Just some rambling on and on.

I just wanted to let you know that I love my new job. I had some stress at my previous one, and the release of that stress has definitely been a good thing. I feel light and somewhat carefree! The Lord answered the prayers of myself, my family, and my friends with this new job.

I can't help but wonder what my Dad is thinking up there in Heaven. Probably....what have you done, did you not listen to me all those years? Those auditors are going to drive you crazy! Ha! I was told, during my first few days, never to shut the vault door before it was time to close for the day (because, in case you didn't know, there are timers on it and it CANNOT be opened by anyone until that time ticks away) and I chuckled to myself thinking......I have been told since before the time I could crawl, "Do Not Touch the Vault Door". To tell you the truth, it's going to be hard to shut it even at the end of the day when it is my job.

I love the work, the people, and I even get to see some of my customers from The City. Yeah! One in particular comes everyday.....and always comes to my window. Bless his heart, it is so nice to see him.

I have to get a schedule worked out though, my housework has kind of fallen by the wayside. But, I'm anxious to get a grip and decorate with my Americana decorations (I'll post pictures). Also, I had allowed someone to erode my worth at my last job, and this new job has done wonders to make me feel better....it's never bad to have someone comment positively about your skills. I hope that I learned from that past experience to never allow someone to treat me like that again.

Morgan will be home in about one and a half weeks. CAN NOT WAIT! After about a month, she will begin working at Camp Cowen in Webster County. She will again be gone alot, but Maci spends a week there, and it is not nearly as far as a trip to TN to visit.

Molli is busy working, school, and planning a wedding. She and Tyler are in the process of purchasing their first home. How exciting! While I was training for this new job, I trained at Ravenswood, which is where Molli works, so she and I got to eat lunch together each day. I so much enjoyed that time with her. She is such a joy!

Maci is wrapping up her freshman year at RHS. She keeps Jim and I so young, keeps us up on all the cool things.

Tyler is busy all the time. He has been getting to hunt lately, and is working also. He is the life of the party when he is around.

Mom is doing well. She is working at the greenhouse with Barb. Fred is working at the Farmers Market in Charleston. This is a very, very busy time for Fred and Barb. Barb is so talented with the flowers. They are beautiful.

Jim is still just adorable, sweet, kind, loving husband that he is. He works too much, but is home each evening and I love it. He cooks supper and I clean up. Thank goodness because he is a much, much better cook than I.

Well, that pretty much wraps up things in the Oiler family. I'll stop rambling for now. More later, I'm sure. God bless you!

A Trip to UT and then to Bubba Gumps.

On Saturday, Jim, Maci and I headed out at about 7:30am to go to the University of Tennessee to visit Morgan and to bring back one load of her belongings for the summer. She has already brought home one load of "things", has rented a storage unit in TN to store some "things" over the summer, and by the looks of her dorm room, has at least a couple more loads of "things" that need to be taken care of. After we met Morgan, and got to meet a couple of her good friends, Austin and Ben, we headed to Gatlinburg to eat at Bubba Gumps. Maci is a huge fan of Forrest Gump! She has wanted to eat at Bubba Gumps in TN for a while now. She did get to eat at Bubba Gumps in Orlando, FL a couple of weeks ago, and now wants to eat at ALL of the Bubba Gump restaurants in the USA. She is collecting a T-shirt from each restaurant and a golf ball from each for Jim. We had a such a good time, although most of it was spent in the car.

Here is a picture of Jim driving....it seems like I get a lot of these shots. Maci, Morgan and Ben at Bubba Gumps.
Maci and Morgan with the appetizer.

Maci, Morgan, and I got a hamburger. Jim and Ben got fish. No one ordered shrimp ... Imagine that? The food was delicious though.

Maci with her dessert. Yes, that is all for her!

Everyone helped a little. Jim, Ben, and I used a spoon before this happened.

A good shot of Morgan and Ben.

We had such a good time together. The drive was worth it! It was so nice to meet Austin in person, and to get to meet and spend some time with Ben. After we got back to UT and Morgan and Ben loaded up the car, it was once again time to say goodbyes. I hate when this time comes around. It never seems to get easier, except I did know that she'll be back home in less than two weeks. We arrived home to WV at about 1:30am. What a fun trip!

Easter Day

Easter morning, the bunny brought Easter bags for everyone. The girls peeking in their bags for goodies after showers on Sunday morning. Jim wearing his Marshall hat from the Easter bunny. Jim also got a golf net and a new Marshall mouse pad with the old Marco logo.
Isn't he just the cutest?
Morgan and Maci before church.

Molli and Tyler dressed for church.

How cute are they?

Sunday morning after the Easter gifts were opened, Jim, Morgan, Maci and I went to church with Mom. After church we ate lunch at my Aunt Janice and Uncle Pete's with the rest of the family. After the delicious meal it was time for the egg hunt. I scored $39 this year. I didn't beat Morgan though, she always brings in the big bucks. Then it was time to take Morgan back to Riverside to catch her ride back to UT. Thanks so much for the prayers for Jim and Morgan's traveling safety. It was so nice to have her home for Easter! I know that there will come a time when one of the girls won't be able to be here for a holiday, but I'm not ready for it yet.

It is such a blessing to celebrate the holidays with my Plain Grandma, Mom, my family, and the Petersen's and Koontz. I know that I'm so blessed!

A New Job!

Tomorrow is my first day as an employee of Traders Bank. I will miss my friends at the City, but things change and I'm very excited about tomorrow. I'm sure that there will be something to tell...stay tuned.

A Prayer Request for Traveling Safety

It's almost 9pm and Jim just left to go and pick Morgan up at UT. She's coming home for Easter! The bunny wouldn't know where to find her if she wasn't at home with her family. Jim should get to TN around 3am and then he is just going to load Morgan up (after he hugs on her for a while) and turn around to travel six hours back to WV. They should be back home around 9am in the morning. Please just pray for their safety. Also, Jim is not feeling too well. Please pray for a safe trip back to the country roads of WV, and the drive of Broughton Lane. Thank you prayer warriors!

It's My Birthday! It's My Birthday!

I love my birthday!

What other day is it all about you. Birthdays are meant to be celebrated. I was born on April 8, 1965. Thursday's child is full of grace. I was the firstborn to Mike and Cookie Hall. Five years later, I got a baby brother, Fred.

My birthday started with a wake up birthday kiss from Jim. When I got to work, there were posters about my birthday throughout the building, on my desk, and when I left work, there was one on my car. I got many birthday wishes from my friends on facebook. I got a subscription to Country Sampler from Ida...... and a subscription to WVLiving from Carolyn. I love to read magazines! I read them during lunch, when I'm getting ready for bed, and LOVE to look at magazines sitting by the pool. Magazines are a gift that keeps coming all year long.
I also got a birthday cake at work. It had my favorite crisco icing! I love my friends at City Hall! After work, Jim gave me my choice of where I wanted to eat. I picked the Fairplain Yacht Club. The food from there is to die for. It's a bar, so we don't usually eat there, we order and Jim picks it up. Overboard Nachos on the couch with Jim and a favorite TV show - just gotta love it! (Since I had to get up and be at work by 7am on Thursday, I didn't want to go out of town - I'm going to stretch this birthday thing out as long as I can - maybe we'll go to Charleston over the weekend.)

My birthday gift from my sweet husband is a Boyfriend Watch from Fossil. He is such a good gift giver! It was exactly what I wanted. Can't wait to wear it (gotta have some links removed first).

Thank you Jim!

Mom came to see me at work and brought my gift.....$ MONEY $!!!! Can't beat that. My Mom knows me......I LOVE to shop!!!!!!

When I got up, first thing in the morning I go and turn the heat up, and what would be laying on the island?....... a wrapped gift from Molli with a birthday note. I unwrapped that present in record time! A WOW Hits 2009 CD - love to sing my praise and worship songs! Gonna have Maci put it on my IPod. I'll be able to work up a sweat now on that treadmill.

CaSandra and sweet Little Miss Kensley came to see me at work and brought me these beautiful flowers and a card. They made my desk look so springy! A couple blooms were delicately broken off because Miss Kensley had to help pick them out and bring them to me. I adore that sweet little girl, and her Momma!

My Uncle Kenneth came in to work to see me and brought me a card and these gerber daisies! Daisies are one of my favorites. It was nice to just get to see him and chat for a while.

Below are the cards I received. I love to get snail mail!

I never mind having a birthday.....I'm 44!!! Thank you, so much, my dear friends for everything you do for me! I have such a blessed life all because two people fell in love, brought me in to this world, loved me, guided me, and introduced me to Jesus!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Chocolate Festival

On Saturday, April 4th, Ripley held its 2nd Annual Chocolate Festival. Vendors from all over the state set up booths selling anything, and everything, chocolate. It's a great place to get goodies for Easter baskets.

There is also a parade through town. Sheree Knotts, the founder of the festival and the blue M&M is our Mayor Carolyn Rader.
Maci marching in the parade with the RHS Marching Band.

Maci singing at the Festival with the RHS Choir. What a busy girl~so musical.

They sang songs about chocolate. Go figure!

We met up with CaSandra and sweet, Little Miss Kensley. What a place to take a little one that is allergic to sugar. She didn't seem to mind though. There were lots of people to see, and two people very eager to hold her and carry her around (me and Mace).

What a fun Saturday!

I have a NEW JOB!

Beginning on Wednesday, April 15th, this is where you'll find me.

I will be employed at Traders Bank in Ripley on the West Side. I will so miss the customers at The City of Ripley,

but hopefully some of them bank at Traders Bank.

A Baby Shower

Paula gave a cute, cute, cute baby shower for her son. This will be her first grandchild. How exciting. He is due in a couple of weeks. Paula and I had such fun preparing for this shower. We shopped, ate out, shopped some more. Even stretched it out over a few shopping trips. The theme for the shower was a jungle. We played a couple of games, one being having to name the baby name of jungle animals. That is harder than you think. One game was guessing how many monkeys were in a jar. Everyone had to bring enough change to equal their age to put in a bank (lion bank, monkey bank, hippo bank) on the tables then guess how much money was there to start a savings account for the baby. We had such a good time!

Below are some pictures, but they are not very large. I don't know what the problem is with uploading them on here, but you get the idea.

This hung over the gift table. These are clothes with a jungle theme that Paula had already bought for the baby hanging on a jungle vine. This is the cake from the Purple Turtle Pastry Shop in Sissonville. It was delicious. Half almond and half chocolate. Also, it was gigantic.

Meghan got lots and lots of nice things. That little boy won't have to wear the same outfit for probably his first year of life.
Anytime the Anderson clan gets together, there is alot of fun and laughter and this shower was no exception.

We can't wait to see you Baby Koontz!

Our Mom gets an Award!

On March 26, 2009, Mrs. Helen J. "Cookie" Hall received the Bob Matherly Award from the Palmer Theological Seminary.

This award is given to a person who has made a significant contribution to the WV program, has a true heart for serving, and this year to someone who has a warm smile and a caring attitude.

Fred, Jim, Molli, Maci, and I attended the dinner with Mom.

Below is my place sitting.

This is the table reserved for our family.
Dr. Wallace C. Smith, Palmer Theological Seminary President presenting the award.

Mom accepting the award from Dr. Smith.

We could not be any more proud of our Mom. Even if she didn't receive any awards here on this earth, we know her ultimate award is awaiting for her in heaven.

She is the very best, loving, godly mother in the world.

We love you Mom!

Congratulations!

Maci Sings in Martinsburg

On Friday, March 20th, Maci went to a Choir Competition in Martinsburg, WV as a member of the Ripley High School Chorus. In a one week period, Jim traveled 12 hours to Tennessee to get Morgan on Friday, March 13th. On Sunday, March 15th, traveled to Gassaway and back to pick up Maci from the Purity Retreat. On Friday, March 20th, he made a 13 hour trip to Martinsburg to watch Maci perform with the RHS chorus. Then on Sunday, March 22nd, traveled another 12 hour trip to take Morgan back to TN. What a good Dad. He loves his girls!

Visit with Morgan

Morgan came home for Spring Break! She called me in the am on Wed. and she was sick. Told her to go to the doctor and call me back. She went to the doctor and got some meds and when she called me back I was begging her not to go to Florida on Spring Break but to come home so that she could finish her meds and rest. After she stated that she really wanted to go to the beach, and me whining that I'd rather she came home, she said "I can't lie to you anymore". Talk about your heart hitting the floor. Anyway, to make a long story short, she was planning on coming home all along! Her Dad was in on it. Maci knew about it. Molli had the plan. I was out of the loop. It was a surprise for me! I was so excited. I was already scheduled for minor surgery on Monday, so I'd get to be home with her for a few days. Jim went to pick her up on Friday morning, leaving home at about 5:30am. I went to work, and Maci was scheduled to go to a Purity Retreat in Cowen leaving from Gassaway at about 7pm. When I got off work at 5pm, Mom and I headed to Gassaway with Maci. The Retreat is a wonderful thing that Gassaway Baptist Church does. After the weekend retreat in Cowen, Jim, Morgan, and myself headed back to Gassaway on Sunday morning for church (that is our old, home church and we LOVE the people there). This is a picture of Maci receiving her pearl necklace from Jim. The necklace is a symbol of purity for Maci to wear until she gets married. This is a picture of Morgan and her very best friend since she was one year old....Ryan Rexroad. These two were inseparable from the time they met. I used to babysit him when he was just a little thing. We moved away from Gassaway when Morgan and Ryan were in the sixth grade, but when we go back and visit, Ryan goes out to eat with us after church on Sundays.
While Morgan was home, we got to visit alot. My surgery didn't go as I had planned, so I was off work a couple longer days that I got to visit with her. We went shopping one day and ate at her choice of restaurants. We took a day and took pictures of the girls and Tyler (for Easter, I'll be posting those later). Her friends came over a couple of times. I just so enjoyed having her here. Below is a picture of Maci, Jim, and Morgan ready to travel back to TN on Sunday. They left here at about 6am. It is always so sad to see her leave again. It's easier for me to send her off with her Dad than to pull away and leave her in TN. Her waving as we pull away and Jim and I crying. Hopefully, she'll be back for Easter.