Life In Stillville

Camp Winshape

2007-07-14T15:04:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, I just got back from camp with David and Josiah. It was a blast! This year David went for two sessions and was "tapped out" twice for the Little Chief test. What this means is he was chosen to take a test that if accomplished, it is a great Honor. Only 117 guys have ever made it. I was in my first year in SR camp and I was able to do the low and high ropes (which are amazing). Josiah has reached the rank of Warrior, which is the highest rank an Apache can get. Saturday, Josiah turned 10. "It feels weird!" he said. Next year I will be eligible to take the Little Chief test.Talk to you later.

Barn, Barn, Barn.

2007-06-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

To all the people who have been asking about the barn, we have finished the second floor and are ready to begin the sideing. We are paying for it as it comes, and things take time. I don't have any updated photos but I will get some as soon as possible.

Whats been happin'n

2007-06-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

Well guys, I'm kinda new to this so bear with me. At the beginning of the school year Josiah started going to Cooper Elementary and he really loves it! I have been going to Masters Academy. Its like a home-school co-op group. David has been doing the same thing, just at a different place, Heritage Academy. Mary Helen has been taking classes at Perimeter College and in the fall will leave us to go to Piedmont College. She has also been working at Chick-Fil-A in Snellville.

This Summer!!

2007-06-19T16:57:00.000-05:00

Ok Mary Helen. Hey guys I thought I would tell you alittle about what we are doing this summer. David left last sunday to Camp Winshape for a month. Josiah and I are going
the first two weeks of July. Come labor day, we will be going to the Registers for a couple
of days.

fresh start

2007-06-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

looks like its been a while since we updated this...hmm. life is ever changing and new, and hopefully we will be better about keeping up with sharing it with the rest of you. noah is my right hand computer man, and I'm sure he'll have this blogger thing all figured out in no time. ;) your turn dude!

-mh

More Metal on the Barn

2006-09-16T14:18:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Ken was able to get some more metal on the 2nd tier of the roof of the barn.

Each piece had to be placed and bolted down one at a time.

Here is a view from the end of our house that is closest to our treehouse.

This is a view from the back side of the barn. The metal placement nearly complete.

I'm always thankful when a day's work has ended and NO ONE has fallen off the barn or hurt themselves with a power tool. Praise the Lord!

Josiah Snow Cones

2006-09-14T14:58:00.000-05:00

Last year for Josiah's birthday, Br. Steven Starling gave Josiah a gift that ALL little kids hope to have at some point...a snow cone machine!

Because of the "messy" factor, he only gets to take it out and make snow cones on special occassions. Last Saturday night, since we were having company for dinner, Josiah was allowed to "set up" and make snow cones for everyone.

Here is Noah evaluating all of the flavor choices.

All of the Halbgewachs family enjoyed their "made to order" snow cones. Stephen even came back for seconds. Woo Hoo! :-)

College Decision Completed

2006-09-11T14:13:00.000-05:00

The decision has finally been made...Mary Helen has officially chosen THE college where she'd like to spend the next phase of her life (starting in August 2007).

And the WINNER is..........Piedmont College

Piedmont College is located in Demorest, GA. It is about 1 1/2 hours from home...far enough, but not too far. :-)

Mary Helen's college search has been long and involved MANY traveled miles and more than a few nights in hotel rooms. Mary Helen looked into the following colleges:

Lee University
Shorter College
Florida State University
Carson Newman College
Brewton Parker College
University of Georgia
University of Alabama
Tennessee Tech
Columbus State University
Georgia State University
Piedmont College

Piedmont College had not been on her "radar" screen at all, but after seeing a former Atlanta Youth Choir singer, Jennifer Babel, at the Georgia Music Educators Association's conference last January, Mary Helen decided to go and look at Piedmont. Jennifer is at Piedmont studying the same course work that MH plans to study. Mary Helen's goal is to be a high school or middle school choral conductor.

Anyway, we managed to visit the campus for the first time back in late April. After touring the campus, sitting in on a rehearsal of their top choir, Chamber Singers, and having a long interview with the chair of the music department, Dr. Wally Hinson, Mary Helen and I walked back out to our car. As we walked, she said.."Mom, I think this might be THE place...this might be the right college for me." I held my breath and said a prayer as I walked. She had been so convinced that two other colleges had been "right" for her, and in each case major red flags had gone up shortly after our visits to them that told her that those colleges were not the right ones for her. She was almost scared to think that this college, the one we'd not even considered visiting until doing so out of politeness to a choral friend, could possibly be the place where she would find what she was looking for in a campus and choral program.

Mary Helen found herself praying about the decision and having further discussions with Dr. Hinson. Then she went away to camp for 9 weeks. Upon her return, she was content in her heart that Piedmont was the right place.

Shortly after returning from camp, Dr. Hinson surprised us with an email stating that he'd hoped MH was still interested in Piedmont. At his invitation, Mary Helen and I returned to the Piedmont campus last Wednesday. Mary Helen sat in on 2 classes and another Chamber Singers' rehearsal. We also had the opportunity to go to lunch with Dr. Hinson. Mary Helen was pleased with all that she saw and heard. I, too, was very happy with everything. I especially like Dr. Hinson and think that he will play a key role in Mary Helen's life and learning for the next 5 years.

Our last stop of the day was the campus bookstore, where we OF COURSE had to buy an official Piedmont sweatshirt!

I'm so thankful to have this search completed. Mary Helen's application is submitted and we await word on scholarship opportunities.

Here are two pictures from our day. The first one is MH and Jennifer Babel. Jennifer will be there for MH's freshman year. I think she'll be a great asset for MH.

This is Dr. Wallace Hinson and MH. I'm sure this is the first of many photos I'll take of them over the next 5 years.

Camp Register 2006

2006-09-10T18:16:00.000-05:00

Many, many years ago, there were a group of guys that all found themselves as freshmen at Oxford College in Covington, Georgia. Most of these young men moved on to Emory University in Atlanta and continued to be friends and roommates.

Over the years, Ashley Register (in the center of this picture), has managed to keep all of these guys in touch. Ashley and his wife, Laura, have a beautiful place down in Cairo, Georgia, and they are generous enough to have an annual gathering of the old roommates and their families. Although there are more of the old guys than are pictured (sorry guys...LOL), these are the former Oxfordites that were able to make it to Camp Register for this year's function.

Here are these same fine fellows pictured with their wives...

AND, here is a picture of the guys, their wives, their children....and a few extra friends and family that belong to Laura and Ashley. This group was gathered for swimming and a fish fry on Sunday evening.

There were three of us taking all of the pictures of this incredible weekend. Between us, we managed to take over 600 photos! How in the world do I choose a few of them to share here??
I will do my best to share pictures through a series of blog entries since Picasa only allows me to show 4 per entry. Enjoy!

Goin' on a trail ride....

2006-09-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning started with a trail ride for all who were interested..

Anyone who did not want to ride their own horse was able to take a ride in the horse drawn buggy.

This picture was taken from "house side" of the lake right before the horses and riders disappeared into the woods.

Dock house

2006-09-10T17:51:00.000-05:00

A lot of the pictures I have to share are taken on/from the dock house, so here is a picture to help your eyes get oriented to other shots. Although you can't see it in this picture, the Register's home is behind the trees that are right behind this dock house. The downstairs part of this structure is screened in and has a complete kitchen.

This is the dock house from the front yard of the house.

Noah turned many a flip off this diving board.

The paddle boat provided great exercise and a way to tour the entire pond (really LARGE pond).

More boating

2006-09-10T17:30:00.000-05:00

Diving Board Fun

2006-09-10T17:06:00.000-05:00

I chose to take my swim after the sun went down....here I am right before my big plunge.

Float time

2006-09-10T16:45:00.000-05:00

Everybody smile!

2006-09-10T16:09:00.000-05:00

random few

2006-09-10T15:20:00.000-05:00

These will be the last posting of the Camp Register weekend.

Love this one of Josiah as Aqua Man...

Mary Helen WON the prize by figuring out this puzzle. No kidding, it's one of those things that comes all unfolded and you have to make it into a perfect square. She studied on it for hours, dreamed about it Saturday night, then successfully made it into a perfect square on Sunday afternoon. Very cool!

Deep contemplation as to which horse he should select for a ride...

Can't we just stay here forever, mom???

Indeed, if we could just pack up and move to Camp Register, I WOULD! But short of that fantasy coming true, I'll be thankful for our yearly trip and opportunity to visit and enjoy a little piece of heaven on earth in Cairo, Georgia. Many thanks again to Ashley and Laura Register! See ya next year.

Headed to Camp Register

2006-09-01T06:25:00.000-05:00

Ken's first college roommate, at Oxford College in Covington, was a tall, skinny young man named Ashley Register, from Donaldsonville, GA. Ken and Ashley quickly realized they were intended to be life long friends. The two of them were so much alike!

As the years have gone by, Ashley and Ken have developed careers, married their sweethearts, and had wonderful children. And, believe it or not, they've kept in touch! Ashley and his wife, Laura, have gone to great lengths to maintain relationships with college friends and their families. Each year, they invite a number of these friends to bring their families down to their farm in Cairo, GA. Their place is beautiful...several hundred acres complete with horses and a lake large enough for skiing.

Our family is headed out today to enjoy our annual visit to Camp Register. Much food, fellowship, and fun will be had over the next few days. We will return on Monday afternoon. I look forward to posting pictures from our adventure next week.

last year's visit

2006-09-01T05:46:00.000-05:00

I just remembered that I have pictures from last year's Labor Day weekend at Camp Register...so I thought I'd post a couple of those until next week.

This is Ken and Ashley..both gray headed 44 year olds.

Jet skiing on the lake that Ashley dug out and made himself. I'll get some pictures this weekend that really allow you to see the whole lake...it is so pretty.

Ken riding a horse at the beginning one of many trail rides. He is actually in their driveway in this picture. The trails are genuine deep in the woods trails.

Anyway...I look forward to sharing this year's trip in photographs sometime next week. I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!

Six Flags Adventure 2006

2006-08-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, August 26th, a group of 14 of us spent the day at Six Flags. The Cagles had initiated the idea and obtained tickets at a really good discount...so we couldn't resist. Here are some random pictures from the day.

More Six Flags Photos

2006-08-29T19:56:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more random shots from the day...ultimate silliness!

Flyin' High

2006-08-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

Ok, so, ever since giving birth to Mary Helen over 17 years ago, I have not been able to handle roller coaster rides very well at all! Trips to places like Six Flags and Kings Island have become mostly about watching everyone else enjoy the coasters. I usually get to ride two rides and then the nausea and headache set in. I've come to accept the situation and still have a good time.

In recent years, I've discovered something at amusement parks that I CAN do without getting sick feeling. I first made this realization several years ago when at Kings Island in Ohio with the Tomlinson Family. On that day, Mary Helen, Br. Lyle, and I became brave enough to free fall from a VERY tall bungee jump/swing located at the edge of the park. It was exhilerating! I'd never felt anything like the sense of flying that I felt on that day.

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to enjoy that sensation again! After having watched a number of people take on the bungee jump during our day at Six Flags, I decided since I could not ride the coasters "well", I'd like to take on the "jump" again. Jeremy and Stephen were game to do it with me, so we got a reservation and came back an hour later to have our high flyin' thrill.

Mary Helen was assigned to take pictures, but since it was about 8:30pm when we were taking our "ride", the sun was on its way down and the pictures did not turn out very well. But, here they are anyway. :-)

This first picture is simply a picture of the arched structure from which we were hoisted way up into the air. You can see the Scream Machine roller coaster down below the arch. We were lifted up by wires on the right side of the arch.

Here we are right before going to get strapped into the flying gear.

Here we are in our "monkey suits" that are used to attach the wires and such.
Mary Helen was up on an observation deck when she took this shot.

Although she took a number of shots, most of them are too dark to even see us...this shot is when we were towards the bottom of the fall/swing.
I'll always cherish the memory of flyin' high with the Halbgewachs boys!

I think I'm ready for sky diving now....hmmmm, what a great idea for a 40th birthday event!

Mary Helen's Meals

2006-08-22T14:26:00.000-05:00

Mary Helen continues to make interesting meals for Monday evenings. I'm going to let her write the descriptions for these dishes.

Hiya! Okay..these meals definitely demand a little explanation. First of all, as some of you may know, I'm a bit of a fan of odd holidays like "Dance A Polka Day", "Chinese Valentine's Day", "UFO Awareness Day", and lets not forget today - "National Spongecake Day." Actually, quite a few of the odd holidays I find have something to do with food. So I figured I'd dedicate my Monday night meals to these unknown and sadly uncelebrated holidays.

Monday, August 14 was Alfred Hitchcock's Birthday, so naturally there had to be some blood and a bit of mystery in my meal. Thus, my family discovered poor meatloaf men murdered on their plates...quite the whodunit, don't you think? lol Okay, so maybe it sounds a bit morbid, but hey, it tasted good!

Monday, August 21 was the anniversary of the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911. Somehow it ended up on my lasanga.....

The 21st was also "National Spumoni Day" so in honor of the occasion I made this classic Italian dessert. It was actually quite a bit better than I'd thought it would be!

Now, back to my mother...

Special Note: According to my blogspot, this is my 100th post. I can hardly believe I've posted 100 times since April. WOW! What Fun!

Flowers for Momma

2006-08-22T14:17:00.000-05:00

Mary Helen did something very sweet today...she brought me flowers...JUST BECAUSE! She came walking in from her first day of her first college class and presented with me a lovely bouquet and said, "Just because I love you!"

Can't beat that for a special unexpected treat, can ya?

How I LOVE Sister Ruth!

2006-08-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

I just came across this picture from singing school that had been left out of my previous post. David took this picture with my little digital camera, and I have not downloaded pictures from it in a while, so I forgot that this picture was even on that camera.

This is Sister Ruth Huffman from Ringgold, GA. (For PB Gals reading my blog, she is Joanna Skiles' grandmother). She is a precious sister in Christ. I adore Sister Ruth and always enjoy time spent with her!

I truly hope to have her spunk when I am her age.

Crazy Girl!

2006-08-18T08:27:00.000-05:00

Look! Her tongue almost matches her shirt! LOL

This picture is proof that Mary Helen Still came home from Camp WinShape more childlike than when she left home in May. She definitely rediscovered the "little girl" inside herself during her 9 weeks of camp adventures.

Fellowship after church

2006-08-17T21:12:00.000-05:00

Generally speaking, after Wednesday night services, everyone hangs out and visits for a while. Sometimes we bring a snack..and this week the treat was ice cold push pops.

We were blessed by several visitors this week including Jerry Wiggins, Tom, Sophie, and Tommy Godbey, and Bryan Woodard and his girls.

Look at Br. Steven in this picture! He's lost 78 pounds and counting! Woo!Woo!

I'm very thankful for the family we have at Shiloh.

Big David and Little Luke

2006-08-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

I could not resist taking this picture last Sunday at church. We at Shiloh were thrilled to see the Meredith family come through the doors with their newest bundle of joy!

This picture is of Brother David Bacon holding little Luke Steven Meredith after Luke's first service at Shiloh. Luke is already a tiny baby...and he looked so precious in Br. David's strong arms. Brother David and Sister Annette will become grandparents this fall, so David was completely enjoying thinking about what it will be like when he gets to hold his own grandbaby.

Goats On The Roof?!

2006-08-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

Right about supper time, Ken came into the house and said he'd just seen something he'd never seen before...goats were on the roof of the old barn used by the goats for shelter during the winter. This old barn is in our front pasture. Ken said, "You gotta see this!"

So, of course, I grabbed my camera and headed out the front door.

In order to see how the goats got on top of the barn, I walked around to the front.
There is a second roof that is low..and at the edge of that roof, there is a stack of metal that is just tall enough for the goats to access jumping onto the low roof.

Here are the goats making their escape back down to the ground as Josiah hollered at them to get down.

Ken will have to move that pile of metal so that the goats don't continue to get on top of this barn. Although it was funny to see, it is dangerous for both the goats and the roof.

Never a dull moment in Stillville!

Barn Update!

2006-08-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

I've received several requests for a barn update...so here ya go. :-)

Ken had good weather to work on the barn during his vacation last week. He and the boys worked most every day from sun up to sun down. The work accomplished consisted of putting the second roof on each side of the barn. Ken calls the roof in this picture a "hip roof". That is actually an architectural term..not Ken bragging on his roof! LOL

After getting the roofs on both sides to a certain point, Ken had to cover them up with tarps to protect the wood until the metal can be ordered and installed.

This is a view from the "far side" of the barn.

This is a view from one of the ends. The big space in the upper middle is where I will be storing everything that is currently in our basement. Yahoo!

Slow but steady, the barn work is coming along. When I ask Ken to predict when it might all be completed...he laughs and says "eventually".

Noah's First Shave

2006-08-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

For quite a while, Noah has had a smidge of dark fuzz on his upper lip. For whatever reason, it has begun to "bother" him. :-)

Tonight, Noah asked Ken to show him how to shave his face. Noah watched very carefully as Ken demonstrated how he shaves everyday.

Next, it was Noah's turn. He lathered up his face and began to slowly take the razor across his face. He did a fine job! My "little Noah" is quickly becoming my "young man Noah".

He finished up with a gentle rinse and pat dry. He seemed satisfied with knowing how the process works.

Of course, during this whole thing, Josiah was begging for Ken to teach him TOOOO! "Your day is comin' " was Ken's reply. Josiah was not happy with that, but he did know better than to press the issue any more today. With Josiah being 9 now, we only have 9 more years until all of our children are legally adults. WOW!

David's Other Mother

2006-08-13T21:40:00.000-05:00

For anyone who has not met her, this is David's "other mother", Sister Gail Moore-Huie. She loves David like only a mother can...and then some. David and Gail have a very special relationship. Gail is a very dear friend to me, and I am thankful she can be such a great friend to David as well.

She and I will both be the "blubbering idiots" when David marries someday and has another female in his life more important than either of us.

Evening On The Town

2006-08-11T22:49:00.000-05:00

Our dear friend, Steven Starling, is the current president of the Gwinnett Historical Society . Steven was thoughtful enough to invite Ken, Mary Helen, David, and myself to attend the GHS's Annual Gala event at the historic courthouse in downtown Lawrenceville.

The evening was full of food, friends, orchestra music, and dancing. Mary Helen and Ken completely enjoyed dancing together. Mary Helen said to me, "My daddy can really cut a rug!"

David is also a good dancer, like his daddy. I, on the other hand, am not so good at it..but I did TRY!

Here are the four of us. Mary Helen and I were thrilled to have a great excuse to wear our "little black dresses". Mary Helen did a super job of finding all of the jewelry we wore tonight. She has a knack for that sort of thing! Ken was handsome as ever in his black suit and red bow tie. And, David, let me tell you about David's ensemble.

Ken and I met about 2 months before my high school Senior Prom. When I asked Ken about taking me to my prom, he said he would be honored to do so. He also told me that he had the perfect outfit for a prom event. Remember, Ken was already a junior at Georgia Tech when we met and he was accustomed to attending college formals and parties. I thought surely he meant that he already owned a handsome tux. WRONG!

When Ken showed me what he was planning to wear to my prom, I had to nix the idea that we would be attending. All of my HIGH SCHOOL guy friends were wearing traditional, normal tuxedos...at that time, I was NOT willing to be seen with a guy in a RED, Smokin' Jacket that had been purchased at a vintage clothing store. OK, OK, now that I look back on it, I am sorry that I allowed that jacket to keep me from my memorable evening. But, hey, I cared too much about what my peers would be thinking about my older date in a goofy red coat.

On Thursday afternoon, David and I went shopping for him some new threads to wear to the Gala. We successfully found him new pants, shirt, and tie. But we did not find a dress jacket for him to wear. Once we got home, Mary Helen decided to look through Ken's closet and see if there were any of Ken's jackets that might fit David. I was in another part of the room when I heard her exclaim, "David! Come here! Let's see if this fits you! It's great!"

Next thing I know, David and Mary Helen are certain that they've found the perfect jacket for David to wear to the Gala...and the jacket they found was NONE OTHER than the red smokin' jacket. It actually looked very handsome on David. Mary Helen carried a red purse to help them look coordinated.

We had a lovely evening and are thankful for Steven's generosity in inviting us!

Mary Helen and I are now looking for another venue to which we can wear our "little black dresses"....any suggestions??

Happy Birthday Mary Helen!

2006-08-11T20:58:00.000-05:00

Today is Mary Helen's 17th birthday! We started the day with special pancakes on the Still Family Birthday Plate, then she and I went to have our eye brows waxed for the Historical Society's Gala that we attended tonight, next Mary Helen went to lunch with a dear girl friend who is leaving for UGA on Sunday, and we topped the day off by getting very gussied up and going to the Gala with Ken and David.

Mary Helen received her "real" birthday present back in May because she was going to need it all summer at camp...an Apple Ipod. But I could not have her having nothing to open on her actual birthday. About 6 months ago, she mentioned a certain dictionary (weird, I know, but she loves words) that she really wanted...so she received it today and was THRILLED!

Ken, Mary Helen, David, and I spent a lovely evening at a special event that I will highlight in my next post. Towards the end of the evening, the entire party sang Happy Birthday to her and she received a beautiful cake that had been made by a local bakery called YumYum Confections. It was beautiful and delicious!

All in all, Mary Helen had a great day...only one more year until she is legally an adult.

A Visit With The Meredith Family

2006-08-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

Three weeks ago today, little Luke Steven Meredith was born safe and sound. The first part of his life, he and his whole family stayed with Brenda's parents so that Grandmomma and Grandaddy could love on them all and be helpful. It was a good time for Brenda, Kress, and the children.

Now, everyone is home, and life is trying to get back to normal (whatever normal is for any of us). LOL

Tonight, Gail, Mary Helen, and I went to visit and carry a meal to the family. Baby Luke is adorable and all of the Meredith children were so excited to see Mary Helen. They have not seen her in so very long.

SAVE this picture!! Gail's eyes are OPEN! And I did not even have to photoshop fake eyeballs onto her face. LOL. Sister Brenda looked wonderful and seems to be doing well.

Luke Steven is still very small. On Monday he weighed 6lbs 4oz. He is healthy just tiny. At 3 weeks old, he is still 2 pounds smaller than my smallest baby.

As I took this picture, Mary Helen said to me..."Ahh, Mom, I want us to have another baby." I quickly snapped the picture and then laughed my head off! No more babies for Stillville..not until grandkids arrive in about 10+ years.

Mary Helen Makes A Meal!

2006-08-10T01:32:00.000-05:00

OK, so most people know that I've had "issues" with allowing Mary Helen into my kitchen all these years. Although I could give a list of reasons how this came to be, I am well aware of the arguments that would be hurled my way...so, I'll just admit that I have been very neglectful in this area with my only daughter.

As a part of her last year at home, I hope to try and remedy this situation. For the next 11 months, Mary Helen will be responsible for planning and making supper at our house every Monday night.

Mary Helen is taking this new Monday Night Chef role seriously and did a wonderful job with her meal this past Monday. She searched the internet and chose to make a recipe called, "Maple and Dried Cranberry Chicken with Butternut Squash Gratin". It was a pretty fancy recipe requiring a few ingredients I've never even bought before. She did the shopping on her own, the cooking on her own, and the clean up on her own. I was very proud of her!

Mary Helen's beautiful meal! It was delicious! This picture does not do it any justice.

I can hardly wait until next Monday!

Concerts at the Ferst Center

2006-08-08T08:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Mary Helen and I drove down to GA TECH's Ferst Center for the Arts and bought tickets for a few of the new season's concerts. I am SOOO excited! Here are the shows we will be seeing there this year:

Rockape lla

The Five Browns

Guthrie Family Legacy Tour

If any of you reading this blog are students at Ga Tech, you should really take advantage of the student rate for tickets to shows at the Ferst Center. The Ferst Center is a fabulous venue!

Given that this is Mary Helen's last year "at home", I hope for our family to be able to take many opportunities for live performances throughout Atlanta.

She's B-A-C-K!!

2006-08-06T16:55:00.000-05:00

After what seemed like an extremely LONG summer, Mary Helen has returned home from WinShape Camp for Girls. We are all adjusting to having her home again. And she is adjusting to having to live with all these boys again. LOL

Mary Helen has begun her internship with the Atlanta Youth Choir and Phillip Shoultz. She is registered for her classes at Perimeter College. She has applied for a job at the Chick Fil A in Snellville (hope to hear something about that early this week). She has decided to sing with the Gwinnett Choral Guild this season. She will be teaching Sarah Smith and Bethany Thomas piano lessons. And she will be observing in different public school music classrooms starting in 2 weeks.

So, although she is living in our house again, we are likely to not see much of her during this her last year at home before leaving for Piedmont College next August. Mary Helen's Real Life can now be seen on her "life at home" blog, www.maryhelenstill.blogspot.com .

Singing School in Chattanooga

2006-07-28T21:00:00.000-05:00

July 26-28 found 14 of us Shiloh Folks attending singing school at Chattanooga Primitive Baptist Church. Br. Tim Cannon was the instructor. The school was well attended and MUCH fun! I took way to many pictures to share, but I am posting a few group shots and then a few singing shots on other posts.

Here is the Shiloh crew having breakfast EARLY on Wednesday morning as we head to Chattanooga.

Br. Tim and Sis. Emily are in the center of this picture with all of the attending children.

Shiloh's group of 14...3 adults and 11 children...it was quite an adventure!

More Singing School Shots

2006-07-28T20:00:00.000-05:00

Brother Tim teaching the different solfege (do-re-mi, etc) hand signs.

Brother Tim uses various techniques to teach children and adults different components of music and singing.

After some basics have been covered, everyone breaks into voice part sections for the singing of hymns. We apply what we've learned to the reading of the song scores.

My favorite part of Br. Tim's singing schools is the way he gets down on the floor with even the smallest children and helps them "feel" music.

Little Zach Huffman is in the center of this picture. He provided all manner of entertainment throughout the three days of school.

See Rock City!

2006-07-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

Each day during the singing school afternoon break, we took our crowd to do something special. On Day 2, we went to "See Rock City". Michele Autry and her children joined us for the adventure.

Brother Steve with the Woodard girls, Chrisie, Alison, and Sarah.

LOOK! I'm in a picture! Thanks for taking this one Gail.

Brother Steve and I could not resist this shot...Look REAL closely and you'll see the sign that is posted for this tight passage, "Fat Man Squeeze". The great news is that Steve is NO longer to large to fit through this passage! Whoo Hoo! He has lost nearly 70 pounds.

We can now all say that we have SEEN Rock City. It was a lot of fun...although a hot and sticky day.

Noah gets a banjo!

2006-07-25T21:01:00.000-05:00

Noah has been asking about learning to play a banjo for nearly a year. Today, the first part of his journey took place. Ken took him to a banjo specialty store in Marietta and his Gold Tune Banjo was purchased.

Now, we must see about lessons. Hopefully, Dane Hildreth (master young banjo player) will be able to help Noah learn his initial basics.

Although his expression here is calm, he arrived home beyond thrilled that his Daddy made this wonderful purchase for him. May Noah be blessed to learn this instrument and share the talent with others.

Lake Pictures Now Posted

2006-07-23T20:05:00.000-05:00

Be sure to scroll down to the July 15th postings that I've uploaded today. There are 6 different posts from that day so that I could get plenty of water fun pictures on display.

Dallas PBC's Annual July Meeting

2006-07-23T19:36:00.000-05:00

Noah, Josiah, and I were blessed to attend the annual summer meeting for the Dallas Primitive Baptist Church (Dallas, GA) this weekend. We spent the night with the Halbgewachs family on Friday night so that we could attend services on both Friday and Saturday. Here are a few pictures that were taken mostly between services.

Brothers enjoying some singing together.

Jeremy is a novice backgammon player...sooo, Josiah was able to beat him. Josiah was thrilled, of course.

Here I am with a few of the sisters of Dallas PBC. Jeremy's mother, Elaine, is second from the left in the picture. All three of these ladies cooked up a storm to feed everyone. The food was delicious!

I couldn't resist taking this picture of Noah, Josiah, and Jeremy leading the song service together.

Many thanks to the membership at Dallas PBC and to the Halbgewachs family for a blessed weekend.

Surprise visit with a good buddy!

2006-07-19T20:46:00.000-05:00

Our membership decided to carry our Wednesday evening church service to Shoal Creek PBC in Newborn tonight because Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr. was preaching a series of special services. Elder Bradley is the grandfather of one of Josiah's favorite buddies. We were thrilled and surprised to find that Elder Bradley had brought his grandson, William, with him on this preaching trip. Josiah and William very much enjoyed visiting with one another even if it was only for a couple of hours.

Our family usually gets to make a week long trip to William's house in Ohio during the summer. Because Mary Helen has been gone all summer, we did not get to make our annual trip. :-(

Hopefully, we will get to make our Ohio visit next spring or summer.

Swimming at the Godbey's and Corn from the Pucketts

2006-07-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

Of course with summer time comes swimming time. Since we don't own a swimming pool or pond (Ken is currently building a barn on what would have been a perfect pool site), we must visit our friends that do own pools. :-)

This afternoon, Gail and I took the Still boys, the Moore-Huie girls, and the Woodard girls to Tom and Mary Godbey's pool. Much fun was had by all!

Chicken Fight time!

This evening we were blessed to receive farm fresh corn on the cob from Wiley and Betty Puckett. All we had to do was shuck it! The boys will eat it all for lunch tomorrow I'm sure!

YUM!YUM!

Josiah's Lake Adventure

2006-07-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

Josiah had a blast at the lake swimming, skiing, eating, and skipping rocks.

Stephen bought special skis so that Josiah could make a real attempt at skiing. Jeremy patiently helped Josiah get strapped into the skis and up out of the water.

After several hours of playing and watching others do their own tricks, the sunshine got to Josiah and he drifted off to sleep.

Noah's Lake Adventure

2006-07-15T20:01:00.000-05:00

Noah had a full day of skiing, wakeboarding, and tubing. He was thrilled with his "on water" success!

David's Lake Adventure

2006-07-15T19:00:00.000-05:00

David was VERY pleased with all of the fun he had at the lake with the Halbgewachs family. He out-skied all of us, taking on fancy turns, jumping the boat wakes, and leaning over to touch the water while holding on to the rope with only one hand.

He did get a little frustrated with the wakeboard. He was not able to "get up" on the wakeboard like Noah was.

Overall, though, David had a wonderful day and can hardly wait to be invited back again.

Jeremy and Stephen show us how to wakeboard

2006-07-15T18:00:00.000-05:00

If you have NEVER tried to wakeboard before, then these pictures won't mean much to you. I had no idea how hard wakeboarding was until I tried it on this day. After 3 attempts, I had to give up. I was exhausted from the attempts. Noah had about 20 seconds of success. David was like me and could not get up at all.

So when Jeremy and Stephen took their turns and made it look so easy....I had a newfound respect for both of them!

Ken's Lake Adventure

2006-07-15T17:03:00.000-05:00

Ken calculates that it has been about 20 years since he last attempted to ski. Although he gave it a good effort, this picture shows how far out of the water he actually got. Brother Victor was somewhat relieved. Since Ken could not get up on the skis, Victor did not feel the peer pressure to attempt to "do it too". LOL

What Ken discovered that he really liked was the tubing! Still photographs can not do justice to how much fun he had in this water activity.

The tubing looked like so much fun, I had to give it a try with Ken. We laughed so hard my sides were aching!

Carolyn's Lake Adventure

2006-07-15T16:20:00.000-05:00

Although I did a smidge of skiing last summer at the Register's house in Cairo, that skiing was behind a jet ski, and I had a very difficult time of it. I was both nervous and excited about trying it again today.

As patient as EVER, Jeremy helped me get on the skis and talked me through remembering how to get out of the water and stay upright. LOL

This picture is just before Stephen hit the gas pedal....

LOOK!! I did it! WOO HOO!! Except for the flabby thighs, I felt like I was 16 again!

Going tubing with my sweetie was way much fun!

Oh MY WORD! I was laughing so hard while trying to keep my grip on the tube! You can not underestimate the power of having fun like a little kid.

I rediscovered how much I love skiing! I so hope to have the opportunity to ski at least one more time this summer. Many, many thanks to Stephen Halbgewachs for taking us to the lake and just as many thanks to Jeremy Halbgewachs for patiently helping each of us achieve some success on the water. He was left most of the day in the wake of the boat just treading water as each of us made our attempts at the different tricks. He was a great guy about it!

David gets tapped out

2006-07-14T20:12:00.000-05:00

Today is Josiah's 9th birthday! I can hardly believe that he has only 1 year left as a single digit age.

Ken, Josiah, Noah, and I traveled to Berry College campus to attend David's 2nd session's closing ceremonies. Josiah was so happy to get to see Mary Helen on his birthday. Just 2 more weeks and Mary Helen comes home from her summer adventure.

David had a wonderful 2nd session at camp. He was blessed to be tapped out for an opportunity to pass the Little Chief test. Only boys that are observed to have a strong character and godly attributes are chosen, or tapped out, to strive to accomplish the Little Chief test. David was the only boy his age (most boys are not tapped out until in highschool) to be tapped out this session. He gave 110% of himself to the test, but due to an injury suffered during a wrestling match, David was not able to complete the very last part of the test...a 1.2 mile uphill run. Hopefully, David will be able to complete the test before graduating from highschool. To help you understand the significance of passing the test, let me say that only 105 boys in the last 30 years (out of about 1800 tapped out) have actually completed the challenge.

In this picture, David is receiving his new Buck feather. Any boy that is tapped out but does not achieve the Little Chief rank becomes a camper with the rank of Buck. This is a high honor!

Here is David with Michael Wang. Michael was the co-counselor in his cabin this session and he is also the Little Chief Director.

Dad is shaking David's hand as he congratulates him for a job very well done!

Celebrating Josiah's birthday at the Halbgewachs' Home

2006-07-14T20:02:00.000-05:00

Back in April, our family was invited to spend this particular weekend with the Halbgewachs family. The plan has been to celebrate Josiah's birthday and spend Saturday on Stephen's boat at the lake.

Brother Victor and Sister Elaine went to great measures to make sure that Josiah's party was extra special. Br. Victor made this great birthday banner and Sister Elaine made a delicious birthday cake. What a treat for Josiah!!

Look closely and you can see that Brother Victor put Josiah's name and face on some of the decorative cards.

Josiah blowing out candles for the last time with a single digit age.

A few more photos from birthday day

2006-07-14T19:40:00.000-05:00

After a delicious supper and birthday cake, the boys went out in the front yard to play ball for a while. I had much fun seeing Ken play ball with our sons.

The Halbgewachs family gave Josiah 2 new super soakers for his birthday. As you can see, he was quite excited by this gift!

After a long wait, Josiah finally received a sewing machine of his own. Because Mary Helen and I intend to use it also, we actually bought Josiah a fairly nice machine. He screamed and jumped up into my arms when he realized that his gift really was what he'd hoped for.

Next year, Josiah will turn 10, and we will no longer have any small children in our home. WOO HOO!

Birthday Week Continues!

2006-07-12T21:22:00.000-05:00

Since we will be away from home on Josiah's actual birthday, we celebrated with our church friends after Bible study tonight.

Bubba Steve gave Josiah a basket full of sewing accessories! Josiah is into some sewing hobbies at the moment.

Josiah gleefully hugged Sister Gail and thanked her for the cool new version of the game Life. It is a Pirates of the Caribbean Life. Noah and Josiah are in their room already deep into this new game.

Daytime photo of barn progress

2006-07-10T12:47:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the barn progress in the day light. Last Saturday, all of the wall braces were cut and hammered into place.

After the bracing was completed, the installation of vinyl facia began. (for those of you who, like me, don't know what the heck that means...strips of vinyl were attached just below the metal roof's edge so that when it rains the vinyl protects the wood below the metal from getting wet.)
The vinyl facia is one of those things that you don't really notice when you look at a house or barn, but without it, rain can damage the structure over time.

Little by little, Ken's barn is coming along. Hopefully, it will be completed enough by late fall that I can begin filling the upper portion up with all of the stuff that currently resides in our basement. Lord willing....

Food, fun, and fellowship at Union PBC

2006-07-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

About 3 times a year, Union PBC in Roswell, GA, invites everyone to come for an evening of eating, playing and visiting. The membership at Union has a wonderful way with hospitality!

Master Grillers getting ready for the meat...

This "zip line" provides major thrills...

TWO Josiahs playing checkers....

Great play equipment for all ages....

The older kids had HUGE fun playing volleyball. I'm going to post those pictures separately.

Action Packed Volleyball

2006-07-09T22:50:00.000-05:00

Although I'm NO athlete, I love taking pictures of athletic games. Over the course of several hours at Union PBC, a number of great volleyball games took place. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took of the action....

I'm so sad that Mary Helen and David had to miss out on all of this fun!

Josiah's birthday week begins

2006-07-09T22:42:00.000-05:00

Josiah will turn 9 this Friday, July 14th. He began his birthday week with a lunch and presents at Momma Grand's house.

Momma Grand had Baskin Robbins make his favorite ice cream roll cake.

COOL!!! A Spiderman shooter...

Josiah had a wonderful start to his birthday week thanks to our dear Momma Grand!

Barn Work Resumes

2006-07-08T22:22:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, Ken's dad is home from the hospital and doing well. With that good news, Ken was able to resume work on his barn on Saturday.

Br. Jeremy Halbgewachs volunteered to assist Ken for the day. After a full 12 hours on the endeavor, Ken and his brother, Tim, declared Jeremy as "barn approved". LOL

A nail gun ALWAYS helps a job like this one be much more pleasant.

One of Josiah's tasks was to follow behind the nail gun and hammer the nail heads until they were flush with the wood.

A day with power tools...does it get better than that?

By the end of the day, much was accomplished on the barn. I'll have to take a picture in the daylight tomorrow to show the latest "view". By the time the work ended last night, it was too dark to get a good photo.

Surprise Party for Sister Chelsea

2006-07-08T00:16:00.000-05:00

Sister Chelsea, a sweet young member at Shiloh, turns 16 tomorrow. Our church membership managed to help her folks give her a surprise Sweet 16 birthday party. Chelsea was TOTALLY clueless that anything was happening for her and the party was a complete success.

Here is the banner that Sister Gail and her girls did for Chelsea. Sister Gail still remembers how to do her fancy cheerleader letters from her highschool days.

Here is Chelsea right after she arrived and realized she'd been ambushed into a party. She laughed and cried when she discovered that we were all there to help her celebrate.

Of course, every birthday girl must wear her feathers and princess crown!

Happy Sweet 16 dear Sister Chelsea!

Attending this surprise party reminded me that we only have less than 5 months till we ambush Gail somehow as she turns the BIG 50!! Better get my thinkin' cap on. :-)

More fun shots from the Shiloh cookout

2006-07-08T00:15:00.000-05:00

In addition to the birthday party fun, everyone had a good time visiting with friends and enjoying a genuine bonfire meal together.

Noah gives Sarah a lift.

Pam gives Chrisie a ride.

Even Brother Wiley assisted in keeping the bonfire hot and ready for hotdogs and marshmallows.

Les, Kress, and Ken cook up the hotdogs.

Play day at the Hildreth's house

2006-07-06T21:57:00.000-05:00

About every 6 months, I just have to have my "Crystal" fix! Sweet Crystal Hildreth has a true gift for hospitality. Today turned out to be a perfect day for hanging out at the Blue House in McDonough (they live in an old lovely blue house right off the square in McDonough). As it rained all morning, the children played and Crystal and I visited on her back porch.

Crystal made a pot of delicious vegetable soup. It was very yummy indeed!

This is little Lee saying "cheeeeese" for my camera.

These boys spent most of the morning recording scenes for a miniature movie. Cool, huh?!

Turns out Joe-E is NOT supposed to slide down the banister like this...but I couldn't resist taking this picture once he was safely at the bottom.

Fourth of July in Stillville

2006-07-05T19:35:00.000-05:00

For the last several years, we have found that doing fireworks at home is far more rewarding than joining the MASSES at the local places where thousands of people come to see professional fireworks.

As the day begins to become evening, Josiah and Noah start the party with some simple fire crackers. This is the first year that both Mary Helen and David are away from home for July 4th.

Given that we were two kids short for all of our fun, we invited Stephen and Jeremy Halbgewachs to our house for dinner and fireworks. Part of the tradition here in Stillville includes using lit cigars for lighting the fireworks throughout the night. It is only once a year! Here the guys have just lit up for the evening. Hopefully Sister Elaine won't hold it against us. LOL

Ken and Josiah get the next item ready to blow.

Jeremy discovered that using the PVC pipes was a cool way to send different fireworks flying fast and far.

More from our Fourth Fireworks

2006-07-05T19:34:00.000-05:00

Josiah had a blast being in charge of some of his own explosions. Of course Ken was just behind him making certain he was using safety rules.

Josiah's feet after several hours of firework fallout.

Ken and Stephen enjoy watching their "air show".

Some of the end of the evening trash...Josiah and Noah had the clean up duty. Hey, somebody has to do it...and it's usually the youngest that get the job. LOL

MH on the job

2006-07-05T19:05:00.000-05:00

Here are a few shots of Mary Helen when we went to Session Two's closing ceremonies last Friday, June 30th.

Although she is sitting on the ground here, it is because she is conducting the WinSong Junior Choir, and not only are they singing, but they are doing sign language as well, so she sat down in order for the girls' signs to be easily seen by their parents.

She was happy to see her daddy.

Her small space for the summer.

David's first camp session

2006-07-05T19:03:00.000-05:00

Each tribe of boys sings its special tribal song for everyone else to hear..David is dead center in this picture.

This is David with his counselor, Josh.

Look how much taller David is than me now!

Noah WinShape 2006

2006-07-05T19:01:00.000-05:00

Noah found it very hard to leave camp this year knowing that David was staying for another 2 weeks. I believe Noah will be huntin' up ways to make his camp experience last 4 weeks instead of 2 next year.

Here is Noah walking with his arm holding his tribal sign. The boys were processing into the council ring for closing ceremonies.

Noah's tribe doing their tribal song. Noah's back is to us in the picture.

Noah and his counselor who was from Russia.

Josiah WinShape 2006

2006-07-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

Josiah marches in with his Apache tribe of boys. That pile of wood in the background was set to burning shortly after this picture is taken...the smoke from the burning is visible in some of the pictures I posted on Noah's and David's pages.

Josiah's tribe singing their song. All of the boys in each tribe get into this presentation seriously. Josiah is on the far right side of the picture.

Josiah and his counselor, Eric.

Mary Helen was able to come over to boys' camp after the ceremonies were over and hug each of her brothers.

Grandpa is HOME

2006-07-05T17:39:00.000-05:00

As of late this afternoon, Grandpa Still is home from the hospital. He is weak, but he is so glad to be home. Thanks for all of the prayers that have gone up!

He makes us GREAT!

2006-07-04T12:31:00.000-05:00

Little Kevin here makes me and Ken, Great Aunt Carolyn and Great Uncle Ken. Kevin is our niece, Megen's, little boy. Kevin is about 8 months old and looks exactly like Megen did when she was a baby.

Kevin sticks his little tongue out all the time...JUST like his momma did when she was a baby. It totally cracked me up when she did it and now he draws the same reaction.

Barb and Norm's baptism

2006-07-02T19:17:00.000-05:00

After being regular visitors for nearly 18 months, Barb and Norm Cushing joined the membership at Shiloh. Ken baptized them at Camp Creek PBC on Sunday afternoon. In this picture, Sister Gail is hugging her very dear friend and crying tears of thanksgiving!

Ken with Barb and Norm.

Grandpa Update Friday Evening

2006-06-30T20:11:00.000-05:00

After being away from home since 6am, Ken and I travelled to Rome today to pick up Noah and Josiah (pictures tomorrow, I hope), I am finally able to give a short update on Ken's Dad.

As of this evening, Grandpa is in PCU, a step above intensive care..but still not a regular room. He is having bladder spasms that are causing him pain. The assessment is that the bleeding was indeed from too much Cumiden in in his system causing his blood to thin out so much it spilled into his urine. He will be in the hospital until his urine is clear once again, his blood thickened up, and he has control over urinating without a catheter.

Please pray for Ken and his brother, Tim, as they take turns staying at the hospital with Dad. Dad is growing impatient with his situation.

And pray for Ken's Mom, Mary. She is patiently waiting at home for her sweet man to return to her. :-)

Grandpa Update Thursday Morning

2006-06-29T06:34:00.000-05:00

As of this morning, Grandpa is in ICU at Eastside Hospital in Snellville. He is fairly stabilized, but they still have not determined the source of the bleeding. Ken has gone to spend the day at the hospital with his dad. Thanks to everyone for your calls, emails, and prayers. I'll update when there is any news to share.

Prayers for Grandpa Still

2006-06-28T07:26:00.000-05:00

Ken's father was rushed to the local ER this morning. We believe his blood thinner has gotten too concentrated in his system. Prayerfully, he will only be there a few days and will return home "as good as new".

This is a picture I took of Grandpa and Noah recently as they were observing the work being done on Ken's barn.

Josiah the serious horseman

2006-06-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

Saw this picture on the camp website this morning. I cracked up seeing how serious he looks at the task that is before him. He really does like riding horses and wants to be as good as David at it.

A Sight for Sore Eyes!

2006-06-26T06:54:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone is prone to look at my blog regularly but not at Mary Helen's, I'm posting a picture here from her blog this morning. I was THRILLED to open her blog today and see this picture of our four youngins all together at an event at camp. Seeing them all smiling and happy together has my heart melting.

Momma Grand....see what you're responsible for?! They are so happy and blessed in this experience because of you!!

Ken's newest chicken

2006-06-24T20:19:00.000-05:00

Although Mary Helen was away at camp for Father's Day, she left a special gift behind for him to open in her absence. Upon opening the gift, Ken discovered his newest Stillville chicken...a guitar playing, blues lovin', well-groomed Rooster. Ken is still contemplating his name. He has him proudly displayed in the living room for all to see. Be sure to check 'em out the next time you visit. :-)

Porker's favorite place

2006-06-24T20:10:00.000-05:00

Like most cats, Porker favors drinking water from a running faucet. Daily, we turn on bathroom faucets for him to have a cool drink.

A very funny thing about Porker is that his FAV place in our house to rest or take a nap is also a bathroom sink! We frequently walk into one of our three bathrooms to find Porker asleep in the sink. I managed to get him to look right at the camera for this shot. LOL

Night out with Kevin and Kary

2006-06-22T21:30:00.000-05:00

Every couple should have friends that remind them of their youth! Kevin and Kary Kennedy do that for me and Ken. Tonight we met Kevin and Kary at a quaint "meat and potatoes" restaurant in Monroe called the Butcher's Block. They serve delicious steaks at a very affordable price.

I don't really look 15 years older than Kary...DO I??? Thank goodness Myke and Amanda (Salon 124) can cut and color me just right. ;-)

Here we are..."footloose and fancy free".....Thanks to MOMMA GRAND! How many ways can we thank her for sending the children to camp??? Never enough. :-)

Noah at Camp

2006-06-22T15:56:00.000-05:00

Today I've been able to spot Noah in a few pictures on the camp website. I think in the first one he is in a "rocketry" class, and of course, in the second one he is in horseback riding class. Mary Helen sent me an email yesterday that she had seen Noah when carrying something over to boys' camp. She said it was sure good to hug his neck. He had not seen her in 3 1/2 weeks.

All that my boys know about riding horses, they first learned at Camp WinShape. Brother Steven Starling has told me many times that he is real impressed with the horse knowledge they have from camp.

A "slip n' slidin' Flintstone"

2006-06-21T13:53:00.000-05:00

Ok, now, these are pretty funny. The first one is Mary Helen demonstrating how one should "slip n' slide" properly. The next one is a group of counselors dressed appropriately for an evening of Flintstone inspired box car racing. Each cabin of little girls is given a large cardboard box that has to be converted (via spray paint, etc) into a Flintstone racer. Then, of course, a car race (foot powered, naturally) take place. In case the picture is too small for you to tell, Mary Helen is the counselor on the far right of the picture. What memories she'll have of this summer!

Josiah at camp

2006-06-21T11:59:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of Josiah at camp. (Just so you know, there are not any good ones of Noah to post yet.)

Looks like boys getting ready to rides horses. Of course, Josiah has chosen to stick out his tongue rather than smile with the other boys. Oh well....

According to the pictures that were also posted with this one, the boys were playing ball and Josiah is a baseman.

David at camp

2006-06-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of pictures of David I've come across on the WinShape website. He is smiling and appears to be having fun! Whoo Hoo! :-) Sorry the pictures are so small, but WinShape puts them on the site in super small files so that they can be viewed more quickly.

The Lake House

2006-06-20T21:55:00.000-05:00

Our dear friend Barb Cushing and her family will soon be moving to Tucson, Arizona. Barb's husband, Norm, has already relocated, and Barb and their son, Cody, will be joining Norm in about 3 weeks. :-( Major sadness for all of us who love them so much.

Tonight, Gail and I took Barb out for Mexican food and a good chick flick. The food at the new Mexican place in Snellville was delicious.

After supper, we went to see a new movie called The Lake House. With Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in the main roles...we hoped it would be pretty good. WELL...it was WONDERFUL! Yes, it is based on a time concept that couldn't possibly happen...but it is a love story to the fullest! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes chick flicks.

Barb, Carolyn, and Gail

On your mark, get set,...VACATION

2006-06-19T21:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a feeling it was to drive away from Berry College and Camp WinShape yesterday afternoon without any children! Ken and I almost giggled as we made our way over to Jeremy's house to have dinner with his family. Since they live so close to Berry, they invited us to begin our vacation by sharing a meal and fellowship with them. We had a wonderful time, pigged out on delicious shiskabobs, and chatted until late into the evening. We finally made it home about midnight and crawled into bed in our quiet house. :-)

It did not take long, though, until the silence was broken by the sound of Porker, our cat, meowing. Porker walked around the house throughout the night meowing like he was wondering where all the kids were. He went in and out of the boys' room meowing as well. It was odd and comical.

Today was full of errands, lunch with Mr. Shoultz of AYC , a trip to Alpharetta to visit Sister Cagle in the hospital, and then a late mexican dinner with my sweetheart. It was a full day...and a very pleasant one.

Ken and I were both so blessed by our visit with Br. and Sister Cagle. Those two precious saints of God have been married for 59 1/2 years! They married when he was 19 and she was only 15 years old. They still adore and love each other deeply. I was moved by the tenderness displayed watching him help her drink some water and helping her put some lip ointment on her dry lips.

Oh to have such a relationship for so many years with my own one true love!

Five Minutes and A Hug

2006-06-18T21:17:00.000-05:00

After three long weeks, Ken and I were able to see Mary Helen for about 5 minutes on Father's Day. After we got the boys settled in their cabins at camp, we drove over to Girls' Camp and found her in active duty. She hugged us both and gladly took the brownies I'd made for her. I thought she looked pretty good considering all that she has been doing for the last 3 weeks. She said she'd gotten some good rest the day before on her day off...after doing her laundry and posting to her blog.

As we were about to leave, Mary Helen saw a little girl in the hallway who she'd actually met last year. Her name is ALSO Mary Helen! Isn't that cool! So, of course, I had to take a picture of the two Mary Helens.

The roof goes on...Part Two

2006-06-18T00:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, so here are three more, not two, of today's roof activity.

Once again, Tim's Genie tool was a life saver in being able to do the necessary work for putting the uppermost roof onto the barn.

I actually took this picture through a screened window on our back porch.

Ken and Tim scooted along roof to place the top cap onto the edges where the pieces of metal meet.

I was extremely thankful to see today's work completed without anyone getting hurt. I spent most of the day inside my kitchen where I had a great view of the work being accomplished.

And the roof goes on...Part One

2006-06-17T23:37:00.000-05:00

First let me say that for some reason I can't get Blogger to let me upload more than these 4 pictures, so I'll do a Part Two post with 2 more pictures I want to share from today.

Here is Ken getting started on the roof. What a great thing it is to have a big brother with the coolest tools ever! Ken is on Tim's "Genie" tool to find himself lifted up where he can easily do some of the initial work.

After a productive morning and afternoon, the metal is nearly all in place.

Each strip is carefully lifted into place...

and Ken measures each strip to make certain it is
exactly where he wants it.

Living in a Bubble

2006-06-17T12:55:00.000-05:00

I finally got to have a nice chat with Mary Helen today. It was the first "more than 5 minutes" conversation I've had with her since she left for camp 3 weeks ago. Three of her nine weeks are now over. And boy has she learned a lot in these three weeks. She has never been so physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted as she has now experienced being a camp counselor. Her body, mind, heart, and soul are tapped into 100% daily.

One of the most interesting comments she made to me was that she finds herself "living in the WinShape Bubble". At first this sounded strange and almost comical, but the more she chatted about it, the more I realized that she, and all the rest of the camp, live a "camp life" that is separate, almost cut off (in a good way) from the outside world. She is so totally occupied by her camp responsibilities and her precious young campers, that she forgets that the outside world is happening without her. She LOVES being able to post a couple of times a week on her blog with a few pictures and a few words about what she is doing, but she admits to not being able to communicate much else other than that. She is not even responding to all of my emails (yes, I do probably email her too much....but it is because she is not here to chat with me daily). And several folks, including her Daddy and her Uncle Les, have also said they've emailed her but have not received a response other than the "gone for the summer" automatic response that her email is set to send anyone who emails her.

She told me that she had NO idea how all consuming this summer job would be. She does think God is moving in her life through this job, and she is completely satisfied that WinShape is where she should be this summer...but she is experiencing physical and emotional toll that she did not know she was capable of enduring. When I asked her about some AYC stuff for the upcoming year, she told me that she can't really think about anything but camp right now...all other aspects of her life need to "be on hold" until July 29th. "I'm living in the WinShape Bubble, right now. I'll resume "my life" after the last staff obligations on July 29th. Then I'll be ready to pick up my life where I "left it on hold" on May 28th."

Please don't misunderstand anything I'm writing, Mary Helen is very happy and loves her summer job. And she will leave the WinShape Bubble for a nice weekend in mid-July. Our family and Jeremy's family will celebrate Josiah's and Sister Elaine's birthdays by spending July 14th and 15th together at their home and at the lake on Brother Stephen Halbgewach's motor boat. She told me that she is looking forward to a break from life in the bubble on that weekend. After that time of family fun, she will only have 2 weeks until she comes home for good. By then, those will be a tough two weeks. Although she'll be glad to see the end of the summer nearing (a body can only sustain the activity level at which she is living for a certain period of time you know), it will also be very sad for her to see this incredible job come to a close.

My heart goes out to my daughter who has come to recognize that sometimes adult jobs bring along major adult responsibilties and sacrifices. She has discovered that with THIS job, she must sacrifice interacting with her regular life so that she can give all that is required of her for her camp life. I admire her greatly for realizing that in order to give 100% to the job for which she has been hired, she must close her mind to the outside world. Goodness knows that no one could live this way all the time, but we are talking about only 6 more weeks.

The other major part of our conversation today was how impressed she was with all of the young people with whom she is working. She said, "Mom, I'm living and working with some of the most godly young ladies and guys I've ever met. Camp WinShape has done an incredible job of hiring wonderful people to work at this camp." So, if she is living in a bubble where the life inside the bubble takes over her attention from the outside world, at least she is in the company of trustworthy, upstanding people.

I can't fully explain how much I miss my daughter. My heart aches daily when I can't chat with her. Not hearing from her via email last week had me extra upset. But now, after hearing about her perspective of life at camp as a counselor, I do believe I'll find it a little easier to endure the next 6 weeks. Instead of emailing her, perhaps I'll write out letters that I just don't mail. Then we she comes home at the end of July, she can have fun reading about what was going on outside of the bubble while she was working.

And really, with the boys all gone for the next two weeks, and David gone for the next four weeks, by the time we celebrate Josiah's 9th birthday, the long summer job will be nearly completed. The older I get, the faster time passes by....NO WISE CRACKS ALLOWED! :-)

Keep Mary Helen in your thoughts...even if she is not thinking about us! LOL! Just kidding!

A Visitor From Russia

2006-06-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

Stillville was blessed to have a visitor from Russia today. Galina is a friend of Momma Grand's who is passing through Atlanta for a few days. Momma Grand brought Galina to Stillville today. Galina seemed to enjoy her visit..including holding a chicken!

Galina and Momma Grand seeing how the boys access the nests for collecting the eggs.

Galina was very impressed with Ken's handwork on the treehouse.

Thanks for coming to Stillville, Galina!! We enjoyed seeing Momma Grand TOO!

Austin and the Alamo!

2006-06-16T10:04:00.000-05:00

It is official! Whoo Hoo! Our family will be making its longest trip ever together in August. Ken has arranged for the time off, Brother Coy Thomas has agreed to preach at Shiloh on the Sunday we will be in gone, and Jeremy has agreed to be our fourth driver so that we can take our two small fuel efficient cars. So, 7 of us will drive to Austin in mid August to attend the Oak Hill Primitive Baptist Church's summer annual meeting, visit with the wonderful loved ones we have in Austin, and visit the Alamo over in San Antonio. In addition to all of that...we will celebrate Mary Helen's birthday while we are there as well. What a FABULOUS trip we have to look forward to!

Here is a picture of me and MH when we first visited the Alamo as part of the trip that just she and I made to Austin for Mark and Emily's wedding back in November of 1999. I have such sweet memories of that trip with my girl! I'm sure that this year's trip will be packed with its on special memories as well!

Can you believe that hair??

Our Indian Girl

2006-06-15T22:49:00.000-05:00

I came across this picture of Mary Helen from last night's Council Ring at camp. She has been given the Indian name, Gleeful Song Bird. Hopefully she will post on her blog sometime tomorrow after the first session campers have gone home. I'm quite tickled I was able to copy and past this picture from the camp website. I'll try to do this when the boys are gone on their camp experience.

Shiloh youngsters having fun!

2006-06-14T22:49:00.000-05:00

For some reason, all of the pictures I wanted to put on the previous post would not upload all together, so this is a continuation of the last posting.

Here are Chelsey, Cori, and Chrissie being girl silly after church.

Danielle and Robin are hot and sweaty from running and playing.

I know this one is a bit blurry..but it is because all the kids were moving so fast playing basketball.

With it staying so light outside till so late these days, we find ourselves enjoying each other's company for nearly an hour after Bible Study has concluded. How wonderful for us all to have this time together!

Fellowship after Bible Study

2006-06-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

Our dear friend and faithful Shiloh visitor, Sister Barb Cushing, will be moving to Arizona while the Still boys are at camp this summer. Well, Josiah and Noah will return from camp a few days before she leaves, but David will not return until she has already left. EVERYONE will miss Sister Barb, her husband, Norm, and her son, Cody, very much!

Here is our incredible SHRINKING Shiloh member, Brother Steven Starling. As of today, Br. Steven has lost 45 pounds! Whoo Hoo!!

Here are the ladies "hammin' it up"!

We are so thankful to have the Bacon Family as members at Shiloh! Here is Ken with Brother David and Sister Annette.

Plans in the makin'

2006-06-13T22:55:00.000-05:00

So, now we are down to only 111 hours til "kidless time in Stillville" begins. Tomorrow, the boys and I hit Salvation Army and Goodwill Stores (Wednesday is 1/2 off day you know) for a few more cheap tshirts that can get totally stained and messed up while at camp. I have to buy them postcards and stamps so that they can write a few folks while at camp (I can hope can't I?). And Noah is in desperate need of new horse riding boots..so HorseTown, here we come.

Ken will have the metal delivered tomorrow for the very top roof of the barn. The plan is for him and his brother, Tim, to install it on Friday and Saturday. I'll post pictures along the way.

On top of all that is going on, I've been surfing the internet today to find places for Ken and I to enjoy visiting and eating during our time ALONE! Today I was looking for jazz restaurants where we could eat and be entertained at the same time. Ken already KNOWS that I will not be cooking for the entire time the kids are all gone..yes for the entire 12 days! We will either be eating out at an establishment or "jonesin'" at different friends' houses. We operated this way last year when the children were all gone, and it worked out very nicely. Nothing like not having to clean the kitchen for nearly two weeks! Yahoo!

AYC hosts CCC

2006-06-13T22:38:00.000-05:00

On Monday night, June 12th, the Atlanta Youth Choir hosted the Charlotte Children's Choir for a joint concert. AYC performed 3 songs, two in combination with CCC, and CCC performed about 8 additional pieces. Because it is summer time, only about 30% of the AYC singers could make the concert, but they sounded great (even with no rehearsals for the past 4 weeks!).

Here is Mr. Shoultz conducting a song with both choirs.

After the concert, the two choirs were able to make new friends and share in an ice cream social. I'm posting this one in particular so that Mary Helen can see that Cori and Chrissie found the cute boys visiting from Charlotte! Actually, Noah befriended them first, and the girls used Noah to "meet" the guys.

Here is a nice picture of the AYC conductors, Jenny Hutton and Phillip Shoultz, with the CCC conductor, Dr. Heather Potter. All three conductors did a great job with the young artists on this evening!

I have to admit that both Noah and Josiah were not thrilled about putting on their uniforms and going to sing tonight..."It is summer, you KNOW", said Josiah as I was making him get dressed. But on the way home, both boys commented on how much FUN they had and they were really glad they'd had the chance to sing with other children and have some great social time with them as well. Of course, all I could say was, "Told Ya So!"

162 hours left..but who's counting?

2006-06-11T19:51:00.000-05:00

As of this posting, Ken and I have only 162 hours left until we find ourselves childless for 12 whole days! WHOOT WHOOT!

No kidding, the boys are bursting at the seams knowing that they leave for camp in less than 1 week. I'm about to explode thinking about all of the hours we'll have to get some projects accomplished. YIPPEE!

We will deliver the boys to camp next Sunday afternoon and begin our blissfull "vacation" by spending the evening with Jeremy's wonderful parents, Brother Victor and Sister Elaine. They don't live too far away from Camp WinShape, so we will take advantage of the opportunity to eat and fellowship with them.

I can almost hear the peaceful silence that will take over my house soon....well, mostly silent....I do plan to play some of MY cds LOUD while the kids aren't here to make fun of my music.

Always Patsy Cline!

2006-06-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

I just LOVE live theatre!! And last night was no exception! Sister Lynne Thomas and I were blessed to see our dear friend Sister Denise Oravec perform live on stage in a little theater in Old Town Conyers. The show was "Always Patsy Cline", and Denise played the role of Louise, a fan and friend of Patsy's. The show was full of great music and huge laughs. In this picture, Denise has removed her "Louise" wig, but not the makeup yet.

About a year ago, Denise and her sweet husband, Jim, moved away from Atlanta down to St. Mary's, GA. After the show, Jim and Denise joined me and Lynne for late night coffee and waffles at the local Waffle House. Visiting and laughing with this group was wonderful!

Never underestimate the power of friends and laughter!

Brisque Ceremony for Walker Drew

2006-06-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, June 8th, on the 8th day after his birth, my new nephew, Walker Drew, dressed and behaved like a little angel for his brisque ceremony. Although Walker favors his big brother, Jaxon, a lot, he does not have the large head that Jaxon had. Walker has a small head much like his mother and I had when we were babies.

Mary Margaret and Jeff are so thankful for this precious new son. Walker has been a wonderful baby so far...which is exactly what MM needs after the difficult pregnancy she had with him.