Harmony Hill College Retreat

*Since our HHYC website is temporarily down, I am just going to post this here, for those of you who read this. Something very exciting is going to be happening in January! It's something that has been on our hearts and minds for several years, and this year we are making it happen! It's a College Retreat -- focused on helping college students learn to defend their faith. It should be an exciting time -- keep reading for more details...

*HHYC is back up! www.hhyc.net

WHERE IS IT? Harmony Hill Youth Camp near Fulton, MO
WHEN IS IT? January 20-22, beginning with registration on Friday evening and ending with the noon meal on Sunday
WHO IS INVITED? High school juniors and seniors, college students, and beyond!
WHO IS THE SPEAKER? Greg Blake, who is a professor at KCCBS, and a gifted theologian and apologist
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? $35 for the entire weekend -- includes food and heated rooms!

We will be staying in the new building on the Hill -- bunking up in the new rooms, and using the new kitchen and dining hall for meals and sessions. It should be an amazing time of learning, sharing, drawing closer to God, and of course, being with friends, meeting new friends, having lots of fun, and eating lots of good food!

Please let me know if you're interested and I can give you more information. Tell all your friends about it!!

If you read this
You must post a memory of me.
It can be anything you want!
It can be good...or bad (but preferably good...lol).
Just so long as it happened.
Then post this to your journal,
and see what people remember about you.

Christmas pictures

Our Christmas Tree, loaded with presents!



My nephew Alex playing a game he got from his grandma and grandpa(my parents)


My brother Scott and my nephew Alex, wearing the shirts I got them!


My brother Scott playing with his dog, Jane (and her new toy)


Scott and Alex playing with Alex's new toys


Scott and Alex, engrossed in new toys


Alex


My grandma and grandpa opening their gift from Alex

all over but the memories

I hope everyone had a wonderfully blessed Christmas! I certainly did!

On Christmas morning, we had an early service at church, and it was AMAZING! I think it is only natural and right to worship God on the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus!

There were many different aspects of the worship that were a blessing to me. First of all, Mark Cook (Gene Cook's brother, William Cook's son) was there and played his saxaphone for two special songs. At the very beginning of the service, he played "Mary Did You Know?" which is an amazing song, especially when played by an expert on an alto sax! It just set the tone for the entire service, which was worshipful and blessed by God's presence! During worship, we sang "He is Here." Did you ever think about that being a Christmas song? I never had, but when you think about it in the context of "Emmanuel -- God with us" it is incredible! He is truly and forever WITH US! And we can touch Him! Maybe not in the physical sense that Mary did, and the shepherds did, and His disciples did, but we can still touch Him! Then Mark played "Because He Lives" on his tenor sax. Again, I had never thought of that song as being a Christmas song. Another revelation! Because He had to be born in order to live and die, and it's Because He Lives that we even have a future and a hope! That's what it's all about!

Then the pastor preached a message and told a story. He told the story of Narnia and the children and Aslan. Of course, he brought out the fact that Aslan is a picture of Christ, and he talked about the Lion of Judah. I will never forget this quote: "When He cries in the manger, can you hear the Lion roar? In the submissive tones of a 12-year-old obeying His parents, can you hear the Lion roar? When He tells His mother, 'I must be about my Father's business,' can you hear the Lion roar? When he tells the woman, 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more,' can you hear the Lion roar? On the cross, when He cries, IT IS FINISHED, you can hear the ROAR of the Lion!" He also quoted the part in the book (it's not in the movie) when one of the children is asking Mr. and Mrs. Beaver about Aslan, because they have not as yet met Him. And the child asks, "Is He safe, because I will be nervous to meet a Lion!" And the Beavers respond, "Of course He's not safe! He's a Lion after all! But He is GOOD!" And when you are on the side of goodness and justice, you have no need to be afraid.

Well, that's all for now. I hope everyone's Christmas was as blessed as mine! I was privileged to enjoy the presence of God, and the presence (and presents...haha!) of my family! Seriously, praise be to God for His many blessings!!

christmas eve eve

Hey All! Hope this finds everybody healthy, happy, warm, and safe! This week has been kinda crazy, what with sickness, and changing plans, but I am grateful to be alive and I'm so thankful for my family and friends. What would life be without the people we love and the people who love us...? Hmmm...wow! Not good I think.

So anyway, I am going to go spend some quality time with my brother and my nephew but I just wanted to post something and wish everybody a Merry Christmas Eve Eve! Hope your Christmas is wonderful in every way!!

Love to all!!

over the river and through the woods

Okay, I'm not sure why the title. I think hearing about everyone's travel plans has put me in the mood. (To travel.) Yeah, so anyhow, to everyone reading this, I hope you are safe over the Christmas holiday, and I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior, wherever you happen to be!

My week was really long and I'm pretty glad that it's over. Lots of crazy things happened this week, not the least of which I tried to burn my classroom down. It was quite traumatic, but thankfully, the only lasting damage is a couple of scorched spots on the carpet. (My tissue box got too close to my burning candle...arrrggghhh!)

Tonight is the faculty/staff Christmas dinner. I had a miserable night (couldn't sleep) because I think I'm getting sick, so I'm not sure whether I will make it over there. I feel like I am coming down with some kind of cold...I hope that's all it is!!

I saw Narnia last night! I do not have the "background" of having read the books, and did not even know the story all that well, but it was an amazing movie nonetheless! I'm really glad I got to see it. The allegorical nature of the story is quite moving. Do people get how symbolic it really is???

This week, we have school through Wednesday, then on Thursday I am taking my nephew and going to Branson where my parents will be all week, enjoying their time share. My brother will come down later that night. We will be in Branson until sometime Saturday, then we will head over to Tulsa to spend Christmas and Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. They have not met Alex yet, so it will be a lot of fun! On Monday, we are coming home. It should be a really fun time.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well, enjoying your weekend, and that the coming week is fantastic! If you're traveling somewhere, please be careful, and above all, remember to celebrate the coming of Christ into our world and into our lives. If not for that, all is lost.

seasons of love

525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear.
525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?
How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love.
Seasons of love.


525,600 minutes! 525,000 journeys to plan.
525,600 minutes - how can you measure the life of a woman or man?


In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned, or the way that she died.


It's time now to sing out,
tho the story never ends let's celebrate remember a year in the life of friends.
Remember the love!
Remember the love! Remember the love!
Measure in love.
Seasons of love! Seasons of love.

let it snow

It snowed! A lot! YAY! We got like a foot of snow! That's so amazing! It is, however, extremely, bitterly cold...so everyone who goes outside today needs to be very careful! K? =) We got a snow day from school so now...I've got to decide what to do. Sleep? Mmmm...maybe. ;) Probably. Well, I hope everyone has a good day. If you read this, leave a comment. =) Love to all!

my xanga and stuff

For those of you who don't know, I occasionally post at www.xanga.com/tawnyasmith. Sometimes I update it more often than this one. Usually I post about the same thing. Once -- and only once -- I even copy and pasted!! LOL!!

So this has been an interesting week so far. Yesterday was not as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Friday night, someone had taken a fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over the inside of my bus. Sooo...yesterday morning, we had to clean it up before morning route. To put it mildly, the dispatcher at the bus company (who shall remain unnamed) was less than helpful. Anyway, it was disgusting because the stuff was like really thick, nasty chalk dust and we were trying to sweep it out and wipe it off the seats...nasty!! We finally got it cleaned up enough to drive the route, but it was still disgusting. Thankfully, Suzy got ahold of her dad, who works in the shop at the bus company, and he came and got our bus and took it down and they cleaned it out for us!! That was very cool of him and them!! Thanks Bob!! =)

After morning route, I had a dentist appointment. It took a lot longer than what I thought it would, so I actually missed the whole day of school! It ended up being kind of nice, since I was at the school all day Saturday and it didn't seem like much of a weekend. But (back to the dentist) I did get my permanent crown put on so it's a lot better now! Thank goodness!

Well, I hope everyone is doing good!! Keep in touch!!