Fireproof

Last Friday, on its opening night, Syl and I went to the theater to see FIREPROOF, the new movie from the makers of Facing the Giants. (If you haven't seen Facing the Giants, then we highly recommend you do!) FIREPROOF is an excellent movie. It stars Kirk Cameron, and has a very wholesome message. A successful fireman has a failing marriage at home, and he and his wife are ready to call it quits. But a wise father comes beside his son, and challenges his son to a 40-day love dare.

~

Click on "WATCH TRAILER" in the image below

to see the trailer for FIREPROOF.

I highly recommend this film. It is action-packed and funny, but it's also very serious and does really wrench at the heart. It has a clear presentation of the need for a Saviour. We loved it! Do what you can to go see it.

Recreational Art

Last Saturday we made some progress on the re-decoration of the Rec Room (the one in which we painted one wall as a chalkboard. By the way, Syl LOVES the chalkboard! The chalkboard paint was a success...just give it some time to absorb/build up the chalk dust.)
We gave some wall space to each kid (Stephen, Junior, Syndi and that big kid, JON!) and let them paint whatever they wanted.
So they each did their art work in the Rec Room, hence the title "Recreational Art."
Even the big kid had fun. Syl taped off everyone's area and prepared the paint.
Stephen's art was more modernistic.
We all thought it looked cool.
Junior's art was from the camping trip to Lake Huron while they were all in Michigan. Above you see them driving to the lake.
Syndi's art was a rendition of her trip to Camp Barakel, also while they were in Michigan this past June. Pretty neat, huh?
The BIG kid's art was a measuring stick beside which we intend to mark off each kids' heights and maybe have a hand print from each. The space-related items are all painted with a glow-in-the-dark yellow.
We had a lot of fun!
Maybe we can post a picture after we mark off the kids' heights!

Time for A New Freezer

Praise the Lord for allowing us to see we needed a new freezer!

The freezer shown above was our old freezer.

Time for a little story...
~
We have some girls who come to clean at our house every Friday or two. (They are the sweet Smith girls, whom you can find in blog posts gone by.) Now these girls have been coming to clean for a couple of years (less a summer or two), and they almost always have to empty a bucket in the basement tub. So each week, one of them goes downstairs, passes by our chest freezer, and empties the bucket in the next room.
Last Friday, Leah Joy went down and emptied a bucket just before they left. After she returned upstairs, she mentioned to Sylvia that it looked like the freezer might be unplugged. Sylvia thanked her, and the girls left. A few minutes later, Syl went to check on the freezer, and found it plugged in. We surmised that the cord pictured above was mistaken as being connected to the freezer. This coiled wire has been beside that freezer for years, so it was odd that it was noticed only now. Syl, just to be sure, opened the freezer...only to find water pouring off the lid, and the items inside thawing!
In August we purchased over $600 of beef (a whole cow), which was all stored in this basement chest freezer. After calling Jon at work, and after some further investigation, Sylvia found that only the top items - which happened to be the liver, which we didn't plan to use - had thawed out, and the beef below was all still frozen. The freezer had died! The freezer had to be over 30 years old. We got it after Syl's grandmother passed away over 9 years ago, and she had it long before that. Syl and the kids immediately went into action. All of our beef was squeezed into the freezer upstairs and our neighbor's freezer.
That Friday night turned into a very hectic night. We had an AWANA conference Saturday morning, and had to leave the house by 6:15 am. Friday night we farmed all the kids out to different houses. The Blackwelders picked Julia up, which eased the stress. So I came home from work, we ate dinner, sent Jules with the B's, drove to three other houses and dropped kids off, then headed to the mall. Sears closed at 9 PM, and we raced around and got there at 8:25 PM! We looked at what they had, waited for them to see what they had in stock and selected one. Syl was paying for it at 8:55 PM while Jon went out to the minivan and started dropping down the Stow-N-Go seats and clearing the massive amounts of kids' junk that had piled up since Jon last cleaned it (the June trip to Michigan). Syl came out, and we went around to the pickup area. I've never seen Sears bring out a product so quickly. They had that thing out in 30 seconds after we arrived at the door! I was still trying to clean up and drop seats!
Well, we got it in the van, got it in the house, and managed to squeeze it through the basement door...uh, somehow...and slid it down the stairs. (How many engineers does it take to get a freezer in the basement? LOL) We got it up and running, let it cool down overnight, and stocked all the meat into it Saturday! And the above picture is what it looks like now. (Ever seen that I Love Lucy episode with the sides of beef???)
~
So all is well now.
We have a new Kenmore freezer.
The Lord was gracious to us and let us not lose 280 pounds of beef.
And thanks to the Smith girls...glad you came to clean Friday!!

Jon Turns 37!

Jon turned 37 yesterday!

The kids were the most excited.

They threw a "party" for Daddy, with homemade hats, cards, and brownies.

Happy Labor Day!

To celebrate labor day, we're publishing a few family photos!

Junior is a little blurry, but this is a great picture of Jules.

Jules is walking easily now - almost running!
Here she was showing off for Grandpa.
Notice what's going on in the background?
When Sylvia sits on a couch, she sits on a couch.
When Jon sits on a couch, he becomes the family Jungle Gym!

Grandpa and the girls.
Laundry basket rides!
Stephen the Cat!
There he is!
All the kids were playing with some blocks and wanted pictures of them with their creations posted on the blog. Voila!

Happy Labor Day!

Sew...A Needle Pulling Thread

When we returned from Michigan after Sylvia's Mom's funeral, we brought with us a sewing machine Mom had used. Over the last couple of months we have chosen a location, set up a table, hooked up the sewing machine, and purchased some material, and thread. And just last week, Sylvia did her first project: a sewing machine cover!
What a fitting first project. Syl did some sewing with her Mom many moons ago, but let her skills lie dormant for the last 20 years. She was quite proud of the cover, and looks forward to many new opportunities to put needle to material. (Kinda like they say "putting pen to paper" - get it? OK, I thought it was cute.)

Take Me Out to the Rome Braves Game

We went to a Rome Braves game last week.

Syndi got the mascot -Romey - to autograph her glove (the blue one in his left hand).
The game started rather slowly. In the first inning, our catcher was injured by a collision at home plate. At least he got the out, but he left with a concussion. After about 30 minutes, an ambulance circled the field with him and left for the hospital.
Later in the first inning, the replacement catcher was injured by getting hit in the groin. He, too, left the game. The first inning took an hour!
But at least Syndi got her glove signed by Romey while we waited!
We sat on Home Run Hill just outside right field.
Junior spent most of his time near the fence.
Stephen was excited by Romey at a distance, but terrified as we approached him. Romey was kind enough to try to befriend Stephen...
...but Stephen spent most of the game rolling down Home Run Hill. If there is something dangerous to be done, this kid will find it...unless it involves a scary mascot!
Jules had fun watching from her own perch.
Here she gives mommy a "5" - WooHoo!
We left early, since this was bound to be a 4-hour game, and bedtime had long since passed.
We heard that they lost 4-2 the next day.
No, they didn't lose the next day...the game wasn't that long!
We just heard about it the next day.
Silly people.