IHC 2010

Well I can't believe IHC has come and gone for another year : (  IHC is something I have looked forward to since my teen years when "Mom & Dad Fritz" would take their daughter, Sara, my sister Mary and myself to Dayton Ohio for this wonderful event!  Of course in our teen years we didn't always go for the services, but...it was nice to see what all young men were there, as well as, getting a day of shopping in : )  Now that I have matured a little (ha! ha!), I do enjoy the services and I have not been shopping there since my teen years.  We sure do miss Mom & Dad Fritz, I get tears in my eyes every year when we drive by the "Red Roof Inn", the place that we use to stay with them!  I know they are enjoying their own "IHC" in Heaven, so I can't wish them back for anything!  --For the past couple years, my sister's in-laws, John & Barbara Baker have been the children's workers and what AWESOME children's workers they are!  They have been working in the children's ministry for many, many years!  They raised their family by traveling all around the US, teaching the gospel to 1000's of children!  What an honor and blessing it has been to get to know The Bakers--Baba & Pots is what my kids call them, since that is what their grandkids call them.  Speaking of their grandkids, two of them are my niece and nephew, little Miss CJ and little Mr. Maverick : )  Last year  "Baba" asked if CJ and Kallee would like to sing for them on the "big stage" at IHC and what a great job they did for a 3 & 4 yr. old : )  When Baba asked them to sing again this year, they both smiled big and agreed to do it!  They sang

"We Are United" with the children's choir backing them up, and what a great job they did!  We were really proud of both of them!  This is something I NEVER dreamed my daughter would get to experience at IHC, but she has and she has made me very proud!  Since the children's choir has several hundred kids in it, this was very much a privilege, so thanks to Baba & Pots for asking my baby girl to sing!  We love and appreciate you both!  --The services that I was in, were very good and I really enjoyed them!  The mission's service was wonderful and so was Bro. Sankey's message!  I really enjoyed the "Building for Keeps" service, Bro. Witaker and Ester Dotson did an excellent job!!!  The last service was the best, the mass choir was AMAZING and the power of God was unbelieveable!  We were sorry our very own, Pastor Johnson didn't get to preach, but God knew what He was doing and Bro. Johnson will have another year to prep : )

  --Of course our stay this year wasn't at all what we planned, but...we hope Crowne Plaza will do a MUCH better job next year!  Our room that we booked months and months ago, was not ready when we arrived AND...we ended up in a smoking, king-size room, when promised a NON-SMOKING, double room, UGH!  I felt to nasty everytime I would go in and out of the room, YUCK!  How on earth do people live in that smell all the time???  Oh well, glad to be home in my smoke-less house!

Snuggling with little Mr. Maverick and my baby girl!

The girls having fun in the room

Little Miss Sunshine -- A.K.A.  Megyn Brylee : ) 

This is Sara (Fritz) Derscheid's baby, she is such a doll!

Ma Baker leading the children's service

Kallee enjoying the children's service from the front row, she had her very own chair : )

What a cutie!

CJ and Kallee waiting to sing their song

The IHC Children's Choir

Maverick wasn't too sure about all of this, so he sat on the floor waiting for his daddy

Maverick found us sitting out in the crowd, he was "finger-waving" to us : )

I couldn't get a very good picture of my little man Keegan, but he is in the second row with the stripe shirt on.

I thought this was such a cute picture of Abby, our friend's daughter. 

She is Mike & Tracie Peck's little girl!

Here is Kerrigan, Sara's girl --she has the white shirt on, with the camo bandana!

Goliath arrived while the kids sang, "God's Got an Army".  This was Pa Baker on stilts : )

David, A.K.A. Tyler Baker, looking at Golitha after he had killed him!

Tyler & Kristen Baker (the Baker's grandkids) singing a duet!

CJ and Kallee getting ready to go up and sing

My BIL, John, helping the girls get situated!

"We Are United"

My sweet, baby girl --Kallee Naraye

My cute niece, CJ : )

Maverick, CJ & Kallee after the program was all done!

Them marching out!

FCA's First Bazaar

Well today was our first-ever Bazaar and what a great success it was!  Our ULC kids are headed to Internationals in May and we need to raise a lot of moola in order to go.  I got to thinking several months ago, why couldn't we host a craft bazaar???  I started calling around and found that we had several that were interested in being vendors at this event, so the plans were set in motion.  I knew we needed a few more things to offer at this event, so we added a Bake Sale, a Car Wash and a Lunch.  It seemed like a lot, but it worked out great and we were all so happy with the final outcome -- $1138.83, YEA!!!  Our kids did a GREAT job and worked SO hard!!!  All of them pitched in where they were needed and seemed to have a great time.  I have talked with those that were involved with this exciting event and we have several new ideas and plans for next year's Bazaar, can't wait for it to come again : )  I would like to say thanks to all those that helped out by donating baked goods/crafts/time/etc.  A special thanks to the following:  Matt & Bobbie Sullivan for taking charge of the Bake Sale/Parents Craft table, Jody Johnson for taking charge of the Lunch preparation/serving, Melissa Huffer for running our FCA Spirit table, Sara & Tony Derscheid for jumping in and helping with the clean-up, the Colemans for filling in where ever needed and my dh for taking charge of the Car Wash!  I know there were others that helped (and we really appreciate your help), but...these are the ones that made this day a success! Thanks again to everyone that made this event so good!

This is what welcomed you as you pulled into the school lot -- Car Wash

Mrs. Fry was just outside the doors selling her speciality -- Pop Corn : )

Right inside the door was Miss Janae doing her thing -- Face Painting

These were the parents and students Craft Tables

These neat, little wooden toys were made by a couple of the boys in our church,

thanks Jalen & Colson for all your hard work!

This was our FCA Spirit table with all our fun stuff on it:  FCA Defenders Cowbells/Kazoos/Hand Clappers/State Convention DVD's, etc.

Here started the line of vendors -- Avon, Upper Case Living, Tracie's Cakes, Antiques, etc.

Some of our customers shopping

Lunch line

Cody was our $$$ collector, thanks for your help Cody

Introducing...Hailey Ann

Well, the kids finally did it...they talked their old Ma into getting them a dog!  We have had lots of dogs/puppies since we have lived here-- one stray gave us 11 puppies and another gave us 9, UGH!  The kids were at the park playing yesterday and a stray dog was there, of course all the school kids loved it and wanted to take it home with them (my kids included).  I told them we would see what the Humane Society had available and...we come home today with Hailey Ann.  She is a 5 year old, Australian Shepherd/Collie mix.  She is very friendly and very gentle with the kids!  Talon of course wanted this huge, lab mix, but since the dog was walking him instead of him walking the dog... we thought it might be best to leave Gunner at the shelter.  I would rather had a larger dog too, but a big dog would have drug Kallee and Keegan all over the place, lol!  Needless to say, she is now our family dog and we will be taking her in this week to have her "fixed".  No puppies from this doggie : )

The Cooper kiddos with Hailey

She was tired after all that running and playing the kids made her do : )

See how laid back she is : )

We couldn't hardly get her to sit up to take a picture, everytime the kids sit next to her, she thinks she needs her tummy rubbed!

Talon's 1st 5K

Talon was in his first 5K run today, which is actually 3.1 miles.  He decided at the last minute he would run and he was happy he did.  There were 50 runners and he placed 9th over all, YEE HAW!!!  In his age group (13-35) he placed 4th!  We were so happy that he gave this event a try!  He has been preparing for Internationals, so this was a great way for him to practice a little more.  When he got there, some of our friends (the Hunter family) was there and ran with him.  All in all, it was a fun time for him and we are so proud of him!

Talon, Deanne and Heather getting ready for the race

Talon hanging out before the race

And their off!

Go Talon go!!!

Talon finishing the race

The Hunter Family