we had a busy easter weekend. on saturday, we met brooke & patrick in gaffney for lunch & outlet shopping. they live in rock hill, so it's a perfect midpoint for us. as soon as patrick finishes graduate school at winthrop, they're moving to iowa where he is starting a position as a band director. we're trying to see them as much as possible before they leave in june. we'll miss them and we hope they start blogging so we can keep in touch easily!
chris and i had a nice service at our church easter morning before leaving for alabama. we had learned on saturday that my grandmother (mom's mom) passed away early that morning. she's had some recent health problems and had been in the hospital, so this was not unexpected. we left greenville sunday afternoon to be with my family and attend the funeral on monday. it was held in the town where my mom grew up - brundidge, al. i hadn't been there since i was a small child, so we visited some places that were important to my mom. it reminds me of the town in
to kill a mockingbird, which is my mom's favorite book.
house where my mom grew up (though it's been renovated...they never had a tin roof).
salem baptist church - where my parents got married. the funeral was also held here.
napa auto parts store that my grandfather owned - i never knew him since he passed away the year before i was born.
the juxtaposition of my grandmother's death and easter sunday reminded me that God is bigger than life or death and that He's in control of all things.
"for i am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~romans 8:38-39
i recently encountered the grossest experience i've ever had. i came home from volunteering last thursday to a reeking odor and found eva in her crate, hovering above a mess she made. apparently one mini marshmallow can cause her to have an upset stomach. she was just standing there waiting for someone to come home and let her out. i literally wailed out loud at the mess i had to clean up! i felt like a new mom (this seems to be a recurring theme) because i had no choice but to give her a bath. i also had to throw away two of her toys & a towel and disassemble her crate to wash it. the good news is, she got some new toys out of it! i'm pretty sure petsmart manufactures toys for the pleasure of pets' owners because eva is perfectly content with an old towel...but how cute is a squirrel beanie baby?! 
on friday, liz and i went to lunch at strossner's. it's a bakery/cafe (same place i ordered the cake for our anniversary). i had been wanting to try their lunch for a while, but frou frou places like that aren't exactly chris' favorite. while we were there, we couldn't resist a trip to the bakery. i brought home a box of truffles, and chris and i ate them that night while we watched chocolat.
