My journey of thankfulness begins.

I have recently been thinking about my need to be more thankful/grateful. Three specific things have moved me in this direction: 1. I occasionally follow a blog and this writer has over 2,100 entries of thankfulness- I think that is pretty cool! 2. The month of November ends in a celebration of Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving Day. 3. This month Z-girls( a high-school girls bible study that takes place in my home) has taken time each week to verbalize something they are thankful for.
Various verses from my devotions this month have also had to do with thankfulness/gratefulness.
So, my faithful readers here is my thankful list, not necessarily in order of importance; and my newly discovered verses.
I am thankful for:
1. the call and response of roosters early in the morning.
2. my health.
3. Andy- my best friend.
4. The smell of baking apple pie.
5. “sweet moments” – hugs and kisses and cuddles from my kiddies.
6. that I live where I can see the stars at night.
7. that I have the privilege to openly worship on Sunday.
8. for two good legs.
9. my z-girls that come every Tuesday.
10. for the “for granted’s” washer, dryer, dishwasher.
11. talking and laughing with good friends.
12. the support and encouragement to start a project that appeared impossible.
13. the feeling of finishing the project-reaching a goal.
14. the gift of music/singing. Having the privilege to be in a community Christmas choir.
15. for ice cream-chocolate ice cream.
16. for the opportunity to reach out and tell others about the life-changing gift of Jesus.
17. for the Bible and that I can openly read, study and discuss without fear.
18. instrumental music-both playing and listening.
19. the comforting smell of wood smoke.
20. quiet moments; alone moments.
21. my family. I have the greatest parents and siblings-including Jenny and Wesley!
22. dependable and safe vehicles’.
23. the fact that we live in color- fall is such a beautiful season.
24. a thankful celebration day
25. the patience of my God-teacher.
26. plenty of food, warm house.
27. the technology that allows me to Skype and hang out with my so-far-away family.
28. the opportunity to pray to God and have those prayers answered.
29. being involved in a church family that loves God and loves my family and I.
30. that I am loved by God!

Colossians 2:7 “…and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Philippians 4:6 “… by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
I Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances…”
One thing I noticed during my thankful journey this month has been that I need to work on being conscious of my blessings. I am so blessed, yet to verbalize and concentrate on my blessings has been difficult for me. As you can see, my devotions have uncovered some cool verses. I’m trying to keep Colossians 2:7 on my mind-“overflowing with thankfulness”My goal is to continue this journey of thankfulness

Thursdays/ Fun-days/Family-days

Thursday is Andy’s day off during the week. Sometimes we go on an ‘adventure’, sometimes shopping, sometimes nothing more than just being together and hanging out.
I like Thursdays! Here are some pictures from a past fun day.

We went to Stanley, Idaho at the base of the majestic Sawtooth Mountains.

We spent the night at Redfish Lodge. We went on a very cool hike and saw some of my favorite trees. Aspen Trees are super cool they almost deserve a post all there own; maybe someday.

The leaves of these aspen trees had started to change colors- beautiful! Ate our supper of pizza by the lake. Saw some of the local wildlife. Had a nice time! Good Memories.

One Year Ago Today:

One year ago today: Mom, Jenny, Baby Char, Carson, Baby Kenny and myself headed off on a big adventure. We arrived at the Cincinnati airport very early. I have no pictures of this trip; I had other stuff on my mind. But, imagine with me the sight we must have been. 3 adults, 1 toddler, 1 four month old and 1 six week old; 2 car seats, 2 breast pumps, 2 diaper bags, 1 saxophone (no I could not put my saxophone in the moving truck!) 1 small backpack of toys, and 1 large backpack full of who knows what. You got this picture in your mind? If I remember correctly, our flight was good to Salt Lake City. Here we discovered that our continuing flight to Boise had been canceled. How can you just cancel a flight? Well Nana, taking the situation in hand, marched bravely to the counter and went to work, and soon we were running and dragging our belongings to catch a flight. Actually, we got a cart to transport us and our treasures since in our current conditions we weren’t really into running.
We arrived safely in Boise, Idaho; we were picked up by my dear, sweet Andy. He along with his parents had arrived ahead of us on the 10th with the humongo moving truck. The church people had met Andy at our house and unloaded the truck and unpacked some of our “can’t live without” boxes. So when we, the weary travelers, arrived. The pantry was stocked, the fridge had goodies in it, beds were set-up and made. I was very touched by these acts of kindness!
This year we have been very blessed. It hasn’t all been a walk in the park; in fact, it has probably been one of the toughest years for me. But knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that we are where God wants us and doing what he wants, holds me steady. God is good!
In some ways it feels longer than a year and in other ways, I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. I have learned much about myself, and yet at times I feel as if I am wondering in the dark. There are things I miss, mostly family and friends, but now I’m working to adjust to a new normal. Making friends has never been easy, but I am blessed by the kind people here. I loved my job of teaching music, and being involved with things at GBS, but I knew that my time there was done and that God was calling my heart home. I love being home with my kiddies! I also enjoy being a part of the church music, the Youth group (Life4ce), and being a part of Community Bible Church. I love this small town, I love the beautiful scenery, and I love Idaho. God is good! I am blessed!
I also love being a part of Z-girls. This is a ministry started by Stephanie and I, we both felt God talking to us, unbeknownst to the other. This is a group of high-school girls, usually numbering between 7-10, that come to my house every Tuesday; it’s a time of mentoring, connecting, studying the Bible, talking and eating. Maybe I should have listed eating first, because this group can put away the food. Side note: this past Tuesday, we had 7 girls and a puppy and they devoured 1 ½ bags of tortilla chips and almost 2 jars of salsa and ½ a pan of brownies. We can eat! Check out my Facebook and you will see pictures and a video of a recent boating trip that z-girls took.
Ok, enough rambling…. The church picnic supper is in an hour, my children aren’t clothed appropriately, the oven is beeping that the Swedish peach pie that I am taking is ready to come out of the oven, my house is a disaster, Kenny is dragging the swiffer around the floor, and tomorrow is Sunday; I better get to work.

Happy Sunday

Yes, I realize that today is Monday, just running behind a little....

Classic looks

Recently "kenny" has started putting things on her head and running around. This just cracks me up and usually Carson joins in the fun. Pardon my little lady's state of undress.

On my way to church, 8:15 am, I had just turned on Washington street, the major street through town, and there standing on the corner was a pre-teen/teen girl holding a huge poster. I glanced at the poster, thinking car wash, bake sale; why so early on a Sunday morning, and there was only one car parked there behind her ... Then I read the sign "I will not LIE to parents again" I looked away quickly, my hands were shaking, my stomach was sick, my mind was reeling, embarrassed for the child; wondering/questioning. This has been heavy on my mind, why was this necessary? what is the story? why was this the form of punishment used? will this actually work, or just cause anger and bitterness. I don't know and I will never know; but my heart aches, my hands shake, and my stomach is knotted.

Ok, that wasn't very happy, but the rest of the day was good!

Hope you had a worshipful Sunday as well!

Family Pictures

The older I get, the more I realize just how important family is. Each time we are together I cherish those times; try take lots of pictures and hold tightly to the memories.

Sure we have our issues, but I am so blessed to be a part of this family, my family!

Donna and Wesley

Davie, Jenny and Charlotte

Diana

Silly boys

I sure do miss this little watermelon eater!

And now folks, I do believe I have lived up to my promise to return soon and post more pictures.

ps. Special thanks to S. Vernon photography. She done a right fine job.

Well as you can see it has been quite awhile since I graced this blog with my presence. And as you can imagine, much has happened since … December.
But I hear these words echoing in my conscience- “Start with the present, Parriman, start with the present. So instead of recounting all of the cool things that have happened since I last blogged, and pushing aside my perfectionism, I will start with more current occurrences and maybe, just maybe, one day I will work my way backwards, because there is much to tell.
And now without further ado:
“Downing Family Vacation”
Friday, August 6th found the 4 of us winging our way to Cincinnati where we were greeted by my cool brother and transported to my dear mother’s house. Saturday morning we left the city bright and early and headed south. First stop was my childhood home in the booming metropolis of Pt. Pleasant. Here Pops joined our convoy and we continued on our merry way. Staunton, Virginia became our evening resting place.
Sunday morning we again began our journey early, very excited to be on our way! As we neared our check-in point for the house we had rented, “Kenny” began to whine and whimper, and cry and this being unlike her, I wondered what was wrong but just figured she was tired of being in her car seat, and after 10+ hours in the past 2days, who wouldn’t be ready to run. She drifted off sleep only to be awakened by a violent session of vomiting. Our journey was immediately halted so that clean-up could begin.
Groddy-bdoddy!
Soon we were back on our way, Kenny, not appearing any worse for the traumatic event she had just endured. Little did the rest of us unsuspecting victims know what now lay in store for us. All 12 of our happy vacationing group would be visited upon by this violent illness. We finally arrived in the lovely town of Corolla, N.C and excitedly explored our home for the week. Pool, hot tub, 500 feet from the ocean, happy togetherness. Donna and Wesley rolled in the wee small hours of the morning. There were greeted by Davie, who directed them into the drive way using his flashlight, and myself, who seeing the flashing of the flashlight thought it was lightning and went around checking windows/doors making sure all of our treasures were inside-until I realized that the last of the weary travelers had arrived. Where upon we sat around chatting, eating vacation food, and waiting on the other sleeping members of the family to join us.
The following days were interspersed with great family fun, happy times together, great food, punctuated with the violent illness the spread through our ranks. One by one, it snuck through our midst, striking where least expected, attacking out of the blue. One minute you were fine, the next minute you were almost late to the bathroom. I was the next after “Kenny” to succumb to the nastiness. I went to bed, not caring what anyone else did, or who would care for my 2 wild children. I couldn’t read or watch TV. I did pep talk myself that this kind of thing never killed anyone and sooner or later I would be better. During my illness, Carson and Aunt Di also fell victim. Good times. Thankfully this house had plenty of bathrooms. I did make a relatively strong recovery after 24-36 hours. The rest of our time spent there together was spent repeating the same questions to everyone in our group. “How are you feeling” “How many times did you throw up” “Can I bring you a sprite or ginger ale?” “Do you want some crackers?” “What color was it?” In my weakened condition I was unable to keep track of who fell next and the order of those struck down.
Donna, Jenny, Diana, and I were able to indulge in a Pedicure. And then we went to a coffee shop and had fun chatting and enjoying each other; until poor jenny was struck down and we had to rush back to the house. I’m telling you folks; the bug was nasty and came without warning.
All in all, it was a wonderful time being together; being beach bums, floating in the pool, game playing. The older I get, the more I realize that it is so nice to have a close family. I count myself very blessed to have spent this week with my best friends in the world.
Sunday the 15th, at 4am we packed up and headed toward the great city of Cincinnati.
Monday 16th was more family time, birthday parties, family pictures, visiting with Aunt Sonja, and recovering from vacation. Tuesday 17th more family time and we spent time with Andy’s grandparents. I also got to see my great friend April and her husband Joel. I hadn’t seen them in ages- very cool!
We flew out Tuesday evening. We just won’t talk about those flights-I might have a seizure. We were met at the Boise airport by Andy’s parents- they were coming to spend the next week with us and arrived about 12 hours earlier than us….. but that is for another post, on another day. Oh, by the way: got a text from my Mom Wednesday morning-she made # 13 to be attacked by the nasty foulness that “Kenny” started. What a vacation!




Hopefully, coming soon to this very blog-family pictures.


You never know- I just might be back soon.....

Christmas from Pops

This is a notice to all my wonderful readers( because I know I have so many): No I have not forgotten my responsibilty and duty to blog, but...... it just hasn't been on the top of my to-do-list. Be patient, I will post again soon, with lots of pictures. But for now, this is a special post for Pops from Carson and Kenzie.