Sue "danced" in church today

She and some others did a choreographed thing with her doing some sign language in a praise song in all three services today.  She's so good! 

Good HIDS group today

Sue has a group of friends that she tries to get together once a month with called the 'HIDS group'.  HIDS stands for Hard of hearing, Interpreters, Deaf, Socializing or something like that.  She has some regulars and then she has some people that come sometimes.  Today she had Meskel, Debbie, Mary Ann, and a couple of others and they enjoyed eating and talking for a couple of hours.  It's nice to see them together having fun! 

Another successful spaghetti dinner!

Sue organized and help run another spaghetti dinner to raise money for a mission trip.  This time it was for the Honduras trip she and Stephen are going on this summer.  This one was fully an SCC thing and a whole new group of people helped out, which was awesome!  The event raised over $500 for the trip, which is a great blessing to everyone trying to raise their money.  Go, Sue! 

Sue helped her mother this weekend

Sue's mom had to have some eye surgery, so Sue went down to help her out.  Things went well, and Mom Emery is recovering nicely. 

This was the first trip to FL in the new-to-us Jetta and it did well, too.  Sue said it was fun to drive and handled traffic just fine.  Woohoo! 

Good birthday celebration!

We had a great time celebrating Sue's birthday today.  One of the best parts of the celebration was a surprise visit from her brother Dan, who was in Charlotte for some work stuff and came to Atlanta for a conference or something and spent the night with us.  I made a strawberry cake with plenty of frosting on it, and our server at Cafe Milano's did a great job taking care of us. 

I love our family, and I love it when we have celebrations together like this.  As the kids get older I know we'll have this less, which makes it all the more fun while we get to be together.  Woohoo! 

Good mission trip to Mexico

Sue went with 3 other people to Kantunilkin, Qroo, Mexico, to do some mission work down there.  She went as a sign language interpreter for a deaf missionary and to help teach hearing teachers in the town some sign language.  She was also asked to share some info on and experience in starting a deaf ministry at a church, something she has done at two churches so far. They also went to share toys and Bibles with some of the children in surrounding villages and to seek out deaf kids in the area. 

This was a great experience for her.  The teachers down there soaked up everything she and the others shared with them, and taking the toys and gifts out to the children for 3 Kings Day was a lot of fun for the team.  She said that the people were very nice, and she especially enjoyed learning more spanish from Florinda, their cook for the week. 

It was a lot of fun, and she came back tired and needing rest.  Of course, she is back up to full speed with me and the kids and looking for whatever adventure God has for her next...

Sue's going on a mission trip!

She was asked to be part of a small team from the Georgia Baptist Conference of the Deaf that is going to minister to deaf children in Cancun, Mexico (not the vacation side :-)  She will be going down there on 1/2/14 for a week to help them celebrate Los Treyes Reyes (Three Kings Day).  She is looking forward to working with these experienced missionaries and in practicing her spanish sign language.  You can read more on GBCD's site.  Go, Sue!

Sue doing well

She is keeping busy with all the things she is involved in.  Her career in interpreting is going well - she takes assignments that fit with our family schedule and does others when we can coordinate the movement of the kids between each other so she can do it.  She continues to help Ann, our friend that had a stroke at our house over the summer.  Ann is a challenge but Sue has built a team of people that go by and check on Ann, help Ann, and take Ann different places.  She keeps up with all that Stephen and Kevin are doing, even volunteers to help with different band fundraisers (pizza, concerts, etc.).  She has started teaching sign language at our church and is hopeful that she will be able to start interpreting services there in the future.  And she keeps up with me and my shiftwork.  All the while she has a great time and is a blast to be with.  Go, Sue!  

Sue instrumental in helping friend

My wife and I have made Anne a part of our family.  When Anne had a stroke last month we took her to the hospital, stayed with her until she was admitted, and have visited her faithfully as Anne's friends and community have gathered around her. 

Sue has been instrumental in helping Anne as she recovers from the stroke.  Even though Anne is grumpy, acts out, and threatens her, Sue continues to love on her and show her compassion.  Sue and DeeAnn went over what the housing authority said about the stuff in her apartment, and today Sue marshaled the boys and a couple of friends in cleaning out the garbage and junk in Anne's apartment. 

I am very proud of Sue, and have told her several times that Anne appreciates her even if she (Anne) doesn't know it yet!  Sue laughs, smiles, and keeps doing things to help set Anne up to succeed as she recovers from her stroke.  Go, Sue! 

Good mission trip to Nicaragua

 Sue and her team had a great time on their mission trip to Nicaragua this past week.  They went down and taught students at a school for the deaf in Managua ways to share their faith with their friends.  The theme of the trip was an "explosion of love" and they used volcanoes as part of the theme for the trip.  On one of the days they used a line of cups fille with water, baking soda, vinegar, and salt to demonstrate how God's love overflows to those around us.  Several of the cups didn't get enough of one or another substance so they didn't bubble and overflow very much.  One of the girls commented that they didn't overflow because they didn't share about Jesus - that's when the team realized that they had gotten their message across to the kids and it all became worth it.  Good job, team!

Sue on mission trip

Sue has gone to Nicaragua again on a mission trip to work at a school for the deaf in Managua with 3 other interpreters.  I am sure that things are going well and that they are reaching kids with what the Lord has to say to them.  Woohoo! 

Sue got a new phone!

Her old phone was coming apart to the point that the screen was cracked.  We went and looked and she got a Samsung Galaxy 3 S!  She wanted to be able to do things by voice and now she can do that and lots more.  She is very excited and is learning all of the new capabilities she has.  Woohoo! 

Good meeting with missionaries

Sue took a trip to Florida to see family and friends and to visit with Matthew and Eva, her missionary friends from Nicaragua.  They had a good time together, and Sue learned a lot about what she will be doing with the group she is taking to Nicaragua this coming June.  She took Matthew and Eva up to Penney Farms to see her mother and Jane, a friend of Eva and Matthew from their time in Nicaragua.  Good job, Sue! 

Sue signed at new church

They asked her to sign "Silent Night" which she did.  She did a great job, and Megan M came be to see it.  Who knows - this may lead to more signing at our new church! 

Coordinated Cmas shop at SCC

Sue did a great job helping to organize and coordinate the Christmas shop at Stockbridge Community Church (SCC) today.  She's been working with our new Faye for the past 2 months on this, and it all came together well.  The idea the church had was to have a shop filled with newly-bought-donated toys and stuff and sell them to families that are having a hard time at 75% off the price.  The proceeds from the sale of these donated items go to Woodland Elementary School, one of the schools that our church supports through volunteer efforts, donations, and the Good News Club. 

Sue said it was a bit overwhelming how organized SCC was about this effort, and after all the planning and preparing it went off without a hitch!  Many people gave a couple of hours here, a couple of hours there, and the way this touched our community will only be known when we get to heaven.   Go, Sue! 

Susan helping with Christmas project at church

She volunteered to help out with a Christmas project at our new church, and today the whole thing kicks off. She is helping to organize a Christmas shop where instead of just giving the gifts away we will give families that need some help a way to purchase deeply discounted gifts donated by our church members. It's an interesting way of doing soemthing like this. Sue is in the thick of things, helping out at all three services this morning and having meetings to work out details over the past 3 weeks with plans for more in the next few weeks. Go, Sue!

Sue's foot still not better

She's been dealing with pain in her heel due to plantar fasciitis and a bone spur. She's done the exercises, gone through the physical therapy, and still has almost constant pain in her foot. So now she is going to have a procedure done to help speed the healing process. It's cool - they take some of her blood, spin it out so they just have the platelets, then inject them in to the area of her foot where the pain is. This is supposed to induce a better healing reaction in the body and get things moving. She's having it done at the end of the month and will have to wear an air cast for a few weeks, so it should be interesting. Please pray for quick healing!

Sue and the power outage

So we had a big storm at our house tonight. Sue found out that they were fire engines at the house behind ours. So she headed over there with the boys to find out what was going on.

The lady that lives behind us is pregnant and her husband was there with her and they told Sue they didn't have any candles or flashlights and didn't know what they were going to do with no power. So Sue came home and got some emergency flashlights a lighter and some candles for them and took them over there.  On her way back she got into trouble with the rescue personnel because she went underneath the tree that was leaning on the power lines and she made her way back to our house.  She said afterwards that she just wasn't thinking and just one underneath the tree no big deal.

My beautiful wife! She sure loves to help people...

Studying for new certification

Sue has been getting ready to test for a new certification in mental health interpreting.  The program is based in Alabama but she has gotten to work on most of in the local area.  She has been busily reading articles and books, doing practicum, and psyching herself up for it.  Pray she does well when she takes the test in April! 

Good conference

Sue had a good time at a mental health interpreting conference down in Montgomery last week. She learned lots of good techniques and made some new friends in Alabama. Good job, Sue!