April Church

Celebrated my birthday in April and got a big surprise from the Church and our Youth. 

Us Easter Sunday. 

My Easter Sunday dress courtesy of the Youth Ministry

The Sunday after Easter was my first time preaching in the pulpit in over a year. My sister , my mom and nieces surprised me by coming to service. Needless to say the babies got all of the attention! 

My BFF spoke that afternoon for our Missionary anniversary. 

We have been friends for over 20 years. That this many years have gone by since we first met still amazes me. Teresa and I are as about as opposite as they come but she has always been there for me (and encouraging me to just be me when so many others tried to change me...now don't get me wrong when she needs to she will tell me about myself , and vice versa lol) and I hope that if you asked her she would say the same of me. You don't often get to have friends like that for the long term so I count it a blessing that she has been that friend. 

One last photo of the babies. one because they are just soo cute but also because they are dressed up like my girl Minnie and who doesn't love that?

IKEA Grand Opening

After years of hoping we finally got an IKEA in our area. 

My daughter and I got up extremely early in the morning to attend the grand opening. 

This pad came in handy after four hours in line waiting for the store to open. 

IKEA did a good job of keeping everyone entertained. From live music, giveaways and local mascots from the colleges in our area. 

I could ger lost in this place and stay there all day LOL 

IKEA door prizes

It was my birthday week so why not wear a crown? I mean after all my nickname is the Disney Queen. LOL 

You can't go to IKEA and not get the meatballs. 

Love that I can go back anytime (rather then once every few years 5 hours away). 

Speaking of going back anytime. A week later I went back again with these crazy ladies. LOL 

Birthday Luncheon

April babies!

My mentor Mama Cat 

They said hanging with me helped to keep them "young", but I think I was the blessed one that day. 

A few days after my birthday I got to have lunch with some really cool young ladies. My mentor Mama Cat (my nickname for her) called me and asked me to come and celebrate with her and another friend from one of my old churches because we all celebrated our birthdays in the month of April. I had so much fun listening to them and just really getting inspired by their words. They give me hope that the coming years as I become more seasoned does not have to be the end all. They are a perfect example of living life to the fullest no matter your age. I want to be them when I grow up. 

April Birthday Month Party

My birthday cake made by sister. 

Happy Birthday to me. 

My family made my Birthday extra special. For more details on that day you can check out my vlogs from that weekend here on my YouTube channel. 

March Updates

Yes I know its actually April. I think I kind of skirted through March holding my breath and praying that nothing bad happened.

March marked the one year anniversary of Marc's stroke and if I was being honest I would say that I spent most of the month in fear that we would have a repeat of what happened last year. There were so many similar things happening this March that happened at the same time last year that I made it difficult for me to not. I realized after talking with my daughters that they were dreading that day just as much as I was. But somehow we got through it!

It helped that my sister sent lots of photos of my cute and oh so entertaining nieces each day. And that on occasion we got to Facetime with one another which also helped to put a smile on my face.

The one highlight from March was celebrating the 97th birthday of my Aunt with family. Aunt J is an inspiration to all of us and we are blessed to still have her here to share her wisdom, her faith and her love. So even though March 12 will be forever ingrained into my brain as the day that my family's life changed forever I am mindful of the fact that it could have been so much worse.