Bible Bowl 2009

This weekend our family had the opportunity to travel with a group from our congregation here in Erie to Ohio Valley University in Vienna, WV. Out of a congregation of approximately 150, there were over 50 that traveled down to support 5 teams of youth that were competing!!! That is 20 teenagers that chose to spend the past 6 months studying the books of Joshua and Ruth and then chose to spend a weekend putting that knowledge to work! Not only was it a fun-filled weekend for everyone is was also very spiritually uplifting and encouraging to see so many young people from congregations all over willing to dedicate their time to God's word!

Erie Church of Christ Bible Bowl teams have earned a reputation for being the team to beat and this year was no different! 4 out of our 5 teams made it to the semi-finals, then those same 4 made it to the finals with only 1 other team. The team competition awards they earned were 5th place, 4th place, 3rd place & 1st place!!! Over all team competition awards were 1st & 3rd place. They also had 2 speed round teams that represented Erie and those teams took home 1st & 3rd places as well. The final competition that takes place is the t-shirt design competition and Erie has never taken 1st place in this area. Last year one of the dads decided to make it his mission to design a winning shirt. The judges had just completed their voting when he took the shirt to them, so they voted again. And his mission was a success, Erie won 1st place in t-shirt design. It was quite an exciting day being able to "sweep" the competition. But even more exciting was seeing how these kids act toward others whether they win or lose!

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March for Babies & Usborne Books

For the 3rd year, I will be participating in the March for Babies on April 26th. The first year I walked in honor of our niece, Rachel, who was born 6 weeks pre-mature and is now 7 years old. The second year I walked in honor of Rachel and our nephew, Sam, who was born 4 weeks pre-mature and is now 20 months old. This year I will not only be walking for these 2 amazing children, but I will also be walking in memory of 3 others who did not have the chance to be born and grow up. I am walking this year for our “baby Pretzel” as Aubrey so lovingly called him who we lost on September 11th. Also, for our friends, Scott and Lisa’s baby girl, Charlie who they lost on August 26th, and for our friends John & Tracy’s baby boy, Barrett, who they lost on March 2nd.

Why March for Babies? Because the March of Dimes champions the needs of moms and babies in our community and across the nation. The money we raise for March for Babies will help:

- support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects
- educate women on things they can do to increase their chances of having a healthy baby
- provide comfort and information to families with a newborn in intensive care
- push for newborn screening and health insurance for all pregnant women and children

Won't you please help me in this worthy cause? There are 2 ways that you can contribute to my walk.

First is by simply making a donation by either cash or check to me or through my March of Dimes website at www.marchforbabiescom/bethgarrison.

The second way is by purchasing Usborne Books from me for your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. Or you may choose to purchase the books and donate them to a children's hospital or children's charity in your area. All proceeds from the purchase of books will be donated to The March of Dimes. You may view the books at at www.ubah.com/HOS141567.

The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

Please pass this on to as many people as you'd like!

Some videos of the kids

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New House (empty)

Here are some pictures of the house we have put a contract on.


Living Room


Another view of the living room

Dining Room


Lovely blue bathroom



Kitchen

Looking into the dining room from the kitchen



Another view of the kitchen



Hallway




Rylan's room - the carpet will be coming up, there are hardwood floors in all the bedrooms (under the carpet)


Master Bedroom


Aubrey's room - she's in love with the purple carpet - but it's probably going to go b/c it's pretty stained and yucky

Going down the stairs to the basement





What will be the playroom in the basement



Another view of the playroom


The barrel bar! Not sure what we're doing with this yet, Curtis and Aubrey like it, but I don't think it will really go with the room!



This has been labeled a family room, it will probably be our office area and possibly workout room .



Another view of the "family room"



The view of the backyard as you come up the steps from the basement.




The backyard, it's mostly covered in ivy, but will be a great place for the kids when we get rid of it all!



Our A/C unit - Curtis is pretty happy about that!



The garage, enough room for the van during the winter!

MY CURRENT HOSTESS SPECIAL!!!

Book and close your $300 or more show by March 24th and earn:

$100 or more in FREE books

$75 or more in 1/2 price books

PLUS an additional $25 in FREE books!

**** If you refer a friend that books and closes a show by March 24th, I will give you $20 in FREE books****

Contact me TODAY to get your show scheduled, dates are limited!

If you live out of town you are still eligible, just collect some orders for a catalog show!!!

Boys' Day!!!

A wonderful friend of mine and I have an AWESOME arrangement! On Tuesdays and Thursdays our daughters go to the same pre-school. So, on Tuesdays I take Rylan to her house and pick up her daughter and take the girls to school. Then I have the entire day - until 4 pm to do WHATEVER I want or need to do. On Thursdays she brings her oldest son to our house and picks up Aubrey and takes the girls to school for her "day off". Today is the first day that I'm getting to keep both of her boys, Caleb is almost 5 months old, so he is joining us today. Rylan and Aidan always have a good time playing together and it is so much fun to see Caleb watching them run around. You can definitely tell he wants to be doing what they are doing!

Caught up!

It's been a busy few months for us, and I've neglected our blog. But it's now caught up, so I hope you enjoy the pictures!

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!!!

So far this year we have had an accumulation of 130 inches of snow in Erie! Our average is 90, so obviously this is more than normal! It is currently the 5th snowiest winter and we are only 18 inches away from breaking the record of snowiest ever with 2 months of winter left to go! At this point, we are all kinda hoping to break it, I mean what's another 18 inches after you've lived with 130!!!

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Some pictures of life at our house!

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Here are some of the pictures that we took on our 3 week holiday journey! Hope you enjoy!

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