magnificent seven weekend

the title of this post refers to chris' group of 7 close friends from high school. this weekend was a reunion of sorts for them, plus the spouses and significant others that have been "inducted" into the group! everyone came to town - erika & matt, patrick & brooke, jessica - to join us & dustin in celebrating liz & scott's soon-to-come baby girl with a shower on saturday. we had a great time eating, talking, taking pictures, and learning random baby trivia.
saturday night we ate downtown and and walked around main street, showing everyone falls park (a beautiful area with a waterfall and walking bridge). we also stopped for gelato, which is my new favorite food!on sunday morning, the boxes (middle) and the bates (right) came to church with us. in the afternoon, we had a cookout to wish patrick and brooke goodbye as they prepare to move to iowa next month. we are going to miss them, but we are excited for the new adventures we'll get to hear about!

athens weekend

chris & i had another fun weekend, this one spent in athens. matt and erika were so kind to let us stay at their place all weekend long and leave eva there while we went to our events. it was great catching up with them...we realized that the last time we'd seen them was at our wedding! that streak is over though, because we'll be seeing them again next weekend when they come to greenville for liz's baby shower & the boxes' farewell party. the bates have a black lab, lola, who was super excited to have a playmate! they were more interested in each other's toys than their own. check out the size difference in their kongs - not sure if you can tell because of the distance, but lola's is the red one & is about 4 times bigger than eva's! eva loved lola's pre-chewed bone, and at one point lola was holding it in her mouth above eva while she tried to get it...it was a fun game. on saturday, we went to chris' middle brother kevin's graduation from uga. his degree was in business with an emphasis in accounting, and he will be moving to atlanta later this summer to start a job with a firm there. we are proud of him and hope he'll do our taxes one day! here's us with kevin and his girlfriend, andra. the brothers golden: kyle, kevin, & christopher on sunday, we went to a georgia tech friend's wedding. the ceremony was outside at the classic center, and the weather was perfect - not too hot, just a bit breezy. the rain held off until just after the ceremony ended. the reception was beautiful, too. here's ashley and jamie having their first dance: finally, here we are with our dear friends, justin & linda. we're excited they'll be staying with us later in the summer when we all go to another friend's wedding in asheville, nc. it's fun to have reunions!

fun weekend

on friday chris and i went to a cinco de mayo party that some friends of ours from sunday school, tim & blaire, were hosting. we enjoyed delicious salsa, cookies in the shape of chili peppers, and good times with friends.
on saturday, we went to the kenducky derby - it's an annual charity event held downtown on greenville's reedy river. you "adopt" a rubber ducky and they race them down the river. one of the beneficiaries is a group that liz volunteers for: miracle league, a sports program for children with disabilities.we brought eva and had a great time! audrey & grant met up with us and brought some of their friends who were visiting from out of town. it's such a family friendly event. eva makes friends wherever she goes. we should be getting a call this week if our ducks won anything. first prize is free groceries for a year from bi-lo! i'm not holding my breath or anything...

busy week

this week has been busier than usual for me, as i've had something almost every day related to my volunteering. on monday, i helped out at a charity golf tournament at greenville country club that benefits piedmont women's center. it turned out they had so many volunteers that there wasn't enough work to go around. so after placing a few sponsor labels on golf carts, i ended up sitting on the veranda in rocking chairs with our director enjoying a delicious free lunch and the gorgeous view of the golf course. it was such a beautiful day, and the course was amazing. it makes me wonder what i've been missing by never having been to the masters....

on wednesday, i went to an informational breakfast at bethany christian services, a national adoption agency. i learned a bit about the adoption process and specifically what that agency offers. this is such valuable information - not only with my current volunteer position but in my career as well.

tuesday and thursday are my usual days at the center. this week i got to conduct my first counseling session (rather than just observing). i am really enjoying the work and am amazed at the women who come in. they are from all different walks of life - single teenagers to married women, locals to foreignors, etc. what they all have in common is an unplanned pregnancy and related fears. this week i got to sit in on two ultrasounds. when one woman saw the picture of her baby wiggling around on the screen she exclaimed, "it's beautiful!" it really is an amazing thing to see.

my first week at the center, i observed an ultrasound and ended up fainting (for the first time in my life)! so there i was, supposed to provide comfort and reassurance to the pregnant woman, and i passed out. i think it happened because it was unusually hot in the room and the ultrasound machine made it even hotter. since then, i think everyone was afraid to send me up to observe! i'm glad we've all gotten over that, because in a couple of weeks liz is coming in for one. i'm excited to get a sneak peek of her sweet baby girl!

weekend update

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.

easter weekend

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

spring teaser

well, we got a taste of spring this weekend, but apparently it's not here to stay! i'm glad to say i "carpe'd the diem" and went to the dog park on a whim yesterday afternoon. chris and i were having lunch with lori & brandon, and we kept noticing how beautiful it was outside. before long, we'd made plans to meet them with their yellow lab, spencer, as soon as we could get changed. this was eva's first dog park experience, and i felt like a nervous mother on the playground. i was really amazed at how gentle the bigger dogs were with her. you can see eva right beneath that HUGE hairy dog that resembles a black bear! here's a not-so-centered picture of eva & spencer...they kept moving around when i tried to take it. better picture of spencer with a cute beagle that they were playing with. i think the walk TO the actual dog section of the park from where we parked our car was the longest walk eva's been on. it's the first time i've ever seen her pant. we noticed a few other dachshunds with harnesses instead of collars and realized that's probably a more comfortable way to walk her since her neck is so small. so this afternoon, i took eva to petsmart with me and we picked out a cute pink harness and retractable leash - now she's ready for spring and won't be mistaken for a boy!