Love this girl, too!

Little Eden is quite the little cuddlebug, and I soaked up every minute that I got hold her. She is absolutely precious, and looks JUST LIKE Bella at one week old, except with dark hair. Check out all her cuteness below:

**Here she is sleeping like a little angel. Awww, she takes after her Uncle Marty! :)
**Here she is striking her model pose. Her little nose...her little mouth...her pretty little eyes...I could just eat her up!

Love this girl!

Last Friday-Wednesday Mom, Marvin, Staci & I were waiting in Fayetteville for Joseph to come home (more stories related to that to come later). The first day we drug poor little Marvin around the every store in the town as we shopped 'til we dropped. Then, we spent a day at the pool. Finally on Monday, I realized we were only an hour and a half (or 2 1/2 hours if you try to follow the directions and leadership of a seemingly nice & helpful military man) from Raleigh which just so happens to be the home of brand new Eden Riley Hawkins and the rest of her family, Bella, Eli & Aaron. So, we hoped in the car and headed that way. Our visit was filled with LOTS of entertainment by Miss Bella herself, and lots of oohing and aahing over little Eden. Here are some highlights of Bella's silliness. More of Eden to come later.

**Even at 2, Bella still fits nicely into her Lego bucket!

**Bella provided our after-lunch entertainment. She showed off her skills on the ever so wonderful Little Tykes piano, put a new twist on the VeggieTales theme song and even introduced us to some Bella orginals. What a hoot!

Please Note

Note to all Saraig blog readers...I will not be blogging for the next few days because I AM GOING TO FORT BRAGG TO SEE MY BROTHER, JOSEPH!!! (And I am a little excited, in case you couldn't tell!!!) However, I will be back to the blogging world next week and my blog will be filled with fun stories and pics of homecoming fun, life on a military base, the thriving metropolis of Fayetteville, and many hours in a car. Be sure to check back soon to read about all this fun! I can't wait to share pics of my brother back in the states with you all!!!! :)

Things I Love Thursdays 4.20.06

Thing I Love: Eden Riley Hawkins

Little baby Eden was born on Tuesday, April 18th at 4:07pm in Raleigh, NC. She was 8lbs, and although disguised by her hat, she has LOTS of dark hair. Eden and mom, Eli, are doing just fine and are hoping to go home soon. Big sister, Bella is VERY exctied to have a little sister, and is already planning their adventures!

It's amazing to me that even though I have never met this little one, I already love her so much and can't wait to watch her grow up and develop her own little personality and discover her own little things in life. We are blessed to have Eden in our "family"!

Check out some pics of this precious little one:


**Here is Dad, Aaron, Bella & little Eden. (PS...if I am ever in the same room with Eden and Bella at the same time, I am not sure I will be able to stand all the cuteness!!!! Ahhh...aren't they adorable?!?!?!?!)
**Here is the proud Daddy and new baby girl. She looks SO much like Bella did when she was born...and even though you can't see it, I bet she has more hair than her dad!!! :)

Welcome to the world, Eden!

Not Catching Up/Mad Music Monday 4.17.06

So in my last post, I decided it was time to get the blogging ball rolling again. I got caught up...only to not make a single post for 10 more days. I think that it would take me hours to get caught up on everything that I haven't posted about in the past week and a half. So I will give an abridged version follwed by my first real Mad Music Monday in quite a while.
*I have been working my tail off to try and get bags and burp cloths and bibs and blankets made for my first retail outing. I am going tomorrow with Lanise to 6-7 retailers in the area who will (insert a prayer here) buy my products on a monthly/bi-monthly basis. PLEASE PRAY FOR GOD TO PROVIDE!!!
*My step-brother, Kevin, got married on Saturday to Sarah from Kansas and they are on a cruise to the Bahamas right now...I am jealous.
*My brother is coming home from Afghanistan this week!!!! He was supposed to be here on Thursday...but his ETA is now Friday...before the week is out, it will be sometime next week. Gotta love the Army!
*There has been about 90% too much drama in my life this past week, and I realize that I really don't like it.
*God love those customer care folks who have to answer phones at companies. I have spent approximately 3 hours on the phone calling back and forth between 2 companies for the past week trying to get a debit card issue fixed. "There's nothing we can do to help you...please call the folks at Check Care." "I'm sorry Sar-I (after I told her 3 times that my name was just Sarai and that I was about 100% sure that my name wasn't Sandra), but you will have to clear all this up with the folks at Electrum." Are you kidding me?!?!?! What a nightmare!

And now for a long awaited Mad Music Monday 4.17.06
CD I like to listen to: Rascal Flatts "Me & My Gang"
My good friend, Brooke, saved me some birthday money and gave me this CD. I really do like it a lot. And even though I don't like that "When you play a country song backwards" song, sometimes I find it stuck in my head. As of now, my favorite song on the album is "What Hurts" the Most", but I looking forward to learning and loving more of these songs!

It's time to catch up (not ketchup!)

I will now attempt to blog for the days I have missed in one fell swoop. Here it goes:

Mad Music Monday
Music I am liking: "What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts
This is a song on their new CD (which I hope to purchase with my birthday money-woohoo!). I am a huge fan of those guys, and this song is stuck in my head right now.

Tell All Tuesday
I have a bad habit of really making fun of people who have REALLY bad grammar. I know that mine isn't perfect all that time, but it's better than most who were born and raised in the mountains of WNC. After all, I'm not the one telling people I am going to "shower them with recantations" or saying "just calling to see how you was doing". My biggest southern downfall happens when I am around my family for more than 2 hours...then the southern drawl comes back in full swing...but at least the worst thing that comes out of my mouth is "youns"!

And now for the Wacky Wednesday Tag
(ps-I love that this wasn't an original blogging theme, but Maleah has helped it to become a regular!)

1. Assuming you have a DVD player and a show you used to enjoy becomes available on DVD...what is the deciding factor on whether or not you'll actually buy it?
Well, I only have one season of one show (The Golden Girls) and that is because I got it as a gift (thanks, Brooke!). However, there are 2 shows I would probably buy on DVD (provided that I had the money): 24 and FRIENDS.

2. If you were in charge of the FCC, which of the following would be your priority when it comes to decency on the airwaves: cutting down on violence, sex or profanity?
Everyone of them would have to go eventually, but I might say that I would go with profanity first. After all, I can't imagine seeing a movie with a really great scene where a guy is about to kill another guy and has to say "Oh darn you, you piece of poo. I will kill your hiney."...cutting out on the bad words might change it all up just a bit!

3. One of those crazy remodeling shows appears at your door one day and offers to redo any room of your house or apartment for free, but that it can only be one single room that gets a makeover. Would you let them in, and if so, which room would you choose and why?
I would let them in, and I would put them to work in the living room. It's now serving as a living room/craft room. It's length and width are not proportional to each other, which makes it hard to lay out a floor plan for all the furniture. Plus, we really need a new couch, and that would be a good way to get one! And, hopefully, I would get a really cool craft area!

OK...I am officially caught up with my blogging...but with the craziness of this week, don't expect it to last very long!

Friend of the Week 3.31.06 (sorry, it's late!)

Friend of the Week: Katrina Martins

Katrina and I met in college when I was a freshman. I had heard about her through my friends, Brooke and Nina, but it wasn't until I participated in a Journeys weekend that I got to meet the infamous Katrina. Her sweet smile and words of encouragement showed me, from the beginning, that she was genuine and was someone I wanted to get to know. Years at WCU came and went and there were times when I wouldn't see or speak to Katrina for months at a time. However, like with any forever friend, just a few moments together and we were right where we left off. I was honored to sing in her wedding, and she was there cheering me on at mine. I am so grateful that God has continued to grow our friendship over the past couple of years. After Marty and I got married it seemed like God just took our friendship and allowed it to grow and grow and grow. We got to share in ups and downs with family and friends. We had a girls weekend in Pigeon Forge, TN and seemed to get to know each other even better overnight. She cried and prayed me through some really hard times when my brother was getting ready to leave for Afghanistan. And we stood in her lawn in Asheville and cried and hugged and cried and hugged right before God led she and Joe to Virginia Beach. I haven't seen this friend in quite some time, but often e-mails and late night catch up times on the phone keep us as close as ever. I am so glad that she will be joining us down here in the mountains for her Spring Break next week. It is sure to be a sweet time of scrapbooking, laughing, catching up, and of course, eating (I'm bringing the brownies!!!!)!
Katrina, I love you so much, and I am so thankful for the friendship that God has given to me in you. Thank you for always being an angel to me!
(This is Indian Chief Katrina in Pigeon Forge during our girls' weekend with her friend Standing Bear...and one heck of a sexy skirt!)