The original Miss Pris made it home for Thanksgiving. 
Mama cooked.
Daddy ate.
The boys and I posed.
Charles chilled in the chair (missed that picture oppurtunity...)
And now we are heading to the Russell's for Supper! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving :)
Several people have recently asked about my grandmother, so I wanted to offer an update. She is doing so much better than she was a couple of weeks ago. She had to be admitted to the hospital at the beginning of this month for confusion, weakness, and extreme fatigue. The ER doctor was more than ready to just tell us that she was old and to get over ourselves but, we insisted on having her admitted to the hospital. The ER physician reluctantly called Dr. Steadman who graciously admitted her and took her off of ALL of the medications the nursing home had placed her on. Now, several weeks later, she is doing so much better! She actually can stay awake, watch TV, read, and communicate! Apparently, she was overmedicated. She continues to participate in physical therapy and hopefully will be able to return home by Christmas. She is able to take some day trips back home but they really exhaust her and make my dad nervous! I will be bringing her home for Thanksgiving so pray that we have a safe day. She is still very weak.
Last weekend, Jarrett participated in a tennis tournament at Timrod Park, here in Florence. It was his third tournment, but his first WIN!!! He was so excited to finally have a win on his record. His tennis coach called last night to inform me that he was now RANKED in the TOP 100 in South Carolina! How cool is that? Check it out HERE! Scroll to number 89!
Dalton has played in 7 football games so far this year. Their record is 5-2! Not bad for a school's first year at hosting a B-Team. He has been enjoying football and I think it may even be his new favorite sport. His next game is at home this Thursday at 5:00p.
I never did update you about his MFUGE camp experience this summer. He did come home on a spiritual high - but he also came home with this... a huge crush on a tenth grade girl! (He is in seventh.) Thank goodness she lives out of state. 
My grandmother is out of the hospital and back in Heritage where she continues her Rehab. She has been very tired lately - I believe she is on way too much medication for her system. I am SO READY to get her out of that nursing home. She will need assistance once we get her home but she is NO WHERE NEAR sick enough to stay in that facility. While I appreciate what they have done to get her functioning at a higher capacity, I really hate to know she is there. Keep her in your prayers.
Also, in this wonderful economy, Charles and I decided to cut my work hours! (YIKES.) It is just what has to be done to meet the needs of our family. So, beginning this week, I will be working one less shift per week at McLeod. This will help me here at home and free some of my time up to help more with my grandmother. My schedule has been WAY to crazy since school started and since Grandma broke her hip. (It will also help me have more time to begin Rehab. for my Facebook addiction... :)
On other Russell family news, Jarrett is sick and has been home with me this week. He started running fever at lunchtime on Sunday. I know he has a sinus infection. I am just not sure if he also has strep throat. Time will tell! He was up some of the night and I ended up sleeping in his bed so, I am sure I will be sick by the weekend. Charles and I have plans to go out of town this Friday through Monday for a long weekend. It is Charles' birthday so I wanted to plan something special for him. Mama is keeping the children and we are going to just hang out in the hot tub and chill out all weekend with NOTHING to do. We stay SO busy.
Speaking of busy...
Revolution Church is doing fantastic. We have a regular group of attendees at our LifeGroup each Wednesday night and the kids ministry has been a blast. Please keep us in your prayers. We are very close to needing more space and Chris is looking into some options this week. Rental space is SO expensive! God has the plans - just pray with us as we seek His guidance for the right place to expand His church.
Have a great day! Please pray for Grandmother, Jarrett and Revolution as you are exiting this post - AND that I will be WELL this weekend - Charles and I REALLY need this trip. We are burned out, tired and in need of some re-fueling! Thank you.
It is with much sadness that I write this post. My grandmother had to be hospitalized today. She broke her hip in August. She was in Carolina's Hospital for close to a month and was then transferred to Heritage Nursing home where she has been residing while participating in their Inpatient Rehabilitation. She has been doing excellent in Rehab and this past weekend, she enjoyed a day pass from the facility and joined us at Freedom Florence to watch Dalton play baseball. How WONDERFUL it was to see her back in society enjoying life again. It has been overwhelmingly painful to see her in the nursing home. Our family really thought we would be able to bring her back home in a couple of weeks and then a set back... Today, she got off balance while getting dressed and almost fell. One of her attendants grabbed her arm to stop her from falling and tore the skin off of her arm (HUGE area). Grandma is on Coumadin, a blood thinner, and her arm would not stop bleeding so she had to be taken to the ER where she was admitted and has been receiving plasma and Vitamin K to help her blood to clot. In fact, her bleeding time was SKY high which indicates she was taking way too much Coumadin so we were probably lucky it was found before she bled to death internally. It is so sad to see her back in the hospital just days before we were hoping to bring her home. Please keep her and my family in your prayers. My dad is stressed to the MAX and he has heart disease (he had a massive heart attack a few years ago), my mother also has heart disease (heart attacks x 2 ) and she is worried about my grandma and my dad. My aunt is worried sick, my sister and I am worried to death. We are all trying to work and keep a keen eye on her, so please just lift my family up in prayer. Thank you!
Last night, our children had a BLAST! They danced, sang and shouted for Jesus. We learned through the help of our Elevate Kids curriculum, how important it is to sit at the feet of Jesus. Through the Bible story of Mary and Martha, we began to discuss the importance of daily time with God. So many times, we as parents allow our children time for video games, time for TV, time for Homework, time for sports, etc., etc., but fail to teach our children the importance of time alone with God each day through daily Bible reading and prayer. Last night, our children were challenged to turn on their TV's or video games only when their daily Bible reading was completed. (I know plenty of adults who could benefit from that piece of advice... yes I have a finger pointing in my own face!) They are really enjoying our time together each week. To view some pictures of this week's fun, click here.
We had a WILD and CRAZY busy weekend. All I can say is thank God for family because this weekend would have been impossible without my mom, my sister and brother-in-law! It started on Friday night - Charles came home after a disastrous day at the office and announced that he had to work all day Saturday... WHAT?!?!? This weekend? No way... On Saturday, Jarrett had to be at the soccer field in Florence by 7:50am and Dalton had to be at the beach by 10am. Last time I checked, I was only one person...My mom came to the rescue and traveled to the beach with Dalton while Jarrett and I made it to the soccer field.
Here are a few pictures from my morning with Jarrett. We lost 2-1 but they played great!
We lost but its ok with me - I played GREAT!
Here are a few pics of Dalton's baseball games. Lost everyone of those games but I am sure he had fun. He always does... If Dalton is around, fun is in the house!
Three up, three down - The beast is on the mound.
Dalton trying to steal a base with his friend Matthew Elliott covering third base.
Dalton rushed home from the baseball game to attend his friend's Bat Mitzvah. He was super excited because this was the first "dressy" Country Club event he had ever attended. And, it was a friend (Sasha) from his old school so he knew he would see all of his oldest buddies. Here are a few of those pics.
Dalton and the guest of honor. Isn't she beautiful?
BFF's - Dalton with his best friend Weston Lewis
Sasha is on a chair being passed around!
I ended this crazy Saturday by working a 12 hour night shift! All I can say is Thank God it's Monday!
Well, I think the adult Life Group went much better this week while the Revolution Kids came close to being disastrous. To begin with, when I was trying to download my script, my disc had a "file corrupted" error and for HOURS, I tried to get my materials printed. At the very last minute of the final attempt, I finally got everything printed - not before running out of ink and putting in a panic call to Chris asking him to download a file and make some copies for me. Then, once the students had arrived, we went to our studio where I found the projector in a non-functional mode. Being married to the most avid handyman around, I didn't panic, just simply summoned my Mr. Fix-it who... COULDN'T GET IT WORKING. Never fear, I decided to move on to plan B. (Did I mention that I had 15 children all sitting in their seats, bored and staring at me like they would rather be in a dentist chair?) Anyway, Plan B - we would forget the projector and simply GO LIVE via TV/Surround Sound. Well, we transfer the disc, move the TV, only to figure out that you MUST have the remote to use the TV's video feed and of course, it is MIA. Now, the students are really looking at me with their best "this is lame face" and I am about to throw in the towel when I decide to try one last time to get our party started! Charles goes back in the house, straight through the area where the adults are in an intense Bible study and brings out the TV/DVD from one of the back bedrooms, grabs the remote, and WHEW, we are up and running. Not on the 5 foot screen with surround sound, but up and running none the less.
Well, once we FINALLY began our program, I believe it was a success. A few of the students said it was fun and Jarrett told me, "you did great mom". Who knows? But, I learned that I MUST test my equipment EACH week, prior to 7pm, and I CAN NOT wait until Wednesday to print my material. It's a live and learn kind of thing and I definitely learned my lesson this week.
If you are interested in learning more about our church , feel free to join us ANY Wednesday night at my house for food and fellowship beginning at 6pm and Bible Study beginning at 6:45p.
I couldn't post pictures over the summer because my computer crashed and all of my programs crashed. I just purchased a new laptop and have finally figured out how to get my pictures uploaded. So, I wanted to share some pictures of my youngest son and my youngest nephew cooling off on one of the 100 degree days of heat we had in July. They had a sprinkler hooked up under the trampoline. I know - I know, not the safest day of summer, but a fun one none the less!
Rocky was having as much fun as the boys...
I had a rough summer - out of work, couldn't see, just one of the worst summers I can ever really remember. No plans for a vacation, and mostly suffered from the disease known as self pity. I truly was in a state of depression that was mostly brought on by the "woe is me" syndrome (and to my credit, an inability to see at the ripe 'ole age of 37). But like all things, there was an angelic light at the end of that deep tunnel. My friend from childhood, Lynn, rented a house at the beach and insisted that Charles and I bring the boys down for the week. Knowing that we really couldn't afford to vacation with me out of work indefinitely, Lynn told me that the vacation house was paid for and all I needed was my bathing suit! We went to the beach and almost immediately, the cloud began to lift and the pity party was over. I have always told people in my life that the ocean, at least for me, is one of God's greatest creations. I can just sit on the beach and a calmness surrounds me and I feel His presence as if I have crawled into His arms. So, with a renewed attitude and a fresh outlook, I came home from the beach ready to face the challenges that my retinopathy puts in the way of my life. So, I wanted to post these pictures and relive the last few days of summer and thank Lynn for allowing me to share her vacation.
Lynn, you know I love you and cherish you as my oldest, dearest, friend and I will NEVER forget how much you touched my life this summer in what was truly a dark hour.
Charles and the boys posing with their surf boards.
Jarrett and his girl of the summer...Kennedy Newsom(Lynn's daughter)
Jarrett ready to ride on in.
Charles almost up!
Dalton showing them how its done.
My friends Lynn and Andy Newsom.
