Jeff and AIM on CBN

My husband is the Director of Marketing at Adventures In Missions (AIM).  AIM is located in Gainesville, Georgia, but Jeff primarily works out of our home, traveling to Georgia every other month or so for meetings.  He also travels to train missionaries during training camps and even leads a mission trip or two.  But in his day-to-day role, it is hard for me sometimes to remember how important of a guy he is (he is Director after all, that’s big stuff!), because I see him at home all the time, working from the couch one day, the dining room table the next, and sometimes out of his actual office… and even sometimes in pajamas (don’t tell him I told you).    I wouldn’t be surprise if some of you have gotten an email from him while in the bathroom.  Again… I didn’t say a word.

One of his tasks as Director of Marketing is working with media outlets.  He’s helped get AIM into magazines like Relevant, on some radio stations and just recently on CBN News.  The latest, with CBN, was in regards to this photo contest AIM did.  They set up criteria that had to be met, allowed anyone to submit photos that met them, and then awarded cash prizes to winners. These photos were about ministry, many from people that had been on an AIM trip and some that had not.  They were amazing, beautiful, and heart wrenching.  I cannot imagine being a judge for this contest.

CBN had heard about this from a press release and contacted AIM, wanting to do a piece about it.  Jeff did a video chat with them.  I tried embedding the video CBN put together of their chat and some of the pictures that were submitted, but I had lots of trouble, so please take the time and visit the article here.

A Weekend of Favorite Foods

Is August really over?  Yikes!  Hard to believe. 

The other weekend my parents came to town.  We didn’t do the typical Nashville things (they’ve been here enough times, I’m running out of things to show them!), but we did have a blast.  They got in on a Friday night, just in time for supper.  We made yummy home-made tacos.  I love this meal. Love. It.  Guacamole, limes, flour tortillas.  Wow.  After supper we watched Henry Poole is Here.  Jeff and I had already seen it and loved it, but the parents hadn’t.  So we showed it to them.  I think they liked it.  And man, what a soundtrack!

That Saturday Jeff took Dad to our YMCA.  Dad has always wanted to see it, so they went, only to have their time cut short because someone set off the fire alarm.  So while they were finishing up their workouts at the apartments’ fitness center, Mom and I did what could almost be considered the complete opposite… we made cupcakes.

You see, for awhile now my mom has talked about learning how to decorate cakes.  Then that talk turned into maybe starting a cake business.  If you know her and see her around, you need to encourage her to do it!  She’s always been artsy in regards to being able to draw, so I know she could handle the detailed cake decorating part.  And she is a great baker, too.  Her cookies, both sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies, are famous.  Famous, I tell you!  She also makes a mean chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  Now, I’m a white cake with cream cheese icing kind of girl, but this chocolate cake is divine! 

So I think she should do this.  And in trying to help her along, last time Jeff and I were in Illinois, we got her a cupcake book (only because we couldn’t find a cake book at Shopko).  It has some adorable creations in it.  Mom had apparently been experimenting with the puppy dogs, and she brought the supplies here for us to try.  I got to help her make some puppies, and then all four of us devoured the creations.  They were adorable and delicious.  So I continued on, feeding this idea of hers, by taking her to Borders and “making” her buy some awesome cake books.  I use the word “making” loosely, because I didn’t have to twist her arm very hard at all.  Well, actually, there wasn’t even twisting.

Mom's is obviously on the left (the pro) and mine on the right (the amateur).

So, we had cupcakes for dessert after another one of Jeff’s infamous meals:  BBQ chicken and corn on the cob. I also love this meal.  The corn on the cob has been amazing this summer, too.  Amazing.

We then spent that Saturday afternoon in downtown Franklin browsing through the shops.  Downtown Franklin is so charming!  Then we headed over to Buca di Beppo for supper.  This is the same thing we had for my birthday, and I really wanted my parents to try the place out.  It was amazing as usual.  Then that Sunday we went to church and hit up Cozymel’s before they hit the road to head back North.  It was a great visit, and a filling one.  Literally.

After they left, Jeff and I went to (500) Days of Summer.  This is a must see movie.  Zooey is adorable in this, and the story is just too cute.  Well and aggravating at times, but cute. 

As for other new things… we’ve been working on the ballroom dancing!  We are really enjoying the lessons.  We have learned the beginnings of the Cha Cha, Rumba, Waltz, Swing, Salsa and Fox Trot.  Before our next lesson, we have to pick two or three that we will continue on learning and add about 15 combinations to our playbook.  We are anxious excited! 

Van Gogh's Almond Branch

We also took a stab at painting.  A new place called Sips n Strokes opened up in Cool Springs, and we had a date night there the other night.  Each night, they have a different painting, and there is someone there to teach you how to paint it.  We did a Van Gogh, which I wouldn’t recommend if it’s your first time because of all the details!  I should’ve picked something a little less complicated.  But it was fun, and I’m looking forward to trying it out some more.  If you live in Alabama or are in the Atlanta or Nashville area, you should try it out!  It does not matter your skill level, I promise!  I am the worst ever, and I was surprised at what I could do as an amateur.  It was no Van Gogh, but still…

L-R: Jeff, Ashley

July is my Favorite Month!

Well ok, I’m not really sure how true that statement is… or how fair that really is to the other months… but it is my birthday month!

July flew by.  And I do mean that.  We started out July in Georgia celebrating the 4th and experiencing IKEA for the first time.  What an experience.  The next week we house sat, got our new dining room table that we love, and then my brother and his band came down to play at a showcase.  It was so great seeing him, even if only for a short visit.  We enjoyed delicious Papa John’s pizza (the best!) and some intense games of Yahtzee and Jenga.

The next weekend we got to celebrate our friends Phil and Michelle at their wedding in Indy.  It was beautiful.  And then came my birthday.  Hold on while I start another paragraph, because it deserves it’s own…

Thank you, thank you, thank you for an incredible birthday.  To my friends and family and my darling husband, you all are wonderful.  I will never forget this birthday.  It was amazing.  Thank you.

Then we ended the month up in Illinois, going to see S.H.A.R.C play at a concert they organized, Sold Out for Christ.  It was a whirlwind of a weekend, just like the entire month, but it was an enjoyable busy.

We are so thankful that we got to see so many over the summer.  It makes all the crazy busyness of managing our schedules and traveling and lack of sleep worth it.  It’s hard to believe August is practically over – - it makes this summer seem like it happened so long ago.  But we feel truly blessed to be able to have lived the summer we did, have so many wonderful people in our lives and actually get to see a few of you, to celebrate new lives (wedding) and an “old” one (my birthday), and to have the ability now to welcome so many of you into our home.  We have a spare bedroom that is vacant most of the time, aside from Jeff’s work hours when it serves as an office, and a table with six empty seats.  So get your names on our reservation list and come see us!!!

*Thanks to Joe Gomez Photo for the birthday photos!