Happy Pre-Father's Day

Mom Southern was at a youth conference and Heather mistakenly thought it was Father's Day which lead Dad Southern and Thomas to believe it was Father's Day.

We thought we would celebrate by going to the Wytheville, VA radio control (R/C) airfield to fly airplanes. Father's Day cards were exchanged and we ate lunch at Cracker Barrel. Anthony loved his jelly cornbread! Meanwhile, we were wishing many confused looking people a Happy Father's Day!

We didn't know that it wasn't Father's Day until Mom came home that evening! Oh well, we should celebrate Father's (...and Mother's) Day every day!

Claytor Lake Festival

The Claytor Lake State Park celebrated 70 years of lake living this weekend. Claytor Lake is a man made lake in the mountains of Virginia.

At the festival there were crafts, performing arts including the local Native Americans, music bands, food, balloons, vendor booths, car show, remote controlled cars/trucks/motorcycles/boats/airplanes clubs on site performing shows and stunts, antique fire truck display sponsored by the Old Dominion Historical Society, motorcycle clubs, and many other activities.

Grandma Hanks (Anthony's great grandmother), Anthony, and Heather enjoyed the day! Grandma Hanks even ran into her past neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Meyers.

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

Dylan is turning seven years old this month! We enjoyed his birthday party with all the family, friends, water slide, water balloons, and birthday food! Hooray!

Paw Paw Bill made Dylan a truck, trailer, and boat out of wood and painted it. All the children were excited when they saw it. One little girl said, "Dylan, your Paw Paw is an artist!"

Yard Sale

We had our first yard sale in an attempt to sell our possessions to prepare for the ministry. We worked all night to prepare tables.

When daylight came the people started rolling in and we still had a box truck full of things, boxes sitting in every walkway, the tables packed, a flatbed trailer loaded, and a van still full to the windows. The box truck was so heavy it sunk in the ground and Dad had to help pull it out with a chain attached to his truck.

The ladies that came to buy things were more than willing to unpack all the boxes, excited about the nice things for sale. The problem with their eagerness was the boxes were literally our moving boxes from our home, straight out of storage, and we still had pictures and personal items in the box that would not have been for sale. People were on cell phones calling others to hurry and get to the yard sale! We soon were overloaded with people and just had to give up trying to keep much of anything that was left in the moving boxes.

In the end, it worked out really well. We sold the Ford F250 truck and the Southwind Fleetwood RV. As much as we sold, and we sold a lot, we still had a truck load of things left when we were done.

We have given away and donated many items to local charities and will have one last yard sale on Labor Day weekend. Pray for us that we will survive the yard sale to come! We thought we were one foot in the grave when this day ended. "We can do all things through Christ that gives us strength!" - Philippians 4:13....We did, with Christ, and made it! Hallelujah!

Baby Shower - Ryder Cole Harris

Our grandson, Ryder Cole Harris, is soon to arrive in August. We are really excited! There were so many people at the shower. It is comforting to know Alisha, Eric, and Ryder will be surrounded by many people that love them and have offered to babysit...don't forget all those promises to keep Ryder, especially when you are so tired your running into the walls!
We were all able to thread a bead onto a necklace with a blessing or thought attached to each bead. Paul got teary eyed when he talked about Alisha and Eric becoming parents. We think it was tears of joy and not concern since he did say they would make great parents! As you can see from the picture, Amanda thought it was quiet funny!
Anthony tried out all the toys at Great Grandma's house (Alisha's grandmother) to make sure they were suitable for Ryder. They all passed the test, especially the firetruck that ran a siren almost the whole time the gifts were opened! We brought Ryder a little pony that makes noises and swings it's tail. It looked very similar to his great grandma's real horses out in the field. We hope he will find many hours of enjoyment on his pony!
The food was really good! Anthony particularly liked the strawberries and kept going back for more!