It's been literally months since I wrote a blog...not because of a shortage of things to write about, but a shortage of time to sit and focus on putting thoughts together.  I miss sharing my life with people via blogging...so I will hopefully do better at keeping up with this in 2011.  Here are just a few tidbits from our year....kind of a snapshot of the 'goings on' in the Barnett life.

Took my first, and hopefully last, trip to Las Vegas in January.  We went to set up and man a booth at the Shot Show for our business, Elzetta Design.  I had heard many things about the city, and it was all the things I'd heard.  I guess I can say I'm glad I've seen the skyline...but I have no desire to ever return.  


I've enjoyed getting to know a new church body at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Cynthiana.  It has been a high blessing to be pastored by David Sabella and to feel the love of Christ shown through him and his wife, Fran.  In the picture here to the right, I'm at the Pastor's house for a fellowship gathering.  Kinley and Jacob are on my knees having a horsey race.  Great fun, great laughs, and great exercise.

In the early Spring, it was a blessing to be involved in pulling together the first Annual Celebrate Life Walk in Paris.  It was a great success and so much fun.  We were able to bring in Nina Bell from Concerned Women for America, who graciously shared her testimony, having had an abortion herself in her young years and growing to receive redemption and forgiveness through Christ.  A young lady shared her story from The Nile, which is a group home ministering to women in crisis pregnancy situations.  Rand Paul, now our U.S. Senator, spoke about his passion for the protection of all life, including but not limited to the unborn.  It was an all around great event, even though our actual 'walk' was in the pouring rain. 

My precious nephew, Urriah Paul, was born on May 14th.  He popped out so quickly, my brother nearly missed it.  He weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 oz....only 2 ounces smaller than my own boy was so many years ago.    Just a few weeks later, I had the wonderful blessing of being in the room with my sister Jen when she had her 6th blessing, little Karalynn.  What an exciting experience that was!  Praise the Lord for His lovingkindness shown so clearly to me and my Sisters and Brothers in Christ.

My brother, Steve, auditioned for "America's Got Talent" this year.  That was exciting! 
I wish I could have gone with him to Chicago, but I'm sure it was an awesome experience.  The Lord saw fit to keep him home with his family this year, since they had the addition of their 4th baby boy.  So, it seems it has all worked out perfectly, even though he wasn't called in this time for the show.  Who knows what the future holds.

My husband and I had the greatest time attending a 3 day Pistol Course with Threat Solutions in Cave City.  What a total blast!!! Even though the temperatures were soaring in the high 90's, it was a great time, and a great education.  We also got certified to teach Concealed Carry Classes, which I'm now doing on the side. 


My business, which I named 'Keeping the Piece', is focused primarily on equipping women with basic pistol skills and getting them licensed to carry concealed.  I absolutely love doing this and hope it will grow in the years to come.  If you're interested, you can visit my website at www.KeepingthePiece.com to learn more about what I'm doing.

I always look forward to Spring and Summer when the beautiful flowers come to life in my yard.  This was by far the prettiest year for my hydrangeas and gladiolas.  I just can't thank God enough for the beauty of flowers and eyesight to enjoy them.



We were blessed to be very involved in Rand Paul's U.S. Senate campaign.  What exciting news it was when we heard he'd won the primary against Trey Greyson...and then the final election against Jack Conway.  We were cheering for weeks!






We didn't shoot our AR15's as much this year, but did get to enjoy a few outings with some of my husband's friends.  It's always a BLAST to shoot these guns.
















We had another double-birthday celebration this year for Solomon and his Grandpa Bogie.  They both celebrate the gift  of life on May 9, and now we look forward to celebrating together each year.  GG came to join in the celebration, and Solomon enjoyed building a roller coaster, which was a gift from Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bogie.  Very neat gift!

Solomon and I went to a Wrestling Match with my parents, Granny & Grandpap.  It was hilarious, and the boys enjoyed trying on their funny masks.  We laughed the entire evening...until my cheeks hurt. Great memories.




 
It seems like my little boy is growing up too fast.  We stopped on the way to Liberty and took these pictures.  I love spur of the moment photo shoots, and always get great pictures in this area around Liberty.  We make lots of memories going there for picnics and just to see the ducks swim on the lake.   Needless to say, my boy is growing into a man quicker than I can stand.  But, I am blessed beyond words to be his momma and I love him dearly.


 







My husband got me the most AMAZING birthday present ever!!!  A Springfield emp...which I've literally been drooling over for several years.  It was the biggest surprise in the world and I think I danced around the house for 10 minutes after opening the box!  I absolutely  LOVE it!




I taught my first Women's Basic Pistol Course with Eric Dean of Threat Solutions.  We held the class at Canoe Creek Ranch in Lancaster.  My Mom and my Mother-in-law both participated in the class and did extremely well.  It was so exciting to have them in my first one.  What a blessing. In this photo to the left, my Mother-in-Law, Karen, shoots my Sig Mosquito.



Now it's December...quickly approaching Christmas.  Here's what's going on with us now.  I'm teaching homeschool during the week and loving every minute of the blessing of filling my son's mind with good information.  It is a joy to watch him grow and listen to his questions....just experience learning alongside him.  What a joy!  Also, the Lord has me teaching lots of Women's Concealed Carry and Basic Pistol on the weekends, and even some weeknights.  Soon, I'll be adding about 8 hours per week at a local gun store to help bring money in for the family so my husband can continue to pursue his dream of running his own company, Elzetta. In spare time, if I can find any, I like to play my piano, read good books, and watch movies with my boy.  

My husband, Dave, is excited about all the new things going on with his business.  He has just released a new product called the Elzetta ZSM, which is a tactical flashlight mount for a shotgun.  He and his partner will be travelling to Vegas next month for the Shot Show.  If you're a Shot Show attendee, visit his booth # 8406!  

My son is interested in the military, Legos, and reading TONS of interesting books.  He had the unfortunate excitement of breaking his humerus last month...and it wasn't very humerous at all.  He broke it just under the growth plate, which was too far up near the shoulder to cast it.  So he spent a month in a sling with basically no support or protection around this broken bone.  He had to sleep in a recliner, which wasn't very comfortable, but he was a good sport and handled the pain and frustration better than any person I've seen.   He's such a wonderful kid...God encourages me through him every day.

As you can see, life around our house is pretty full, but very blessed and I am thankful beyond words for the goodness of God.

This has been a super-blessed weekend as we've enjoyed visiting with my husband's parents, Bogie & Karen.  We played Bible-themed Putt Putt on Friday afternoon after a nice lunch at The Rock Cafe.  Today we had a great double Birthday celebration for Solomon's 11th and Bogie's 75th, along with Mother's Day celebration for me, my Mom and Dave's Mom, Karen.  What a great time of fellowship, yummy food, neat gifts, and rich double-layer chocolate cake, which Solomon helped me bake yesterday morning.  Later this afternoon, my husband and his father went to the range to shoot a new revolver while Karen, Solomon, and I walked through the little antique stores on Paris' Main Street. Then, a nice dinner together and lots of time uploading photos to Facebook pages.  Below is a link to the album of pictures we've uploaded for this weekend's festivities.  Hope you enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045052&id=1159232409&l=32bbf9adfe

Our Christmas this year was sort of stretched out over a couple weeks as we celebrated with both sides of our family in little snippets.  We celebrated with my brother and his wife a week before and really enjoyed our time of fellowship and a yummy dinner lovingly prepared by my Sister-in-law.  After dinner and presents, my brother and I played piano and sang while Dave and Dana sat together playing shooting games on the Iphone. LOL! 

Next, we celebrated at home, just before our travels northward to see my in-laws, Bogie and Karen.  We gathered around the Scriptures and read the account of Jesus' birth in Luke.  That's always my very favorite part of our celebration, as the giving of gifts pales in comparison to the great worth of our Savior, whom we celebrate.

My husband got me a digital piano!  Yay!  It's a Clavinova CLP-820 and I'm really loving it!  He also built me another pink AR from an Essential Arms lower.  Love that too!  And a little pink Case knife, which is a beauty.   There's a pink theme, but don't worry, the piano isn't pink!   Dave picked out a Vietnam Era Colt AR15 for his present. :o)  All original parts, and in pretty good condition.  Our first Colt AR, so it's a good addition to the collection.  Solomon was excited about a Spy Gear set, a coin collecting book, and a digital camera.  He actually took this photo of us and our guns. :o)  He's a budding photographer, I think.

Just after we finished opening our gifts to one another, we hit the road to drive to Kokomo, IN.  We had a nice, fairly uneventful trip, during which I did a lot of reading.  That's my favorite part of long car trips...reading and crocheting make it so productive.  I never am able to sit still that long when home, so a car provides the captivity necessary to do sedentary work. :o)

Once in Indiana, we were blesssed to have time with Dave's parents, his sisters, their husband/boyfriend, and our nieces and nephews.  Pictured left are our 4 nieces wearing the sweaters their Grandma knitted for them 14 years ago!  I thought this was so cute.  You should have seen them when the came in the door and bolted for the back of the house to change into their little sweaters so they could come out and surprise their Grandma!  Precious!

This present was sort of the hit of our trip.  Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bogie bought Solomon a really cool shooting game that hooks to the TV.  The whole family ended up having shooting competitions.  Solomon was an expert.  It was fun shooting deer, geese, cow pies, frogs, and clay jugs.  Great entertainment and fun shooting without having to pay for the ammunition! LOL!

We got Bogie a Warren May Dulcimer!  In a matter of minutes, he was strumming out Joy to the World!  Actually, we all ended up playing it and I have to admit, it's really fun! Kind of addicting.  I had a hard time putting it down. We're looking forward to hearing him play next time we visit, once he's had some time to practice.  I'm sure he'll be jammin'!

Karen must have spent hours and hours on this project!  She gave every one of us a hand knitted pair of house slippers, in all different colors!  Mine were pink with camo bottoms on them.  Solomon and Dave's are tan with camo bottoms...so we all match.   

We had a very nice visit with everyone in Indiana.  We were blessed to be able to stay for 6 days, so had plenty of time to visit.  Worship with our brethren at the little Reformed Presbyterian church there in Kokomo was awesome, as always.  It also snowed a lot while we were there, so Solomon did a lot of sleigh riding in Aunt Linda's back yard.  There were a couple pretty good hills, and after a couple hours of smashing down the snow, he was flying down the hills, with all us adults sitting in the warm kitchen watching out the window.  We played a few games of Apples to Apples, which was a hoot!  Drank lots of hot tea, ate yummy snowballs, did some computer shopping, looked at Christmas lights at "Wee Care Park", watched Home Alone, and just enjoyed one another's company.

On the way back to KY from IN, we stopped by the Creation Museum to see the Live Nativity and the special Planeterium Show centered around the star that led the wise men to Jesus.  It was called "The Bethlehem Star" and was really neat.  They also had the entire outside walking trails decorated with beautiful lights, which reflected in the lake for a stunning effect.  The sidewalks were set to look like a marketplace at the time of Jesus' birth.  There were centurions at the gate taking census as we entered. :o) There was a gentleman standing in a full size replica of a house, like the kind that may have stood at Bethlehem when Mary and Joseph entered the city.  He told the story from the Scriptures, illumined some of the common errors in our culture's rendition of the story (such as the number of wise men and the time they arrived to see the Christ child).  Then, he shared the Gospel beautifully.  After he finished his presentation, the viewers travelled along the walking path to a location far away where the wise men were making their way toward Jesus, following the Star.  A wise man gave his perspective on the story with some eisogeted details of what it may have been like for them considering the prophesies, evaluating Herod's demands, and travelling such a far distance to see this King who was to come into the world. 

After settling back in at home, we were able to celebrate Christmas with my parents over a yummy breakfast.  Spending time with them and sharing gifts with one another was a blessed time.  I'm thankful for the opportunity of gift giving, which is fun.  But, more than that, I'm thankful for Jesus, who for a time left behind His glory in heaven, came to earth, wrapping Himself in flesh He'd created, so He could be born of a sinful woman.  That blows my mind anew each year as Christmas comes and goes.  The best part, to me, about Christmas is that it points my mind forward to Resurrection Day when we'll celebrate His glorious rising from the dead.