MATTHEW 25:40- AND THE KING SHALL ANSWER AND SAY UNTO THEM, VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, INASMUCH AS YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE MY BRETHREN, YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ME.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Prison Ministry and Company!

In my previous post I said we had less then 24 hours after we got home from Thanksgiving vacation to prepare for company!

So, Tuesday afternoon, our old friends from PA, Trulan and Darlene Martin and their 8 kids (and nanny, Krista) came. They came to participate in the Gospel Express Prison Crusade here in North Florida. Trulan and Darlene and their 3 oldest girls were one of the singing teams!
Normally, the people who come stay in motels in Marianna, but since Trulan's were bringing all their kids, they asked if they could stay at our house so the children would not have to be cooped up in a motel all week/weekend!
 After some searching, we found two people who let us borrow their campers so we would have sleeping space for 11 extra people!! :)

They arrived Tuesday afternoon, in time for supper. We were able to sit and visit and get caught up on the past 4 years since we last saw them! Well, I say Darlene once in that time, during a brief visit to PA! :)

The last time they were here, in 2011, Mitchell (on the left) was a baby. Since then, they had twins who are now 2, and they just had a baby in August!

Mitchell and Aubrey

Selfie with Aubrey! :)


Wednesday evening was the Crusade Orientation at our church. I took a few pics for ministry purposes.....
People came from all over the US and from Canada to participate in taking the gospel to the North FL prisons!!



After supper, they had orientation and a worship service!


The rest of my week was filled with babysitting! :)
It was very different having 5 little lively kids in our house all day for 5 whole days!! 

Mitchell (4), Laurie (8), Zachary & Aubrey (2) and Tamara :)


Krista, their nanny, did a great job of keeping the 4 older ones entertained. I got the job of caring for Gabriel, their 3 month old. He was a pleasant baby and it wasn't hard to get him down for naps! :)

Don't let the poochy lip fool you! He loved me! :) :) :)




Mitchell was a good Uno player! "Just one more game" he'd say! :)


"Let's take a picture", when he'd see my tablet. :) So we took some "selfies"! :)


In the midst of all this (On Thursday, Dec. 3) Danny had a birthday! My little boy turned 17!!

We were not able to properly celebrate his day since Dan was gone ALL day and Danny ended up hanging out with friends in the evening. He wasn't even home to eat his birthday {jello} cake!!
 (He got some later)

We got him a tool set and a creeper (not pictured) for working on cars!
Mechanics is his passion and he can hardly wait to start at Chipola next year! :) 


Friday night, we invited another couple over for the evening, Jason & Kary Martin, who were part of Good News when Dan sang with them. They also lived in PA, but have since moved to OH.
They also brought some friends along. We had about 30 people here for a campfire and of course they broke out the instruments! At one point, our porch was packed FULL of people pickin' and singing!! :) Glad the porch held them all! :)


The ladies did some visiting inside! :)


Saturday evening we all went to the Blountstown Christmas parade....


Danny Ryals Christmas Bus!!
The parade wouldn't be the same without it! :)


From there, we took 3 of the older girls with us to the Pioneer Settlement Christmas event!

Found Brooklyn & Courtney Falb warming themselves by the fire in the Yon House! :)


My friend, June Clemmons, was giving tours of the Yon House!


Our church sings Christmas carols on the porch of the Yon House every year.
We were waiting for others to show up....

Laurie, Tamara, Sarah and Callie




We ate some of Ms. Lawanna's cracklin bread and stew and I had to get a picture with her to send to our friend Jill Smith, who moved to IN. We both miss her!!


The girls listened to a story read by Ms. Amy! :) She is an enthusiastic reader, by the way! :)


Sunday morning snack time. I stayed home from church with Krista and the 5 youngest children while Trulan's shared in the last prison program for the weekend!


Trulan's spent the afternoon and early evening at the beach. 

These two! Cute, nixy, and intense, in all they do! :) :)


Playing with a birthday or Christmas gift we gave Danny when he was 1!! 16 years ago..... :O


Mitchell had a long day and couldn't make it to the bed! :)


Our company left Monday morning!
I so enjoyed visiting with them, but was equally ready to get back to our normal routine and quiet house after being with people almost 2 weeks straight!! :)

So thankful for good friends and memories made!!



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