my heart is burdened and relieved for the state of alabama right now. my sister, her boyfriend & my friends who live in tuscaloosa, friends in birmingham, and my family in prattville & wetumpka are all safe.
others are not as fortunate as the state has reported at least 40 deaths, 15 of those in tuscaloosa....i know the numbers will be completely irrelevant by morning but it is all that has been said at this point. the city of tuscaloosa that i love so dearly is completely devasted...parts of the city are literally demolished. i cannot imagine being a parent of a student at ua and having to wait to hear from them...it was hard enough being a sibling & not knowing details at first.
please be in prayer with me for people in this state...and the surrounding states who are still currently being affected. this is far from being over although the storms have passed.
if you're interested, al.com has video, images, and more from today's devastation.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
a spring visit to alabama
i made the most of my four-day Easter weekend and decided to fly to alabama for the first time since Christmas. sadly, lee was only given a three-day weekend and could not take off so i went solo.
the trip began right away with an airport greeting & pickup from my mom and brother. we drove over to tuscaloosa from there to stay the night with my sister. tyler scheduled several tours and meetings at ua for thursday and rachel had class so i had perfect little pockets of time to catch up with friends and former co-workers while we were there! before everyone's day began though, we made sure we got the most important meal of the day covered with breakfast at the waysider. oh man...a little out of the way, but oh so good!
i got to catch up with all of my former co-workers at calvary which was really great. i always feel so welcomed there and it holds such a special place in my heart for so many reasons...jobs in college and grad school, our college ministry, meeting lee by working for ben, our wedding, and our awesome ss class after we got married. speaking of that class, some of our dearest friends just recently welcomed 2 new additions while other friends just recently moved back to tuscaloosa, and i got to see 3/4 of those friends as well as the twins.
we finished off our whirlwind stay in tuscaloosa with gigi's cupcakes. now, these are no crave cupcakes but they certainly were not too shabby either....and more than enough icing!
friday, we met the extended fam for lunch and shopping. luckily we had our own little corner in the restaurant so we had plenty of space for this little photo-op.
also, many thanks to my sister, grandmother, and great-aunt for the goodies for brendan! :)
the trip began right away with an airport greeting & pickup from my mom and brother. we drove over to tuscaloosa from there to stay the night with my sister. tyler scheduled several tours and meetings at ua for thursday and rachel had class so i had perfect little pockets of time to catch up with friends and former co-workers while we were there! before everyone's day began though, we made sure we got the most important meal of the day covered with breakfast at the waysider. oh man...a little out of the way, but oh so good!
i got to catch up with all of my former co-workers at calvary which was really great. i always feel so welcomed there and it holds such a special place in my heart for so many reasons...jobs in college and grad school, our college ministry, meeting lee by working for ben, our wedding, and our awesome ss class after we got married. speaking of that class, some of our dearest friends just recently welcomed 2 new additions while other friends just recently moved back to tuscaloosa, and i got to see 3/4 of those friends as well as the twins.
we finished off our whirlwind stay in tuscaloosa with gigi's cupcakes. now, these are no crave cupcakes but they certainly were not too shabby either....and more than enough icing!friday, we met the extended fam for lunch and shopping. luckily we had our own little corner in the restaurant so we had plenty of space for this little photo-op.
also, many thanks to my sister, grandmother, and great-aunt for the goodies for brendan! :)
Friday, April 22, 2011
the justice league
it is hard to believe that joe is now 5 and miles is 3. these guys are by far the cutest superheroes i have seen. don't you agree? our day was filled with the biggest superhero bouncer i have even seen, yummy cake pops & cake balls, more bouncer time, presents, ping pong, crawfish later on in the day, and eva & the cat...
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
go cubs go
last week, katy and i got to see the cubs live and in action here in houston. one of lee's coworkers gave us awesome seats...3 rows from the field!
this was my first time to see the new and improved screen at minute maid...check it out + the cubs star player so far this year. seriously, this dude is batting over 400...right, lee?
the rest of these shots are action shots from the game...just hate i forgot my big lens.
not my favorite picture of me, but the only one of us from the game...
this was my first time to see the new and improved screen at minute maid...check it out + the cubs star player so far this year. seriously, this dude is batting over 400...right, lee?
the rest of these shots are action shots from the game...just hate i forgot my big lens.
not my favorite picture of me, but the only one of us from the game...
Monday, April 4, 2011
when alabama meets texas
we had our very first visitors in our new house this weekend...my parents!!!
they got offered final four/national championship tickets at a steal of a price so it gave them even more reason to come visit us! also, we had not seen them since january so it has been a long overdue but wonderful weekend with them. they started the weekend with their first experience at pappa's seafood house...yum! saturday, we went to humble city cafe for breakfast...delicious breakfast buffet by the way. we had no idea that a little arts & crafts festival was also taking place in downtown humble so my mom and i ventured through the booths after our late breakfast. then, lee took us all out to his school so my parents could see where he works now.
afterward, we had to head back to the house for the guys to grab their tickets and head to the final four! they had a great time...even if their seats were literally on the highest row possible. my dad even survived a stumble down a couple of rows on the way out...thankfully, he just walked away with nothing more than a little soreness, both to his muscles and his ego ;).
meanwhile, my mom and i made our first trip to babies r us for brendan. we scoped out a few strollers and of course picked him up a few outfits in the process. we drove over to target to compare stroller prices and went to my school to see of my sweet current and former students in their dance show. my mom had only ever seen the outside of my school so she was quite taken aback when she saw just how massive it is from the inside.
sunday, lee made his awesome pancakes for breakfast and then he and my dad headed out to the shell houston open. did i mention this was going to be a sports-packed weekend?! they were two happy, tired, and sports-filled guys by the end of the weekend. anyway, they were thrilled to watch phil mickelson pull out the win and get up close and personal to quite a few big-named players. others, like tiger woods and ian poulter (one of lee's faves) were not present because they use the week before the masters to get prepared in augusta instead of at another tournament, but both of them said it was still a cool experience.
my mom and i continued our shopping by heading to the old navy in the woodlands since they have their maternity section in the store instead of just online like most. brendan may or may not have also wound up with a couple more outfits from this trip as well :). we ended our sunday early with dinner at pappasito's after the guys finished at the tournament. by the way, check out all the loot that brendan wound up with from gran and papa this weekend (these names may or may not be final...):
sadly, lee had to go to work on monday because of TAKS testing but i was able to take today off. i introduced my parents to smashburger, tutti frutti, and homegoods (new fave store). we enjoyed the day together...a rarity that has not happened in many years but was very much treasured. as i type, my parents are currently at the national championship game! they head back to alabama in the morning, but we could not have asked for a better weekend with them. we love you both!
they got offered final four/national championship tickets at a steal of a price so it gave them even more reason to come visit us! also, we had not seen them since january so it has been a long overdue but wonderful weekend with them. they started the weekend with their first experience at pappa's seafood house...yum! saturday, we went to humble city cafe for breakfast...delicious breakfast buffet by the way. we had no idea that a little arts & crafts festival was also taking place in downtown humble so my mom and i ventured through the booths after our late breakfast. then, lee took us all out to his school so my parents could see where he works now.
afterward, we had to head back to the house for the guys to grab their tickets and head to the final four! they had a great time...even if their seats were literally on the highest row possible. my dad even survived a stumble down a couple of rows on the way out...thankfully, he just walked away with nothing more than a little soreness, both to his muscles and his ego ;).
meanwhile, my mom and i made our first trip to babies r us for brendan. we scoped out a few strollers and of course picked him up a few outfits in the process. we drove over to target to compare stroller prices and went to my school to see of my sweet current and former students in their dance show. my mom had only ever seen the outside of my school so she was quite taken aback when she saw just how massive it is from the inside.sunday, lee made his awesome pancakes for breakfast and then he and my dad headed out to the shell houston open. did i mention this was going to be a sports-packed weekend?! they were two happy, tired, and sports-filled guys by the end of the weekend. anyway, they were thrilled to watch phil mickelson pull out the win and get up close and personal to quite a few big-named players. others, like tiger woods and ian poulter (one of lee's faves) were not present because they use the week before the masters to get prepared in augusta instead of at another tournament, but both of them said it was still a cool experience.
my mom and i continued our shopping by heading to the old navy in the woodlands since they have their maternity section in the store instead of just online like most. brendan may or may not have also wound up with a couple more outfits from this trip as well :). we ended our sunday early with dinner at pappasito's after the guys finished at the tournament. by the way, check out all the loot that brendan wound up with from gran and papa this weekend (these names may or may not be final...):
sadly, lee had to go to work on monday because of TAKS testing but i was able to take today off. i introduced my parents to smashburger, tutti frutti, and homegoods (new fave store). we enjoyed the day together...a rarity that has not happened in many years but was very much treasured. as i type, my parents are currently at the national championship game! they head back to alabama in the morning, but we could not have asked for a better weekend with them. we love you both!
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