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!!! 

 

 

 

Weight Update!!

It has been 7 weeks since my surgery and I just now hit 40 lbs. It took me a little over 2 weeks to lose 4 1/2 lbs. The thing is your body gets to thinking that it's starving and it starts holding onto what weight you have on you and won't let go. Ever since I can remember there was only two weeks in a month that my body would lose weight anyway. Two weeks on and two weeks off. Hopefully now I will have another good losing spurge. I would love to lose at least another 20 or more before Christmas.
I've started back to church at Kingwood 2 weeks ago and I am really enjoying it. My God is an AWESOME GOD!!!

Our gifts from Mexico!!

Crystal told Danny that she was gonna bring him a sombrero back from Mexico and she did. She and Staci bought me this beautiful cherry bottle (hand-painted) for my dish washing liquid (not from Mexico). Thanks Staci!!! I love it. She also brought me some really nice sterling silver hoop ear-rings (from Mexico). I'm very glad she's home. We all missed her. Thanks Crystal!!!

10 things about me!!

1. I lived in Beville, Texas for 2 months when I was 4 years old. My Dad moved us there to find work. He worked on oil rigs. My Mom hated it there. My grandmother came to visit us there from Birmingham and the day she left to go back home, Mama sent me to B' ham with her. When Daddy got home he wanted to know where I was and Mama told him that I was in Birmingham. He told her to go get me and she told him that if he wanted me he would have to go get me himself. So they just moved back to B'ham.
2. When I was a kid I always wanted to be an only child. I had a brother and two little sisters and I only felt like a kid when I went to spend the night with my uncles, aunts and cousins. Now I'm glad I have siblings.
3. I saw Crystal as a baby in a dream several years before she was born.
4. I was in the Girl Scouts for 6 years.
5. I was a cheerleader in Junior High. (6th thru 8th grade)
6. I have always wanted to try caviar. I have recently had some of the pink on some sushi. I still want some of the baluga (tiny black fish eggs).
7. In the 70's I had an apartment in Southside on Idlewild Circle. My room-mate grew marijuana in the kitchen window. She told me that it was bachelor buttons and I believed her.
8. I never dated until I was 21 years old.
9. It took me 5 years and 3 summers to finish high school. My Mom always told me that I would graduate if I had to do so in my old age.
10. In '63 my Mom was right in the middle of the protesting of the intergrating of the public school system. Two years later in '65, my freshman year, one of my best friends was a black girl.

Happy "47 "Na-na!!!!!!!!!!!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEB!!!!!

I'm back!!!! I finally got my PC up and running again. It has been 5 weeks and 2 days since my surgery and I am down 38 1/2 lbs. I'm having to learn how to eat all over again. Food just isn't that important to me anymore. I sometimes have to make myself eat and especially make sure I get in all my protein. I haven't guite got a exercise routine down pat yet but I'm working on it. I think I've lost most of the weight so far in my face and my feet. My shoes are too big now. I LOVE IT!!!!! This is the best thing I have ever done for myself.
Vickie

PC Problems

Sorry!! I won't be blogging for a week or so. I'm having PC problems. Will update on my weight loss as soon as my PC is up and running again.