grateful

we had one of those great weekends that left me grateful for many things. primarily that UGA is so close.

dan had planned on heading over to athens late friday night to bring savannah home.

she was needing to pick up her car, which was here for repairs and wanting to cheer on madison & emi in their debut cheer competition.

well, precious bailey worked out the logistics & drove from ole miss over to uga to surprise her & bring her home.

& surprise her she did!!!

they pulled in during the wee hours of the night while the rest of us slept.

saturday morning i woke up with all four of my girls under the same roof. i was able to walk into her usually empty room & wake her.

the little things.

while she's been home twice since move in day & writing wonderful things on her facebook wall including "is home.weird" and "thanks for the best boring lilburn weekend ever" ( to bailey).

i can't help but think she loves a little family time. 

especially since she was able to trade out one pair of my lucchese's for another.

truth be told, she loved being home. she said so.

it does my heart good to hear her over the moon happy & loving her college life.

it does my heart good to hear her live & in person, sitting across from the table from me too.

 (the name tag was just one of their silly shenanigans)

we headed out & cheered on madison & emily for their competition. they did great!

this is year #5 for us having at least one competing. madison spent 11 years in dance/ballet & loves the competition dance part of cheerleading. & freshman emi did fantastic too & never stopped smiling!

so proud of them!

 

we shopped & talked & ate out & hung with bailey & went to church together & ate some more.

one of the treats i was thrilled about was while bailey & savannah were home, it was abby's homecoming.

the four of us plus another close friend of mine spent our wednesday evenings for a couple years, leading a group of 18-20something middle schoolers.

i love abby. she holds a huge special place in my heart. & bailey's & savannah's too!

we headed over like weirdo creeper stalker people & made her laugh during her homecoming photos.

we yelled things like "make good choices" and "be a good girl" as she & 40+ other friends/adults all headed out. the great thing about abby is she's so awesome that i don't even think we embarrassed her. we embarrassed our selves, but not her.

abby's in a different school district so we really looked like weirdo creepy stalker people

i mean, who does that?

but

i haven't laughed that much in ages.

& yes her mama has a great camera

but i brought mine along too. of course.

abby looked drop dead gorgeous & those photos will deserve a post of their own.

caroline spent a considerable amount of her free time searching the perfect halloween costume online. & don't judge me, i haven't purchased it yet, but the leader in her book is the lady gaga costume.

for kids. of course. & no, it doesn't consist of red meat.

sunday afternoon rolled around entirely too quickly.

i hugged goodbye to bailey. wished her luck as rush at ole miss starts up next week.

saw she & smk hugging outside before she drove off. 

gets me every time.

trevor came by and said hello quickly.

between bailey & trevor, i could not ask for smk to be surrounded by two better life long friends.

i love those kids & love how they bring out the best in each other.

went outside to send them off & wondered at what point i'd be able to do this "see you soon. i sure love you" thing without being teary.  gosh i'm teary now.

& just to think...i get to do this again next year with my sweet abby.

may i never take wonderful great simple 

 "boring" weekends for granted.

~~~

my gratitude journal includes:

summer days slipping into breezy autumn afternoons

college kids home for visits

colleges that aren't too far away

life long friends

highschool senior girls who make good choices

& 6 people all under the same roof

xo

strawberry fields forever

 

one of my favorite things to do each year

is to head over to the strawberry patch.

while the berries are long gone

& we'll soon head to the pumpkin patch,

i thought i'd share some images from this summer's event.

each year we come home with a couple gallons of 

delicious berries. 

using most to make jam

& freezing the rest for smoothies.

this year i simplified my already easy peasy freezer jam plan.

which involved nothing more than adding pectin

& sugar

into a bowl of sliced berries.

home made jam.

end of story.

& melt in your mouth 

delicious!!

 

 

we always leave a little time for a little post strawberry pickin' dance party

 

a lifetime of unconditional love

today i have a special treat for you.
i'd like to introduce you to evan.

evan is the associate director of student ministries at our church.
he is an incredible young man. brilliant & seriously talented.
evan is a UGA alum who majored in philosophy & speech communication 
my girls think he's awesome.
we all do actually.

evan and his wife morgan have been married for over 2 years. morgan is gorgeous & teaches third grade. they love traveling together, photography, watching movies, and working with students.
  evan blogs for people who want practical ways to grow deeper in their faith, have a great story, and live life to the full.

evan is guest posting today & has a tender, true life love story that will inspire you
& encourage you to love well.

take it away evan!~~


A few weeks before proposing to my wife, Morgan, I skipped class to meet with her Dad over lunch at the Chili's in Discover Mills. I wanted his blessing in marrying his daughter, and somehow convinced him I deserved it. During our conversation, however, he told me a story and gave me a challenge that will stick with me forever.

Morgan's grandparents, Paul and Marge, were married in their late teens. Just a few years into marriage, Marge contracted polio. We don't worry much about polio anymore, but back then it was a terrifying disease. She was put into isolation and spent significant time in an iron lung. As a result of polio, Marge would never walk again.

"Paul and Marge on their way to some hot springs"

The couple lived on a farm, and it could have been easy for Paul to get frustrated and throw in the towel. He could have been angry at God, he could have become a grumpy man, he could have left his wife, he could have quit his job. But instead, he chose to serve God, to joyfully love his wife, and make the farm wheelchair accessible so Marge could always feel included.

"Testing the Wheel Chair accessible Snowmobile

 

For over fifty years his life mission was to take care of his beloved wife. Throughout the entire marriage he prayed that he would live longer than her so that he could always take care of her. His prayer was answered, and almost immediately after Marge passed away, Paul discovered that he had stage 4 cancer. He only lived a few months more than her.

After Paul died, Morgan's family was sorting through all of their belongings. Incredibly, they found notes in Paul's wallet that he and Marge passed back and forth through the tiny crack of the iron lung almost 50 years earlier. It was the only way they could communicate, and I think he held on to those notes to remind himself of those moments of darkness, and his decision to serve and love his wife.

"The Wedding Photo"

Today, far too many marriages fall apart because of the struggles life brings. I know life and marriage can be hard, but I think we can all learn something from Paul and Marge about persevering through difficult seasons. Rather than choosing to serve yourself, choose to serve your spouse. Rather than becoming angry about your lot in life, choose to rejoice in the blessings you have. Remember that what is easy is not always better or right.

Sure, there will be low points, but the reward for working through them is worth it.

Because, at the end of the day,
I think we would all choose having a love story like Paul and Marge,
even if it meant having polio,
over one that falls apart.

 

"Sticking Together All the Years"
 ~~~~


as a mom of four daughters, i love seeing young men
who have a heart for the Lord
a heart for others
& a desire to lay down their life for their bride.
it's a frequent prayer of my own, that four young men will rise
& do the same.

thank you evan!
praying you & your precious wife have a lifetime of loving on each other!
ya'll are obviously off to fantastic start.

my dysfunctional missoni mindset

yesterday i needed to run out for a quick errand.

hopped in the car & thought....hmmm...why don't i make a surgical strike into Target

& check out the Missoni line.

mind you ~~

it was 1:30pm

on wednesday

not 8:01 am

on tuesday.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

at this point i had yet to read this nor this

clearly

i had lived safely, free from all temptation, under my rock for the last 36 hours.

well i have two words for you:

wiped & out

here's where my dysfunctional thinking comes in.

i have that personality, albeit ridiculous, where i can get totally wacked out 

because i think i'm missing out.

probably self diagnosed my facebook compulsion right there.

anyway.

the bottom line~

if the entire missoni line was laid out before me in all it's moderately priced glory

i probably would have only picked out a few things.
dare i say only a couple actually.

not the entire line

which between 1:35 & 2:50 pm yesterday 

i was thinking i needed. needed? oh please.

i ran into one of my besties & grumbled something like....who the heck grabbed all the goodness?

she was there tuesday morning.
for the official release.

at 8am.

so. i'm swinging by her house tomorrow.

she's setting me up a little display of all her 

"i bought too much of it & need to return a pieces" loot.

score.

back to the reality of the issue.

i did score a little number for caroline. she flipped. she loves it.

coming soon to a photo shoot.

& two candles.

period. 

end of story.

incidentally, the candles smell fantastic.

this coming from a woman who seldom likes an artificial fragrances in the house.

they're fab.

were you there?

 tuesday at 8 am?

did you fill your little red buggy?

i would love to hear how you scored in the missoni madness!

do tell....