Girls Night Out

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to see Mandisa, Britt Nicole, and Laura Story in concert.  They called it Girls Night Out.  The husband was sweet enough to buy me tickets months ago.  He told me to invite a friend and go have fun.  Is he not the best?

Slack joined me for a night of fun.  Laura Story was the first to perform.  She is hilarious!!  She had us rolling as she told stories in between songs.  She is a worship leader at her church.  They are lucky!  She writes and sings some amazing songs. 

Britt Nicole came out next.  I was most excited to see her live.  She was at Winter Jam several years ago when she was a new artist.  I had been wanting to see her again ever since.  That girl knows out to rock out!  I love it!  Her latest cd just came out not to long ago.  It's called Gold.  This album contains Britt's message that I believe every girl should hear and know.  She has songs that talk about how you are worth more than gold. You are one in a million.  My favorite song from this album is called Ready or Not.  It talks about how we don't have to try to fit into the box that the world things we belong in.  We can be who we are in Christ.  Let his light shine through us even if it means we look a little different.  Love it!  As a middle school teacher, I see every day how important it is for young girls to hear this message.  Shoot I'm 28 and there are still days when I need to hear this message. 

We ended the night with Mandisa.  She is awesome!!  She has been on a journey in weight loss for quite some time now.  In that journey she has discovered and come to love Zumba.  She made up a Zumba routine for one of her songs that she taught us.  So much fun!!

I have been wanting to do a give away for awhile now.  I think it's about time we did that.  One of you lucky ladies (or guys) will win Britt Nicole's new album Gold.  The message in this album is just that good! 

To enter the give away and have a chance to win this cd all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.  Easy as that!

Almost forgot.  I'll use random.org to choose a winner on Friday, May 4. :)

Four No More

I really didn't mean to let so much time go by between posts.  I had several posts in my head that I intended to share, but that all changed last Saturday...April 14.

Andrew was in NY visiting with some old high school friends.  I put the dogs outside and got ready to go climb Pinnacle.  On the way I changed my mind and did a little shopping instead of climbing Pinnacle.  I was gone about 3 hours. 

I came home to my worst nightmare.  My first clue was when I pulled into the driveway and I didn't hear Liberty and Liam barking at me the way they usually do.  When I opened the backdoor to let them in, they weren't there.  I called for them, but they didn't come running.

I immediately called Andrew, started praying, and walking around looking.  Andrew called our nephew Cody to help with the search.  We walked all through our neighborhood calling them and drove up and down the surrounding streets.  Nothing.

It was awful.  I spent most of that night in the fetal position sobbing.  I know Andrew felt bad that he wasn't here with me to help look.

Sunday was more of the same.  I would drive around until I couldn't do it anymore.  Then I'd come home and sob.  Drive around some more.  Sob.  It was the cycle of the day.

I'm not sure how I made it through Monday. 

Andrew came home Tuesday.  I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I was that he was home and able to take over. 

Throughout those days we had a couple of phone calls from the flyers we had passed out and hung everywhere.

I was keeping my phone on at school at all times just waiting on a phone call saying someone had their hands on my babies.

I got a call Wednesday afternoon from a little boy who was certain Lib and Liam were hanging out in his neighborhood.  The plan was to go check it out after school.  I wore a skirt that day so I decided to swing by the house to change first.  When I got out of my car in the driveway I thought I heard Liberty crying in the backyard.

But ya'll since they disappeared on Saturday I've seen and heard those dogs so many times.  I just wanted to find them so badly.

She didn't come running when I opened the door so I figured I was just hearing things again.  But when I turned to go back in, she came running around the corner crying.  You could definitely tell she was thankful to be back at home.  There were tears all around.

God had answered our prayers and brought my girl home. 

We figured Liam had to be near by so the search began again.  It ended again with no luck.

Our little buddy still hasn't come home.  It's been almost two weeks.  It absolutely breaks my heart to think of him being out there.  He hates to go outside and he has been living out there for nearly 14 days.

We've gotten several false alarms.  In fact we got two calls within five minutes of each other tonight from people who were certain they were holding Liam.  Both false alarms.

I no longer believe that anyone has seen him.  I think all the phone calls were false alarms.  I try not to think about what could have happened to him.

We are currently teetering between still believing he will come home and trying to accept that he is gone forever.  It's a hard place for my heart to be. 

Liberty misses him too.  She hasn't been the same since coming home.

Our family just doesn't seem complete without him.  He's our 4th. 

I'm ready to be a family of 4 again.

Tuesday Tunes

I'm loving this song right now. Hope you enjoy it.

10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman

Still Here

What? I have a blog? Oh yeah...that's right.

It feels like a lifetime ago that I last blogged. Blogging just hasn't been a priority lately. I hope to get back into posting regularly to record our lives and to share with you some things God has been putting on my heart lately.

This post though is going to be a hodge podge of things to get caught up on the day to day things I know I'll want to remember.

1. We celebrated the husband's 31st birthday this past week. On his actual birthday I surprised him by filling our bedroom with 31 balloons. Attached to each balloon was something that I love about him. I think he was pleasantly surprised.

Last night we celebrated with his family. It was so nice that his parents and all of his siblings were able to be there. I know that meant a lot to him. Jill made some delicious desserts for the occasion. Joy Beth made lemon bars. We can't celebrate Andrew's birthday without them.

Jackson got to meet Sydney for the first time last night. Oh my goodness! He was precious. He wanted everyone there to see her and know she was there. Then he decided he wanted to hold her. As Jill went in the bedroom to get the bobby for him, he looked at his Mom and said, "I'm so excited". He was too proud to hold his new baby cousin. He and Millie are expecting a baby brother in a few months. He is very excited about that!



2. The husband and I are working on changing our lifestyles. If we are facebook friends, you know we've climbed Pinnacle Mountain 4 times in the last 2 weeks. I honestly thought I might die on that mountain the first time. Thankfully, it gets a little easier each time. We are exercising on a pretty regular basis. Andrew goes to the gym every night. I'm not quite there yet. :)

We've also changed the way we are eating. Eating healthy has been like a little adventure for me. I've learned to eat things that would have killed me a month ago. For instance, I now eat my sandwiches on wheat bread. That's HUGE for me.


3. This past weekend we finally finished up the flower bed makeover project. I don't have a before picture, but trust me it was bad. We planted some new evergreen shrubs and a tree as well as added shutters to the house. I absolutely love the way it turned out!

4. My students take benchmark test this week. It makes for a long and exhausting week for everyone involved. I'm not allowed to sit while they are testing the first 4 hours of the day. My feet are pretty tired when I get home. However, they worked so hard today and I was definitely proud of them. This is what we work all year for.

5. It is vacation time in the Weaver household. God has blessed Andrew and I with two amazing trips. He and a friend are going to the east coast to visit with a friend and explore New England. I'm definitely going to miss him this next week, but I'm thankful he has the opportunity. A few days after he gets home I'm taking a group of 7th and 8th graders to D.C. for four days. We are beyond excited!!

6. Thursday night I'm going with a dear friend to a concert entitled Girls Night Out. Mandisa, Laura Story, and Britt Nicole! The husband bought me tickets months ago. I am so excited. I can't wait to see how God works that night.

7. Do you play Draw Something? It is my new favorite game. I love it. I feel sorry for the people who play with me though because I CAN NOT DRAW! I'm sure I give them lots of good laughs.

8. I think it is about time for a give away. Don't you? Not sure what I want to give away yet, but I'll come up with something. :)