These Three Remain...

I'm sure those of you that read this blog have begun to wonder if it will ever recover from its dormancy. I apologize again for its lack of activity the past few months, and won't even begin to list out all of the excuses. :P I'm afraid that this is a rather sporadicly-updated blog sometimes...That being said, I am planning on picking back up on the activity (Lord willing). Hopefully 'These Three Remain' will get, at the least, a new look sometime soon. :) Many, many thanks to my readers who have continued to visit this blog!

Hopefully sometime soon I will write out a longer "Life Update" post for you (much has been and is happening in my life), but in the meantime I will try to keep this blog busy with other things. :)

And I shall start with photography! One of my innumerable passions.

The other day I took my little four year-old sister (Becca) and Cody, the family's golden retriever puppy, on a walk down to the nearby pond. Though we didn't get to spend much time there (on account of the extreme heat, despite the fact that it was almost 5 PM), they seemed to have fun--"Baby Girl" (my own special nickname for my littlest sister) especially enjoyed seeing the ducks and watching the little minnows along the shore, while Cody had to be restrained from chasing the one and jumping in after the other. :P

Anyway, I took a camera with me: here's one of the results. :) (If it's not a large enough format, let me know, and I'll link to another version of it.)

I love hearing from you guys--please drop me a note if you get a chance!

For Mrs. Ezzo, who (I am told) has requested photos of our new golden retriever, Cody, and for any others who care to risk turning green from envy! ;)

Rudyard Kipling

Well greetings! I trust that all of you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I know that we did...I have so much to catch up on with you all! I'll be going "back in time" with my posts to update you on the holidays, if possible, but for now I have more recent events to relate to you.
About a month ago my mother, Kara, and I flew out to Georgia for a week long conference. The experience was so life-changing, and I learned so much, that I will have to cover it in several posts at some point. The information is just too invaluable to keep to myself--have you ever had that sort of feeling? A sense that the knowledge that you have just gained is so vital that you almost have to share it? That's rather what I feel about this, so I will (Lord willing) be able to convey some of what I learned at that conference with you at a later date. Ah, I have begun to ramble--back on topic. ;)
Anyway, as I was saying, we attended a conference in Georgia. As we returned to the airport, we stopped at the rental car return. Mommy talked with the man who was collecting the information about the car, while Kara and I gathered up our things. The man soon finished his questionnaire and Mommy too checked through the car for any remaining personal items. Soon, however, the young man (I wish I knew his name! :P) returned and said, "Mrs. [our last name], did someone hit you?" Mommy quickly replied in the negative, and stepped out of the car as he informed her that there was a large dent in the trunk. As she came to the back of the car, she was confused--there was no damage that she could see. The man quickly said, "Just jokin' with you, m'am." My mom, relieved, laughed and then commented, "I'd think you'd get punched in the face if you pulled that one too often!" He chuckled and said, "Yes, but you've got to do something to make this job interesting!"
Think that's unusual? Oh, we're not finished yet! As we approached the security checkpoint in the airport, my mother temporarily misplaced the boarding passes. After five minutes of scrambling around, they were recovered, and with all three passes firmly in hand Mommy passed through the "metal detector." Once on the other side, the worker there commented to her, "If you still want to leave either of them (pointing to Kara and I) behind, take advantage of it now--you have both their boarding passes!"
As our bags went through the "X-ray machine" scanner (for lack of a better word--what are those called, exactly?), the security personnel in charge of the machine paused it for a minute, consulted with each other, and then continued. One of them approached my mother where she was gathering her possessions and said, "I'm sorry m'am, but the chicken is going to have to go, and so are the fries." (We had purchased some Chik-fil-a for dinner, unhealthy as it was, as the flight did not serve dinner, and we didn't have time to stop and eat on the way to the airport.) My poor mother replied, "Oh, no! That was going to be our dinner...." The woman quickly interrupted her and said, "Oh I'm just joshin' with you, m'am." Mommy laughed (more out of consideration than actual amusement, I believe, although I thought it was extremely humorous!) and said, "What? Do I have 'tease me!' written across my forehead or something?" She then explained what had happened previously, and the worker chuckled, hugged Mommy, and said, "Just trying to make it light, m'am; just trying to keep it fun." Whew!
Well, just thought I'd share that story with you all; hope it brought a little chuckle, at least, to your day. ;)

Lord willing there will be many more posts/updates to come, so please check back often, and feel free to drop me a note anytime! :) God bless!

I thought that you all might like these pictures...(our great-Uncle Tom took most of them while he was visiting with us this past week.)

These are my grandparents!

Here's one of Ryan...

Here's me...:)

This is a picture that I took of Kara...

And here's one more of little Rebecca...

and lastly, Joshua.

Anyway, hope you enjoy those! Blessings!

Yes, today is my younger sister Kara's birthday! Please leave her a note!
At our house, the birthday person gets to choose the meals for the day, and the cake that they would like. They also usually get to choose the activity for the evening...This morning Kara chose french toast with strawberries and powdered sugar for breakfast; for lunch, she decided Jason's Deli, which is really good! And for dinner, we're having steaks! mmmmmm! So happy birthday Kara! Love you!
Well, here's a picture of me and all but one of my siblings...Kara's the one on top, then me, then Ryan, and Joshua's the smallest one...my youngest sister Rebecca didn't make it into that one, but I'll put one up of her as well. Have a great day!

Well, I thought that I'd post some pictures for those of you who haven't seen my family...I don't have an up-to-date family picture, but I have some individual pictures. :) I'll do my mom and dad today, and my siblings tomorrow maybe...
There's a picture of my mom...isn't she beautiful? :)

This is my daddy!

Anyway...hope you all have a great night! Blessings!