Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

October was full of wonderful birthday celebrations, and I loved it.

Miss Hannah had a wonderfully themed party.  She likes argyle (brown and pink to be exact), and asked us all to show up in our best threads that sported her cherished design.  I had the pleasure of designing the invite and baking her a lemon cake, her favorite.  It was a great time of celebration and eating delicious pizza at Mellow Mushroom.

The following weekend was the much anticipated surprise party for my dear friend Jerene. Jerene is one of a kind, and I hope everyone has a “Jerene” in their life. I know I am so thankful she is in mine.  I thought it was about time her life and home were celebrated, and that she was told how incredible she is, how much she is loved, how huge of a blessing she is, and that she heard the words “thank you.”

So I rounded up a bunch of helpers and kept a huge secret for months.  I never thought this day was going to come.  But it did, and it was a huge success!  I am so thankful to everyone who played a part; it would not have been so great without them.  And they did such a wonderful job, with decorations, supplies, cake, punch, taking pictures (thank you Joe Gomez and Sue C!) and providing words about her to put in a scrapbook that we gave to her at the party.  I think our goal to bless Jerene was greatly exceeded!

Then the following weekend (Yes, three celebrations in a row.  Almost too much excitement to handle!) our wonderful friend from college, Miss Mary, came down to visit.  She wanted to get away for her birthday, and she chose us to stay with. What an honor!  We took her to Cozymels (a favorite), to Pumpkin Fest in downtown Franklin (so charming) and to The Hermitage (incredibly fascinating).  For her birthday, I took her to one of my new favorites, Sips ‘n Strokes.  It was a total surprise for her.  I was pretty sure she’d like it (she’s a music teacher, and thus has a great right side of her brain), but after spending the afternoon gawking at beautiful pictures and crafts in Franklin, I knew it was going to be a huge hit.  And it was.  I felt like I was reliving my childhood, her giggling throughout the whole thing and showing so much excitement (and her painting was amazing!).  Jeff and I’s life is definitely not as full with laughter since college, because we do not see her enough.  She’s one of those people that not only always has a smile on her face, but a laughter, too.

October was beautiful, because it was full of celebration and celebrating lives.  There is not enough of that going on.  And a great book (beware of corny plug coming) that does this well is Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist.  It should be a must read on your list!  It is also a great gift idea.  I have gifted it several times, and everyone has had wonderful things to say.  I am on the edge of my seat waiting for Shauna’s next book to come out next Fall.  Hopefully, I can stand the wait.

Seven Ate Nine

Ok ok ok, I have months to recap.  I don’t even remember all that happened, but here we go.

Oh yes, August.  August, you weren’t necessarily my favorite.  You brought me the bee sting, that stupid bee sting that made me miserable for like a week!  The good news:  I survived.  My toes are completely normal and all the dead, poison-infested skin has long since been shed.  It is as if it never happened.  And I’m thankful for that… and of the mind set now that for all intents and purposes, I am now allergic to bee stings.

Our family also grew a bit… well we finally got a Mac.  That’s what I meant.  And for the most part, it’s been great.  I’ve done some video editing, just a bit of picture editing, and tried my hand at some very small design projects.  Very small.  I think I will learn to love a Mac.  But I refuse to love Jeff’s.  There have been times where it has left me to be with Jeff on a work trip, and it has broken my heart, because I needed it.  I relied on it.  So I will not love it.  I will love my own, though.  Some. Day.

August also brought my parents to town.  Ok, August, I must confess.  Walking down this memory lane, I’m realizing you really weren’t all that bad.  Anyway, Mom and I dabbled in cupcake decorating (so fun and delish!), and I started my love affair with painting with Jeff by my side.  Sips n Strokes is so cool.  If you live in Nashville or Atlanta or Alabama, you should go check it out.  You will not be disappointed.  And you will be surprised by how well you really can paint.  Trust me.

And then came September.  And Jeff on CBN News!  And…

New
York
City

Oh New York City.  I love you.  You reawakened my love for travel and stirred a deeper love in me for excellent theater. And speaking of those video projects, below is the NYC photo tour video, just because I love it, and I want you to watch it again.  Ready, go.

My Love Cup is Full

A friend from church has a beautiful story of how she spent a day with her nephew.  When she brought him home, his mom noticed a difference in him and said that it was obvious his little love cup was full.  I love that saying!  And I know he’s blessed to have such an awesome aunt.

This past weekend, Jeff and I made the trek to Georgia to celebrate AIM’s 20th Anniversary.  We got all dressed up for dinner and dancing on Saturday, then headed to the park on Sunday for worship and a picnic.  We mingled with coworkers, donors, and friends of AIM along the way.  While there, I talked with one coworker of Jeff’s.  To say that where she and her husband are today is not at all where they thought they’d be at the beginning of the year would be about exactly right.  They literally are not - they’re back to living in Georgia, which was not what they thought this year had in store.  I asked her if she thought God had revealed the reason to her yet for placing them in Gainesville, and she passed on a great word that was spoken to her when the changes took place.  Another wise coworker at AIM told her (and I’m going to do a horrible job at paraphrasing this, just so you know) that maybe it’s about the people God has called them to be with, and not necessarily where God has called them to go.  And she thought that absolutely, these Georgia people they have community with is exactly “her people.” 

I loved it.  Not only did I love the fact that once again God is gracious enough to answer our “whys?” but to also call us to community, and that she not only recognized it, but that she was seeing the fruit of it.

I feel that way about Nashville, about our friends and some of my coworkers.  And specifically, I’m blessed to be a part of a church that has such amazing examples.  There are women who are great examples of how to be a Woman of Faith, a wife, a mother (someday way down the road), a friend, a sister, a daughter.  And I attend a small church, so each woman is great at a number of these things!   I would not be who I am or where I am had even just one of these women not been a part of my life these last three years.

Something that has been impressed upon my heart in the past couple of months is just how blessed I am because of this community (and Jeff, too, by the men).  I have been overwhelmed with the desire to just take every opportunity to be with the ladies and to also bless them and say thank you and to learn.  I’m so thankful that they’re not only willing to spend time with me (or at least they’re great pretenders!), but that they are honest and vulnerable with me (they’re also excellent listeners!).   And that, when I see the opportunity to, they allow me to bless them, and they don’t argue with me about it, but just receive it.  And so humbly.  I’m such a giver.  I’d much rather give you something then let you give me something, so I’m not always good at a humble and simple “thank you.”  But I do still like presents on birthdays and Christmas, so you’re not totally off the hook!  But that’s not what I’m referring to.  I’m talking about just out of the blue blessings. 

So I’ve spent lots of time with the ladies, and even blessed a few along the way.  I saw Steel Magnolias at the TPAC last week with a dear friend – it’s her favorite movie of all time.  I had lunch Monday with another and spent a Friday and Saturday night with a few at an awesome woman’s conference, Finding Grace.  I’m celebrating a couple birthdays in these coming days, and I’m so stoked to celebrate the lives of two women that I am so incredibly grateful to God for creating them and for bringing them into my life. 

Other blessings, of course, include my husband. If you’ll remember, he gave me ballroom dancing lessons for my birthday.  We are in the middle of lessons, and progressing nicely, according to our teacher.  It is so great to not only have received such a fitting gift, but to also be able to experience this together. 

And then I have my “old” friends.  The friends from days gone by.  Man, sometimes I feel like I do not see them enough.  Thankfully, we’re going to get our fix of college friends soon, as one of our bestests is spending Halloween here with us!  I’ll share her with Jeff a bit, but I am going to be totally selfish and steal lots of girl time with her.

And of course, my family is in this category.  I’m looking forward to seeing them in a few weekends for family photos.  And then we’re all vacationing together over Thanksgiving in Orlando.   And just because I haven’t shared the latest (all be it, these are a month old) pictures of Gary and I don’t know how else to close this blog, here you go.  He’s getting such a big boy face.  But unfortunately, this adorable little guy won’t be going to Florida with us.  But that might actually be a good thing.