Friday, July 24, 2009

Day 2 Of Our Charleston Trip ~ Folly Beach

The 2nd day was mainly spent at Folly Beach.



This is the usual scene for Lilee. As soon as we get there she charges to the water!



Then a wave gets her and she charges out and she does this the whole time.




Sara Ava and Lilee playing at the waters edge.


Sara Ava posing for a quick pic.




Jordan and Karlton stay out in the water the whole time. Jordan had Lilee's pink float out there.



The kids played in the sand. Lilee even helped a lady find a shark tooth.








Then we took a long walk to see the light house.







The girls were stopping all along the way to pick up shells.








Some views along the way.......



















We finally made it to the light house .... But then had to walk all the way back. It made for a very long trip esp. for a 3 yr. old.




















Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Unexplained !?! - UPDATE

*****Some of you said you can not get the picture to enlarge. If you click on to the picture then down load it to your pictures then you will be able to view it larger in your files. Sorry!*****
You can go to the travel Channel here . I am (have been) the #6 picture in the top rated if you want to vote for my picture you will have to register which is really easy. If ya want you can give me the 5 skulls. LOL!


http://spooky.travelchannel.com/ClipList.aspx?sort=rate

OK,I know told you all I would not post the reason why we wanted to go back to Drayton Hall until I was finished posting about out trip but I could not wait! Especially since, Jessica from Drayton Hall left a comment (Thanks Jessica for stopping by!!!) I just had to post this sooner then I had planned. I waited a whole year to post about this because I did not know what kind of response and comments I would get back. But anyway here it goes....... Last year Karlton, Joel, Lilee , and I stopped by to visit Drayton Hall for our (Karlton and I) 2nd time. We had not heard any stories about the place be haunted and we toured it and I just thought it was gorgeous,no feelings of creepiness about it but.............. when we came home Josiah asked to see all the pictures and orbs started popping up in the pictures on the stairs. Not a big deal but I had never caught an orb in all the many years I have been taking pictures. So......... Josiah (who was 10 at the time) asks can we start looking in all the windows one by one. I said ,"what do you expect to find honey I don't think the place is haunted". Well we went through 20-30 windows one by one , blowing them up and looking at each one until we came across this one........













If you do not see it at first look in the bottom middle window pain! ( if you still can not see it click on it to make it bigger or you can zoom in on it.





We both froze in shock (I had it blown up as large as it would go) and he dove under my legs that were under my desks. He was so afraid that he would not come out for some time until I took the picture off of my screen. Lets just say I was pretty shocked too and did not sleep that night! Now being a Christian and the beliefs I have heard all my life and thought I believed too ... well lets just say I have some questions now! Is it a ghost, an alien, a demon?
First of all let me say we were the last out of the building because I was waiting for everyone to leave so I could take some pictures and then the tour guide ropes it off once everyone is out. So I can tell you there was not one in the building! Besides this face does not look human or live to me.





Well this trip we wanted to go back to take more pictures to see if we saw anything else. I only caught a couple of orbs on the stairs but nothing compared to the ones last time. I took many pictures of all the windows and nothing showed up. WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO DO WAS GO IN THE ROOM THAT THE FACE WAS IN AND TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES!!!! But it was the only room closed off (due to the ceiling falling down when people walking in that room ??). We did asks the tour guides about it being haunted and they said there were suppose to be 2 ghosts.


So,Jessica if you are reading this if we come back down there soon could you let me at least walk to the door and take pictures for research please!!!! Lol!





Now to me it looks like an alien face! I put it on the travel channels,most haunted in the pictures and it is staying in the top 20 for more then a year now with ratings. SO if you want to go and vote for me stop by and give me a 5 stars! Lol !! now let me know your take of this picture!
This is the original picture that I took right after everyone came out of the house. The face is in the top window 2nd from the left.


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Finally Pictures From Charleston........ DAY 1

OK guys are you ready for lots of pictures?! I am breaking down by the days we were there so it will not take me all day to post pictures. You will see by these pictures why I LOVE Charleston! I love everything about it! The history, all the plantations,the old houses, the antiques, the food, shopping, and the beaches and marsh area that surrounds it! We left Tues. morning and stopped by Drayton Hall first. We have a yearly membership and I wanted to squeeze in 1 more trip before it expires. This is the 3rd time Karlton and I have been and we always discover new things about this place. I also wanted to go back to get plenty of pictures for a reason that I will reveal after I am done posting about our trip in a few days. But that is all I am saying for now.



Driving up to Drayton Hall. (Sorry about the quality of this pic. I was taking it through a very dirty windshield.)



Drayton Hall was built in the 1700's and is unchanged from the 1800's (since the civil war). Drayton Hall was the only house that survived the civil war. So it is like stepping back in time, it has no electric or plumbing to this day.







This is Karlton's FAVORITE picture! (above)



We went on the marsh walk.....






an walked all over the grounds. I think this was the first time that we have done that.






That is a well that you can see in the background and that we are standing in front of.






A 7 seat privy. Now we could use one of those in our house! A seat for everyone! Lol







Then we took our tour of the house. This is a pic. I took from inside looking out.










A couple of the inside.



































We walked to the river behind the house to take a little break.









It is so beautiful and relaxing back there.















After the plantation we went to eat at Poogans Porch in the Historic part of Charleston and then we walked the streets , which is one of our favorite things to do while we are there. All the streets are beautiful and unique. You never know what you will see looking down all the little alleys and in all the secret gardens.
















That was pretty much the first day.












Saturday, July 18, 2009

14 YEARS AND COUNTING!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KARLTON!!!!

I LOVE YOU EVEN MORE TODAY THEN I DID 14 YEARS AGO!

Pretty amazing after 5 kids! LOL! Can't wait to see what the next 14 brings us! Hopefully a lot more traveling and seeing the world together!

We spent our day at the Macaroni Grill for lunch Mmmmm (yes that is our FAV chocolate cake in front of us) ,with 4 of the kids and then did a little back to school shopping! I know I am far behind on all my posts but I promise I will be catching up soon! We had a great trip to Charleston, just not nearly long enough. I will be posting pictures soon!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Some Pictures.......

to leave you with while we are gone for a few days..... Josiah is at camp, I got a phone call today saying he made it safely. Joel is at Mee Maws House (Karlton's mom) and we will be leaving bright and early in the morning for one of our most FAVORITE places... Charleston!




I finally found the most recent picture that I took of Karlton's garage. This is a few months old so it does have garage doors now, a door to the side of the garage doors and the plastic wrap is finished. Karlton has been building this for his office and for storage for his Electrical business, but when the work stopped the money stopped coming in so now he can not finish it and has to sale it. This is being sold with the 4 acres. Keep praying y'all its working!!! God is hearing all of our prayers!

I wanted to show off these dresses, I won from a raffle that was raising money for a girl with cancer. Aren't they precious w/ their monogrammed initials on them. I made these bows to match .... of course. Thanks Lou we love them! Let me know if anyone wants to buy one of these
bows.......



Saturday, July 11, 2009

Just A Couple Of Updates

Well.... we are as busy as ever around here! We are getting Josiah ready to send off to Church Camp on Monday. Then on Tuesday we are taking a couple of days off and heading to Charleston for our 14th Ann. Its not a good time financially to go, but work wise it is great! Usually Karlton can not take off work because he is so busy... I guess you can not have it both ways right!? Anyway we are only taking 3 kids with us so we only have to buy 1 room and because we are going in the middle of the week we got a good deal. Originally we were only going for 1 night, but we got such a good deal we are going for 2. We will be keeping it cheap ... but I am still excited! I am ready for a little time away from reality! As soon as we get back from Charleston then Jordan will head with the church to Wilmington for World Changers.

*Now for some exciting news (well maybe) !!!!!!!!! The girl who looked at our land this week fell in love with it and is trying to get a co- signer to sign for a loan. She is young and is getting married soon. So please pray for this girl to be able to get the loan that she needs! Keep praying please!! We can certainly see the effects of them all!

* I have not been taking pictures of all my coupon deals lately but I am still at it , just not as much this week since we are getting ready leave. But I can tell you this..... I saved enough money from the last several weeks of couponing that I was able to buy 2 nights in Charleston for our Ann. Cool huh! Anyway back to the coupon deals. My favorite deals other then the free ones of course was buying milk for 0.47 cents, for a couple of weeks and buying tons of boxes of eggo waffles for 0.50 cents a box. We go through the milk and the waffles so these were some really money saving coupons for our family. Are you all trying the world of couponing yet????

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Wednesdays Prayer List



*Have any prayer request that you would like everyone to pray about? Please leave a comment with your request.
~I have a huge prayer request for today........... We have someone coming to look at Karlton's( 4 acres) land w/ Garage this evening. Please pray that the Lord will send the buyers for the land very soon. We have left it totally in the Lords hands because we know it will take some one very special to even buy 4 acres with an unfinished garage. But we have total faith the HE will do it! Our Realtor has been very surprised at the showings we have had on it so far , in the couple of weeks that it has been on the market. She told us it woud take a long time to sale this. But We know who we have on our side and know it does not have to take long at all, right?Want to see more pictures of it ? You can view it on Coldwell Bankers . com under Lancaster, SC the price is $89,900. Click on the pictures to see more. (The address is 1917 Old Sullivan Rd.) These are old pictures I took of the land before we even started the garage back in Sept. I can not seem to find any new pictures that I have taken.
~Also continue to keep our family in your prayer! Especially Work and paychecks!We so desperately need them both!
Thanks everyone for being in our corner and praying for and with us! Now please leave your prayer request so that we can all be praying for you too!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day!



Happy 4th of July from the Shrum Family! We hope you are having as much fun as we are!



We hope you have a very safe holiday!

Now its time to head to our church's cookout and fireworks............


Friday, July 3, 2009

Prayer List and Update

I am 2 days late for the Wed. Prayer List, but better late then never right!?

*Praise The Lord!!!!
~ The 3 sisters will be arriving home tomorrow from Guatemala!
~My sister is out of the hospital after a 6 day stay.

*Prayer Needs*
~ Please continue to pray the Lord will keep sending Karlton work.
~ We are still 3- 3 1/2 pay checks behind.... Please pray we get caught up soon!
~ Pray the Lord will send a buyer for our 4 acres w/ brand new garage quickly! We sooo need to sale this so that we can pay all the bills that are really far behind.
~ This one is a praise and a prayer request. I went to the Dr. this week for problems I have been having that is not normal for me ( regarding the monthly visitor). The Dr. said that he was not concerned , but we will be observing it and that he thought it was only stress! And we all know how finances and jobs can take a toll on anyone so please pray for me! Because apparently this is effecting more then I even realized!

I am and have been praying for those prayer request that have been left! If you have any more you would like us to pray for please leave me a comment! I really appreciate everyone who has been praying with us on all these matters!

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Now for a family update! This summer has been one crazy ride! We have camps every week it seems like! So far we started the summer off with Jordan going to a week long camp at School for Honors kids, he also started Cross Country 2 weeks ago, we have had VBS, Football Camp, Josiah is getting ready to leave for church camp for 5 days, then Jordan will be leaving as soon as Josiah gets back for World Changers with our Church; they(church kids) are going to Wilmington for a week. We also spend some time at the pool to cool off. Its non stop around here and sometimes I feel like I am just spinning in circles. Lol! I will be posting some pictures soon..... But for now I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July!!!! We will be spending some quality family time together as we do every 4th. We always look forward to this holiday and our family traditions!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Sara Ava Donated Her Hair

Sara Ava has been growing her hair out since I donated my hair last August. She had to have 8 inches to donate. We know some very special children adopted from Guatemala that have leukemia so Sara Ava wanted to give a child that needed black hair, her hair. She has been ready for months to get it cut and today was finally the day.
The before pictures....... You can see how long it had gotten.



Karen cutting Sara Ava's hair.....

She was so proud of her ponytail!




She loves her new hair cut! She tells everyone that now she looks like Mommy!



When we got home Lilee said Sara looks like Dora. I want to look like Dora too. So I took her in the bathroom and cut her hair myself. I have to get 3 kids hair cut this week , I can't afford 4.




So here is Lilee's hair cut. Tomorrow I will cut her bangs. She was so excited about her hair cut that she was too wiggly, I gave up on the bangs.





Lilee only had 4 inches to cut off so she did not have enough to donate. Her hair is sooo fine that there was hardly any hair compared to Sara Ava's.






Sara Ava was so excited for their daddy to get home to show him their hair. She said "Daddy is going to tell us we look so beautiful now. " I had to clue him in to make sure he did!
So what do you all think????