I am still alive

Jerrel and Tim
Jerrel got to sleep over at Aunt Beff's and Uncle Ben's house

Yes, I am still alive and well. Just been very busy and haven't had the time to just sit down and update this. I have decided that I blog for fun so I was not going to get out of shape if I haven't updated...so I didn't.

We have had a pretty busy June and July. First off my brother Tim stayed with us for the summer. He worked for a guy in our church which worked out great for him. I didn't get to spend alot of time with him because he was working so much but we did have fun. We had a little party for him before he left. Matt came down to pick him up and got to come as well as sight see Birmingham and Vulcun! He is now attending GBS.Auburn and Alabama battle it out at Checkers! LOL

I also started teaching the Junior Sunday School class at church which I enjoy. We are doing a cute train theme.Ben also moved to a different position at his work. He is now the E-business guy. He puts all the cars on-line for the internet sales ect. It has been a difficult switch for him, having to learn a new job all over again but he is doing much better now.

June we went to family reunion in TN and then a week later to PA for Steve's wedding. Family reunion was fun as usually. We went on an overnight hike into the Smokies. It was a great experience! July was camp meeting which was very nice and then a tag-a long trip to Cincinnati with Ben's parents later in July. I was able to see Steve and Korin as well as visit my good friend Mary and Jon and their NEW baby born that day!I love this picture of Findley Market in Cincinnati. Makes me feel like overseas!

I then had surgery on my thumb that has been bothering me for a long time. They had to remove tissue in the tendon sheath that was not allowing it to move. So I was out of commision for a few days. It is doing better but is not back to 100 % but alot better then before! Now my old injury I did to my knee skiing almost 4 years ago is really bothering me. I go for an MRI on that soon. I am not even old yet and I am already falling apart! LOL
I now teach art class once a week at the Bible Methodist Christian School. That is fun and it gets me back teaching a little again, which I missed. I still work at Cracker Barrel as well and substitute when I can.I hatched some more chicks out this summer and they are now about 2 months old. We also got another billy goat to replace the one that died last year.Our pigs are history and boy do they fill up the freezer and taste wonderful. Most people ask how could you do that? Well I never let myself get attached to them cuz I knew where they were going. Plus they were really greedy at the end, so big and such pigs!! LOL I had to beat them away so I could pour the feed in their buckets.
We now have two little kittens, well they are not so little now but were at the beginning of the summer. Ben found them at work in a shed so he rescued them and we needed some mousers anyways. Tiger and Smokey. Tiger is already learning the art of mousing, good girl! (or maybe ratting, anyway really gross and some pretty big. They are starting to get into our animal feed.)
They are both really cute and great with all the animals.
Ben has the roof on his shop done and has set up his blacksmith shop. He hasn't gotten any metal yet so he hasn't worked in it much, but it is really cool. He hopes to soon.A couple weeks ago we had the whole church over for BBQ. It was a great time. We all brought lawn chairs and gathered around the bonfire while the kids all get their energy out on the trampoline!We did one reenactment over Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, probably one of the only ones this fall. It was the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Atlanta. It was a good battle and fun to go to despite the heat and being so tired!!
Well that about sums it all up. We have been busy working and getting ahead.

NY Trip

Last Thursday I headed north to NY for a long weekend. My mom was giving Korin, a bridal shower and it was also a great time to see some family. My grandparents are getting up in age and I am not sure how much longer I will have them. We had a great time, despite missing my transfer in Atlanta and getting in at 2:30 in the morning to my aunts. Oh well I was just tired the whole time.
Friday my mom and I went shopping for the shower. I then went to the airport to get my luggage and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Overturf's. Along with my Aunt Phyllis, we took Grandma to the doctor. She is doing pretty good considering. (She broke a vertebrae back a few months ago.) It is still kinda sad to see everyone get older and all that comes with it. Korin joined us that evening at G and G O's where we stayed the evening. We then went to my cousin Ronny's house where Korin and I stayed.
Saturday was the shower. It was a great time and alot of fun. Korin recieved some nice gifts and we had fun giving it. Afterwards we went out to see where we used to live, the old church, the lake ect. We then went to Platter's where we had some delicous orange chocolate custard icecream. I love them.
Sunday we went to church with my Aunt and Uncle, Ron and Diane and then went to see G & G O again and then went to see G & G Harms. Grandpa was just there so we visted with him for while, and just as ornary as ever! LOL That evening we saw Francis and Marilyn, a dear couple from our church up there. We had a nice visit with them.
Monday morning I flew home with no delays and went to bed and slept like 7 hours and still slept that night!! It was a great weekend but just went by to fast.

The Bride-to-be

The Yummy Food

Grandpa Harms
See that mischievous grin.. that is where I get it from!!!

Like the gown we made her!!!

left to right, Aunt Diane, Korin, Aunt Sandy, Mom, Grandma Harms, Aunt Phyllis

The pretty little table

Grandpa Overturf and Aunt Phyllis with us

Dear Grandma Overturf
This is the picture I gave her as a gift in a neat frame I got
It said Three Generations at the top and then a cool saying at the bottom. She loved it.

"Come here and say cheese" -Grandma. She was so cute!

Grandpa Harms
See that mischievous grin.. that is where I get it from!!!

Tim's party

A week ago we went to South Carolina for Tim's graduation party. It was nice to go home for a few days and see my family. (Steve wasn't able to come!! Booo hooo!) We left Friday as soon as Ben got off of work and came back Sunday afternoon. The 4 1/2 hour trips are sure alot better than NY!!
Tim's party was nice. After wards we decided to go up to table rock park since we were not that far. It was too late in the day to hike to the top but I want to one of these times. Instead we went boating in the lake and hiked a little trail to a waterfalls. It was very pretty and relaxing.

The delicious food

All of us... well except Steve!

The gift we gave him!!

Ouch!!

Ben thought this was so cool so he took a pic. It is kinda amazing how big the egg was. (As most of you know we have chickens) My thoughts were just, POOR CHICKEN!!

Strawberries!

Here is the trunk of our car!! A sure sign of spring. Ben's uncle has a farm and due to unfortunate circumstances for him (too much rain), we were able to get all the strawberries we wanted. (Well almost)
Now my freezer is full of strawberries. I also attempted to make jam. I haven't made jam since I was little with my mom and was a little nervous. However I just followed the recipes in the pectin and ta-da, delicious jam. I made freezer jam, some sugar-free to give as gifts. I also made some regular jam and canned it. It all turned out well and tastes delicious. And now my shelf looks so pretty with all the jam jars on it!!

Tornado

Give you an idea how the leaves just fell like rain. The roads were green!!!

On Sunday a tornado came through, right down the road we live off of. We had bad thunderstorms and wind and a lot of hail. Our road goes east and west, the way most storms go. The tornado touched down about a mile and a half west of us and then about the same east of us. I know from all the limbs and leaves and wind that it was close. Power was out for about 5 hours for us. Thankfully no one around was hurt at all and our place was fine. The gate for the chicken yard came open and the chickens got out. We did lose one chicken that we found on the far side of the fence. I think the wind knocked her around a little and beat her up. Poor thing, she was a good layer!
God protected our place. Here are some pics I took from our place and some neighbors down the road. I want to get some more of the ones down the other way on our road. I drove by today and it is amazing. All these trees around a farmers field are just torn and snapped off and the barn about a quarter mile off the road is missing half its roof, with a big piece of it by the road.

Sorry it is fuzzy. The tree laying over is on top of the house, crushing the two vehicles underneath.

Here is the telephone pole just snapped off. Right in here you can really see that it came down.

This is the house near the telephone pole. Notice the tree... it is just suspended in the air, hung on the other trees!! Weird!!
Now how hard does wind blow to planster the side of your house with leaves, on pretty much every side?

My poor plant. This is what large hail does to them, just shreds them!

Selma

I was able to go to my first reenactment of the year at Selma, AL. This is my favorite one, for many reasons, but especially for the ball. It is held in an old civil war era house with gardens and a huge lawn where they hold the ball! Absolutely gorgeous!



I was able to be one of the women in the battle scenario. They build a little shack out in the field and as the Yankees approached and fired on some nearby confederate soldiers, the women ran from their home. Ben said I was the only one he could really hear screaming from across the field. So my big mouth came in handy! LOL

The city of Selma is such a neat place with so many old houses. I also love all the spanish moss hanging from the trees. Here is some pics of the graveyard near the battlefield! It was so neat but almost eerie.

Jerrel always seems to have fun at the reenactments.
This time he went and found some boys who camped near by to play with. He is really starting to grow up and will soon be out there with his dad!

Here is our good friends Richard and Anna. Richard is also our captain!