Andrew Alpaugh Blast From the Past

Dearest Tyler, we hope you know how special you are to our family and how much we love you. Happy Birthday with much love! Dad, Mom, Emily and Bryson

Last Thursday my sweet Husband celebrated his 38th birthday while on vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tn. Tyler stayed with Em and B so we could go out for a nice dinner alone. We enjoyed a yummy dinner from Logan's then went back for cake with the kids. As always if you would like to view the pics just go to our web album or click HERE !

Below are four questions to test your perception, reasoning and the quickness of your logical processing. They are stated simply so you should try to answer them instantly. To assure the accuracy of the results, you should not take your time, but instead, answer each of them immediately. OK? Let's find out just how clever you really are.... Ready? GO!!! (scroll down slowly to uncover Q's and A's ) First Question: You are a participant in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in? * * * * * * * * * * * * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Answer : If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely WRONG! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, YOU are in second place! Second Question : I f you overtake the last person, then you are...? (scroll down) * * * * * * * * * * * * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Answer : If you answered that you are second to last, then

Happy Birthday tooooooooo youuuuuuuuu- Happy Birthday DEAREST Drewby, Happy Birthday toooooooo youuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The most WONDERFUL man in the whole world, and I'm the LUCKIEST girl in the whole world. I LOVE YOU BABE!

Today marks Bryson's 23rd month of life on the 23rd day of the month! My baby will be 2 in just 1 month. Time flies! As we sit here in Pigeon Forge on our family vacation it is finally somewhat quiet in our room now that he is in bed asleep. We have had some difficulty keeping him in his pack-n-play! He is so smart and so fun yet at the same time such a challenge! WoW! Nobody really knows except us! So far he is not fond of the water which is so strange to me since he loves to take a bath. I'm still trying to figure out if it's the coldness of the water in the pools or just the chaotic noise at the parks. Oh-well- maybe next year. Will write more later... well mabye!

I know I need You I need to love You I love to see You, but it's been so long I long to feel You I feel this need for You And I need to hear You, is that so wrong? Now You pull me near You When we're close, I fear You Still I'm afraid to tell You, all that I've done Are You done forgiving? Oh can You look past my pretending? Lord, I'm so tired of defending, what I've become What have I become? I hear You say, "My love is over. It's underneath. It's inside. It's in between. The times you doubt Me, when you can't feel. The times that you question, 'Is this for real? ' The times you're broken. The times that you mend. The times that you hate Me, and the times that you bend. Well, My love is over, it's underneath. It's inside, it's in between. These times you're healing, and when your heart breaks. The times that you feel like you're falling from grace. The times you're hurting. The times that you heal. The

A.C.T.S. is an acronym for a model of prayer that offers to God our adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. It is often difficult to pray. Perhaps we don't really know how to pray. Sometimes we may not feel we're "qualified" to pray, or we feel we don't have the right to pray for some reason. Using the ACTS model for prayer, it will be very easy to pray, even if you've never really prayed in the past. ACTS praying doesn't require any great knowledge of or study about prayer, but praying in this way is personal, effective, and powerful. This method of prayer is ideal even for young children with a limited vocabulary or for those inexperienced at prayer. Seasoned pray ers can use it too. There are many references to the various elements of ACTS prayer in the Bible, so we can be assured it is proper and appropriate to follow this model. In Philippians chapter 4, verse 6, the apostle Paul writes, " Have no anxiety about anything, but in

Isaiah 25:1 O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Praise the Lord William Law, in his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, wrote, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives the most alms, or is best known for temperance, chastity, or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it." Isaiah certainly fits Law's definition of a great saint. Even though this Old Testament prophet lived in a time of tremendous political upheaval, he never lost his sense of awe at God's greatness. He could see God at work doing "wonderful things." And despite the danger and peril that surrounded him, Isaiah was always ready to sing

Tyler is our oldest child getting ready to turn 14 this month. Back in January he met a lovely girl from church (Mattie) who also plays guitar. They have become really good friends. Ahhhhhhhhhh!! I am not ready for this! Anyways- last weekend we took them downtown for pizza and walked around Falls Park. They picked "their" spot and played a little guitar and we got to hear Mattie sing. :-) Here are just a couple of pictures we took.

Dear President Obama: You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American. You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core. You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others. You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail. You scare me because you are a cheerleader

In the hospital the relatives gathered in the waiting room, where their family member lay gravely ill. Finally, the doctor came in looking tired and somber. “I’m afraid I’m the bearer of bad news,” he said as he surveyed the worried faces. The only hope left for your loved one at this time is a brain transplant. It’s an experimental procedure, risky and you will have to pay for the brain yourselves. The family members sat silent as they absorbed the news. After a great length of time, someone asked, “Well, how much does a brain cost? The doctor quickly responded, “$5,000 for a male brain, and $200 for a female brain.” The moment turned awkward. Men in the room tried not to smile, avoiding eye contact with the women, but some actually smirked. A man, unable to control his curiosity, blurted out the question everyone wanted to ask. “Why is the male brain so much more?” The doctor smiled at the childish innocence and so to the entire group said, “It’s just standard pricing procedure. We h