Easter with MY family

Saturday we celebrated Easter with my family by getting together and having lunch at my brother's house. 

It looked like this - - 

Props to my sister-in-law Leslie for hosting this crazy bunch and cooking a delish meal. (My other sis-in-law Michelle & I also contributed a bit. Those are my pastel Oreo balls - aren't they adorbs?) 

Thankfully the Lord saw fit to hold off on the rain so we had a lovely time OUTSIDE with the sun even peaking out a few times.

If you know my family, you know basketball is always gonna be a part of the fun. A-L-W-A-Y-S

And by always of course I mean that even the old guys get out there (my man included). 
Side bar: What is about guys that make them think they are still young and fit? If I hear "I'm not gonna be able to walk tomorrow" one more time...

My dad and oldest brother have had knee replacements. Dad has also recently had back surgery. Thankfully they stick to shootin' around or the game of HORSE mostly. 

Some corn hole happened...

I don't mean to brag, but my brother and I kicked Anthony's and Phil's tails. Repeatedly. As in match after match.

Ok, it was mostly my brother with the corn hole skills but... a win is a win is a win. 

Thus the victory dance/bump - - 

Some ping pong action went down, too...

These kiddos - 
     if they don't stop gettin' so big so fast .... 

I'll spare you the egg hunt pics, but for the PRIZE EGG VICTOR - -
       Camden was the man!

Like father...

Like son...

We would never laugh at someone falling down... 

 Nooooo, not us... Never!

Phil (my niece's hub) is a crazy good hacky sacker. He can toss it from his foot, catch it with his head or chest, flip around from front to back, all that stuff. 

Kerlandy and I were artistic with some chalk. 

I'm soooo thankful for my family. We all know Jesus is the reason we celebrate Easter. We serve God in different churches now, but God's love is totally entwined in our family. How awesome is that?! Such a blessing... 

I hope you're blessed in the same way! And I hope you enjoyed a great Easter weekend.

Pray for Bro. David

Most days I kinda feel like I have a sorta boring mundane average nothin too exciting kinda life.. but we stay busy.. I don't get it.

We've had a few goings on of late. Some are blog worthy, some aren't.

But everything really seems insignificant in comparison to this - - PRAY FOR DAVID 

Just a few weeks ago our pastor found out he has a rare and aggressive cancer. You can check the church's website to keep up with things. (the Pray for David link above) 

Bro. David is 49 and has a wife, a daughter who just got married last summer, and two sons in high school. They seem like a picture perfect family. Sorta like a 2013 version of the Cleavers. Well... maybe not... but a seriously great family.

People all over the place are praying for Bro. David's healing. Will you join us?

The Bible says Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 
That means that the miracles Jesus performed when He walked on this earth can still happen today. Pretty sure there are lots of incidents of miraculous healings in the Bible. Yep.

So get prayin' and believin' ok?! 
Thanks! 

Weekend happenings

Have you noticed how I don't apologize for my lack of blogging or for late posts any more? ;-)

 

I've got a couple posts rollin around in my brain but I'll have to come back to those later. 

 

For now, let's just recap a few random things from the weekend (mostly). 

 

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you already know about this one...

the other night we went downtown for an independent film viewing. This film just happened to produced by Boyd Tinsley. 

 

I know - you're saying who's that? 

 

He just happens to be the violinist for Dave Matthews Band. 

His film was a little strange for my taste. I'm one of those people who likes to be spoon fed with the movie plot and what not. Indie films are probably not for me. 

After they showed us the film, Boyd came out and asked for feedback and stuff. It was really informal and intimate. Pretty neat. He was spittin' distance from us.

After that, Boyd and his buds played some jams. It was cool. Except for the part where Dave did NOT show up. Not that I expected him to. But it woulda been cool.

Anyway.

Boyd did a meet & greet at the end of the night. Thus the pic above. And let me tell you - this guy is a hugger. And I mean a hugger in the largest sense of the word... a 3-4 minute hugger. Have you ever hugged a stranger that long? It was so long it became sorta funny.

Well we went for Anthony's sake, right? He's the DMB fan, not me. 

So I was letting Anthony meet Boyd and have the forever hug he gave all the fans, just minding my own biz. 

Then it happened. 

The hug.

If you know me, you know I am not a hugger.

I repeat - I AM NOT A HUGGER. Consider yourself warned. Translation: please don't hug me.  

Boyd grabbed me and gave me the longest, most uncomfortable hug ever. I seriously struggled with breathing. I think I have hug-a-phobia or something. 

But I survived. And we got outta there! Buh bye Mr. Huggy Pants. 

Segue to cat talk.... 
Well it just so happens that when a stray kitty showed up at our house back in 2008, we struggled with naming her. 

Anthony eventually came up with her name - Tinsley... 

I didn't tell Boyd about it - I think it would have embarassed Anthony if I had said hey man, we named our cat after you. But don't think I didn't think about tellin him. Cuz I did. And I might have also considered bringing a pic of Tinsley to have Boyd pose with her for a pic. You know, two Tinsleys side by side... what a scrapbook page that woulda made. 

Yeah, I know that sounds weird. I'm warped.

By the way, that's our new recliner (in the Tinsley pic) - our old one was squeaky and poppy and cracky. Soooo annoying. So we bought a new one cuz my man has to have a man chair that rocks. But after less than 24 hours, somebody decided he didn't like it. So we returned that chair and got this chair. It's a keeper. We cut the tags off and everything.

Over the weekend it snowed. A LOT. 
And these trees are blooming. Such a confusing time of year, spring.

Saturday my mom and I went shopping for my niece who's preggers with twinsy boys. So exciting! And it was fun shopping with big fat snowflakes falling. 

We also met up with Michelle (Sasha's mom) to discuss the details of the shower setup at the place we're having it. Again, so exciting! 

We also visited this little lady...  

This is my dad's mother. She's 91 and recently moved into a nursing home. She's a spunky little thing. Says exactly what's on her mind. I like that about her. ;-) 

 

She's one of a kind, that's for sure. Her memory isn't as great these days and she hobbles around more than she used to, but she's a pretty cool ole gal. I hope I get some of those cute wrinkles in my 90s.

 

Well that's it for now. Check back for a Gatlinburg recap and a baby shower invitation HOW TO. 

 

Fun stuff ahead .. . . .  .   . 

Growin' up too fast

I'm feelin a bit nostalgic... 

Since I don't have kids of my own sometimes I kinda feel like the nieces and nephews in the fam are mine. 

I don't like how fast they're growin' up. Remember, my niece is married and pregnant with twins. Whaaaat??? And her brother is off in the Army doing his civic duty. 

But this one... 
  Cullen loves some basketball, always has - just like his dad (my brother)

This little 5th grader has grown a bit, wouldn't ya say?  

He's a freshman now and measuring at about 6' tall

Now Cullen's got a deeper voice, a cell phone and a little hair on his upper lip... oh me!

But he's really a good kid. Does well in school and stays out of trouble. Teachers love him.

I love him and his little brother a whooooole lot! I'll dig up some pics of Camden for a future post.

I have so many sweet memories of the boys coming to our house and playing and spending the night and being cute and rowdy and funny and crazy... 

but now they're big boys busy growin' up and not needing us as much. (sad) But that's okay. They're still the coolest boys I know and will always be tops with us! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Well you've come to the end of memory lane. Thank you for joining me today. 

That is all.

Some *SMILES* for ya - Riley style

If you frequent this blog, you know this little fella... our friends have the most precious little boy and he spends a little time with us here and there.. he feels a lot like family... 

Thought I'd show ya a few pics from a couple of his recent visits to our house for play dates.

Riley LOVES him some dinosaurs.. and not just your garden variety t-rex or stegosaurus lemme tell ya... this kid knows the names of the dinosaurs that have like 10 syllables...

Anthony and Riley built the race car track so the cars would jump Wolverine... 

It was epic !

The Avengers Lego set was pretty sweet, too. Boy toys have come a long way I must say.

And any time Anthony has food, it's a given that Riley must also sample...

What a boy! So expressive this kid...

Me thinks he digs Anthony... and his goatee

It's a little sad for me really... cuz when Riley was a baby he was kinda MY BOY but now that he's gettin bigger he tends to lean more toward hangin with Anth. 

But it's okay... I just pick up the camera and try to capture the cute moments like these...

If you didn't smile, your smilin' muscles must be broke!

Striving to do better

I read a few blogs here and there. I'm usually looking for one of two things out of a blog - information or entertainment. Sometimes I'm fortunate enough to get both. 

One of the blogs I enjoy is Lysa TerKeurst's. Lysa's blog 
If you've never heard of Proverbs 31 ministries, read Proverbs chapter 31 and then go check out their site here. 

I recently read a piece on Lysa's blog about random acts of kindness. I feel like {sadly} kindness is not one of my strongest attributes. But Lysa's blog post planted a seed in me. And it sprouted a few weeks ago. 

At work, they send everyone an email once a month that provides company news and lists employee anniversaries. I decided I'd start writing down the names of the folks I work with or know pretty well and the number of years they'd be celebrating so I could email them a quick happy anniversary. 

I've been doing that since the first of the year and the response is always a heartfelt one. I think they really appreciate the small gesture.

Another thing I've been trying since the first of the year is listening to Christian music in my car. KLove is 97.1 in the middle Tennessee area and they play great worship songs and Christian music that's current. What I love about this switch I've made is that now when I have a song pop in my head it's something that helps me remember the God I serve and reminds me of my purpose.  

A couple Sundays ago our pastor preached out of Philippians and kinda forced us to memorize this verse: 
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus Philippians 2:5

In this sermon he talked a lot about pride. {ouch} Pride is a big ugly problem most of us try to ignore. But pride does a lot of damage - it's why we struggle with forgiving others, it's why we judge others and it's why we won't ask for help. Pride can really destroy us.

When we're full of pride, we put ourselves in place of God. And guess what? God is not pleased with that. 

I'm afraid I've had a big ole pride problem a lot in my life. I try to appear strong when inside I'm so weak & tired. I justify my anger with others. I compare myself to others... and on and on it goes. 

But it seems like the harder I try to do things right and follow God's plan, more obstacles & difficulties are put in my path. 

Inside I'm screaming I don't deserve this! 

Instead of focusing on myself, I could be reaching out to others around me and showing them the love of Christ.

We're all in this together. We all have struggles and need help here and there. And we're gonna make mistakes. I feel like sometimes we just forget to tap into THE SOURCE who has promised us He'd never leave us or forsake (abandon) us - Jesus!

I'm leaning on HIM a lot these days. He's everything we need and more. 

So I'll leave you with this  - - 
  
Philippians 4: 6,7 says:  
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  

Every day I'm trying to do better. Some days I fail miserably. Other days I do okay.
He never promised us a life without trouble, but He did promise He'd always be there with us. 
And I know He is. And I'm thankful for that. Cuz I need pickin' up a whoooole lot!

Welcome to 2013

I'm starting to realize more and more that the some of the things my parents said when I was growin' up really are true. (groan) The older you get, the faster time seems to go. 

It's hard to believe it's already January 20th. 

I don't know if you're like me, but sometimes I feel like I'm in a rut. Week after week, the same ole routine. Work, church, and the occasional social event or family function. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

And before you know it, a month has passed.

Whoosh! 

And we say where did this year go? 

So far in 2013, I can't say that anything significant has happened in my life. And I really want my life to have meaning and purpose. I wasn't created to sit on the couch and play on my iPhone or watch tv. I know that. But that's just so easy. 

Lately I feel like God is challenging me. I feel like he's wanting me to stretch a little. 

The story Josiah Anthony (@java_jo on Twitter, middle school minister at Long Hollow) told on a recent Wednesday night at our church really spoke truth to me and I hope you can relate to it, too. 

He said he has this enormous fear of roller coasters. The thought of going up in the heights, the speed, all of it just terrified him to the point he avoided them. As in completely. And it was a pretty easy thing to avoid. It's not like you're going to be faced with that fear in your everyday life, right? 

But because of this fear, he never experienced the thrill of the ride. 

As he explained to us that night, you can relate this story to our walk with God. 

God doesn't force us to do things. He will allow us to maintain the status quo in our lives, sitting along the sidelines and enjoying staying within our comfort zone.  

But what are we missing?! 

The thrill HE has for us. 

If you've ever done something that made you get out of your comfort zone, you'll admit it was at least a little scary at first. But I'm guessing it was worth in the end. Maybe it's even one of your life's defining moments. 

God is speaking to me about something. I can sense it. I don't know what it is He wants me to do, but the point is I'm listening. 

Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." 


In 2013 I plan to be more obedient. 
I plan to serve more. 
I plan to be the child my Heavenly Father can be  pleased with. 
I plan to be MORE in 2013 than I was in 2012.

So long 2012, you've been a good one

This will be my last blog post in 2012. 

Sadness.

Of course we have to take a trip down memory lane. And if you expect it to be brief trip, you don't know me. So skim if you must, but you may miss some of the good stuff. Just sayin. 

Family stuff

~ In February Anthony's step brother and his wife added to the fam... and he's a super sweet babe. 

 2 weeks old

 Big sis McKenzie is 14, big brother Bryson is 7 (til October, when he turned 8) so the kids are 7 years apart

Christmas... 

crawling finally ;-) 

~ My nephew Caleb joined the Army

So that meant we haven't gotten to see him as much this year. But we're very proud of him. 

~ My niece and her hubby are expecting twin boys.

So excited!

So excited!

Us stuff 

~ 2012 was a year for concerts! 

*Keith Urban's All for the Hall Benefit

*Grand Ole Opry featuring Alan Jackson

*Zac Brown Band 

*Grand Ole Opry - induction of Darius Rucker

*Zac Brown Band Southern Ground Music & Food Festival

*Kelly Clarkson

They were all awesome... if I had to pick a favorite... well I can't. I just can't!

~ After living in our house for 5 years, we finally painted a room. We painted the utility room AND Anthony's room upstairs. 

~ We had a pretty major church change. Left the church I had attended since I was 11. The only church Anthony and I have ever attended together. That was tough. But change is always tough. After some visiting around and seeking God, we've ended up at a great place. 

~ At Tinsley's annual check up this year, the vet said she wasn't obese, but she's a little heavy at 14 lbs. She didn't put her on a diet or anything. I don't know why she thinks Tinsley is chubby... 

~ We went to a Vandy football game (only my third college football game EVER)

~ We went on our summer vacation with Anthony's fam and had a great time... 

in Fort Walton the past two summers 

Ahh, how I miss the beach...good times

~ We did our anniversary weekend in Gatlinburg

Yeah, it was that fun!

I'm such a lucky girl! 13 years of marriage to this guy.

Me stuff

~ I had a goal and I started working on it in January.. 

 I wanted to run a half marathon.

So I followed a training schedule... and I did it!

 Country Music Half Marathon 

April 28, 2012

Nashville, Tennessee

My friend Angela convinced me to do another one with her in September... which meant training in the hot summer months (oh me)

But we did it! 

Women's Half Marathon

September 21, 2012

Nashville, Tennessee

I've run more than 500 miles this year. I don't anticipate a repeat of that in 2013.

~ I met Edens Edge at a work function... 

So that's just about it... 

Take a look back, but don't linger... 

2013 is almost here and regrets are a waste of time. 

Make 2013 great!