Valentine's Day at the Ellison's

This Valentine's Day was unique. It all started Monday with plans. We had were trying to decide where we were going to eat to celebrate Valentine's Day. We had to celebrate on Monday because our church revival started the next day. As plans were being made Justin woke up......sick. So we went nowhere. The next day we ordered hogies from OIP and finished getting ready for revival. The best I could do was order a dozen red and white roses for my sweetheart and take a raincheck on dinner. When kids come along, nothing is set in stone any longer.

Excuse me young lady...

I was in the kitchen passing baseball with Justin while Vonnie was putting away some groceries. Vonnie happened to stand in front of Justin as he was about to throw the ball. That is when he said, "Excuse me young lady, I trying to pass baseball". Yesterday Don Hallenbeck, Justin and I had to run to Allen's True Value Hardware. As we were leaving, an older lady was sitting at the door trying to sell carnations for Valentine's Day. I told her I wasn't interested so she tried to sell Justin one. He said no and as he walked pasted her he continued to say, "You behave yoursef now, you hear." This kid runs his mouth way to much. He reminds me so much of his mother. Recently we were at a store and we were ready to check out but there was no cashier. A lady saw we were ready so she came to the register. Problem was, she was a midget and Justin recognized it and blurted out, "Look mom, she is a short one". Of course, at that time I started looking at other merchandise and gave Vonnie a look of scorn that would say, "Lady, I can't believe your child would say such a thing". Kids. Aren't they exciting?!?!

Sound & Spirit Christian Music Club

Recently I signed up with one of those music clubs. I got to pick seven free CD's now, pay for one later, then I recieve four more free with no more obligation after that. It's pretty cool. They have a pretty good selection of music. My first seven free CD's consisted of Philip, Craig & Dean's "The Worship Collection", The Crabb Family's "Live at Brooklyn Tabernacle", The Crabb Family's "Driven", The Brooklyn Tabernacle's "I Am Amazed...Live", Alvin Slaughter's "The Faith Life", Top Ten Southern Gospel Songs of 2005, and Mike Bowling's "Where I Stand". Other than a couple goofy songs, I was pleasantly suprised!

Youth Convention '06

In case you haven't noticed, I have been away from my computer the past few days. Reason being, I was busy. This past week we were in the hospital almost everyday for an average of 5-6 hours each day. Then we found ourselves at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Convention for the last 4-5 hours of our day. But today we found ourselves back at 2268 State Route 44. It was a very tiring week but it was a blast. The convention this year was great. God showed Himself every night and we are grateful for it. There were young people who found help, answered calls to ministry and rededicated their lives to Christ. It was truly and honor and a privilege to be part of this convention. One of the exciting things about convention was the privilege to work with some of my best friends. Eric Kuhns, Doug Rine, Aaron McCarty, Dwight Rine, Lucas Shrout and the James Plank family. They're were many times that I just sat there on the platform and thought to myself, thank you God for allowing me this awesome privilege. There were many times of laughter, but what a joy to join together and witness victories around the alter and join together in the battle to help our young people find God.

XM Is Here To Stay!!

I recieved my XM2GO Satillite Radio today. Yep 'er, it arrived safe and sound to the top of my mail box. Now I realize that you do not need a college degree to deliver mail, but it seems that common sense should be a requirement! I have been expecting my radio for the past couple of days, so I had been on the lookout for it. Today as I came home from the church I saw something big ON THE TOP, did I tell you, ON THE TOP of my mailbox!!! Eighteen wheelers and log trucks frequently cruise by our house at high rates of speed which could have easily shaken my mail to the ground/road. Hello! I am sure what she was thinking went something like this, "Let's see. It is the middle of winter. The weather is unpredictable. It could rain. It could snow. Winds could reach 30 - 40 miles per hour (which it seems all three have occured in recent days) so I guess the best place to put this man's mail is right smack dap on the top of his mail box. Just in case, I will raise the flag to give it something to lean on." The only way I can excuse such madness is, SHE'S A WOMAN!!!!!!!!!

A 2 Cent Annoyance

One of the great annoyances in my life the past few days has been the US Postal Service's grand idea to raise the price of stamps, AGAIN! The local postmaster says another raise is likely in 2007. After I recovered from my great outrage of such things, I realized I now have a stack of stamps that are useless, unless you go by a stack of two cent stamps. I know life will go on and the mail must still go through, but do they really have to try to make a yearly effort to frustrate the stew out of me?!?!

You Sold Me On It

This past week we recieved our credit card bill. On it was two charges that we did not make. The funny thing is, they were not for purchases at Boscov's, Walmart, or Cooley's furniture. They were for, get this, Fraud Protection Plan and Payment Protection. When I called about these charges, it was admitted by the card company that I had not signed up for these. Indeed, they had made a mistake. One was a charge of $14.00 and the other was for $68.00. The very thing I supposedly was paying them for obviously does not work properly because even with such great protection, I was still charged. Of course, they had the nerve to ask me if would like to go ahead and sign up. I felt like saying, "Sure, can I have a lifetime membership? I'm sold on it."

New Kicks

I have officially used the last of my Christmas money. I was in desperate need of some new tennis shoes. When it comes to tennis shoes, I hate to spend alot of money. So when I walked into Footlocker and found these $75.00 shoes on sale for $19.99 there was just no question on to where I would make my purchase that day. Vonnie looked at them and said, "I can see why they were on sale for $19.99." None-the-less, I like 'em.

Sirius, No More!

Saturday, January 21, I officially washed my hands of Sirius Satelllite Radio. I sold my "gear" to a man in Selinsgrove, PA. I am really glad I sold it, because the night before I bought this XM Radio off of EBay. I bought the MyFi system which is the first satellite radio to have a built in FM antanea for portable use. I am really excited. I should recieve it by mid-week. Now I just need to subscride. All donations may be sent to...oops! I now have FOXNEWS back, (which is the real reason I left Sirius). I'll keep you updated on the progress of my new machine.

Justin's Television Debut

The Pennsylvania Farm Show is an exciting thing around the Ellison household. Especially for Justin. All year long he continually asks, "Is the Farm Show coming?" Finally it arrived. So with his cowboy hat and boots we made our way to Saturday's High School Rodeo. We had seats right at the bull shoots about two rows up. Justin was able to see all the action. He kept going down and talking to the cowboy and cowgirls. He watched them spit so he gave it a try. It wasn't long until a camera man for PCN was at the shoots. He saw Justin mimmicking the cowboys and therefore began filming him. This happened twice and later that evening he was interviewed. Another thing that Justin likes to do at home is to preach. So with his early start in television and his excitement in preaching, he just very well may be the next Billy Graham, the well-known televangelist. I sure hope not! None-the-less, the Farm show has come and gone, and all we see now is Justin swinging his rope, catching his invisible cows and riding his bull, which is usually on my back.

Old Friends

It is amazing to find out who really reads your blog. Since I have started my great adventure in cyberspace, I have recieved emails from numbers of old friends that I hadn't heard from for awhile. Jon Earls, Joel Byers, and Sally Sebo recently replied to my blog. Hey guys, (and gals-Jon & Sally:) Good to hear from you. Keep in touch.

We're Home

The past few days have been a little different for the Ellison's. Vonnie's mother had surgery on January 6. Since then Vonnie has been staying in Penns Creek with her. Valerie came to stay with Vonnie for a week after each of our children so it has been a pleasure trying to repay her. But since I still had responsibilities at the church I have been running here and there. Today, we are staying at 2268 State Route 44, Allenwood, PA for the first time as a family since Jan. 6. I must say, it sure is nice having them all back.

Mark Lowry

Just recently I heard some sad news about former Gaither Vocal Band member and funny man Mark Lowry. He has been diagnosed as having MS. It was said that he was in the beginning stages. If anyone has any other information, please drop me a line.

There are "SIRIUS" problems on the horizon

As a yearly subscriber to SIRIUS satellite radio, I am greatly concerned about recent news. Of course we all know we now have that pervert Howard Stern gracing our menu, but to pour terrible news on top of that, FOX NEWS may be pulled from SIRIUS. I conversed recently with an employ of SIRIUS and the word is that SIRIUS and FOX NEWS are having serious negotiations. If FOX is pulled, I will proudly become an XM RADIO subscriber. This is just one of the many ripples I face in my daily life.

Christmas Presents

We may say that Christmas isn't about the gifts, but one has to admit, they are an exciting part of Christmas. All year long I can always think of 1,000 things that I want, but when people start asking what do you want for Christmas, my mind goes blank. I did manage, however, to come up with a list of things that I would like. A Harley Davidson was tops, but of course, I didn't get it. But I did get some other neat things. Here are a few things I got:

1. An alarm clock that has natures sounds and shines the time on the ceiling in the dark. It really works. Now in the middle of the night, all I have to do is look at the ceiling and I got the time.

2. Casual shirts, dress shirts, a tie, dress socks, etc.

3. A watch. I was tired of using my cell phone to keep time.

4. An indoor/outdoor talking themometer. It has an alarm you can set to your alarm clock. As you wake up, it tells you the indoor/outdoor temps every 15 minutes for the first hour. At the end of the day you can see the high and low's of the day. It's pretty nifty.

5. The new Kingsman CD. They are probably one of my all-time favorite Southern Gospel male quartets. My favorite group was when they had Gary Sheppard (tenor) the best tenor they ever had in my opinion, Tim Surrett (lead), Parker Jonathan (baritone) and Ray Dean Reese (Bass) and Jim Hammill was their MC. They were awsome.

6. I would say that my favorite gift, even though I loved them all, was a new Bible. It is now my preaching Bible. It is a paralell Bible with both KJV and Amplified side by side. It is wonderful. I used it the first Sunday of the 2006.

These were great gifts, but none compared to the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. I am glad I one day excepted that wonderful gift.

Christmas in Lancaster, PA

I am finding out that it is a difficult thing to buy for your parents. Think about it. My sister and I are out of the house. Our schooling is paid for. All of the extra things that go along with raising kids is now absent. Whenever they need something, they get it. If dad needs a shirt, he buys one. If mom needs new pots and pans, she buys them, even if Christmas is just two months away. So that leaves us kids in a dilemma. Now that they have what they need what do we buy? So, Vonnie, my sister Laura, and I came up with a solution. We would send them to Lancaster, PA. So we made up puzzles for them to unwrap on Christmas. As they opened them they had to solve them. When it was all said and done, we all got up Monday morning after Christmas and was on our way to Lancaster. We took them to Sight and Sound to see "The Miracle of Christmas". Afterwards, we all stayed at The Country Inn & Suites. The next day found us at Shady Maple Restaraunt for lunch before we traveled back to Allenwood, PA. The conclusion...They loved it and so do we. It was an exciting time together. Now the only question is, what next year? Oh, well. We have a whole year to decide that.

I'm Back

It seems to be the general conclusion that Christmas time is not a good time for bloggers. At least that is the excuse that I have found listed on various blog sites. If it works for them, I guess it can for me, too. Whether you count it as an excuse or not, the Christmas season was extremely busy for the Ellison family. My parents came up from West Virginia the Friday before Christmas. Saturday night, Christmas eve, things began to unravel. Justin got sick. We called our Dr. around 8:30 am Saturday morning. The doc on call was to return our call but never did. At 11:00 pm, we had to take him to the ER. The diagnosis was a severe virus that needed steriods to help cure. We found ourselves returning home 2:00 am Christmas morning. That was just the beginning. Of course when you have more than one kid, one by one they all get it. So to make a long story short Kayla got and still has it. Oh joy. None the less, we had a good time with my parents and family. I got just about all I was hoping for for Christmas (more on this later), except my Fat Boy Harley Davidson. Maybe next year.

Goofy Gift Award

This year at our Christmas Dinner, we inserted something new. It was the first annual Goofy Gift Award. We asked people to submit what they thought was the most embarassing or stupid thing that they did last year. A comittee voted on all of the entries and came up with three top enteries. We then presented them to the crowd at the dinner and they voted for a winner. This years top three enteries were:
1) Bro. Kohler, a volenteer fireman, arrived at a fire call and jumped out of the fire truck only to find out that
he could not walk. He took off his fire outfit to find he had forgotten to wear a belt and his pants had
fell down.

2) The Steen family have a garbage business. Leland Steen, the dad, was lifting a trash can one day and the
handle broke. This resulted in him hitting himself in the nose, thus breaking it. Another time he was lifting
a bag and it ripped. This resulted in him hitting himself in the eye, thus blacking it. His son, Justin, was
walking around the corner of the trash track when Leland was in the process of throwing in a bag af trash.
It caught Justin square in the chin resulting in him and the bag both in the truck.

3) Sis. Connie Forney one Sunday morning came up from teaching Sunday School a little late. We were
already in the congregational singing. With out paying much attention, she sat down next to Paul Miller
and didn't realize it. Her reaction when she realized it is priceless.

The Steen family won. They won a trophy to proudly display for years to come. Congratulations Steen family.

Church Christms Dinner

Last Friday evening was our church Chistmas dinner. There were 107 people in attendance, up 20 from last year. Things went well, except for a couple minor glitches. Things were a little diferent from previous years. Our young people served the people. It was exciting and we are looking forward to doing it again next year.

Ski for Sale

Last Thursday evening Andy and Kara Plank, Sarah Miller and Katie Brinkmann came to help Vonnie and I decorate the Allenwood Fire Hall for our Christmas Dinner that was to be on Friday evening. Andy and I had to make a 11:00 pm run to Walmart. On our way we saw a ski boot along the road. We turned around to investigate. We found that the boot was wet and soggy, but it was attached to a snow ski. We left the boot and took the ski for some dumb reason. If you know any one legged people who are looking for one ski in decent shape, send them my way, it can be aquired at a very good price.