#Guyturns27

My favorite boy turned 27 two weeks ago, which is convenient since that means his birthday weekend fell over the holiday weekend!
                                                

Though Guy doesn't take birthday nearly as seriously I do, I still wanted to make a big deal out of it since he is pretty sure that 27 is going to be the best age.

So starting on Friday, we began celebrating. I made him his favorite desert (that I make) and we took off for a date at the Fernbank Planetarium.

               

Then after church on Sunday, we drove to Chattanooga Bend State Park for a picnic and hiking alongside the river.

 



I might have vandalized a little bit. But it seemed worth it.








After hiking we drove to LaGrange to spend the night. We ate at Brickyard Grille and Tavern in downtown LaGrange. (side note: the table looks a table made for a giant. In real life, I did not get that impression)

                    


The next morning, we drove to Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park (the largest state park in Georgia) to explore.

(Photo evidence of our pit stop at a Piggly Wiggly: Guy wanted to try to some local cuisine)

               

The park itself was impressive and we had a great time exploring some of the trails, though my favorite part was this place which overlooked the rest of the park.

 

(I could have stayed there all day with our pork cracklins, my mismatched socks and our picnic blanket.)

Happy 27th birthday, Guy. May it be the best year yet and the beginning of even better ones to come.

I love you. 

Spring 2014: An Inadequate Overview

Back on February 15, I looked ahead at my calendar and had an overwhelming feeling of excitement, followed by a tiny bit of panic (no weekends=rough end to semester)

But almost every weekend from Feb 21 to past weekend (May 26) was filled by something wonderful, which made it worth it. 

Weddings, family visits, retreats, graduations, murder mystery dinners, lock-ins, you get the idea. 

It was crazy and busy and beautiful. 

But between that and the whole PhD thing I'm still working on, there was little time left for other things like blogging...or scrubbing my shower (which in case you were wondering was the first thing I did after I turned in my last paper) 

But without further ado, here is a brief glimpse of what my semester looked like: 

Jamie's beautiful wedding weekend: the most wonderful weekend of this horribly cold winter

My spring break was busy, filled with family, birthday surprises, trips to the Zoo, Stone Mountain, Millidgeville (not pictured the NT exegesis paper I graded) 

Catie's getting married! 

Easter 2014 

Sara's got an MFA. 

 Alex has an MDiv...and a pug named Bishop. 

The brilliant Candace (and my sweet church compatriot) at the UMW Fashion Show (you read that right) 

Mother's Day Painting with the Family. 

So that was a brief brief glimpse into all the good parts of my semester. It was filled to the brim with people that I love. There was also lots of stress as the final papers refused to write themselves no matter how hard I begged and working at church as more paperwork than anyone would guess. But one year of PhD work is officially down and the summer is here with new fun adventures and schoolwork (Ich lerne Deutsch lesen.) 

Stay tuned for the next post: Guy turns 27. It involved a lot of dessert. 

Jennifer

Layla Marie (A Baptism)

Little Layla,

You won't remember the day you got baptized. You won't remember how so many of the people who love you gathered with your mom and dad in the back of your church. You won't remember the white christening gown you wore, the same gown your sister wore less than two years earlier. You won't remember how the room was cold or how your cousins weaved in and out of the pews, as they waited to go to your house for cake. 

You won't remember the priest or the water or the oils or the prayers we prayed over you and for you.

But we will.

I will.

So if you ever need reminding of the day you officially were brought into the family of God, I'm your girl. 

Thanks for letting us be a part of your beautiful day.

Love you, little girl.

(thanks to Aunt Carol for taking these photos at the baptism) 

Bedtime stories

Bedtime stories make 14 hours of driving in one weekend worth it. 

I am from

I am from
dogwood trees and trampolines
hidden reading nooks and torn-up paper backs

I am from
ill-fitting school uniforms and tired chapel mornings
gym locker rooms and long late night prayers.

I am from
One dollar ice cream cones and cheap summer drinks
from summer afternoon movie theaters and a yellow kitchen

I am from
5 o'clock local news and instant mashed potatoes
practices and games and tournaments.




I am from
the ones watching me from the stands

every stand, every game, every year.

I am from
knowing they support you
knowing they always love you.
and from the life that love can create.

I am from
wanderlust, the internet and a castle on a brochure.

I am from
Georgia in the fall
Indiana in the Spring
from Red Top Mountain
and the Ohio River
And a thousand places in between.

I am from
the first time I walked up those stairs alone.

I am from
the first time I saw him walk across the lawn.

I am from
the day I walked onto the plane to cross the ocean

I am from
the day I walked into that tiny church.

I am from
the God who always calls me home.

Today, I'm linking up with She Loves Magazine.
Head over there to read more "I am from" posts

These New Old Days

These last summer days have been days of transition and have somehow managed to feel both new and old at the same time. New house, new program, new job, new Kroger, and yet old school, old professors, old church. A mix of new people and old friends and somehow I feel both different and still very much the same.

But we have been making the best of this old new season of our lives.

We were able to spend Labor Day weekend in Indiana meeting our littlest niece,

(Can you even handle that little baby yawn?) 

And like usual, the weekend went by too quickly and there was not enough hours to make up for the hours we miss up there. But we did spend our time well. 

 (Guy and Eric shucking corn, the most typically Indianian thing I can think of) 

(Spending time with our newest love) 

(because seriously, how can you not love that face) 

(playing in the tent at Grammy's house) 

(Alli and Noah taking Kaylee on a grand tour of their hew house.) 

We also got to celebrate the engagement of our two of our favorite people! The Mary-Alex wedding is going to be one of the best parts of 2014, I can already tell. 

(showing off our bling)

And I got to see my loveliest, sweetest friend to celebrate our six year friend-iversary. By the way, the 6th anniversary is the iron and candy anniversary, so of course, we celebrated by seeing Iron Man 3 and eating candy.

 It was wonderful and delicious. And a beautiful way to celebrate all these years of friendship. 

And in between all these wonderful times, Guy and I have been filling up our days slowing digging ourselves out from all these boxes, exploring our new home and figuring out this new rhythm of life. 

(the creek by our house) 

(this is how I spend most of my days if I'm honest) 

(another view of the creek behind our house) 

These are good days. These are full days. And I'm trying not to take them for granted. 

My Great Gram

My great grandmother, Mary Thompson, turned 90 the day I got married. She raised four boys in a tiny adorable house in New Jersey and she lived here until she died.

She loved her family, her four boys, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren and her great great grandchildren, and we were blessed to know her.

She sent me birthday cards with five dollars tucked inside every year for my entire life. She would make me and my cousins matching presents, that differed only in color.

She loved to read and whenever we visited she would send me home with a bag full of books, which to my book-loving soul always felt like Christmas.

She was Catholic and could quote the Old Latin Mass and she laughed at my mom when my mom called to ask her what she thought of the recent changes to the liturgy, saying "I can still say them Latin so they can change them however they want."

Once we sent her a Bible cover for her birthday, but she sent it back saying she didn't need it because her priest told her everything she needed to know about the Bible, so when I went to Israel, I got smart and sent her a wooden rosary I found in Bethlehem instead.

When I finally remembered to mail it out, she sent me the sweetest thank you note written in the most beautiful sweeping cursive. It was the kind of note people don't write anymore, the kind of note that gets lost in a sea of text messages and shorthand.

I remember when I was young I saw a picture of her on her wedding day in her back room and I remember looking at and thinking she looked just like my mom, which maybe meant I looked like a little bit like her too.

I hope that's true, because even at 92 she was beautiful, inside and out.