Update...

There have been a couple of inquiries on the hair thing... There was a little messup with the cut, so I'm going back this Saturday and she will fix it. It will be alot shorter than I wanted to go... I'll explain when I get the pictures.

I hope all is well with everyone. I have a HUGE thing coming up at work, that I do all of the "manual" things for. It's a huge dinner involving about 600 people... I'm getting a little stressed, and it's a week from tomorrow. So needless to say, you won't hear from me till probably the first of October... I will try really hard to post pics of the new cut, but life is super hectic right now... I covet your prayers for my sanity over the next week!!!

Also, there are several people in our church who are not doing well. I can't stress to you enough how important your prayers are. We know God is good, and He will do what He wills is best... But please pray for these people:

• Dennis and Diane Lambert - They have had Lizzy since she was 5 weeks old. She is now 41/2 and they have been trying to adopt her. They have adopted her brother, but have been in court with her.... DCFS came in on Monday and took Lizzy out of her home. The Lamberts are having a really rough time. I don't know all that is behind it, but I do know that this is the family that Lizzy knows. Please Pray

• Connie Gilroy - Has been fighting cancer for years. Things are not looking good. We love her so much, and she is in so much pain. She needs God's grace and mercy to overflow on her behalf. Please Pray

There are many others that I could list, but these two are very crucial right now.

Thank you for your prayers!

God is good, ALL the time!

Happy Weekend!!!

Lots of things going on this weekend... I'm getting my hair cut and highlighted, going to a Tremont Football game or a movie tonight, Morton Pumpkin Festival... lots of things!!! So exciting!!! :) I hope you all have a great and safe weekend.

Loves from me!

Em

Hi ya Friends!



I hope this finds you all in the wonderful grace of God! We are so blessed beyond measure! The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want! He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters!! My cup runneth over!!!! Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever! I was sitting here at work, and those verses keep going in and out of my head, oh the joy we have when we are one of HIS children!



So I have a few pictures to share...


On Opey's birthday, which is the day before mine... Nom, Op, Nae, Phil and I went to Applebee's (one of our fav's) to spend some time together, and wish Opey well on his birthday. I had to share this picture, Morgan and I were texting, and she said... who's with ya'll? So, I sent her this pic. When I went to take the picture, Renee made a funny comment about not liking her picture being taken... lol

If you have ever been out to eat with me, you'll know that I always order water with tons of lemon. (Yes, I make my own lemonade!) Well, in most places, they bring one, maybe two. Yeah, so Applebee's is definately the best at this. Our waiter was awesome.... doesn't it look neat? Everyone kept asking if it was just water... ;0)

So on Labor day, Phil and I went to New Salem and walked around the park that is all about Abe Lincoln. They have the houses and buildings just as they were. I told Phil to take a picture of the only Tavern I was allowed to walk into!!! :) Actually, in those days a tavern was more for a home cooked mean, and a bed to rest. Hardly ever was there liquor involved. Interesting huh?

That's all for now Folks!!! Till next time... Em

3:00 AM

Hello all: Today is my birthday, it hasn't started off well though... we got a call about 10:00 p.m. last night that a very dear man in our church had had a stroke. We rushed to the hospital, along with most of our church family to be there for his family. It is now 3:00 a.m. and they have transfered him to OSF (he was at Pekin). They have just taken him in for an MRI. At first, he had lost his sight, and alot of other things. Now, he can see better. Praise God! However, he doesn't have very much control of the right side of his body, and his speech is very slurred. But God knows, and He is faithful! There are quite a few of us here... but I'm still really sleepy!

I feel bad being so excited about my birthday... If you really know me, you'd know that I'm like a kid when it comes to Christmas about my birthday.... I love it! Right now though, it's not lookin like it's gonna be such a bright day! But I'm sure we'll make up for it, and celebrate all weekend! I have a feeling that something is going to happen tonight, and it might involve Monicals... but don't tell anyone! ;) I don't think I'm suppose to know! (shhhh!!!)

Pray for me please... I'm seriously considering giving piano lessons, but I lack a thing called self-confidence, or lack of knowledge fear... lol I've had quite a few people ask me about them, and if I would do it. We were just praying about a way to pay off some of this work that we are doing to the house. God knows, and he'll provide! Just pray that I won't be stubborn to His will. Speaking of His will... I have something that I need to write about, but it is very hard for me... I know that alot of people struggle with this thing, but I tend to hide it to myself. But I know that if we have struggles, or things we just don't flipping understand, that for some reason, God gives us people who have expierenced the same thing. And He gives them to us, or puts them in our lives for a purpose, and I don't want my pride of self dignity or whatever you want to call it to get in the way....

God is good, all the time... even though sometimes we just don't see it.

total eclipse of the heart....

At 4:40 A.M. (that is in caps for emphasis!) Phil and I crawled out of bed to go watch the lunier (sp?) eclipse. We thought that we would have to drive out of town, but we actually were just able to stand in our front yard and watch it happen. It was so neat. I don't have any pictures, because it wouldn't work... but you can search on google and see pictures of other ones. The entire time we were standing there I had "total eclipse of the heart" song in my head... lol Anyway, this is totally a Phil thing... he loves stuff like this. He was practically begging me last night to get up so early with him (I am the farthest thing from a morning person...) and I have to say, it was totally worth it. God is truly amazing! I have a ton of other things to post about, but not a lot of time... hopefully soon! My birthday is in three days! :)

Happy Tuesday!!

Emily

Butter and Flies :)

Hello all!

Phil and I had a great weekend together... We went to the Illinois State Fair on Saturday. It was cool. I wish I would have had my camera to take more pictures, but I hate to carry stuff around when I'm trying to look at things and eat my favorite "fair gyros" :) I did however, get a few with Phil's phone... I had to share this with my blog friends...

Yup, this is ALL butter!!! Amazing huh? The tallest point was probably 4 1/2 feet tall...

Look at the little kitty cat!! You can't really see them, but hanging from the tree they had made little dragon flies and hung them from string... On this last one, be sure to look at the owl. The detail was incredible!!! It even had little glasses on! And the doggie!!! I could have stood there for hours and just stared at it... but of course as you can see, I wasn't the only one who thought it was cool!

On our way home, we made a pit-stop at our local Wally Word to buy a new pet...errrr plant.

This is our new fly trap plant! If you haven't seen these... they are really neat. I remember having one in our class room when I was in kindygarden... the one that is really out of focus and has a black spot... we got a hold of a fly and put it on the petal... and it closes up around the fly! It was really neat! Naturally, if you just leave the plant alone, the flies land on the petals, and they eat them... it's a live plant!

On Sunday, we had our church picnic... this was different from any other year though, we actually stayed in the basement of the church for most of the activities (eating) and only went back to the pavilion for snow cones (made by none other than the Snow King and Queen... yours truely) and our traditional egg toss. We also had some other games, but people didn't last very long, because it was like almost 100 degrees... it was burning hot.

Anyways, that is an update on the Hulett home... we are good, and God is great!

Camping Trip

I know, you'll are probably fainting thinking of Emily going on a camping trip... lol. When Phil and I got married, I agreed that I would go with him at least once. He thought I had never had the "true" camping experience... Well, he can say that I did now. LOL We had a blast, here are some details from our camping! (the pictures are taken with my camera phone, because I forgot the camera in the car! Imagine that!) Enjoy!

This was the fire we built! You can't see it too well, but I'm really proud of it because I was the one who went looking for fire wood. Of course I was sure to tell Phil, that I really didn't enjoy this part... Everyone at work thought it was hilarious that I had never built a fire... I work for the Boy Scouts... Of course I replied back with... I'm a girl... :)

This is our tent!!! It was so easy to put up! Phil kept sayin that you aren't suppose to sleep when you go camping... Yes, I know... why did we put it up then???? We ended up staying up until about 5 a.m. then going and taking a nap :) Although, Phil does these trout line things... and we had to go out every two hours to check the lines... oh joy!

This is me with one of the fish I caught! We ended up being able to take back about 5 fish... two were really good size catfish! yum! And give me credit for looking so icky... I'd been up for almost 30 hours with about two hours of sleep and no shower!

Speaking of me looking icky... Ginger went with us... She was filthy!!!! She loved the fish we caught and how they jumped she would just start barkin and growling... it was cute. We wrapped a shirt around her to get her home and walked straight into the bathroom... This was her right before we left. She got hot so she went and laid in the muddy water... Ya just gotta love dogs...

Last but not least... a pic of the hubby and I... he ALWAYS does this in pictures... but ya just gotta love him!

Friends

Please pray for my friend Hopie. She had her tonsils and adnoids taken out this morning... The surgery went fine, but just pray she heals fast! :) I love you Hopie!!!

Announcing.... Mr & Mrs Jonathan LaBarge!!!!! These are some of Phil and I's dearest friends... We weren't able to make it to the wedding... but I got a picture!!!! Photography by Ryan Keiter

Congrats guys! We love you!!!!

Okay, so I finally got my camera to my work so that I could download all the pics... I have 205. Ah! But I don't think Blogger would let me post them all on here... So I'm going to pic some of my favorties.... I think I'll have to do two posts to get all the pics in!


Our 1st House!!!! We are homeowners!!!Us, signing our lives away for 30 years...Our Ginger...Bill & Meghan Howell

(they came and spent some time with us before we left :) It was great... we miss them tons!)
Morgie Porgie and I at T-Fest '07!!!! (yes, that is face paint on my cheek...)
Mr & Mrs. Brian Newby :) This is my cousin and her new hubby... they got married in Jamaca in March, and we had a reception for them in Indiana... it made for a nice weekend away!
Phil and I in Indiana at the Esenhaus (sp?) I got to show him where we used to live and where all of my wonderful childhood memories were :)
Amish Buggies!!! I was so excited to see them again!

The house that I grew up in as a kid...

I'll post more pics later...

Three wonderful years...

So today three years ago, I married my best friend. Three years ago, I would have never dreamed that I could love a person so much. He has given me the life I needed, the love I need, and the encouragement to make it through whatever our future holds. Today, My husband and I celebrate our 3rd Anniversary. God has truly blessed our relationship and our marriage. Of course, like any other couple we have had trials and very few fights (seriously!)... but through it all, we have remained each other's best friends. I couldn't dream of spending my life with anyone else... We have the kind of relationship where we can't wait to get home to each other to see the other, or to talk about our days. I could go on and on about how much my husband means to me, but for sure he is the best thing outside of salvation that has ever happened to me.

I love you more everyday Philip Ryan!

Phil sent me flowers at work... there is a story behind the colors... aren't they beautiful???

The card reads (in his handwriting...): I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you for the 3 years so far and many more to come. Your loving husband

And everyone says.... Awwwww.....

Hello all.

Yes, I know it's been forever. But so much has drastically changed in my life...

• I quit my job in Tennessee where I absolutely loved the people I worked with
• We packed our entire home
• I ate sushi for the last time at Wasabi while a TN resident
• Phil quit his job at McAlisters
• I said good-bye to my closest friends on earth
• We packed the moving truck with the help of some of our dearest friends
• We traveled ALL day to Illinois
• We signed on our first house that we own on June 1st at 11:30a.m.
• We moved into our new home on June 1st at 12:00p.m.
• We unpacked our house and started remodeling the basement
• I started my job with BSA in Peoria, IL on June 5th
• Phil started his job at CIP in Morton, IL on June 5th
• We moved our membership to Bethel Baptist Church on June 17th
• We celebrated Fathers Day - another year to celebrate something we aren't
• I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting...
• Oh, Ginger is now completely potty trained in our new house

So, to alot of you, this might not seem like much.

But right now, it's the biggest struggle I've ever had...

-In memory of truly great pianist-

So last year, on February 22nd to be exact... A personal hero of mine passed away. Don't get me wrong, he's in a much better place... But I'll never forget the awe that I had when I watched him play the piano. His name was Anthony Burger. The picture below was actually taken on the cruise that he passed away on. I had seen him a few times in concert, but now... I wish I'd gone every chance I had, just to watch him play. He played with such emotion!

Oi, do I wish I could play like him!

Last Saturday another awesome pianist passed away after years of fighting cancer. His name was Roger Bennett. Roger sang/played for the Cathedral Quartet for many years. I remember as a kid going and seeing them in concert multiple times... I even remember when they announced that he had cancer and his many years fighting the disease. A few years ago, after the Cathedrals retired, and Legacy Five was started by Roger and Scott Fowler. We saw them in concert many times too. You can go to www.legacyfive.com to read more about Rogers home going. He had a journal that he kept online for people to read, when he got really bad, his wife was doing entries to inform everyone. It will be weird going to a Legacy Five concert and him not be there playing... Both will be missed!

Southern Gospel has lost two of the most talented musicians ever.

The life of a busy lady...

I know, I know... it's been forever. Lay off. Life has been crazy! So much is going on, and work will be a little lighter this week, so I decided to take this opportunity and catch whoever reads this never updated blog! BTW: Does anyone read this? If noone does, it's okay... I enjoy typing and pondering all the things that are happening and how much God has blessed us with!

Okay, so one of the big things in my life right now is, Cake Decorating. I have been going to classes, and am acutally in the Advanced Class right now. Holy cow is it hard. Flowers are the main thing in the advanced... so I wanted to share some with you. They aren't perfect by any means, but these are my FIRST try at these!

First is a daisy! The leaves are suppose to have a little bit of space between them, but my icing was a little soft. Not bad for my first try though! This is made with Royal icing, so it gets hard, and looks great on cakes! Also a favorite for the kids to eat! :)

Second, this is suppose to be a pansy, but I didn't have any yellow frosting... this wasn't that hard to make, but when I look at pictures of pansies, even if I would have had yellow frosting, it still wouldn't look like pictures of pansies do... It's super easy though!
Thirdly, this is a violet! These were taken with my cell phone, so I know they aren't great pictures...This was the tiniest flower I've made so far... It's so cute!

Here is a cake that I made in class... on the top is canonilli lace. This was my first try at it, and I kind of stunk on it, but it's so pretty with white on white. It's very poplular for wedding cakes. I did a wider lace on the left, and tighter on the right... I can't decide which I like better...

So, I put this in here because I know that my family will get a kick out of it. So, I'm walking down the isle at Wal-mart, and I'm talking to my sister on the phone... all of the sudden I see this couple walking towards me and I say "No Way" Seriously. I have to be dreaming... "I could swear that I just saw the Smallwoods" I told Nom. I let her go, and put myself in a place where I could see them again (No, I wasn't stalking) I asked them what their last name was, and she said "Smallwood" and looked at me like I was crazy. I said "Holy Cow" "I'm Emily Rowell...ehhh Hulett, well Rowell is what you would know me by" I was totally stumbling over my words I was in so much shock! This is a family that was in our church in Indiana. I played outside with thier kids after church all the time!!! They live like an hour from me, and it was totally by chance that I saw them... It was great. We stood there and talked for forever, and caught up. It was great. I think we concluded that it had been close to 12 years since we had seen each other... Yeah, totally a Wow thing!

Last, but far from the least... We got a new car!!!!!!!!! I was deeply upset... the Malibu gave out on us... it was going to be too much to replace what needed to be replaced, so we traded it and got a great deal! The new one is a 2005 Ford Freestyle. It is a mix between a van and an SUV, with a lot of simularities of a station wagon. I can fit 7 people!!! It will be so nice when we work with churches and travel on deputation and stuff like that... It's so nice! It has 18,000 miles on it. I can't wait to show it to everyone! God is so good! :)


So, this is just a couple of things that are going on... I'll post later about Phil's graduation and moving back to Illinois, and all... Please keep us in your prayers! :)


Red

My Season of many "1st Times"

Hello all! Yes, I know. It's been forever since I've posted, but good Lord cut me some slack! :) Life has been really hard, but yet wonderful here lately. There are some things that happened that I want to tell you about, and others, you can consider unspoken prayer requests.

So... here we go -

I made my first Candy Sushi! All the girls where I work are crazy about sushi! So, for my boss' birthday, I made her Candy Sushi. It was a blast to make! This is a great idea for kids too. If anyone would like the recipe just let me know!
I don't have pictures, but on October 22nd, Phil's mother went home to be with the Lord. After suffering 4 major heartattacks that left her completely brain dead, Phil watched his mother pass away. God gave Phil strength that I had no idea someone could have. There are so many other details that I could share with you, but let's just sum it up to say, God was with us. Every step of the way, we had His protection and care. God is good.
On October 25th, Yes... three days later, my Grandpa passed away. He had been struggling with his health for a couple of months, on the 20th they decided to take him home. We got to spend alot of time with our family during these days... I was able to be by his side when he passed, he went out hearing - "We love you, dad", "Dad it's okay, we'll be alright" "Grandpa, we love you" "We are so proud of the name you gave us" "Thanks for the family you gave us" There were many tears shed this day... We'll miss Grandpa. But we know he's in Heaven with the Lord. Oh! What a reunion when we get there!!! I can see right now Phil running to his Mom to give her a huge hug, and I long to kiss Grandpa's rough cheek again!

Okay, wiping away tears, and onto happier times!

My Uncle Ed, Aunt Deanne, Tasha (not pictured; Tiffany & Teddy) got to all come to Illinois to see Grandpa, so we got to spend some time with them. Great fun. Tasha is awesome! I swear she's so much like me... ;) This is a bad picture, but you can see where Tasha straightened my hair. It looked so long! Thanks Tasha!I carved my first pumpkin!!!!!!!!!!! it was great fun. Phil and I did this together, and we just loved it. I also had my first trick-or-treaters! :) I gave candy away! It was a blast! It ended up raining, so I didn't get to give away all my candy... but Phil didn't really care about that part...Above is my boss, Kevin Le Blanc... he is a Cajun man!!!! He stuffed the turkey, and fried it!!! This was my first experience with frying a turkey!!! My friend Meghan and her husband Bill had thier first baby... her name is Shelbie Paige... She's so cute! Congrats guys!
So this is probably the biggest news I have... My family came to my house for Thanksgiving!!! That's right, everyone except Mike's family was able to come to Knoxville, TN!!! It was a blast, we had a full house, and like the above picture, this is how we usually were... all sitting around relaxing... it was great. I believe we ended up with 14 people staying at our house! It was great. But probably the best thing was on Wednesday night, most of us stayed up till 3 am waiting on Opey, Renee and Nom to get in.... Well, unbeknownst to me.... My Gram surprised me and came down with them!!!!!!! I bawled. It was the best thing, it was the clostest thing that I have to Grandpa. The Lord is good. He knew exactly what I needed.
She's so cool... I love you Gram! Also, thank you to Dad, Mom, Opey, and Nae for making this happen.... It meant so much to me, that you knew it would mean the world to me.

Yeah, Phil made me do all the work and carry the tree in the house... lol j/k This is me proud of the REAL tree that we picked out... :)

This is our Christmas Tree this year! It's not finished here, as you can see on the right side, Phil is finishing putting the ornaments on... I love Christmas time!

For my last "first" I made my first Gingerbread House!!!! Isn't it adorable??? We had a blast doing it... I don't think I made the frosting thick enough because my ice cicles didn't work that well... Oh well... If you haven't done one, I definately recommend it for getting in the Christmas mood!
I hope you enjoyed all the pictures... Hopefully it won't take me so long next time!
Red

So... I've had 41 million things going on...

Since the last time I posted, we have been running like chickens with our heads cut off! aahhhh!!! We hit the floor running in the morning, and literally fall into bed at night. But, through it all... God has been gracious and given me the peace that I needed.

Just to give you an idea of the things that have been going on...

My dad celebrated his 50th Birthday! Happy Birthday Papa! So, I and my friend Melissa were going to go to Illinois for the weekend to surprise my dad for his birthday, and to be an encouragement to him. Well, on the Friday we were going to leave, somethings happened (explain later) at home, and I needed to leave alot earlier. Phil got off of work in a hurry, and we packed and drove home. We pulled in at about 12 am slept until 5:30, and went to breakfast at IHOP. (Sidenote: the time was my sisters idea) We were suppose to all meet there at 6 am. All the siblings were to be there to go to breakfast with dad for his birthday. It was so cool. We got there (on time), and of course Mom and Dad were late... So Phil and I went and hid in the back part, and when they walked in, Mom ran to the bathroom and Dad came in and started huggin the other kids. I jumped in line... He got done huggin Opey, and thought he was done, then he saw me. (I'm tearin up just thinking about it!) Lets just say, I got a long hug. It was great. So we spent the morning with Mom and Dad... while the others went their ways. We went and saw Bro. McAdams in the hospital... so very sweet. God has really given them a special place in our heart. So, about 1 pm Phil and I had to keep Dad away from the house. So we went to some yard sales, and went and saw my Grandpa, and then ended up at Wal-Mart. Yup. I made him ride in a wheel chair the whole way. It was kind of nice to pay back all those many years of embarassment from him... He was blushing! He had a button on that said he was "over the hill" (see picture) Anyway, I cold tell you much more about this day, but this is already getting long! It was a good day.

The reason we had to hurry home, was because Grampa Rowell got really bad... On Friday the 6th, they gave him less than 6 months to live. That weekend, it was looking more like days... Then they talked to the doctor on Monday he said he could probably make it a month. This has been so very hard on my family. If you think about it, please say a prayer for them. On Monday, I went in early in the morning in hopes of getting there before anyone else did... I made it! :) I got him ready for the day, and combed and washed his hair and his cleaned his face... Then we sat and I read all the cards to him that everyone had sent... When I didn't know who they were, he would say "Oh, thier from Tremont..." lol it was great times. It was something I needed. I will always have memories, but this was probably the greatest. Grampa never would just tell us he loved us, but we always knew he did. This time however, I would say "Grampa, I love you" and he would come right back with "I love you too, Emily" Oh how precious!