The day Papa almost won...

Yesterday we spent the day with our Papa & Nana, who are down visiting from Texas. (It was so nice to see them again!! As we haven't seen them in over a year.) We have a tradition, of playing 21 with my Papa when he comes down. We play with our change...and there is NO mercy in this game. If you lose...you lose. Papa has no problem taking your money and keeping it. He's the kindest, sweetest man around...but when it comes to card games...yikes. We always play for fun, usually with no more than three or four dollars in change; sometimes we come away with several dollars more, and other times, we leave with several dollars less. My Papa was been robbing poor little children of their money since my mom was in High School. She tells stories all the time, of her girlfriends coming over with their pockets full of change to play Papa...and leaving with nothing. In all the history of 21-playing with Papa--he's never lost. Somehow, one way or another, he always comes out on top. Last night tells a different story...

The day Papa came to town...

All of us Ney kids (with our tiny piles of change), Lynette and Uncle Micah, Papa and Nana and my parents all gathered around our kitchen table to try to break Papa. He's always the banker, and he's so shrewd as he wins the round and scoops every one's money off the table and pulls it towards him, the whole time bragging and boasting: "You must be real mean to your money...'cause it's just runnin' over to me!" (Picture this in a heavy Texas accent.) The game went on for hours. As our piles grew smaller and smaller, his grew larger and larger and larger and larger and...anyways, you get the picture. Eventually, those of us who hadn't lost all our money, wisely decided to drop out before we did lose it all. But there was one brave soul, who decided to single handedly take on the Man. (dum dum dum dum...dum dum dum dum...de de de do do da...) Her name was Lynette. We all expected this post to be a sorrowful post of the final fate of our poor beloved Lynette. But alas...it is only the beginning. For the next hour, Lynette and Papa went at it. No longer were they playing with chinchy silver...but paper. Laying down dollars at a time, they battled for the winning title. Papa would win almost all of Lynette's money, only for her to have an amazing card recovery, and win back most of his. Back and forth back and forth it went, until our heads hurt. Cards kept being shuffled and dealt. Finally...Papa was down to his last dollar. The room fell deathly quiet as we all witnessed a history changing event. The cards were shuffled and dealt again. We all held our breaths as Papa said, "Hit me..." and Lynette asked him, "Are you ready for another "bust" card?" He licked his lips and slowly nodded his head...everything moved in slow motion as Lynette flipped another card and it landed with a thud on top of his other cards. All eyes were glued to Papa's cards, counting them in our heads. Suddenly..."HOORAY!!" For the first time in 22 years...Papa lost. History has been redefined.

The players shook hands cordially, as us onlookers cheered for the winner and consoled the loser. Lynette stuffed her little money bag full of her winnings, then passed it around the room for all of us losers to hold and marvel at the heaviness of the small bag, which had been half as heavy when she first arrived, all while Papa graciously offered a kind and encouraging speech to Lynette. The game was over, forever etched into our hearts and minds.

Good job Lynette! ...Better luck next time, Papa!

This is the day, we will all remember as the day Papa almost won.

I could think of more to write...but Lynette is on her way over with her little red bag...I'm off to challenge her at a game of 21.

He will make our way known...

Strangely and wonderfully, when we turn our thoughts to Him, with whom nothing is an impossibility, He smoothes the path for us. We ind it possible, maybe even easy, to move forward. Think of Him! You may find your path suddenly smoothed.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.

Children's Nursery Rhymes

Last night, Jeff and I were dancing around singing children's nursery rhymes. As we were goofing off and talking, we embarked the topic of little children's rhymes having a negative meaning behind the cute rhyming words. I got online today, and looked up the origin of a few of them...

Ring around the rosies,
Pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down.

Ring around the Rosies, is about the black plague- the symptom of which included circles around the eyes (ring around the rosies), and coughing up dried blood from the lungs, resembling ashes. The pocket full of posies was a medieval belief that posies held some curative measures against the plague, so carrying around that flower would keep you safe. Finally, the last line spells out the unavoidable ending to the story, of everyone falling down, dead. (Ahhh...so adorable.)


Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after

The roots of this poem, of Jack and Jill are in France. Jack and Jill referred to are said to be King Louis XVI - Jack -who was beheaded (lost his crown) followed by his Queen Marie Antoinette - Jill - (who came tumbling after). The words and lyrics to the Jack and Jill poem were made more acceptable as a story for children by providing a happy ending! The actual beheadings occurred in during the Reign of Terror in 1793. The first publication date for the lyrics of Jack and Jill rhyme is 1795 - which ties-in with the history and origins. ( C'mon Poppet...let's sing about people being beheaded...)


Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row

The Mary referred to in this nursery rhyme is supposed to be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a strong Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to object to the Protestant faith - Protestant martyrs.

The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw. The 'cockleshells'...well, I'm not even going to go there. The " Maids" or Maiden was the original guillotine! The 'maids' were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. (...This is my personal favorite. lol, I'm KIDDING!)

Isn't this horrible?!? And these nursery rhymes are what we are teaching young children to sing.

Our Traveling Companions

There are places in each of our lives where we seem to travel alone, sometimes feeling as though we must surely have lost the way. But God has been there before-it is no wilderness to Him, and he walks with us.

Shylie Update...

I thought it was time for a Shylie update. Only a few of you have even seen her in person (as it's winter, and my mom doesn't want to bring her out into the cootie infested world...lol.) So, I wanted to post updated pictures for you all.









































Isn't she cute?

He was learned at home...

Last night at dinner, we were talking about Tabasco sauce (it was a very interesting conversation, I promise!) Shayden proceeded, in dead seriousness, to tell the story of how Tabasco sauce came to America...

It all started when Christopher Columbia brought his wife Santa Maria, from England to America, looking for Tabasco sauce. He sailed on the Mayflower with his two companions: Pinta and Nina. And that...is how Tabasco sauce was discovered in America.

We were all laughing histarically, as he and my uncle (who was helping to develope the story) gave us a very important lesson in history.

~First post of the New Year...2009~

Happy New Years!!!

This will be a semi-random post.

On Tuesday I went to Yosemite with Jeff's family. I've never been to Yosemite before, so I'm really excited that all my memories will include Jeff. It was super cold and covered in snow. We had so much fun! We had snowball fights, made snow angels, had more snowball fights and took so many pictures!! I got soaking wet (my fault for rolling around in the snow, lol.) I left my house at 7:30am and I didn't get home until 11:00pm. It was an amazing day!

Yesterday was New Years eve...duh. My mom, sisters and I cleaned and cooked all day. We made a million snacks and candies for our late night. The Kee family came over (Kevin and RoseAnn Kee) and everyone had a blast! We ate food and fellowshiped all evening.

Today we all slept in until 11am. Jeff is leaving for Detour today, so he came over at noon to eat lunch with me and say our "goodbye's." I was woken up this morning by my mom's perky: "Goodmorning merry sunshine!" song. I groaned. Lol, the day after Christmas is the best day of the year (because all we do is eat leftovers and relax) and New Years day is the worst day of the year. Why? Because it does something strange to our mothers. Somehow, overnight they completely change. Tell me, are your mom's like this? New Years eve they are completely normal, and in the morning they are completely different. Their new favorite word is: "Simplify. And suddenly the only thing on their mind is: "It's a new year!! woo hoo! Let's clean our rooms, go through our drawers and closets, go on a diet, run a mile, copy the bible!!" It's so...exausting. Usually I don't like New Years...but this year, I'm actually excited. I laid in bed last night before I fell asleep thinking..."It's a new year!! Yay!! Tomorrow I'm going to empty all the candy out of my dresser drawers (I admit, my drawers are FULL of candy), go through my clothes, clean my room...start jogging, do my devotions..." I'm really excited to get started.

Jeff and my New Years Resoluntions are:

A) we are going on a diet and are going to be in perfect shape by the time of the wedding.

B) we want to do daily devos and start praying as a couple more.

What are your new years resolutions? Post your answer in a comment form.


A few days ago, my flat iron broke on me (it fell apart...litterally.) So yesterday, I went out and bought a new one. This thing is SO high powered!! It heats up so hot! Shelbie and my aunt ran an errand yesterday. While they were gone, I straightened my hair. They got home while I was still working on it, and as they walked through the door, they both exclaimed: "What is burning!!" From the bathroom I called, "My hair!!" Needless to say, I'm getting a hair cut hopefully tomorrrow.

This afternoon my mom and two sisters and I all made tamales. It took forever, but they will be so yummy when we eat them tonight!

Ok, this is all I can think of to write. I am not in a blogging mood right now, which explains the lame, pictureless post. I am off to dress in black and mourn the absense of my sweetie. Lol, I am kidding. I am going to go start emptying the candy out of my dressers. Happy New Years!