New Ministry Website!

"You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 118:28-29
God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good! I'm excited to share with you (If I haven't already) my new Ministry Website. The timing is from Him which fills me with a holy anticipation at what's to come. The website was created by a friend of mine and his wife, who have freely given of their time and efforts just to help my ministry. Brent and Dr. Jessica Richardson will be blessed by God for their faithfulness to Him...and me!!!
Please share this website with anyone you may know that might be interested in a ministry opportunity. Word of mouth is the best advertisement!! There will be a few short video and radio clips added shortly as well. If you can, please pray for me and this ministry. Prayer is the ultimate power when it comes to ministry. Many new things are on the horizon...
Check out www.karenallen.weebly.com and let me know what you think!!

Look Who's TWO!!!!

I'm not sure where the time went but Garrison will be turning two on Oct. 30th. We had his birthday party on Saturday, Oct. 24th. It was a barnyard theme. One of his favorite sayings is "YeeHaw!" and I found plates that said it! I had someone make his cake (it was so cute and tasted amazing!). He really enjoyed his friends and family! MawMaw and Big gave him a Monster Truck and he loves it! They also gave him a cowboy hat and boots (that he calls "boops") Grammy and PawPaw gave him a firetruck that makes a lot of noises and he loves to play with that too! We are so blessed to have this little man in our lives...Happy Birthday Garrison!

Pumpkins 2009

Can't believe it's already time for pumpkins!!! We decided to stay local this year and went to Magnolia Farms pumkin patch. The kids had a good time picking out their pumpkins. We carved the pumpkins when we got home and the kids did so great! Happy Fall ya'll!!!

camping fall 09

During Fall Break, we packed up our camper and went all the way to...Fort Yargo. We strategically planned it so that if we needed to come home, we could. We are quite glad for the forethought, since, of course, we did have to come home. Everything was going so well. The kids were playing so well together outside. We ate pizza and breadsticks, had a fire, roasted marshmallows and all! Around 8:00pm we went in and got everyone a bath and started a movie. We all watched it together and at 10:00pm we called it a night. Sort of. I was wanting Garrison to sleep on the pullout couch with Ryleigh. He did not think that was a good idea. He latched onto me and that was that. He slept on my chest for a few hours and everytime I tried to slide him over onto the bed, he'd hike his leg back over me. Finally at 2:30, I heard him real close to my face say, "mama"...nose, eyebrow, mouth..etc. So, at 4:30 AM, I said to Lindsey, "umm...how about I take him home!" At 4:30 AM we headed back to the comfort of our very own bed. I laid him down and he said, "nite, nite. luv you" and that was that. Despite the night, we had a great time and it was so much fun hanging with our family of five!

Addiction

I just needed to fill you in on a little addiction I have...it's called FaceBook. There must be a 12 step program...I'm waiting for it...Seriously though, Lindsey and I have just gotten into facebook and it allows you to connect with people you literally haven't seen in years and helps you keep up with those you may see every day. So, if you have a facebook account, please look us up. We have our own accounts so you'll have to ask both of us to be your friend...please? I have said it's like being thrown back to the worst time in your life...Middle School...you ask people to be your friend and HOPE they accept you. I will tell you this, it has renewed and reminded me of how many people are hurting and just need to be loved. I see their picture pop up and I am able to pray for them or send them some encouragement. I love how the Lord can use technology to glorify Him while meeting the needs of His people. I'd encourage you, if you are a FB user, you know who you are, to use this as a ministry tool. Not that you HAVE to tell people you are praying for them, but you could. It is such a visual reminder that we have so much work to do here on earth. God's people, whether they are His children or His creation, are hurting and in need of love. Lifting them up in prayer, lovin' on them as needed, and caring about them just might be what it takes to bring them Home. Anyway...I'm addicted...and I'm not ashamed.

New News

I have some new news...no, we are NOT expecting, but thanks for asking! I have another show! Yup! I got a call from my producer who said, "Would you like to co-host another show?" I think my answer was profound. It was something like, "um...duh.." I was asked to host a gospel show called Singing Southern Style. Now, I'm not a big fan of southern Gospel, but I AM a big fan of Christ and this music points right to Him...and THAT'S what I want to be a part of. This show will be airing on ION Television starting in mid February. Just to let you know, ION is also the station that our home improvement show, Remodeling: Case by Case, will be airing on hopefully mid April or so. I asked my producer if it was a conflict of interest to have two shows on the same TV network. He said, "It doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you." It doesn't bother me. My co-host is a man named Don Elrod and he has been in the radio, music, and tv industry for 40 years. He is amazing and I have so much to learn from him. My role is to help introduce music videos...a VJ if you will...It was really neat to sit down with my producer and Don and pin point my exact role for the show. My job is to connect the viewer at home with the music being played. I do that by bringing the spiritual nature of the song in connection with their own life. I get to be on tv AND talk about the Lord...yipee! This is really a rich environment for me to be in and I can't wait to see how God uses it. It will be airing on Sunday's at 5;30 pm. I'll let you know the start date and you can tune it...even if you are not crazy about southern gospel, He's crazy about you!

Goodness Alive, Josey's Five!

Yup, Jo's in a Monster Truck...she liked it waaayyy too much!

Daddy thought it would be fun for Garrison to ride the jet ski...Garrison did not.


Garrison is FINALLY walking. We thought he'd go to Kindergarten crawling...

Josey LOVED all her presents!

Josey and Ms. Betsy...by the way, she gives the BEST birthday presents!

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Josey has been in our lives...sometimes it feels like it's been longer... :) We had a wonderful time celebrating her life during her birthday celebrations! She had a party at our house on Saturday the 17th and then we celebrated her birth DAY on Monday, the 19th. Everyone was off for MLK day and we enjoyed the day together! We surprised her with a trip to Chic-Fil-A and Chuck E. Cheese. We really hoped she felt as special as she truly is! For all of you who are in Josey's life that are investing in her character, thank you so much and we pray that you will continue to pour into her qualities and characteristics that will make her as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. So, you only turn FIVE once...Happy Birthday Josey...We love you!

Christmas 2008

The sights ,the sounds and the lessons of Christmas 2008...

The Sights: Christmas at Aunt Joanne's, Christmas at MawMaw & Big's ,Christmas at Aunt Bonnie's, Christmas at Home, Christmas at Grammy and PawPaw's. Lot's of presents, presents, and more presents!

The Sounds: Squealing with delight, wrapping paper being torn to shreds, toys that make loud sounds that need to stay at the grandparents house, cardboard being cut to get the toys out, mom folding the tissue paper for next year, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer lyrics being botched and made-up by the girls...

The Lessons: On Christmas day we took the girls to "Sharing the Blessing". This was located at a local middle school where all those in our community who are in need could come and get a hot meal, a bag of food, clothes, and toys for the children. This is the second year Lindsey and I went but the first year we took the girls. It was good for the girls to see all the people who are in need and that they were able to help them. The lesson every Christmas is that we celebrate Jesus' birthday and that we receive abundantly because He gave freely. This year as well as many to follow, we hope that another lesson is learned, it really is more blessed to give then to receive.