Woke up this morning around 7:00 am. Looking outside, I saw a bunch of ice covering the yard and the road. I called the church and got a message that said all services and activities were cancelled for the day. Shoot...I hate not getting to go to church. Went back to bed but didn't rest more than about 10 minutes before we heard Eliana coughing and crying in the baby room monitor. Carmi got up early yesterday morning to take care of her so I got up this time. The Empress and I lounged in the recliner for quite a while and watched Mulan. Carmi finally rolled out of bed around 10:00 am. After lunch, I put Eliana down for a nap and Carmi ran off to Wally-World to get our groceries for the week. By early afternoon, once the temperature reached into the 40's, the ice disappeared from the roads. After staying cooped up all day yesterday and most of the day today, I had to get out of the house so we decided to eat supper at Cracker Barrel. We came home and Eliana wanted to watch Mulan AGAIN.

Woke up this morning to find sleet falling outside. Carmi was supposed to have a Southern Living At Home party in Mt Holly this afternoon. Her party hostess called early and said they already had a good bit of snow and ice so the party was cancelled. There were a few things grocery-wise that we needed so I volunteered to dress quickly and zip on over to Food Lion. Pulling up to the stopsign at Plaza Drive, the main road seemed fairly clear so I opted for Wally-World instead. O-H-M-Y-G-O-S-H! You would have thought the apocalypse was coming by the sheer number of shopping carts piled to overflowing with food stuffs. Since EVERYBODY was in the grocery section and the rest of the store was relatively empty, I just had to swing by the DVD section and look for a little goody to take home to the Empress. Ended up purchasing The Lion King. Just before noon, some quite large flakes of snow began falling. Lasted just long enough to give the road and ground a good dusting. Southern Sanctuary was scheduled to sing in Norwood, NC tomorrow morning. I spoke with the Pastor around 2:00 and the service has been cancelled. Tonight we watched The Lion King.

I emailed Carmi this afternoon and asked, "Wanna go to Lowes tonight and buy a new ceiling fan and light kit for our bedroom?". Our current kit has four globes but only two of the lights have worked for the longest time. Just because I know you're thinking it...yes, we have changed the bulbs. Lately one of the final two has been flickering on and off so my manly instinct told me it was time to do something about the situation. Now I don't get in "fix it" moods real often so when they come, Carmi better jump on the opportunity and she did this time. She replied, "Sure! What brought this on? Did all of the lights finally go out at lunch? I would not be surprised if they did.". Once Carmi came home, we prepared and ate a quick meal and then made a beeline for Lowes. We searched high and low through the ceiling fan kits and found the perfect one. Bad news is that they didn't have one in stock. Good news is that a shipment will be coming to the store tomorrow. I might not be "in the mood" tomorrow but I have a hunch that Carmi might "encourage" me. The Christmas pictures that Kerry emailed to me are in the gallery now.

I went to Moms for lunch today and as soon as I walk into the house she says in her most motherly tone, "I didn't know you had been sick!". Now let me back up for just a sec and confess that I had purposefully withheld from her since Thursday the fact that I had a fever and aches. She has enough to worry about. OK...back to our conversation. I said, "Now HOW did you know that I had been sick???" and she said, "I read it on your website!!!". Mental note...if no one else EVER reads this blog, Mom will. Kerry (who was off from work today, you sorry sucker) emailed me a bunch of pictures from Christmas that she and Art took with their new digital camera. I'm preparing them for the website and should have them online very soon. Thanks Sis! I met tonight with Chris Hartley and Mike Cook for the 5th session of our "Share and Prayer Triplet". We meet 5 more times as a part of our church's "Pursuing Vital Ministry" emphasis. Returned home around 8:30 and ate a late meal with Carmi and Eliana. When Eliana went to bed, I finished putting together a decorative multimedia storage system that Carmi gave me for Christmas. This little diddy should hold all the DVDs in our newly-blossoming collection. Carmi laid out a new necklace on her bead design board.

I believe my crud is, for the most part, gone. Thank God! I slept really good last night which may have been due in part to the new pillows Carmi bought at Wally World. After church and lunching at Moms, we came home and put Eliana down for a nap and then made quick business of tearing down the Christmas tree. We both commented that we hated to see it come down but when it's time, it's time. As I was doing some cleaning up yesterday, I ran across an email address for Mark Azille, Pastor of Mt Zion Baptist Church in Antigua. Carmi and I have already been on mission twice to Antigua, the first time in 1999 and then in 2004. I'm pretty sure I got that email address after our first trip so it's been 5 years. Not knowing whether it was still a valid address or not, I emailed Pastor Mark with my fingers crossed last night and asked if he knew of a good contact person in the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship. To my wonderful surprise, Pastor Mark replied this afternoon. He seemed genuinely glad to hear from me, especially since he needs a team to lead Mt Zion's Vacation Bible School in July. I responded that I would be happy to help so we may be going back to Antigua in July. This would be my first international trip as a team leader so I'm very excited about that possibility. Tomorrow is Monday which means it's back to the grind after two consecutive short work weeks. How depressing...

We would like to wish everyone a happy and blessed New Year! My new year actually got off to a lousy start. Last night, Carmi and Eliana went to our Sunday School class's New Years Eve party while I stayed home to nurse a fever and multiple aches. Woke up this morning minus the fever but still felt like I had been run over by an 18-wheeler. After popping Tylenol and Ibuprofen all day, the pain is under control but we just haven't accomplished much. We normally take our Christmas tree down on New Years Day but it didn't happen. Maybe tomorrow. Much of the afternoon and evening has been spent watching movies on TV. First we watched "Sleepless in Seattle" starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan which is one of our favorites. "Kate and Leopold" was next followed by another favorite called "You've Got Mail" which also starred Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Carmi then wanted to watch "Grease" which I bought her for Christmas but our Little Empress decided she wanted to watch "Mulan" so that's what they are doing now.

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This journal offers a peek inside the Henderson home where you'll find two Little Empresses. Eliana stole our hearts on October 29, 2002 and Karys forever became a part of our family on September 17, 2007. Is a Little Emperor in the future?

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