Simply Beautiful!

This is a beautiful place!  When it comes to natural beauty Hawaii has nothing over Costa Rica.  I'll take CR any day over Hawaii especially when it comes to the plane ride.  Of course, we were booked in the Presidential Suite at the hotel.  After all, could the President possibly stay in anything less?  Yes!  He can, but his wife can't!

San Jose, Costa Rica

San Jose, Costa Rica is the location for Kosmos 2008. Tonight Johnny preached and our great praise team from FBCW brought the house down.  (They have been here all week doing the music for the conference) The highlight of the evening for me was the graduation of the students from the GAP program.  They have spent the last 10 months in Costa Rica studying the language and working in the local ministries training to be witnesses for Christ and growing in their personal faith.  This was a huge step for these students, most of them just out of high school last year, to take on such a challenge as this.  I am very proud of every one of them.  Congratulations students!  Also, at the conference, Johnny and his long lost friend, John Cross, were reunited again after many years of separation. They were very happy to see each other.  Johnny may not get back to the room tonight!

Happy Birthday Carson!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, adorable grandson, Carson who turned 9 today!!!  I can't believe it...he was just born yesterday!

We are in Panama City Beach for Xtreme and celebrated his birthday after the conference ended today with a pizza and ice cream party in the activities room in the resort. Afterwards, they all went to Shipwreck Island water park for the rest of the day!  Papa and I stayed here to 'hold down the fort', if you know what that means!  For Johnny it means...take a nap....for me it means pack to go to Costa Rica tonight!  Next stop, San Jose, CR!  P.S.  Addie is such a brown noser!  Papa told her he was going to buy her a car when she turns sixteen and she said she wants a van!!!  I believe she means a mini-van! I have heard her say she wants one of those because of the noise the door makes when it closes!  We'll remind her of that when she turns sixteen!

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Pope!

Yes!  It's true....Donald Pope really did get married!  He married Suzanne Villagio, a sweet and beautiful widow lady he met at FBCW. They fell in love very quickly and couldn't live without each other!  It was a very simple and sweet wedding on Sunday, June 22 at the church.  The highlight was the presence of Donald's son, Lee.  He is an absolute hoot and my children just love him (especially Hollie and Pete).  Donald and Suzanne are on a two week honeymoon in Cancun.  Congratulations to both of them.

Why did I post that?

I just couldn't resist it!  The turtle on the fence post.....who put him there?  I think it was the same person who let the dogs out!  I guess I am putting this post on here because I am missing my sweet husband.  On Sunday after church we both went to the airport.  He left for......a place I can't tell you about.....and I left for PCB to recuperate from last week.  It is working!  I have almost recuperated.  One more month and I think I'll be.....wanting another month!

Presidents and Fathers!

Happy Father's Day!  We had a great time on Father's Day.  It was very special at church as they congratulated us so kindly and of course, Mr. President had a great sermon, as usual!  The night before the official Father's Day, I flew in from PCB and met husband and Hollie and family at the Georgian Club to celebrate my wonderful husband as the "Father of the Year" at least in my household!  (Deanna and family were still in PCB celebrating there!)  Also with us was another President.....Ed Litton.  Ed is a pastor friend from Mobile, AL.  He was voted in last week at the convention as the President of the Pastor's Conference and guess who is his Vice-President.....Bruce Schmidt!  (It was great to see Bruce and Martha last week as well)  Ed's late wife, Tammy, was a very special friend of mine who was killed in a car accident on August 16th of last year.  We have tried to stay close to Ed....he is a wonderful man and we all really enjoy being with him. (You can see that Hopie and Addie think he is cool as well!)

A Few More...

A few more pictures from the convention:  Johnny with "The Nominator" Dr. Ted Traylor from Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, FL. He is such a great guy and his wife, Liz, is a very good friend of mine.  She was the President of the Minister's Wives Conference of the SBC this past year and did a fantastic job putting together that ordeal of a luncheon in Indianapolis this year.  Next picture are all of the officers of the SBC for the coming year...maybe two, if they are re-elected next year as usual..BUT, once again, we'll see!  The last photo is the official SBC photo of the President and wife.

The Brickyard!

Yes, I am the wife of the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, but I'm still a REDNECK!  You can't visit Indianapolis, no matter what you are there for, if you are a genuine redneck and not go to the Indianapolis Speedway!  Tonight it will be official...the gavel will be passed as the new officers are presented and we are on our way home....home sweet home! 

A Miracle!

Hello, Mr. President!  It is to BE!  The Lord has spoken loud and clear.....Johnny Hunt, President of the Southern Baptist Convention!  It is a privilege and an awesome responsibility but the Lord has lead him thus far and will not let him down now that he is elected.  And, what an election!  Everyone knew, including us, that there would just have to be a runoff with 6 candidates being presented for the same office, but no!  There was not.  He received 52%+ of the votes cast!  That was just another confirmation from the Lord that Johnny was definitely placed in that position for 'such a time as this'.  Now, what do we do next?  I assume just as we always have...wait upon the Lord to speak again.....please pray that we will listen and obey! (Picture:  The first Press Conference of many to come.  I don't like that part of the job but he sure did good and looked great!)  More to come later....I'm really tired and my feet hurt terribly bad!

To Be or Not To Be.....

That is the big question!  Is my SuperPreacher To Be the Next President of the Southern Baptist Convention or Not To Be the Next President of the SBC?  We'll know soon enough...the vote is Tuesday.  As you know, there are six men being nominated for that position.  Either way, we will be celebrating when it is over.  Either as the new President of the SBC or not having to serve as the next President!  We will be just fine either way.  After all, he already has the most prestigious job in the SBC....Pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia!  There could be no greater position than that one!  We are praying only for the perfect will of God to be done in our convention.  You can watch the events live on the internet at www.sbc.net.   The voting will take place at 2:40 pm on Tuesday.

You might be a redneck if......

Wow!  I really am a redneck!  I can't believe I really did that!  First NASCAR lover and now a driver of the U-Haul truck!  What will I do next for my family?  I am really scared to know!  It will NOT be handling snakes!  Lindsey got in a bind and needed someone to drive the truck back from her moving her belongings to Woodstock from Lynchburg and how I got drafted I am not sure, except for the fact that I was the only one around!  I still can't believe I did that!  It was going okay until Lindsey finally got my attention to tell me to take her call from her on the phone to tell me that the back of the truck had come open and the ramp was completely sticking out from the back of the truck!  I thought Lindsey was going to burst a gut laughing at all that!  It was definitely a memory maker.

The Lowery's 25th Year at First Bossier City, La.

A Weekend of Celebration!  Congratulations to our long time friends, Fred and Leigh Lowery in Bossier City, La.  They celebrated 25 years at First Baptist Church and we were fortunate enough to be able to spend the weekend with them and their family and church family to join in all the festivities and did we stay busy!!  On Saturday evening we enjoyed a 'girls and guys night out'. The girls went to a wonderful house on the lake and had a great outdoor dinner together and a very fun time. The guys went to eat Mexican, of course! On Sunday morning the celebration service was so fabulous.  The church did a great job honoring Bro. Fred and Johnny preached a rip-roaring sermon, as usual followed by a 'family lunch'.  Sunday night was an invitation only celebration dinner complete with the #1 George Bush impersonator, John Morgan! He really had a lot of folks fooled!  Monday morning we completed the weekend with a great hot breakfast and said our sad goodbyes...or rather, "see you at the convention" goodbyes!  We just love the Lowery family as if they were really our kinfolks!  We have so much in common.....they have two daughters just like us and they (Christy and Shelby) are the exact same ages as Deanna and Hollie (Hollie is one day older than Shelby and Christy is one month older than Deanna).  Christy and Shelby married a preacher and a businessman just like Deanna and Hollie.  Fred and Leigh have 4 grandchildren (3 girls and 1 boy) and we have 4 grandchildren (3 girls and 1 boy)!  Also...Leigh's mama and my mama are both mamas!  Congratulations to the Lowery's!  We really love you all!