Wednesday, June 15, 2011

More Memories from Good Shepherd

I promised to dig through and convert more Good Shepherd pictures to digital and blog them, and I got a good start! Fun memories here...



Diana Kearney and Sandra Peterson: amazing, Godly women. I still cherish any time and wisdom I can get from them.

Alison Kearney and Rebecca Stidham (above). Unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep-up with Rebecca, but I'm so glad I get to call Alison my friend!


Tonia Crotts: great spiral! (above)

(below) Chris Crotts manned the grill. We loved spending time with the Crotts.




(above) Matt and Karen Jones. Karen was the secretary at Good Shepherd while Tim served there: I bet she has some GREAT stories on him!




(above) John and Cheryl Adams. John works for the WV State Convention. We still enjoy getting their Christmas letters.


(above) Holy long hair, Batman! Is that Justin Hannah between Matt and Eric???


(above) Alisha and Larry Gillenwater, who were always very nice to us. Larry used to give us deer meat after he went hunting. Thanks to Larry, I learned to make a mean venison chilli.



Jim and Patty Hager (above). Jim has gone to be with Jesus.



(above) Perry and Melissa Johnson, Elaine and Emma Tapley.

(below) I was CRAZY BIG pregnant with John in this picture! The week before John was born, the Crotts invited us to their house and surprised us with this beautiful cake to celebrate the upcoming baby.



(above) Alison Harper and Emma Tapley.


(above) Bradley Johnson. He and Christopher were buddies.


(above) Julie Jordan and Matt Jones, VBS 2004.

Katie Jordan, working VBS, above. Julie doing the same, below. The Jordan girls always had an amazing way with little ones.



(above) Joann Maddox, Karen Stidham and Diana Perdue, working the Rickshaw Ralley VBS.

(below) Terrie Hannah, Kay Boyd, and Tim working VBS. The "Dream Team." Church was never more fun than when Terrie and Kay were with us. I miss and respect them both more than they know.



(above) KL and Debbie working the sound booth together. Wonderful friends whom I miss dearly.


(above) The Famous "Missions Team" who worked VBS together almost every year. Have you noticed that VBS was a big deal at Good Shepherd??? Praise the Lord!

(above) Pastor Kenny and his family on an Easter Sunday. Sorry I got your eyes closed, Daniel.

(below) Pastor Kenny holding John right after after John was born. I remember taking that picture while I was laying down on my hospital bed while hooked-up to an IV. Funny what you remember...


(below) Josh and Jake Tucker, who are now both in the military and in college, and Josh is engaged. Am I old, or what?!?!



I'm still looking for more pictures from Good Shepherd to blog. But here are a few more interesting Good Shepherd tidbits...



  • I learned to crochet from Connie Woodyard. It was me and 2 10-year-old girls. The 10-year-old girls were infinetly better at crochet than I was at 25.

  • During the Bible Drill program every year, I went and hid in the bathroom when the kids did the part where they brought adults onstage to try their Bible Drill Skills. Awesome pastor's wife, huh??? (Insert sarcastic tone here...) Someone else was always hiding in there with me, but I refuse to tell you who it was.

  • Ruth Ann and Dottie absolutely spoiled Christopher ROTTEN when he was in their nursery! No baby was ever treated so well in a church nursery.

  • When Terrie Hannah gets to Heaven, she will be put in charge of running Vacation Bible Schools. And David will do the prop work for her. And even though we're in Heaven, kids will somehow get saved. I believe that.

  • Rosemary Parkins STILL sends everyone in our family a birthday card every year, and a cross-stitched Christmas card every Christmas. It's like she's here with us.

  • I think Christopher's first love was Patti Wigle.

During a year when we were low on money, a lot of people at that church did amazing things for us. One person brought me meat from her butcher. Another anonymous benefactor hung a Kroger bag full of Christopher's favorite baby foods on Tim's office door every Monday morning as long as Christopher ate baby food. One woman had a $20 bill in her hand everytime I shook her hand during the greeting for close to a year. One family paid-off our Jeep, which we still have (Tim calls it the "Prospect Mobile" because he always takes it on trips visiting!) That was one of the BEST years of our married life, and we use Good Shepherd's example of generosity when we teach others how God helps His people through His church. Thank you Good Shepherd!

Monday, June 13, 2011

All I Want for Independence Day is My Two Front Teeth.

It's getting giddily close to July 4th, and Little John has the most adorable hole between his two front teeth. Couldn't help myself. Put the kids in the yard this morning and shot some red, white and blue/missing two-front teeth pics. Enjoy!






Could there be a cuter smile in the whole world????









Friday, June 10, 2011

Good Friends, Good Memories....Good Shepherd

We just got back from a trip to WV, and one of our favorite things to do when we're there is catch-up with the folks from our former church, Good Shepherd Baptist in Scott Depot. Our family was so incredibly blessed for 5 years to serve there, where we were surrounded by some amazing followers of Christ. The names of those people ring almost like a Hebrews 11 "Hall of Fame of Faith" list to us... people whose lives revolved around the evangelism, discipleship, worship, fellowship, and ministry of Jesus. Some of the wisest and Godliest people I've ever known were there when Tim was the associate pastor at Good Shepherd.


We want to thank everyone who spent time with us in the last week - feeding us (both bodily and in spirit), laughing with us, and endlessly and patiently listening to us gab. It was manna from Heaven to be with you all again!


Unfortunately, all of my pictures from Good Shepherd were taken on a 35 mm camera, and only some of them have been converted over to digital. And although we don't have pictures of all of the friends we have there, I dug through my GSBC archives and pulled out a few memories. Some of these folks no longer attend that church, and some no longer walk the Earth, but their memories are all still sweet. These are in no particular order.




Jim, Sandra, Ethan and Elia Peterson


(above) Justin and Megan Hannah







(above) David and Terrie Hannah in 2004, (below) David and Terrie in 2010



(below) Leon White - his wife Sarah is not pictured


(below) Emma, Elaine, and Nathan Tapley









(below) Terry and Cheryl Harper



(below) Burk and Estelle Bell




(below) Cathy and Max Dent







(above) Tonia, Jancee, Chris, and Shanaya Crotts then, and now (below)






Tim and Diana and Kearney now (above) and then (below).




(below) Alison Kearney is now Alison Clemons, shown with husband AJ.


Happy 1 year anniversary, guys!!!





(above) Dennis and Kay Boyd then, and in 2008 (below) when they spent a day with us while we were on vacation in Southern Florida. Dennis has gone home to be with Jesus, and we SO look forward to seeing him again!


(above) Patty and Winston Gregory
(below) Kenny and Karen Stidham, the Senior Pastor and pastor's wife at Good Shepherd.










(below) KL, Debbie, Jake and Josh Tucker.



(below) Cathy and Jim Stephens



(below) Amy French....oops! I mean Amy Bower.




(below) Geneva Faris, and Eugene and Shirley Garlow.


(below) Jim and Nadene Edwards. Jim went home to be with the Lord not long ago.
We look forward to seeing him soon again, too!


Roger, Susie, Katie and Julie Jordan (although I think she is now Julie Berry?)



(above) Jean and Richard French. Richard is now in Heaven with Jesus, along with his son Adam. Interesting story... Tim and I were incredibly sad to hear about them dying. Our children were understably uneasy about why their parents were so distraught, so we explained to them about how we sometimes love people and will miss them when they've died, but that we have so much hope and joy about them being in Heaven. John, who was 4 at the time said, "I want to go to Heaven like that man and his little boy did." John was saved days later. Someday I will thank Richard and Adam for helping my little John come to the Lord!
(above) Don and Cheryl Bower
(above) Connie Woodyard
(above) Ruth Ann Johnson and Dottie Alford

Peggy Cartwright
(above) Ruth and Jerry Granby
Rosemary Parkins






















I'm going to scan some of my other pictures and make another blog of more Good Shepherd memories this summer. Until then, I'll anxiously await the day when we're all together again...



When we all get to Heaven


What a day of rejoicing that will be


When we all see Jesus


We'll sing and shout the victory!