Never-have-I-seen-this-in-my-life kind of day

Saturday was a crazy never-in-my-life kind of day. The morning was cold and dreary when I went to the gym and rained threatened to make a miserable day for a wedding we were going to at the church. The weather man said there may be a tornado and said that there would be severe storms. I didn't think much of it because we have never had a tornado in Holly Springs since we've been here and one hasn't caused a lot of damage since 1984. It seemed like the nasty weather would hold of before the wedding - and it did, but during the wedding, the clouds burst open! The wedding was still beautiful in spite of what was going on outside. After the wedding, we needed to make a quick run to Target since we would be leaving town on Monday and our Sundays are really busy! En route to Target, I kept getting calls from a lot people asking if we were ok. They said that there were some tornadoes spotted in Holly Springs where we live. I saw pieces of insulation all over Apex but thought that the wind must of blown really hard and that it came from a construction site or something. Little did I know that it probably came from Holly Springs since is right beside Apex. We hurried home worried that maybe something happened to our house. While we drove closer and closer to Holly Springs I didn't know what everyone was so worried about. All we saw were a few branches down and leaves every where - but once we turned on the road we live off of - that's where we saw all of the destruction. Power lines were down every where, trees on houses and cars, big and small trees down all over the place - many just uprooted, street and stop signs and street lights literally bent over almost reaching the grounds, fire trucks and people cleaning up everywhere. My heart sunk and I began to worry about our neighborhood and our house and even about Onyx since we have big trees in our back yard. When we turned on our street, it seemed like it wasn't hit the hardest - just every other street that surrounded ours was hit badly. There were a few trees uprooted and our neighbors fence was knocked completely down, but nothing happened to our house - not even a tree or plant was uprooted in our back yard! I know the Lord protected our house! While we didn't have power for several days and we had to throw away a lot of food, and I had to spend all day Sunday doing laundry at others houses who were so gracious - I have never been so thankful for my small house and thankful for the Lord keeping it safe!

It was so great to see our community come together to help others who were less fortunate than us! Everyone seemed to be out and helping others. We were able to meet several of our neighbors and those who lived in the neighborhood behind us. A group of us decided to walk around and drive around our area. As we did, we saw how truly blessed we were and how much destruction had happened. Many of the roads were closed and impassable due to huge tress covering the road as well as power lines. Our cell phones went in and out also since the tower was damaged and we didn't have a phone line so we couldn't contact anyone and didn't get any news updates. Not only was our area hit but so was downtown Raleigh which is only 30 mins. from us. They had a lot more damage than our little town! In Sanford, which is also 30 mins. from us a Lowe's Hardware was leveled to the ground! The news said that there were 62 tornadoes in NC killing 24 people that day. It helped remind me that our life is not guaranteed the next day or even second. For those whose lives were changed by the tornadoes, I can only imagine how helpless they felt in the midst of something so powerful and out of control. The only one who is in control is the Lord. He had control over that storm - even though we cannot really understand why He allowed that storm to cause so much damage, He promises us that He will take care of us and provide for us despite the terrible things that may happen to us.I am not fearful of death because I know that I will be with the Lord and I though I may worry about it from time to time (which is my sin struggle) I know that the Lord will provide for all of my needs. So, when the storms in your life whether they are actual physical storms the storms of life (the difficult times) come, who or what do you put your trust in?

Foto Friday

I usually don't take a lot of pictures and have realized that I really should take more because I am missing out on not only great picture opportunites to take some really good ones but I'm also missing out on capturing great memories! It's going to be my goal to take a lot more pictures! That way I can also share them with you and you can actually see what's going on in our lives! I am going to make Fridays a day to capture our week in pictures. Here are a few of our first Foto Friday pictures:


This was taken on our CDD (Cody Date Day) where we we take a Saturday to spend special one on one time with our nephew Cody. We helped him finish this really hard puzzle. He did a great job putting the pieces together!



Onyx LOVES to sing! She has a beautiful voice and loves to sing "Happy Birthday"! Usually on a family member's birthday, we will often call and Onyx will sing for them :-)



I got a new shedding comb and this is what came off of Onyx after combing her after less than a minute. I wish there was a way I could make money on dog fur!




We had some bad storms earlier this week but saw a beautiful rainbow after the storms! (Sorry you can't see it too well. We took it through the screened window in the house.) A great reminder of God's promises to us and that He will never fail us!



Amusing Ourselves to Death!

I wanted to start this blog to share our life with you. Many of our friends and family live so far away that we rarely get to see them. So what better way to do that than through a blog where we can share pictures and stories and updates about us! I have also thought it is a great place for me to share my opinions about things. Some of you may learn another side of me that you never knew existed :-) For those of you who don't know me that well, I have strong opinions about certain issues. Poor James has had to listen to many of my rants about these issues. So, I thought that I could also use this space to share what has been on my heart and mind. One thing I love being an American, is that we have the freedom to be able to voice our opinions. We are free to think and believe and usually say what we want. I would encourage you to educate yourself on issues - especially why you believe what you believe. I used to never take an interest in politics or for standing up for what I believe in, but if I don't then who will? The Lord has been telling me that I need to take a stand for Him - for Truth. Even though this does not come naturally to me, I know that the Lord wants me to, so I am working at doing that even if that means others who disagree with me chew me out and call me all kinds of names - which has already happened. If you disagree with me - that is ok.. I am glad that you also stand for what you believe in, but I would also ask you to respect others whose opinions are different than yours. I would even ecourage you to share with me your views/comments/suggestions. So, with that long introduction, here is one such issue that has been on my heart:

James and I have been working at not watching much TV, because it seems like much of it is so bad! Even TV commercials are very inappropriate and would have never been aired 10 years ago. We canceled our cable and now just have Netflix, so we can control what we see on the TV. Netflix has a number of good and clean movies and shows on their instant queue. However, there are some horrible ones at the same time, and I wish there were ways to control that! That is my only major negative thing I hate about Netflix. Some of the "video covers" and titles could even be described as pornographic!

There's a great book that James recently read called Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman. He talks about how TV has changed how we think and has greatly and negatively impacted our lives. You can see how much of an impact the media has on our culture today. They have become very political and biased. I was listening to a John MacArthur sermon the other day going into work and he quoted much of Postman's book. Back in the farming days, fathers and sons would work hard up keeping the land and the wives and daughters would be busy working in the home. The family would get together at the end of a very busy day and eat dinner together and spend good quality time together. The wives often homeschooedl their children and therefore had great influence on their lives - more than anyone else. Parent's had more control over what their children were exposed to and children still had a great sense of innocence. Since the invention of TV, parents have a lot less control over what their children are exposed to. Postman says that TV shows no partiality. It does not care who watches it or what they watch.While there are some great things on TV, it seems like the good, wholesome, moral shows on TV are becoming less and less. MacArthur stated some stats that showed that during the evening hours when children are supposed to be in bed and adult TV is on, there are thousands of children who are watching TV during those "adult TV" hours.

It is even more shocking to me  what our children are watching on "children's" TV shows today. Children are becoming greatly influenced by what they see on TV. I've seen it affect children who are not even in school yet and how it has influenced their dress and even self-image. Postman states that TV has exposed adult things to children causing them to lose their innocence. Once innocence is lost, you can never get it back. Children do not have the mental capacity of knowing how to handle adult types of  issues. The more they are exposed, the more desensitized they become to it and as they grow older, the more they will think is ok. There are even adult TV shows that are cartoons. I know growing up, that cartoons were created as children's shows for children to watch. So , whenever a cartoon was on, I would want to watch it and think that it was for kids. So, I can only imagine young children when they see a cartoon also think that it was created for them and watch it.

 Postman wrote his book in 1985. If he thought TV had such a negative impact on our children then (and even adults) back in the 80's, I wonder what he would think of it now?! As Postman stated, "Technology always has unforeseen consequences, and it is not always clear, at the beginning, who or what will win, and who or what will lose..." Since his death, we have all seen the internet become greatly used and have a great influence on much of the world! It is scary to me, the observations Postman made, who is not even a believer, back in the 80's and how much more children are exposed to today and what impact it has in their lives.

"Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death."
— Neil Postman

Saved and Shaved

From James...

On May 21 I will be shaving my head for the second time in my life, but this time on purpose.  The last time I did it, I was cutting my own hair and got distracted by a phone call just as I was getting started.  When I got off the phone, I picked up the shearers and buzzed right down the middle of my head.  When I saw all the hair on the floor, I realized that I had forgotten to put any guard on so I had a bald line down the middle of my head with hair on either side (sort of like God parting the Red Sea with dry ground in the middle).  With a hairdo like that, there is not much you can do except to take the rest off.  Here is a picture of what I looked like then (holding my nephew).

This time, I will be shaving my head on purpose and for a good cause:  research for a cure for cancer.  I will showing my support to Cam, a boy in my church who has been battling cancer for several years now.  He is an awesome kid that I am honored to know.  I will be part of the team "Saved and Shaved" from my church.  There are quite a few of us out to show our support for Cam.  If you would like to support me, you can click on the following link:  http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/jamestkendall  I'm sure Temarie will post pictures of before, during, and after.  If you live in the Raleigh area, come out and support us at Tyler's Taproom in Apex May 21.  Head shaving begins at noon.  There is also a Coldstone Creamery fundraiser this Tuesday from 5-8 at the Coldstone in Beaver Creek. We will definitely be there to help support Cam and to eat some great ice cream!

Piano Lessons

I have been telling James for a while now that he should teach piano lessons. He is amazing at the piano and has been playing for 26 years! It's funny, because some times I will find him in our office where our keyboard is and he will be in there playing with the lights off - it's how he relaxes. When we were dating he made me a copy of songs he made up and recorded on the piano - he is so talented! I have always told him that he should teach because he is so good at the piano and I think he woud enjoy it. Well, now he has finally decided to do that! So, if you or anyone you know has been wanting lessons but can't afford it - James is going to teach lessons for $20 per lesson. He only has two more spots available, so if you're interested or someone you know is interested, you can contact him at: jamestkendall@hotmail.com.

So Rare

We were little nervous moving into our first house after hearing so many horrible neighbor stories and praying that the Lord would bless us with some great neighbors. There are definitely some neighbors that live down the road that are not too neighborly, but we are so blessed that the people we have surrounding us are some of the best people on the planet which is so rare! Seriously! I'll have to introduce you to all of them some time! One such set of neighbors are Scott and Stacy that live directly in front of our house. They are around our age and have been married for about as long as we have. They are one of the sweetest and most sacrificial couples you'll meet, and they are believers! For over a year now, Scott has been doing civilian work for the military over seas. He will be gone for about a year and a half, so they just gave him two weeks off. Scott and Stacy went to meet up in Jamaica for 2 weeks and then he was going to go back to work overseas, but they came back to the US a little early to surprise friends and family. So, last night we got together like old times playing one of our favotie games - Settlers of Cataan. If you do not own this game - you must! It will be one of the most fun games you will ever played! We were introduced to it by some good friends then we had to buy it. Then we introduced it to Scott and Stacy and then they had to buy it. Then we introudced it to James' family and now they own it, and we play every time we see them :-) See how fun it must be? One of the negative things about Settlers is that you have to play with 4 players. So, James and I rarely get to play and were so excited to be able to play again last night and play with our sweet neighbors. Afterwards, we had fun with poker, which we haven't play in several years! I will be sad whenever we leave this neighborhood or if one of our neighbors leaves. It will be hard to replace them!



Scott and Stacy



Stacy's poker face

James' poker face

My chips by the end of the game :-)