Once again, I find myself thinking "geez, it's been a LONG time since I updated our family blog". I have let other things get in the way. I mean, even our former pastor and wife who is now serving in Africa find time to update their blog page almost EVERY day!! Surely I can find the time to update this at least once a WEEK!!

I admit I've been feeling a little down with seeing them already serve where they know God has lead them, and wondering when 'our turn' will be. I know He has the timing all worked out, I just have to be patient. (yeah, right!)

December is a busy month between activities at the BSU and activities at our church. I joined the handbell group last January, so this is my first "Christmas" season playing. And I must say they are a busy group! But I love playing so it's all good. This week we kick off playing tonight at Springfield's monthly "First Friday Artwalk" which is in the downtown area. We are setting up at St Paul's United Methodist Church and will play off and on from 7-9. In between playing we will get to enjoy cookies and hot chocolate! (yum!!)

On Tuesday the 8th I will be treating my Mom for her birthday to a show at our church called "Uncle Phil's Diner".

The handbells then play at our local mall on Sunday afternoon the 13th. In addition to our church activities, I am once again involved in a choir for The Messiah Project's Christmas program on December 18th. They are also doing the opera "Amahl & The Night Visitor" again this year, but I chose not to participate in that this year with all the other things going on. The choir is doing excerpts from Handel's Messiah.

Our church choir is gearing up for a really nice music program on Sunday the 20th; and the handbells get to accompany one of the songs from that program as well. (by the way...you can watch all of the Sunday broadcasts on their website http://www.secondbaptist.org/index.htm just click on "watch live"!)

The bells play one last time on the 22nd at our historical courthouse; which is handy for me since it's just 2 buildings down from our Judicial Building!

In 'other news', our son-in-law lost his job at Hotels.com just before Thanksgiving (wasn't that nice of them!) and he's currently training to help deliver pizza for a new company that just opened up in town. We're praying that he will find something more permanent soon. Our daughter is still working at OTC part-time but they will be on Christmas break soon which means no work from mid-December until mid-January.

Our oldest granddaughter Sydney is now attending pre-school and loving it. She had a few problems at first getting used to the 'rules', but I think she's doing much better now. She is definitely a smart cookie!! Annabella is busy trying to learn all the things her older sister does, and is learning lots of new words as well. Here is Sydney at a recent field trip:

They went to the Nature Center.

Here is both sisters proud of their 'tower' that they've made:

Billy was able to go deer hunting this year for the first time in a while. After about 3 days, he finally shot one, but it got away and he never did find it. I told him they must have some good 'deer doctors' that fixed him up.

Chris is still attending OTC and working at Chick-Fil-A at the mall with my Mom. They work well together and have fun at the same time. It's a good company to work for.

SO, as you can see, we have been busy little Gradys! I doubt things will slow down soon, but as they say "that keeps you out of trouble"!

Wow...it's been almost 2 months since I've been on here. Let's see...in that time period:

1) We visited my father's place at the lake.
2) Celebrated my son-in-law's birthday.
3) Got a nasty spider bite of some kind on my ankle that finally healed after about 2 weeks.
3) Got to participate in the annual Southern Baptist Convention with our church choir and orchestra in Louisville, KY.
4) Took our granddaughter Sydney to Silver Dollar City. (first time we've used our passes this year)
5) Had a fun 4th of July.
6) Was able to help my Mom on 3 different occasions get steroid shots in her back.
7) Had lunch with a good friend.
**8) My mom and I visited my brother and his family in Mound City, KS while one of their sons was home on leave from the Army.**(I kind of missed this one earlier....sorry!!)
9) Attended the Regional Campus Missionary conference in Kirksville with my hubby.
10) Have been to our county fair 2 times.

Speaking of the fair, my boss this year decided to set up a 'booth' in the expo center to let the public know just what our office does, and how they can find out information about cases on a public website called "CaseNet". All of the supervisors and managers have taken turns 'manning' the booth while the fair is here. It started July 31 and runs through August 9th. I had my first turn on Saturday the 1st. Our booth is right next to the "Super Shammy" booth. (not to be confused with the "Sham-WOW"...they ARE 2 different products!!) I think by the end of my 8-hr shift, I could have done their demonstration in my sleep. I believe that if both of the workers just wanted to step away for a bit, I could have helped them out.

I didn't get too many people to stop by, but then again, it's hard to ask people if they want to see if their neighbor/boyfriend/girlfriend, etc. has any active cases or warrants for their arrest. My fear was that someone WOULD want to find out, and then end up finding something. I get another turn on Thursday. Good thing I didn't finish all my crossword puzzles.

One of the concert acts this year at the fair was the Little River Band. I liked them in the 80s, so thought it would be a good concert. I wasn't disappointed. My sister was supposed to go with me, but on her way back from Florida, she had a run-in with a blown tire from a Semi so it delayed her from getting home in time to go. So I took my mom instead. I was surprised on just how many from 'her generation' were there. And boy, some of those old guys could really get their 'groove' on!!

Billy and some college students are currently in Glorieta, NM at a collegiate leadership conference. Other than a tire blow-out on the way, (what's with tires this week??) everything is going well. Needless to say, he went ahead and had 4 new tires put on the van before they head back. I hear it is very beautiful there; I've not been there but hope to go next year.

Christopher will start class on August 20th at OTC, and MSU classes begin on August 24th. The summer is quickly coming to a close. Which means things will only get busier for at least Billy and Chris. For me it just means time to rearrange my clothes in the closet.

Happy Birthday Sydney!!

Today is our granddaughter Sydney's 4th birthday. We had a party for her over the weekend; here is the link to the pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010757&id=1304340063&l=7acc5e3506

She is growing up to be a very sweet and funny young lady. And I am still amazed at all the words she knows, as well as her colors and numbers. Her mom and dad are doing a great job of teaching!! She will start pre-school in August; I bet she already knows more than her classmates!!

Yeah, I know...it's been almost 3 months since my last post. I blame Facebook. Okay....here is a link to pics from our latest Central Asia trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010591&id=1304340063&l=0c3c7cccf0


I have a full weekend ahead; practice on Saturday morning with some folks that will be a part of Hymnsing at 2nd Baptist in the fall; then PARTY for our oldest granddaughter Sydney. She will be 4 years old!! Hard to believe!! Sunday is normal church stuff, then another practice that afternoon for our trip to Louisville, KY June 23 and 24. Pastor Marshall will be bringing the message on the 24th for the National Southern Baptist Convention, and our choir and orchestra is leading the music for that day.

I was just thinking the other day that about our Silver Dollar City passes that we bought for this season, and that we have yet to use!! It seems our Saturdays have been filled up, and we've had no time to go. Sunday afternoons are usually free, but even those have been busy lately! I'm thinking we are going to have to take off on a weekday just to get to use them.

So I will try to update this more often than I have; but I say that every time. Of course for all of my readers that have Facebook, you can keep up with our clan that way as well.