Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at Mama Flo's house with Daddy's brother, Larry, and his family. Melissa painted these cute little pilgrim figurines.

Our little friend, Nathaniel, was with us during the morning, and he and our cousin, Allie, had a lot of fun together.

Playing cars together

Running down to the ditch to throw rocks in the water

This is something we all remember doing when we were little. :)

Allie in the leavesPreparations for Thanksgiving dinner

Mama Flo and Amanda making rolls

Allie and Sarah watch

The turkey

Time to eat!

Mama Flo always makes enough food to feed a crowd twice our size!

Turkey and dressing with gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, fried okra, corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, pea salad, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, pistachio salad and sweet potato casserole!

Eating dinner - Ross, Aunt Jeannie, Mama Flo, Melissa, Daddy, Mama, Amy, Allie, and Uncle Larry. (The banner in front of the window says, "Happy Thanksgiving.")

Lori, David, Jonathan, Amanda and Sarah

Time for dessert...pecan pie, apple pie, lemon pie...

...and Banana Split Pie. :)

Time for a game of Pool!

Allie cheers for each ball that goes in a hole...even if it's the cue ball! :)

Jonathan

Ross

DavidAnna and Allie watching the game

Lori and Allie

Allie gives Mama Flo a hug

Sewing

The big project at our house this week is finishing the sewing of matching dresses for our Christmas Concert.

Melissa cutting out a skirt

Zippers and thread

Emily and Deborah

Embroidering one of the jackets

A few unfinished dressesOur family's annual Christmas Concert will be at 2:00 on December 5th at the First Baptist Church in Selmer. Everyone is invited!

Today's Sermon

This is an unplanned sermon that Brother Paul Washer preached in 2004. It is one of our favorites! Click the sound icon to listen.

A Wonderful Time With Friends

We were so blessed this past week to have the Hale family from Texas visiting us! We had such a great time with them but it ended way too soon!

Giving the Hales a tour of the farm

All 4 of the parents squeezed into the cab of the truck!

It's still very wet here, so parts of the farm road are still under water. The more adventurous ones crossed this low spot on a fallen tree.

Amy and David H.

Andrew helping the ladies across

At Owl Creek

Jonathan and Daniel

On one of the high creek banks...David H. (far right) is preparing to jump.

Melissa, Sarah, Rachel and Amy in the creek

Peter climbed to the top of a tree to get an old hornet nest.

Almost there!

While the Hales were here, Emily had a booth at a local craft fair to sell her handmade children's clothing.

The girls helping Emily set up her booth

Mrs. Hale, Amy, and Rebekah looking at some of the craft items

Rachel putting some of the clothes on display

One room of the craft fair

At Mama Flo's house, looking at our grandfather's WWII scrapbook

Playing instruments together

Andrew and Rachel watching Sarah make dumplings

Working in the kitchen togetherTalking after supper

On Saturday we took the Hales to the flea market in Crump.

Petting a rabbit

Jonathan, Amanda, Esther, Daniel, Sarah H., and Anna

The animal section of the flea market

The chicken seller bagging a chicken

Melissa and Mrs. Hale

Hannah and Deborah wanted their picture taken with this flag.

Mr. Hale bought kettle corn and shared it with all of us.

We took the Hale girls to meet our neighbor who owns the local gas station and cafe.

David and Daniel washing the van

The boys before church on Sunday

Esther and Amanda

Anna and Sarah

Deborah and Hannah

Looking at pictures on the computer

Some of the girls on the way to church

At Shiloh

On Thursday we took the Hales to Shiloh Battlefield. Before we left, Daddy gave a little history lesson about the Civil War.

At Shiloh

Peter in the gift shop

All 12 girls on the steps of the gift shop

Waiting to watch the video about the battle in the Visitor's Center

The boys running down the path to the cabin

Hannah and Deborah on the steps of the cabin

Amy and Esther looking at pictures

Sarah and Rachel

Sarah H. and Anna

The 4 sets of "twins"

David H. and Amy

Some of the group on top of an Indian mound, getting a better view of the Tennessee River

David and Hannah getting a closer look

Mr. and Mrs. Hale on top of one of the Indian mounds

Sarah and Rachel

After touring Shiloh we ate a picnic lunch at one of the pavilions in the park.

Peter :)

The boys' table

After lunch the boys played football in the field next to the pavilion.

The kick-off

The spectators

Playing ball

There were a lot of different ball games going on this week when the Hales were here. We took a lot of funny action shots.

The kickball game

Andrew throws a pitch

Amanda, Deborah, and Hannah wait for their turn to kick

Peter and Stuart

Mr. Hale

Daniel running back to first base while Jonathan prepares to catch the ball

David H.After the kickball game, we played ultimate frisbee.

Mama and Hannah watching the game

Soccer

Today's Sermon

Some of us attended this session of the True Church Conference in Muscle Shoals, AL earlier this year. We were blessed by this sermon, "Brokenness," by Voddie Baucham.

Catering a Wedding

Ingredients for the deli spirals

Melissa and Sarah trimming the tortillas into squares

Our assembly line...David took this picture from up on the counter!

Sarah prepares to make sausage balls.Amanda mixes up vegetable dip, while Melissa cuts the bread for the sandwiches. Rebekah, Emily and Deborah slice vegetables, and Sarah mixes the sausage ball dough.

Here's a closer look at Sarah mixing up the dough. It took forever to get it all mixed up!

When it was finished it weighed 23 lbs!Jonathan and Daddy making sandwiches.Saturday afternoon at the Church

Amanda pours the nuts

Mama washes the serving trays

Deborah cuts deli spirals

Melissa garnishes the cheese ballsJonathan, David, and Mama mix the punch

Amanda and Rebekah prepare the popcorn chicken Putting sauce on the sandwiches

Emily lays out the napkins around the cakeSarah and Rebekah roll sausage ballsWe loved the ovens at the church! One of them had 5 racks that could hold 2 baking sheets each!

These sandwiches are sitting above the ovens on warming racks just before being served.

Just before the reception started we realized that the decorators had left without lighting the candles on the serving table. We didn't have any matches, so David got tooth picks, lit them from the candles near the wall, and used them to light the other candles. :)

One of the serving tables

Filling punch cups

Melissa and Amanda cutting the cake (We didn't make it!)