Spring Break '08

With a title like that you might expect to see pictures of young, bikini-clad gals sipping margaritas on the beach at Panama City. Sorry to dash your hopes, but despite the lack of the aforementioned characteristic spring break goings-ons, we had a really nice week. I suppose I should rewind and begin with Easter. We had our first Easter at St. Mary's UMC, and it was a wonderful morning of celebration. As you can see, Benjamin and Olivia sported matching ensembles that Nonny purchased for us from the fun Bailey Boys store on St. Simons (or as Mom calls it "Grandma's Candyshop"). I included some pictures in front of the cross in our yard, in front of the church's crosses, and in the sanctuary. It was a lovely morning, and our pastor called us to "awake church!" as we acknowledged the resurrection of our Lord. That afternoon we sped off to spend time with Nonny and Cocky in Valdosta, and we even caught the tail end of Uncle Will's spring break visit. He left Monday morning, and I'm ashamed to say we failed to pull out the old camera before he skipped town, so there are no pics of our beloved Uncle Will, but it was great to get to see him and catch up a bit. We're so excited about his upcoming commencement activities! Hard to believe my little brother is graduating from college! While in the 'dosta we did a lot of chilling and playing and shopping and talking and laughing and eating--some of my favorite things to do! Stan and I took advantage of Mom's kindness and let her keep the kids while we went jogging together--something we never get to do, and it was marvelous! Stan spurred me on, and I completed my first 2 mile jog! It may not sound like much of an accomplishment, but I'm pleased with it. I also was able to go to Mom's yoga class with her, and it was marvelous! I wish I could go three times a week with her. Mom's teacher, Kathleen, is probably in her 60s, and she sounds like she's from the New England area, so I enjoyed mimicking her accent and the funny little things she said when we got back from the class. I'm so proud of my mom for doing that. She was doing all kinds of tough poses like the crane and the three-legged dog! Go Mom! On Tuesday night we welcomed the Atkinson crew, minus Brad who stayed home to keep the Circuit City rollin'. You'll see that we enjoyed some fun in the backyard with Uncle Will's tent that he set up for us before he left. Some of the pictures of Dad laying down in the tent make him look like he's been "touched by an angel" if you know what I mean--the lighting on his face. Like somebody's suddenly gonna say in a Scottish accent, "God loves ya Ronnie!" It was beautiful weather, a little on the cool side, but so pleasant much of the time. We left Valdosta Wednesday and went to visit with my mom's folks up in Perry. It was a sweet visit with them, and in fact, Poppy took all the kiddos (accept Benjamin who stayed home with me) to teach them how to fish! That was a big hit, and they caught so much that they came home, cleaned 'em all and let me and Stan bring them home to eat! We're looking forward to having a fish fry sometime--complete with cheese grits and hushpuppies! Yum! Olivia seemed to have a real knack for catching fish, but she was more interested in guarding the fish that had been caught and tossed into the cooler. She kept saying, "Don't get too close, or they'll splash ya!" We spent one morning driving up to Macon where my dad's folks live to visit Muzzy and Papaw. Muzzy has just been diagnosed with cancer, and all of the details are yet to be fully known, but we knew we wanted to get up there to see her. It was a good visit overall. It is a very difficult and stressful time for them, and they put up with our crew of rambunctious kids well considering that. Muzzy is looking good. She goes to the hospital today for more tests. We continue to pray for her and Papaw. They are special people, and we know this is a scary time, so we are just enveloping them in prayer. We arrived home Friday, and while it was a long drive home all the way from Perry (almost four hours), we had a pretty smooth trip fortunately with sleeping kiddos in the cab of our truck. It was a wonderful week--time away--we needed some. Now we're back to the regular weekly routine, and I feel somehow a little lifted and encouraged by this time away from the normal, everyday schedule. I must say I have a particularly loving and generous husband--to do all of that driving around from place to place on his week off from work. I know he enjoyed it, too, but as everyone knows, traveling like that is rarely restful, so I'm very grateful for his willingness to just go for it. So here it is Monday morning. I hope you're all having a great start to your week. Blessings on you!