News...
On October 8th of this year we sold our home of three years on Longview Road and began construction on a new 2000 square foot home on Emily Lane of Covered Bridge Estates in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. The timing was definitely an answer to prayer. The economy was bad, home sales had slowed, we had no experience with For Sale By Owner and were discouraged by many realtors.
We got some good advice from my grandfather and asked God to sell it in His time. Three months transpired without any interest and then we showed the house to a young couple...they wanted it! After two additional months of waiting on their mortgage to be finalized, we closed the sale.
It could not have been more perfect timing. We started construction the next week. Once the foundation was built, the rain stopped for four weeks allowing the house to be framed and the roof shingled, the flooring never got wet.
Now in the final stages of construction, there are only a few weeks remaining before we are able to take possession of this beautiful property.
Daniel...
continues as Manager of Information Systems for the State of Tennessee’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development. He also assists the Minister of Students at Shelbyville Mills Baptist Church by leading the music during the Wednesday evening youth service and participates in the Awana program as Director of the Pioneer club for 5th and 6th grade young men. Dan has also developed and maintained numerous web sites including http://www.smbconline.com/.
Lee Anne...
has enjoyed hunting house plans, preferring paint, choosing carpet and visiting the vinyl store. She eagerly awaits the extra square footage and hopes to start a ladies Bible study by making our new home a hospitality center. Lee Anne has been asked on several occasions to apply her decorating skills for special church functions such as a Ladies Garden Party, Vacation Bible School and a Men’s Night.
Rebekah...
had several cute things to say this year. She was enamored when she realized the VCR remote control glowed in the dark and declared, “Daddy, it lives in the dark.”
Mommy was washing the door mat when Rebekah keenly observed that it was missing. She asked, “Hey, where’s the rub’er.”
Beka and Ben were scheduled to sing in the children’s choir for the first time. Lee Anne promised candy if they sang loud. During the performance, in the middle of the song, Rebekah asked, “Sing
louder?” and immediately following the final note exclaimed, “I want my candy now.”
Benjamin...
is excited each time we make a trip to “the property” as he calls it. He loves to play on top of the dirt pile, the sand pile or the gravel pile. He doesn’t know it yet, but Daddy bought him a big, red remote control truck for Christmas!
Benjamin’s favorite saying…“I will obey, I will!”
God’s Grace…
came to earth some two thousand years ago: born in a stable, laid in a manger, lived a sin-free life of thirty three years, rejected by his own race, brutally murdered, all part of God’s original plan, designed before time began, God’s precious Lamb, His name… Jesus.
For those who’ve accepted His plan, God’s Grace says, “You’re unconditionally loved and accepted.” As the songwriter says, “He forgives and forgets, I stand before Him holy. He cancelled my debt that day at Calvary. Now I’m justified, just as if I’d never sinned as yet. He not only forgives, He forgives and forgets. When you look at me, you may see me just as I am. But when He looks at me, He only sees the blood of the Lamb.”
Nothing brings a deeper sense of peace and contentment than getting a small glimpse of the depth and breadth of God’s amazing grace. “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”
