Jubilee-Gatlinburg '08

Jubilee in Gatlinburg is about to come to a close!  This conference is such a blessing to so many senior adults.  It is so funny to watch as the doors open 1 hour before the start of the session and see the 'runners' for each group take off as fast as they can to save seats for their group as the rest, some with walkers that actually break into a run, come along behind them as quickly as possible to get a seat close to the front!  They are evidently not the 'back row baptists' but the 'front pew fundamentalists!'  Jake does such a marvelous job putting together this conference for around 6,000 adults in Gatlinburg.  Our next trip to Gatlinburg will be for his Xtreme conference for the teenagers which will include about 20,000 of them right after Christmas.  (He is sure a brave human being!)

Johnny with Ricky Skaggs

What I think about the Fair.....

The fair is NOT for people who are on a diet, do not want to be turned upside down or tossed around until you want to throw up!  However, I really enjoyed being with the kids and seeing friends at the fair.  The three girls were the highlight of my night!  Carson is not pictured because he was too busy being turned upside down and tossed around too fast for the camera to take his picture!  I actually was able to get in two years of the fair in just one night!  We arrived early and stayed until they closed....I mean closed as in the lights were out!!!  Next year I'll be able to stay home, probably with Johnny!  

Halloween already?

Indiana Jones and the Candy Corn Princess!  How cute!!

I can't believe my eyes!  It's Barney & Betty with Fred and Wilma!  (Disney World must do strange things to your mind for Jake Carswell to do that!)

Baptist Press

The SBC President's Address:  You can listen to it at www.bpnews.net

Happy Birthday, Lindsey!

Happy Belated Birthday to Lindsey!!!

Tonight at Disney's 'Not-So-Scary Halloween Party'...Taylor has hair, again!

The Loveless Cafe and Motel

"The Loveless Cafe and Motel"....a down-home place to eat good ole' country cooking!  The wives of the Executive Staff of the SBC had a fellowship and lunch today at this cool and very old (since 1951...long before I was born!) restaurant today.  The motel part is closed now and houses several quaint little shops but believe it or not, most of them were closed today because of the gas shortage!  Johnny is still meeting and I am enjoying meeting new friends from around the country.  I wonder if we'll be able to find gas to get home...too bad there is not a beach between here (Nashville) and home where we could be stranded!

He Knocked It Out of the Park!!

Tonight Johnny addressed the Executive Committee in Nashville.  This was the first 'biggie' that he has done since becoming President of the SBC.  He did sooo good (and he looked really good, too).  All of you would have been proud of Pastor Johnny!  I certainly was!  A group of men from FBCW were kind enough to drive all the way to Nashville just for his SBC address.  The room gave him a standing O at his introduction which shows how well respected he is among the brethren.  In his opening remarks, he commented on how his first love is being the Pastor of FBCW......however, you already knew that!  Thank you for praying for him tonight....your prayers were answered.  

Timothy+Barnabas 2008!

Dawn Campagna two years ago! She lost 200 lbs. by dieting and excercise!  No surgery!!!  What an inspiration she was to us all.  She was extremely deserving of our afternoon of pampering at the Atlanta Timothy+Barnabas!

Dawn Campagna....before the pampering session

Dawn Campagna....after the pampering session!

Tricia Denney....before the pampering session in Gatlinburg

Tricia Denney.....after the pampering session!

Week before last, we had our first Timothy+Barnabas in Gatlingburg and it was a huge success!  This week we ended the Timothy+Barnabas Conferences for 2008 in Atlanta.  I want to thank my very good friends, Beloved, for coming to bless our ladies.  Also, the great and wonderful, Lori Salierno along with my friend from way way back, Lois Jane!  As usual, my sidekick, Sarah Hill was along in rare form helping to keep me all together and the extremely talented hair stylist, Julia Basich did her magic once again.  Another kind and wonderful friend of mine, Nancy Burgess was there to help counsel those who needed her.  Our good friend, Greg Moss, donated lots of diamonds to give away.  After all, those ministers wives are definitely deserving of the best of the best and we all know DIAMONDS are the best!

I invite you to visit the websites of my gals who participated in the Timothy+Barnabas conferences this week.  www.belovedga.com/www.celebratelife.org/www.loisjane.com/www.heartandsoulconnection.com

This Can Spoil You!

~The Friendly Skies~

Mr. President!

It is certainly nice to have friends who love you and offer you their resources!  We have a few friends who have offered us their jets lately and it has been so nice to take them up on their offer when needed and the last few weeks has been one of those 'times of need'!  Mr. President has been able to get from point A to point B in a timely fashion and in style!  I was thankful for the fast transportation but most of all for the good weather and safe trips!

The Official Photos of THE WIN!!!

My friend, Sarah Palin!

I Love Sarah Palin!  I was able to meet her and have a memorable conversation with her at the Republican Governor's event that Johnny and I attended with the Perdues back in February.  I left her thinking what a likeable, smart, impressive, cute, extremely friendly lady she was!  When I returned from Washington, I was so impressed with her that I did some research on my own and was still intrigued by her.  When the announcement was made that she would be the running mate, I literally screamed!!!!  I am hitting the campaign trail!!!  Great choice, Senator McCain!   She is a devoted Christian and very much pro-life.  It is disappointing to find out that her 17 year old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant.  As we know, these untimely things happen even in Christian homes.  We really need to more even more fervently pray for the Palin Family during this time and wait and see what the Lord is going to do in and through their family who definitely has the ear of the world at this time! 

Another win for the #98!!!

Another win for the 98!!!  What a way to celebrate Jake's 35th Birthday!  I can't even begin to explain to what an exciting night we had at the Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, NC this past Saturday night!  We were the fastest qualifier which means we should start on the pole, however, this series makes the top 10 qualifiers draw for their final starting position.  Justin, our driver, drew #2 which meant we started on the outside pole.  It looked as if we were going to have a #3 finish when lap 122 out of 125 arrived, however, things got extremely exciting and even more intense and we ended up winning the race!!!  I was so wired that I could have walked home after that race!!!  That's two in a row for the #98!!!!!!  Congratulations, Justin and Happy Birthday, Jake!  Would this be a winning streak???  We have another race next weekend in Newport, TN......Stay tuned!  I can't wait!!!!!!

Senior Staff Retreat

One of the highlights of our year is the Senior Staff Retreat!  This year we went to Amelia Island.  We have determined that all of us (girls...since we are the only ones that count) really like to go to the beach, so our retreats are almost always held at the beach.  We have such a great time together and it is about the only time we get to spend any time together other than our brief Christmas gathering.  In this picture, the girls (some of them...you don't see me) are about to throw Kathy Law into the ocean.....after Linda Taylor gets up off the ground from laughing so much!!  Us girls spent the day on the beach catching up on what is going on with our families.  When the guys finally got a day to play, but enjoyed boccie ball and a new game we found, lasso golf.  The lasso golf got pretty competitive.....it came down to the winning guys playing winning girls.  Yes, the guys won, but only by the skin of their teeth!  They were quite frightened they would lose.  You would never believe who the MVP of the game was....Roy Blankenship!!!  Go Roy!!!  We had a great time!

Bristol Race!

Bristol!!!!   I love that track!  Derema, Lindsey, Taylor and me were able to go to the Friday and Saturday night races last week and had a marvelous time!  My brother, Greg, also met us there.  We have friends in the Motor Racing Outreach for Nascar and they arranged for us to go to the start/finish line with the children of the drivers who sang the National Anthem before the race began.  It was so cool to be right there with some of the drivers.  Here are a few of the photos from our cool race day!  Yes..I made it back in time for church on Sunday morning, thanks to Taylor's expert driving skillls!  Thanks, Arden and Dianne Taylor for putting us up for the night!