Mr. Pierce, our dear friend

Mr. Gene Pierce passed away early in the morning on April 30th, 2009. He will be greatly missed. Please keep Earl, Cynthia and Honor Pierce in your prayers. Mr. Pierce was a christian so we have the assurance that he is in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that, we have comfort.

Funeral service will be at Shandon Baptist Church on Sat. at 2:00pm with visitation prior to the service.

Jamie and Cocky

Let's Go Gamecocks!

Arnold and Lucy

Each spring, Marlene and Bobby, have the privilege of sharing their yard with feathery friends named Arnold and Lucy. Usually, sometime during March, Lucy and Arnold begin building their nest and settle in for a few months. Marlene hates to have goose poop in her yard so she complains and groans over the return of her friends. However, as soon as the babies arrive, she is thrilled to watch the new life as they play in her yard. We love the whole experience. When anyone gets near the nest, Lucy ruffles her feathers BIG TIME. Arnold is very protective too. However, on the day prior to the eggs hatching out, Arnold disappeared. This has made all of us sad as we watch Lucy look and call (honk) out for him. If anyone knows where he is, please send him home to his wife and 5 babies.

Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Lucy

Christopher harassing the geese. They will bite you. Just ask him. LOL

I mean business! Leave us alone!!!

When Lucy would leave the nest, she would cover the eggs. She would pull her feathers and then use them to hide her eggs.

Jamie and Nic with Lucy on prom night.

Lucy protecting her babies. They are hiding in the plants. If you look closely you can see pieces of their cracked eggs.

Two of the five precious babies.

(Update: Lucy and the babies were missing for a day. She returned today with 4 babies and a new man. A white goose! He is the new stepdad. We do wonder what happened to baby # 5. It is amazing to watch nature. We'll keep you posted.

Mr. Pierce, our dear friend

I would like to ask for prayer for our friend, Mr. Gene Pierce. Mr. Pierce is Earl's father. (my brother-in-law) Earl is married to my sweet sister Cynthia. Mr. Pierce has been our friend for many years. We have enjoyed his company over many family meals throughout the years. He is extra special to us because he played a part in Kynn and I meeting each other. At this time, he is experiencing heart and kidney problems. Please pray for his comfort and family members who are caring for him at this time. Thank you.

Prom 2009

It's that time of year when Juniors and Seniors go to their high school prom. Sat. evening was the night for Jamie and some of his friends. Of course it all began with the asking of a date, ordering the tux and flower, and then making the plans for the evening. Jamie and his good friend Nic, decided that they would treat the ladies to a surprise progressive dinner. The evening began with salad at Nic's house, main dinner at our house, and pictures and dessert at Bobby and Marlene's house. (Bobby and Marlene are so good to allow us to use their home for many of our engagements and parties. Thank you.) The after prom party came back to our house which included a fire in the firepit. This morning we noticed white things in the backyard. Oh, there was a marshmellow fight at some point in the evening. So glad they were outside. All in all, I think the gang had a great evening. ( Warning: there are a lot of pictures. More than anyone will want to see, except for mom and dad.)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Scuba #4

Scuba adventure #4 was a trip to Florida. The purpose of this fun trip was for Jamie and Kynn to dive for their final certification. There whole scuba class traveled down to dive for the final tests. The weekend included 4 different dives. Spencer and Christopher were invited to go along. They enjoyed the dives too.

Heading out to dive.
Scuba Spencer

And, Christopher
This is so cool. I just might take the class myself. Anyone want to join me. It is always more fun with a friend.
Diving with the manatees.

A few tired divers.

HAPPY EASTER!

What a beautiful day.

HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

The Crucifixion

Luke 23:33

"When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.' "

Look Who Came to Visit

Does everyone remember Alex? He moved in with another family in mid January and he came by to visit us last week. Yoa, his foreign exchange sister, came along with him. It was great to see both of them.

Jamie won at ping pong, but Yoa gave him a run for his money. Great fun!

Quarterly Review #6

This is the last post on quarterly reviews. I would like to thank Danny and Laura for sharing their marriage with all of us. It is our hope that you have found encouragement for your marriage. May God bless you.

Welcome to guests writers Danny and Laura Stiller

OUR FAVORITES & WHY

By Laura Stiller

Laura's Favorite Quarterly Reviews:

Camping at Myrtle Beach - I LOVED this quarterly review because we didn't have a schedule or agenda. Our only goals were to eat, play together on the beach, rent a tandem bicycle and read. In fact, the second day of our quarterly review was spent entirely on the beach playing in the water, reading under an umbrella, talking whenever we felt like it, and eating snacks.

PREP Marriage Video Series - This was a very simple quarterly review. We rented a cabin with a TV and DVD player in "The-Middle-of-No-Where," Oklahoma. We packed all of our own food so we wouldn't have to leave, and we just hung out there for two nights. We watched the PREP dvd series and even took the time to practice the communication techniques they taught. It's alot hard to apply these in real life, in the middle of a fight - but this dvd series gave us communication tools and techniques for working through arguments/differences that we will use for the rest of our lives.

Danny's Favorite Quarterly Reviews:

Christmas Parade in Gatlinburg, TN - Danny likes this quarterly review because it was cold, Christmassy and there was fake snow all over this city and in the Christmas parade! He also enjoyed our drive through the Smokey Mountain National Park and stopping to play in the river.

Kerrville Kayaking - This was just a relaxing camping weekend where Danny enjoyed getting on the river and watching the sunset.To read about all of our quarterly reviews, click here.

Danny and Laura Stiller were married on August 27, 2005. They fell in love while leading an inner city ministry together after college in Bryan, Texas. Two weeks before their wedding, while Laura was busy finalizing wedding plans and dreaming of marital bliss, Danny decided they needed to move to Greenville, SC for a better job opportunity and to pay off debt FASTER. Somehow, during their first two years of marriage, they moved four times, and squeezed there in the middle was a year in Columbia, SC and the Harris' newlywed Sunday School class. They are now half-way through the four years it takes to get a Masters of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and are maintaining their sanity with date nights, quarterly reviews, and lots of hearty "communication." They blog regularly at: thestillers.blogspot.com.

Quarterly Review #5

Welcome guest writers, Danny and Laura Stiller

SPECIFIC QUARTERLY REVIEW IDEAS
by Laura Stiller

Each of our quarter reviews look different (I'll get to specific quarterly review ideas in a minute), but this has kept them fresh and fun for us. Some of our trips have been strictly for play. Any talk of our marriage just flows, it's not structured or planned. Some of our weekend trips have been fully structured complete with an agenda, discussion topics and intentional questions - sometimes even with homework (or books to read BEFORE the quarterly review in preparation for a discussion).We've needed both of these at different times in our marriage. Danny has been stellar at discerning what types of things to plan for our quarterly reviews and deciding what kind of tone our week needs to take.Let me give you a few suggestions. Please keep in mind that each marriage/couple is vastly different, so part of what will make quarterly reviews beneficial for you is how you tweak and customize them to your needs and personalities. Free/Cheap Activities:
tubing
outdoor movie
camp out
find a local event
rent a tandem bicycle
go back to places with memories
watercolor
go site-seeing with your camera - take pictures together (this is on our "to-do" list)

To Foster Deep Conversation:
attend a marriage conference
plan your future together by reverse engineering your life
take & discuss temperament spiritual gifts, leadership and/or personality tests
watch the PREP Marriage Video Seriesexplore career goals/dreams together

Sample Discussion Questions:
What has been the biggest adjustment being married?
What has been the hardest struggle in our marriage?
What have you struggled with personally since getting married?
What has been most unexpected thing about marriage?
What has been the biggest blessing since getting married?
What do you want to focus on/improve next quarter (marriage & personally)?
Things we've learned since getting married. What's your spiritual life been like this quarter? What are some things you've prayed for this quarter?
What are some ways that I have (and maybe currently do) hurt you?
What can I do so that I don't hurt you anymore.
Establish some "Action Steps" for building/maintaining intimacy (in anticipation of a busier semester).
Write down 10 things that make you feel loved.
What are our spiritual, physical, emotional, social and intellectual goals for the next Quarter? What have our challenging/stressful circumstances been this quarter & how can we relieve the stress? (ie: packing lunches, planning menus, doing laundry, etc.)
What are our prayer needs this quarter (because if we don't feel like we need God then we won't go to Him)?
What is the most humanly impossible thing you'll ask God to do this year?
Where are some places we'd like to try to go on future quarterly reviews? (ie: Grand Canyon, West Coast, New Orleans - we dream big folks)
What did we accomplish this quarter that we had set as goals last quarter?
What's improved in our relationship this quarter?
And that, my new friends, is the book The Stillers have written for themselves on Quarterly Reviews since sitting on a worn leather couch the summer of 2005. It is still being written, with many editions to come.

Danny and Laura Stiller were married on August 27, 2005. They fell in love while leading an inner city ministry together after college in Bryan, Texas. Two weeks before their wedding, while Laura was busy finalizing wedding plans and dreaming of marital bliss, Danny decided they needed to move to Greenville, SC for a better job opportunity and to pay off debt FASTER. Somehow, during their first two years of marriage, they moved four times, and squeezed there in the middle was a year in Columbia, SC and the Harris' newlywed Sunday School class. They are now half-way through the four years it takes to get a Masters of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and are maintaining their sanity with date nights, quarterly reviews, and lots of hearty "communication." They blog regularly at: thestillers.blogspot.com.