Happy Birthday Tommy!

Today is Tommy's 53rd Birthday! Birthdays are always very special events at the Worthey house. Chase and I are so excited about celebrating Tommy's birthday today...Tommy has had to work the last couple of nights and unfortunately has to work tonight as well, so we are trying to get everything ready for when Tommy wakes up! Tommy got a special surprise in the mail this morning, Jacob and Kinley mailed Granddaddy some homemade cards, along with the cards, Jacob and Kinley sent all of us some finger painted pictures! They were GREAT! and we love them!

For those of you who don't know much about Tommy let me fill you in a little. Tommy was born on January 31, 1956. He was born in Atlanta, GA, but soon moved to California. Tommy lived in California until he was 11 years old, at that time his family moved back to Georgia. Tommy's Uncle Ray had become a Christian and talked with Tommy about how Jesus died for him...he also took Tommy to church with him. One day he gave Tommy a tract, Tommy read the tract and that night at his grandmother's house, Tommy knelt beside his bed and prayed the prayer of salvation that was on the back of the tract. He got up and went to sleep...from that moment forward Tommy's life was never the same. He had a hunger to know more about the Bible, to know about God! Tommy experienced some persecution for his beliefs, he was called a "Candy", by his coach, because he decided to quit the basketball team because practice interfered with his activities at church, but Tommy didn't care, he knew his life was not about basketball! I wouldn't ordinarily speak for Tommy, but I think I can say without reservation that Tommy has never regretted the decision he made almost 41 years ago to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior!

I can't begin to totally describe Tommy to you in one blog, but I can tell you from his wife's perspective...Tommy is a wonderful husband, he is a man of God, that will never back down from his beliefs! Tommy is an amazing father and grandfather! He has 4 great kids and 5 precious grandchildren that he loves dearly! Tommy has a great sense of humor and is so much fun to be around...Tommy loves woodworking, he has never been a sports guy, so we will NOT be watching the Superbowl tomorrow!:) Tommy enjoys watching movies...He even likes chick flicks, don't tell him I told you, but he usually cries more than me!! Tommy also enjoys watching Seinfeld...He doesn't have the greatest memory, but he can quote almost any Seinfeld episode! Tommy has a beautiful singing voice, though he has never been trained, he has a God-given talent and he does use this talent for the Lord, singing in the choir at church as well as singing solos! Most importantly, Tommy lives his life to honor and glorify God in all he does, whether it's being a good husband and father, whether it's being a student at school or whether he is picking up trash at his part-time job. Tommy does it all to the glory of God! And I am so humbled that the Lord saw fit to put this wonderful man in my life. Tommy makes me a better wife and mother. Tommy makes me a better person in every way! And I love him with all my heart! Happy Birthday Baby...I love you!!

We have had such a good time celebrating Tommy's birthday! Tommy slept most of the day because he worked last night and has to work tonight as well...Anyway, we started off by opening his presents, Fiddle Faddle (Tommy's favorite) and a new Bible...Tommy has been going back and forth on whether he wanted this new Bible...it's a really nice calfskin NASB...He really wanted it for a pulpit Bible...it has no references and wide margins and most importantly for Tommy Large print HEHEHE!! He did turn 53 today!! We then took him to On the Border for dinner...Tommy loves mexican food!!:) We then headed home for cake!! Our friends the Osteen's came over for cake, Kristle missed out, but Grayson, Rachael and Seth helped us celebrate Tommy's birthday...We had a great day! We are so thankful for Tommy and all he means to our family!!

Here are some pictures from our day! Hope you enjoy!:)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun Weekend with Family!

Nathan and Hester invited us to come and stay with them this past weekend and since Tommy didn't have to work we jumped at the chance to go and spend some time with our kids and grandkids! We had such a good time! Chase got to see her best friend Jade and they babysat while all the adults went out for a late lunch and just some time to catch up! We also took our Wii with us and it quickly became a big hit with our kids and grandkids!! Our sons enjoyed the bowling and our grandsons enjoyed the golf game:) Billy, Jacob and Kinley are all getting so big and we had the best time spending the weekend with them! Thanks again Nathan and Hester for putting us up for the weekend! We love you all!!

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Granddaddy with his little love - Kinley Kate

The boys had such a good time with the Wii...I have a feeling they will be requesting us to bring it with us whenever we come to visit...or either they will end up with one of their own:)

Nathan didn't like that Chase was beating him at bowling...I am sure that was tough to have your little sister cream you at bowling, so he made her play until he finally won a game!! Chase finally let him win so she could stop playing, just don't tell Nathan!:) Of course when Brian got there it was an all out brother to brother contest...all in love of course!:) Dad finally had to bowl a few and show the boys who was the champion bowler!!:)

Nathan has some pretty good moves:

Let's see what kind of moves Brian has got:

Now let Dad show you how it is done boys:

Billy and Jacob's game of choice was golf!!

Jacob looks so serious, he is really studying this shot!:)

Billy was apparently happy with his shot:)

As Jacob would say "That was amazing!"

Kinley didn't care for the Wii, but she did do some dancing for Mimi!:) And as soon as I can figure out how to upload a video clip I will post it for you!!

I thank God daily for our wonderful family...The Lord has truly blest us!! We are so thankful for them and we are so thankful for the time to spend with them!:)

It's Snowing!!

OUR SWEET LITTLE SNOW ANGEL:

The weather man was forecasting snow, but I was not convinced until I woke up this morning to a beautiful blanket of snow! I am not sure the official amount of snow, but I know they were forecasting 1 to 3 inches!:) This has definitely been the best snow fall we have seen since we have moved to NC! Chase spent the night at a friend's house last night, as they had already closed school in anticipation of the snow! So Chase was up at 6:30a this morning playing in the snow and doing some sledding! I picked her up about 11am, we came home and had some lunch, played with Isabelle in the snow for a few minutes then after Isabelle's mom picked her up, Tommy, Chase and I went out to play in the snow! What a fun time we had snowball fighting! Chase even made a few snow angels! Mostly we just walked around and enjoyed the beauty of the snow! What a wonderful gift from God...Chase and I have been praying for snow this winter and the Lord has surely answered our prayers!

Here are a few pictures from our day in the snow:

Here is Chase in an avalanche of snow:

Wising Up!

Last week was the beginning of our new bible study at church. The video series is by Beth Moore...She is teaching on the book of Proverbs...The study is called Wising Up! Since this particular study did not come with workbooks, our pastor's wife, Tara Dew wrote the workbooks to go along with Beth's teaching! Like I said we only started last week, but WOW! Tara did an amazing job with the workbooks...I love Beth Moore and love doing her studies, but Tara's workbook along side of Beth's video teaching is awesome! Tara, you did a wonderful job! Our first day talks about who needs wisdom: The simple, the young, and the wise who want to become wiser! There is a point that Beth Moore talks about each one in her video and Tara also talks about them in the workbook...And we are asked if we know anyone who falls into the young, but wise catagory...of course I immediately thought of Chase...I can't begin to tell you how many people I have had over the years tell me that Chase is wise beyond her years! And then today something happened that showed me how true that statement really is...and not just wisdom, but truly a girl that seeks the Lord!

There is a particular girl at Chase's school that I don't allow her to hang out with because...well let's just say I don't want Chase to hang out with her! Chase has never really been friends with her, but Chase has friends that are friends with her...Anyway, they are having a Valentine's dance at Chase's school and several of the girls wanted to go shopping for dresses together and Chase told them that if this girl was going that she couldn't go, but that it was fine, she would just get her dress another time! No big deal! Well, this girl then starts to call / text Chase wanting to know why she can't come...middle school drama you know?? Anyway, she then told Chase that she should just lie to us and then they could all go together and Chase's response was "I would rather never go dress shopping than to lie to my parents" Don't you just love her?? I do!!

I told Chase I was so proud of her. She not only stood up to this girl and said no I will not lie to my parents, but she was upfront with me and told me what happened!! Chase is becoming a teenager more and more everyday and Tommy and I used to be afraid of those teenage years with a girl, but Chase seems to set our minds more at ease everyday!

Chase, I love you so much and I am so proud of the young woman that you are becoming! Keep your eyes focused on the Lord and He will make your path straight! I love you-Mom

OK...so she doesn't look so wise here, but she does look like a teenager right??

Fun Time with Friends!

Since Chase got her Wii for Christmas I think Tommy and I have become more addicted to playing it than she has, everytime either Chase or Tommy comes down stairs usually the first thing I say to them is "do you want to bowl?" I love bowling!! Tommy is better than me, but I beat him on occasion:) We have been trying since right after Christmas to have our neighbors Grayson and Kristle to come over and bowl with us, so last night Chase had her friend Kristen over to go to a movie and spend the night, so when they got home from their movie, we had them go up to Grayson and Kristle's to listen out for their little ones, so that they could come down and bowl with me and Tommy! What a fun time we had!! Chase loves to make all the Mii characters for the Wii and she made one of Grayson before he came to play...Grayson is a real clown, so Chase made his Mii with a huge smile...it's too funny!! I was telling Tommy just yesterday, that I guess I had a mind set of when he graduated then we would get a position in a church and we would be moving, preferably closer to home! So this waiting has not been fun! But God has His own timing and His own plans for us, so we are waiting on Him! In the mean time I am so thankful for friends like Kristle and Grayson, that makes being here lots of fun!! Thanks guys for such a fun evening...We will have to do it again really soon!!

Here's a few pictures from our evening:

This is a real action shot of Kristle bowling:

This is Tommy going for his 9th strike in a row!!:) He blames me that he didn't get it because I took his picture and threw off his mojo!!

This is Grayson's Mii Character:

We couldn't decide whether Grayson was going to have to replace our Wii ; our TV ; or our ceiling fan:) Don't even ask him about the golf game :0

Here is Tommy and Grayson on the Wii play...playing a game where they are riding cows...They are in a race trying to jump fences and knock down scarecrows...It sounds weird, but loads of fun!!

Back to School!

Holidays are over and it was back to school day for Chase. Chase came home very excited about her day at school...many of her teachers and friends were surprised to see Chase back. I think they were under the impression that since Tommy has graduated and since we had an interview in Texas the week before Christmas that Chase would not be back to school after Christmas break!:) Surprise!:) Sadly, she finished up her Life skills class, which she enjoyed so much, she was able to cook, and sew and she even got to carry around an egg baby to help learn about the responsibilities of a child:) Her class also did some wonderful community work by sewing pillowcases for the homeless shelter. Chase was very proud of the pillowcase she made and that it would be going to someone that really needs it!:) This semester she starts Chorus! Which if you know Chase, you know that she is very excited about this class. Chase loves to sing and she has a beautiful voice (says her mother) :) She also found out that they will be doing some drama in this class as well, so she is very excited about that! Chase also got her report card today! She did very well as usual (A/B Honor roll)...Chase has always done very well in school and she continues to make us proud!

Tommy doesn't know what to do with himself now that he is not in school! Of course he is still working hard and he has been trying to spend some time with me and Chase to make up for all the study time the last 2 1/2 years! He is still doing some studying though...preparing for when a church calls him to come preach and catching up on some reading of things just for pleasure!!

As for me, my day started out pretty great I got a call from my friend Saemica, she wanted to have lunch...I was so excited I haven't really been out with a friend in along time! We went to Chili's we had a great time catching up and when I left I had a couple of errands to run and then I was headed back home! No rush Tommy was here...and it was still a few hours before Chase would be home...I don't know why I chose to drive down 98, but I did and as I was cruising down 98 I saw the police car, so the first thing I do is slow down and then try and figure out what the speed limit is...I can't find a sign anywhere, so I was going about 50 like I said not in a hurry just a little lead foot, so I slow to 45 thinking that is the speed limit. Long story short, she pulls me over and she says she got me doing 55 in a 35! YIKES! First, I have to tell Tommy and because it's 20 miles over the speed limit I have to appear in court...ARGH! Just my luck! Things went OK with Tommy, seeing as this is only my third speeding ticket ever and it's the first I have gotten since we have been married, he was pretty understanding!:) We'll see how understanding he is when we find out how much it is going to be!!:) Luckily tonight was sweet sisters night at church, two ladies from our church showed us how to re purpose things that no longer have a purpose...like old candles and broken crayons and old plates and Christmas cards...Chase went with me and we had a really good night!:)

Also let me give you a quick update on our status. We got a job offer from Cal Farley's today! Of course if you read my update on that, you know that we decided as a family that this was not the ministry opportunity for us! We still need your prayers that we will get a clear direction on where the Lord would have us to serve! We have two great prospects, one we believe will be making a decision in the near future and the other is in the beginning stages of their search for a new pastor. We are praying for the Lord's leading!:) Either position would be a great opportunity for Tommy as a pastor and us as a family. When we came here to Southeastern the three of us surrender to give our lives to the Lord in service to Him! We are excited about where we are and where we are going! Thanks to all for your prayers!:)

Happy 2009!

We had so many wonderful occasions to celebrate in 2008, but we can honestly say we are so happy to see 2009!:) Allow me to recap 2008 just a little bit...Of course the biggest accomplishment was Tommy's graduation! We are so proud of all he has done and I can not brag on him enough. When Tommy started here at Southeastern back in June 2006, he had not been to school in over 30 years. He graduated this past December with a 3.6 GPA. Personally I think that is pretty great for an old guy!:) Speaking of old I celebrated my 40th birthday in 2008! I know many people get depressed when they think about turning 40, but so far it's been great for me! I feel older and wiser:) Our two youngest grandbabies turned one and our oldest started Kindergarten! I could go on and on about the many blessing we received in 2008, but this is about the anticipation of what is to come in 2009! We have our resume at 2 churches near our home in Newnan, GA both would be great ministries opportunities for us and we are so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2009! We wish you all the best as you ring in this New Year! Please join us as we count our blessing of 2008 and as we toast the coming New Year with all it's possibilities!!

Just in case you can't see the label it's Welch's Sparkling Grape juice:)

Happy New Year to all our Friends and Family...We wish you all the best in 2009!