A collection of April happenings.........

Our day at Tombigbee was a blast! We ate and boated and fished and played and had a great time with friends. Yonea was dangerous with the lighter fluid!

Eatin' popcorn and drinking tea

Some Snyders and Duleys came over and had fun in the barn.

The poor toad! Dissecting in Biology class..

Ben and Scott had a great time fishing and filleting their catch! The yacht came in handy :)

This is the last picture that I have of Daddy. I think it was taken on April 15 just a few days before he died.

April was a blur for us all. It started out with a fun picnic at Tombigbee State Park with the Chunns, Corbins and Williams. Then we had an Easter Egg Hunt at the Johnsons and then Easter. The weekend after Easter was the 5K and then my brother's birthday party on April 15. This was the last time that I saw my precious Daddy. The next Monday he was gone. The days since have been sad, but I am continually thankful for his 80 years and all the good memories that I have of him. He was a good father and provider and he made me (his baby girl) feel loved and special. I miss him terribly but know that I will see him again one day because of the blood of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice and atonement for Daddy and for me.

My first 5K - 4/10/10

The picture on the left is before the race - notice the darkness :) and the make-up. Heather was telling about this saying that she read in a running book. It said runners who wear earrings and make up don't run fast. And I added....runners who wear earrings and make up don't care if they run fast :) I was just thankful to be able to run for 3.1 miles!

This one is after the race. Don't be impressed by the trophies - there weren't many in our age categories.

Our car full of Spartans going to Chick-Fil-A after the race. Race days are fun in that you get to fellowship with friends!

On a chilly morning we got up before the sun rose to trek down to the mall for the Children's Mansion 5K. It started at 7 am! I was nervous and I am glad Scott ran with me most of the way. The first mile was good , but during the 2nd one , I wanted to lay down and die on the side of the road right there in front of Wal-Mart! After we turned at Walgreens, there was a down hill part and that renewed my energy a bit. After mile 2, I kept thinking, only 1 more mile...... and then as I rounded the corner at Belk's it seemed the whole Spartan team ran out to cheer me on. They ran with me shouting encouragement. My goal was to run this in less than 40 minutes and I was very close, but as I ran into the finishing shoot, there was nothing left, I simply could not run any faster and I finished at 40:07 (close enough to my goal). I am thankful to be able to jog and I am still persevering in this. I feel better and have more energy on the days that I am able to run.

Our trip to Jackson, Atlanta, Savannah, and Columbia

Our first stop was Clinton, MS to Jeremy and Lindsay's wedding. They got married in an old chapel on the Mississippi College campus. It was a lovely day!

We blew bubbles for the bride and groom to run through!

Jeremy and Lindsey's wedding was beautiful! I loved the bright, happy colors she chose. Claire was a beautiful flower girl. We enjoyed spending time with family over the weekend.

Next stop.....Stone Mountain, GA

Claire enjoyed the rock wall!

Ben's favorite thing at Stone Mtn. was this sky hike obstacle course. They did this as many times as we had time for.

Claire did a great job on the sky hike course, too. It was scary at first , but fun!

John is not so sure about the sky hike......

John loved the obstacle course!

The top of Stone Mountain. You can see 40 miles from the top of this huge chunk of granite.

While in the Atlanta area, we stayed at the Stone Mountain Park Mariott Evergreen Resort. It was very nice and we enjoyed our time at the park as well. We took the tram up to the top of the mountain and did the sky hike obstacle course and did a good bit of walking/running around our hotel on the trails.



And on the road again..............Savannah, GA.

While in Savannah, we drove out to Tybee Island and spent the day at the beach! Great ice cream there and Ben found this shell with a hermit crab in it! Ben and Claire played for a couple of hours nonstop in the waves! John, Anna and I built sandcastles.

Savannah was beautiful. We walked down from our hotel to the riverwalk and there were many cute candy shops(prailines, YUM!) and restaurants and then the next night we walked all around the historic district. Such a pretty city that is full of history. The picture to the right is inside a gorgeous cathedral in the historic district. It is open for tours.

Next destination was South Carolina........

We went on a nature preserve on the way to SC and were able to observe alligators in their natural habitat. You can't see them in these pics , but we got out of the car and saw some up close. One was over 8 feet long. All I could think about was those nature shows when the crocs spring out of the water and chomp down on a leg or something!!

I did not take a pic of the one that was super close to us, but you can kinda see the head of this one. I took this pic from the car.

Perfect home for the swamp monster!

My brother, Hule, tells stories of the swamp monster to the children after our last visit to their house. We visited the Congaree swamp and saw all kinds of interesting swamp life. My camera started big time messing up while we were in Columbia and I did not take even one picture. We enjoyed our time there as well and were able to visit the zoo and visit with Hule and Loretta and their girls Sarah and Julianne. Loretta is a wonderful cook and she had a fun scavenger hunt for the kids when we got there. It involved the attic of their older home and at the end were gifts for each child!

Here are Hule and Loretta at the wedding with Mom.

This pic was taken during a loooong car ride home from South Carolina. It sums up our trip - a little bit of lace and flowers and a little bit of rest and relaxation and time on the beach and visiting with family!

Trip down memory lane....20 years ago

Quite a few years ago - 1998

Having fun on the beach in 2000.

Pre-children, probably around 1994.

This is one of the earlist pics of us - scary! Around 1986!

May 26, 1990! I cannot believe that it has been 20 years since our wedding! Time has flown by. I am truly thankful to God for my wonderful, caring, godly husband. He is everything I dreamed of and more- a loving father, provider, best friend and a child of God.

Going to Pancho's on my nineteenth birthday!

I can't believe we dressed up that much to go out to eat. Times have changed.....

Trip down memory lane

Kaelan gets a try on Stinker.

Jackson and John about to fill up the balloons for a water balloon duel.

Caedmon is a cutie!

Scott tames Stinker.....we are trying out this horse and after

Aaron rode him , we saw why he was called Stinker :)

It has been almost 3 months since I have posted on my blog. A great deal has happened and as my blog is my primary form of scrapbooking, I do want to chronicle some of the events of the last months. I will start with the latest and go backwards. My camera has been showing an error message the last couple of weeks, so I have only a few sparse pics since our trip to Georgia/SC. We had a wonderful Memorial Day yesterday with the Chamblees. We (some of us anyway :) rode horses, played horseshoes and had a water balloon fight. Then indoors for some yummy bar-be -que and then a board game called Times Up! We had a great time of fellowship and Scott reminded us to not only remember the heroes that fought and died to help make our nation free, but also to remember the Ultimate Sacrifice that Jesus Christ made to give us freedom from sin and from the just wrath of God.

Full

What do we fill up on?? We all have hungers and emptiness. Where do we turn to be filled??
Sadly, I often turn to myself, my comfort , other people, possessions, events , my children and husband, and many many more false and empty places to be filled when I need to turn to the fount that will truly satisfy my every longing - Jesus Christ. Repentence (turning from sin, self and creation to the fulness of God through Christ) is a daily need in my life. A moment by moment need and He is willing to feed and nourish and fill like no other.
Taste and see that the Lord He is good...


Oh to realize our true hunger and need for Him.