the gorgeous Mrs. Amy Painter
Friday we had dinner at the yummy Mellow Mushroom in Nashville to celebrate Don's bday, which of course was followed by a sweet visit to our neice Ellie Grace. Shannon is staying at the Ronald McDonald house while EG is still in the NICU, and we are so thankful that Shannon has somewhere to stay close to her sweet baby girl. She is doing so well - we are praying she comes home when she is ready, but we know that will be much sooner than the original plan since God's healing hand has been on that child from day 1! What a sweet miracle who wanted to make sure she was here to celebrate Chris' bday, Mother's Day, and now her Papa's bday :)
Saturday we went to our friends Amy and Greyson's beautiful wedding at Lairdland Farms outside of Chapel Hill, TN. What a wonderful way to kick off Memorial Day weekend! Amy was praying all week for NO RAIN and boy did she have some amazing weather! The clouds covered us during the entire ceremony and then the sun started to set as we moved to the reception. It was so laid back and comfortable - a true Southern wedding :) Congrats to the bride and groom as they begin their lives together. What a wonderful day to kickoff this new season of your life!
On Memorial Day I planted my first 2 hydrangea bushes - my all time favorite flower. I kid you not, I will be praying over these bushes to grow some gorgeous flowers. I am sure it will happen as soon as Chris and I decide to move from the house, ha(no plans on that anytime soon)! To be honest, I didn't plan on that being the case for Memorial Day. I had planned on spending the entire day poolside. But, one trip to Kroger later and I am the proud owner of a blue hydrangea bush. Well, there is no need to go and make all the effort for just 1 when you have room for 2 - so before you know it we are at Lowes getting a pink hydrangea bush and some more soil & mulch, too! Well, right about the time I got done with that we decided it would be great to go swimming(a reward for our hard work of making a new flower bed). Well wouldn't you know that as soon as we step out of the garage to get in the truck it starts to rain! The entire day I kept telling Chris I wanted to play tennis, too so I just looked at him and said,"Well, we already have on our bathingsuites - if I can't do one thing I have wanted to all day then I will do another." SO, my stubborn self grabbed the rackets and my wonderful husband went along and we played tennis in the rain in our driveway - soaking wet! Chris is not a huge fan of the rain - so I knew he was being one heck of an amazing husband to amuse me as long as he did :) We played for quite some time and I now have a memory I will truly never forget!
Since the pool plans were pushed aside and more rain was coming our way, we decided to pay a quick visit to the Exchange Club's Healing Field over at The Avenue to pay tribute to the real reason for this weekend. What a touching idea to honor all of our soldiers and thier sacrifices for our freedom. There were many sites that brought a tear to my eye - many elderly people seeing the flags someone donated in their honor, a young family crying by their flag, and parents with thier children at flags in someone's honor. I am so proud of our community to have such a wonderful display during this holiday!
As you can see, Ellie enjoyed her time with us over the weekend, too with her "cold treat" from her mom! :)
We hold in our hands the most precious gift of all : Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away & no one shall take it from us!
