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!

meet the parents

this weekend we had our first visit to augusta since we got eva, so she got to meet both sets of our parents. my dad is a chaplain at a retirement community, and all the residents have been asking about his "granddog." i guess they can relate to having grandchildren, and she's the closest thing he's got right now! eva seems to be outgrowing her bark-at-new-people phase; she did really well around both our families. my mom, who has never been an animal person, thought she was a sweet puppy. she was teasing my dad that he's going to be wanting one himself now. saturday was mr. chris' birthday, and kevin was home also. in the afternoon, we went to see a movie (taken - it was pretty good) while mrs. cathy stayed home with eva to finish dinner & catch a nap. eva loves being let up on the couch to snuggle for naps. that night we had a great meal, and kevin couldn't resist sending a picture of it to kyle since he had to work & couldn't be there.

caring for women

i recently finished training to volunteer at piedmont women's center, a christian pregnancy center with several locations in greenville. i learned about pwc through my church and was interested because it seemed like a great opportunity to use some of my counseling skills while i'm searching for a job. after learning more about the program, i realized it will help me grow spiritually as well. i am really impressed with their approach - they provide resources like free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and counseling and strive to respect the woman's autonomy while sharing God's love with her.

at our "graduation" from training, the director gave us lapel pins that were the size and shape of a baby's feet 10 weeks after conception. in the past couple days i have met several people who support this ministry, which is such an encouragement. it turns out the girl who cuts my hair used to volunteer there in high school and attended their fundraising banquet this week. the nurse who read the TB skin test i had to get before starting told me her mom used to volunteer there and went on about what a great place it is. i'm looking forward to getting started soon and appreciate your prayers for me!

let the madness begin...

for the first time in my life, i have filled out an ncaa bracket. if you didn't already know, i'm not exactly a sports fanatic. but of all the sports to watch (excluding olympics), i enjoy college basketball the most. probably because of the fast pace and the fact that i (mostly) understand the game. also, i know my sweet husband is going to be watching every game that our cable airs for the next few weeks. so rather than be bored that whole time, i figured this would make things more interesting...if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

the prom

this weekend christopher and i went to ge's annual salaried recognition event, aka the ge prom. last year was our first time going together, and we made the trip to greenville from atlanta. i didn't really know anybody there, but it was an intersting glimspe into the future. this year was more fun, since we had several friends there. liz was there with her boyfriend, scott, who works at ge.
our friends from church, brandon and lori, were also there. brandon works in a different group within ge. lori is an interior designer with fluor, and she's my local art buddy.we also got to spend some time with the guys (and their wives) from christopher's design group, shrouds. it's interesting to me how all the engineers identify themselves based on their group, all of which are named for technical parts/processes of a gas turbine: buckets, shrouds, nozzles, combustion...at christopher's group christmas party this year, one of his co-workers made a shroud out of rice krispy treats. i found it fitting that the prom was on pi day this year (3/14).

the theme of the evening was st. patty's day, so there were servers dressed as leprechauns. the food was pretty good, and they had some live music as well as a dj. it's always nice to have a reason to dress up and eat a free meal!