V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!!

If you thought that you heard an unexplained shrill around 4:00 Saturday afternoon in Madison County...well...it was the PHHS tennis team! They are the Madison County Champs for 2009!! They played Highland in the morning and won 3-2 and then had to play the defending champions, Anderson High School, and won 5-0!!! I am so proud of this team. They now have an undefeated record of 5-0!!!

Here are Evan and Graham being introduced before the Highland match. Evan plays number one doubles with Zack and Graham plays number 2 singles.

After the Highland win the team takes a lunch break and hangs out until the final match against Anderson.

Captains Matt and Evan are warming up the team.

I love this picture! The boys are running with their coach (he is in the middle). Royce is not demanding and not on a "power trip". He doesn't say, "Get out there and run!" instead, he will say, "Let's go out and run the track and warm up" and he leads the way. The boys really respect him and love it when he does the workouts with them. He is a good Christian man and it is so refreshing to see positive growth in the boys this year!! They are no longer individuals...rather, they are a team!


Here is Evan doing what Evan does so well...being loud and pumping up his team! He takes the captain position seriously and I love him for that:)

One last huddle...GO ARABIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I love this man!! He is giving me the victory sign after Matt comes off the court. At this point all of our singles have won their matches so Todd knows PHHS has clinched the title!

Way to go Zack and Evan!! They won in a super tie breaker!

This is Brett and Graham. Brett is Graham's best tennis buddy but, he plays for Anderson and that is when it gets hard. Pendleton has already won at this point and they are just waiting for number two doubles to finish up their win. But,they are still best buds!

Arabian Power!!!! 2009 MADISON COUNTY CHAMPIONS!!!!

Mammy and Paps with their boys! Can you tell how proud they are?!

Todd and Matt...he saw you Matt! You better be careful...

The celebration continued at the Dairy Queen...of course!!!

What a day! These boys will remember this day for a long time...and so will I!

And so will the coaches. Can't you just hear them now..."Can you believe it...we are the county champs! How did that happen!!! I don't know, but I'm glad it did!"

tennis dinner

Todd wanted to have the tennis team over tonight for a spaghetti dinner because tomorrow is the final day of the Madison Cty. Tennis Tournament! The team won Thursday night against Elwood which moved them on to play Highland in the morning. Hopefully they will move on to the afternoon match. The boys and coaches are pumped up (and "carbed" up) and ready to win!

I got this "cupcake" cake and it went over really well. There was tons on icing, yum!...but the chocolate cake wasn't the best. It was a lot easier to serve than cake so I would definitely do it again but I would choose another flavor or store.

Here are some of the boys chowing down. At this table is Andre and Zack in the forefront. Mitchell (hidden behind Andre) Evan H., and Graham. Coach wasn't seated yet.

Coach and Mitchell enjoying dinner.

This is the other table of boys. Evan and Matt are in the forefront laughing. Others at the table are Brandon, Sam and Connor and Michael (hidden).

Brandon on the phone with his mom, Michael in the white hat in the back.

After dinner some boys (Mitchell S., Graham and Evan H.) went up to Graham's room to look at youtube videos...

some went down to "the dungeon"to play video games...




and some went down to play, what else, tennis...table tennis that is! This is Matt and Evan duking it out.

The boys left around 9:30 to get there sleep before the big tournament! Bus leaves for AU at 7:45... Good luck guys!!!

the boys of summer fripp island 09

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we won!

PHHS Tennis team is 1-0 in the conference! I am so excited for this season. The number one, two, and three singles all won their matches which gave Pendleton the win for the team (3-2). Pendleton hasn't beat Mt. Vernon for a l-o-o-ng time...great job men! The coach is firing them up for practice and 5 more matches this week!


Here is a picture of Evan during warm up and telling me not to take his picture. No Evan, the racquet doesn't hide your face!

This is a picture of Graham warming up. He too did not want me to take his picture.
A picture of Evan serving.




Paps congratulating Graham. I don't think that Paps sat down the whole time...what am I talking about, neither did I!! Thank goodness the boys were playing on courts right next to each other. I loved hearing Evan encourage his little brother ever so often with, "Come on Graham!" or, "Good job Graham, come on!"

Talking sweet V-I-C-T-O-R-Y with Grandma Kay while icing the always painful shins! Graham played number two singles and won. Great job on your first HS win, Graham!

The team's new coach, Royce Hammel, and Todd.

Our "three" boys. Here are Graham, Matt, and Evan after the match. Matt is like another son to us. He plays number one and is a senior. The team will sure miss him next year...and so will we:(

sweet Mercedes...

Please pray for my niece this afternoon. She is on her way to Purdue University with her sweet dog Mercedes. They do not know what is wrong with her but she hasn't been the same for a week now. She has been told that Mercedes might have a brain tumor. If this is the case, Kiley will put her down, but she just wants to make sure that is what it is. Kiely has been through so much these past three years and Mercedes has been the only constant in her life...she would be so heartbroken if they have to put her down.

Many of you know Niki Brown. Well, this is a dog from her dogs litter from 5 years ago. I took Kiely over to see the brood of dogs that were left and Mercedes literally crawled in Kiely's coat pocket as if to say, "Take me home!" So Kiely did and she has loved her from that moment on! Bless these little four legged family members...they just know how to steal our hearts!

I love you Kiely and am praying for you and your sweet Mercedes today,

Aunt Holly

great weekend!

What a great weekend! We had our tennis-thon, but not a lot of tennis was played due to the rain. But the boys did raise some good money to go towards the new equipment. They were able to get a little practice in and really spent more time using every piece of equipment possible to dry the courts. The last windscreen was hung and the last of the tennis balls with the boys names. We grilled out hot dogs but then the rain was too heavy to continue to play so we called it a day early afternoon.

Evan and Graham went home with Mammy and Paps for the night which gave Todd and I a chance to have an early anniversary dinner date. Our anniversary isn't until next week, August 27, we will have been married 22 years! We ordered Bravo's take-out and had a nice quiet evening at home. We enjoyed our dinner and the hot tub.

Today Mammy and Paps brought the boys home and we had dinner on our back porch. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is the first time that we have eaten out there since we got the patio set this time last year! It has been a chilly day around here so that is what I made...chili! It was so nice to just sit out there on this "fall-like" day and be with family.

Evan sold his mo-ped and our neighbor picked it up today as a surprise for his son's birthday. I took one more picture of Evan on it and one of he and Paps watching the surprise unfold across the street.

It's been a great weekend!!

to God, give the glory

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

I read this quote on Kelly's Korner blog and found it so fitting for my friend Julie (who's husband is battling esophageal cancer) and for me personally. I pray, due to the recent news that our family has received, that we will be able to cling to such Godly truths, and that His glory will shine through our earthly pain.

I always love singing this hymn in Bible Study Fellowship and it keeps playing in my mind today...especially the last verse:

Oh come to the Father through Jesus the son, and give Him the glory great things He has done!

first day of school

Today was the day that I have been dreading...but it went really well. The boys woke up on time and left for school on time. If only this could happen all year! It was really cloudy this morning and the sun wasn't up yet so the pictures came out dark, which I hate, but at least I have them.

I kept myself busy with a scheduled dentist appointment, met with a client, and finally talked to my mom, whom I haven't talked to in weeks. Tomorrow the boys have there first high school tennis match. Evan will be playing number 1 doubles and Graham will be playing number 2 singles. I'm so proud of them!

Graham's "senior picture" pose! He kept saying, "Are you crying yet, Mom?" And then he hugged and hugged me and wouldn't let go telling me, "It's alright, you're gonna be okay." He is so ornery!

Here are my two boys! So very hard to believe:( They were just in elementary school for crying out loud!

And there they go...

sunday afternoon break

It has been a busy weekend around here. Evan and I have been doing summer AP Biology for days now (due to my sweet 16 year old procrastination), Graham has been busy helping his brother mow since Evan couldn't get to it, and Todd was finishing some projects around the house. But, we all took a break and gathered by the pool for a brief moment.

Angel even joined us! She used to love the pool, but as you can see she was not going to have much of it this afternoon!


Here is Evan talking on the phone to his Pappaw. Pappaw had bought a mo-ped for Evan 2-3 yrs ago and someone wants to buy it, so he was clearing that with Paps to make sure he wouldn't mind if he sold it. School starts this week so it was nice to all gather around the pool for a brief moment.

surgery update

My father-in-law is home and resting after a successful surgery. There are three arteries in the leg and one was 100 % blocked and the other two were 98% blocked. The one that was 100% blocked could not be worked on and was left alone. The other two were cleaned out and are as good as new! The other surgery will be in a few weeks.

The doctor did put him back on Plavix...he was on this medication after heart surgery and did not do well on it. My prayer is that the medicine will not cause any ulcers and will keep the plaque from returning. He didn't walk around much today after surgery so he doesn't know if his leg feels any better or not.

Thanks Tina, Julie and Amy for thinking about him. I hope that you are reading this update since I couldn't get you called due to helping a client/friend from 10:30-6:00 and doing AP Bio homework with Evan from 7:00-12:30a...and school doesn't even start until next Tuesday! I loath summer homework! Anyway, I thank you for being such faithful prayer warriors:)

surgery tomorrow...

Just sitting here thinking about my father-in-law/Pappaw (Reggie) and holding him up in prayer. He has surgery tomorrow on one of his legs (he will have the other one done in a few weeks) to unclog the arteries which are 75% blocked. I pray that he will feel an ease and a calmness tonight while trying to sleep and tomorrow morning when he prepares for surgery, and will know that by God's grace he is going to walk out of there feeling like a new man! I also pray for Dr. Doosey who will be performing the surgery. May God guide his skilled hands so that he can relieve Dad's pain.

Pappaw has had a tough year. In January he had quadruple by-pass surgery and then found out this summer that he has pre-leukemia (he is still making red blood cells but they are not maturing for the body to use). This will involve yet more tests and hospital visits for either Procrit shots or blood transfusions. Like he says, "The golden years aren't too golden right now!" It's going to get better Dad!

The picture above was taken this past Easter of Pappaw, Graham and Mammy. Yes, the boys still love to hunt for eggs filled with change and dollar bills (who wouldn't!), and their baskets that Mammy, Marjorie, fills with lots of candy! They have done this every Easter and Mom and I love to hide all of the eggs and watch the boys try to find them.

Thinking of you both tonight and can't wait until you are walking without pain Dad! Love you!

last days of summer

It is hard to believe that this week marks the last days of summer for the boys. They have already registered for school (and parking spaces...yikes!) and head back next Tuesday. I always dread this time of year. I love having my boys home! Having two in high school seems impossible. I feel a sinking pit in my stomach when I picture myself waving goodbye as Evan pulls out of the drive, with Graham, to go to school. I'll just put that out of my mind until next Tuesday!

As I have mentioned, I love spending time in my backyard and in my flower beds. This morning I took some pictures of my yard. In 3-4 months I will be so happy that I did because everything will be snow covered by then. Honestly, it just now feels like summer here in Indiana! It has been a wet and unseasonably cool summer.

Enjoy the pictures...I know that I will over and over again!



This is where I spend a lot of my time in the summer. The boys love to swim and use the hot tub at night. Todd designed this backyard space. He also did most of the work on it! Didn't he do a great job?!

He just finished up the screen doors...he literally made the whole door...I love to hear them it slam!

This paver sidewalk was laid by Todd's cousin Kyle. I can't thank him enough because this was something that Todd was not going to do. I just love how it curves and leads you to the pool area. This shows another view of the pavers leading to the detached garage...another one of Todd's designs. God has given him many talents and I love to watch how he makes them come to life!
This is one of my favorite flower beds. The knockout roses bloom all summer as well as the endless summer hydrangea's. The pink dogwood in the center was picked out by my nephew, Tyler, and he and my brother planted it this past spring. It is the perfect shape and I can't wait to see it bloom right outside my kitchen and laundry room windows next spring.

Just look at this beautiful flower! I marvel at God's work and at his creatures that surround it. The butterflies were busy flying around the bush this morning, but it is not unusual to see hummingbirds and bumblebees too.


I just love all of the color that these flowers offer. I look at them and think of the shopping trip with Kyle to pick them out (that goes for all of the landscaping) and how much fun we had. I also think of my niece Becky and my dear friend Julie. Becky carried them in her wedding and Julie had them in her yard when she lived in Anderson. She and I made some beautiful bouquets with them for my niece Kiely's graduation and for Becky's wedding shower.


This is part of a big planting bed on the south side of the house. I love this particular picture because you can see the shrub rose, potted flowers and lilies (which are summer flowers) next to the burning bush which usually starts turning red in the fall. This proves how cool it has been around here. The lilies I dug out of a cutting garden. The garden belonged to the father of my sweet friend, Kim. I always think about him this time of year because he died labor day weekend in 1999. I have other lilies, from his garden, in different shapes and colors and I cherish them all.

Moving around to the front you can see the beautiful Serbian spruce. I love to light it up at Christmastime. The corabell's were given to me from a client. They really attract the hummingbirds and she gave me so many that I have them planted in three different beds.

I love these topiaries...or those "ball things" as Todd would say. I got the topiary plants at Lowe's and planted them in pots that used to be my grandma's. Ever since I can remember she had these heavy cement pots, although they were painted white, by her front door. When she got older, and needed help filling them, I would fill them up for her with bright pink geraniums.




Yeah, another "topiary" or planter that makes it look like one! The Japanese maple in the background has been moved several times and is so beautiful. Because of it being so cool, the Japanese beetles have left it alone this year. The tiki torch, of which I have many around the pool area, I got at True Value. They are great because they are aluminum and hold a lot of oil. I only have to fill them up once for the summer. They also keep the bugs away and the lighting creates a great ambiance while swimming and using the hot tub.


I love these planters! I got these in an antique store when I went to Mississippi to visit my nephew Chad who is in the Air Force. I just have to laugh when I look at them because my boys were so tired of hearing them squeak and rattle in the back of the van, in their ears, all the way back to Indiana. Recently, my father-in-law backed up into them with his truck and it didn't hurt them a bit! They stand in front of three rose of sharon bushes.

This flower bed in on the North side of the house. I love the hemlocks, of which there are three, and the variegated red twig dog wood bushes. This combination looks so pretty in the winter. The red twigs coming out of the snow with the evergreen branches behind them looks so pretty. But we won't talk about snow right now!

And look what little sugar blossom popped up while I was taking pictures! This is my sweet tea cup poodle, Angel. She used to be my mother and father-in-laws but came to live with us 8 years ago. She is 10 years old and is absolutely the best dog EVER!!! I love her so much it hurts:)

I hope you have enjoyed some of the views of my yard. I think the best part about it is how instrumental Todd, his cousin Kyle, me, my nephew Tyler and brother Troy, our neighbors Tom (who has supplied most of the tools and a lot of guidance and labor) and Karen (who has given me daisies and lilies), my mother and father-in-law (for planting trees and shrubs and laying mulch) and friends and clients (who have given me many beautiful plants and advice) have been in the making of a meaningful space. A space to I hope to enjoy for years to come!