Xtreme Winter Shots in Gatlinburg

We made it back from Winter Xtreme and here are the pictures I promised of our trip.  I hope you enjoy them.  Tyler(in brown jacket) and Adam (in black jacket) were the first two to arrive at our house.  Tyler wanted to leave his truck in our yard so it would be ok.  The rest of the kids were going to meet us at the church by 7:45 a.m.

It was so cold and we finally got the cars loaded with suitcases, kids, and two old people (that would be Frank and myself).

A quick group shot, sin the photographer, a prayer and we were on our way to Winter Xtreme 2010 in Gatlinburg.  The group from left to right is:  Libby, Stiles, Lyndi, Stuart, Jessica, Preacher Man Frank, Tyler and Adam....I made number 9.

This was our first view of Gatlinburg on Monday, Dec. 27th.  Was it not gorgeous.  The sun decided to shine for about 60 seconds and then the gray set back in and it was cold and dreary.  The sidewalks were slick with ice and walking was anything but easy.  We saw quite a few people fall and bust their behinds.

Libby, Lyndi and Stiles at the first Xtreme Worship on Monday night.  They were all excited to hear the band and listen to the speakers.  After the service we went back to our room and had a debriefing where we talked about what they heard and got out of the service.  Bed time and up again tomorrow for another day of worship.

Day two we hit the ground running so we could get good seats and so Frank and I could attend a Youth Leaders session done by Josh McDowell.

After the morning service we ate lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  It was so much fun.  The waiters went around asking trivia questions about Forest Gump and sometimes your answers got weird replies from the.  One of the questions was where did Bubba Gump get shot?  My answer was, "In the but-tocks."  The waiter informed me that this was a family establishment and Forest was shot in Vietnam!

After lunch we walked Gatlinburg streets for four hours.  We had to be back at the Convention Center before the doors opened at 6:30 to get in line to get good seats.  Libby, Frank, and I went window shopping as far as the Mountain Mall....where I gave out.  Libby posed pretty in front of the frozen water fountain.  Does she not look like a pretty snow bunny.

Between the Mountain Mall and Hard Rock Cafe I saw this window box of pansies and just had to show you the snow covering those poor pansies.

 I discovered that even cold water rolls right off a ducks bath.  Part of this water was frozen with a thin sheet of ice but the ducks just kept diving down to get something to eat!

This was us heading in for the night service for Tuesday night.  The kids were really pumped because Skillet was the band for tonight.  They could not stop talking about this group.  Tuesday nights music was a little bothersome for me.  We must have been sitting right in front of the bass amp....because it made my heart feel like it was jumping beats and eventually I had to go outside the room and let me heart settle down a bit.  Skillet was still loud even out there through closed doors.

Day Three and we are now the proud parents of a little Indian girl.  The Youth Group decided that we wanted to pay 30.00 a month to support this child until they can get her placed in a Forever Home (adopted).  It was really sweet to watch them pour over the countless children until they found just the right one.  I loved them for this moment!

Headed back to Alabama.  The snow was still there and it was still extremely cold.  I was looking forward to heading south and into warmer temperatures.  I never knew 35 could feel so good....but when we survived 9 degrees on Tuesday....35 was a heat wave.

I am glad we are home, but I would not take anything for this experience.  We have an awesome bunch of kids at Rock Mills and I am so glad that I got to worship with them for the past three days.  Have a safe New Years Eve!  Love you all!