Lent

This year for lent I am giving up Facebook because, if I am true to myself I can get sucked into the FB world rather quickly. I have never spent a lot of time thinking about why do I make the choice to give up some thing for lent other than the fact that it is the least I can do for all that Jesus did for me on the cross. This year for some reason I have thought about lent differently and really wanted to make sure that I have made it more than just giving up Facebook. Lent last 40 days because , according to biblical accounts, Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting and meditation before his ministry, with that said I want to make sure that I take these 40 days to meditate on the One and Only asking him to reveal the "ME STUFF" that keeps me from experiencing his full glory in my life. I read somewhere in blog land about a lady that spends the 40 days of lent clearing out every nook and cranny in her house. I thought that was the coolest idea, how often do we let all the "stuff" physical or emotional crowd over lives. I decided to take that on as a little side project and this week I have been working on the attic, oh my goodness the attic!! It is such a beautiful season to turn from the old and run to the new. What did you give up for lent? I would love to hear from you as we walk this journey to Easter morn together.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. -James 4:10

Birthday Fun

We have celebrated all weekend and it was so fun. Yesterday we had a monogram shower for Caroline and today we celebrated Connor's 3rd birthday. Do you think he enjoyed his cake?!?

Mama and the Birthday Boy

Anna Kate enjoying the swing, she is such a happy girl!

As I look back on the weekend, I am just so thankful for all the blessings he has given us and special days to celebrate!

Monogram Shower

Caroline will be married in May and Saturday we celebrated her new initial! I wanted to share the shower with you!

Caroline proudly wore her new intial "C". Thanks Allie for putting this together.

Fun, Fun Gifts

3 generations

The sassy table. :)

The cake Ms. Terry had made, I thought it was too cute. It was really tasty too!

The Menu

Ham & Cheese Rolls

Chicken Salad Wraps

Pimento Cheese

Cheese Straws

Pasta Salad

Fruit with Yogurt and Honey Dressing

Sweet Tea

Lemonade

Our Family

B and Mr. Johnny

Today Kelly's Korner is hosting a show your family day, I thought I would join in. God has blessed me with a wonderful family and I thank him each day for the love we share.

Ms. Patty, Mary Beth and Bailey

The Radford/Liles Families

Aunt Angie and Mama

Uncle Charles and Josiah

aka The Dancing Machine

Zack and Allie

Cousins

Justin, Caroline, B

The Liles/Griffin Crew

Mama and her children

Mr. Jimmy and Ms. Lillie

Mary Beth and Matthew

Bailey Bug

Our fur baby Dowdy

Can you tell we love him???

The Radfords

I feel so fortunate to be able to share such close bonds with our families.

They are such a special part of our lives!

Praise the Lord

As I write this post I give God all the honor and glory for reigning so big in our lives each day. About a month ago my Dad had an episode and he thought he was having a heart attack, he went to the hospital and it was determined he was not having a heart attack. That night started a series of test as we all anxiously waited to find out what was going on. The nuclear stress test revealed something the doctor was not happy to see and he suggested bypass surgery. My Dad went for a second a opinion and he heard the same news, surgery was a must. This past Tuesday Dr. Chitwood performed robotic bypass surgery on my Dad. Dr. Chitwood shared with the family that my Dad had a heart condition referred to as the "Widow Maker", basically this is fatal in the event of a heart attack. My Dad is home today and beginning his recovery. This week our family has been blessed with an outpouring of calls, texts, cards, prayers, visits and goodies. I know that God has BIG plans for DK, because it is evident that his hand was all over him!!

Taylor is a BIG sister!! Our friends Katie and Daryl had another precious angel on Thursday.

We welcome Hayley Elizabeth Cherry to the world!! I am slack with the camera, but there will be pictures to come. Until then take it from me she is precious!!

I leave you with this verse...

Let all that I am praise the Lord;

with all my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

Let all that I am praise the Lord;

May I never forget the good things he does for me.

Psalm 103:1-2

Fun Weekends

I just love the weekends, it such a great time to spend time with those that are so dear to you. I have done a terrible job of capturing the past 2 weekends in pictures, but I will share anyway. :)

Last Friday night we had dinner with Katie, Daryl and Taylor. We always enjoy the time we get to spend with Miss Taylor, she is 4 literally going on 25. Last Saturday night we headed to LA to celebrate Alex's Dad, Mr. Ted's 50th birthday . On Sunday we went to Snow Hill for church to watch Ms. Terry and Daddy join the church. After going to Liberty for 5 years they thought they would join! My Daddy shared his testimony which was very touching. I praise God for the words my Daddy shared and Ms. Terry being such a pray warrior.

This weekend we headed to Kinston to watch Josiah on the homecoming court, he was the 7th grade representative. I left my camera in the car-nice. I have to tell you that he was some kind of handsome. On Saturday we went with Reagan and Todd to the Carolina game. My favorite part was the food of the day, Brixx for lunch, Angus Barn for dinner and Yogen Fruz for a little something sweet!! Okay, you know I love something sweet and the Yogen Fruz was the bomb for 110 calories-Thanks Reagan for introducing me! Today we went to Ms. Lillie for a gourmet lunch, she is quite the chef. After shrimp and seafood manicotti it was time for some zzzzzzs. I hope you had a fun weekend!! Until next time may many blessings come your way.

Bye Bye 2010..Hello 2011

We spent New Year's Eve with the Meeks, Beddards, and soon to be Bowens. The highlight of the evening was Anna Kate and Connor!!

Connor playing!!

AK listening...she is such a girl, nosy!!

My friends, Brad popped the question and Taylor said yes! We spent one day during Christmas vacation searching and finding the perfect dress!!

My mother "modeling" her Christmas coat.

Bryan is the hardest person to buy gift for so, every year I try to think outside of the box for at least one of his gifts. This year I decided to get a painting of Dowdy for him. Although, I said a thousand times I would not do this before children, I caved!

We got married on Derby Day and B gave me the poster from the day we got married.

Christmas Morning...Dowdy and B have the same hair. :)

Christmas Eve

We get stockings each year on Christmas Eve and they are always filled with some fun gifts. This year we got "grills" and tatoo sleeves.

We hosted the Liles' Christmas Eve this year, I got to use my Christmas china. It was fun and a lot of work.

Snow is becoming a common word these days in ENC. All I can say is please hurry Spring!!