What A Gift!!!

Geof's family grew up with the Baker family. Geof and his brother Jon were around the same age as the Baker kids - Joel, Phillip, and Melissa. Geof and Joel were the exact same age and went off to Harding University together. After their Freshman year, Joel left school and has been missing for about 8 years. They have not heard from him or seen him since. They used to hear during those early years that he was living on the streets and involved with substance abuse, etc. But stopped hearing about him after a few years. I believe this year, his mother was going to have to declare him dead since his social security card had been inactive for so many years. An unfathomable mystery and devastating experience. Joel's sister, Melissa, lives in Nashville now where I have gotten to be friends with her thru Geof. She is like a sister to me now and I've enjoyed so much seeing God work in her life. I went with her and her mother to pick out her wedding dress a few weeks ago. So fun!!! This past Sunday at Otter Creek, Melissa responded and walked down front during one of the final songs. Geof and I went down there when we realized she was crying. We had no idea what was wrong. Maybe her mom was in a car wreck that morning, maybe someone in her family was sick, etc.. When we reached Melissa, she looked up at Geof with huge tears steaming down her face and a smile that would knock you over and said, "They found Joel!!" Geof just held her and we all bawled with unimaginable disbelief and joy. He is now in a group home in New Orleans, and is ready to see his family again - they will go see him on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas to the Baker Family!!! What an awesome gift! As you get together with your family this Christmas, give a little extra THANKS to God for this Christmas miracle. And give your brothers an extra little squeeze too. Merry Christmas! Top: Melissa, Geof, Joel, Jon, Phillip

Geof's Project

Geof covered the cornices the other day! His mom found this AWESOME fabric in Kansas City and brought it when they came here for Thanksgiving. Thanks, Jackie!! And don't you think Geof did a great job?? He is so proud of this project. I had to show him how to do the corners, but he did GREAT! He had 2 smaller cornices (about 3.5 feet) and 2 large cornices (about 6.5 feet).
Way to go, Geof!!!

Christmas Time's A Comin'!

I cannot believe Christmas got here so quickly! So much to update you on...

THE HOUSE - decorated for Christmas, Geof covered the cornices (pics soon) - to which he was SO proud of, we had our first Winter snow last week. And today it is 64 degrees - go figure. these pics were actually taken after most of the snow melted.

The Christmas tree is in the dining room - you can see it peeking thru the window here in the above picture. That's a snow flake blinking above the door by the way. Gotta love Big Lots.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! We ran out of Christmas cards, so sorry if you didn't get one... here is a cropped version of our Christmas card picture below...

Family all gets here Thursday evening! Can't wait!!! Will be a wild and fun weekend!

Thanksgiving 2008

It's so easy to just plow right through Thanksgiving and into Christmas. Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday! My absolute favorite time of the year. We had a great time with Geof's parents here. Our first Thanksgiving in our new house. We ordered a Greenberg smoked turkey from my old middle school/high school buddy Griffin. Was WONDERFUL! I am not a turkey fan, but this was absolutely awesome! Go to http://www.gobblegobble.com/ to get you one for Christmas! Here is Geof after carving it. This is what I deal with every day, people. Not just the holidays. He's quite hyper all the time.

THREE

Three years ago today.....

Fall Leaves

The leaves FINALLY changed colors about a week ago here in Nashville. This is my absolute favorite season, so I always look forward to the leaves changing here. It's like nothing I've ever seen. Unfortunately, this year isn't quite as pretty as years past. Not enough red. We had very little rain this summer, so most of the trees dried up early. At any rate, I took a day off last week and went with Max to one of my favorite parks. I could never get a picture of him that I am extremely happy with, but he was a sport to pose as much as he did. He finally got tired of it and every time I pulled out the camera, he would turn his head away. Smart dog.

Pictures and more pictures!

Saturday we went to visit Geof's best childhood friends (Kris & Heather Grant) in Indianapolis. Baby Kameron was born 6 weeks ago, so we went to meet her! I can't believe I didn't get Heather in one picture.

We got home on Sunday and FINALLY painted our Master Bedroom! Here are some pictures. Geof painted the ceiling too - I absolutely LOVE this room! It is a dark slate gray w/ a lighter gray ceiling. The 2nd pic was without the flash and looks more like it. Let me know your thoughts on bringing another color in there. The valances are the same color as the bedding. This red mirror was purchased last weekend from Kirklands to go over the mantle in the living room. I love it too. The reflection in the mirror shows the ugly yellow cornices I'm going to recover over Thanksgiving.

Halloween Pictures

Happy Halloween!! Max was groomed and bathed yesterday, and they put a Halloween bandana on him. I had to take a picture. He was very tired as you can see... I wish the first picture wasn't blurry. :( It's so funny!

If you are wondering about the fund raiser event, it went GREAT! I hope to have pictures up eventually. I'm still waiting for someone to send them to me. Had a GREAT shopping weekend with Mom too!!

Have a safe Halloween!

Music and Mom

Mom gets here today!! yay!! Tonight we are headed to The Standard to see my favorite performer, Annie Sellick. http://anniesellick.com/ Food and wine tasting, etc. Should be a GREAT evening! The rest of the weekend will be all about shopping and getting more done with the house.

Then comes SUNDAY... I actually was invited to sing at a really big fund raiser for the TJ Martell Foundation. http://www.tjmartellfoundation.org/Nashville-Home.aspx The event is out at our friends' beautiful tuscan style home, Stephen & Robin Collins. We went to France with them last year and Geof is on the same cycling team with Stephen. Anyway... the fund raiser is $125 per person and there will be 40 different types of wine and they flew in a famous chef from Spain. Its' going to be unreal!!! And I am singing!! AGGHHH!!! There will be some big shots there from all over Nashville, etc. I am so excited! I've got a superb jazz trio behind me and we'll be out on the patio as people mingle. Should be an absolutely WONDERFUL event. I cannot wait!

I will try to post more pics after the weekend!

More House Pictures...

More pictures of the house....

Last weekend we painted Geof's study. His desk is absolutely beautiful! You can't see the detail in these pics, but I tried. We found it at the Ashley Home Furniture Outlet just outside of Nashville. We got REALLY lucky. It didn't even have a scratch (other than a tiny little mark that can be covered up or rubbed out). Anyway it was over 50% off just because of that! Awesome! Now we just need to get some deco and book cases, etc..

Here is our happy little family in front of the house! (sorry we are so far away...) I now have some gorgeous mums on the front porch for Fall. I'm so domestic!!

We finally painted the Texas bedroom. Beautiful! I'll try to get pics of that up soon. Mom comes on Thursday. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cement Carvings...

Here is a fun picture! When Geof and I got married and built our townhouse, I carved our initials on the side of our front step after they laid the cement - I know, such a rebel. You can't see it unless you dig thru our flowerbed. Just before we moved out of the townhouse last month, I took a picture. It's hard to read since it is a few years old, but I'm glad I got to take a picture so we can remember it. It says A + G 2005. Have you ever carved in wet cement? It's harder than it looks!
I need to find a place on the new house to do something like this. Maybe the back deck or something. The new house was built in 2001, so there isn't really any wet cement around. Speaking of the new house... last weekend we painted Geof's study. Looks GREAT! I will post a picture soon. And this weekend we are going to be busy painting the Texas room - finally! My mom comes into town next Thursday. I'm so excited!!!!!!

Light The Night

I am so excited to be a part of an awesome fund raiser for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! If you haven't heard of the Light The Night walks, you should do some research in your area. The walk in Nashville takes place next Thursday night. It is going to be SO fun! The Titans Cheerleaders will lead us all out and we will walk 1.75 miles around downtown Nashville .... around LP Field (where the Titans play), across the bridge over the Tennessee River downtown, down Broadway, and back over the bridge to the stadium where we will finish... It's going to be absolutely beautiful! And what a great cause to be a part of. The entire evening is going to be family oriented so there will be all sorts of things to do for kids like face painting, bounce houses, etc. And of course BBQ too!

My niece, Katie (who turned 7 yesterday by the way!!!) is involved in the Light the Night Walk in the Dallas area coming up at the end of the month. Her cheerleader squad is actually going to lead the massive group of Dallas area walkers carrying a big banner. I know those girls are so excited!

Anyway, if you want to be a part of this fun evening in your area, check it out here:
http://www.lightthenight.org/

If you want to donate on my page (I am so close to my goal!) you can donate here: http://www.active.com/donate/ltnNashvi/2471_mndbrks

You Know You Live in the Burbs When.....

Saturday afternoon I hear loud clown type music playing outside.... could it be? Could it REALLY be?? AN ICE CREAM TRUCK!!!!!!!!!! (no, I didn't really take a picture)

I open the front door and look down the street to see an ice cream truck parked on the corner, and people and children were coming out of their houses and running like mad! I've never seen anything like this! It was as if it were a magnet of some sort just pulling people out of their homes. Like a movie or something. I got this rush of excitement as if I were 10 years old again!!! Of course I didn't have any cash on me, so I didn't get to enjoy, but I did love watching how excited people were over this phenomenon that has (in my opinion) become rather creepy. But Saturday it was GREAT! You know you're living in the suburbs when the ice cream man is BACK IN BUSINESS!!

Don't you remember those days back in the 80s? We'd be inside playing and we'd hear that music... dash to the closet to find our "jellies" and slip them on our feet - then go grab mom for some cash and run outside to meet the man with the goodies! Good times. I love me an orange Push-Up.

Here's to next Saturday! I hope he shows up again. I'll be ready this time.

I get it.

I am CONVINCED today that God knows exactly what he's doing. ha! You know, some days you just gotta wonder - what on earth?? What is He doing up there?!! Why am I going thru this, or why am I in this place, why did this happen, etc.. But TODAY... yep. I get it. Sometimes it takes stepping back and hearing the story of someone else's journey to truly understand our own path and God's journey for our own lives. I spent about two hours with an old friend last night. Evelyn and I were in the ACU Theatre Dept together. She and her hubby, Chris (also an old ACU buddy who happens to be one of the BEST drummers on earth) live here in Nashville and are expecting a baby boy in two weeks! Anyway, Evelyn and her family suffered an unimaginable tragedy about 4 1/2 years ago when her mother's life was taken. And last night she caught me up on the latest and how God has worked within that tragedy. I am telling you, in my 29 years, I have never heard a testimony like this. It is absolutely mind blowing!! I am hoping that when the time is right she will write a memoir of her mother's life and the journey to forgiveness. I was blessed last night and moved more than I have been moved spiritually in years. Last night I was reminded just why I am a believer.

A rug makes all the difference

A rug makes all the difference in the world when decorating. The main floor living room was starting to depress me just a little bit last week. My turquoise piece didn't work in that room, and it was looking like I was stuck with my old black and red deco - which would have been fine, but I was ready to change it up. UNTIL.......... Saturday we went to the Ashley Furniture outlet store. I found this rug for SO CHEAP! It looks gorgeous. The photo was taken with my cell phone, so it's not as bright as it is in person. (the blue-ish stripe is pretty turquoise) Those blue pillows on the sofa are really turquoise, not light blue. Anyway, now I can bring in some other color! And the burgandy stripes really tie in the dining room color around the corner as well! Those turquoise pillows can now stay - I'll replace the black pillows with a bright burgandy probably. We'll see what I find.

Wedding and Rangers!

Well, my brother is officially "hitched"! We had such a great time with family and friends! Here are several pictures from the wedding and reception Friday night.


All the sisters (cousins)! This pretty much sums up what it's like when we get together. Sorry for the pit shot - it was the best one of the 4 of us together dancing.

On Saturday night, the family all went to the Rangers game. My niece had a few friends and cousins come along for her birthday party. She was also on the jumbo-tron at the game. She's such a HUGE Ranger fan!!

One of my best friends on earth moved back to Texas last year after living in Nashville for something like 13 years... I always make sure to see her when I'm in Texas, so she came to the game with all of us. She has basically become part of my family this past year. So fun! Miss you, Lea!Jumbo-tron - Katie is 7 years old!!

Exciting times!

These are definitely exciting times! I'm trying to capture some moments in picture as I think about it. Geof painting the upstairs hallway - with that came some pretty difficult challenges. We had to borrow an extension ladder for those hard to reach places. It was quite scary because the ladder was extended really far and balancing on one of the stairs! The ladder was almost vertical I might add - I had to put my weight on it so it didn't float backwards with Geof on it. yikes!! Don't worry, moms, we were VERY careful!! And the paint looks FABULOUS!!! Next paint job will be the "Texas" guest bedroom (dark khaki) and the workout room (sage green). I took a few pics of Max around the house too..... he is adjusting and loving all the space.


Saturdays are pretty much dedicated to yardwork now days. Which by the way - has been SO FUN!!! I mowed the backyard this past Saturday and took a picture of my masterpiece with my cell phone. So far, I am loving this whole house thing!! Not a big fan of picking the weeds out of the flower beds, but all in time it'll get done... here is our backyard.