Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Thankful For My Friend Amanda Hasty

Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in from West Plains, Missouri. We are thrilled to spend this pre-Thanksgiving weekend with our friends at Junction Hill Pentecostal Church. This weekend, we will add many wonderful memories to our collection with the Galiher family!

This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in America. Happy Thanksgiving 2023! 


We will be spending Thursday together with our little family. I am so thankful for my parents and the life we get to live! God has blessed us abundantly! I will forever be grateful to Him!

In November, I have used my posts here to be extra thankful. The first Saturday was about Heaven. Last week, I focused on our Veterans. Today, I am thankful for our friends.

Right now, we are with some of the best people I know! I am thankful for our friendship with the Bro. Dwain, Sis. Brenda Galiher and their entire family. They are amazing people! I am grateful that God allowed our paths to cross and connect! I will forever treasure their love, encouragement and friendship! It does not matter where we see them; they are our friends. We can pick up where the last visit ended.

God has used Bro. Dwain's preaching to help all three of us through the years! He is a man of God who is not ashamed to preach the truth. I count it an honor to know him as our friend!

Dad and I often write about many wonderful people God has placed in our lives. We would not be where we are today without the countless people who have stood by us, prayed for us and encouraged us along the way!

Looking back over my life, I am amazed at how many childhood friends are still my friends today. I was homeschooled. One question I received from people sometimes was, "How did you make friends growing up?" I did not have trouble making friends.

We were always going to different churches. My friend group has always been a bright spot in my life. Many of you have been our friends for the long haul. Some of you may be new friends, but we are always excited to add new friends!

My Friend Amanda Hasty

There is a special lady I want to feature right now. One of my long time friends is Amanda Hasty. We were toddlers when our families met. Therefore, my life has mostly included memories of Manda! We grew up attending the same church at Dryden Road. We spent many hours together for Sunday school and children's church. Oh, the fun we had together!

Then, our families were neighbors for over two of our preteen years. Amanda and I spent many hours playing together during that time. We played house, church, school, cowboy and Indians and went to many places in our imaginations. Those are some of my favorite childhood memories!

Amanda also loved talking on the phone back then. She would call me, and we talked on the phone whenever we could not be outside. The daily phone conversations continued when I moved to another house in Ohio.

Things changed when we moved to Wichita, Kansas. Amanda was heartbroken. I kept being her friend! Amanda was upset with me for moving! I could not convince her that moving was hurting me, too!

The funny thing was she was always Dad's friend! She was thrilled to see him when we came home to visit! I got the cold shoulder. It was hilarious. Dad was the reason why I moved away. Somehow, to Amanda, I was the bad guy in the scenario! Our family just had to laugh about the situation!


24 years later, we are past it all. This year, she proudly introduced me as her best friend again. I was thrilled to have the official friend status back. 😎 I never quit loving her, but it took her a long time to recover from losing me to another state.

Amanda's parents, Bro Mith and Sis. Mary Hasty pastor another church in the Dayton, Ohio, area. We do not get to see them often. I was glad to see Amanda a few times at church this summer.


November 16th was her 37th birthday. Happy belated birthday, Amanda! I love you, my sweet friend! Thank you for being my friend. You are precious! You always bring a smile to my face!

Amanda is a beautiful person, and I am so glad we grew up together. Everybody loves Manda! Across the country, people who have met her in the past never forget her. We have people asking about her frequently.

Church is her favorite place to be! She is happiest working at the altar, helping others pray! I am thankful for her prayers! I know God hears her prayers!

I hope you enjoyed meeting Amanda today! Thanks for spending a moment of your day here. Thank you to all of you for being my friends! See you next week.

Odie

Saturday, September 2, 2023

The Isaacs In Blanchester, Ohio August 2023

Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in for another Saturday post. I hope you are doing well today. Things are going good for me. I have enjoyed my time at home the last couple of weeks. We have been busy but had a blast in the process.

Today, I will give you a glimpse into one of our fun days. We were able to see The Isaacs for an afternoon and evening. They were 30 minutes away from us, in Blanchester, Ohio.

We were thrilled to see, visit, and hear our family again! Yes, we just saw them two months ago in Oklahoma. Click here if you missed that post. I was ecstatic to be with my family again and not have to wait so long between visits. I could see them every week and not get tired of it!

Elevation Community Church hosted this night with the Isaacs. This was the first event in a worship series the church is starting. They picked a fantastic group to begin the new endeavor to reach their community.

Pastor Phil Nelson and everyone connected to the church were friendly and accommodating. It was a wonderful evening! Below are my pictures from that night.

I had to get a picture of Mom and Sonya together. Two of my favorite ladies in one photo!


Becky is an amazing person! Love her so much! She is high atop my vocal heroes list!


I am the self-proclaimed Ben Isaacs #1 Fan! Ben proudly has me show off my phone case, declaring my fan status to others around. I do love my Ben! He loves me back deeply!


I loved spending some time with my sweet cousin Evya Yeary! She is always making me laugh!


Levi Bowman will forever be my buddy! He is a sweetheart!


VeeVee works so hard, mainly behind the scenes. She is a wonderful lady!


Ready for a night of excellent music and singing.


The night kicked off with the song Walk On.


Josh Swift is an incredible addition to the band. The dobro is one of my favorite instruments.


Greg Ritchie is a phenomenal percussionist! I love getting to hear him showcase his talents! 


I love hearing my family! I have lost count of how many times we have seen them perform. We have crossed paths with them in around 17 states.
  


Every time I hear them, I sit in awe with a gigantic smile on my face. It just keeps getting better. I am trying to figure out how the best of the best keeps improving!





Becky has come so far since her car wreck last year. She is a walking miracle! Thank you for helping us pray for her. She still has daily hardships! We will continue to pray and believe for her total miracle!


The Awesome Ben Isaacs!


Becky's son Levi Bowman.



The Isaacs 




Sonya is still picking and grinning and never misses a note! WOW!





The Kippahs "help" Josh and Greg play in Hebrew. 😂


We love Aunt Lily!


It is fun when Gatlyn and Evya join the Isaacs on stage!


I want to sing like Evya when I grow up. 😍



Gatlyn is already multi-talented!






We were thrilled to see Julia and Jordan! 


I often do not see my beautiful cousin, Amanda, so this was a treat.


A selfie with Jordan. He is the life of the party!


Cousin Deb and me.


This is two more cousins, Matt and Jacob Isaacs.


That wraps up my recap of the Isaacs in Blanchester, Ohio. Who knows when or where we will connect with them next time? I can tell you this much: I am already looking forward to it!

Thanks for reading. See you next time.
Odie

Friday, September 1, 2023

End of August Pictures From Odie

Hey Friends,

Welcome to September! This is Odie. I am here today, with a look at my week in pictures. I hope you enjoy a glimpse of my week. This is what I captured between trying to recuperate from campmeeting last week, my tech support calls and trying to fix internet connectivity issues.

I have been having internet issues due to a storm last week. The lady at our internet provider informed me that the original modem had passed away.


The replacement modem the company sent out. Thank you to Papaw, Uncle Jay and Uncle Steve for their personal technical support. It has been a long process all week. Hopefully, now things are headed toward being fully corrected.


Tuesday night, I went to church at DRPC.







Wednesday afternoon, I enjoyed the beautiful weather. I took some time to sit on my porch. Can you believe the wind blowing caused me to get a vest on?


This was my view of the Super Blue Moon Wednesday night. It was extremely bright and beautiful! Pictures could not do it justice! God's handiwork is amazing!



Thursday, I was able to be part of a birthday dinner for my Aunt Patty Boggs. She loves Alcapulco. It was great to spend time with my family!



This is my Mamaw Martha with two sisters-in-law, Patty and Connie.


Food time.





Alcapulco salsa, the star of the show!



Nacho fries with steak is one of my Alcapulco favorites.



Lisa with her enchiladas.



I was thankful to spend some time with Lisa! She is truly a wonderful person! We love her!



Happy Birthday, Aunt Patty!





I love my sweet cousin Deb!



Our friend Jorge stopped by to check on Papaw. He could see Papaw was surrounded by women.


A selfie with Papaw.



Horse fun.



I had to get a photo with two of my great aunts, Aunt Patty Boggs and Aunt Connie Miller.



The after dinner Alcapulco selfie, Odie, Papaw, Mamaw, Lisa, Connie and Patty.



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

Odie