Page 37 of 39

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.

The Call

May 4, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

What is The Call? It’s a prayer and fasting movement led by Lou Engle. Thousands across our nation and around the world have been gathering to pray and fast for break through in spiritual realms.

Our friends the Conways have been becoming more and more involved with the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Tampa and attended a Call gathering held in FL a few months ago. They let us in on the movement and then Leslie and her son J drove until the early hours of the morning to attend The Call gathering here with us in Montgomery on April 5th. We were blessed to have them come pray with us.

Over ten thousand gathered to pray and fast that day .. it was a very moving experience. God did a work in all of our lives. It’s hard to describe the intense warfare that was going on against abortion, tearing down prejudices and bitterness between black and whites, and releasing revival in America.

Here is a powerful 2 min. video from YouTube from The Call. Just a taste of the 12 hours we experienced.

I learned a lot about the history of our new city and about how God is moving in our city and nation.

You can join in with the thousands praying and fasting in future The Call gatherings by watch them live on God TV. There will be a The Call gathering in DC in August, one in CA this fall and several International ones including one in Israel coming soon.

http://us.god.tv

There are many other ways you can get involved, also. You can donate, volunteer, you can attend training, you can commit to pray and fast against abortion for life, you can help start an IHOP in your home town, you can plant a Prayer Furnace… and much more.

Be sure not to miss the Purity Covenant PDF file at

http://thecall.com/

International House of Prayer

http://www.ihop.org/

Prayer Furnace

http://luke18project.com/

Prayer to end abortion

http://bound4life.com/

I was thinking a week or two before The Call that we need a ribbon for abortion awareness like the ones for breast cancer etc. At the call we got these “Life Bands” and have committed to pray this 22 word prayer everyday with thousands of others: “Jesus, I plead your Blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America.” You can order a band and learn more at the above site.

Earlier this year the Lord showed me a weed of doubt that had grown in my heart and revealed to me that doubt is having more faith in our enemies than in Him. I had allowed the thought that I would never see an end to abortion and that it was hopeless to pray against it to enter my heart. I repented immediately but the faith that I could be apart of bring down the stronghold of abortion still wasn’t there.

If you are in a place like that, with any enemy in your life.. get your self in a position to hear the WORD. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. If you have to hear it for days or months straight before it gets in your heart, do it. Lives may be a stake. Our weapons are not carnal but mighty to the pulling down of strong holds.

When I pray against abortion now, I have direction for my prayers. I pray for forgiveness of the sins of our nation and against the lies planted by the enemy that are leading people astray.. taking every thought captive and bringing them under submission to Truth.

The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 MSG

I’ve been privileged to see the beginnings of revival in our nation and I hope in the last day you will find me still standing in prayer.

God Bless,

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

May 4, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 4 Comments

We have been blessed with a beautiful new neighborhood.

The colors this spring have been gorgeous.

Princess J and I took our camera along with us on a walk through

our neighborhood so we could share it with you.

There is a least one house for sale that I know of ..”Won’t you be my neighbor?”

Don’t miss the big surprise we found near the end of our walk.

Here is our house.

Our brick color is “Old Chicago Brick”.

It’s red, orange, tan, brown, gray, yellow, green.. a bunch of colors.

I heard that it was really popular

when the house was built

and that people would go and take it off

old abandoned buildings to use on their new house.

I’ve always liked red brick. I like this color especially where the brick is in my house.

I’ll post more house pictures another day.

Here is the neighborhood park.. just down the street.

Here is the sidewalk that we took up though our neighborhood.

Here is an tabby cat enjoying the beautiful day.

Here is the cherry tree in blossom just up the street from us.

Here is some beautiful spring color.

Azaleas are the pride of Montgomery.

We are the proud owners of two azalea bushes ourselves.

Remember to watch for the surprise at the end.

There are so many different flowering trees here. I wish I knew their names.

One thing I like about our neighborhood is that you don’t get that cookie cutter feeling.

Princess J likes this one.

I like this one. It’s such a warm, cheerful color. When we walked by we saw

a lady with orange hair petting an orange cat.. no kidding.

I think she should buy this car from our other neighbor.. don’t you?

Doesn’t this one look like a bed and breakfast?

This is one of two log cabins we spotted. Hope no one minds that I am taking pictures.

Several houses were flying Easter flags.

We are so blessed to live in the land of the free.

Lots of houses here don’t have a garage.. I really miss having one.

This one has a car port for shade.

This is one of the few that do have a garage but as my parents said…

I would’nt want to try to have to park in it on an icy day.

I love stormy weather.

Every neighborhood should have trees like these.

What’s beyond our neighborhood?

Oooh.

It looks so inviting.. I wonder if we are allowed back there.

God is the original romantic. He thought of creating the flowers.

Surprise! You’d be surprised too if you found an elephant

on your first exploration of your neighborhood.

Easter Weekend

April 19, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

Weekend Mike, our computer programer, princess J and I made our first trip to Six Flags over Georgia for their Christian Concert Weekend. We had a really good time. At first we thought that the Six Flags was really small. It was hilly and we made the loop in only an hour or two. Then we went down one of the side paths and found two more whole sections. After living in a very flat state I am really enjoying living where I can see so many hills and pine trees. We got a great work out and the weather was beautiful.

Our favorite ride by far was THE GOLIATH.

It’s huge. It’s smooth. It takes you out of the park over 8 and a half acres up more than 20 stories, drops you over and over again at about 70 miles an hour, twists and turns, and brings you back again.

The wildest ride that we road was Superman: the Ultimate Flight. Once everyone is secure in their seat it tilts you until you are laying on your stomach held up only by your super seatbelt and flies you through loops, curves and spirals taking dives so close to the ground that you can almost touch it as you fly by.

Here we are walking down to the concert stage. I am in the hat and pullover hoodie (I haven’t adjusted to the cooler weather yet). Our computer programmer is behind me, Princess J is holding my hand and Mike is next to her.

Here is a better picture of our computer programmer. I am still in front and you can see a bit of Princess J beside me.

We found great seats. The atmosphere was really peaceful. I think everyone was exhausted from a day of walking up and down the hills to the various rides. My favorite singers were Britt Nicole who seemed to have a strong anointing on her life to reach young women, and Jimmy Needham and his wife who played violin.

Our programer’s favorite was KJ-52 of course.

Mike’s favorite was Kutless. It was our first time to see them in concert. They were awesome. Princess J’s favorite was Thousand Foot Krutch. They were pretty wild and we enjoyed dancing down front with them. Their slogan is “The Flame in All of Us” and I was impressed by the lead singer’s hair which was bleached to match their flame logo.

Here are some pictures of Princess J and I in our Easter outfits. Don’t ask me why my mathematician’s photo is sideways. Easter morning church service was great. The worship team played a new song and the sermon rejoiced in Jesus’ victory over death.

March Birthday Trip

April 19, 2008 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

For Mike’s birthday I talked him into taking us to Macon, GA to the International Cherry Blossom Festival. Knowing that the cherry blossoms wouldn’t be a big draw for him, I tried to emphasize the fact that we could eat dinner at Shakeys Pizza in Warner Robins, GA.

Shakeys brings back lots of happy memories of our first dates, fellowship with old church friends, a little bit of home in Thailand, and of course really good food. The Shakeys in our home town, San Angelo, was at one time the largest Shakeys in the world. Most everyone went there after church at least once a week – one of the best examples of what church should be like to us. Mike, Shanna (who had a big crush on him) and I went to Shakey’s after a football game my first time there and Mike slipped off his shoe and played footsie with me. It was only our third time seeing each other and I was only there because Shanna wasn’t allowed to single date. I was so embarrassed and afraid Shanna might look under the table and didn’t know how to get him to stop without making a scene. Boys. It was a while before I decided that I liked you, Sweetie, but I’d be up for a game of footsie anytime you’d like now.

The Shakeys in GA is the only Shakeys left outside of CA. We discovered it a couple of months ago when Mike had a class there. I love their fried mushrooms and Mike loves their rojos (battered and fried potato slices) and the pizza of course.

Back to the cherry blossoms.. Last year we planned our trip to Washington DC the week after their cherry blossom celebration and to our disappointment most of the cherry trees lost their blossoms by that time, so when I heard that Macon, GA claimed to be the cherry blossom capital of the world, I didn’t want to miss their cherry blossom festival. They have over 3000 cherry trees and lots of entertaining activities.

We took care of first things first and spent Friday night in an inn near Shakeys, ate too much and went to bed early. The next morning we got up early (6 AM GA time which translates into 5 AM AL time) to go to the air port to see the hot air ballon lift off. We were thankful later for the early start because we showed up at the wrong air port and a nice police officer had to give us directions to the right one across the county. I was very excited at our first site of the cherry blossoms along the road to the right air port.

The morning was gorgeous – cool and crisp. Some boy scouts had the right idea and camped the night on site. The atmosphere was very peaceful and we enjoyed guessing which hot air balloon would be the first to lift off.

The day before our neighbor, Marry Lou, related an experience she had of waking up one morning to the sound of dragons out side her window. Confused she thought, “But dragons don’t exist, do they?” When she looked out her window, she saw a bunch of hot air balloons flying low over her house. We enjoyed remembering her story while watching the balloons flying over head. Princess J didn’t think they would have been loud enough to wake her and I am sure she is right.

Our favorite balloon got lost in some trees but eventually made it out safely and over to the field where they were giving tethered rides.

After the hot air balloons we went to explore Macon’s Central City Park and found their pink pancake breakfast, Bengal tigers, art exhibit, craft show, and train exhibit with its pink cherry tree filled trains.

The park was beautiful. The cherry trees were decorated with Japanese lanterns. I really enjoyed the exhibit of photos from their photo contest and the quite peaceful atmosphere.

Around 10:30 we started getting hungry for lunch (change of time zone) and went down town to find a a parking space and a place to eat. The town is very well laid out with beautiful buildings. We ended up eating at Acapulco (best Mexican food I’ve had in a long time). It was right on the corner where they were holding the bed race and the professional riding lawn mower grand prix.

After lunch we found a great seat on some bleachers in the shade in plenty of time to see the bed race. So many people were wearing pink to celebrate the cherry blossoms that Judi and I wished we had worn our pink shirts from the day before the day of the celebration instead.

There were about 9 contestants in the bed race running to win money for their cause. Most of the beds were so modified that I wondered if they were ever beds to begin with. The slowest one was actually a hot tub on 5 inch wheels. The girls inside were dressed like Greeks in togas and the runners pushing it were dressed like the mob. The “beds” were pushed by 5 or so runners up a couple of blocks one at a time and timed. The most creative bed was the Flintstone bed racer complete with wooden wheels.. one of which fell off near the end of their run. I think that the ladies running for breast cancer won the $500.

The professional riding lawn mower grand prix looked a little scary.. they drove souped up lawn mowers while wearing helments but not seat belts. They were traveling pretty fast and two crashed as they went around cornner number 3. During the delay we decided to go a head and start traveling toward home. All the fun and excitement had worn us out.

On our way home with my new knowledge of what a cherry tree in blossom looks like I started thinking that I might have seen a cherry tree in my neighborhood. I was right! There is one down my street. Then last Thursday I spotted 8 of them conspicuously planted in the median of East Chase Parkway, the road that I take to Costco every week. I don’t think they blossomed until after our trip to GA. Next year I’ll know to watch for them.