Adriann was in a family wedding this past weekend. She and her cousin Marlee looked beautiful and had a wonderful time!

It was a day filled with excitement and fun times were found around every corner! Beginning at the salon where Adriann transformed from this...

to this...

Adriann and Marlee before the wedding!

Jerry's Dad, Richard and Betty at the reception.

Girls just wanta have fun!!!

More Snow Pictures

Adriann just loving it!

Austin building a fort before beginning the snowball war!


The morning after, with the sun shining brightly. Austin and Adriann were off to school and with a high expected in the mid 50's, the snow will soon be gone, but oh what fun it was while it lasted!

Winter Wonderland

South Mississippi was blanketed with snow storm that was absolutely beautiful. We were sooo excited to get to experience this years winter wonderland. We had over 6 inches at our house and had a great time building snowmen, making snow ice cream and of course a few snowball fights! Here's a few pictures...

Sumrall Memories

As our time in America comes to a close, we begin to reflect on all the wonderful experiences we've had over the past 5 months. The Sumrall community and school have been very welcoming to our family. As parents our prayer was that God would send good friends for Austin and Adriann, during this time. New friends have been made as well as many memories that will be cherished for years to come. Email addresses are already being exchanged and we look forward to staying in contact. Tonight we had the privilege of attending the high school band Christmas concert. They did an outstanding job preforming. To Austin's surprise they gave him a going away party following the event. What seems to be a minor thing, made lasting impressions on Austin as well as our entire family. Thank you, SHS Band family!

Mr Garner, band director and Austin following the concert.

Austin and Lauren

Friends just having fun!

The Cake! Yum, Yum

Sumrall Christmas Parade

Austin marching in the Christmas parade. In this shot, he's on the front line on the end. Adriann and Sierra at the parade.Some of the band after the parade.
Austin and Lauren

Thanksgiving Happenings

As we reflect on Thanksgiving, we are blessed to have been able to spend time with our families. Of course, we ate too much but this is a new week! Adriann made us a thankful bowl that we each listed things throughout the month of November for which we were thankful. Some included were family, friends made over the past few months, a home to live in, fun school days, eating out, freedom to worship the One True God, salvation and Jesus Christ. We truly are blessed!

As for the actual festivities, Jerry's family has a family reunion every Thanksgiving in Alabama. This year, there were over a hundred and most of his grandfather's family were in attendance. They are always great to take photos of each section of the extended family. It was great to reconnect with everyone!

On Friday, we skipped all the after Thanksgiving sales and spent the weekend with my (Kelly's) family. When the first grandchild was born, Mom began buying an ornament each year for each grandchild. Now 19 years later, she's keeping up the tradition but also gets the grands to put the tree up and decorate with the ornaments. Smart lady, huh! From left to right, Shelly, Forrest, Austin, Adriann and Breanne...

Making Turkeys

Shelly and Adriann made Turkeys before Thanksgiving at Aunt Debbie's house. I'm not certain what Adriann liked most making the turkeys or licking her frosting covered fingers!

There are people in our lives that make lifetime impressions. Ms. Hilda (pictured in the orange shirt) entered my life in college while I was working as her assistant at Forrest General Hospital. We quickly became friends and I often referred to her as my college Mom. She was gracious and kind to listen to all the college drama a 20 year old could have or think she had! I also learned lots about her sons and family. What an awesome lady she was and still is! We have stayed in touch through the years and she was on my list to see while in the states. While speaking in Mobile, Jerry and I had the privilege to spend the day with Ms. Hilda and her sister. She hasn't changed at all, still has beautiful flower gardens, a lovely home and that warm inviting personality. Thanks for the day and all the fond memories!

While in Tennessee, we were able to spend time with Robert and Sharon. It's always great to see friends on this side of the ocean! Thanks for the wonderful Southern Hospitality!! We love you guys.

Few More Pictures from the Mountains!

Have I mentioned that I LOVE fall!

The beauty displayed through color was absolutely breathtaking in the Smoky Mountains! Jerry and I enjoyed hiking as well as a lot of relaxing, something we haven't gotten much of since being in America.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Jerry and I are celebrating our anniversary today in East Tennessee! Over the past 18 years, we've laughed, cried, played, and worked together. There have been a lot of great times and even a few not so good but we've loved each other through it all. I can't imagine life without Jerry - I love him more every day!

Nuts about the Pumpkin Patch

We are just nuts about the Mitchell Farms Pumpkin Patch!

Today, we went to the Pumpkin Patch at a farm out from Collins, MS. It was wonderful! There was a ride through the farm explaining the equipment, crops grown and history. This brought back fond memories of my childhood days as my Dad was also a farmer. There were acres and acres of sunflowers, which were beautiful and added to the festivities.

Austin enjoyed the grass maze and Adriann had fun on a tire swing. We each came home with a pumpkin, so there should be plenty of pies, breads, muffins and such to come!

Football Fever!

Adriann with Seymour at the USM game

Friday nights this fall have been spent at football games! There's nothing like High School Football games. Although the school we're at isn't having a great season AT ALL, it's still fun and with Austin in the band we've traveled to every game! We've also been to a few USM games. One Saturday began with a sunny beautiful day but the rains came at kickoff! We stayed until the bitter end and had a rain soaked good time! :) (You can see in the picture that by the end of the game not many folks had stayed to endure the elements! Must have been fair weather fans!!!)

The Spirit of Sumrall

Austin has enjoyed participating in the high school band this semester. The school has an excellent band program with 21 straight years of all superior ratings. This year was no different. They are not large in size, however the quality is superb! This past weekend, they took Overall Grand Champion as well as several other awards at the contest they entered, beating out some larger top notch schools.

Way to go Spirit! We are proud of you, Austin.

Here's a few pictures from the past weekend.

Austin marching in the homecoming parade.

A few of the band members with the contest trophies!

Beach Weekend

This past weekend we went to the beach with Jerry's family. Tropical Storm Fay left clouds and high winds that added to the pictures but didn't do much else. The rain held off and we all had a great time together. You can't go to the beach without getting pictures of all the grand kids together!

School Begins!

Austin and Adriann are attending Sumrall Middle and Elementary School this semester. Austin is in the marching band and loving it! Football season starts this Friday, so pictures will follow later. After much effort, we were able to get him in all the classes he will need to return to Grace in January. Adriann is having a wonderful time and is blessed to have her good friends mother as her teacher! Other than her first half of kindergarten, she has always attended Grace. After the first day of school, she came home with several insights! One was "why don't we have a foreign language?" Also, "we did not have Bible class." They are enjoying their time at Sumrall but it has reminded us of how thankful we are for Grace International School!

Fun Days

The days have flown by since our arrival in Mississippi. We have all enjoyed spending time with family and friends. The only negative thing is that many times we've forgotten the camera! Here's a couple of fun days.

Adriann feeding the baby goat. Austin, Adriann and a friend enjoying the water park.

Watermelon Festival

A fond childhood memory was the annual Watermelon Festival. It's a time to eat all the watermelon you can handle, enjoy games, such as seed spitting and watermelon eating contests, music and the "dog days" of summer. This year Kelly's niece Breanne was Watermelon Queen and she made a beautiful one! Mississippi watermelon is the BEST in the world!

Jerry's Birthday

We celebrated Jerry's 41st birthday in Mexican Style, with Chiang Mai friends who were in Virginia. Several baskets of chips and salsa, fried ice cream as well as lots of laughter were on the menu!

Where in the World are the Southerns?

The NBC Today show once did a series entitled "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" That may be what you've been thinking about the lack of post lately, so here's our explanation even with a few photos! Austin and Adriann finished school on June 6th. After a couple of weeks of packing and playing, we headed to America arriving on June 28th. The first 24 hours were great then Jerry ended up with a kidney stone and had emergency surgery on July 4th. Not exactly how we expected to spend Independence Day!

Statue of Liberty...

One of the joys of attending an international school is the diversity of children. The final project for 3rd grade was for each child to present their home country. This was done using a display board, 5 minute speech and either authentic dress from your country or something that represents your country. There's really not a traditional dress for America other than maybe jeans and a t-shirt. She considered wearing a cowgirl outfit or something patriotic but in the end decided to go with something that represents America. She made a great Lady Liberty. Can't you see the resemblance? She also did beautifully on her presentation.