Year: 2008 (Page 5 of 6)

A Week in Huntsville

July 14, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

Mike had a class in Huntsville the last week of June. Our Pizza Maker stayed home alone to make pizzas and to register for college but the rest of us got to go with him for a week’s vacation. I have two friends from my Charlotte Mason group in FL that moved to AL before me. LeeAnn and her family who live right outside of Huntsville and Terri and her family who live in Birmingham.

Terri’s the one with the camera and LeeAnn is in green.

I emailed my friends a couple of weeks before our trip to see if I could see them there. They more than obliged. Terri’s sweet husband, Kent, worked it out so that he was able to work in Huntsville the same week that we were there and stayed at the same hotel as us. Then LeeAnn and her husband had us over for a cook out and swimming and told us all the best places to visit and went to some of them with us. We all had a blast.

LeeAnn has a beautiful home with extra rooms she hopes to fill with children from China.

Here are three of our boys.. the one on the left belongs to LeeAnn and Chuck, my Computer Programer, and Terri and Kent’s son, who is shooting up like a weed.

This is Terri’s little girl. She and our Programmer are great friends.

Can’t go to Huntsville and not visit the Space and Rocket Center.

We got an extra special treat and saw some Army guys sing and dance in the opening ceremonies of a covenate signing. I left my camera at LeeAnn’s and didn’t get a picture. 🙁 Chuck brought it up to me later that morning. 🙂

The Space and Rocket Center was OK. We went on a good day. It wasn’t too crowed.

The kids zoomed by most of the displays and went straight for the rides and rock climbing wall.

Needless to say, I don’t think we have any future Astronauts in the bunch.

It was Terri’s little girl’s first try at rock climbing.

She was very persistent and conquered the wall after several very good tries.

I think the highlight of the Space and Rocket Center was the hats we found in the gift shop.

So many hats and so little time.

Are our hats making you hungry as an alligator? We were.

We had to get one classic picture in before lunch.

And one of the mommies.

That night after the husbands got off work we all went to our favorite restaurant, Red Robin.

They have the best burgers and shakes ever. We had the greatest time talking about things

we could do and see together in the future; rent a house boat, go camping…

It was located in one of the coolest shopping centers I’ve ever been to.

It’s like Down Town Disney. They even had a Apple Store.

The next morning we had some Mommie time and coffee at a huge sale at B&N.

Then took the kids up to a living history museum on top of a mountain called Burritt on the Mount.

We met some really cool docents. One thing that we learned was that the girls bedroom was always up stairs in the loft. You had to walk through the parents bed room to get to loft. Nifty. Right?

If you’ve noticed that these aren’t my pictures, it’s because I dropped and broke my camera the night before. 🙁 I am still recovering from the devastation. I did learn a secret way to get it to turn on. More details later. From what I learned on line it will cost almost as much to repair it as it will to buy a new one. 🙁

I am leaving out so many details from our trip.. the first good Mexican food we’ve had since moving to AL at Rosie’s Mexican Cantina, hanging out at the pool, shopping for shoes, the Harrison Brothers’ Hardware store, accidentally finding the corn fields (streets should have only one name) then having my Mathematician pipe up from the back “Our hotel is just a little ways down that away.”, free breakfast and snack time at the hotel… it was a great adventure and we had a great time.

Love you all,

Jenny

First Car Experiment

June 22, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 4 Comments

You know, everything you do with your first born is an experiment. When we were young parents of 4 and got strange looks and funny comments about having so many, we used to say.. “With four there is never a dull moment.” Having moved from those childhood years into the young adult years the saying has held true and intensified. We do get a few peaceful moments away now, but they can’t be considered dull because they are filled with the reverberations of so many intensely exciting moments. There’s quite a difference between getting your first tricycle and getting your first car.

Look! Mom. I bought a new Saturn.

The last couple of years our Scientist has been steadily working and saving his money for college and a car… huge steps toward his calling. He saved over $10,000 in insurance cost by waiting until he actually needed a car before getting a driver’s license and a car. He has patiently waited for God’s direction and timing. I am very proud of him.

I was asking God this morning for the right word to describe what it is about our Scientist that makes me feel so proud. He is faithful, hardworking, persistent, patient, kind, attentive and so many other things. God gave me the word “fortitude.”

Mamalene blessed me with a copy of Webster’s 1828 dictionary several years ago. It’s one of his first published dictionaries. If you want to really know what a word means, look it up in this dictionary. You’ll be blown away by how rich our language is. There is actually an searchable version online. I included the link below. It makes a great Bible study tool.

Below is what it said about fortitude. It’s a very good description of our Scientist (of course, God knew) and I know that as our Scientist leans into God for fortitude that he will find the grace to become exactly who He wants him to be.

fortitude

FOR’TITUDE, n. [L. fortitudo, from fortis, strong.]

That strength or firmness of mind or soul which enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage, or to bear pain or adversity without murmuring, depression or despondency. Fortitude is the basis or source of genuine courage or intrepidity in danger, of patience in suffering, of forbearance under injuries, and of magnanimity in all conditions of life. We sometimes confound the effect with the cause, and use fortitude as synonymous with courage or patience; but courage is an active virtue or vice, and patience is the effect of fortitude.

Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

Father’s Day

June 21, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

Christmas at Mike’s Grandparents with Granny

(Grandmother’s Mother) and her favorite Bible verse.

For Father’s Day this year I made Mike some family history scrapbook pages to hang in our front entry way. Most of our moves have followed a pattern of moving away from TX then back to TX. I our move from FL to AL broke the pattern and has made me feel further from our family even though we are closer. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to visit. To strengthen my roots I’ve been doing things like educating my self of AL history and like making family history scrapbook pages to hang on our walls.

Mike’s Grandparents (his mother’s parents), Sam and Roxie McInnis

and her favorite Bible verse.

Mike’s Father’s parents, Gene and Carolyn Coleman

(Mimi) her favorite verse and the image of a dove for Daddy Gene.

Thanks, Mom, for reminding me.

I wanted to thank all of Mike’s family for helping me find pictures

and for sharing with me their favorite scripture verses.

Alabama Tales

June 21, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

Princess J, a friend from church and I went to the Alabama Archives and History to hear Kathryn Tucker Windham speak. She just celebrated her 90th birthday a couple of weeks ago. She was a great storyteller/speaker. Very comfortable in front of an audience. The auditorium was packed, but our friend, Martha, miraculously found us a seat on the second row. Thanks, Martha!

One of her stories was about a man whose wife ran away with a traveling sales man. He put up wanted posters offering $100 for the return of his wife. The posters included a photograph, her age, weight and color of her eyes and hair. A couple of weeks later she came home fuming because the posters said she weighed 20 lbs. more than she actually did. She made him pay her the $100 reward money.

Her book is probably great fun.

GA Six Flags with FL Friends

June 15, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

The Hendleys met us at our favorite hotel in Atlanta Friday night.

We were all thrilled to see each other.

Princess P is starting high school next year.

Little P is eating like there is no tomorrow and growing like a weed.

J is officially a teenager now and sounds like one, too.

First order of business at Six Flags was to ride Goliath.

We got there early while the lines were still short.

I discovered that first thing in the morning it’s

more thrilling that I’d remembered.

On to Gotham and the Bat mobile.

P got to visit his super hero friends.

My sweetie.

J giving J a stern warning before the ride.

Surprise! I have a flash!

Mike and I, the old fogies, sat out a bunch of rides. I am glad we are growing old together and that I have someone to sit with me while the kiddies ride.

Wooden rides, bumpy or jerky rides, and rides that make you dizzy

are all on our list to avoid.

I think we like more rides in SA than in GA.

It may be that we’re 5 years older now and like fewer than we remember.

After that last photo, we ate lunch and it warmed up quite a bit.

We didn’t last much longer. Tammy got over heated and there

weren’t enough air conditioned shows or shops there to keep us cool,

so we headed for the mall to find dinner.

We had a nice time talking and eating at the food court.

We sure miss our old buddies.

They left from there to East GA where Darrel’s brother lives and

where they recently bought some property and an 100 year old house

that they are completely redoing. They are spending this week

getting started on their big family project.

We can’t wait till their done and get ready to move several hours closer.

We’ll have to find more things to do together in Alanta.

22nd Anniversary Trip

June 9, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

Mike planned a great anniversary trip for me

to DeSoto State Park up in Northeast AL.

He was speaking to me in my love language.

Taking me out doors to walk along a river is the best.

To top that he threw in some mountains and waterfalls

and a kiss by Queen Anne’s lace.

We stayed in this really nice little cabin in Mentone, AL

on top of Lookout Mountain.

It was fully equipped with everything from a kitchen to a hot tub.

Hubby and I talked about how it’d be nice to have money to invest

in a cabin like it, rent it when we could, and go up on long weekends to kayak, ski, golf etc. up in the mountain. We saw several for sale.

Mike made us some great big stakes on the gas grill.

It’s been so hot at home that we’ve started thinking twice before using our grill.

We are used to Florida’s milder weather.

It was a little cooler, much more bearable up in the mountains.

Water falls were easy to find a long Little River.

The park was really nice. It’s nestled in the mountains between a couple of little towns. To get from one town to the other you have to drive through the park, so there was no entrance fee. I like free.

I don’t know what it is about big rocks that are so impressive.

Mike gave me some cool, new jewelry that matched my top perfectly.

It’s not in this picture.. I got it later that day.

It’s my new favorite color.

Blue has been my favorite color since I can remember.

A few of years ago I discovered purple.

Now I am into this steely aqua color.

I’ve decided that I like changing my favorite color from time to time.

I still love sky blue and lavender.

I think my favorite, favorite color is a mixture of the two, periwinkle.

This rock was so cool that they built the road around it.

Once the morning started warming up, we decided to head down the

mountain to Fort Payne to find some air conditioning.

We stumbled across a big homecoming celebration for Alabama.

It took us a while to figure out that they meant

the country western band “Alabama”.

Turns out that they are from there originally.

For a little town of 12,ooo that’s a big deal.

We had chicken fried steak at the Santa Fe Cattle Co.

The food was good and we got ice water to go.

Our next stop was the Unclaimed Baggage Center.

It’s a in a little town called Scottsboro on the Tennessee River. Seeing all the stuff people had lost on planes was interesting. They had a Kirby vacuum cleaner just like mine that’s a steal at $300,

but most of the stuff wasn’t that great a deal for used stuff especially considering that they got the stuff for free. I guess that’s the law of supply and demand at work for you.

I found a Message Remix Bible for $10. I was thrilled. It’s practically new and I’ve been wanting one for months. Mike found some sun glasses and we also picked up some DVD’s; Felix the Cat, Home Alone, The Grinch, Skillet Worship and a few others. Most of them were around $4. A deal but non-returnable.. so we’ll see how well they play.

I wanted the Felix the Cat DVD because the kids have from time to time asked me what I did when I was a kid.. basically my answer is.. I watched TV and they have no idea what I am talking about when I tell them how I had a cat that looked just like Felix the Cat that I made watch the show with me everyday.

The kids survived the weekend.. new responsibility of driving and all.

We’ve got a busy week a head. Our creation scientist got his acceptance letter from AUM this weekend and has a lot to do before school starts.

Thanks for your prayers..

Lord Let Your Wind Blow

June 2, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

This is a poem I wrote for my friend, Tammy, whose aunt died today. Please, keep her family in your prayers. Thank you.

Lord, let Your Wind blow.

Let Your Peace Flow.

Let Your Spirit move

Over the waters of my soul.

Wash away the pain,

Every earthly thing,

Hauntings of yesterday,

Injustices that war in vain.

Let all that‘s left of me

Be carried to Calvary.

Flesh crucified.

Breath of Life, renew me.

Brought up from the grave

It’s You alone I crave.

Help me find release,

Receive the Life You gave.

As I seek Your Face,

Pour out Your Wondrous Grace,

Wrap me in the Warmth

Of Your Sweet Embrace.

Memorial Day Weekend

June 1, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

Mike’s parents flew over to visit us for Memorial Day Weekend. We had a nice visit. We are always happy to see familiar faces.

Most of our visits with Nancy and Mitch we spend playing Hand and Foot (a card game similar to Canasta) and Trains with dominos. We tried a bunch of different combinations of teams. Princess J and my Mathematician were unbeatable at Hand and Foot together. They “poned” (a computer game term the kids use that means “put to shame”) the adults. We split them up after that and the game was much more even for some of us.

We discovered that Memorial Day Weekend is Montgomery’s biggest holiday weekend. I think the schools are always out for the summer by that weekend and they have this big Jubilee City Fest. People come from all over for the weekend. They have country western stars and rock stars, a craft fair and stuff for the kids. We went to the free Symphony Concert on the Capital lawn. Everyone brings a picnic. The weather was perfect and we had a nice time.

Mayor Bobby Bright opening Memorial Day Ceremonies. A really good guy we first heard speak at The Call.

Singing the Star Spangled Banner. The front of the capital is lined with the flags from the 50 states. I am sorry to admit that the only one I recognized was the Texas flag.. we do have the best, most recognizable flag. I now know that the AL flag is the white flag with a red X in the middle. The red X is St. Andrews cross and is modeled after the Confederate Flag. We visited the AL Department of Archives and History Wednesday and learned a lot. More on that later.

Symphony at sunset.

The theme for the Symphony this year was Movies Under the Stars. They played music from Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Rocky, The Wizard of OZ and many others. It was fun.

On Saturday evening just the adults went to dinner at Mike’s new favorite BBQ place, Jim and Nicks, and later to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to see The Count of Monte Cristo. We had a very nice time. The Shakespeare Theater is located in Blount Cultural Park where they also have an art museum that we visited when my parents were here. The Shakespeare Festival one of the biggest tourist attractions here. It’s the seventh largest Shakespeare Festival in the world.

We were sad to see Nanna and Mitch leave, but are looking forward to the activities we have planned for the next few months.

Love,

The Zoo

May 11, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

Mike and I went to the zoo a few months ago and purchased family passes. Its a smallish zoo (we were spoiled by the world class Saint Louis zoo) but it’s nice.

I’ve been wanting to take the kids to see what it’s like before it got too hot. I would go everyday just to walk and enjoy the scenery if I could only learn to make the time. It’s only a 10 minute drive but the zoo opens at 9 am which is right in the middle of school.

I had a rough couple of days this week and decided that Thursday would be the perfect day to take off, go to the zoo and take some pictures for myself for Mother’s Day. Friday went much better.. God’s grace was there to do all I needed to do.

Do I look like I had a rough couple of days?

My mathematician made me promise to make calzones to take with us. When we lived in San Antonio, I would often make these spinage and turkey pepperoni calzones and take visiting friends out for a picnic and a walk through a park. We wrap them in foil and pack them in an ice chest; we’re always surprised when they are still warm. The one thing I forgot was to first wrap them in a paper towel to help absorb the moisture. The red sauce is our spaghetti sauce for dipping. My Hungry Howie’s Pizza employee said I could put a thin layer of sauce in the calzone before baking them. I like a lot of sauce and when I put it all in it oozes out and makes a mess while it’s baking.

Although I love giraffes, I’ve learned that happiness in life comes when I am content like this zebra. Why does grass look greener in the neighboring lions den? I think I’d prefer to be too short to even see over the boundaries that the Lord has laid out for me. Since I am not, I try to keep focused on Him and on where I am at and enjoy the life He has given me.

God is good!

We thought this monkey with the handle bar mustache was really interesting.

Gifts from God.

The highlight of the show was this baby elephant and a baby rhino born this winter at the zoo. I was so stunned at how much the rhino had grown that I forgot to take any pictures of him.

It was starting to warm up. Baby is cooling down in the pile of dirt while dad is taking a splash.

Smile for the camera.

Finally a perfect pose.

Love you all,

Happy Mother’s Day!

Beauty for Ashes

May 11, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

I have a rose bush! I need lessons in caring for it. 🙂

For Mother’s Day this week God took my ashes and gave me a new poem. He inspires me, puts words and a melody in my heart. I love all the ways that He expresses His love toward me but I especially enjoy the poems because with them I can shout out His praises. Here is this weeks poem..

Beauty for Ashes

Our God is good,

So loving and kind;

I can’t believe

I am His and He is mine.

Precious Shepherd

Ahh, Benevolent King

He feeds my soul with wonders.

Let His praises ring.

He is a spring of life

To those who believe.

Burdens lifted

We’re set free to receive.

When the pressures

Come crashing in,

Keep a steady pace;

Eyes quietly focused on His face.

He gives rest to the weary,

Forgiveness for sin,

Strength to the weak and

Beauty for the ashes within.