auction miracles

earlier this week, my family went to our church's annual christmas dinner & auction. it's usually held in our fellowship building, but since that's still being completed, we rented a local community center.

it's nothing extremely fancy, "just a covered dish" meal, but several families in the congregation work extremely hard to get it all organized and i'm always grateful.

while the meal served is wonderful - and whoever made the sweet potato casserole must be related to paula dean - it's not my favorite part.

no, for me, it's the auction that follows that captures the beauty of the holiday. what seems like a "quiet little church's" evening gathering takes on a totally different tone when these two gentlemen take center stage.

meet larry & bobby - auctioneers extraordinaire!!



by day, they are an educator & entrepreneur respectively. both also fill the role of husband, father, and community leader. and while only one of them is technically a grandfather, both love and care for children outside their immediate family (especially my child!) just as any "popaw" or "granddaddy" would do.

but, once you give larry a microphone, some "stuff" to sell, and a crowd, and once bobby has the first bit of "stuff" in his hands.......well they turn into men possessed!!



bobby walks the aisles between tables carrying merchandise up and down, enticing would-be buyers to take a chance on an item. i say walk, but in actuality, he moves so fast and so much, he's sweating by the time larry is only on the third sell.

bobby expertly displays each treasure, knowing just what to do to spark or nurture a buyer's interest and he neglects no one.

simultaneously, larry provides the audio to this performance. his cadence perfectly matches and compliments bobby's display of athletic ability. (truly auctioneering should be considered an olympic team sport.)

larry's pace is mindboggling. it keeps the audience fully entranced, while milking them of every penny he can! no one can hide.

scratch your ear, turn your head, readjust your chair and you've just added $25 dollars to the price and become the next potential victim - i mean owner.

and while these two are fun to watch themselves, it's how they interact with the crowd that is most entertaining. yes, there are plenty of fat wallets in the audience that they target with their talents. but the best fun is when they sell to this group...



....the kids.

what, you wonder, could they offer children that would turn them into crazed, maniac creatures, frantically pacing back and forth between the front tables & their daddies, popaws, and mamas asking for more money and then screaming to pay outlandish sums?

well, sugar of course. cookies, candy, cakes, and pies. there are a few other things, like pirate chests filled with dvds, swords, and costumes, but overall they use baked goods to create a frenzy - not only in the kids, but the adults as well.

and it's wonderful.

larry and bobby somehow get people to pay $95.00 for oatmeal creme cookies, $100.00 for chicken salad, and $180.00 for pound cakes.

one little girl was so excited about the treasure chest that she loudly announced her bid of $3000.00!!!!! (her father immediately covered her mouth and corrected her, by removing a zero.)

newcomers aren't quite sure what to make of this crowd. they start off with a "limit" in mind, but are quickly pushed beyond that.

not only by larry & bobby, but by others who are willing to pay such exorbitant amounts for items that can be made or purchased for a fraction of the cost.

and therein lies the real magic of the evening.

it is true that the things our church sells could be purchased or made much less expensively. they are for the most part every day items.

ordinary.
simple.

but, it is these simple things that become ground zero for some small miracles.

the money raised goes to someone in need - someone who, for whatever reason, needs a little magic, a little miracle, a little hope themselves.

all we humans do is put in what we have - our time, our talents and our possessions, all of which come from God.

He perfectly blends them together in this night's event.

smiles, laughter, and love fill the room and some who aren't even present get blessed too.

God's good at this sort of thing - been doing it for thing for thousands of years now.

He takes what looks simple and mundane and turns it into a blessing and a gift of grace.

for ALL - those who give, partake, and receive.

our congregational auction is small - a drop in the bucket - but it's blessed.

and while it isn't anywhere near what happened in that stable in bethlehem,

i firmly believe it's carried out in the same spirit.

obx

we were fortunate to spend out thanksgiving break at one of my favorite places, the outer banks of nc. for those of you not familiar with the area, let me just tell you it's home to long stretches of gorgeous beaches, the cape hatteras lighthouse, orange blossom apple uglies, and (this year) some huge, blood-sucking mosquitoes!

we enjoyed 70 degree temperatures until friday when a nor'easter blew in & dropped the temperature twenty notches and brought some howling winds that made even the toughest fishermen seek shelter in their trucks.

here are a few of the area & family & other friends we got to spend time with this week.

sunrise



lots of dirty feet all week long!



a new friend



having fun



molly gets a walk



while we were there, the "H" family wanted a few family shots with allllllll the grandkids....

here's grandpa & luke ( the favorite child!!)



miss "g"



"s" & her daddy



finally, the whole posse....

shhhhhhhhh!! it's a surprise

last weekend i got to be a part of a sweet surprise.

now, it's not the first time that i've had someone contact me wanting pictures as a gift for someone, but it is the first time 3 kids have, on their own, attempted to outsmart their parents, while their parents (unknowingly) were trying to mess up the surprise.

confusing? i know.

let's just say that these three gave their parents orders to "STAY AT THE MALL UNTIL YOU HEAR FROM US".



when they finally got rid of them, we got to work hopefully creating some images that mom & dad will treasure beyond their christmas morning reveal.

they are gorgeous kids!!!










the middle child...



the "baby"



the first born...


mom & dad, because i know they will eventually show you this, your kids are smart, polite, funny, and very, very thoughtful.



in other words, your kids rock!! and they love the two of you a lot!!!



thanks s, j, & v! hope they were surprised!!

family cars

when i was a little girl, my parents drove a grimy, yellow, ford station wagon. it was long and ugly, and i did not like it. it was not a "cool car".

it did however, have two really neat features.

the back section had 2 opposing seats that could fold up and create a perfect space for 2 little kids to ride

and

when those same seats were folded down, we three kids could pile a lot of blankets and pillows in the back, stretch out, and sleep on long road trips.

now keep in mind these were the days BEFORE mandatory seat belts ( much less airbags, mp3 players, DVD systems, and gps navigation systems in the car)

these were the days of cow poker, the abc sign game, and am radio!

we took many a trip to ocean isle beach and boone in that station wagon and my siblings and i slept through huge sections of i-85 and i-75 while mom booked it south on our way to disney world. most of my memories in that car are not of me, but of my family. for a station wagon is just that - a family car.

that station wagon was later replaced with a buick, i think, and after that a peugeot (aka "cujo"). every vehicle my parents brought into our lives obviously served a functional purpose, but also helped create and later chronicle a period in our family's history.

this week, memories of the station wagon came rushing back because of this :



the dodge truck pictured above was my brother-in-law's family's "station wagon". it belonged to their dad for the longest time, yet i know all of the boys have driven it on many occasions. it's hauled wood, trash, tools, you name it, but mostly it hauled kids.

appropriately it's called



when i saw it last weekend, i knew i wanted to somehow get it out from under that shed & pile all those "kids" into it.



the boys informed me it no longer started without lots of cajoling, so we just loaded everyone in as she was.



sure enough they all started talking about trips to campgrounds at myrtle beach and sleeping as their dad drove down the road. they complained about how uncomfortable it could get in the back, with 3 kids and everybody's stuff. but those complaints came with smiles.

for that old beat up dodge truck did the same thing for them that our for wagon did for my family. it became part of them.



we had our share of fights in that old wagon - a few wrestling matches actually, just as i'm sure the "o" kids did. and no, it was not an environmentally friendly vehicle or very good mileage. in hindsight, it probably was a dangerous vehicle to be in out on the open road - especially with three kids "unsecured" and wide open!

but it was also a great place for a family to continue to be a family - and to continue the great adventure that my parents had begun!

trunk or treat

every halloween for the last 6 years or so, our church has hosted a trunk-or-treat for our kids and the kids in the community. this year we are finishing up a major building project that has drastically limited fellowship activities that take place at church.

fortunately, for trunk-or-treat, all you need is pavement, cars, kids of all ages in costume, and lots of candy!




here are a few ......

















our pastor and his family ;) costumes selected by the four year old!



my favorite football player of all time!







our resident trunk or treat king!!



and NO halloween would be complete without some head soaking bobbing for apples!





hope your halloween was filled with fun!

back again....

little miss "K" and her 2 big brothers are back! she just turned three months and her mom has hired me to document her first year.


right now, she's all wide-eyed...



and can laugh & giggle with the best of them!
couldn't you just eat her up?!



it's usually mom or brother "J" who bring out those smiles.



while i was there, we had to take a few for the christmas cards.

her brothers were all "spiffied up" for their shots. they couldn't let little sister out do them!

mr. serious.....



mr. silliness...



and the whole gang together!