This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending an Above Rubies Retreat in Hardin, Kentucky. It was my first Above Rubies Retreat that I've attended. I've received the Above Rubies Magazine for years and I was thrilled to finally get to meet Nancy Campbell and her daughter Pearl, along with Pearl's daughter, Meadow. I've been dealing with some "things" lately and I am SOOOO happy that I attended. My dear friend Tammy T. attended the Retreat with me. On the last day of the Retreat it was "Share Testimony" time. A few of the ladies got up and shared what The Lord had ministered to them during the Retreat. I got up and began to share what I call my "Nightmare Story" on the day that My Elgin was killed by a drunk driver. It's ALWAYS a very emotional time for me whenever I share about that HORRIBLE day that My Elgin was killed. I think there were only two other ladies there that was "close" to my age, and I was the only Widow in attendance. All of the ladies there looked to be under the age of about 30-35, and none of them have experienced the lost of a husband before. After telling my "Nightmare Story" numerous ladies came to me and thanked me for sharing my "Nightmare", that my Story challenged them to put more of an effort to let their husbands know just how much they are loved. Even Nancy Campbell told me that my Story challenged her and that my Testimony was the most Inspirational lesson taught at the Retreat. I always said, That if God allowed me to go through this "Nightmare" to be able to help other ladies to "Love" their husbands while they still can, then I will be that willing vessel. I pray that each of you who reads my entry will be inspired to Love Your Husband. Pearl, Me & Nancy Campbell
i know its been ages since i wrote anything. so, i was thinking of putting pictures. :) i'm not much of a sewer, but i attempted to make myself a costume to wear to this october's renaissance faire that i'm playing my violin/fiddle for. i was thinking that a gypsy outfit would do, so a really good freind of mom's blessed me with the finances to buy all that i needed to make it. it came out better than i expected...considering i was the one who made it. hopefully it doesn't fall to pieces while i'm wearing it, that would be bad. :/ anyway, here is the dress.....
so, there ya have it. :D i'mma add a few bracelets and earings, and viola! i'll be all set. i've never played or even been to a renaissance faire before, so it will be a learning expericance. should be lots of fun, that's for sure. i'm really looking forward to it. it's going to be on the 24th of october. so i have been practicing my violin nearly everyday. and if i'm not practicing, i'm normally playing with the groups in the surrounding area. my fovorite place to play is at the autcion that is held every friday night just up the road. it's lots of fun i enjoy playing with other musicians every chance i get.
all this violin playing has also been helping me get all practiced up for a cd that i'm going to be recording this november when i go down to louisiana for thanksgiving. which i'm also very excited about. but i'll write more about that later.
Hello My Dear Friends,
This is a picture that my daughter took of Elgin's MADD Billboard that MADD of Louisiana put up in Houma, Louisiana. I haven't actually seen it yet. Not sure if I'll be able to emotionally, it was hard just looking at this picture. Anyways, I'm praying that The Lord will use it to help bring awareness of the effects of drinking and driving.
Todays entry is written by my daughter Celeste. It's a Letter she wrote in Memory of her Daddy for Father's Day who was killed by a drunk driver on Mother's Day 2008
It is Father’s Day. At one time I would of looked forward to this day for weeks, spent months trying to find the perfect present for Daddy, and then trying to keep it a secret from him, which I only managed about half the time, lol. It would have been a day of all of us getting together and filled laughter and wonderful memories, now it is just a day of memories, memories of a Daddy that I will not see on earth again because of a drunk driver. So I will honor him and think of all the wonderful memories that I have of him, like trying not make him laugh when he was driving because his eyes would squinch up and he would have tears rolling down his cheeks, of the pride in his eyes whenever I would be one of the first ones to quote the Scripture for the month at school, of the only time that he ever spanked me, but made sure to roll me up in blankets so he wouldn’t hurt me. The times we would go trawling in the little boat that we had and we would find a little dam in the water and would tie up the boat and the girls and I would go crabbing while he would fish and then beat off the alligator with his pole while it tried to take his fish. The memory of the absolute pride and joy in his eyes when he saw his grandchildren for the first time. The love in his eyes when he looked at Momma and knowing that one day, the man that I married would look at me the same way. Watching him pray over us and worshiping God in church and in his everyday life and determining that the man that I would marry would love God more than me, just like Daddy. These are just some of the many memories that I have of my Daddy, they are more precious than jewels to me. I know it is kind of a cliché, but go and give your Daddy a big hug, You never know if it is going to be the last time you see him. I am so grateful that my last memory of Daddy was laughing with him, kissing him, giving him a big hug and kiss and telling him that I would see him later, especially since we had planned to go out for his birthday the next week. I love you Daddy and I will see you again one day, just hopefully not to soon!!
My brother, Nathan made this sign that we put up at the crash site where Elgin was killed one year ago. My sister Natalie made the beautiful wreath. I've got the most wonderful and loving family and The World's Bestest Friends.
Hey Ya'll
Once again, ABC has changed the airing date of The Extreme Home Makeover T.V. Show that my girls and I helped work on in Montgomery, Alabama. It is suppose to air this Sunday, April 19th at 7:00 p.m. on ABC. They said that for any reason that it's not aired on the 19th, then it will be aired the following Sunday. We filmed 3 segments of the show, the first was the very beginning with Ty Pennington, then a segment with Tracy and then the end with the Jordan Family in their backyard. I'm not sure exactly how much of me and my girls will be showed, but we had an awesome time getting to work with the Design Team. Hope you get to watch it.
Josephine, Jordan & Sarah
Visitors, Pictures, Garden, M.A.D.D. and New Blog Theme!
Posted By Dixiebeauty
Hey Friends!
I know it seems each time I post an entry, I’m always saying “So sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted”. So I won’t say it, even though I really am sorry for not posting.
About two weeks ago, my oldest sister, Sandy and her three children, Pokey, Heather and Hannah came up to visit from Louisiana! We were so happy about that! We hadn’t seen them since February. They only stayed a week. Wish they could have stayed longer but it was not to be. But while they were here, we brought them to the DavyCrocketPark. We all had a blast! Pokey brought his fishing pole, so he was in Cloud Nine! Here are some pictures of us while we were at the park.
I just love this place!
Heather found these eggs. We're not sure if they were fish eggs or frog eggs.
Sarah and I, love this picture of us.
Pokey and his 3 inch fish. lol! As you can see, he doesn't look like he was burned at all!
Heather playing with. . . . well. . . . . I'm not quite sure what she is doing, but whatever it is, she's having fun!
The Water Fall
Good Ol' Sabby!
I decided to give fishing a try.
And come to find out, I really liked it!
Then Sarah had to give it a try.
Pokey was on Cloud Nine! He loves to fish!
This bird got a little to close to me. I get a little scared when these things come to close.
As you can tell, Heather was NOT scared at all! Apparently, she doesn't take after her Aunt Jordan!
Hannah thought she was being so funny! (and she was)
Sarah was trying to give Hannah a kiss and Hannah did not want to have anything to do with that!
Awww! How sweet!
Doesn't she look like a cutie pie!
For the past two weeks, it has been raining off and on. Only, I wish it would stop raining ‘cuz our garden is all ready to start planting but it’s too wet to do anything. And we have most of our seeds. So, that’s been a bit of disappointment, wanting to work in the garden but it being too wet to do so.
Little Miss Hannah in the garden, before the rain came. (that night it had poured down)
As far as other things we’ve been doing, we’re been working on making aprons, bake sales to help raise money for M.A.D.D. which is Mothers Against Drunk Driving. On May 2, M.A.D.D. is having a walk-a-thon type thing to help raise awareness. And Mom, Sarah and I are going to be walking in it! (that’s what the bake sale was for) We are so totally excited about it! :-) We can’t wait!
And as ya’ll can see, I’ve changed my blog theme. :-) I thought maybe it would motivate me to start blogging more. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. :) Anyway, I think this is a long enough entry for now. :) Hope ya’ll have a wonderfully blessed day!
Just found out today that there has been a change in the airing date for the Extreme Home Makeover T.V. Show that my girls and I worked on. It was originally scheduled to air on April 12, well the date has been rescheduled to April 26. Sorry about that, but ABC did tell us that a change in the date might happen.
we got an awesome new camera that takes WONDERFUL, and i'm talking really GREAT pictures. so i thought i'd post a few that i took yesterday.
you know me, i always have to take some flowers. lol! this is on regular far out zoom.
this one, i'm far away, and have the zoom really close in. same wonderful quality. *hugs camera*
how cute is she?!? .... must run in the family. =P jk!
then i got in the picture and Heather was gracious enough to take us being goofy. (i'm not really that ticklish, but she was having a blast thinking that i was) *wink*
ok, ok, so i'm a big kid. =P
my sweetie.
Ah, now here i am acting all proper and lady-like again as if i wasn't just rolling around in the grass. ^_^
One thing for sure, this camera takes AWESOME motion pictures.
As you can tell, she was having as much fun as I was....
I "used" to be able to do that... :P
This one's a keeper.
Ummm, yeah, Don't ask, cuz i have NO idea.... o_O
lol
Beautiful day, beautiful child.
We got the garden all plowed, disked, and ready for planting!!!
I know I said I was going to try to post more often, but last month was a bit busy and I did not have time! But as the title of this entry says, your prayers are needed!!! Saturday, my 13 year old nephew went fishing with a friend and when they got back to the house, they decided they were going to build a fire. Well, they threw a spray can into the fire and it blew up in my nephew's face! They brought him to the ER. Then this morning, they brought him to the doctor. It's bad! He was on medicine stronger than morphine but my sister stopped giving him it and is giving him Motrin instead. Which I'm real glad she switched 'cuz I've heard so many stories where the person gets addicted to it. His face and right hand was burned pretty badly. His hand hurts and his face only hurts when he sneezes. I would of posted a picture but I have some very young friends and I thought it would be too much for them. :) Thanks ya'll for any and all prayers!!!!
Hi! My name is Jordan Lee and this blog is just for making templates! If you would like to read about what's happening in my life,please head over to my other blog. My username is dixiebeauty. :-) Thanks for stopping by!!!
Pearl, Me & Nancy Campbell
My brother, Nathan made this sign that we put up at the crash site where Elgin was killed one year ago. My sister Natalie made the beautiful wreath. I've got the most wonderful and loving family and The World's Bestest Friends. 
But while they were here, we brought them to the 
Here are some pictures of us while we were at the park. 
you know me, i always have to take some flowers. lol! this is on regular far out zoom.
this one, i'm far away, and have the zoom really close in. same wonderful quality. *hugs camera*
how cute is she?!? .... must run in the family. =P jk! 
then i got in the picture and Heather was gracious enough to take us being goofy. (i'm not really that ticklish, but she was having a blast thinking that i was) *wink*
ok, ok, so i'm a big kid. =P
my sweetie.
Ah, now here i am acting all proper and lady-like again as if i wasn't just rolling around in the grass. ^_^
One thing for sure, this camera takes AWESOME motion pictures.
As you can tell, she was having as much fun as I was....
I "used" to be able to do that... :P
This one's a keeper. 
Ummm, yeah, Don't ask, cuz i have NO idea.... o_O
Beautiful day, beautiful child. 
We got the garden all plowed, disked, and ready for planting!!!
So ready to get in that garden!!! 
My kids. <3
How manly can you get, right? 
parting shot...