Honor Plant

Martin Marietta Materials' Jefferson Quarry has won Honor Plant this year! The company magazine, The Conveyor, says, "The Honor Plant selection committee evaluates performance in eight areas: safety, operating costs, maintenance practices, appearance, community relations, productivity improvements, innovation and financial performance." According to Executive Vice President Dan Shephard, "To be chosen as an Honor Plant shows that you were the best of the best. . ." The award is given to only five plants out of the more than three hundred in the company. The plants are evaluated over a three year period.

Saturday, June 24th, Jeff and I will be going to a banquet to celebrate the award. Not for the first time, either -- in 2002, the Warrenton Quarry won Honor Plant when Jeff was an employee there. Coincidence? I think not!

Mollywobbles

We have a new addition to the family! An adorable little orange kitten showed up at our door several nights ago and we couldn't resist. She quickly melted Jeff's heart and left her tiny pawprints in it! The kids are completely enthralled. We think little Mollywobbles is great, though not exactly the cutest cat we've ever seen (she has a pointy nose). Maybe she'll grow out of it . . .

May 14 - 24 Mission Trip

Time has flown by and I'm back now from the mission trip to Southwest Asia. I didn't post on here that I was going anywhere, but I figure that everyone who knows me knew I was going. We had an incredible time! We were in a closed country, so I was not sure how much we'd be able to share with those around us but God did some amazing things. The missionaries there told us that when we met with students from the universities, they would ask us questions and we could feel free to answer openly. Well, one of the first questions we were asked was, "What is the meaning of life? Isn't it all futile?" So we were able to talk openly about our faith and one of the missionaries really laid the gospel out for the Muslim students.

One of our purposes for going was to do Vacation Bible School for the children of the missionaries. The trick was cramming it all into a day and a half! We did crafts, played games, ran round outside, made T-shirts, threw water balloons, acted out Bible Stories, sang songs. . . in other words, we all had a blast!

Kaitlyn and Joseph stayed with Jeff's parents and really enjoyed themselves. After a few days of living the "bachelor" life, Jeff decided enough was enough and brought Katie home with him for the weekend! They had some great "Daddy-Daughter" time together. Naturally, all three were very happy to see me at the airport -- and I was thrilled to be back with them.

Pictures

I'm trying to get the hang of scanning pictures and adding them, so here are my first few feeble attempts. I hope to get better soon! I don't know why the picture is there twice -- it's not that way in the file. Oh, well. :)

Anniversary Trip

Jeff and I celebrated 8 great years together yesterday -- well, 6 great ones, and 2 that were so-so. Just kidding! Of course they've all been wonderful! We met my parents halfway Friday night and they kept the children while were away for the weekend. Saturday morning we drove up to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We took our time, and had a picnic lunch at one of the overlooks on the scenic route through the Smoky Mountains. We stayed the night at a bed and breakfast at the top of a mountain. That was fabulous! The owners, Bob and Shirley Price are Christians and in addition to being a professional chef, Shirley also has every Grace Livingston Hill book ever published! Her husband is a huge Agatha Christie fan, so they have all her books and plays, too. I wanted to stay another night just to look at the books. :) Jeff and I absolutely loved the porch swing on the balcony. We had a gorgeous view of the Smoky Mountains. For breakfast, we had strawberry soup, blueberry-pecan french toast, sausage, and creme brulee. Wow! We drove back through North Carolina and met Mom and Berk in Greenwood, SC to reclaim our children. The kids had a blast and I think Mom and Berk will recover soon.

Welcome

Jeff and I thought it would be really neat to have a place to let everyone know what's going on with us, so here it is! You'll find short posts to tell you what's new, pictures of us and the kids, and anything else we think is interesting. At the very least, I'll have fun adding things to it -- it's like a virtual scrapbook! Enjoy.