Happy Veterans Day

Today November 11th, is Veterans Day. A holiday that was started as marking peace at the end of WWI. On November 8, 1954, it was changed from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. This is a day we honor those that have served our country to protect the rights that we have. To make it where each and every one of us can have an opinion, to disagree, or to not care if we so choose. To the men and women who have served our country through our nation's military the Tillitson Clan thanks you, and will continue to thank you.

Síochána a bheith agat le,
Tillitson Clan

I Love Christmas Time

Now I know what most of you are thinking, "November Just Started!!!"

But those who know me, know that Christmas is my FAVORITE time of the year. But yesterday was one of my favorite things to do at this time of year, and this year we've added more lights. For the first time since we moved into the house we have put lights onto the second floor.

First we started putting up the decorations in the house, tree, stockings, banister lights, swag lights off the balcony, etc. We even put some empty present boxes under the tree (we already gave each other our gifts when we bought the new tv last weekend. Overall it went pretty smoothly.

Putting up the outside lights was a whole different game. While trying to get up to the second floor, the ladder slid down while i was on it, that was fun, but i did get onto the roof without dieing. while up there i found where the two shingles that we found on the ground went, so i went ahead and repaired them. After trying to hang light with the shingle holders i found out the weight of the lights kept pulling them off, so we had to come up with something else. Lauren suggested running them along gutter on the side of the house, to allow them to be seen on Matlock. This worked great!!! So we got that done, and as i was walking back to the ladder i tripped on my jeans and freaked out Lauren for a second time. I did make it back down though, with out an injury. During this Lauren was decorating the trees and swing in the from lawn with lights as well as setting up the big penguin. While putting up the lights in front of the garage, I forgot to take into account that the drive way slopes down. While climbing the ladder it started to fall out from under me as I was climbing onto the roof again, fortunately it balanced back out after i got onto the roof. (otherwise it would have fallen on the car) Around this time it was getting dark, but we continued. We had enough lights to hang on the Matlock side on the first floor so we did. We got all of this plugged in and I realized to get the little penguins and snowmen plugged in, I need another extension cord and Lauren realized that only half of the lights on the swing did not work. We tried to fix it, but we couldn't figure out which light was out, so we said we'll finish it in the morning.

Today after church we went and got an extension cord and a net light to put on one of the bushes. When we got home, I set up the net light and got out the penguins and snowmen. Lauren replaced the swing lights with another set we had. While setting up the penguin and snowmen, i noticed that the snowmen are made with a more fragile plastic when i break the bottom out of one while attaching it. So as the saying goes "if duct tape can't fix it, it's not worth fixing" so i duct taped it on, and it worked. But we have all of the decorations done, and hope you enjoy the pictures, more of them will be on facebook.

Síochána a bheith agat le,
Tillitson Clan

Nice Hard Work

On Saturday, Lauren and I decided to make a new flowerbed in our front yard. First we went to Ace Hardware to get topsoil, mulch, etc. and then we got to work. I spent 3 1/2 hours shoveling out the ground that was heavily rooted, so of course now i'm sore. We then began planting, laying the soil and the mulch. We've surrounded it with brick, have a set of stepping stones, a few potted plants, and some statue critters in the bed. Now we just have to wait till spring for it to start growing. As sore as I am, I love doing yard work, and being able to see the results of it. I look forward to the spring a little more now.

Until Next Time,
Tillitson Clan

To Do It Again

Tomorrow we start classes again, both Lauren and I. As we are getting ready we notice changes that are good, changes that are not, and that somethings will never change. But we both look forward to the new school year, and are ready for what is to come (for the most part), but we appreciate all of your prayers that you have sent, are sending, and will send for us.

Until Next Time,
Tillitson Clan

It's been a couple of weeks I guess

SO I realize that it has been a couple of weeks.

Not much has happened. On the fence we finished painting it and putting kick boards in. I had my wisdom teeth taken out last Wednesday.

We had fun with Lauren's family over 4th of July. I thought about writing a nice little story about how God made it possible for us to become this great nation we are, but I decided I couldn't do the story justice. SO maybe another time.

Lauren goes back to work on July 13th, and I go back on July 15th.

Until Next Time,
Tillitson Clan

P.S.: I don't think I'll put a link on Twitter and Facebook to get here, I just don't feel the need to today.

Thank You Lord, For Allowing Us To Build A Fence

So we rebuilt the fence this week, we started on Sunday evening and finished it today.

On Sunday we began taking down some of the panels, and a few of the posts. Joe was there to help us that evening, and he ended up having a post break and in response it busted joe's head open. (we did avenge his head 2 days later).

On Monday, David Reed came and mowed our lawn (we had had problems with my mower and Joe came and halep0ed out some more. We also set the post on one side of my yard.

On Tuesday we got another blessing, we had all of this old fence and couldn't hall it all easily. Well some guys came up and asked if they could have some of the old panels and we said sure. We also set the post on the street side of my yard. Jerry and Cory also came over and helped us put up the panels on the first side of my yard. Then we dug new holes for the gate side, and set the posts.

On Wednesday we continued to put up panels, and more people came and took the old panels. We also continued to put up panels on the street side. That evening we put up the gate side panels.

On Thursday, we halled off what was left of the fence (most of it was already taken) and put up the gate. We did run into some problems with the gate, but it is nothing we really need to worry about.

I do want to thank some people for this. God, none of it could have been possible with out you. Mark, my father-in-law, whom probably worked harder on this fence than anyone. Joe, we couldn't have done it with out your tools, and i enjoyed the extra help you gave us. Jerry and Cory, you sped up the work load a great deal. And finally my wife Lauren, You helped where ever we needed you and made sure we didn't dehydrate, I love you so much.

Until Next Time,
Tillitson Clan

P.S.: We do still have a few things to do now that the fence is built, so if you want to help we would greatly appreciate it.

Leadership Training Camp

I don't want to get to into this here, if you want to know what all happened just ask me i'll let you know.

So I went to LTC this year, and it was a blast. I met a lot of great guys and had a lot of fun. Like I said, i'm going to keep this sweet and simple... God used LTC to do something that i've needed for a long time. He used it to humble me, to a point that I have never been before. It reminded me of things that I knew I should have been doing but had stopped. Through all of this, I rededicated my life to Jesus Christ.

I thought i'd leave you with a picture I took while at camp yesterday.


















Until Next Time,
Tillitson Clan