Celebrity Saturday--George Beverly Shea

No one sings the hymn "How Great Thou Art" like George Beverly Shea. His deep, bass-baritone voice resonates with the soul and has ministered to countless listeners over the years. Shea--affectionately called "Bev" by those close to him--turned 100 this month. 100! Can you believe it?

I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Shea and his lovely wife, Karlene, at a work Christmas party in Charlotte back in 2002. What a treat to hear him sing some Christmas carols! If I remember correctly, his wife is originally from Jonesborough (Tennessee) or somewhere close to there--which is not far from where I grew up. They both were so sweet and very gracious to pose for a photo with me and some friends.

Decision magazine ran a wonderful feature on Mr. Shea in its February issue--be sure to check it out. And here is another piece--an interview with Mr. Shea--that ran in Decision a few years back. God has blessed this man with an extraordinary voice, a remarkable ministry, and a very long life! To God be the glory!

To close, here is an excerpt from one of Mr. Shea's songs, "I'd Rather Have Jesus":

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame.
I'd rather be true to His holy name ...

Music by George Beverly Shea. Words by Rhea F. Miller.

Cool New Blog & A GIVEAWAY!

Hey, y'all. I wanted to share a new blog that I will be contributing to--it's called Roof with a View. It is written by a variety of women and covers lots of topics--including raising children, saving money with coupons, recipes, Bible study, etc., etc. (I have only written one post so far, but I hope to be more involved in the near future.) Also, there is a cool giveaway--entries will be taken through Saturday, and the winner will be announced on Sunday. Somebody has to win, so it might as well be you!

Here is a link to the giveaway post:

Roof with a View: 1000th Hit Celebration Giveaway!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Anne Marie!

The Birthday Gal with her fam, November 2008

It's my SIL's birthday today! She is officially 34--like me! (Anne is exactly four months older than my brother, Johnny, her hubby. What can she say? She likes younger men. ;o))

Aunt Anne is a busy bee these days--she works for the school system and runs after her two girls, Abigail and Anna-Claire. Not to mention that crazy husband of hers. haha! They are active in their church and stay very busy with all kinds of activities with family and friends. Anne also loves her a good scrapbook and a good sale--just like her SIL Karen! ;o)

Word on the street is that Johnny (her DH) got her a big ol' cookie cake for her bday. Wish I could have a piece right about now ... if there is any left. ;o) JK!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNE! Hope your day is fantastic! We love you!


The Happy Pierce Family, Thanksgiving Night, 2008


Anne and Kate, December 2007


Anne and Kate again ... June 2008


Styling Isabel's hair, December 2008

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OK, I have to share a funny story about Anne--you know, seeing as it's her birthday and all. Last year, when we were at the beach, Anne wore these pants one evening. I think they were capris. They are cute in their own way, but they do have a very bright pattern ... to say the least. ;o) You can imagine the hard time she was getting over them. LOL! I don't really have a good photo, but you can get the idea with these:





Anyway, they kind of became a little joke that night. Well, after we went out to dinner, we all decided to walk out on the pier. We were walking along when we passed a group of guys--probably middle-school or high-school age, I guess--and as they passed Anne, one of them said, "Did you see that lady's pants?" LOL!

Anne, we love you, and we love your pants! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Madison!

The Birthday Girl, circa 2007 (12.31.2007, to be exact)

Today is the 8th birthday of Madison ... aka "Maddie," the oldest daughter of Tanna's sister, Kymber. Madison is such a sweet girl with a fun, easy-going personality. She lives in Los Angeles and is in the second grade. When she was just a tot, folks told said she looked just like the little girl in the movie Monsters, Inc.



Madison was a flower girl in our wedding back in 2004, and she did a fantastic job. Actually, come to think of it, you may recognize her. Back when she was little, she did a bit of modeling--and she was featured on the packaging for Neurosmith, a toy company that has since gone out of business. (BTW, the company's going out of business was in no way related to Maddie's modeling gig. In fact, it happened in spite of it! ;o))

Tanna just called Maddie to wish her a happy birthday, and she was getting ready to go out and party it up at Benihana! We wish we could be out in California to help Madison celebrate today, but we are with her in spirit, and we wish her all the best! Lots of hugs and kisses to Maddie today on her special day!


Here's Tanna with Maddie's photo on the box for the "Pet Me Platypus" toy. (Don't get me started on that name--LOL!) After a little google search, it looks like the toy was recalled. Again, this in no way is connected with Madison's association with this product. ;o)


This is in Target. Maddie's photo was on the side or the bottom of the box, so we turned all of them over so her face would be facing the customers. I'm sure this helped sales. No doubt about it!


Hanging out with sister Kaitlyn, cousin Kylie and Uncle Tanna ... Newport Beach, California, 2006


Thinking about life and all the responsibilities that come with being older.


Playing in the California "snow."


Maddie and Cousin Kylie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MADISON! WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!

Back to the Botanical Garden

OK, so in case you haven't noticed, I am a bit behind on my blog. Just being consistent with other areas of my life, in case you were wondering. So in the spirit of catching up, I thought I'd post about something that happened in December. Journey back with me, if you will ...

Last fall (or thereabouts), our friends Steve and Holly were so sweet to send us passes to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. They were getting ready to have a baby and wouldn't be able to use them before they expired on December 31. I thought it would be nice for us to go as a family, so we were planning on a weekend visit. With Tanna's work schedule (he sometimes has to work on the weekend, you know) and our travel schedule and everything else, it was kind of hard to nail down a date. We decided on a Saturday in December when the botanical garden would have its Christmas festivities going on. We were looking forward to it, and were even planning on meeting some friends there.

Then, the day before we were set to go, tragedy struck. It was so sad--there was an accident which involved the collapse of a pedestrian bridge that was under construction. One person was killed, and several more were injured. Our hearts go out to all of those who were affected. The botanical garden was understandably closed the entire weekend.

Seeing as we were running out of weekends to go, we ended up visiting the garden the last Saturday of the year. Tanna actually had to work that day, but he got home in the afternoon in time for us to make it. I think Kate skipped her nap that day. The weather was mild, and we had a nice time enjoying the garden. The holiday train was still running, too, and I was excited for Kate to get to ride it.

Thank you, Steve and Holly for a fun time. Next time, we'll have to all go together!

Here are some photos from our afternoon:


First up ... the holiday train!


And we're off ...


Wheeeeeee! Fun!


There she goes ...


You talkin' to me?


Pretty poinsettias


Too many things to look at (at which to look)


We saw our froggie friends.


On to the children's section!


Tall girl


I am a sucker for these cut-out photo things.


Before we went home, we hit IKEA. We got Kate a little table ... and a few other goodies. This may have been her first IKEA visit, though I am not sure about that.

Celebrity Saturday--Martha Stewart

Do you see Martha there in the background? This was taken just after she signed our book.

So on Tuesday, Mom, Kate and I hit the aquarium. We had been there a little while when someone doing a talk in one of the exhibits mentioned that Martha Stewart was going to have a book signing in a little while--and that a few books were still available. So we checked it out!

We purchased a book--Martha Stewart's Cooking School--and decided to go ahead and get in line. (The lady who sold the book said that it was going to be very crowded--some 700 people were expected.) Turns out, we had to get some help to figure out where to go because most people were entering from the outside--and we already were in the aquarium. Anyway, so this nice lady escorts us in. We get our book (we actually received a receipt and had to pick up the book at the signing), and get in line.

There were quite a few people ahead of us in line--though not nearly as many as were behind us. While we were waiting, folks from Wolfgang Puck served cookies (Martha's recipes, so we were told) and milk. So cute! One cookie I had (can't remember the name of it) wasn't the best, but the chocolate chip cookies were good. Kate enjoyed hers, too!

We wait in line about an hour. The signing was supposed to start at 12:30, and it was going on 1 o'clock. Kate had fallen asleep, so she was OK. And Mom had gone over to sit in front of the beluga whales (just on the other side of the line, not far away at all). If you know my mother, then you know she was content there. :o) (She loves animals and such.) As I stood there, I thought we'd waited long enough. Even though we had invested the time and the money for the book ... I didn't want to wait any longer. I figured that even after the signing started, it would probably take us an hour at least to get our book signed.

I decided it was time to go. I walk over to get Mom so we can go back to the aquarium. I took a few photos--and we were literally walking out, trying to figure out which door would lead us back to the aquarium, when I saw the lady who had escorted us in walking our way. There was a pink-haired lady with a baby walking with her. I was going to ask the aquarium lady which direction to go when she said to come with her to the front of the line.

What?

Well, the signing had just started, and apparently Martha Stewart had requested those folks with young children to come to the front of the line! Can you believe that? How nice! She also said something about the Martha people wanting to see children and something about kids on the show, but I don't remember what she said.

Anyway, so we go to the front of the line and get our book signed. I had asked this lady there to take our photo--and she said she would ... when it was our turn. Well, it was our turn--and she did not take our picture! (Later, I got some other person to snap a quick photo of us with Martha in the background.) Anyway, when we were actually up at the table meeting Martha, I was too preoccupied with why the other lady wasn't taking our photo to really remember what was said. I think she asked us if we had been far back in line or something. She was very nice and pleasant, and we really appreciated the opportunity to see her and to get our book signed--because we really were, quite literally, walking out.

As for the book ... it was kind of pricey, but something that I could actually use. It's no secret that I am not the best in the kitchen and have a lot to learn. It's full of tons of great info for a beginner like me. By the way, the bookmark in the book indicates that the March 5 episode of "The Martha Stewart Show" will feature the Georgia Aquarium. We'll have to tune in to see if we're on TV. Ha!

Here are some of our snaps from the event:


A sign in the aquarium shares info about the event.


Some of Martha's cookies were served to those waiting in line.


Don't forget the milk! It was served in little shot-like glasses. Ha! Picture, if you will, all these Martha followers doing shots of milk. It was a wild time!


Waiting ... with cookies!


Kate enjoyed the chocolate chip!


Just a few of the folks in line behind us.


Kate fell asleep while we waited. I woke her up in time to meet Martha, though.


We got to go right after the pink-haired lady.


Here's Martha signing our book.

Valentine's Day & A Family Night

We had a great Valentine's Day! Mom was visiting us from Tennessee--and we had a family night that night, too. I'll let some of our photos tell the story of our day ...


Heart-shaped pancakes! Yum! To start the day, Tanna made us breakfast. It was delicious. I don't think I got any pictures of the bacon. The heart shapes and the Coke with the red straw were my additions. hee hee


Tanna took Kate on a date ... to Costco! (Does that count?) She was all dolled up in her Valentine's outfit.


In the afternoon, Mom and I went running around. I am not very good at the self-portrait thing, but I am getting better.


My mother's name is Clara, but she sometimes goes by Claire. And her father's name was Cargille. So she thought these two stores side-by-side was funny. ;o) The spelling is a little off, but that's OK.


That evening, we had a Valentine-themed family night! Our craft/activity was stamping.


Kate loves stamps! She is especially fond of this self-inking one that my brother bought me years ago. You can switch out the little stamp part. We had a heart stamp in for the big day (of course).


We exchanged Valentines, too! We got Grammy some sugar-free chocolates, and Kate made her this pretty heart character at the children's museum. (Grammy's favorite color is blue, by the way.)


We got Kate an abacus.


And a lollipop. (Yes, the plastic is still on it here. LOL!) Maybe that's why she was crying in this pic. haha! She is wearing a pretty necklace from Grammy and Grampy.


We read a story about love.


Watch out! Topless photo! At supper, Kate enjoyed some pink yogurt. She is still perfecting her spoon skills.


Tanna fixed us a delicious steak dinner. Here he is in the middle of the preparations.


Before Kate went to bed, she watched "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown." She was too engrossed in the program to look at the camera.


At the end of the evening ... here I am with my Valentine--Happy Valentine's Day!