June

June, oh June, where have you gone?!?! I just realized that June is half over, and it's no surprise, because we've been pretty busy and all the days seem to have run together! Here's a glimpse into what we've been up to so far this month:

*We started off the month by saying good-bye to some very dear friends of ours, the Helmlings. They felt led to pick up everything in NC and move across the country to serve in a church in South Dakota. Dirk was the college & singles pastor at our church and co-leader, with Marty, of the Refuge Ministry on Mars Hill's Campus. He and his wife, Julie, were the leaders of our LifeGroup and over the past 2 years had become some of our best friends. Last May, they welcomed Moses(5) & Nana(7), whom they adopted from an orphanage in Liberia, into their family, making their family of 5 a family of 7! Dawson, Cassie, Nana, Moses & Sydney lovingly referred to us as Auntie Sarai & Uncle Marty. They are amazing "family" and will be greatly missed!

*Last week, I was able to spend 3 days in Pigeon Forge, TN with my mom, 2 of her sisters and 1 of my cousins. It was such a nice time away, to talk about life and get caught up with one another. We relaxed in the Lazy River and spent some time pool-side, and even experience the Synchronous Fireflies of the Great Smoky Mountains! It was pretty cool! I'm so thankful that my schedule is flexible enough for me to be make little trips like that!

*Last Saturday, we celebrated Father's Day and my dad's 50th birthday with friends and family at his house in Robinsville. It was a nice time with them, and great to catch up.

*This week, we're cleaning and doing some organizing projects in our bedroom. Lots of painting and vacuuming and laundry and manual labor, which I am not really fond of :) Check back later for some pics of the finished product!

Memorial Day Weekend

Here are the promised pics from our FABULOUS Memorial Day Weekend in Grayton Beach, FL!! It was so nice to get away after a couple of busy weeks and catch up with some really great friends. We got to rent a house this year (we usually stay in Diana's parents' place), and it was nothing short of gorgeous! There are tons of pictures below, but I don't think they captured how beautiful it really was. We witnessed some amazing sunsets from our balcony, made friends with the ice cream truck man, spent hours talking about life with friends and ate some really great food! I would say, one of our best trips yet! We're already looking forward to our 2009 trip!


*First Floor*

*Super Cute Bedroom.

*1st floor bathroom.

*Living Room area on the first floor.

*Cute little kitchen.
The first floor could be closed off and used as an apartment.

*Second Floor Common Areas*

*Living Room...Marty brushing up on some Tiger Woods golf on the Wii. Many golf tournaments & Guitar Hero battles were played throughout the weekend.

*The dining area...Savannah, Diana & Stacy grabbing a quick lunch before heading back out to the pool.

*The kitchen with some mac-daddy appliances! It had a double drawer dishwasher, double oven, 5 burner stove, the biggest refrigerator I've ever seen and even an ice maker. A HUGE step up from our normal kitchen accommodations!

*View of our pool from the kitchen. We spent a LOT of time there, and thankfully, I didn't get burnt!

*Second Floor Bedroom & Bathroom*

*This was the bedroom that we stayed in. I felt right at home with all the black and white decor :)

*Our bathroom.

*Third Floor*

*The sleeping side of the Master Suite. I love this wall color!

*Master Bathroom.

*The other side of the Master Suite...complete with a ginormous flat-screen tv that I couldn't get in the picture.

*The view from the second floor of the house. Just past the sand dunes, you can catch a glimpse of the ocean.

*A beautiful sunset at Grayton Beach!

*Lilly, Andrew & Andy getting a sweet treat from the ice cream truck. It was so fun to watch everyone scurry around for money when the magical ice cream truck music could be heard!

*Lilly & Sam at the end of an exhausting day.

*Me, Breeze & Jill waiting on our yummy crab cakes at the Red Bar.

*Lilly showing off her new smile...if you look closely, you can see that she's missing both her top front teeth! She lost one of them on our trip and proclaimed to us "Guyth, look I lotht my other tooth!"

*Little Sam...such a sweet baby.

*Marty and me stopping for a quick wind-blown picture on the beach.