Angel Food Ministries

Today our family participated in the first distribution day for our church for Angel Food Ministries. This is a minstry where people can buy food boxes and they come to our church to pick them up. We had about 40 volunteers and we distributed 67 boxes of food - many of them donations from people giving to those in need. I'm so thankful that our church allows us to participate in this type of ministry as a family. Steve went with the guys in our small group to Columbia, TN to pick up the food (about 30 minutes from Spring Hill). Jenna helped put food into boxes as part of the distribution process, I accepted orders for January (although we had no orders) and Seth helped people carry their boxes to their cars and prayed with them - blessing the food and praying for other needs that they have. We look forward to this ministry growing. Right now people in Spring Hill have to travel about 20-30 minutes to distribution sites so having a church right here in Spring Hill will be a huge blessing to many people.

A Busy Pre-Christmas Saturday

I have no pictures to post, but we had a busy Saturday. The morning started off by me taking Jenna to gymnastics. Her gymnastics class is right across the parking lot from our church, so after she was done with gymnastics we went to a ladies Christmas craft brunch. We ate lots of good food and made Christmas tree ornaments out of cookie cutters, pretty magnets that Jenna is going to use a teacher gifts and Jenna made two canvas bags. We got home, ate a quick lunch then headed into Franklin for the Christmas parade. (Seth was marching with the band in both the Franklin and Spring Hill Christmas parades.) The IHS band was one of the lead units in the parade. We left the parade early - it was cold, plus we weren't all that impressed with the parade. (This was the first year we've gone to the Franklin parade.) We were home for about an hour then I had to leave to go to the Spring Hill Christmas parade. Steve and Jenna were going to his company Christmas party at the Predators hockey game. (We just figured it'd be easier if Jenna went this year instead of me trying to work out logistics for getting Seth home and trying to find somewhere for Jenna to stay.) Thankfully I left early to go to the parade. I don't know who came up with the traffic plan for the parade, but it was terrible. I finally just went past a "Do Not Enter" sign to get to a street where I knew I could park. I enjoyed this parade a lot more than the Franklin parade. It had more of a small hometown feel to it. After getting Seth at the school, he and I went to Panchos for dinner.

Christmas lights

Jenna wanted to put icicle lights up this year across the front porch. We couldn't find white icicle lights, so we purchased the multi-colored lights. She and i are very proud of ourselves - we put the lights up all by ourselves! They look very pretty at night (but my camera doesn't take good pictures at night, thus the picture of the lights at dusk).

Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving day. We went to my sister's in Kingston Springs and spent the day with her, Brad and Matt. When we arrived, we were given our instructions for the day. At 1:00 we were to be at the table with our drinks and be ready for the "presentation of the turkey". Before that we had to write one or two things we are thankful for and put it on a slip of paper with our name and drop it into a basket. At 1:00 we were all at the table with our drinks eagerly anticipating the presentation of the turkey. Brad (a former chef) put the turkey on a serving tray with edible decorations around it. We then each had to draw a slip of paper from the basket, tell the one or two things on it and we had to guess who wrote it. After a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with our traditional dishes, we relaxed for awhile before going to the park for a walk. It was cold outside but we bundled up and went anyway and taking two of the three dogs with us. After returning back to the house, we transitioned into Christmas by having a hot chocolate tasting. We tasted white hot chocolate (which was my favorite) and Mexican hot chocolate (a little too spice for me). By a showing of hands, the white hot chocolate won. We later enjoyed dessert of cherry cobbler with ice cream and pumpkin cake.

They say you eat with your eyes first; this is the presentation of the turkey.

This is the setting for our hot chocolate tasting.

On Friday Jenna and I ventured out into Black Friday - something I have never done before. We were at Kohl's at 5:30 a.m. then went to Game Stop. Kohl's wasn't crowded - just seemed like a regular shopping day; Game Stop was very crowded but they had a good system set up and we were in and out in about 45 minutes. (We went to Game Stop to get the Wii that Jenna and I want for Christmas.) After Game Stop we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and we were home by 8:00. We decided that instead of waiting for Christmas to open the Wii, that we'd just open it now. Seth (who didn't want a Wii) got everything set up for us and played the entire rest of the day! For someone who didn't want it, he's really enjoying it. And he and Jenna played together most of the afternoon which was very nice to see. Now I don't know how much I'll get to play! In between playing games, we decorated for Christmas.

Predators Hockey Game

I've mentioned it before, but one of the fun things about living in Nashville are the professional sports teams we have. Last night we were given tickets to go to the NHL Predators hockey game. We all enjoy hockey, so after getting Seth from band practice at 5:00, we headed to Cool Springs to get Steve at work, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the Sommet Center for a fun evening of hockey. The seats we had were great - behind the goal where the Predators score during the first and third periods. We played the New Jersey Devils and won 3-2 in a shootout. Great game!! To top it off, Seth won a new XBox NHL Hockey 2K10 game. He texted to a designated number when flashed on the big screen and about 10 minutes got a reply text that he had won! He was so excited!! The only problem is, we don't have an XBox. He's going to go to Game Stop tonight to see if they'll trade it for a PS2 game.

Marching Band Season is Over

Our high school football team lost in the second round of the playoffs Friday night, so marching band season is officially over. It's nice to have Seth home in the evenings now. The band is getting ready for two Christmas parades on December 5th. In the morning they will march in the Franklin parade and in the evening they will march in the Spring Hill parade. Seth has really enjoyed marching band and isn't ready to see it come to an end.

Marching Band Season is WInding Down

Marching band season is slowly coming to an end. Fortunately for Seth, the football team made it to the second round of the playoffs, so the band will travel to Franklin, TN on Friday to play at the football game. I don't think Seth is ready for marching season to end. The marching band will be participating in the Veteran's Day parade in Franklin on Wednesday.

This past Saturday we were all busy. The band hosts a big Division II marching band competition every November as one of our largest fundraisers. We're thankful for a gorgeous and profitable, albeit long day. We had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to be at the school at 6:00 a.m. We left the school at 1:15 a.m., had to make a night deposit at the bank and got home at 2:00 a.m. Seth worked in the concession stand all day. Jenna helped me and Steve with money and filled in at the concession stand while our band performed (we did not compete). We didn't want to sleep in on Sunday since it was the first Sunday in our new church building, so everyone but Jenna took a nap Sunday afternoon.

Now.......it's Monday night and we're excited to watch the Steelers at Denver. Go Steelers!