A Young Man of God

Landon is a senior in high school but is taking all his classes via dual enrollment at our local community college. There's a club there called PANTS which stands for Pantheists, Atheists, Nontheist Society (or something like that - you get the picture). Every year they put on this event called Faith-A-Palooza. Our church meets at the college, so they've been invited to have a booth for the past 5 years. Usually, we're the only ones (according to the administrative pastor), but this year there were 4 churches (the chairman of the club told Landon that they'd asked 46 churches and only 4 accepted!). Anyway, Scott (the administrative pastor who's also in charge of the youth and children - we're a small church) asked Landon if he'd be at school that day and help him man the booth. Landon said sure. Well, I just have to share this message I just got from Scott:

Hey,
I wanted to brag on your son really quickly. He met us at the Faith-A-Palooza table, and it's definitely not an easy crowd. Most of the people who come by the table are skeptics. I was interviewed by a student who was apparently trying to trip me up on some sort of church/state/gay marriage issue of some sort. Landon and I were the main talkers at our table, as the three international students were more of the setup/cleanup kids (but were awesome nonetheless!)

The cool moment came when a reporter for the Patriot Press came and asked Landon what his table was all about. Linda, I tell you what, this 17-year-old kid made a full-fledged defense of the gospel of Jesus to a newpaper reporter. Landon talked about the supremacy of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, being His hands and feet in our world, and on and on. I think the reporter was a bit shell-shocked. It was incredible. The reporter got Landon's name, age, and major, so it's possible Landon's quote may even make the newspaper. I told him how incredible of a job he did, but I think his mom and dad should know as well.

It was just awesome to see a young person stand up and unashamedly state Truth to a journalist - and to do it in such an articulate manner as well. I know you and Greg are proud of Landon's academic accomplishments - you should be even prouder of the young man of God you have raised. If he ever needs any type of reference for anything, please let me know!

See you on Sunday!

Grace and peace,

SEC

Totally blew me away! What do you say to that? I answered back, "I'm speechless. Thanks for sharing that with us." As a Christian parent, especially a homeschool mom, the most important thing to me is to raise a young man or woman of character. And it blessed me to hear this from someone. Thank you, Jesus!

Carys is 5!

Well, on January 17, Carys turned 5. However, we moved the following weekend, so I am just getting around to posting pictures from her birthday. Sigh!


5 is a big birthday at our house. When you're 5 you no longer have to take a nap, and you finally get to chew gum! Carys could hardly wait. Of course, she hadn't been napping since we moved in September. I just couldn't get her back into the routine. I figured that it wasn't worth fighting for 4 months.

But the gum was a big deal! Chase gave her a piece as soon as she got up.


We waited to open presents until Greg got home from work around 3:45pm. He'd been going from work straight to the new house to lay the laminate flooring. So, this was early for him. And what patience for a 5-year-old with a pile of present on the table!


Gerren gave Carys glow-stick bracelets.


Landon gave her the black Color Wonder paper.


Chase gave Carys a box of Bazooka bubble gum all her own...


and a bag of gummy worms. Thank the Lord for the Dollar Tree!


Finally, we got the presents from Mom and Dad. Gerren read the card to her.


Her first gift was a kid-sized Wii remote. She wants to play Wii with everyone so badly but gets frustrated when she doesn't do well.


We also gave her this Nickelodeon Wii Fit game.


She also got this new Veggie Tales movie, Sweetpea Beauty.


Her final gift was this supersized box of Playdoh, which I got at Walmart's Black Friday sale.


I put the Playdoh up right away since we were moving in five days. She was asking to play with it immediately when we were in the new house. I told her she had to wait until the boxes were unpacked. She asked every single day, and I would say, "Look around. Do you see any boxes?" The boxes in the house are now unpacked. The only boxes you can see are the ceiling fans which Greg needs to install. However, there is only one very narrow walkway through the garage. She's stopped asking to play with it, though, so I guess I'll have to give in and suggest it one day this week. :)

Yesterday, 12 days after we spent our first night here, I finally felt like at least the top of my head was above water. Ugh! It's great to be able to have a brand new house, but it comes with its own set of difficulties - like no window treatments or fans in the house. We had trouble with appliances we ordered from Universal Appliance and Kitchen Center in CA. Don't ever order from them!!! Pay a little extra and get them locally. We also sold all our bookcases with our house, so we had to buy new ones at IKEA. The school room in the house is much smaller than the house we designed, so I posted probably 100 books on Paperback Swap. It's good for me to get rid of stuff, but also hard with Carys just starting school. In the future, I will be relentless about getting rid of stuff she has grown out of (except the Sonlight books, I think I'll save those for the grandkids)! :)

There is still so much to do here, but most of that is stuff Greg has to do. Ugh! Ceiling fans installed, transition strips between the tile/carpet and laminate finished, board put on attic floor so some stuff in the garage can go up there, garage door opener installed, garage cabinets purchased and Greg's tools and junk sorted through and stored, garage floor sealed and painted, garage set up as music/weight lifting/toy room, front door painted, blinds for 2 front rooms purchased and installed (we were debating between blinds and shutters in those rooms, so we didn't do them when we did the bedrooms). We also have to decide what to do with window treatments for the sliding glass doors. Those are the major things he has to do. We need one more bookcase from IKEA. The builder has to do the landscaping. We have sod but no plants around the house. He is responsible for that.

It seems overwhelming to list it all, but we're so much farther along than we were 2 weeks ago. My house is neat enough that I can function. We managed to only miss one week of school -- a miracle! So, I'm getting back into a school, cleaning, cooking routine, and that makes life seem more manageable to me.

Greg STILL needs a new job. He needs to make more than poverty wages. And if he doesn't find a better-paying job in the next month, he's going to have to get a second job. We all HATE the idea of that. Please pray for us.

Happy New Year!

While reading blogs today, I read these four questions to ask ourselves when approaching a new year:

• What do I need to Celebrate?
• What do I need to Change?
• What do I need to Conclude?
• What do I need to Contend for? (In other words, whose interests will I look out for?)

I intend to contemplate those four questions over the next week while I pray about a Word for the year as well. I didn't choose a word last year, but I have new inspiration from my friend, Becky.

And let me just say, everyone needs a real woman of God who's a little ahead of her on the road of life to look up to. I've been blessed to have several of these women come into my life throughout the years, and Becky Moews is one of them! Lord, may my life be such a reflection of you that you will be able to use me in such a way as well.

Merry Christmas!

I wrote this post Christmas day but just managed to get the photos uploaded. Yikes!

Things have been so crazy around here trying to find and purchase a house and pack, etc., that I haven't recorded all our Advent doings. This year we read through A Family Advent: Keeping the Savior in the Season each night as well as watching Advent Calendar on DVD 2.

We also gave our traditional family gifts each Sunday in Advent. The first Sunday's gift was Tim Hawkins' new DVD, Insanitized. The second Sunday's gift was the new Veggie Tales DVD It's a Meaningful Life. The third Sunday's gift was a 15-in-1 Family Pack for the Wii. Finally, for the 4th Sunday in Advent, the kids received the Wii Party game. They've had a blast playing with this game.

The girls made a gingerbread house again this year. Can you tell that Carys really helped this time?


On Christmas Eve, we went to candlelight service on the square in Ocala hosted by our church, Cross Pointe Ocala. Afterwards, we had Chinese, as usual. Sometimes we have take-out, but this year we ate at the buffet in Ocala as it would have been too late to have take-out at home. We had our devotion, then the kids opened their Christmas Eve gift, which was two long-sleeved shirts each.

On Christmas morning, Greg had to wake everyone up at 9:11a.m. when the cinnamon rolls came out of the oven since they were all still sleeping.


Finally, we had Christmas morning devotions, took the annual picture in front of the tree, and opened gifts.


The kids drew names again this year. Gerren got Chase the Pride and Prejudice DVD.


Landon got Carys a Furr Friends puppy.


Chase got Landon a new wallet.


Carys got Gerren a thermal shirt.


Since this blog is a family record, I like to list everyone's gifts so we can check back if we need to. So, skip this part if it bores you. The following gifts were all from Mom and Dad.

Landon: luggage set, My Utmost for His Highest leather bound book, shaving kit, jacket, watch





Gerren: CAP boots, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (5-book set), Mustang calendar, $50 iTunes gift card, Axe gift set


Chase: arrows, black purse, leather gloves, Nancy Drew book The Twin Dilemma, the new Tinkerbell DVD, a dress for Liberty, a skin for her iTouch (which doesn't fit and has to be returned)


Carys: easel, beads, string and pattern cards set, Toy Story 3 DVD, Tiana costume from Princess and the Frog, bath robe




Greg: 2 new belts (from the kids), TNIV Study Bible, John Grisham's new book The Confession, 300-lb Olympic weight set (hidden in Landon's closet all month)




Linda: Presto popcorn popper (from the kids), toaster, gold watch (mine died), gold earrings (I lost one gold hoop of the set I wore constantly!), Yoshi knife (I've been wanting one of these!)

We went to Greg's brother's family's house for dinner which was a fabulous prime rib, baked potatoes, Caesar salad, and crescent rolls followed by my famous chocolate cheesecake and Kay's chocolate chip pecan pie. After dinner, we headed to the movies to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Our niece/cousin Rebekah hadn't seen it, so she went with us. We loved it.

After we got home around 6:30pm, we opened our stockings. This has become a tradition by default even though it's probably backwards from the way most people do it. It makes for a nice evening, though.

Landon said that the stocking stuffers just keep getting better and better.


Gerren wasn't too thrilled with his stocking stuffers.


Chase put in specific requests for her stocking (lotion, body spray, perfume, etc.)


Carys' stocking is harder to stuff for me. The big kids always get gum and a $10 iTunes gift card. So, I have to think of other things for Carys. She liked this Little Mermaid polly-pocket-type doll.


Even Dad got a stocking filled with goodies.


As you can see, I wasn't even home that day. Just kidding! I guess I was the one taking all the pictures!

The day after Christmas, Chase and Landon headed to Tyndall AFB in Panama City for Winter Encampment. I told them that this is the last year any Meahls are going to Winter Encampment. It just cuts our vacation too short!

Thanksgiving Pictures at Last!

The Miskiewicz family hosted Thanksgiving this year at their home in Raleigh, NC. They have this fabulous enclosed back porch with a gas fireplace where we spent a lot of time.

There's a great table to eat at...


...and a lot of other cozy seating.


I perused the Black Friday ads first thing Thanksgiving morning.


While we sat on the porch, Carys played with Abby in the back yard.


Little did we know that she was systematically destroying some of Kim's garden (pulling up little stakes that said what was planted where, etc.)!


The kids played tons of games over the three days we were there.


Risk and Apples to Apples and games I'd never seen or heard of before!


Everyone had to have a ride in Matt's new Miata.


Kim's nephew (son of her twin sister) Jeremiah, his wife Meredith, and his dad Tom joined us for dinner. Jeremiah did a lot of the dishes before we even ate.


Why is there always a picture of Greg filling his plate?


Some pictures around the table. "Uncle" Tom, Landon, and Gerren


Jeremiah and Meredith


Erin Miskiewicz and her boyfriend Jeremy Phillips


Greg and me


Kim and Carys


At lot of time was spent on the various laptops...



...and jamming upstairs as well.


Dave plays the guitar as does Chase.


Jeremy is studying at Liberty and hopes to be a worship leader someday. He plays many instruments.


The adults went out to eat by themselves Saturday night to The Mellow Mushroom (we'd never been there before).


Carys ADORED Abby and was so sad to leave her.


These are the beautiful faces of the people I love most in the world!

Carys:


Chase:


Gerren:




Landon:


Greg:


Thanks for the great time, Kim, Dave, Matt and Erin. But all good things come to end, so we headed home on Sunday morning.