This is my latest cake creation. I made it for my Global Expansion of the Church class. I am making one for Kristie's birthday tomorrow so I will post pictures soon.

In other news...My cousin, Maggie, has finally posted pictures of Nanny and Pa's new house. Check it out.

The Tatums Do The Big Apple!

My cousin Kristie and her husband Trent came to visit for a long weekend. They have never been to New York before so it has been so much fun to see it through thier eyes and experience it for the first time again.

They are staying with Trent's Cousin, Jordan, in Queens. Unfortunately I have not been able to see everything with them but it has been fun hearing about what I missed. They went to see "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3-D on Friday night. I think they look pretty hot in their glasses!

I was able to spend all of Saturday and Sunday with them. It rained most of the day so we decided to get tickets to a show. We got to see RENT! It was wonderful. It my first time to see it in New York so I was so excited. Jordan is an even bigger broadway fan than me so it was lots of fun to learn about all things Broadway from him. I am pretty sure Kristie and Trent enjoyed thier first broadway experience.

Yes! We saw Wicked too! Kristie and Trent originally wanted to see Wicked but it is pretty hard to get affordable tickets to it so we decided to try our luck at the lottery. I have tried about 10 times before and never won. We were all very excited when Jordan's name was called. That meant that Kristie and Trent were going to see Wicked for about half the price of the cheepest ticket. The best part was that the tickets were for the front row! Luckily Jordan heard the man behind him(that won tickets too)say that he already had tickets. So, lucky for us we were able to buy the man's tickets and all 4 of us saw the show from the front row. It was AMAZING!!!!!! It was my 3rd time to see it but I think I could see it 100 more times and not get tired of it. We were so close we could almost reach out and touch the actors. The best part of the experience was seeing Kristie and Trent's reactions. Trent was the first one to stand during the curtain call and they are already talking about getting the cd. I have one more day with them and I am stoked because I get to celebrate Kristie's birthday wit her in NYC!

How about them apples?

How many people does it take to pick a bushel of apples? About 20 if you are a part of the Risen King Alliance Church 20's group. We went to Dr. Davie's farm in Congers, New York. We went for the hayride but decided to pick apples instead.

I enjoyed the apples way too much. They were just so good. I ate 3 apples in about 30 minutes I think. Needless to say I had a little bit of a tummy ache when I got home.

This is the farm house where Dr. Davie, who was one of the first female doctors in the U.S., lived and worked back in the late 1800's.

The farm is beautiful. It has been used for lots of movies, commercials, and SNL skits.

UPDATE

For anyone who was wondering...my talk on Friday actually went really well. I got my point across, people laughed in the right places, and my prof said it was good. That was good enough for me:)

Fall is in the air

After setting a record high on Monday we finally felt the cool down yesterday. The temperature dropped throughout the day yesterday and is cool again today. We are supposed to be down in the 60's later this week. Katie and I have been eagerly waiting the cool weather for about a month now. It is funny that a girl from the south is wishing for the cooler weather. Anyway...Katie and I have decided that we truly think that fall is our favorite time of the year. I have always affectionately referred to it as "Football Weather." That doesn’t really work here though. All of this to say that I am happy to report that fall is here! And I think I might be able to officially retire the summer clothes this weekend and pull out my winter ones! Woohoo for autumn cleaning! Once the leaves reach thier peak I will post some!

Speech 101 didn't prepare me for this...

I did well in my required speech class at Judson...but I completly fell apart when I tried to speak for 2 minutes today. Having my speech written out in front of me and basically reading from it does not cut it in Preaching 101...at least if you don't want to be ripped apart by the prof. So, I took my 12 notecards up for my 2 minute talk and started out doing pretty well without them. By the time I got to what I should have been saying on card 6 my mind completly left me and never came back. I totally forgot what my last "powerful statement" was going to be and pretty much ended with ..."ok, that's it" Yeah...all I really wanted to do at that moment was run to the bathroom and cry( I had to wait about 4 hours to do that). My Prof commented that he liked the accent, which was one of those things that I was trying to concentrate on toning down, but that I needed to basically make a point and tie it up instead of giving to many details about something that didnt matter. I assured him that I had it written much more eloquently than I had spoken it and he quickly reminded me that this was a communications class so how I communiated it was all that was important.
Anyway...Once I got home, after having to go babysit, I let God have it. How could He let me fail so badly when this is something that I know he has called me to do. Not only did He call me to take this class but I believe that public speaking(maybe a little preaching) of some sort is going to be in my future. Is this my main calling? I don't think so. But, it is going to be a large enough part of my life that God saw fit for me to take this class.
As I was wallowing in my shame and venting to God I was reminded a few of my favorite verses. Psalm 139 reminded me that God knew me before I was even formed and he knows every word that I will speak before I speak it...even if it's embarrasing. I am fearfully and wonderfully made! While reading this chapter I read the first few verses before it. Psalm 138:8 says, The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love , O Lord, endures forever do not abandon the works of your hands. I know that today was a failure but God does have a purpose for me. I most likely will not be some powerful preacher but He is going to use me...even my imperfections. When I am weak He is strong. I think I just need to learn how to be weak...maybe that is what He is teaching me. I'm not sure. What I am sure about is it's not fun and I am going to mess up. But The Father has a purpose for me and he loves me even if I totally fail at a 2 minute talk.

I learn something new everyday...but I still need lots of practice

This is my newest creation. I have now completed the first course and graduated onto Course II. I'm super excited and loving every minute of it!

Dillon in New York

I knew Aunt Patty, Uncle Cal, and Dillon would love Ellen's Stardust Diner because the servers sing the entire time. I had no idea the ladies would love Dillon so much though. Two of the servers came over and sang right to him. I think he liked it more than he let on.
I love this picture. It just makes me happy! Isn't Dillon Handsome:)

The McIntires do New York

This was pretty much the scene of the trip. Like father like son. The first night they were here Aunt Patty and I went to see Mary Poppins while the boys did Time Square. The next morning we started out with the Statue of Liberty. After a little scare about the tickets we set out to see Lady Liberty herself. From the beginning of the ferry ride the boys were taking pictures. It was soo exciting to see Dillon's dream come true.

If you ever want to have a 360 degree view of the Statue of Liberty just ask Dillon. He took pictures all around from every level.

After the Statue of Liberty we went to the birthplace of Theodore Rosevelt. This was one of the many stops for Dillon on his history tour. After leaving there I got to show them some of my favorite parts of the city. I had to take Dillon to Dylan's Candy Bar. It is a candy lovers dream. Dillon took off and went straight for the sour patch kids.

Next we went to Central Park and rested our tired feet while we ate our treats from Dylans.