Encouragement during quarantine 2020

Chronological Bible reading is not something I ever really thought about until I had the opportunity to do it. As a church family, we are reading the Bible chronologically. Today I will begin Ruth and it will be day 97. To be completely honest, I have read several 30 day devotionals but I have never read the Bible 97 days consecutively in a row. It is a true accomplishment and I am so thankful for the opportunity. 

Yesterdays reading provided me with some encouragement and I thought I would share. 

Yesterday I read Judges 19: 1-30,  Judges 20:1-48, and Judges 21:1-25

In Judges 20 verse 19, I read about the Israelites. They left early to attack the men of Benjamin. Benjamin's warriors killed 22,000 of the Israelites that day. Then in the very next verse without any hesitation; verse 22 "But the Israelites encouraged each other and took their positions again at the same place that had fought the previous day."  I can't imagine how it felt to lose 22,000 of their men in battle and still find a way to be encouraged BUT by the grace of God. 

How many of us are taking our same positions (on the couch, or home office, or maybe going to an office) but we are discouraged because of the mess that we are all in right now? Be encouraged! Simply stated: We can trust God! 

Be encouraged today and be an encourager today. 

Looking for a church to call home? Look no further than right here.

Quarantine 2020

Clearly, I am not good at updating this blog BUT I do enjoy writing and now have a little extra time to do so.

My girls are growing up quickly. Neilie is 14 and Claire is 12. She will be 13 in May. Neilie is taking voice lessons at Converse and has performed in shows with Spartanburg Repertory Opera and even more shows with the Dorman Theater Department. This year, Claire joined in with the Dorman Theater Department's production of Matilda. They are both loving being a part of that.

I think I will write a little during the quarantine. Here's hoping it's over soon.

www.spartanburgrepertory.com

oops!

Last week my family was on vacation in Tennesee. We had a great time with my parents. I was cooking supper one night and realized we didn't have any salad dressing for Claire (who doesn't love my homemade Caesar). She LOVES ranch but I didn't have a ranch packet to make her some and she is highly allergic to the stuff in the bottle (and it is gross). So, mom and I thought about what we should do with what we had in the condo. I had some season salt, green onions, garlic, sour cream, mayonnaise. I sprinkled about 2 teaspoons season salt into about a half a container of sour cream and about a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Then I added 1 minced green onion and 1 clove garlic. I stirred all that together and it was the perfect Ranch dressing. When I got home I added parsley to it. So here is the recipe a little easier to follow.

Begin with a handful of fresh parsley, 1 green onion and 1clove of garlic.
Mince them. I do them together.
Add that to 1 cup sour cream
Add about 2 tablespoons mayonnaise.
Add season salt to taste.

This will be thick like a dip... so if you need to add a little milk until it is as thin as you like it. I would add the milk by the tablespoon until you get the consistancy you like.

The sleepover

Neilie and Claire have a friend named Averi. The great thing about their friend Averi is her mom and I have been friends since high school (which was  - Im not going to tell you how long ago).
These ladies had fun doing so many things.

The fun began outside umping on the trampoline.
Then they moved inside, washed up and ate some pizza.

They made a toast, "To Sleepovers" and said, "Cheers" with their desserts.

They entertained the grown ups with a fashion show. I wish I had videoed it. It was terrific.

They started out "camping out" in the playroom... but that didn't last. These ladies wanted to get in their beds! They finally went to sleep around 11:30 and woke up happy and hungry.  Doughnut holes and chocolate milk for breakfast it is!

These girls had so much fun! I'm so glad Averi could come over!

Here is the pic of the moms when we were younger. This was college before husbands or kids.

On the menu tonight

As promised on facebook... a Chappell family favorite recipe.

Tonight we had tuna melt crostini. My girls like it because it sounds fancy. Here's the story... Ingles had their twin french breads BOGO free. So I ended up with 4 twin french loaves. One bag (2 loaves) went in the freezer. One became garlic bread with lasagna and one became tuna melt crostini. We had tiny cans of tuna. Serioulsy, tiny cans. I used 5 cans of tuna for this recipe. I added about 1/4 cup mayonnaise. (Dukes of course), season salt, pepper, and half of a dill pickle I chopped and tossed in. I cut the french loaf into slices and loaded it with tuna salad. I put swiss cheese on top and sent them to the toaster oven. I served them with a pickle and chips. Certainly a family favorite!

We're back!!!

So much has changed since the last time I blogged. My last entry was in 2009. My girls were still babies. Neilie is now 7 and Claire is now 6. Since my last post Neil left traffic and became a school resource officer. I earned my Master's + 30! My cousin Shelley had a sweet baby girl. My cousin Autumn got married. My sister-in-law Courtney had a sweet baby girl. My sweet Nanny passed away. My cousin Haley is getting married in less than a month. I could go on and on. It feels good to be back. I'm thinking about sharing some Chappell family favorite recipes on here. Hope you enjoy! ~ Abee

Playing outside

My ladies love to play outside!
They are great little girls. I love being their mom!



Neilie was trying to get a drink from the hose.





Neilie accidentally sprayed Claire with the hose... of course this made her cry... everthing makes Claire cry. :)

Relay for Life 2009

In Loving Memory of Little Donna!

This year my mom was the team leader for the Fairforest Elementary School Relay for Life team. She worked so hard on this whole project! This was a whole family experience in so many ways. Here are some pictures. Hope you all enjoy!

Autumn was spoke during the opening ceremonies. She gave her fantastic testimony! She truly shows no fear in front of all those people... Amazing!



They had two walks at the beginning of the relay. The first walk was for survivors. The second walk was for caregivers. Preston, MaMa, mom and Autumn walked in this walk. I got the best picture!



It happened to be Preston's b-day the same day of the walk. So we had B-day cake! YUMMY. It came from Costco. I highly recommend their cakes!



GuGu and Neilie!



This is the Fairforest Elementary Banner... Give Cancer the Boot!

BathTime in "Mommy's Tub"

For Claire's birthday, Gugu and Papa gave her a swimming baby. Neilie and Claire wanted to take a bath in the big tub so they could let the swimming baby could swim. While they were in the tub, Neilie wanted me to turn on the jets. This is what happened to the bubbles when you turn on the jets!




Here is Neilie when nthe jets are turned on... she loves it when the bubbles get higher!




Here is Claire with the bubbles. She wasn't too sure about the jets but Neilie reassured her that all was okay. Neilie is such a good big sister!



Oh and they named the swimming baby, Sarah the Swimming Baby.

Neilie Meets Cinderella

We took the ladies to Chick-fil-a on Tuesday night to meet Cinderella and Belle. There was an extremely long line to meet Belle (if you wanted to take a picture). The line to meet Cinderella was not long at all. So we chose to meet Cinderella. Here are the pictures from Neilie meeting Cinderella. It was precious!
I didn't get the front of her face but I thought this was a sweet picture too.


This is a picture of the 2 princesses comparing dresses... how sweet!


Notice the look on Neilie face. It is really sweet.

I think GuGu said it best when she said, "Her dream has come true!"

Easter 2009

Here is a picture of what the Easter Bunny brought the girls. They were so excited about getting a new movie! The Care Bears were a big hit with Claire Bear... imagine that?!?!



This is the only picture we got of both girls in their dresses. Don't you love the hairbows... GuGu made them. I think they are great! Neilie loved hers. It took some getting used to for Claire Bear.




Here is the bunny cake that MaMa made. It was a surprise to all of us. The girls were so surprised. They loved it... we all did. It was yummy!


This is Claire's reaction.





Here is the family photo from the dock on MaMa and DaDa's lake. We had a nice day eating lunch with the family.


Happy Easter!
Love,
The Chappell Family

Easter Eggs

Hi all,

So sorry it has been so long since I have posted. The video of Neilie singing is just a no go! It is precious and I just hate that you won't be able to see it on the blog.



Here are some pictures of the girls dying Easter Eggs at GuGu and PaPa's house. This is the Saturday evening before Easter. Neil had to work and I didn't want to brave 6 containers of watery-non-washable egg dye, 4 little hands to my 2 hands... so we went over there and invaded their house. It was great!




Here is Claire doing all the work. I made them wear the cute little aprons. Neither of them really loved the idea of wearing the apron.

Where is Neilie you are asking.... here she is, reading books. She just couldn't stop reading to come and dye easter eggs. I think she just didn't want to put the apron back on.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures. There will be more to come tomorrow. The Chappell Family hopes everyone a very Happy Easter.

"I know my redeemer lives!!!"

trying to post... having issues

Ok so I have tried to post this thing about 5 times now and am getting a little of Blogger telling me there is an error. I will be trying again later but not now. My computer is too expensive to throw across the room... which is what I would like to do at this point.

What I have been trying to post is the sweetest video of Neilie singing "Jesus Loves Me". Maybe you will get to see it... maybe not... we shall see!

~ Abee

Locked OUT!!!

Ok so there are no pictures for this post but a great story.

First of all, this is totally off the subject but I just wanted to say that my baby girl, Neilie can use the big-girl potty totally by herself. I know that is probably too much information for you all but I am so proud of her... that is a huge step in our house!


Ok here is the real story.

Tonight we were on our way home from visiting GuGu and Papa (my parents) when I realized that I didn't have the normal keys that I use to drive my car. These keys did not have a house key. We were locked out. I wasn't sure how we were going to get in. I was a little panicked. I told the girls I would leave the car running and check the windows to see if I could get a window open to get to the back door and unlock it. I pushed up the screen and pushed on the window... locked.

I went to the other window on the other side of the door (even if I could get this window open, it wouldn't be much help since it was on the side of the door that the hinges ... not the locks were on). Ok so, I pushed up the screen, then pushed on the window... it is unlocked. So the window is up... now what?

This window is so far off the ground, there is no climbing up to it without a ladder. No ladder in sight. I am thinking how can I climb in this little-bitty window? Then it hits me... NEILIE! I can send her through the window and she can unlock the door! I can tell her what to do! She can do this... she is smart! (this is me talking myself into this).

I run to the car, get her out and explain the whole thing to her. She says, "I can do it Mom!" So I lift her in the window. She is now on top of the washing machine and terrified to get down. I hold on to her arm and lower her down.... right into the dog's water bowl... she didn't like this. Ok, after she got over having wet feet, she went to the door and started trying to unlock it. I kept saying, "Turn the lock, turn the lock!!!" She kept jiggling the handle. Ok this is not working, I am thinking.

Then, I remember, Neil's truck keys are on the counter! I am thinking, "Oh this is great, YES!" I tell Neilie to go get the truck keys and bring them to Mommy in the window. She goes over to where they are and says, "Well I can't find them." and starts to walk away! I start banging on the door saying, "Neilie come back, Mommy is cold out here!" She comes over to me and says, "Mommy, its not cold in here." "Ya think?!?!?!?" I am thinking... but do not say of course.

So I tell her to go and try one more time to get the keys. She does and this time actually gets the keys and brings them to me. I try the first key that I think it is... doesn't work! "WHAT?!?!?!?!" I am thinking. Then I try another key. It works we are in!!! I come in, close the window, lock it back, hug Neilie and thank her for saving the day. She said, "Mommy, since I saved the day, can I have a chocolate peguin?" She has been asking for this candy for a while now. I say, "of course!" and she kept saying, "I saved the day Mommy?" My response is, " Neilie, I am so proud of you!" She was beaming!

What a great way to start 2009!

Christmas 2008

I thought it would be fun to decorate some cookies... but we ended up decorating some rice crispy treats that I made. (Neilie calls then rice Christmas trees!)The girls helped me for about 2 seconds then all they wanted to do was eat the icing. I had a hard time putting any icing on the rice "Christmas trees". I don't have any pictures of the finished product but they turned out cute! My favorite was the train. We decorated the engine, a car and the caboose. It was really cute. We left the train for Santa. He ate all the caboose, the car and most of the engine. He must have been hungry at our stop!



Our family tradition is to go to Nanny's Christmas Eve evening and we eat finger foods... and lots of them. At 8:00pm we start watching "A Christmas Story". The whole family gets a kick out of that movie!
This ended up being a great picture. This is my Nanny and all her girls. I am the oldest granddaughter. Then Shelley is next oldest. She is sitting beside me. Then Haley is the baby (of us)... she is sitting beside Nanny. Then of course Claire is sitting with Nanny (no place she'd rather be) and Neilie is sitting with Haley. Haley was the first name Neilie ever said.


I think Santa did a great job this year. Both girls got an American Girl Bitty Baby. Claire loves hers... Neilie likes hers. She is more excited about the CandyLand game. They had a really good time waking up to Santa this year.



Ok after we see what Santa brought, we get ready and head over to MaMa and DaDa's house for a delicious breakfast. MaMa can really cook a fantastic breakfast!!! This picture is of MaMa, Autumn and Preston. What was funny about this picture is, I tried to take it several times and MaMa never would look at the camera, then one time she started drinking coffee. She said, "Oh you are taking a picture!?!?" We all just laughed. So this was the best I could do. Autumn said, "I think I am the only one who knew you were taking a picture!" HAHA! I love my fam!




Ok, Next stop is Noni and Poppi's house. This is Neil's mom, Noni. She and Poppi got the girls an "All in One nursery" for their new babies and an ironing board and vaccum. They have really had fun with it.

My Baby in the hospital!

Last week, Neilie (along with the rest of us) had the stomach virus. She started throwing up on Saturday and by Wednesday was hadn't stopped. I took her to the doctor and she was visibly dehydrated but the doc wanted to try some medicaition and lots of water at home before putting her in the hospital. By Friday, she was still throwing up so we went back to the doctor. This time, she was so dehydrated she had to be hospitalized immediatly!

She had to have an IV in her arm right away. She had some blood work done and it came back with elevated white blood cell count. She was also running a pretty high fever. These two symptoms indicated a slight infection somewhere. She was started on a saline solution through the IV.
After she had been on the IV for about 12 hours, 3:00am Saturday morning, she sat straight up in her bed and said, " Mommy, I need apple juice!" Those were her first intelligible words in days and days.

Dr. Haddad came in and looked at her blood work on Friday evening, then looked and both of us and said, "I am glad she is here!" He said that her electrolytes, potassium, calcium, etc... had all bottomed out. She literally had nothing left!



After a few days on IV and apple juice, she began sitting up on her on. Neil brought her tea set up to the hospital and she, Claire and Neil had a tea party. It was so cute!

This big pink teddy bear was brought up to the hospital by Ms. Julie from Sunday School! She brought her a pretty pink teddy bear, some pretty carolers, and a pink rose. Ms. Julie held Neilie's hand and prayed for her.

It was so sweet. Thank you Ms. Julie.

Neilie is now home and doing better. We are praying she never gets that sick again. It was just awful seeing my baby so sick. She is a trooper and really pulled through.

One evening, Dr. Berry was in there to check on her. As he was leaving, she said, "Dr. Berry... you have really cool stuff in your pockets!" The nurses said that made his year! They said he was out there talking about how cute that little girl in 620 is!

Stomach Virus... all of us!

My mom has been here all day caring for all of us who are sick with this terrible stomach virus. I can't even tell you how bad it is... like you want to know!

Anyway, just wanted to say thank you to my Momma without whom I would have no one to care for my sick family.

Thanks Momma!

luv u
mean it,
~ Abee

There is nothing more precious than FAMILY!

My most precious memories are hearing my DaDa playing the piano. In my grandparents' old house, he would play in the formal den and I would sit on the white couch and listen. This is a memory from my childhood that I will always treasure. I am so grateful that my children will have the same memories of listening to DaDa play the piano.



This is such a precious memory.



You all that read my blog know how important family is to me.On this day, DaDa was playing Jingle Bells and my girls were "playing" with him, rather than singing.

Thanksgiving 2008

What a joy it is to have family together. We weren't all together this year, the Fosters were celebrating with other family members. We missed them so much! We were happy that Shelley and Haley stopped by later on though, that was a nice treat.

Here are two very important men in my life, my hubby and my grandfather, Dada. I am so blessed to have my grandmothers (on both sides) and my grandfather (my Mom's father) alive and well.



...and here is the other important man in my life... my Daddy! Of course, he is hanging out with Claire Thomas. She LOVES her Papa!



Ok, this was great! Neil and I have a timer on our camera so we set it and I ran like crazy to be in the picture. It worked and this is the picture of the whole family (minus the Fosters).

From left to right: Robert, Autumn, Preston, Dada, MaMa, Nanny, Claire, Mom, Daddy, Me, Neil, Neilie.



This picture turned out fantastic! This is Preston and Autumn. What a great picture of father and daughter. My family is great. When so many families dread getting together for the holidays, we look forward to it. We were all so excited to be with each other for this holiday. I am so glad we could get together and make new memories. (Autumn, how does that tree in the front yard smell?)



After we ate until we couldn't move... we decided we would play outside with the girls. Here is Claire wanting Guh-Guh to chase her.