More than Friends April 27, 2009

We got away!!  Brent and I spent the weekend in Birmingham, Alabama… without the kids!  Brent officiated the wedding for some sweet friends, Stephen and Ashley.  The joke of the weekend (well, one of them) was how many years of “he/she is just a friend” that they went through before they realized that maybe they were more than that.

The whole weekend had that theme though.  As we were reunited with some amazing friends from our past years in Williamsburg, we realized that they are all much more than friends in our life, they are our family.  The years and the miles don’t change how deeply we care for each of them.

The best part of the weekend (for us anyway… I’m guessing the bride and groom might have other ideas…) was spending time with all of these friends that we love so much.  Stephen’s family has been such a big part of our lives over the years.  They have been extended family to us as we started our little family (at the time!) away from our own families .  We had our first two kids in Williamsburg and Kim, Theresa and Lindsay would babysit them while Katie and Stephen would go to youth group with us.  They included us in meals, pool time and life.  When we had our fourth child, we all talked about how we had 1 boy, 3 girls like the Spencers and casually said how we hoped they grew up like them.

Then there were Brent’s small group boys who were the groomsmen and a few of my small group girls who came to celebrate with Stephen and Ashley.  They were all so much fun as teenagers, getting into (mostly) good trouble and challenging us on life and God.  We couldn’t wait to see who they turned out to be too as they grew.

Well, now they are all grown up and this weekend reaffirmed that hope.  The times I cried the most this weekend were the times when Brent and I realized just how much we love each of the people we were reunited with and just how much we really do hope our children are blessed with the family and friend relationships that they all have.  We are blessed to know these people, even more now as they have grown up into amazing adults.

Making Headlines… or something like that April 25, 2009

While Brent and I are away for a wedding in Alabama for and with some very dear friends of ours, our youngest has been busy getting “published” in the blogging world.

Tessa went to one of our favorite local coffee shops today with both sets of grandparents and was photographed and blogged about here.

To My Mama Friends April 21, 2009

Here is a really fun/helpful/creative/entertaining/make you feel better or worse as a mama blog!  I have read it several times before from my other friends’ blogs, but just added it to my blogroll finally in hopes of remembering to read it more.  Guess I should just add it to my Google Reader.  Anyway, I wanted to share it with those of you who don’t know about it yet!

Mama Manifesto is written my several women in various stages of being a mom.  They discuss just about everything from giving tips on parenting, sharing recipes, giving ideas for living in healthy and creative ways, evalutating different products and sharing the goings on in their own homes and how they are dealing with them… or in some cases asking for advice on how to deal with them.  I enjoy the humorous, honest way they look at their lives and they way they take the serious things seriously, while laughing off the things that we sometimes forget to laugh off.

I hope you like it too!

Tee Time Everyone! April 13, 2009

This week marks the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting in which one of my friends, Alicia, lost her brother.  While this is a remarkably hard time for her and others, it’s a time for the rest of us to show our love and support.  One way to do this is by joining in a golf tournament that has been set up in her brother’s honor.

Here are the details:

Castle Rock Golf and Recreation of Pembroke, VA will host a golf tournament in honor of Jarrett Lane, one of the 32 students killed at VA Tech on April 16^th, 2007. All proceeds will benefit the Jarrett Lane Memorial Fund and its mission to better the future of deserving youth in Giles Country.

The tournament will be held on Saturday May 9th, with a tee time of 9:00am. Teams of four will play on one of the area’s most beautiful and challenging golf courses. The registration fee is $300 per team, and teams can register by calling the golf course before May 8^th at (540) 626-7276.

Just to let you know, the Jarrett Lane Memorial Fund is used to provide college scholarships to Narrows High Grad. We have a vision of expanding this to provide financial assistance to deserving youth in Giles County who wish to participate in various academic, athletic and leadership development programs.

Amazing Kid April 13, 2009

We have had a winter of sickness.  A long, exhausting, expensive winter of sickness.  It has been mainly in the younger two though.  In fact, the only time Karis was sick was a couple of weeks ago when she had a low fever for a couple of hours.  Yep, that was it.  Trey… I honestly can’t remember the last time Trey was sick.  Last year Karis brought home both the stomach flu and the regular flu and everyone in the family caught them… except Trey.  He actually took care of all of us both times.

Well, this morning he woke up throwing up.  I think he was in shock.  But the amazing thing is that he didn’t wake us up to help him out.  Now that his stomach has seemed to settle down and he has been hanging out on the couch, I was telling him that he really should get us when he’s sick.  His response?  “I didn’t want to throw up on you.”  After I assured him that that was part of my “job” and that I want him to get me or call me to help him he said, “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me, mom.”

Yeah, he’s that cool of a kid!

U Freakin’ 2!! April 6, 2009

My husband and I have been U2 fans for years, decades.  We were so happy to finally see them in concert for their last tour.  It didn’t matter that we were in the nosebleed section.  We were FINALLY seeing them LIVE!!  We later went to the U23D movie of that tour and I confessed to Brent that that was how close I had always envisioned actually seeing them in concert.  I mean, how else was Bono going to pull me up onto stage to dance with him??!!

Well, I have chance #2 to dance with Bono… because of course that is a possibility… Brent got us U2 tickets today!!!

But here’s a question for you… have you ever listened to the words to their songs??  They just keep getting more and more “spiritual”… for the lack of a better word.  I am constantly amazed that they  sing what they do and are still so widely popular.

Favorite lyric so far on this new album?  “Stop helping God across the street like a little old lady.”

Heart Check April 5, 2009

My 4 year old daughter, Avery, has been very aware of her heartbeat lately.  She checks her heart on a regular basis to make sure it is still beating and gives me the report.

“I feel my heartbeat!”

“My heart is beating really fast.”

The one that concerns her most is when she declares, “My heart isn’t beating!!!”

I have to reassure her that if she can tell me that her heart isn’t beating, then it actually is.  She still hasn’t quite grasped the fact that her heart is what keeps her alive, but she really is enamored by the beat.

I am sure there are many profound metaphors or lessons or something that can be drawn from this, but I just really like listening to my sweet girl giving me the updates.