Be thankful for every minute...

...because you never know what the next one might bring. I got a call this afternoon that my brother-in-law Richie's father had taken his life. I am so torn emotionally tonight over this, and I cannot imagine how my sister Heather, not to mention Richie, his brother Matthew, or his mom are feeling. Richie's mom (who btw, is absolutely precious) was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and was in Nashville this morning for chemo. She talked to her husband about noon and said that everything was fine. When she arrived home, Richie had to meet her and tell her. I can't even imagine the feelings of any of them...it makes me physically sick to think about. So, let's all be thankful for every minute. And please pray for my sister and her family as the try to make sense of this.

Other than that sad news, we had a pretty good, restful weekend. We started with dinner with the Stones (the ones in Chatt) at Piccadilly Fri. night. Friday nights are also our movie night...Addie chose Free Willy this week...what a good movie. Saturday morning we spent at church for a prayer time for our new building and our church in general. It is so precious to hear a 4 yr. old and 2 yr. old pray! Then we signed Addie and Matt up for Tee Ball (he's not really old enough but we knew he would want to be out there with Addie so we went ahead and signed him up...we'll see!). Saturday night we went downtown to the Choo-Choo. Matt loves trains, and we had a ball seeing the trains, riding the shuttle around downtown, and just spending time together. Of course, Sunday was church and Sunday evening, Addie and Jeff went to a church for the homeless to help prepare supper. Addie had a blast with the teenagers and singing for the homeless, and Jeff preached...how funny is that?? Hope you had a good weekend, too. Here are a couple of hilarious pics from the weekend....

Addie and I were going to get a biscuit Sat. morning. I told her to go get dressed...and this is what she came back with. A red nightgown/robe, a black vest jacket, red and white socks (that are from a Raggedy Ann Halloween costume 2 yrs. ago), and a pink TN hat and shoes. So this is how we went to get a biscuit.


I love this pic of Matt. He looks so funny with those clothes together, but he came walking in with Addie's pink shoes on the wrong feet and was so proud of himself. He cracks me up!


Daddy, Addie, and Matt in one of their favorite places!


P/S-Today is one of my other brother-in-law's (Charley's) birthday. Happy Birthday Charley!

The Good Ole Days

Today I had lunch with my cousin, Bailey. We ate Chinese and had a wonderful visit together. Bailey is a freshman at UTC, and is a very beautiful, sweet, good Christian young girl. Today was a beautiful day, and after we ate, she was on her way home from Chattanooga to Mt. Juliet, TN for the weekend with her family. I just couldn't help but remember those good ole days...the carefree days of college life. I am worlds away from those times right now, but they were very definitely some of the best, most fun days of my life. As I was remembering some of the things about those days, I jotted them down. Here are the top 10 things I miss about my days as a college student at FHU (in no particular order):
1. Chapel (and late night chapel singings, too)-it is weird how I didn't care too much about going when I was there, but now I really miss that time
2. Naps
3. Dorm life-everything from the "sisterhood" of those I lived with, to community baths, to special notes outside my door, to late night talks. Birthdays were especially fun, too. And at FHU, the candle burning ritual of when someone got engaged was really neat.
4. Budget-I lived on $20 a week (and sometimes even had to share that $20 with my sister Haven). But I never went over it...I ate out, bought some things from time to time that I shouldn't have, bought gas...all on $20. How in the world did I do that?
5. Booging-this was FHU's slang word for making out.
6. Driving home for the weekend.
7. Visiting friends'/boyfriend's hometowns on the weekend.
8. Being treated to a home cooked meal.
9. Ballgames. Our basketball games were especially fun to attend, and intramural sports were always fun (to play or watch).
10. Student Center hanging out time.
Those are just a few of the things. And though I am very thankful for my life now, it was just neat to ponder those good ole days today.

Filled with the Spirit

I just have to write it...I am filled with the Spirit. Some may think I am weird or gone off the deep end, but I cannot get enough of my Lord. Several changes have occurred within me in the last month or so, and I just have to praise God tonight. I may not appear different on the outside, but my inside is screaming I LOVE YOU GOD, JESUS, and HOLY SPIRIT, and praise be to you for all that I am experiencing and how you are working. I feel the Holy Spirit leading me, guiding me, molding me, and reviving me everyday, and more clearly and vividly than I ever have before. There are too many examples to share how, but I just had to write it....

(Sorry if this blog freaks you out, or if you think it is fake (btw, it's not), I just need to praise God for what he is doing in my life, and what better way than to share it with others).

Surprise, Dad!

We went to Cookeville this weekend for a surprise 59th birthday party for my dad. He had no idea that we were doing it. Heather, Haven, Holly, and I cooked supper for him, and we ate birthday cake afterwards. We had it at Holly's house...she is such a good hostess. The entire Harris clan was there, and as always when we are all together, it is so fun, but a little chaotic. We laugh so hard together, and it is so much fun..."come on sis, shoot that ball!". Happy Birthday Dad! We all love you so much. Have a great week!

Haven and Charley doing what they do best...cooking!


Holly cutting fruit.


My own Harry Potter! Matthew was so funny in Holly's glasses. He got real quite, then all of a sudden appeared out of her bedroom with his eyes as wide as could be (trying to see) under these glasses. Considering Holly is almost blind, there is no way he could see, but was just being his funny self!


Heather...as we are patiently, well, anxiously awaiting mom and dad's arrival.


Dad trying to figure out what was going on.


The clan (at least part of it).


"Mrs. Bilbrey"

Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings always have been and continue to be one of my favorite past times. As a little girl, I loved getting up and laying on the couch and watching the morning away in cartoons. From Smurfs to the road-runner, it couldn't get much better than that! Now that I have 2 small children who love to do the same, it makes me so happy that they are experiencing some of the same bonding and special times that me and my sisters did on Sat. morning. They still get up and are ready to go at 7 am, but once we turn those cartoons on, they fall into the Sat. morning laziness trap. I love it!

Addie Mae is always bundled in a blanket.

Superman in pajamas on the couch. This reminds me so much of that Dixie Chicks song. I love it!

Big Girl Haircut

Ms. Addie Mae got her first big girl haircut today. Because she decided to cut her own hair about a month or so ago, she has a big chunk missing beside her face. The lady that cuts my hair said we needed to bob it all the way off, but Addie would not go for it..."I want a ponytail still, mom". So, we did our best. It's alot shorter and looks alot healthier. I didn't get a pic of the final "do" because she was so done after about 3 minutes of sitting in the chair, but here are some pics of the process.

Blogging and Birthday Weekend!

As I said in my previous blog post (that did not work for some unknown reason), we decided that after viewing Amy's blog for the last month or so, it was high time that we start blogging. We do this for no reason other than to keep our close friends and family up to date on what is going on in our lives. We really hope that each of you (specifically, Heather, Haven, Holly, and mom and dad) start this adventure with us and create your own blogspot. It will be a great way for us to keep updated on each other. We plan to post many pictures (because of my new camera!), so check back often.

Now, here are some pictures from this past weekend.
Me and Jeff at Spankies

Traditional Cake on the face

Matthew-what a smile!

Addie and Tomas-she loves him!

Who are these bandits?

Trying Again

We are entering the blogging world.