Monday started out with a call from my mom.  She informed me that Brad died Sunday night.  Brad was the oldest son of my cousin Ricky Hurt and his wife Linda.  Brad was 34.  Ricky is just a few years older than I am. They have another son, Willie, and a daughter, Mallory.  Brad was the oldest of the three.

I grew up in Aberdeen, MS, and Ricky and his family grew up in Ripley, MS.  Ripley is about 80 miles north of Aberdeen.  The majority of Hurts still live in Ripley or not more than a rocks throw from there.  I was born in Ripley.  We didn't see each other often, but I remember holidays spent together as well as weekend visits and extended summer vacation visits.  

I have very fond memories of all the cousins hunting Easter eggs together and playing games until late in the summer nights at our Mammaw and Pappaw Hurt's house.  I haven't seen the Mississippi Hurts in several years, I hate to say.  It is sad that you loose touch with your extended family through the years as you grow up, get married, and have families of your own.  

It amazes me, after a few short minutes of reunion, we pick right up where we left off even if it has been several years since our last visit.  Of course we have to get caught up on what everyone is doing in their lives and hear about the children having children.  Family is special!  You need each other in times of tragedy -- especially in times involving a death in the family.

I will never forget the 8mm home movies we have of one particular Easter.  I was 3 or 4 years old and carrying my Easter basket full of candy around the house.  Ricky snuck up behind me to snatch a piece of chocolate from my basket only to have his parents make him return it.  Of course, he had no idea the camera was rolling and it's now used as evidence against him.  Funny stuff.

It has been really sweet, even in such a difficult day, to see the family I haven't seen in such a long time. Please pray for Ricky and Linda and the entire family.

Christmas this year has been awesome!  I am really not ready for it all to be over...to tell you the truth. However, today we find ourselves taking down the tree, wrapping ornaments and storing decorations. Everything is getting back to normal and we are getting set to charge into the new year.  I thought I would share some highlights from this years holiday.

The Christmas Eve service was a highlight this year.  I want to thank Josh and Travis for planning this years service.  It was a very special time of worship as we celebrated the birth of the Christ Child. How special was it to see it snow on stage at the end of the service only to walk outside into the falling snow that gave us the first white Christmas in many years.

We came home from the service to sit down to an amazing dinner Debbie had prepared all day.  The turkey, dressing and all the trimmings were scrumptious!  It is always fun to eat "at the dinner table" and laugh and talk together.  It just doesn't get any better than that!

Josh (and Walter, his puppy) spent the night with us on Christmas Eve.  That is fun!  For the first time, we had to wait on Emily and Drew to get to the house Christmas morning to open our gifts together.  Debbie fixed a big breakfast following the opening of gifts and we finished off the day with a movie matinee.  

Our favorite gift was from the kids this year.  They snuck off and had some pictures taken by AJ at Photographing Sound.  We are having a hard time narrowing down which one to order for the package of pix's they got us.  Check them out at: http://www.photographingsound.com/index2.html  Once there click on Client Proofing and the User Name is terry and the Password is debbie.  Help us pick the winners!  :-)

We made a quick trip to Texas to have Christmas with my family.  It is quite a crew when we all get together but it is always active and fun.  We attended church at mom and dad's church, ate lunch and headed home Sunday afternoon.  It was a quick trip but we had a great time.

We didn't get to see Deb's mom this year.  It turns out there was a flu outbreak at the nursing home where she resides and we wouldn't have been able to see her as they locked the facility down.  We will make a trip to Mississippi to check on her in a couple of weeks.

About the only thing that remains now are the memories and a bit of glitter on the floor that is difficult to get up. I am already looking forward to dragging it all out and doing it again next year!

Getting ready to wrap up the day or at least until we GO for Go Night and thought I would post a little holy pride...the good kind.  There is a self centered...all about me kind of pride that the Lord hates but today I agree with Paul when he said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7:4, "I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you."

Sunday was such a visual statement of what God is doing in our church.  We are in a paradigm shift that is taking us out of our seat and into the street.  Sunday we saw and heard testimonies from 10 groups that represented local, domestic and international teams that went on mission with God in 2009.  That is awesome!  Our church is getting a global vision of the Kingdom.  

I appreciate Bro. Danny for his leadership and direction in missions and evangelism.  I believe we will have even more involvement in 2010 with more people on mission with God.  Next year we may have to go to 2 services to see and hear all the testimonies!  I am really proud of the work we have done this year and look forward to more ministry accomplishments next year!

I failed to mention Chris and Paige's dilemmas in my last post.  Chris has been working with Aaron in the hauling wood detail when he wasn't at the Ford dealership.  Chris's truck blew a head gasket on the way up last weekend. So he has spent a couple of days dealing with that.  The closest dealership is 2 hours away which makes it a bigger deal from Zortman.  This is a remote place!  He got his truck back late yesterday afternoon and so far all is well.  Again, please pray for God's favor and protection for everyone as we begin the trip home today.

Today started off early...real early...and accidentally early.  I have been using my iPhone as my alarm this week.  Last night I turned the alarm on and set it for 6:30 AM like I have every night this week.  It was midnight before I crashed last night so I was disappointed this morning when my phone woke me.  I noticed it was unusually quiet and the lights weren't on in the dining room.  I thought everyone is dragging this morning and sleeping in a bit. So I get up, get dressed and go drink coffee with Frue, Linda King and Mr. Albert Cates.  I find a quiet place and have my quiet time and still no one stirring.  During breakfast I asked someone what time it was and Frue said 6:45.  With no cell service in Zortman my phone is still thinking Central time which meant I got up at 5:30 Mountain time and I had no idea.  Funny but it sure made the day long!

It was 25 degrees this morning when we left the Network building where we are staying and headed for the camp.  There was still about 4 inches of snow on everything so it was a very cold start.  Aaron Helms split and stacked wood and the other men and I continued work on the building.  We needed to have a good day to finish up because today was our last full day of work and there was flooring and electrical to finish.  I have enjoyed getting to know and working along side Mr. Albert Cates.  I have known who he was but I have known him as Heather's dad.  He is a working machine.  He pulled wire and installed several new outlets throughout the building as well as installing new florescent fixtures.  Mac Green helped him along the way as well as helping with the flooring and of course he kept things light and hopping.  Jack Tate has been his usual well thought out and prepared builder and supervisor.  Ted Applegate knows a lot about everything mechanical and in construction.  Lloyd Stem and I rounded out the construction team.  Lloyd and Aaron also helped take the clowns (Cheryl Stem, Shelly Green and Kay Newman) and other ladies (Frue Tate, Heather Cates and Hadlie and Linda King) to the various areas and schools where they did skits and served meals to the people.

It has been a very busy week but a very blessed and successful week.  We are very grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to be light in a very dark area.  Pastor Bruce Plummer needs help, support and prayers as he shares the gospel on the reservation as well as ministers to the physical and spiritual needs of the people.

We have a few small items to finish up with in the morning and then we plan to be packed up and driving out of Zortman at noon tomorrow.  Please be praying for traveling grace for the team as we head home.  I fly home Saturday and am looking forward to worship Sunday!  How blessed we are in Lavaca, AR!!

A video chat with Debbie and Katie was a great way to finish the day.  With no cell service I have not been able to just pick up the phone and call her.  Even though the internet connection is slower than home it was fast enough for video chat.  So good to see her and talk to her...Katie too!