Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Adrian Mother-Daughter Banqet
We honored two special ladies during this special evening. One was the Mother of the Year and that special lady was Esther Wentworth Hilling. What a treasure she is to our group of ladies! She is such an inspiration and is a beautiful example for us to follow. She is very busy as a mother of three beautiful children, wife to Chris Hilling, daughter, sister, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, aunt, pastor's wife and friend! In anticipation of this special award, her mother, Sue Wentworth Webb, was asked to write Esther a letter, which would be read at the banquet. A few days before the banquet, Sue had a heart attack and was air-lifted to a hospital in Fort Wayne. This was a traumatic time for the family and we were wishing we had the 'letter'. A day or two before we would need the letter, Esther's step-dad, Dave Webb, found the letter that Sue had written, typed it out and sent it to us for our use. What a special letter that was! God was faithful in allowing Sue to recover from this experience and she is improving. The letter was so special to all in attendance and especially to Esther.
Another lady in our group has shown such a gracious spirit during the time of Secret Sister exchanges. Jean Green Miller was honored with a beautiful basket of treasures for showing the love of Christ through some unfortunate circumstances in her life and we are very proud of her. She was well-deserving of this special honor.
A photo area was established and the ladies enjoyed gathering for their pictures. It was fun to see the ladies taking pictures of each other and laughing together.
We had a wonderful time of fellowship and look forward to the next season which will begin in September. Pictures will be posted here soon.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Vacation Pictures
Dad loved to sit in the living room and read his Bible. He would get up early and read because that was when it was QUIET.
This is the view from the back of the cabin. See? It is literally built on the side of a mountain. The spot closest to the front of the picture is the fire pit, which you will see later in the blog.
The beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background. You are viewing Cove Mountain, which is a part of the Smokey Mountains. It was beautiful!
There were two hot tubs on the porch but it was TOO COLD to get in them.
The steps leading down to the fire pit. When it got a little warmer, we went out and built a fire and sang around the campfire as we made smores. We experimented with our voices and would hollar 'HELLO', listen for our echo, then laugh when another group a long way from ours would hollar back to us, then shoot off their firecrackers. We enjoyed that.
Just another picture of the snow capped mountains. Looks like a postcard.
Mom and Travis walking into the cabin. Since it was so slippery, we had to be careful that we did not fall.
Looking down into the living room from the upstairs bedroom. This ceiling light was so unique.
This is my bedroom. Sleeping in a KING size bed was nice. There were FOUR King sized beds in the cabin.
Looking at the dining room, from the living room.
I got creative and made a snowman.
A view of the snow from the porch.
Another view of the mountains (and my snowman - of course).
A view of the kitchen, from the livingroom.
The appliances were AWESOME. Stainless steel silver throughout the kitchen.
A drop-in stove. The kitchen was BEAUTIFUL!
More pictures of the kitchen.
Sitting around the campfire.
I loved the skylift in Gatlinburg!!!!!!!!!!
We all enjoyed the Ripley's Aquarium.
Travis turned 17 on March 1, the day after we arrived at the cabin. We were snowed in and couldn't go anywhere. What a memorable birthday celebration.
Heidi taking pictures at the aquarium. (Maybe Ryan is rubbing off on her)
Picture from the skylift.
On our way up the mountain. It was about right here that I told Ryan, "I am about to lose my shoes!" So, he very carefully reached over and took off my shoes. That would have been bad to lose those.
We had our own personal tour guide in Aunt Pat and Uncle Al (My mom's brother and sister-in-law). We had so much fun with them. Uncle Al and Heidi have a special story to tell from the Haunted House and Heidi's hysterical moments. "Go Al GO!!!!" She was screaming. I think he was probably scaring her as they went through but I don't know how she could of been aware of what was going on because she kept her eyes closed the whole time and held hands with people (and cried). I would have cried too. That's why I didn't go in there! No WAY!!!
This is my mom's oldest sister, Dalis. I think they look so much alike. It was so fun to get to know her.
My mom and dad at the top of the mountain. We rode the Ski Lift up to the top, got off and took pictures and rode back down.
The guys who rode the lift. Al, Dad, Travis and Ryan
Ryan and me posing at the top.
This was a normal scene with Ryan on Saturday. We set aside the whole day to STUDY! With his college classes being so intent he needed time to devote to Greek and other subjects. We were all glad he could be there with us too. With the mountains, it was disheartening because his transmission went out on his car while there. He pampered it till he got back to Cincinnati and had to have the transmission replaced. $1700 later... YIKES!!!!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Spring already?!
At the end of February I went on vacation with my sister, her four children, my parents and my son, Ryan to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We had a lot of fun and made lots of memories. Especially since we stayed in a cabin on top of a mountain that was very frightening to me (us). There are no guardrails, the dropoff is straight down and the roads are barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass one. When you went around a curve, you had to have a passenger looking to see if someone was coming in the opposite direction so you could make sure you were not over their line. That is not my idea of a fun trip and toward the end I kept everyone informed as to how many more trips up and down the mountain we still had to go. "We have to go up this mountain three more times." The brakes were smoking, the transmissions were slipping and there was a lot of praying going on during this time. The day before we were to come home, Ryan's transmission decided to start acting up and Kathie's brakes went out coming down the mountain. The brakes broke apart and ground down into the rotors but we were safe and thanking the Lord for His protection. I am not very fond of heights in the first place and when we got up to our cabin (actually, it was more like a mansion to us), my legs would not support me they were shaking so bad. I had to sit back down and get my composure before I proceeded into the cabin.
The cabin was beautiful. Four KING size beds, games, lots of table space for everyone to enjoy dinner together, a beautiful kitchen with state of the art appliances, washer and dryer, two hot tubs (outside), porch swing, fire pit, two beautiful fireplaces with gas logs that provided plenty of heat. Yes, we did need heat. Before we headed up to the cabin, the office personnel told us, 'Take what you need with you because if we get the snow that is predicted tonight, you will not be coming down off the mountain for awhile. And...you guessed it, we ended up spending Saturday night, Sunday and most of Monday snowed in at the cabin. It was SOOOOOOOOO beautiful and relaxing though. We loved it. I think my dad felt like he was totally lost since we couldn't go to church at all that weekend but we told him that he was close to the Lord on this mountain and to just enjoy it. He did. We all did. It was an enjoyable time for all of us. We took lots of Collingsworth and Gaither videos and they music ministered to us in a special way.
Travis turned 17 on Sunday, March 1, and since we 'stuck' on the mountain we celebrated the next day when my Uncle Al and Aunt Pat, along with my Aunt Dalis came up and brought ice cream. Olivia had made him a beautiful (if you can call an Ohio State designed cake beautiful), cake and it was a real hit along with the ice cream. We went to so many areas of attractions and made some special memories. Especially the Sky Life and the Tram. For one who hates heights, it seems strange but I love ferris wheels, sky lifts, trams... We all loved the Aquarium. They fed the sharks while we were there. I marvel at the way God designed all of the special fish of the sea and know that he cares about them and yet He cares of me! It reminds me of the song, "I'm something special, I'm the only one of my kind."
Ryan is home for the weekend but it was a harrowing experience in getting here. Read about it on his blog at: ryanwatters.com. God protected him.
I am so excited about going to IHC. Two weeks from today is the first day. WooHoo! I love meeting with family and friends and just basking in the services. It is a busy time for me with Women of Worth and helping Ryan with taking pictures but I thoroughly enjoy it, that is for sure.
I am hoping to get into some services this week at my church as we start revival tonight with Rev. B. J. Walker and Andrew and Sherilynn Stroud. I am looking forward to their ministry and trust that God will give us all a spiritual boost and draw us all closer to Him. That is my goal.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Watters Family News
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Friday, January 9, 2009
January already?
JeNessa Steffan Rea Watters posing for the camera