Happy Birthday to me–festive like!

December 2, 2022 | Stacy

Firstly – daddy had the day off.
Secondly – co op is over.
Thirdly – only Nigel had to work in the evening.

Let’s make up for last year’s non-birthday. (It wasn’t bad – we were just tooo busy.)

After a leisurely morning and a little school with Tab we headed to the Greenville Zoo to have one more visit before our annual pass expires. It was sunny, dry, and in the 50’s. The zoo was quite decorated and it was Dad and Tab’s first visit there.

It is much smaller than Seneca Park Zoo, and doesn’t have as many animals. But they are different and they do try.

The lions were very vocal, too.

They have an awesome set of playgrounds, too!

We went home for a while and ate pizza.
Johanna, Tabitha, Katriel, John and I went up to Bob Jones University for their Christmas Festival. It included SO many activities for families. Concerts. Food Trucks. Tree Lighting.

We ducked indoors for a Blue Grass concert. Stewart and Marie arrived while we were in there. They were very accomplished musicians.

Then we listened to an outdoor concert by some Velos students.

We found more treats, and then watched a movie by Answers in Genesis.

Then we joined in a campus wide carol sing and lighting of the trees.

Lastly, we headed over to the smores, and the alumni market place.

It was SUCH a fun and festive birthday. Hopefully we can attend this again next year and Nigel can join us.

Level Award Christmas Party

December 1, 2022 | Stacy

As a first year Pioneer, Johanna had two years to complete her event planning requirement for her Level Award, but she was adamant that she would complete it this year. She was required to plan one troop wide event requiring at least 10 hours of work. She decided to host the troop Christmas party. And it certainly used more than 10 hours.

We prepared for months. It was hard for me to not just jump in and take over, especially when a lot of time was being taken up for the new job. But the purpose was to teach her all the pieces. This included (but was not limited to) researching crafts for the age levels, the costs for the crafts, and purchasing the supplies. She/we needed to also research games. She also had to plan to food and supplies and we had to learn together how to make a sign-up in Sign Up Genius.

We made practice crafts, too. And she wrote her own devotion.

The theme was stars, and the party was stellar.

We used every last table we could find.

We had Daddy come to also help.

She led the younger girls through their star craft and a game of Bingo.
She also had to make 45 bags of Fruit Loop Markers and we did all the prep bags for the crafts.

I led the older girls in their star craft, and their scavenger hunt game.

Johanna did an amazing job.

And I am sooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo glad it is done!

Getting ready for Christmas (productions)

November 29, 2022 | Stacy

Katriel was asked to do the speaking part in our Christmas Cantata. We met up with Pastor Phil for some practice.

Tropical Treasures

November 27, 2022 | Stacy

Tab was able to catch up with her AHG squad today, for a rare non-Thursday activity that fit her schedule. They packed bags for inmates for Christmas. They met up at Tropical Grille for the assembly.

Ironically, my friend Anna works for the local Baptist Association that collects them before they head downstate for distribution. These girls packed up as many as some entire churches are able to assemble.

Post Thanksgiving good things

November 26, 2022 | Stacy

I worked again last night. And then slept in the morning.
The kids had a LOT gong on… And so did we.

John drove Johanna to join her AHG friends ringing bells. Technically it is not an AHG event because it includes fund raising.

Meanwhile, I got myself awake, and around, and we walked down to Anna and Condy’s to watch THE BIG GAME!

What is THE BIG GAME?

OHHHHH – How could we never had known about THE BIG GAME?!

It was the annual, Saturday after Thanksgiving football game between the University of South Carolina Gamecocks (the underdogs) and the Clemson Tigers (the favorites).

And the Gamecocks won! As people who don’t really know anything about either, we were strongly encouraged by Anna and her kids to root for the Gamecocks. It was very exciting, and the Richardson’s had a feast.

We headed home for a while, and then later they joined us for dinner at our house (originally we’d all imagined the game would have been at dinner time).

Oh – and here are our trees for the year.
The theme of the year was, “Um. Yeah. Let’s get some decorations on the trees.”

Katriel and Nigel were big helpers this year.

Thankful every day

November 24, 2022 | Stacy

I worked my first independent shift last night. It was a hoot, let me tell you.

First, when I got there at 7PM I was told they’d tried to call me at 5PM to tell me I was not needed. I was also told it would be exceptionally unlikely that I would be called back in to work. In fact, I was the seventh in line to be called back in.

Imagine my surprise at 10PM when they called and asked me to be there by midnight.

I’m not really laughing.

But it was a decent night, and I had an extremely lovely patient whom I prayed with. She said I was there for a reason, and I’d have to agree.

I came home with donuts for my crew, and I slinked off to bed for a few hours.

After I got up around 12:30PM, dinner prep was well underway. We worked on some finishing pieces and around 4:15PM we sat down to our feast.

Stewart is in NY with Noelle. Nan is in NY now. The Hoyt’s are in NY.

But we were here, in our home, thankful for what we have.

Oh the places she’ll go (Johanna AHG adventures)

November 23, 2022 | Stacy

I don’t know the exact order of these photos.
I was not there.

Johanna and two of her squad-mates had the blessing to do overnight camping in November.

They first hiked in to their site carrying a portion of their gear. Claire’s dad drove in the remainder.

Once they arrived, they assembled their sleeping quarters (I hesitate to call it a “tent”) and made their dinners.

They were not allowed to sleep in the lean-to structures, but they could sit there a little.

This is what the three girls constructed and slept in.

FOR REAL!

Mrs. Tammy and Mr. and Mrs. Owings had actual tents.

These are adventures Johanna would never had had if we didn’t make this crazy move. I am so happy for my little adventurer.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Image | November 23, 2022 | Stacy

A little Jack Skellington for Marie

November 22, 2022 | Stacy

Literally – it’s a little Jack Skellington.

Marie started to make him while we were up in NY. Some heavy duty wire, some floral wire, and some special clay.

She’s worked patiently at it, and hit a few learning curves with paint, etc.