Praying you have a . . . . .

Photo shoot!

Chrissie came over and did a photo shoot with Kristen yesterday. Chrissie is just becoming interested in photography and Kristen is a willing subject! She had a blast posing for Chrissie! I think Chrissie did a great job! What do you think?

Kristen

Baytown

The week before Christmas we went with friends to Baytown. The kids got to go ice skating, for the second time in their lives! Johnathan opted to just watch. After Nick was done, his pants were completely soaking wet! Johnathan was happy he didn't do it then! The ice has a hard time staying cold when it is 75 degrees outside. Outside the ice skating rink they had a huge set of checkers set up so they played some of that too. It was a fun night!

Gingerbread Decorating!

Kristen and Abi have gotten together and decorated gingerbread houses (this year a tree) the past two Christmas' we have been here. I think it is a nice little tradition they have started. We look forward to doing it again next year! They did such a good job!

Christmas Pictures

Kristen's happy!

This is the only thing Kristen really wanted! (New Bedding)

Thanks Memee!

Christmas Morning

We wanted to do things a little different this year since the kids were getting one main gift together. We also had to come up with a way to bring the gift in the living room while they were not in there. So we decided to do a scavenger hunt! We told them their gifts would be in there stockings this year so they were not expecting any big packages. When they opened their stockings, there was a paper rolled up inside with a ribbon tied around it with all the details! Here is what it said:

Twas the morning of Christmas and what do you find? A piece of paper in your stocking with instructions inside! We thought we would do things different this year, if you follow these instructions your gift will appear. You will receive some clues as you play our little game, you don't have to to think too hard because our clues are a little lame! You don't have to go far for your first clue, just go to the place where you like to go poo. Reach for a towel and there you will find, clue number two waiting inside!

I think you can read the rest of the clues in the slide show. It was a lot of fun! We have enjoyed this Wii. We had a couple from church over along with the Smith Girls. We all got in on the fun and I have many funny videos from the day! HILARIOUS!! They started early Christmas morning and played continuously (small breaks for eating) until midnight. When I got up this morning the kids were already out in the family room playing it again! Johnathan said he got up at 6 and started. It is now after 1 p.m. and they are still playing. My shoulder and arm is killing me this morning from playing a couple games of bowling with Lynette! It is so addicting! This is certainly fun for the whole family! We will have fun having hospitality, videoing . . . um . . . I mean watching our guests play! HEE HEE!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We love you all so much!

Love,

John, Brandi, Johnathan, Nicholas & Kristen

Here we go a caroling!

Our family went along with twenty-some singles from church, Christmas caroling last Sunday night. It was cold out so that made it even better! Living in Florida, Christmas sometimes doesn't seem like Christmas because it is so warm outside. It is just weird wearing shorts around the holidays. This night was so fun cause at the end we were invited to the home of the Berry's for soup, snacks, and hot cocoa! Mr. Berry makes the best hot cocoa! YUM! I didn't eat a thing, just drank hot cocoa until I was almost sick! They had a fire going in the fireplace and Christmas music playing. It was just a really nice evening! We went caroling at the homes of some of our church family here at CrossWay Community Church. Merry Christmas everyone!

I LOVE it!

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

This group is amazing! And what makes them even better . . .they are from Indiana! Enjoy! (you will need to mute my playlist down on the right hand side of my blog first!)

Thank You!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and concern for our family in the passing of John's grandmother. John flew in to Indiana on Tuesday to preach her funeral on Wednesday. He got home safe and sound last night. Love you all!

Obituary for Della King

Della (Kinder) King

Nov. 12, 1914 - Dec. 15, 2007
Della (Kinder) King, 93 passed away Saturday in her residence after losing her battle with heart trouble for years. The 7th of ten children born on Nov. 12, 1914 in Fleming County, Kentucky to the late John Samuel and Nannie (McKee) Kinder. At the age of nine she was born again and baptized in the Licking River in Sherburne, Kentucky. She married Henry Charles King on June 9, 1934. He preceded her in death in 1998. They moved to Marion in 1942 from Flemingsburg, Kentucky. She was a wonderful full time homemaker caring for her family. She attended First Assembly of God and in recent years attended the Roseburg Church of God. One of her favorite scriptures was I Peter 5:7.
Survivors include, two daughters, Deloris Lenfestey, Marion, and Marceil (James) Davis, Anderson; grandchildren, Jeffery and DJ Lenfestey, Peggy and Layne Wiegart, Angela and Mark Swan, Kandace and Mike Ross, Jamie Henrietta Davis, John and Brandi Lenfestey, Stacy and Mark Brewer; 17 great-grandchildren; seven great great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews, including Joyce Jackson; special daughter, Eliza Dickerson' and a host of friends at Cambridge Square
She was preceded in death by son-in-law Dale Lenfestey; and all of her siblings.
Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Owen-Weilert-Duncan Funeral Home, Gas City Chapel, 200 North 7th Street, Gas City, Ind. with John Lenfestey and Mark Swan officiating. Burial is in Grant Memorial Park.
Visitation is from 3 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, in the funeral home.
Online condolences may be made at http://www.owenweilertduncan.com/.

Arrangements for Della King

In case anyone is checking my blog for arrangements for Granny, here is what we know. I am sure the obituary for her will be in the Chronicle Tribune tomorrow.

Visitation..... Tuesday 3 - 8 p.m.
Funeral.....Wednesday 11:00 a.m.
Owen-Weilert-Duncan Funeral Home
200 N. 7th Street
Gas City, IN 49633
765-674-4400

Home with Jesus!

Granny King went home to be with Jesus today at 3:04 P.M. Although this is a sad time for our family, we rejoice knowing she is with Jesus! She is also with Grandpa King who went to be with Jesus 10 years ago this February. I can't even imagine what a reunion that was!

Christmas Cookies

We had a great time last night making Christmas Cookies with the Smith Girls. It was late when we finished! Why do cut-out sugar cookies take so long? Nick entertained us the whole time. Johnathan didn't join in on the fun. He is only interested in making ice cream! John came in and sang a little Christmas carol with Nick as a duet for us and ate a cookie then joined Johnathan for a movie. This group is nuts I tell ya! We laughed so much!

Progressive Dinner

We had a great time Saturday being a part of Crossway's Christmas Progressive Dinner! We had 161 people participate, that included adults and children . . . . all were welcome! This took a lot of planning but it really was a great night for all involved! We had many families hosting either appetizers, main meals or desserts. The appetizers and main meals were in the homes of those hosting and then for dessert we all met back at the middle school where we meet together for our Sunday services. The hosts and hostesess for desserts had their own tables fully decorated and a sign of their family name so when people arrived they would know which table to sit at. It was so neat to see how each family decorated their tables. It was fun to walk around and see the different personalities that were represented in each decorated table. We then had a slide show of pictures of events and just our church body living life together throughout 2007. Then we worshiped together and gave honor to God for all he has done this past year!

John and I had the joy of hosting a main meal in our home for 10 guests plus our 5. It was so much fun! After we ate, we threw the dishes in the sink and all headed down to Niceville for our dessert. (I forgot to mention we had appetizers at a family's house here in Crestview so we went there first and it was so yummy!) This really was a fun time for everyone! Thank you to all the ladies who helped plan this evening to make it a big success!

A Blessing for the Browns!

We have a family here in our church who is in China adopting a little 3 year old girl. They got her at 2 a.m. our time this morning and they are posting pictures and information of this adventure on their blog. I just thought maybe some of you might want to follow along. God is so good! What a gift! We can't wait for them to bring Emmy back home so we can love on her! You can read all about their adoption adventure at The Brown's Blog. Enjoy!

Update

Thank you to all who have asked about Granny . . .but most of all thank you for praying for her. She is doing okay with Hospice Care. John' s mom and her sister are staying around the clock with her, taking turns. It is just a waiting game at this point. They said she is so tired and is in and out of sleep all the time. We will call and check on her today and if there is any change I will let you know. Thank you for your prayers! We love you!

Update on Granny

Today Granny will be released from the hospital with Hospice Care. I was encouraged with these words today from Debi's Blog, and I would like to encourage you with them as well.



1 Thessalonians 4:

The Coming of the Lord

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, [4] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Hard Rock Candy

These are the flavorings you need for hard rock candy. They have all different flavors! I grew up eating this wonderful "glass candy" every holiday! My mom use to make suckers with it.
My mom recently found a microwave recipe which makes this SO easy! Here it is:

Hard Rock Candy

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 dram of flavoring

food coloring

Mix together the sugar and corn syrup in a microwave safe glass bowl. I use my Pampered Chef 8 cup glass measuring bowl. Place saran wrap over that and put into the microwave and cook on high for 6 minutes and 20 seconds. Remove saran wrap and stir and place back into microwave for another 6 minutes and 20 seconds. Be careful when you take off the saran wrap as it is VERY hot! Just lift a small part and let the steam exit. Stir in your flavoring and your food coloring then pour onto a prepared pan. (I found using a well Pam sprayed cookie sheet works the best). You can then put it into the freezer for it to set up quickly or you can leave it on the counter until it sets. After it is set, crack it with a knife. Then sprinkle powedered sugar on it so it won't stick together. I put it into big ziplock bags and write what kind it is on the bag.

Here is what it will look like when it is finished.

Just one side note . . . your microwave temps may vary. I actually had to cut the cooking time back to 5 minutes and 30 seconds each time. You can use a candy thermometer and cook it until it is 300 degrees (hard crack stage).

Update on Granny

John's mom called today and said Granny has taken a turn for the worse. She was suppose to be released today to go home cause she was doing much better but they are wondering if she had another heart attack this morning cause she is not doing well at all. John's mom said that both of Granny's doctors were in this morning and came out and talked to them. They said they don't expect her to get any better and they didn't believe she was going to make it through this. They are going to make her comfortable.
So although our circumstance change, we know our God remains the same! We are so very grateful that Grandma is ready to meet Jesus! Although we are very sad, we also rejoice knowing that Grandma's homecoming is near! What a day that will be when Jesus' face she will see! It will be worth it all!

Granny is doing better!

We just got word from John's mom that Granny is doing better! They changed her medication and she was able to do normal things without having pain in her chest. We are praying this medication will continue to work. Her heart doctor said the heart cath would be the last resort. They are going to move her out of critical care and to the Telemetry Unit today.
Praise the Lord! Thank you for your continued prayers . . . . God is good!

Got this update from John's cousin Jamie

Dear All,

This morning, Grannie was brushing her teeth and she got a real heavy feeling in her chest. She also got very out of breath. Dr Nathan was surprised that such a thing (not much exertion) would cause such a reaction in her. He told her that she could either continue to try and fix it with medication, or she could have a heart catheterization to try and find out what the problem is. The issue with the second option, of course is.... can she survive the heart cath? Grannie opted to continue with trying to fix things with medication. She said, "I'll try the meds and trust the Lord." I thought that was very cool, and a wise choice. Dr Nathan also said when she does go home, she won't be able to live alone.... at least not at first. He said she'll either need to live with one of her kids, or someone will need to stay with her. You could tell that Grannie was not happy with that. I felt bad for her. :( So.... we are just waiting to see if the medication will help to improve her condition. She still looks good (good color and all) - she just looks tired. :(

Love to all....

Jamie

Pray for Granny

Just wanted to have you all pray for John's Granny once again. They called last night and had taken her to the ER by ambulance because she was experiencing terrible chest pains. They say she had a heart attack. My mom went up there today and called me and said Granny looks really bad. I guess Granny told one of the nurses she was just going to go to sleep and not wake up and that would be okay with her. Just pray with us that God would comfort Granny and the family during this time. A lot of us live away so it is difficult to think if something happes, how everyone would get back. We were all just there for our reunion - which we are so very grateful for! This picture is of Kristen with Granny at McDonalds. Granny loves cheeseburgers from McDonalds so that is where we took her when we went home. We are so thankful that we were able to go to Indiana in October and spend time with family. God is so kind!
Oh by the way, I realize I just call her Granny and haven't given you her name . . . it is Della King. She is 93 years old and she loves the Lord with all her heart! So when you think of us, please pray for Granny. Thank you so much for your prayers.

29 days until Christmas!

I have lights!

Last year my dad brought me over some lights he said I could have that would look nice on my front porch. They are icicle lights with red and green. Sadly we didn't put them up last year so my dad could enjoy seeing them. This year I really wanted to put the lights up but my porch is so tall I was afraid we couldn't do it. Well bless Chrissie and Cassie's hearts, they loaded up my dad's ladder that they had into their little car and brought it over and was determined we would put them up! Chrissie and I went to Walmart to get the hooks and while we were there we picked out green lights to go all the way around the front of the house. I LOVE it! I haven't had outside lights on my house for many years! Thanks Chrissie and Cassie for your help! It is so pretty! Chrissie also help me decorate the inside of my house too. She is like the energizer bunny! She keeps me hoppin'! :o)

Great times!

pretty girlies
silly boys
Kristen's looks like Shrek!

I'm stuffed!

Before . . .
After!

From our family to yours . . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

We love you all!

My children!

I love this picture!

Thanks Kendra, you did an awesome job!