I wish you all an Amazingly Blessed 2006!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR"

New Year's Resolution!!

I don't normally make a New Year's Resolution. This year I decided to make one and hopefully stick to it. I want to learn to speak Spanish. I love learning new things and am going to try to do this on my own.
What is your New Year's Resolution?

Our Christmas Trip!!

"Mercy and Zoey Be-Be"
Danny and I left at midnight on Thursday before Christmas headed for Greenwood, South Carolina. They are 1 hour ahead of us so we got to Greenwood around 6:30am their time and we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for a few things before going to Keith and Lindy's.
We got to their house right at 7:00am. and just as we got there Mercy was waking up. She's so GORGEOUS!! She just gets more beautiful everytime I see her. Do I sound like a proud Nanna or what!!! She saw me and come running to me with those little arms up saying, "HEY NANNA"!! When she gives you a hug, she squeezes real hard. I LOVE IT!!! Then it was Pappa's turn. Same treatment and Danny just BEAMS with PRIDE!!!
We start the morning off with some biscuits that we bought at Hardee's on the way. It was a long day. With no sleep and Pappa having to help Santa put together a swing/slide that Mercy requested from Santa, it was still a fun day just being with them.
Saturday, Lindy, Mercy and I went to Wal-Mart to exchange something that we had purchased for Mercy and headed home to cook our Christmas dinner. We ate it on Christmas Eve since we were leaving Christmas Day to head back home. (We decided to travel at the times that we did to avoid the Atlanta traffic and we did good.) Lindy did an awesome job on dinner. It was delicious.
Mercy made Santa some cookies to set out by the fireplace and we watched Santa being tracked on the news. What fun to see the magic of Christmas thru the eyes of these little ones. Makes me wish I was a kid again. I appreciate my parents for allowing me to experience the wonder and magic of Santa. We all know the True Reason for Christmas is the Birth of our Savior and Santa is the spirit of giving. So much fun!!!
In the evenings, Keith would build a fire in their fireplace and we turn the lights out and watch movies. So cozy.
Christmas morning we got up at 6:30 and woke Mercy up to receive her Santa and to also open all her presents she received for everyone else. She was so excited she didn't know what to play with. She finally got tired of opening them and Keith finished them off.
When she was here for Thanksgiving, Lindy had taken one of Keith's tube socks and filled it with rice to use as a neck pillow for Mercy if she fell asleep in the car. To also help entertain her while driving, she gave her some markers to let her draw on it. Well, this rice sack became her be-be!! She waged that thing everywhere. I took it and drew it a face and tied a bow on the end that was to be the top of the head. I made her a blanket and took a tomato basket and made a pillow to fit the bottom and glued some ruffle aroung the top to make it a bed. That became her favorite toy. Well, in seeing how she loved this Be-Be, I decided she needed a doll for Christmas. I bought a soft-bodied doll that came with an extra outfit, bottle and passie. I made her a diaper bag and a couple cloth diapers. I then bought her a little stroller for the Baby. Her Granna (Pam) buys her a Madam Alexander Doll with a cloth body and Blanket with a baby carrier. (Neither of us knew the other was doing this).
Lindy said that after Pam gave her the new baby she wouldn't play with it. She wanted Zoey, the name she chose for the rice bag Be-Be. I gave her the baby we bought and all the accessories and she loves the stroller, diaper bag, bottle and passie but she uses all this with Zoey, the rice baby. It is so cute. I told them we should have just bought a huge bag of rice and a bag of tube socks and made her a family of Be-Be's. I just hope Zoey doesn't wind up in the bath tub someday.
After we exchanged gifts, we all got ready and went to Church. After church we went out to eat at the only restaurant open on Christmas Day, IHOP, and it was packed out. From there we went back to the house packed up and headed home. It was so hard leaving them. We got home around 8:00 pm and Crystal and Daniel came over for us to exchange our gifts with each other and Danny and I to open ours from Santa as well. We all got what we wanted and needed. It was a Great Christmas.

Your Nail Polish Color is Purple

How you're unique: You are artistic and expressive Why your style rocks: You pay special attention to color and fabrics What this color says about you: "I'm creative and know how to take care of myself"

What Color Nail Polish Best Fits You?

DOWN 64+ LBS.!!

These two pics were made the day of surgery.

These two pics were made today. 14 weeks and 64 lbs later.

I SEE HO-HO-HO!!!!!

Mercy and Keith made the front page of their hometown newspaper. The caption reads: Two-year-old Mercy Culver is "wowed" by Santa Claus from the top of Dad's, Keith Culver, shoulder.

Your Elf Name Is...

Flakey Blinking Bum

What's Your Elf Name?

Which Santa's Reindeer are you?

You Are Prancer

You are the perfect reindeer, with perfect hooves and perfect flying form. Why You're Naughty: Because you're Santa's pet, and you won't let anyone show you up. Why You're Nice: You have the softest fur and the sweetest carrot breath.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Danny and I will be leaving today, sometime after lunch for Greenwood, South Carolina. We will be spending Christmas with Keith and Lindy and have the priviledge of seeing Mercy wake up to her Santa. We are very excited. We will be coming back Christmas Day so we can exchange gifts with Crystal and Daniel. They already have most of theirs from us because I gave them some money to go get what they wanted. Santa still has a few surprises under the tree though. I love Christmas and I love giving.
I hope and pray that you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We all know that JESUS is the TRUE reason for this season.
p.s. I'm down 62+ lbs. He-He!!!

Heavy Heart!

I know you've all probably read this before but it ministers to me alot. I've had such a heavy heart today thinking about what Maria and Dan are having to go thru today with having to lay their sweet Josiah to rest.

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible Study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy-- when I see my image in it."


PLEASE continue to pray for Maria and Dan and little Ben. They are still in the midst of this fire.

DANIEL 'JOSIAH' ATCHISON

These pictures were took on May12th, 2000 on Palise Verdas Beach at Crystal and Daniels wedding. Josiah was just a couple weeks old.
PRAISE YOU, FATHER!!! I ask you Lord to manifest yourself to Dan, Maria, Ben, the Martinez family, the Atchison's family and everyone else that is feeling the loss of this Precious little Angel, JOSIAH! We all know that he is in a much better place, but that does not fill the void and the pain that his family and friends and feeling right now. We all know that time heals but Lord they need a special lifting right now. Maria is so lost without her baby. Dan is lost with out his first born. We all feel the sadness and wish we could take the pain away. Only You can heal their hurt, Father. Let Your blessings and peace rain down on them right now Father. There are so many lives being touched, all over the world thru this precious little Angels sickness and death. The name Josiah means ' WHOM JEHOVAH HAS HEALED'! That has been seen in so many lives. People all over the world have watched and prayed with and for this family for the past year and so many lives (salvations and relationships) have been HEALED!! Even though we were all praying for Josiah to be healed there was HEALINGS happening all over the world that we just weren't noticing because of being focused on Josiah's healing. You are an AMAZING God! Your word does not stand void. I praise You and thank You for the many blessings that you have brought forth and will continue to bring out of this sad situation. In the precious name of JESUS!!! AMEN & AMEN!!!!

'HAPPY 29th BURFDAY' CRYSTAL

ADORABLE!!

These are my sister's, Renee, grand-babies with Santa. The two on the top are Blakely and Codie, Jamie and Jason Freeman's two and the little curly-haired one is Ashtyn, Amber and JR Brown's baby. They have another baby girl on the way.

Blakely is soooo excited and Ashtyn is not too sure about this. Too cute!!

"MERRY CHRISTMAS" EVERYBODY!!!

Mercy Mackenzie Culver, age 32 months and Ho-Ho

BUTCH!!

In the picture below of my Granny, she is holding a little boy. He is my cousin Steve Travers. He, I and another cousin, Steve Robinson were all born around the same time on my Dad's side of the family. The dog in the picture was BUTCH. He was my Dad's dog, a black cocker spaniel. Mama use to talk about how you could give Butch a stick of gum and he would chew it until all the flavor was gone and then he would spit it out. She said that he never would swallow it. Look how he's posing. So cute!!

Who I think I look like!

I think I've finally realized who I look like. The first picture is me, of course, and the next two pictures are of my Dad's mom, Granny Vance. I think I look like her. What do you guys think?

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY" DIANE!!!!!
wow 48!!!!!

Vance Kids Christmas '59

This picture was made in our Aunt Bernice's living room when she lived in Southside. This house use to stand where part of UAB Campus is now. That was the doll that Santa brought me that year. My Uncle Jerry actually was caught talking to it because he thought it was a real little girl. In this picture I am 8, Bruce Wayne is 5 1/2, Diane is 2 and Renee is 1. Renee's hair was so curly it looked as if Mama had rolled in it pin curls.

The Vance Kids Christmas '63

I was always an AMAZON!! Here I had just turned 12 in Sept. and Bruce Wayne would be 10 the following March. I'm almost as tall as Mama's 6 ft. alumunum tree. Diane was 6 and Renee was 5. I wish I had this tree now. Mama had it in a revolving tree stand with one of those light wheels that aluminated the tree and it had hot pink glass balls on it.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE ORNAMENTS

My Mouse Tree!!

Crystal has inspired me to put up my tree before Thanksgiving, plus my grandbaby, Mercy, will be spending a couple of nights here during the Thanksgiving Holidays. She loves my mice ornaments. Most of my ornaments are Mice along with a few Coca-Cola Santa ornaments and a select few others. I love the Christmas Mouse.

PLEASE PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Maria Atchison with her precious little boy, Josiah. They are in need of your prayers. Please lift them up. They need a miracle. 

PLEASE CAPTION THIS PIC................

 

WAR EAGLE !!!!!!!!!!

"HAPPY 25th LEIGH-LEIGH"!!!!

 

The 70's!!

This was my cute little car. This is my 1973 Gremlin X. I bought it off the showroom floor and it only had 1 mile on it. It was a stright shift and I had never driven one until after I purchased it. Daddy was with me and he drove it to the Interstate, pulled over, let me behind the wheel and I learned to drive it on the way to Hoover from Birmingham where I let Daddy out on his job site and I drove it the rest of the way home by myself. I kept it for 6 months and then traded it in on a 1972 Malibu. 

DIG THESE THREADS!!!

That's me in the big white shirt, Renee is her white go-go boots and Jimbo with his plaid britches and beatle hair-do. Jimbo and I worked at Winn Dixie in Hoover (it's not there anymore) and we were dressed to go to our work Christmas Party being held at the Coca-Cola Bottling plant in Homewood. Aren't we HIP!!! 

Here's my new Pink Glasses!! Purdy huh!!!! Oh and by the way, I'm down 43 lbs.  

God's Awesomely Amazing Water-Color Canvas!!

This is truly my most favorite time of the year. God is so AWESOME!!!