I hope New Year's is THIS great!

Christmas has come and gone. But Jesus is still the KING! Yay! Christmas was quite an adventure this year. It was Justin and I’s first Christmas as a married couple and it turned out perfectly! We spent Christmas Eve morning with his Dad and stepmom (Rachel). We had the biggest breakfast ever and got tons of great gifts. Rachel made us the coolest quilt. It came from Wisconsin and in every other square it had a picture of us……..seriously soooo cute! We also got a chocolate fondue fountain. So, I forsee fondue parites in the future at the tyner household. Jo and I got beautiful matching gold bracelets and Justin got a scope for his new gun. Plus they topped it off with moo-lah………they really over did it, but they were seriously the best presents! Then we headed over to Mom Wow’s house to celebrate that evening.
We attended the 6pm candlelight service at church and it was great. I’ve been to candle light services before but, not in a church this size! There we candles everywhere and I took a picture! Haha, is that rude??? Oh well, it was just too fabulous for words. Then we headed back to her house to snuggle up in our new matching pj’s which James and Justin decided to make as “grandpa-ish” as possible by tucking their shirts in and pulling the pants up to their chins…..what goobers! We opened our many presents which included some great devotional books (which impressed Justin so much he is actually planning to read!), power tools for Justin, and I got my bronzer from Beauticontrol that I wanted (thanks Ash!). We ate a good dinner and then wrapped up the night with the Christmas story (from Luke) out on the porch.
The best part was when we all tried to quote “Twas the night before Christmas…”. We made a game out of it, Ms. Joy would read the entire line except for the last word and we would try to remember what the word should be. For example, Ms. Joy, “The stockings were hung by the chimney with….” “SUPER GLUE!” no, “DUCT TAPE” no “CARE!” hahahhahaha! It was fun and silly.
We went back to our house to spend our first Christmas Eve night together. Santa decided to stuff our stockings before we even went to bed cause he didn’t want to have to get back up in the middle of the night……….hahah. I stuffed Justin’s and he stuffed mine. (We both stuffed Prissy’s). I woke up Christmas morning at about 5:45 (sooo early) and of course jumped on the bed until Justin got up chanting “Santa came, Santa came!” We ran to the tree and opened our gifts to each other. Since we have already exchanged our BIG presents with each other (a computer for me and a new rifle for him) we had “Christmas from the Heart” on Christmas morning.
I opened my handmade gift first. It was a cute little frame, double matted, with a black and white picture from our wedding. In the picture Justin is looking up at me and smiling real big. So around the matting he wrote something to the effect of: “To my Angel, I will never stop looking at you like you are my world”. I cried, of course and then was soooo excited for Justin to open his gift.
It was a book I made of letters that all his friends and family had written to him. They were so sweet and he definitely cried! He loved it and said it was the best gift he had ever gotten…….yay! So we then rummaged our stocking when we started our newest tradition of the underwear hat.
The rules are, whenever you go through your stocking, you must wear your new underwear on your head! I figure the kids will love it one day! Haha, but for now, we love it! When going through my stocking I had an extra little gift, from Santa of course.
It was the new Movado watch I had been wanting! Justin cheated…….but I wasn’t complaining! I guess you could say I cheated too! Haha.
There sitting by the tree was a paper ball snow-woman all dressed up in her “Mrs. Santa” outfit……….We may have to see if I can borrow it from her??? Anyway, it was just the best Christmas ever. But it wasn’t over yet. We loaded up the truck and headed up to see my family. We stopped on the way there to give Spencer (our hound dog) to his new owner. We cried so hard as we drove off. He was sitting in his cage on the back of the guy’s truck and we rode behind them for a while. Seeing his cute little face was too much for us and we got so sad. I love that dog, but I know we are doing the right thing by giving him to someone who has more time for him. I think he was just so lonely out there in our back yard. I just know he is soo happy right now running as fast as he can in the wide open. Well, after that we got to breakfast at mom and dad’s just in time.
I love breakfast! Then we opened gifts. I got a sweater from sharry and a cute picture frame with our name “Tyners” on it. Mom and dad adorned us with more moo-lah, which will help in paying off all the presents we bought everyone else! Thanks! We spent the night there and had fun just relaxing the next day. While everyone else went shopping Justin and I went to Ruby Tuesday’s to grab some lunch. We decided that we would start another Christmas tradition. Every Christmas we vow to go out to eat and leave someone a $100 tip. We both used to be servers so we know how great that would be. Plus I just really feel like God is going to use this in so many ways. I’ve always been told that people will listen to what you have to say if you meet their needs. If a hungry man is hungry while you speak to him, he is focused only on his grumbling belly. But if you feed him first, you have his full attention. Money is a great need of many around the holidays and I really think that if we try to meet this need, the person will be more likely to listen to our story or read our tract, etc. We decided that every year with the monetary gift we will write on a napkin, “The greatest gift of all, John 3:16 Merry Christmas!” Short and to the point. I hope it works, and I hope God continues to give us the ability and desire to do this. I think it will be a great lesson for our kids one day. I do want them to think of others at a time when “what am I gonna get” reigns. We didn’t stick around to see our waitress’s face when she got the tip, but she was workin her lil butt off, and she deserved it!
Soon, it was time to head back home but on the way we stopped to celebrate with Rachel’s family at her mom and dad’s house. We played dirty Santa and Grannie and Paw gave us another generous gift of moo-lah……….yeah I know it sounds like we got a lot, but most of it was spent before we got it! Hahahah! Our families are so generous and we are so very thankful! We finally made it home and snuggled up for a much needed slumber before coming back to work today. I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas! Can’t wait till New Year’s, Sharry and Josh are coming! And then mom and dad said they are gonna get to visit sometime after that! I’m so excited.

Can you feel the love tonite?

Okay so more on the Jo/James engagement. They went down to Miami to celebrate Christmas with James’s family, and grandpa, who owns a huge mansion down there. It is absolutely gorgeous. How could that not be the perfect location for a proposal?? Anyway, they got there Monday and he managed to keep his little secret until last night (Wednesday), that’s pretty good. Anyway, James’s sister told Joanna she had a present for Joanna that she could open early. Thinking it is from his sister, she wasn’t suspicious at all. Well, she tore in and it was something like a makeup bag or something but there was a little box there too, she opened it and all it had in it was a little handwritten note, in James’s handwritting that said Something to the effect of, “Joanna, take my hand and follow me to share a dessert you will remember the rest of your life” signed James. At this point she puts two and two together, he grabs her hand and leads her out unto Grandpa’s marvelous back patio……..amazing doesn’t even describe this place. Anyway, a little ice cream dessert is set up for them out there and Jo spots something in her ice cream……..now most of us would be like………aww, he put the ring in her ice cream, but that ‘ol James is clever, not only did he put the ring in her ice cream, he put it in a little plastic baggy first! Haha, much better than wearing a vanilla scented sticky engagement ring. So she fished that sucker out and the deal was made! Yay. I am so glad to see that James went through so much trouble for this, he has really realized she is the love of his life, and he isn’t afraid to say it! This one is a June wedding.

Another I do!

Okay so, not much time to write but just wanted to make yet another engagement announcement..................introducing Mr. and Mrs. Smith, no not Brad and Angelina, Joanna and James. The proposal was so cute. I'll write more tomorrow. congrats Jo! Love you!

Upside-down couches

Sooooooo, Saturday night was Justin’s company Christmas party at Lousianna Lagniappe in Destin, very nice. Well, Destin is an hour away so we car pooled with Toby and Kurt. We left around 6ish and right before we walked out the door I remembered that Spencer (our hound dog) hadn’t eaten yet that night. So I grabbed a cupful of food and opened the back door to give it to him. Now this is an everyday ritual and normally Prissy takes her stance at the cracked back door and barks as loud as she can, just to let Spencer know who is boss. But she wouldn’t dare run out there. Well, apparently she was feeling frisky, cause she darted out into the dark muddy back yard. Justin and I managed to corral her back in, both upset because we just knew she would be covered with mud. Well turns out she was okay and we ran out the door and hopped in the car with Kurt and Toby. We had a lot of fun at the Christmas party. It was good food and good people and after a few hours we loaded our stuffed bellies into the car for the hour ride home. Needless to say we didn’t get home till after 11 o’clock. Let me fill you in on another of our daily rituals; Every time we come home Prissy is always jumping up and down at the door right when we open it. And all was well in this respect except when I opened the front door not only was Prissy standing there excited to see us but, Spencer was quite content to be standing at the front door when opened it also. Yeah, I was as confused as you are right now……………how the heck did he get in? Well, that was only the beginning, as we looked up to see our DESTROYED living room, I mean, couch upside down, shredded things everywhere, back door wide open, disaster. Justin’s first thought was that someone had broken in and made me stay outside (it was cold) until he checked the house. Turns out the trespasser was a little lonely hound dog named Spencer. I guess in all the chaos before we left, we didn’t shut the door all the way and he pushed it open and basically, made himself at home. I still am not sure how the couch ended up upside down…..but, he is crazy! So we lots a few Christmas presents in the war……sorry if you get some nicely shredded clothing. Haha, nah, we replaced all the damaged goods. The worst part was that for some reason Spencer felt that every single place in our house that Prissy had been, he needed to mark with urine and feces……..ewwww! There was soooo much! So we spent the rest of the night, into the wee hours scrubbing the carpet. Stanley Steamer to the rescue……..they’re coming tomorrow to DEEP clean! Haha. And although it sounds like no coincidence, it really is………Spencer is getting a new home on Thursday. We’re sad to see him go, we will probably cry but he will be sooo much happier when he gets to run in the woods chasing deer and biting their butts (haha, he likes to bite butts). We will miss his cute little self!

The next day we were off to spend the day at my grandma’s house, we traveled up that morning, had fun with the fam, and then came back that night! Whew! I was TIRED. Then it was back to work……did we even have a weekend? Well this week I get Friday off, yay and then Christmas is on Sunday. Our first Christmas is going to be great. I’ll let you know about all the fun we’re gonna have and good presents we get! Hehe.

Tonight, Audge and Ash are bunking up with me, Jus is out of town for the night with his boss. Seems like perfect girl time to me! Love you mean it!

New picture

Ain't they cute! Here's a picture of Sharry and Josh, the newly engaged couple..........(refer to a few entries down to read about it) Didn't want this great photo to go to waste, plus I'm obsessed with posting pictures, either way, enjoy!

Merry Christmas Card!

Mall Mom, Convict Dad

I have decided, after many trips to the mall on my lunch break, that I want to be a mall mom. Oh, don’t know what that is??? Let me tell ya. These are the moms that spend their days, in packs usually, walking around the mall strolling their little bundles of joy. How great?? I know that motherhood is a lot of work, work I couldn’t even imagine, but it is something that I think I would be good at. I would love nothing more than to have my own little crumb-snatcher, but don’t get me wrong, I, in NO way, want to be pregnant! Oh no no no, I just want my little apple dumplin to appear……..so by this statement I realize I am not ready for motherhood just yet……..dangit! But I will keep my “Mall Mom” dream alive until it is accomplished one day.
Anyway, I got sooo much done for Christmas this weekend. I only have a few more gifts and I will be completely finished! yayayay! I got the tree up (I even have gifts under it) and decorated, and the stockings hung, and the nativity scene set, and all the décor outside hung……….which I must say, I have become quite the master crafter……..I will post a picture. I made the pretty bow and ribbons that adorn our tree, I was happy with them. I am also making a lot of other things for Christmas which will be revealed at a later date! Muahahahah! One thing I am also quite proud of is the matching scarves I crocheted for myself and Prissy. You will all get a taste of them in our Christmas card photo……if we ever send them out!
Friday night we had my company Christmas party which was catered by Chet’s seafood, yum! And I won a new George foreman grill which will be re-gifted at Justin’s company party this weekend…….heheheh! At least it is better than the Sponge Bob fishing pole we brought last year. Then that same night we headed off to our Sunday School Christmas party with our little 10th graders. They had started without us and were out caroling at all the widow’s houses from our church. They are too cute! Then we went back to the church and had a grand ‘ol time. I hope they know how much I love them. I just really do!

Well that is all for now, pray for Justin, he is under so much stress right now. All that stupid Wisconsin stuff is coming up tomorrow. Pray that God will give him words of wisdom as he talks to the Judge and DA. Also, pray that God will soften their hearts as they listen. It’s hard to imagine that God would let anything bad happen to someone so great, so faithful, and so innocent. But we don’t understand what he has planned for us. This experience might give him insight he couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. The whole situation reminds me of an illustration:
There was this little girl who went to her Grandma’s house. Grandma loved to cross-stitch and she was doing just that. The little girl, being quite short looked up to see what her grandma was doing sitting in her chair smiling so brightly. All she could see was the bottom of the canvas that grandma was working on, and all she could think was………”Grandma sure is making a mess of things, she must not know what she is doing.” She asked “Grandma, what are you doing?” to which she answered, “I’ll show you when I am finished.” Well the little girl didn’t like that answer but went along her way thinking, “What a mess!” Later, as the girl was going about her way Grandma called for her. Still from where she stood the cross-stitching looked like a horrible web of tangled thread. But then Grandma picked her up and set her in her lap. The little girl looked down to see a beautiful picture and was amazed at what her grandmother had done.

This is just like our relationship with God. We look up sometimes and think “Does he know what he is doing, it seems like he is making a big mess of things?” But it is in God’s time, when he is finished with his marvelous work in us, that he gives us his vision. He lets us see what he was doing all along. Right now we are in the “tangled web” phase, I can’t wait to see the masterpiece he is working in all this craziness!

Another engagement!

Okay so remember in my last post when i said, "I forsee big things happening in the next couple of days!"Yay! Finally, it’s done, it’s finished, I can write! Ash is engaged, Ash is engaged! (I felt like Paul Reverre just then) haha! Now that little girl can move to Tampa with no worries. It was the cutest proposal. The principal got her to read a fairytale book to her class (she’s a teacher), but this was no ordinary book, it was specially made just for Ashley B. Jernigan. The book went on and on about……”What is a Princess??”……..A princess is this……….a princess is that……and then, the last phrase….. “A Princess always lives Happily ever after…….What about you Princess Ashley?” That was the big moment, the drop down on one knee give away your life forever moment……from what I hear, Ash had the shakes, Lando had the video, and all Hamid could say was, “Man, she said yes!” hahhaah! Congrats you two. Now you go live happily ever after!

Oh yeah, and of course I have a picture of the ring.......because I am phsyco and forced Hamid to send me one! haha!

fa la la la la, la la, la la

Christmas is here! Well, basically. It’s so funny how we anticipate the coming of Christmas Day and then when it gets here…it’s over! So this is the time to enjoy. I’m doing okay on my Christmas shopping. I have ideas for almost everyone. I just have to materialize those ideas now. I feel like a lot has happened since I last updated so let me think back……..

So, we found out that Dan and Brandy Findley are pregnant!! Yay! So exciting, and they were just glowing, I know they are sooo happy. I am too, cause I seriously LOVE babies. Well, if that were the end of the story it would be quite a sweet one but there is even more………They went to get an ultrasound and there was not one but two little heartbeats……….that’s right, TWINS! Justin is sooo jealous, he wants twin boys more than life. My thoughts are, if he can carry, birth and change double the diapers…….I’m for it! Haha! Congrats Dan and Brand!

On a less happy note, Mollye the beautiful oh so precious bassett hound passed away yesterday. This is Rachel’s doggie. She has been so sick for such a long time. Just when we hoped and prayed she was getting better, something else would go wrong. It has been a hard struggle and Rachel did any and everything to get that little girl healthy, but sometimes God has plans we don’t understand. But we have to rejoice that he indeed has plans! We will miss her sooo much. And I am so grateful that we never have to see her hurting again.

Last weekend Jus and I went up to the Hunting Camp and got back to our roots. We had fun being such great little hunter/gatherers. Actually we slept in and relaxed and hunted for a grand total of 2 or 3 hours! That’s the way I like it! We saw a lot of deer and I videoed them from our comfy shooting box. Everytime Justin raised his little gun I found myself squeezing his arm saying “don’t shoot, don’t shoot”…….haha, I don’t think I am cut out for this stuff. Anyway, it was fun to tag along. Ben and Sam are goin up there with us for a mini vacation in January to relax……..don’t worry Sam, they have satellite now! Yay!

Speaking of vacations, Justin and I have said from the beginning that we are going on a ski trip for our one year anniversary. Oh, and we ARE going! But it turns out we won’t be able to go until March, which is two months after the fact soooo, I think it is just a vacation and no longer the “anniversary trip”. Justin and I also made a deal that we would trade off and one year I could pick what we do for our anniversary and the next he could pick and so on………well, this is my year, so I need some ideas. I don’t wanna go on a big weeklong trip or anything but I do want us to do something oh so fun! We will certainly do the whole, nice dinner thing and exchanging of gifts but…….I wanna do something memorable………..give me suggestions people! Okay well, that’s all I have for now, but I forsee big things in the next couple of days!!! Hehe!

How deep the Father's love for Us

How deep the Father's love for us,
how vast beyond all measure
That he should give his only son,
to make a wretch his treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
the Father turned his face away
As wounds which mar the chosen one,
bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon a cross,
my sin upon his shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held him there
until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life;
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything:
no gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ;
his death and resurrection
Why should I gain from his reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart:
his wounds have paid my ransom

~Joy Willilams

Sharry's engaged!

So much for the romantic proposal in Gatlinburg........that boy just couldn't wait! Which makes it pretty sweet. Just think, he didn't want one more moment to pass without that ring on her hand. I love it! congrats! She sent me some pictures of the ring and that's all I got! So here they are:
















She was so estatic when i talked to her on the phone yesterday. I am so happy she finally found someone to treat her like she deserves. God really does take care of his children. We should never doubt that!

I love to eat turkey, it is good!

And I LOVE long weekends. I just hate to keep all the excitement for myself so I will feel free to recap! Okay so Thursday was Thanksgiving (in case you weren’t aware), and we spent the morning being thankful for nothing…….i mean literally we were thankful for the nothingness we had going on that morning. We slept in, relaxed and then headed over to Mom Wow’s house. Justin and James immediately hopped in the car and went to get manly things like gas and lighters for the grills so we could cook the turkey. Meanwhile, poor Ms. Joy cooked while Jo and I made Sada (Rottweiler) a doggy webpage just like her cousin Prissy! After that was done we headed off to the store to get womanly things like DESSERT! We made Oreo pie, Justin’s favorite! The whole dinner was spent reminiscing on Justin’s backyard fights and Joanna’s multiple runaway attempts (when she was like 7) which were made up of her threatening to run away, her mom helping her pack, and then sitting down to eat dinner before she left……..then her returning 15 minutes later. It was a tear jerker………haha! After our joyous dinner Jus and I headed back to our house to nap off our stuffed bellies. Then Ms. Joy, Jo, James and Sada came over to finish up the day by watching a movie at our house.

Friday Justin went to work while I had the day off! Yay! Prissy and I spent the day running errands and packing for our trip to Bama that night. Justin ended up getting off early and we headed north. We finally made it around 5ish. We relaxed awhile then Brandy and Jeff brought the kids over, Tyler, Cole, Cory, and Tatum. Tyler had extreme chapped lips, Cole had a new haircut (Ricky Martin style) which is too cute for words, Cory had a broken foot from jumping off the high chair (after being instructed to do so by his dad), and Tatum……….that kid is just adorable! Brandy your family is a mess! Hahaha! Then Josh, Sharry, Jus and I went bowling to wrap up the night. I think we all need to patent our pre-bowl dance moves. Josh = “The Wiggle”, Sharry = “the Hop” (AKA: the roger rabbit), Justin = “the Rolly Polly” (AKA: the Worm), and Me………I just imitate all the rest of em! Haha. I especially think I am good at imitating Josh! Anyway, we tucked it in for the night and slept in the next morning. Then we got ourselves together and headed to the store to get the coveted “easy” Thanksgiving recipes. It just so happens that everyone in our family is required to bring a dish to Thanksgiving Dinner. Some are assigned their respective casseroles, some delicious desserts, and there is always that one person, the one who they think can’t cook, that is assigned drinks and rolls. Yeah, you guessed it, it’s me! Mom says it’s cause I had to travel and she didn’t think the casserole would make it……..I’ll buy that one. So anyway, Jus and I headed to the store to get our drinks and rolls. We came back and people started arriving….yay! But I had a big surprise in store for Justin….hahahahahaha!

During dinner I called a few of my family members upstairs…….it was a huge task to get all of them in one room without Justin noticing. We all put on our homemade “FREE JUSTIN” shirts and one by one filed into the room he was casually watching TV in. At first he had this shocked look on his face and then he cracked the biggest smile. It was an embarrassed/impressed type smile. And just when we thought we couldn’t laugh any harder, Prissy twiddles by in her very own “FREE JUSTIN” shirt! And the laughter erupts again! You know I got pictures! Then it was time to hop back in the car and head back to Pcola. It was so much fun though, can’t wait till Christmas.

Sunday morning came realllll early so we did the lesson thing and learned a new word from Dr. Leo Day – “yawp” – to utter a loud noise…….which we did during worship, I’m a fan of the YAWP! Then it was Chili’s with Matt, Kristen, Toby, Kurt, me, Jus, and AUDGE!!! It was sooo good to see her. But then she had to go back to Tally…=(
Then it was time for the ritual Sunday afternoon nap. And guess who got motivated and cooked Poppy Seed chicken casserole??? Yeah, and I must say it hit the spot! I did a really good job, who knows maybe deep down I’m a Martha Stewart in hiding?? Nah! Then we cuddled up in our warm bed and snoozed (well tried to, the thunder was REAL loud)……and now…….it is today! Have a great one! I’m getting really excited about Christmas! And getting everyone presents, I just want everyone to like what we get them so badly…….so guys, give me some ideas!

Thank you, thank you very much! ~Michelle Tanner

My two favorite friends! Jus and I were looking for puppy pictures to put on Prissy's new website.....which by the way might I add that my husband has looked at her webpage more than he has looked at OURS!! haha. Anyway, yes, my dog has a webpage where she fratternizes with other dogs, and basically, she has gotten very high reviews! Look at that baby face, how can you not just love her. On her new page she journals her everyday life, she doesn't post as much as her mom because she can't type as fast as me. Those keyboards aren't constructed for little paws very well. If you are so inclined you can see her in all her glory at www.dogster.com/?224546.

Thanksgiving is coming up and I am so thankful. I just don't count my blessings nearly enough. Justin Charles Tyner, I absolutely adore you! "I wonder what God was thinking, when he created you? I wonder if he, knew everything I would need, because he made all my dreams come true?? When God made you, he must have been thinking about me!" I love you more than words can say........hmmm......maybe I should be posting this on Prissy's website where he will be more likely to read it! haha. I am also thankful for the family I have through him. What a comfort it is to have people who truly love you and honestly think of you as a daughter when your parents are so far away. Speaking of which I am so very thankful for my parents. They postponed thanksgiving dinner until Saturday so that Justin and I could be there.........thanks to all my seven brothers and sisters and their families for doing this also so that we could be included. It would be really hard to be away from my family all year long and then also have to miss the holiday festivities too........I am so grateful that we don't! I am grateful for my little Prissy, i know that she will never read this ( i take that back, she is pretty smart! She does have the typing thing down already) regardless, she brings me so much joy because she is simple, and loves so intensely and I will now share with you her favorite quote which I have found to be so true of her, "To err is human, to forgive: canine". heheh, And I am thankful for my Jesus, most of us will celebrate him and his love in a month where we will focus on what he did for us. I think there is no better time to do this than at Thanksgiving, I don't just want to THINK about what he did, I don't just want to feel all warm and fuzzy and sing christmas carols and open presents......I want to be in complete awe and gratefullness of him. I want to really obsess on how what he did, blessed me. Now don't get me wrong I will enjoy this time of year with the best of them, but I want to remember WHY I get to enjoy it, why it is such an amazing time.

Lord I'm thankful for my blessings
everything that you gave
at times when danger was around me
my life lord you saved
where would i be without your love
where would i be without your grace
you didn't have to give it
but i'm glad you did

I can't pretend that what I got
i got it on my own
every move that i make
can't say i've never been wrong
but i felt you pick me up again
when i brought it on myself
i can always depend on you
whenever i need help

i sing, about what he's done for me
it's been so much that i
couldn't even tell it if i tried
i sing just to let the whole world know
that we've all got something to
be grateful for so lift your voice

you don't know like i know what he's done for me
take a look at my life and you too will see
ain't no way i've made it this far all by myself
i have blessings great and small
and i'll take the time and thank him for them all

Dude I got a Dell!...........FREE JUSTIN!

Yayy, my new computer got here yesterday! I am so excited……I upgraded to the hugest flat panel monitor I could get and shoved so much memory and hard drive into that thing…….it’s great! I spent all last night setting it up and just periodically going in the office to look at it! Haha, I know I am seriously a dork. I just kept checking my email, knowing that no one was sending me an email…….I just wanted to do something on that pretty new vision.

On a more serious note, I (and some other misfits) have decided to show our feelings of injustice by wearing “FREE JUSTIN” shirts. Hahahhhahaa, so if you are interested in supporting our cause feel free to make your own version of this apparel, I will post a picture of our love creation ASAP.

Here’s a fun survey:
Two Names You Go By
1. Christi
2. Princess-Angel (it’s a compound noun and even if it is forced, he still calls me that!)

Two Things That Scare You
1. Crackheads
2. spiders

Two of Your Everyday Essentials
1. Some Jesus
2. my iPod

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. my new pink jacket
2. open-toed shoes, and me feet are cold cause my boss said we aren’t allowed to use our space heaters any more, fire hazard shmire hazard!

Two Things You want in a relationship
1. Presents (silly answer)
2. Face value (serious answer)

Two Truths
1. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life
2. Justin’s feet are uglier than words can describe

Two things You hate:
1. when I let Justin bowl two extra games and then he begs me for another………that’s crap! (give an inch, take a mile)
2. Kristen from Laguna Beach (it’s a show)

Two Physical Things that Appeal to You
1. seeing a guy forget everyone’s in the room but him and God
2. The V-muscle

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. SCRAPBOOKING
2. The Prissy Olympics (which has become a staple in the Tyner household)

Two things you want really badly
1. A solstice
2.To be able to handle situations like Jesus (sometimes WWJD isn’t so clear)

Two Places You Want to go on Vacation
1. Hawaii
2. Colorado-skiing (I put that one cause that is where we are going, so I figure I should “want” to go there)

Two things you want before you die
1. a little version of Jus
2. To make everyone want to come to my funeral! Haha! That was a joke folks!


For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2 Corinthinas 5:21

Mama's don't let your babies grow up to be......HUNTERS!

So I am sure you now all know that you may shortly be seeing my husband on “America’s Most Wanted”. Haha, not really but in case you didn’t get that joke, let me explain. Last October (2004) Justin’s dad treated him to a $3000 hunting trip up in Wisconsin. It was his graduation present. They were both so excited and counted down the days. They went online and bought their hunting licenses, got some new gear, and even went as far as to check to make sure the outfitter they scheduled their hunt with was licensed in the state of Wisconsin. Everything looked great and there were even a few of the guys at church who decided they wanted in on the hunt too. So they all packed up and left, had a great week at the camp, no one shot anything except Justin! He was lucky enough to shoot a buck. Adam (the guide they hired) took the deer to get it processed, tagged, and shipped back to florida for Justin. The hunt was finally over and Justin and his dad came home. A few months later a couple of Federal Agents appeared out of nowhere to question everyone about their hunting trip. Justin, his dad, and all the guys from church were more than cooperative with these agents. All the guys were continually told that they had done nothing wrong, that they were investigating Adam and Blue River Outfitters. Everyone was shocked that anything was going on and did any and everything they could to help the agents. They voluntarily gave them their bows and guns, their deer mounts, video footage, etc. Thinking they were helping. So fast forward to Monday night. It was 11:00 and Justin and I are laying in bed, I am sleeping and he is watching a re-run of the 6:00 news. He sees a segment about illegal deer hunting in Wisconsin, he still hasn’t heard anything about what happened to the outfitters and thinks this story might be about them so he turns it up. Only to find that at the end of the segment the anchor lady proclaims, “46 people have been charged in this case, here is a list of names and where they are from”…………Sure enough down towards the bottom of that list was “Justin Tyner, Pace Florida”………”What the heck??” Justin was so shocked, oh my gosh Christi, my name is on there. What are they charging me with, what did I do?? Of course our phone rang off the hook that night and all the next morning because it was also printed in the paper!!! First of all let me tell you that it is three days later and my husband, nor any of the others, have not been informed of any charges. For the news channels and papers to run that story is ludacris and false! Until they serve him with some charge papers, this is defamation of character. People win big money in law suits over that stuff, especially Pastors (one of the guys on the list). I mean seriously, the Sheriff was on that list, do you think that if the other guys knew something was going on, they would have invited the Sheriff??? Honestly! So, now the question is, if they are charged (which they aren’t yet) then how could this stand up in court. We did some research (because no one has informed us) on what Justin is apparently charged with. A governmental website in Wisconsin says hunting without a license (if you refer to the first paragraph, they bought licenses online with credit cards…….there is proof) this one WILL be thrown out. And while I am on the topic, all of the guys were charged with this hunting without a license. Is the state of Wisconsin so frivolous to file charges on something that can be so easily proven without doing it’s research?? There are records people. I guess they figured, we’ll just charge em with whatever and then if they aren’t guilty then we’ll drop it………what ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty” not “guilty until proven innocent”!! That is politics if I have ever seen it……clean up your government/DNR Wisconsin! Don’t defame my good, honorable husband’s character to prove some invalid point. The second charge they apparently charged Justin with is illegal tagging of his deer. Again referring to the events listed above, well, he didn’t tag the deer at all, the guide took the deer right after he killed it, to go get it tagged and processed and what not. I see no way that they can charge him for someone else’s mistakes, but either way Justin said he is not that worried because he did nothing wrong and eventually the truth will come out. The whole reason you pay thousands of dollars to hire a professional guide in a foreign state is to relax and rely on his professional service. He had a valid business license with Wisconsin so I think THEY are to blame. Justin and the others ensured they were going out with a licensed outfitter whom, according to Wisconsin, was worthy of their trust. I mean can we do a background check on every store we buy a pair of jeans from to make sure they are not making their jeans in child labor sweat shops??? NO, we have to trust professionals to do the service they advertise, especially if they are licensed! If you buy a car from a dealer and it ends up being a stolen car……are you liable, or the dealer??? EXACTLY!! I keep hearing all these stupid people saying “they should be held accountable for their crimes”, or “ignorance is no excuse” but what everyone doesn’t understand is that in most of the cases, there were no crimes even committed, and there is no way we can be knowledgable in all areas of life……”ignorance is no excuse” until someone dups you and then all of a sudden it is a pretty valid excuse. Stop throwing your stones for a minute and put yourself in the innocent bystanders’ shoes who are going through this right now. But the point is, Justin, McNesby, Whitehead, Godfrey…………. they all did nothing wrong, and I am willing to say that the rest are just as innocent! These guys are the victims, they are out the $3000 plus that they paid for the trip, the deer and mounting costs, bows and guns, and now face fines and punishments. Plus, no one has been formally notified of any charges at all……..but the news and the newspaper sure do make it sound that way. Anyway, we appreciate your prayers and personally think this will all be dropped due to retardedness! God is in control and we will live above reproach!

Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee, It's me Prissy!

It seems like I have a million and one things to do and no time to do it!!! Ahhhh! If it weren’t for my lulling time at work……….I would have no break at all, haha! Sad but true! So what have we done since I last posted??? Oh, Thursday we drove out to Chumukla (haha, that’s just a funny word) and ate dinner with Charlie and Rachel. Prissy got to see Grandmama and Paw Paw Pudge for the first time in the longest, she was excited, and so were we!!! I really cannot for the life of me, remember what we did Friday night………I think I just cleaned a lot for the Youth party we were hosting at our house on Saturday………..seems like that’s what I did. Who knows.

Saturday Justin woke up and headed off to help Matt and Kristen move all her belongings into her new house, congrats Kristen, you’re almost in! and I spent the morning running lots of errands. Prissy got her hair did, she needed it!!! They wouldn’t let me bathe her for two weeks after her spaying and there was NO way I was getting that funk off of her by myself! She was just gorgeous when they got through with her. Here is a picture of both of us dressed in our Seminole gear!




















Back to the party prep……we had sooo much food. I always overstock when I think a lot of people are coming over. I guess it’s better safe than sorry! So, we have lots of leftovers, so if anyone is hungry stop by and I’ll pawn some of it off on you!
We invited the youth group from our church (Olive Baptist) over to watch the Alabama/LSU football game on Saturday. We set up the grill outside on the front porch and all the kids played football in the front yard until the burgers and dogs were ready. It was such a beautiful day. Then the game started and much to my surprise, the girls came in to watch (intensely, might I add) and the guys either stayed outside and played football or spent the afternoon in the “man room” playing Playstation. But everyone was definitely having fun. It wasn’t long before I had to show my Tekken skills to the gamer boys back in the back……..Tekken is the only video game I am good at. And for some strange reason I can kill all the guys at this game, but only with the one girl named “Christy”……I think it’s fate! So I proceed to lay the smack down. The game started at 2:30 and everyone didn’t leave until 8pm!!!! It was so much fun though. And we were exhausted afterwards.



HAHA! As you can tell from the above picture, we really love our youth at Olive Baptist Church. I think we should make this into a recruiting poster! Yes, that is my husband strangling our beloved Taylor! Don't worry, the referee (me) soon called this fight! I posted a lot more fun pictures from our get together under the "Photos" link!
Sunday came around and I didn’t get halfway through our lesson before time was up. We got to discuss some of life’s hard questions. I think I teach the goofiest bunch of kids alive! I’m sitting here trying to be serious and spiritual, asking the kids to write down questions they have about life so that we can discuss them. And the responses I get are: “Can I have your digits??”, “Where do babies come from?”, and “Why won’t my parents buy me a new car?” But we did get some serious questions too…….and on those, we made progress! Haha! After church we went to Ms. Joy’s house to enjoy a lunch with Jo and James while they were in town. It was a lot of fun and after lunch we went shopping to get supplies to fill our shoeboxes for “Operation Christmas Child”. I hope my little girl likes pink because it looks like a big pink monster threw up in it!! Haha, maybe that was a bad way to describe it, but it’s true. Afterwards, I went to Outback with Ashley and some of her cheerleading folk. I enjoyed that immensely! Then it was back home to my honey and my Prissy. Those two were cracking me up last night. Justin always threatens (when I am being mean to him) that he is going to punch Prissy in the face…..because he knows this will seriously offend me and I will threaten his life. Then he proceeds to laugh at me. Well, apparently after many empty threats he decided to act on his words. Yes, that’s right people, he punched my cute little, sweet, precious, doggie in the face (well I wouldn’t call it a punch, more like a tap) but none-the-less, it was abuse. But the funniest part was that right after he did it…….Prissy rarred one paw back and swatted him just as he swatted her! Hahaa, it was seriously the most hilarious thing I have EVER seen. Justin and I spent the next hour unable to breathe because we were laughing so hard!!! And we occupied ourselves the rest of the night trying to get her to do it again. She came close, but nothing as funny as the first time. My girl has attitude!

Well, I think my new computer will be here either tonight or tomorrow night! Yaya! But I will be enjoying Laguna and MNSC either way! Love ya mean it!

Bad Things happen to good people

So, by the title of this blog one would think that I must have recently gone through something bad. No, not at all. But for some reason everything I read about lately seems to be dealing with that issue. And not surprisingly, I opened up to prepare the Sunday school lesson and what was the title?? “If God loves us, why does he allow us to suffer?” So I figured I would just write and see what comes out.
It doesn’t seem fair, if you think about it. If I really try to live my life right, do all the things God requires of me, I should be safe from harm, and suffering. But, if that were true then wouldn’t I just be living right and following God to keep myself from bad things?? Instead of actually living this way in order to please God and show him I love him. It is easy for me to be faithful when things are all good, when the sun is shining on face and life is right. But is that true faith? If I compare it to the most important human relationship I know, that with my husband, I can see that it is ludacris for me to live my faith like this. For example, what if my husband only loved me when I cooked well, cleaned spotlessly, and loved flawlessly. That wouldn’t be true love, in fact, it would be non-existent love, because I never do everything perfectly. No, but when he hugs me even when I bring home McDonalds for the umpteenth time, and he smiles at me even though my stuff is scattered all over HIS sink in the bathroom, and he gives me a sweet little “I love you” even when I am over-reacting to something small he has done, THAT is when I truly see his love for me. Unconditional love really is the only kind of love that exists, anything else doesn’t qualify to be called love. Much like the story of Job, it is so inspiring. Job is, to me, the truest example of an unconditional faith. Satan himself saw how dedicated Job was to his God and approached Jesus personally. He proclaimed that Job is only so faithful because he has so much, if God would only let Satan throw him some curve balls, Job would fall in his devotion. We would hope that Jesus would then say, “No you will not mess with him, he’s my baby!” But then Satan would win you see, because he would always have the power to proclaim that we only love God because he gives us good things………. But instead Jesus said, “No, I have faith that Job loves me, he is strong for me, throw whatever you want at him, and he will not falter!” I want him to have that much faith in me, and I want to stand under the challenge like Job. Yeah, it’s easy to love and praise and trust in our God when things are peachy, but again, this is love not tested, praise not battered, and trust not trialed. It is when we are in our valleys, when we have hit rock bottom, that our devotion is truly shown. When I am walking through the wilderness, do I trust him then, to “work all things to the good of those who love him”. When I can’t see the light at the end, do I still count on him to lead me through the tunnel?? That is the only way to show true trust. Is any of this making sense. If God gave us the promise that Christians would be saved from all suffering……..don’t you think that everyone would become Christians purely for this benefit…….yet then the focus is “what can I get”, it becomes a self-serving purpose for getting saved. My Christ would not feel loved by this. We would not be choosing him, but choosing “non-suffering”. But it is when my grandma dies and I can proclaim, “It is all part of your good and perfect plan, your glory is worth our sacrifice!” It is when I lose my job and I can say, “You know the plans you have for me lord, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me a future”. It’s when I can feel the bitter cold of loneliness to the depths of my bones and it seems that I am at the bottom of everyone’s list and I can smile and say, “The lord is my joy and my strength, I will base me life not on fading lights, but on an everlasting one.” It is then and only then that he feels my love and devotion to him. By not letting “suffering” differentiate the Christian life from the non-Christian life, Christ is ensuring that we are indeed choosing him only because he is our Lord, not for any benefit we can gain. Isn’t heaven a gift enough, isn’t joy for now a gift enough, yet I have the audacity to ask God why, why can’t I be rich, why can’t I be saved from the perils of life. How can I ask for more than Jesus asked for himself. He certainly wasn’t saved from any perils. Who am I? So, the point I guess is……bad things will happen to good people. But it is Romans 8:18 that sheds some perspective on this for me, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” This is heaven people! We could pile up the hardest most persevering times in our lives, throw cancer on there, throw death on there, through break-ups on there, throw rejection, abuse, disappointment, persecution, every bad thing on that pile and it is not even WORTH comparing to the glory he will reveal to us in that day. That makes my soul jump for joy, literally inside my body, it’s jumping! Haha! And before Paul was finished with this little speech he added verses 24 and 25, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have we wait for it patiently.” So our hardships here on earth will give us an even greater hope for heaven. If he were to give us a perfect life here, what would we have to hope for??? But instead we get to wait for it patiently and anticipate the day we will have no suffering, the day when only GOOD things happen to good people!

Things that make you go......hmmmmm

Good news for all, Prissy is finally recovering from her spaying! Yay! My little pogo stick kept hurting her incision everytime anyone came over. The night of the spa I am surprised her insides didn’t come out! Haha. Speaking of the spa, it was great. Ash did a fantastic job at her first little presentation and even got a few sales! I got the coveted “neck-wrap” and my curtains were firmly in place by the time the guests arrived. Overall it was a good night. Afterwards Jus and I went to Charlie and Rachel’s to visit for a little while, seems like I hardly get to see them anymore. We’ll have to plan a dinner date this week sometime. So that wrapped up our Thursday night.

Friday we met up with Crystal and Gabe, who seem to have been MIA while building their new house. We ate some dinner and played pool and darts until we were all about the pass out from exhaustion. They have the cutest little girl, Alyssa. I just love babies soo much, and the fondness is only growing. Don’t worry Ash, I’m not having a baby!!! Haha! Not just now anyway.

Saturday morning Justin woke up at “God knows when” and went hunting with Ben, then rushed home and changed to go to the “Relay for Life walk-a-thon”. So while he was gone what else could I do…….i shopped. Met up with ash, we hit the usual hot spots, Target, the mall, BagelHeads and then I went home to see my long lost hubby. We were supposed to go over to Ben and Sam’s, also where little Hayes lives, but those plans got cancelled. So instead Matt and Kristen came over and we had a double date couch potato night!! I really can’t wait for their wedding, Kristen is about to explode! Haha.

Then it was Sunday (already!). The lesson this Sunday went so well. It was the encouragement that I have been needing. I realize that you have to go the extra mile with these kids, no lazy days. You have to keep them involved, entertained, and quiet. And it is hard frustrating work, but when you have one good productive Sunday, it’s all worth it! We talked about the crucifixion. I wanted them to picture it how it was, not how we are so used to hearing it. I wanted so hard for them to think about all the little things the bible mentioned on that day. And I really think they did. I had them write a phrase or two that describes how they felt when Jesus died for them. I got so emotional when I read them. These 10th graders wrote things like: “no one loves me this much, no one”, “why would someone do this for me”, “unfailing love, I have never experienced”, “Jesus gave up himself for me, I will do that for him”…………….I just loved hearing praises for their savior come out of the mouths that I usually only hear praises for their boyfriend/girlfriend at the time. It’s so hard to keep focus for me, I know it’s even harder for them. But I am so thankful that for this moment on Sunday morning they were focused! The lights stayed off the whole time and we listened to music about the crucifixion. I saw some of them wipe their eyes, and of course it broke my heart, in a good way! I had them write letters to Jesus, as I wrote my own. I know the spirit moved me in that room and I pray so hard that it moved even one of them. So that is a huge answered prayer from the disheartened Sunday school teacher of last week! PTL!

Last night I was watching “My Fair Brady” (haha) and Justin walks in and laughs at me histerically because I am balling like a baby…….he proposed and they wrote each other poems, and I am sorry, but I can’t take all that. I think I am the biggest baby! I don’t know why I just wrote that but I was suddenly picturing Justin walking around the corner and falling to his knees in laughter…….oh but he thought he was really funny when he came to sit beside me (I am all into the show, crying still of course) and I look over and notice his shirt and face are soaking wet, and he is making a crying face……….that dork sprayed the himself with the sprayer on the kitchen sink……..again making fun of me. I did laugh, a lot! He makes me laugh, especially when we make fun of each other…..well most the time anyway! I remember telling my best friend in high school that I wanted to marry a man who could make me laugh and could sing……….I think I got a pretty good deal!

Tonight MNSC and watching LC kick Jason to the curb (she better!)

If I were alone in the dessert
without a drink of water around
on my knees and hands
in that white scorching sand
with the hot Sahara sun beating down

if i could be granted my wishes
and anything i want would come true
i know that it might sound funny
but here's what i'd want you to do

Tell Justin I love him
Tell Justin I need him
Tell him everything would be okay
if i could just see him
tell justin i love him
tell justin i need him
and if i leave this ol world
tell him he's the only boy for me

if i were adrift in the ocean
a vessel with no sail or steam
floating aimlessly on an endless sea
hopelessly lost it would seem

if all of the fish in the water
could echo my last dying plea
i know you might not understand it
but here's what i'd want it to be

tell justin i love him
tell justin i need him
tell him everything would be okay
if could just see him
tell justin i love him
tell justin i need him
and if i leave this ol world
tell him he's the only boy for me

if i leave this ol world
justin, you're the only boy for me!

So Halloween.......

Being that Halloween fell on the same night as MNSC and Laguna Beach, it was hectic! I rushed home from work because it was my night to cook, I made breakfast, I love having breakfast for dinner! Ms. Joy came over and just kept laughing at random intervals. After finally asking her why she basically gave me a recap of my surroundings.....and I took a look around........I was cooking breakfast at 6 o'clock at night, all the while dressed in a butterfly outfit, my dog was running around in a cap and a hat....i kept getting the strange suspicions she was trying to cast spells on me for making her wear that, my husband.........oh my........he spent the ENTIRE night on top of the roof. Why? you ask, apparently Freddie Krugger is more frightening from great heights??? He kept running in periodically giving me and Ms. Joy updates on how he made all the little kids scream.........so i guess if i was her, i would have been laughing at us too! Oh the fun we'll have when there is a little tyner in the picture. After all the kiddies went home to rumage through their goody bags, Ash came over to watch the Laguna Beach to top ALLL Laguna Beaches......go LC!!! All the while we sported our "Team LC" shirts.........she did us proud. Then that weird "Seventeen" show comes on after so we always end up watching it, and Brianne (the physco) left this time.........woohoo! She really was physco! Anyway, so that was our halloween, next Turkey day! Christimas is almost here!

Family Portrait

hallelujah!

So, my God is amazing. He loves me so much, I don’t deserve any of it. But I’m glad he does. Last week was seriously so hard. I was extremely disheartened and felt almost hopeless in some areas. But God has restored my joy. He has brought encouragement to my heart through so many random people. People I used to know, people I know well, people I just met, and people I don’t know at all. They have all stopped (for no reason at all) to give me some kind of encouragement and it is none other than my wonderful savior at work. He really does take care of me and my heart. He shows me that when I feel that I don’t belong at all, I belong to him!

Who am I
That the lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I
That the bright and morning star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wond’ring heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what you’ve done
Not because of what I’ve done
But because of who you are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still you hear me when I’m calling
Lord you catch me when I’m falling
And you showed me who I am
I am yours!

MNSC, Halloween and Laguna tonight…….fun is in the air!

Mirrors?? we don't need no stinkin' Mirrors!

So, I guess it was inevitable, I mean who was I fooling, we all know I can’t drive, but this time it wasn’t my fault! Yes, I am sadly speaking of the injury that occurred to my car, whom I have aptly name “Percy Fox”. For those of you who are interested in my car naming skills here is how the name evolved: I drive a silver Grand AM, spelled A-M which in any other sentence refers to the morning time, the morning brings to mind the song “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” which is sung by none other than Percy Sledge, therefore Percy becomes our first name, the color silver makes me think of a silver bullet, which is what is used to kill a werewolf, which makes me think of TeenWolf who was played by Micheal J. Fox, hence we have our last name, Fox. Introducing to the world…….Percy Fox. But her beauty has been marred. It seems that while I was innocently at the mall doing my thing, I return to find my abused vehicle in the parking lot (ok, so maybe I parked too close to the car next to me, sue me!). The left hand mirror had been dislodged from it’s appropriate spot on the door. Oh, I can hear some of you laughing, isn’t it ironic the same injury that my poor CG lived with all that time is the same ailment that Percy is now facing. Where is Nancy Wilson and the duct tape when you need her. Haha, well, the good news is that it was a clean break which I think can be repaired with some good caulking glue…….JUSTIN!
Solstice where are you!??!

It seems my life is filled with injury these days. My poor little Prissy walks around like a grandma, with her head hung in shame. I took her to the vet yesterday to get her spayed. They said she would be healthier if I did it, but I really really didn’t want to. I wanted to have little mini-Prissies. But I’d rather have my one Prissy healthy, so I gave up the dream and took her in to go under the knife. I really was so worried all day. I called at lunchtime to see if she was okay, but they wouldn’t put her on the phone, in the words of Stephanie Tanner, “How rude!”. I can’t imagine what it is like to be a parent……..sheer torture! So I planned all day how I would go to rescue her from the vet’s office and take her home and snuggle with her and make her all better. But she was REALLY mad at me. I would try to make her a comfy palate in my lap and she would hop (as much as she could) right off and sadly walk to a dark corner and curl up there where she stared at me with a hurtful glare. Oh, it just broke my heart, but I don’t blame her, if someone came and took my womanhood away, I’d be P.O.ed too! I just wanted to help her, but she didn’t understand. It was so hard to see her like that and not be able to do anything to help. Thankfully, my darling is a forgiving pup and a couple hours later, hopped into my lap to curl up for a nap. Then when I went to lay in bed, she followed me in there and just looked at me until I put her on the bed with me……where she stayed until it was time for her to really go to bed……in her crate! I love her so much, it’s amazing how a little animal with no words at all can make you feel so loved………and she does.

On another note, bowling is fun, but……………..hahaha! So at Tuesday night bowling we (the girls of TNB) decided we need more hobbies. Don’t get us wrong we love to bowl just as much, or more, than the rest of ‘em but, it’s good to have variety. This is not the sentiment of the boys though, especially Justin. He almost looked heartbroken that we would suggest such a thing. So it is official, NO ONE can de-throne Tuesday night bowling. But, we are trying to appease ourselves by filling the rest of the week with our longed for variety. So this week we have board games and the fair! Yay, I cannot wait to go to the fair! Not so much for the spinny rides that somehow force me to slobber on the person beside me, everytime! (I think it has something to do with centripetal force, haha!) Then I start laughing so hard about it that I can’t close my mouth and well……..it’s a vicious cycle. But, I really want to go for the food and the games. I am a gambler on the DL I think. I don’t do it in casinos but those stupid games get me and Justin to spend everything we have in our pockets, and then go to the ATM for more. And you thought we were bad in the arcade!

Justin and I spent some time this week getting ready for Halloween. I am really excited about all the kids in our neighborhood knocking on our door. We've got everything we need, the enormous amounts of candy, the scary talking skeleton guy who laughs histerically when you walk by (and scares the crap out of me every morning), the blacklights to light up the porch, t he carved pumpkin, Prissy's witch costume, and the Freddy Krugger mask to adorn Justin! it's gonna be fun, but I just realized that I don't have a costume to wear! dangit! anyways, I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!

the pathway is broken
and the signs are unclear
and i don't know the reason
why you brought me here

but just because you love me
the way that you do
i'm gonna walk through the valley
if you want me to

cause i'm not who i was
when i took my first step
and i'm clingin' to the promise
you're not through with me yet

so if all of these trials
bring me closer to you
then i will go through the fire
if you want me to

it may not be the way
i would've chosen
when you lead me through a world
that's not my home

but you never said
it would be easy
you only said
I'd never go alone

so when the whole world turns against me
and i'm all by myself
and i can't hear you answer my cries for help
i'll remember the suffering your love put you through
and i will go through the valley
if you want me to

~Ginny Owens

So I am basically a grandma

You know that old lady who lives with 20 cats, or takes glamour shots of her toy poodle?? Well, I am borderline, THAT lady. I love my Prissy Priss. What can I say, I just really do. All these years my brothers and sisters (me included) have laughed and snickered at my grandmother’s obsession with her dogs, and I must say that I am now the butt of these jokes (I know I deserve it). And the thing is that I couldn’t care less…….because I love her so much and I want everyone to know. How could you not?? Just imagine, this cute little furball that depends on you for her very life, when you come home everyday she is so excited that she shakes uncontrollably (any bad day melts away into a smile), and when you lay down on the couch for a good movie, she comes and curls up right next to you……..how cute. So label me all you want, I have no denial or regret…….I AM THAT LADY! Maybe when I have a kid it will all subside……we’ll see!

Anyway, this weekend we went to Bama for the family ‘Shrimp Boil’. It was quite eventful. We enjoyed good food and family and man, all the kids. Justin spent the entire day in the front yard either tossing the football with my nephews (all under 9) or on the ground wrestling one of them. At one point he and Jeff (my bro-in-law) had like ten of those rugrats chasing me with intent to kill…….I was afraid for my life, really. Luckily I ducked inside the house before they could catch me (those short legs aren’t too fast). We didn’t get to spend too much time with Josh (Sharry’s bf) because he was doing his fireman duties all weekend (seems they stay there for days at a time) but he did get to come to the Shrimp Boil, where he seems to mesh right in with the rest of the goofballs. It’s crazy how quickly we’ve sucked him in…haha……I mean, he’s decided to join in! He reminds me of Justin in a lot of ways, he’s one of those guys that you like more and more everytime you hang out with them……….luckily he doesn’t possess the qualities in Justin that drive Sharry CRAZY, they seriously fight like brother and sister. We can’t play a game of Uno or Putt-Putt without them wanting to punch each other. Hahha, it’s quite hilarious for us innocent by-standers.

We got to hang out with Jimmy for the first time in forever this weekend. He makes me smile! He has this little kid ora about him. He just smiles so big when he thinks something is funny, and does the funniest bowling dances/air punches. I hope he finds the most incredible girl one day! We got to go to LongHorn and then, of course, bowling! We had the most fun, specifically because Sharry introduced us to this amazing game that we are all addicted to now…….it’s called 20 questions and it comes in the form of a little ball. You think of any object and then the ball asks you 20 questions and at the end, it guesses what you are thinking……..it always works! It doesn’t sound so wonderful on paper but the first time you think of a duck-billed platypus and that little sucker guesses it……….you’re hooked! We played it all through dinner and the batteries went dead. I am going to Wal-Mart to get one TODAY!

HAHAHAHA, Justin and I got to teach the 5 year olds in Sunday School at my old church in Bama. 5 year olds are great! They obsess way too much over what color marker they get and why Johnny has a bigger gamepiece that they do but, they are still great. To teach these little minds you have to get on their level. You have to simplify everything. It’s cool to see God from this height. Jill talked in one of her last blogs about how we overcomplicate God, we try to make him like ourselves, overcomplicated and confusing. But he is not! I guess he knew we would inevitably do this to ourselves which is why he reminds us to have faith like a child. Which is easy to say but hard to understand until you actually see what a child’s faith is like. And the perfect word to describe it is ‘simple’. There are no “why’s” just “wow’s”. There are no “well, that just doesn’t make sense” or “it can't be that way because…..” no, it’s just “okay, God, I believe you.” It’s good to get down to nothing but you and God sometimes. So needless to say we had fun and the lesson ended with Justin making paper airplanes for all the kids……while I am trying to explain to their parents how this goes along with something we were learning (which it didn’t).

So I want to end this blog with things I am thinking:
I miss my family and I hate leaving
I love my life in Pcola
Justin is the MOST understanding, hard-headed, loving, bratty, wonderfully perfect man
Prissy rox my face off
Praise God I am not sick like everyone else in my office
iPod’s rule
Johnny Diaz is gonna be a star
I miss Jill and Audge
I’m glad Jo and I are friends now
I love Tori as hard as she loves me
I am coming to appreciate Ashley more than I think she will ever realize, I love her
I am going to steal Tatum Renee Harris from her mother and then erase this, so there is no proof
My bosses are fun!
I’m wearing my new pink jacket and I’m warm, and cute (if I may say so myself)
I wonder where we are going for lunch
God is good and blesses me too much for what I deserve
There is nothing good in me and people still love me

If you are reading this because you care one ioda about me and my life, I thank you for caring at all! And I am in the praying/ praising mood so I will pray God will shower you with an extra blessing today……..be looking for it. I may post again today, because I just feel like I have a lot of stuff to say about my Jesus……..I just can’t organize the thought right now. But I want to share this feeling with someone, anyone!

What comes before Part B...........PART A!

I love birthdays. Mainly because I get to use the phrase, “But it’s my birthday” over and over, to persuade any and everyone to do what I want. Fun fun! So the events of my birthday are as follows: The partay started Wednesday night when Tori and Jo and I went to O’Charley’s for the coveted “birthday dinner” (yes it was changed from Lambert’s sadly but, hey, we had tons of fun) Then we headed to my house for a girl’s slumber party, just like old times in Polos on Park…….Jill and Danielle, we missed you. After getting home we decided to go rent a movie and run to the grocery store for a few things. Prissy wanted to go so badly and we don’t deny Prissy anything soooooo she hopped in the car with us and we were off! Now, I must preface the next events with the fact that Prissy has been more places than most children…….she goes to the ball games, to Wal-Mart, to the nail place, to basically everywhere her mama goes and well frankly, everyone loves her! But this is not what occurred this night. I think we were the victims of a Yorkie hate crime. We entered “Movie Gallery” minding our own business, and BAM, out of nowhere this phsyco worker girl comes running at us with quite a ferver yelling that Prissy is apparently against store policy and state regulations (since when does the state regulate dogs in movie places??) Anyway, so we decided that if Movie Gallery is against Prissy’s, then we are against Movie Gallery’s! Blockbuster never gave Prissy any hassle….I guess some movie places are over the olden days when dogs and movies were segregated. (PTL) So, while laughing histerically we made our way to Winn-Dixie where Tori begs us to try to bring Prissy inside (just so we can get kicked out again), but I just don’t think her little heart could have handled two rejections in one night. So we instead made Jo sit in the car while we did our shopping, sorry Jo. All we ended up getting was paper towels and a surprise for Justin, but we did learn in the checkout line that Nick is giving Jessica the silent treatment (bullcrap) and Katie and Tom’s child is a testtube baby. All things that we desperately needed to know. So then we headed back (movieless) to Justin awaiting at home for his movie, oops! So we instead found iRobot on HBO, all was well in the Tyner household.
For my birthday Justin and I both took off. This is such a special gesture to me because anyone who knows my husband, knows that he is addicted to work. Well, he just has a really good work ethic. Needless to say, he doesn’t take days off, especially just to play. But this was HIS idea! In fact, he MADE me take off………maybe this will become a pattern. Anyway, I awoke my birthday morning to Tori sticking her head in my room with a “Happy Birthday, Birthday girl………..can I have some toothpaste??” Haha! She had to leave for work while Jo, Jus, and I slept in. Eventually Prissy and I couldn’t take it so we bursted in Jo’s room and licked her on the face a million times (I did the bursting, Prissy did the licking, we’re a good team like that). Anyway, we went back to bed and laid around until like 11, Jo went to her new job and we got ready for the day. First we took Prissy to the groomer to get her hair did for the Shirley family shrimp boil this weekend, she looks fabulous. Then Jus and I headed to the mall and just played the whole day, not really doing anything (what fun!). We went to play with all the puppies at the pet store and then set off to pick out a pumpkin.
We decided that every year on my birthday we are gonna carve a pumpkin to put on our porch for Halloween. I like starting traditions. Jus and I decided that in order to be a good pumpkin carver/person who gets all the crap out of the inside, you have to be relentless, which we are willing to do for the sake of decoration. We also decided that our pumpkin face will not be a prefabricated template used by hundreds all over the world but instead would be a masterpiece only created by the two of us every Halloween. But, since we only know how to draw one face, this might change next year, haha! So then we got all dressed up and ready and went to BoneFish Grill. I love that place…..may I suggest the Bang Bang Shrimp……mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! It was romantic and fun and the rest is history! Thank you to everyone who made my birthday oh so fun. I love you all.

Tonight we head to Bama for another great weekend with my fam and to see Jimmy.......we miss you James Honeycutt! I'll fill you in on the details of the oh so eventful Shrimp Boil!

If you can't say nothing good, don't say nothing at all

Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.— James 3:5-10


What a horrible horrible picture James paints. The very half brother of Jesus experiences the same evil that I find myself involved in today. The bible really is forever relevant. It is so amazing and disturbing how we cannot control such a small thing as our tongues. I mean even if we took 2 seconds before we open our big mouths we may realize that the damaging/stupid/unnecessary comment we are about to breathe into the world isn’t worth it. There is one verse of a popular song that says “but there are voices that want to be heard” which I see as a perfect description of how our minds work. We have these voices in us that want desperately for others to hear, to hear how we were hurt, to hear how insensitive someone was to our feelings, or even to hear how good and godly we are. It’s like these words that want nothing more than to escape from my body. It is truly an act of God almighty to hold those things in. I just sit here and think, the bible is “god-breathed”, these are his holy words at the top of this page and what are they saying about me?? And yes, they are about me, I have no problem admitting that (a little disgust in myself, but no denial). “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.” I’ve seen my forest of friends burned down time and time again by a single spark made by an inconsiderate tongue. And God makes it quite clear that this fire making it’s way through our friendships is the very hellfire that eternal damnation is made of. It’s basically a little piece of Satan’s masterpiece. And the last verse is what truly and honestly brings tears to my eyes. From the same mouth that we tear down, gossip, and curse each other, we lift our voices to God. He isn’t fooled! He knows my heart, he knows what I said about Sally 20 minutes ago, he weeps for my evil actions still as I try to give him my praises. I, frankly, am tired of living as Satan’s pawn to keep Christians hating each other, to keep friendships in constant competition, to keep us from working together to show the world the “peace” God offers. I want my friends to truly truly know without a doubt that my words and actions are not to harm them. If they are happy (even if I am not involved in this happiness) I am happy, if they are hurting, my heart breaks with them and I will do anything in my power to make them smile again, if they speak against me, I WILL NOT retaliate but instead, whenever I get that evil urge I will try to speak something kind about them to someone else. If a friend and I are going through trials with each other, I want to vent only to God. I will make sure my words are sweet…….just in case I have to eat them.

Reunited and it feels so good

So Friday night I drove through the dusk to Tallahassee, Florida to see none other than THE Audrey K Johnson. I seriously seriously love her so much. Our birthdays are three days apart so we MUST celebrate celebrity style together. And when I say celebrity style I mean it, it seems that my little Audge Podge has become glamorfied! Yes for all of you skeptics out there, this is the same Audrey who refused to wear heels or a halter……..but now, you should see her. She let me doll her all up for her birthday dinner. I mean, she let me do everything, the voluminous hair, the glamorous make-up, the cute halter top, and THE HEELS! She was soooo hot! She just seemed to have such an adventurous spirit that I had never seen in her before. It was the most fun we have ever had together in all our years/couple months we had as roommates. So here’s what we did. I got there late Friday and met up with her and some friends at CiCi’s. Then we all headed off to hang at the BCM for a while. Then we left because I was starving and Audge and Ericka watched me eat Wendy’s. Oh yeah and I can’t forget my little Priss Pot who joined us in all our excursions. She loved the BCM……she spent the whole night sliding across all those tile floors, hhaha.
We woke up Saturday morning and went to get Audrey’s hair did. Then we went shopping a bit at the mall, where Audrey and the old couple behind us in line forced me to eat Chicken at Chik-fil-a (which I am boycotting due to the Chicken flu in Romania that has killed thousands). It only takes one idiot to bring one diseased chicken into the US to make one chicken sandwich for me to eat and die a horrible death. So if I do die from that chicken sandwich, Audrey (and those old people for that matter) are required to stand up at my funeral and take all the blame while people boo and throw paper at them. So after that battle we went to get my nails did, where Audrey and I decided to start a new fad…….flower nail art just on the nail of your ring fingers. They are quite adorable and I watched the lady do it so I think I could totally provide this service to all my friends…..if you’re interested! Haah! We went home to relax and maybe nap but ended up watching ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, Audrey requested that one, no doubt to make me feel more at home! Then we got ready for the big birthday bash which was soooo fun. I got to see people I thought I would never see again. I really did have the best time and I hope Audrey lives happily ever after right beside me in pcola florida………I think we can convince him to move to Pcola huh Audge?? hhahaha!

So then I was back to Pensacola in order to make it for Sunday School the next morn. It was the hardest Sunday School ever. I really teared up afterwards. My kids are usually so great and attentive and full of insight but not this Sunday. They were yawning and playing and carrying on conversations. I was getting so frustrated. And I am beginning to realize that being the cool friendly Sunday school teacher doesn’t get you much respect. That is about to change I am afraid. I desire more than life for these kids to relate to me, and to make them enjoy Sunday school and I want to be able to mentor them and give them all the insight God has given me but yesterday was so discouraging. I know that I cannot and will not let Satan use my hurt feelings and frustrations to stop me from doing God’s good and glorious work. I couldn’t ever abandon my kiddies. I really do love them and want to help them be all they can in Christ but I have to remember that they are 10th graders and they don’t understand the importance and priviledge they have in a church and a Sunday school. I didn’t have a clear and passionate vision of my place in God’s kingdom when I was in tenth grade. So I have to understand their place in life right now and be whatever Godly influence I can. But I will admit that my heart does still break sometimes, but Paul says that is totally a good thing, right? I know that I have to love them right where they are, just like someone did for me when I was their age, just like Christ does for me right now. I really do love them and I plan on continuing to do so.

I missed Justin so much while I was gone…..it was only one day but for some reason I just missed that boy more than usual! I was sooo happy to come home to him Saturday night. Even though all we did was sleep.
Well another good outcome of the weekend………Jo’s home! Yay. She and Ash came over last night to hang out. We drove to the local Village Inn and chilled for a while. Then went back to my house to talk about planning a ‘spa experience’ at my house for all the little chickadees here in pcola. If you wanna come it is on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7pm. Some of you will be getting invitations but if anyone wants to go just let me know so I can plan how many are coming! It’s gonna be so relaxing to be pampered……and don’t worry the boys have already been run out of the house that night, no men allowed! Jo, I can’t wait to have another ‘Hand Experience’ can you???? Hahahha!

So tonite is Laguna Beach with Jo and Ash, and maybe Tor I haven’t asked her yet. So Tor if you’re reading this, wanna come?? Haha, I’ll talk to you at lunch.

Currently thanks to my new i(love this thing)Pod, I am listening to Ginny Owens and I would like to share:

Be thou my vision
Oh lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me
Save that thou are
Thou my best thought
By day or by night
Waking or sleeping
Thy presence - my light

Riches I heed not
Nor man's empty praise
Thou my inheritance now and always
Thou and thou always first in my heart
High king of heaven my treasure thou art

iPod, not wePod

So guess what I got for my birthday??? An iPod!! (nah nah na boo boo, Joanna Guedez) Yay, it is the cutest, coolest little thing ever invented. And I shower all my thanks onto Jon Tyner. Because the only reason I finally got one (after begging Justin for a year) is because Justin became obsessed with Jon’s at the family reunion, thank you Jon. After declaring how stubborn Justin was with sharing Jon’s iPod with the rest of us, and coincidentally how stubborn Jon is with sharing it, Angie declares, “It’s definitely called an iPod and not a wePod!” hahahah! I thought that was classic. I have spent most of the day (at work) loading every CD I own onto it! It’s so cute! So, many of you are probably wondering why I am writing about my birthday present a week before my birthday…….this is because my husband cannot hold a secret/surprise for the life of him. Which is so cute, the only surprise he has really ever managed to pull on me was his proposal! Which he admits he almost gave away twice! Don’t tell him that I said any of this because I am sure he thinks he surprises me all the time, probably because I ALWAYS act surprised anyway! Hahah! I love him. The TV is schedueled to be delivered on my birthday…….so I will get to open something fun that day!!

Justin is going to Evergreen for the opening day of hunting season tonight. So, I am going to Tally to celebrate Audge’s birthday……I am sooo excited. She is THE sweetest most Jesus lovin’ girl I know. We are gonna have such fun! She has the whole weekend planned. So as soon as I get off I will pack up my Priss and head east! (with my new iPod in hand of course)

Some bad news – Justin has to go out of town the day before my birthday…….=(
Some Good news – Tori is going to get everyone together and we are going to Lambert’s to celebrate me gaining another year! (It’s a surprise though so don’t tell me) hahaha! Then it’s slumber party time, we wouldn’t want me to wake up on my birthday all alone, now would we. Well, so far just Tori is spending the night……but I haven’t asked anyone else yet! Maybe we can have a grand ‘ol partay! I am excited. And then Justin comes back home the next afternoon (still my birthday) and he is taking me to a birthday dinner. He even agreed to wear a tie so that I could overdress, he knows I love to overdress! Haha! Not sure where we are going, maybe Chuck-e-cheese??? Haha, who knows?

8 days till my Birthday!

Soooo, Monday night Supper Club was relocated to Ci Ci’s Pizza……….which is quite hilarious due to the fact that the sheer reason we invented MNSC was to guarantee a home-cooked meal at least once a week……….life is just too busy! Haha! It was fun though, I especially enjoyed the guy in the big pizza suit, who informed us that this was NOT his Halloween costume, he had something totally different planned for that! RANDOM! Anyway, we spent the majority of the night loading up our new chairs for the “man room” (for those of you who don’t know, that’s the room where the dead animals and video games live). I am really thankful for God’s blessings in my life, he really does provide so much! Laguna Beach was great. Talan was miserable at prom with Kristen (serves him right for asking her instead of Taylor), and LC and Jason are starting to date (Stephen who?). Can’t wait till next week.

Tuesday night was jam packed. After getting off work late and trying to rush home I realized that everyone and their moms were apparently going to MY house…..it took forever! So we were late to the 6:00 dinner at the Parazine’s, oops! T.J. (one of justin’s best friends from high school) is in town from North Carolina. They had fun talking about old times and what not. And we enjoyed a food creation by Sandy and Jackson (1yr. old). He made the salad (which consisted of lettuce thrown over the countertop) and the croissants (you can imagine what a croissant rolled by a 1 year old looks like). It was quite eccentric! After dinner we had to hit up Oops Alley for Tuesday night bowling. I think we had a record number of people……15! Let’s see it was me and Justin, matt and Kristen, kurt and toby, Jennifer and Felipe, Randy and Sandy, TJ and Tara, Ryan and Weston, and don’t forget little Jackson. We had lots of fun and I must retract my previous comment about Felipe and his bowling. He kicked my ever-loving hinny! I’m hopeless! I think he has been practicing with a baseball and coke bottles at home……..seems like! Hahaha!

Tonight is church with the kiddies and then some folks are comin’ over for a warm cuddly movie night at the Tyners! Maybe I can talk Matt and Kristen into bringing their fondue pot again…………hmmmmmm.

Things you can pray for:
Tori’s Aunt Tweedie (she is in her last days) pray that her heart will be one with Christ’s, Jill’s mom is having weird heart things (shadows and what not) pray for healing, Jill’s sister Leah lost her baby boy at birth, pray for total restoration of their family and comfort, Jill also wrecked her car yesterday, pray for financial provision in that mishap…….Jill darling, I am so sorry for all your hardships lately. "Yea though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4, for Audrey pray for guidance and a clear vision of what god has in store for her next step, for Em pray that God would open doors in her career where he wants her to be.

Things you can Praise about:
Em got accepted to Grad school, Joanna Guedez is moving back to Pcola, every good and precious gift God has lavished on me (and you for that matter)

If you have something that needs prayer or praise that I left out, feel free to post a comment about it! Love you all!

life's a beach

This weekend was so much fun. And even more important, relaxing! Polly rented the most amazing beach house for us to stay in…..it was the tallest one for miles! And once you got up to the twentieth floor the view was amazing. No really, it was such a gorgeous house, ten foot ceilings on every floor, beachly decorated rooms, and a private pool in the back. Not to mention, THE BEACH! (my favorite place) Thursday after work Jus and I drove down to Grayton beach to meet up with everyone. We got there pretty late so we just visited with everyone and went to bed. We awoke Friday morning to Jon and Jackson bursting into our room in song (not surprising due to the fact that Jon is ALWAYS in song, even more than me people)


Jackson is so stinkin cute. He is one and a half and he has a plethora of talents. He can sing 'if you’re happy and you know it' (clapping, stopping and amen-ing all on queue), he can do the hokey pokey (now putting his head in and out and shaking it all about is his favorite), he can quote the backpack on ‘Dora the Explorer…….”yum yum yum Delissioso!”, he can give the best kisses, and he can point out his “eyes, nose, mouse”. Hahhah! Basically the entire weekend was Jackson filled. And even though you wouldn’t think we could cram anymore in his little head we managed to teach him to march (following the leader) and sword fight. I’d say, we accomplished much! Angie, Jo, and I then hit up the outlet malls where Banana Republic and JCrew sucked me in. But I did get my awesome new pink long length jacket for more than half off…….it is really really great! The boys golfed during our shopping excursion where I am sure they had an ubber fun time. Jon and Justin basically love each other so much. They are so goofy and laugh at everything the other one says. But sometimes their little productions are not all good……take for instance Justin’s hair experiment. Well, it is a known fact that Justin has the thickest, straightest hair known to man. You can’t do ANYTHING with it. So Jon set out to disprove that fact. He had Justin turn his head upside down and blow dried it, so that when he stood straight up it reached to the heavens! We made justin pray for the rest of the weekend because we figured he was now literally the closest to God. It was the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen………..turns out Justin has a pretty big forehead. I hated it, I mean it was funny and all but after a full hour of my significant other looking like Kid from Kid and Play, I was over it. I spent the rest of the night begging him to stick his head under a faucet……which he refused to do, fast forward twenty four hours…………his hair was still gooberfied! Until I encouraged him to jump in the pool with me, knowing that this simple act would deflat the blob that resided where his hair used to. Yayy! It worked! Other than that trauma, the rest is pretty relaxing.

Saturday was the most perfect beach day ever. It was warm because the sun was shining but there was a constant breeze that kept you from sweating. The water was surprisingly warm (the ocean is never warm enough for me) so I got in, and we swam out to the sand bar. I had fun playing in the water……I don’t do that so often anymore. Jackson is basically a fish……he loved the water, never wanted to get out. This was his first time at the beach, he gave two thumbs up. After we all splished and splashed we drug our way up to the shore where our towels awaited and took a nap in the sand. It ranked as close to a perfect day as you get! I remember thinking, "We are not promised tomorrow, and if today is all I get, I'm cool with it, it was a good day." Then we headed back to the house and got ready to go to a great restaurant for dinner Pandora's (some of the best crab legs I have ever had!) Then it was time for Justin and I to head back home. We had 8am Sunday School to teach the next morning. I wish we could have stayed, it was paradise. But I will admit I was glad to get back home to my Prissy Pot…….I missed her so! She is my little buttercup. She was so excited to see us. I also found out while we were gone that poor little Spencer had been sick…..did he miss us that much?? He is such a sweetie!

So Sunday school went well, Matt McGeeHee sat in with us, I think he is gonna help teach now. That will be so awesome! The best part of the service this Sunday was when Leo Day (the music minister) tried to get the “all-white” choir to clap and sway during the last song. I don’t think anyone in the whole congregation sang a word for the overwhelming laughter that filled the room. Leo, you need to understand……clap OR sway, we can’t do both!!! Most of the laughter was due to the toupee section in the very front of the choir………man they were WAY off! Hahah, and smiling all the while! We rode to Charlie and Rachel’s new house and had lunch with them, Jon, Angie, and Jack. Where Justin, Jon and Charlie decided to go on the road with their singing trio. We ended up conking out and staying for dinner too.

We got a new TV!! Yay! Finally. But sadly it won’t be delivered in time to watch Laguna on it tonight, but maybe by next week! So tonight is Laguna with Jo!! Our first of many Laguna nights……….if only the season lasted longer……..

I would like to end this blog by giving props to Jesus and a certain friend named Torrence. We were just reminiscing about me and Justin and how much I love him and we are just a perfect match. And we realized that we were only together because of Tori’s self-sacrificing ways. It seems that before Justin and I met, Justin mentioned to Jill that he wanted one of her friends to go on a blind date with him, “what about that Tori girl I met with you that one time Jill?? She was cute”. But when Jill approached Tori she proclaimed her infatuation with a certain other male and that she refused to go. This is where I come in……..I ended up going (not as a date, strictly friends) and we fell in love! It’s all because Torrence wouldn’t go! Well, it turns out this object of tori’s interest was a complete waste. And she went through a lot of heartache due to this relationship………why?? For what?? We have decided that it was a total ‘God thing’. The only reason she ever met ‘what’s his name’ was for my benefit and my benefit only!! Man God really does love me! Hahah. I must say tori…….it was well worth the pain! Plus now she has the most greatest fiancé ever! So you guys just remember, when you think you are going through this horrible time for nothing……..there is probably someone out there who is benefiting!! So smile! God really does use the good for bad! He works in very mysterious ways and although we can't see what he is doing in that moment, this is where we must be faith-driven, and know that he loves us and will take care of us!