Friday Favorites: The Beach

Wrightsville Beach, NC

Being born and raised in states on the Atlantic coast, I have a love for the beach and the ocean. A lot of times that love has to lie dormant, since I now live in a land-locked state, but whenever I get a chance to get to the coast, it all comes back to me.

A couple of weeks ago when I was on the youth mission trip to North Carolina, we had the opportunity to have a beach day and it was one of the highlights of my week (and probably my summer). There was a heat advisory that day for most of the country, and the temperature that day at the beach was near 100. But even just a few yards closer to the water from where we set up our pavilion and towels, the breeze and the water made it feel 10 degrees cooler.

The most refreshing part was being in the ocean, jumping the waves. In the northeast, the water stays cooler until later in the summer, but in North Carolina that day, the water was perfect. I quickly remembered the days of being at the beach with my family when I was growing up and had sweet memories of my dad teaching me to jump the waves and swimming for hours with me and my sister in the ocean.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to be honest and say that while I love the beach and the ocean, I'm not a big fan of sand. I know that sounds crazy, but for me, the whole beach/ocean experience is worth a little (OK, sometimes a lot) of discomfort from having sand in your towel, walking on hot sand and finding sand in your bag when you get back to your land-locked state.

I am hoping to get some extended time at the beach in the next year or so. I really want to have the fun of watching Erica and Mary Lane experience the beach and the ocean for the first time and I'd love to have a big family vacation to celebrate Daniel's high school graduation year. We'll see . . .

Sister Saturday: Little Sister is Two!

I'll post pictures from Mary Lane's party later, but for now, here's a little look back. . .

On the day she was born

May 2011

First birthday

Easter 2012

Friday Favorites: Fireworks, Friends & Fourth of July

 We have a tradition of getting together with friends to celebrate the 4th of July. Most years we end up at Crockett Park in Brentwood and stake our claim to a piece of the hill in the ampitheater to listen to the music. The view of the fireworks is great there, too! It's so fun to have these memories through the years!

2012

2010

 

 

 

2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Saturday: Crahft Day

A couple of Saturdays ago, my mom and I were sitting out on my deck reading and relaxing. Mom showed me a picture from a magazine of a wreath similar to the one above and we thought it was cute. I had the idea that we should have a mother-daughter craft day and get together with Jeanette to each make a wreath. We knew Jeanette would not mind being left out of the shopping part of the project, so Mom and I got into the car that afternoon and went to buy the supplies needed at Joann.

You see, Jeanette doesn't get as excited about crafting as my mom and I do. But she loves spending time with her mom and sis, and since this wreath is fairly quick and easy, we figured she'd be into it. And she was. We made our wreaths today and had a fun time talking and catching up on the week's events. I am continually thankful to have my sister and my mom so close by. And I don't take it for granted (usually) because we haven't always lived in such close proximity.

In fact, the reason why I spelled "craft" with an "h" in the middle comes from when my sister was living in Germany for three years. She was a member of an international church in Dusseldorf and had friends from many different places, including England.

The group of women from the church got together regularly to have "Crahft" (say it with a British accent). I don't think they added "night" to the event title. It was just "Crahft." Since Jeanette was living at the church (which also housed a preschool where she worked), she would go sit with her friends during Crahft and would sometimes even do some creating of her own.

One time in particular, soon after I had been diagnosed with a malignant thyroid tumor, Jeanette made me the card pictured below.

Inside she wrote some sweet notes of encouragement, along with some scripture verses. Her friends cheered her on as she did this labor of love to send back across the ocean to me. She wrote, "The Lord has used various means of comforting me today. I'm using you as my Craft tonight. I hope this is as much of an encouragement as doing it has been for me." It was a cherished gift and I still have it saved in a box with other memorable cards and notes.

Several years have gone by since Jeanette made me that card. I am cancer-free and don't have any ill-effects from that health crisis. Looking back, the time that Jeanette was away in Germany was a time of great growth in our relationship. We had been friends before, but being forced to communicate via email (phone calls were more expensive back then and there wasn't any such thing as Skype) made us really value our friendship and work hard at staying close across the miles.

I'm glad that we had our mother/daughter/sister craft time today. It was fun to see how each of us made our wreath our own (sorry, I only have the picture of mine). Hopefully we can expand these craft days to include Erica and Mary Lane in the near future!

Redneck Riviera

On Saturday we got to spend some time with our long-time friends, Rhesa, Phillip, Rebekah and Rachel, out on Percy Priest Lake. We like to jokingly refer to it as the Redneck Riviera.

It was so relaxing to just ride on the boat and lounge in the water when we got hot. Daniel and the girls also went tubing, so some of the pictures are of Daniel behind the boat.

World's Best Dad

Summer 1977

Father's Day 2011

I have been wavering about what to blog about on this first Father's Day without my dad here on earth with us. To be honest, I started dreading this day a few weeks ago (probably right after Mother's Day) when I kept seeing ads and emails for Father's Day gifts. I wasn't looking forward to a reminder that my dad is not with us (like I needed a reminder). I just wanted it to be Monday, June 18.

But today is the day. I woke up with thankfulness in my heart for having a father who loved me unconditionally and who cared for every aspect of my life. Of course, he was not perfect, and neither am I as his daughter, but my dad gave me a wonderful picture of my Heavenly Father that helped me to have faith and trust and hope in Christ. I am so thankful to have a dad who I miss on Father's Day (and every day). And I am thankful that my earthly father is with our Heavenly Father and is free from sadness and sickness and the pain of this world.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!

Drum lessons, anyone???

Pardon me while I do a little PR/marketing for my son.

Last summer Daniel had an idea to teach drum lessons, but didn't really know how to get started (and I might have drilled him with so many questions that I unknowingly shot down his plan).

New summer, more drum experience and confidence under his belt, maybe a little more motivation to earn some money. Daniel has spent several hours developing his plan of action, including going through music and developing lesson plans. He made up the flyer above to send out to people we know (and maybe post around town).

If you know of anyone who has an interest in learning the drums, please contact Daniel. He's right that he's one of the lowest priced in town and would be glad to work something out.