I thought we might not make it. I cried, prayed, and did not dare go to sleep. The freezing rain, dark night, and wrecks everywhere made one nervous mama. After we crossed the Ohio river at 3 miles per hour, they closed it down for 7 hours. I never have been so glad to see the lights of home.

HOME AT LAST!!

Vacation has come to an end. After 3,000 miles of traveling, lots of good memories with family and friends, a few interesting moments(explanation later), we are home. We are very thankful to God for keeping us safe on our 2 week vacation. It is a strange feeling to come home after being with family for awhile. I look forward to returning to Florida, but know I won't see my loved ones until summer. I think I will pray that they get so much snow and ice that I can talk them into visiting the sunny south. Well, my goal for today is to finish unpacking and begin the process of taking all of my Christmas decorations down.