More Titus Pictures and Merry Christmas!!!

Titus Graham

Titus Immanuel Graham came exactly a month early on November 23rd at 12:35pm. It was a long labor for Holly that resulted in a c-section. Holly and Titus spent about a week in the hospital. Even though Titus weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces he was still considered a preemie because he was born in the 35th week of pregnancy.
Life is definitely different and challenging for the Grahams. Every day is different and every minute. He is growing like a weed and becoming more alert each day. Titus is a true blessing that came near Thanksgiving instead of Christmas but is a true holiday gift.
As for Holly, having him early did conflict some with school and finishing up for the semester. But praise the Lord, she finished and finished with all A's. Here are some pictures of the new bundle of joy that we would like to share with you.

Seven more weeks!

Time is really ticking and I am bad at blogging. I guess with my schedule I just don't have time. I am actually in my last 7 weeks of my pregnancy. Titus Immanuel Graham is due December 23. So, we are definitely going to have a holiday baby. Now we have started the exciting time of getting his room ready and anticipating the birth of the little one. On another note, my college classes are winding down. I am now in the last few weeks and then finals. My finals are at the beginning of December so hopefully Titus will come after the tests, but if not my teachers are going to work with me.

I am really anticipating the holiday season since there will be a new birth this year. Jason and I will be celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas in TN since my due date is near Christmas. I guess this year, I will have to learn how to make some good food. Well, I hope to post more pictures of the showers in both TN and KY is the next few weeks. I hope all of you are doing well.

It's been awhile!

Wow, I can't believe it is already June. I must be the most terrible blogger in the world. I will have to work on this now. Lots of time has passed since I wrote last. I started grad school in May and finished my first class up at the beginning of June. I am in my second class as of now. I made an A in my first class, so I was very excited!
I am now 13 weeks pregnant! I have almost made it through my first trimester. I am starting to show more as my clothes get more uncomfortable. In May, Jason and I were able to travel to David and Starr's for Nora's first b-day. She had a blast! She ate cake on her own and crawled through the grass! She was so cute. I can't believe how fast she is growing. Jason and I also had some prison ministry trainings in May. Jason will be leading a KAIROS a year from September. This will be an awesome experience for him!
I will keep you posted on the pregnancy. I should pictures by the middle of July and know the gender. I will try to post some pictures of Nora's B-day party when I get a chance.
God Bless,
The Grahams

Graham Update

Hello All!
It has been a long time since I talked to some of you. Jason and I have been married for over a year now. Our first year was full of ups and downs but it was still a good year. We stayed busy working odd jobs during the entire year of 2008. We attempted to get a loan to build three times but decided it was not God’s will when we were rejected the last time when the company we were requesting money from went under. We also moved to our own apartment in January. It is a townhouse in Sweetwater at a great price! We have two bedrooms and lots of storage. The cool thing is that it is in the backyard of the church. It is so close that I walk there! Oh, and by the way I (Holly) started working at our Church as a secretary in Janaury. The job is really great! I enjoy serving the people of my church. Our church is Sweetwater First Assembly of God.

Jason and I were able to serve at Kairos prison ministries in March In Bledsoe County in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee. Jason went in and served the inmates while I stayed outside the prison and cooked each meal every day. There were 24 inmates in the program. It was awesome how God worked through each of them. Kairos is like a Emmaus walk on the inside of a prison. God moved in mysterious ways through testimonies and through the inmates there. On the last day of our time I was able to put names on cupcakes and the guys were able to celebrate their birthdays. A lot of the guys don’t get to celebrate their b-days. Jason said that a lot of them cried when they got their cupcake. I was able to go in the last day and hear the closing ceremony in the prison. The guys were so nice and most of them could not hold their tears back from what had happened during the weekend. I was blessed to see them cry and to know their true heart. God is amazing how he can break us all down, even the hardest person! The guys that were chose to go through this Kairos were all Christians, most of them struggling Christians, but Christians. They were encouraged by the 25 plus men that came from the outside each day to minister to them. Because of the impact that this ministry had, the 24 inmates are now missionaries in their prison. They are ministering to the people around them to change the place that they are in. I found it to be awesome that God worked in this way! Jason and I are going to get more involved in this ministry in future months. Jason will be able to go into the prison once or twice for reunions and will possibly be going in during the month of September to a second Kairos.

I am also applying for Graduate school at Lee University. I decided that I wanted to get my teaching stuff in order while I had time. I will begin taking classes in May in a masters of teaching of elementary and middle school grades. Jason is finishing his bachelors of theology for Global University via correspondence. He is hoping to be finished in the next year so that he can start working on his masters too.

All last year, I worked with the kiddies every Sunday at Church. Since the New Year has begun, Jason and I have started working with the young adults from our Church. Jason started teaching the Young Adult Sunday School Class in Janaury and has stayed very busy doing outreach to these people. We have started having activities every Friday night for young adults to visit. We have game nights, movie nights, bowling, etc. We also started having potlucks after Church on Sundays for this group. Jason and I believe that the Church will grow through this group and since Jason and I both are called to minister we believe that this outreach is a great way for us to both grow as we wait for what God has for us as ministers.

Shaina is still being homeschooled. She will be 15 years old in April! She will be getting her driver's permit. Scarey! She has been helping at Church with the kids and the nursery. She has also joined in on helping the young adult ministry. She is growing up fast!

Spring has definitely sprung here in East TN and the mountains look beautiful. We are excited about what God is doing in our lives and can’t wait to see the future.
May God bless!
Jason and Holly

more pics

Concert

On Thursday, we felt like we went to our own personal concert in Tellico Plains. We volunteered and spent some time with some Christian Music groups. At the concert was Chris Sligh, New Song, Ayeisha Woods, and Rush of Fools. We have some pictures of them performing and then we got some pictures made with the groups after the concert. It was great!

Nora and Colin

Remember that little baby born in May. Well she is 18 pounds now and growing strong. Just wanted to share one of the latest pics of my niece and nephew (Colin and Nora)

Time with Family

Well it took me over a month to get the pics from when my parents and Colin were here uploaded. We had a great time at the beginning of October when they came exploring the area and playing in waterfalls and even roasting marshmallows. I can't wait to see them Thanksgiving!

More pics!

I know it's been awhile!

Life has had it's ups and downs the past few months, but we have hung in there. I can't believe it is already October! I am still waiting on some pictures from my Mom and Dad from last weekend. I will post as soon as I get them. I just wanted to post some beautiful pics of the Smokey mountains. The view in the pics is from one of our cabin rentals. I thought it was just gorgeous this morning.

Boys will be boys!

On July 4th, our friends the Sluchers came to visit. Luckily there weren't any cabins left in Pigeon Forge so they decided to come our way for a quick vacation. We had a lot of fun shooting off fireworks in the woods, well let's say the boys did. After burned holes in shirts and lots of singed hair we had our own little fireworks display. It was awesome to see Mike, Leah, Will and Mallory in our neck of the woods!

Semyone (Sam) Came to visit!

I have known Sam since he was 14 years old. Sam is from Russia and is in the USA this summer raising support to work as a missionary to his own people. He works with Campus Crusade working with Russian teenagers. He is now 22 years old and feels that God is calling him to full time ministry. He came and visited us for a week. He helped up work and also had some fun spending Independence day with us. He was also able to obtain a temporary driver's license while he was here.

Baby Nora is here!

My sister Starr had baby Nora a little earlier then expected. She was due July 11 but came into this world on May 29. She was early and spent a week in the hospital and now is doing fine. She was very small weighing only a little over 5 pounds. She lost some weight in the hospital but was able to come home when she got back to five pounds. I am very excited about the new addition and was very excited to get to hold her a week after she was born. She has flaming red hair like the rest of her family and I am sure she will fill out as she eats lots of milk every day.

Shaina's Graduation

Shaina graduated from 8th grade this year. In TN, they wear a cap and gown for 8th grade grad. She is really excited about going to high school!

Update

Since April, we have been really busy with Church and other various activities. Jason and Shaina received their yellow belts in Karate during the month of April. They also talked Holly into taking karate with them. Holly has been enjoying the karate time for the workouts and the new stuff that she is learning. She also was very excited to break her first board by kicking it!

Shaina is approaching the end of her 8th grade school year. She has had a lot of activities going on such as 8th grade formal and 8th grade graduation. They will have a formal graduation for the following school year with a cap and gown. I will post pictures next week of the graduation. Here's a picture from her 8th grade prom. Hopefully I will get some more pics up next week.

Shaina's 14th B-day!

Shaina's birthday was on 4/7. I asked her if she wanted to have a b-day party with her friends. She was really excited so we decided to have one. She invited ten of her friends for an afternoon of fun. They walked in the woods behind our house, played at the bonfire until it rained, and had hamburgers, hotdogs and cake and ice cream. Shaina was really excited because this was her first "friend" party her entire life. It all turned out good and the kids had a blast!

Easter Picture

This isn't the best picture of us ever but it's the only one I have from Easter.

Easter

During Easter we were able to go to KY for a few days. Donna, my mother cooked all kinds of food for us and even made a cake for Shaina for her b-day which will be in April. We were able to spend some time with my extended family on Easter Sunday when my Grandmother cooked us Easter Lunch. On Monday, we went to The Hermitage, or the home of Andrew Jackson and toured. Shaina had did a project on Andrew Jackson for school and wanted to learn some more about the president. We enjoyed our time at the hermitage but were glad to get back to good ol' TN for regular life.

More Honeymoon pics

During our Honeymoon, we stayed at this cabin. Jason and I used our his and her mugs. Thanks DeShannan! We also went to the science museum one day and enjoyed some food from the Old Mill.