Celebrating Ezra's 12th Birthday

Hey Friends,

Thank you for checking in on a winter Monday! It is always great to visit with our friends in this space. Please make it a habit to visit! I truly appreciate all of you who regularly check the blog. Your public and private comments have been super encouraging to me.

Mom and I are staying busy living life. Most of which has not been pictured here. On many days, Mom conquers ministry and family work at home. I help where possible or stay out of the way.

We are enjoying more family time than usual, which is one of the few positive aspects of our recent life change. On Friday night, we were on hand in Hillsboro, Ohio, to celebrate Ezra's birthday.

Below is my last selfie from a couple weeks ago with an 11 year old Ezra. I am glad we actually got to celebrate with him this year!

He turned 12 last week! Where did my little guy go? Wow, it does not seem feasible that he is that age! He was 4 when he joined our family! Time has flown by in a couple blinks of an eye.

Ezra is a kind, polite, helpful and handsome young man! I am so proud of him! He is smart and inquisitive. In 2025, he is knocking on the door of being a teenager.

Here are a few more pictures from the night! I had fun with all my cousins!

To close out this post, here is a picture of me with my cousin Courtney. We have always known that we look alike, but we are hearing it more often!

Well, that is all for now. See you tomorrow!

Odie

Sunday Sanity 1/19/25

Hey Friends,

I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday! We have returned to the deep freeze here in Ohio. According to the weather guessers, as my Dad called them, we will be there for several days. I will still rejoice and be glad because this is the day the Lord made.

Pastor E.J. Lamb provides with today's sanity. Mom and I attended service with our friends at the Anchor on Wednesday night. 

We sure do love Pastor E.J., Sis. Lacey, their children, and the Anchor of Hope church family! All of them have been special friends to us for a long time!

On Wednesday night, he preached on “ Faith Beyond Feelings.” The entire message was encouraging, but this little nugget stood out.

“Faith is not a walk in what I see and feel, but faith is walking in what I know”. Pastor E.J. Lamb

One thing I know God will always be with us, even when we can not see or  feel Him!

See you tomorrow. 

Odie

Foodie Friday 1/17/25

 Hey Friends,

How are you all doing? I hope you are doing well today. I am happy to report that Mom and I are doing very good. The Lord is our strength and our help daily!

Have you seen our previous post this week? If you have not read them yet, please take a moment and look black. 

This has been a week of reflection for us. Here are the link to the posts from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We also posted a new video to our Boggs Family Ministries YouTube channel yesterday. I have posted it below. You can also find it in yesterday's post.

As most of you know, yesterday was Dad's first Heavenly birthday. We spent the day honoring Dad and remembering him.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to us yesterday, letting us know that you were praying for us! We did read each message and found it encouraging! I apologize that I did not get to respond to each text message or comment individually. I will try to get that done today.

It was great to spend time with our family yesterday! We thought it was only fitting to enjoy a good steak from Longhorn on his birthday. Longhorn was his favorite chain restaurant steak. His favorite order was an outlaw ribeye from Longhorn. Mom and I split one yesterday. 

Just as I suspected the food was delicious and the family time was even more precious! I also predicted that we would laugh a lot, cry some and reminisce even more. We did all three of those things! I think it was a fabulous way to spend Dad’s birthday, surrounded by those that we love!

Mom and I finished out the day by going to church with our church family at DRPC! Church was the normal thing to do on his birthday! If I had to guess Dad spent more of his birthdays going to church than not. 

Today being Foodie Friday on the blog, I thought it only right to share yesterday's pictures with you. 

I hope you enjoy! Let me know if it flings or craving on you for a Longhorn!

See you back here tomorrow.

Odie

Happy Birthday Daddy 2025

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for dropping by for a visit! We have been in reflection mode this week. A couple of big days are here this week, back to back. 

January 15th, last year, Daddy came home from the hospital after the stroke. Click here to visit yesterday’s post

January 16th is my Dad’s birthday! Dad did not like a lot of attention on his birthday. He always wanted to make a big deal about mine or Mom’s, but not his! A blog post is just about all I could get by doing for him.

He does not get a choice this year! We are spending today honoring the great man I got to call Daddy!

Mom and I sat down and reflected on Dad’s last days on earth. He taught us to love God and His greatness always! Dad’s love for his Great God was evident until the end. 

Also, we included Dad singing If You Could See Me Now. This video was recorded as part of a church service at my house in April of 2020. We also played it at Dad’s celebration of life. Some people have requested to hear the song again. I figured his birthday was a great day to share it again.

I will close with a note for my Daddy. See you tomorrow. 

Happy birthday, Daddy! I love you, “More than a hog loves slop”! You will forever be my superhero! 

This is the first time in my lifetime that I could not celebrate your birthday with you in person. Over the years we have celebrated your birthday in a myriad of states and ways! You may not physically be here, but we are still marking this extra special date on the calendar. 

In a while we will enjoy a delicious dinner with several family members in your honor! I know there will be tears, laughter and lots of memories! I so wish you could be here with us! You are always dearly missed!

 Love Your Baby Girl, Odie!

Thankful For Our Pastor And Church Family

Hey Friends,

Thanks for visiting with me today. It is good to see you again! If you are new to the blog, welcome. Please stop by every day. I am posting daily blogs, hoping to give you a glimpse into the lives of Kelly Jo, Odie and Boggs Family Ministries.

Today, I am here with a heart full of gratitude! It is impossible for me to tell you all the ways God has blessed us in the last 9 weeks since life suddenly took an unplanned turn! 

Mom and I are incredibly grateful! God has been so good to us, and many people have been Jesus' hands and feet. Their help and prayers are invaluable to us. Every call, text, email, comment, piece of snail mail and hug is greatly appreciated. I pray for God's blessings on each person!

We stop and thank the Lord multiple times a day! The future is still unknown, but we are doing our best to walk daily in His grace and plan for that particular day!

I want to publicly thank Pastor Bennie Sutherland and the Dryden Road Pentecostal Church. Our Pastor and church family have rallied around us, and we are overwhelmed by their love! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We love our church family!

The loss of my Dad has been painful for our Pastor and church! I wish I could ease your pain, too! Thank you for standing with us! We are suffering together, and we will persevere together!

Bro. B.D. Sutherland has been our Pastor and DRPC has been our church home for 36 years. They have been with us through good times and bad. I do not know where we would be without them!

Dad taught me the importance of a Pastor and a church home. He lived by example, teaching me to be submissive to a Pastor and work hard to stay connected to a church family.

Over the years, we have gained many road churches that feel like home. We have special connections with several dear Pastors. Their friendship, love, counsel, prayers, and support have been needed and appreciated! Boggs Family Ministries has many great men of God in our corner. We love them all!

The top of the list was right at home, where we belong: Pastor B.D. Sutherland and DRPC. Today, I am extra grateful to belong to DRPC!

See you right here tomorrow!

Odie

Gran’s 2025 Birthday Dinner

 Hey Friends,

I hope you had a great weekend! Mom and I had a good one. On Saturday, we spent the day with our cousin Lisa. 

Sunday was spent at church with our incredible church family. We are extra blessed to be part of the DRPC family, and we have had some excellent services lately!

Between services, we had time to celebrate a special lady's birthday, which was yesterday! 

That special lady is Mom’s Mother and my Gran, Betty Jo Morgan! Happy Birthday, Gran! We love you so much! 

It was wonderful to spend a couple hours with her on her birthday. I can not tell you the last time that happened. Possibly 20 plus years!

This year it actually worked that most of the Morgan crew was there for Gran’s birthday dinner. I think the total was 20! We had a great time with family!

I cherish these moments, always have, but they are even more special now. Life is fragile. The loved ones surrounding us are valuable treasures!

I hope you enjoy a small glimpse into our celebration of the World’s Best Gran! Thank you to Joey Danies for allowing me to use a few of your pics!

See you all tomorrow!

Odie 

Snowy View And Sunday Sanity 1/12/2025

Hey Friends,

Happy Sunday! I hope you have a fantastic Lord's Day. We have had a snowy week. 

We did not leave the house for several days. By Wednesday, we were able to get out a few times, but then more snow came! I think, we can get out for church today!

Here was the view out our front door on Monday afternoon. This was probably 8-10 inches of snow.

This was our view Friday evening and yesterday after more snow came.

 

We probably added 2 more inches Friday night.

Uncle Jay came once again and shoveled everything for us. We appreciate his help, so very much!

I will close with today's Sunday Sanity. I recently heard it and instantly knew it would appear here!

"The will of God is not a destination. It is a journey."

Pastor Devin Birdsong- Pod'n Me podcast

Odie

Foodie Friday Katz Deli

Hey Friends,

Welcome to another edition of Foodie Friday. Today, we are featuring a family favorite restaurant: Katz Deli in Texas. We first tasted its goodness in October 2013. We love their Reuben sandwich.

Dad and I were always planning our next stop at Katz! We were supposed to be going in this spring. Our previous trips in 2013 and 2020 were documented here on the blog! Click here to see those posts!

Here is something Dad wrote about Katz in October 2013. It is absolutely true, and we still laugh about it.

"We have been eyeing this place and their monster Reuben sandwiches for a long time. When Bro. Goodwin asked me to come for revival I instantly decided it was the right thing to do since it was close to this heavenly Reuben."

Last month, we went to the Houston, Texas area for business. Steve and Karen joined us for the trip. I knew Katz was a must on our to-do list. Dad always wanted Uncle Steve to try a Katz Reuben, too!

Mom, me, Steve, Karen and Bro. Don Goodwin had a wonderful lunch at Katz! It was so good to be there with family and friends! We did a lot of reminiscing about good times with Dad!

Below are the pictures we took of our lunches. I am hungry just looking at these!

Stuffed cheesy potatoes were amazing!

I loved having Uncle Steve with me at Katz! I am so thankful for my Uncle Steve!

Thanks for stopping by to visit with us. See you tomorrow!

Odie

Throwback Thursday, 1/9/2025

 Hey Friends,

It is time for another photo from the archives. Mom sent this picture to me last week. I do not know the time and place it was snapped.

I love it because it is a picture of Dad and two of our wonderful friends, Bro. Mike Crafton and Bro. Kurt McCrorey. Both men have been part of our lives for a long time and hold a special place in our hearts!

Bro. Mike Crafton and his family have been our friends since I was a small girl. We reconnected with them while we were living in Kansas. They lived in Joplin, Missouri. Our families would visit the same concerts and revivals without planning it. 

Soon the three Crafton sisters and myself were super close. They became like my sisters We fellowshipped every chance we could find or create!😀

Bro.  Mike and Sis. Denise, Mom and Dad Crafton, just claimed me as their older daughter! I still love my Crafton family! Their crew now includes two son-in-laws and 7 amazing grandchildren!

Bro. Kurt and Sis Angie McCrorey became dear friends of ours in the early 2000’s. Our pastor told Dad we needed to get to know them, and he was right!

From the beginning of our first evening spending time with them we bonded. The friendship was more like family. They were with us during lots of good times and rough patches. 

It is hard to remember life without the McCrorey family! We watched their children grow up. Now they are married and have their own families. Where has time gone?!

I know they helped us move three different times. Bro. Kurt has been part of our ministry since BFM was incorporated. We are so thankful for his friendship and assistance!

We have so many great memories with the Crafton and McCrorey families! We love and appreciate all of them! Both families traveled many miles and hours to be in services with us!

I am so thankful for the excellent friends God placed in our path! We value these wonderful people! I will never forget their friendship and dedication to our family!

Thank you for joining us! See you tomorrow!

Odie

2025 Beach Cottage January Snow

Hey Friends,

Thank you to everyone who has watched, shared and commented on our latest YouTube video. We appreciate your support and encouragement! 

The video went live early Monday morning. Mom and I are still learning, but we are having fun in the process! Others will never see our bloopers, but they give us lots of laughter! 

This was our second duo video. You can watch it below if you missed it on Monday.

2025 Beach Cottage January Snow

I hope you have had a great week. It has been a week of digging out here, literally! Like many of the United States, snow covered Ohio earlier this week. 

The weatherman got this storm right. There was lots of snow, but thankfully, the ice part of the forecast was not included. We were well stocked and prepared if we lost power, and we are grateful that was not the case! 

Thanks to Mom for working hard Saturday! She had us storm ready! Thank you also to our dear friends Timmy and Rick, who helped with our preparation!

Snow started Sunday morning. By Monday, 8-10 inches of snow was on the ground in Waynesville. Mom captured these pictures in the afternoon. At this point, it was still beautiful!

Uncle Jay Osborn showed up after these pictures were taken. He shoveled my driveway, porches and sidewalks, and he made sure Mom had a path to the barn if she needed to. 

Jay's act of service in the frigid temperatures was amazing to both of us! Thank you, Jay, we love you! Several others called and texted to check on us. We appreciate their thoughtfulness!

Today, the snow is still on the ground! I am staying tucked safely inside our warm home. We are stocked on food and supplies. I have no plans to leave the comforts of home right now.

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me. See you tomorrow!

Odie