Bridal shower for Erin --- count down to becoming a BROWN .. 82 days.... till 11.13-21

 If you would have told me back in January that we would still be discussing COVID, I would of said no way....   Well.......... WE ARE!! I honestly thought after stressing last summer when my son got married when we were hot and heavy into COVID that when my daughter got engaged in December and we started planning her wedding back in January that we would not have this fear of COVID when it came time for her bridal showers and wedding!  But here we are right smack dab in the middle of it and cases are rising daily!  This new delta variant is doing a number on people.  Most days I hate to open Facebook because every post is a post on some asking prayers for someone with COVID.  I've seen so many people I know personally effected recently by COVID.  It's scary! and I hate that we are dealing with this again!  I'm sure I feel like many people felt back in the Bible times when they were pleading with God to just stop their suffering and end their tribulations.  I know I must have faith that it's all going to work for his glory.. not mine...   It's just so hard.   2 Corinthians 5:7, Jeremiah 17:7, Proverbs 3:5-6, Hebrews 11:6

As a parent we dream of the day our children will get married and we want them to have the best experience leading up to that wonderful day.  We want them to have beautiful showers, parties, etc.   We simply want them to be happy and feel loved.  💗 

We debated back and forth on a bridal shower.  Some people offered to host Erin a shower, which would of been several different ones.  Finally we decided to just have one kind of big one with women from our side of the family and women from Matt's family with some friends.  We are getting down to the wire with the wedding less than 3 months away and now that school has started, Erin is supper busy with her class.  Kindergarten is always challenging the first month or two.  Babies starting school.  LOTS of paperwork to start their folder that will follow them through out their school years, etc.   It's just ALOT.  and then you have COVID on top of all the regular teacher stresses!  Some schools are already going virtual for 2 weeks and some are on the hybird schedule already!  It's just a crazy mess. 😖

  Even Erin's bachelorette trip was not what was planned or what she had been dreaming of.  The girls had a beach tripped planned where 12 girls were going.  They had matching outfits for every day! Back in my day we didn't do these things, but these days the girls go ALL out!  Well COVID shut that down.  5 of the 12 girls got to go to the beach and even though it was nice, it was not what they had planned nor what Erin had been dreaming .....  My DIL, the matron of honor, who was a big part of all the planning for the trip, ended up as one of the 12 with COVID and didn't get to go. 😢  It was just sad that all 12 girls didn't get to go and have fun as they had planned to celebrate Erin getting married.  My daughter is 31.  Now that's not old, but most of her friends are married and with kids.  So we are ALL super excited she finally found her person and we've ALL been wanting to celebrate this journey with her. 💗💘💚💛💜💝

Back to the shower...  I'm just writing all this down so one day when I look back, I'll say.... that this (RONA) was just a small tribulation in our lives... and it passed. 🙏🙏

The week of the shower I got some calls and texts from people saying they couldn't come due to COVID.  And I totally understand.  I want everyone to be safe and healthy.  I even debated canceling the shower.  But me and my family decided to go ahead.   It turned out very nice.  Even though I stressed over keeping the flowers alive till Sunday. 😂  Everything was beautiful.  Mom & Whitney did a fabulous job helping me sit up.  Robin, a coworker, did an amazing job on the food.  Melissa Wright did an outstanding job on the cake!  Her cakes are the BEST!  We had a small turnout, but it was very nice.  There was much  love in the room. 💚

I was able to give Erin the double wedding ring quilt that I had worked on for months. 😍  When she got engaged I started looking for things to give her that she could pass down one day.  One of my coworkers, that also quilts, had brought me several OLD quilting magazines to work.  I started flipping through them and there was the double wedding ring.  I had actually forgotten about this pattern.  I was like OMG this is what I need to do.  So I told my friend the next day and she was like ... do you know how hard those are to make??..   That just made me more determined to see if I could. 😏😄 I had recently bought the Accu quilt GO Block cutter so I started researching to see if they had the double ring dye block cutter....  Well guess what?? They DID!  It was $100 for the thing, but I figured it was well worth it.  Thank goodness I did buy it because.... oh my gosh the number of pieces that have to be cut to make the quilt!!! I think I counted one time and it was like 428 pieces and I wasn't even done yet! There are so many angles to get the curve to make the ring! AND I did have to rip out a few seams several times and shed a few tears because I had to start over. 😔  In the end it was all worth it.  It turned out beautiful.  I had Betty at the Quilted Petal do the quilting for me.  She has a nice longarm quilter. 😍  Then when she gave it back to me the only thing that was left to do was the binding.  I debated on doing it, but it's curved, not a straight line edge and I'm not real good with that and my mom is a PRO!! So I asked her if she would do the binding for me. 😍  So basically it was a combination job of me cutting the pieces, sewing them all together, Betty quilting and mom binding. 💓💓  As I was making it, I kept thinking I need to make Brett and Whitney one now that I have this dye cutter ...  but that will have to be next year maybe... I'm running out of time this year.. got a wedding in 82 days and then Christmas and then we'll be into 2022!!  But don't worry.. I've got it on my mind for the future for them.  Time FLIES!  ENJOY every minute of every day! 💗

Here are a few pictures from the fabulous shower.  We had the shower at the Collins Train depot and it turned out real cute.  

82 days till 11.13.21!  I'm so excited for my daughter.  I hope and pray it's everything she's dreamed of ... be gone COVID! 🙏🙏🙏

Team Run4TheKids Annual 5K 8-14-21

 Our race that was postponed in June due to a little storm that rolled in finally happen! We were so EXCITED!  The new strain of COVID has hit and cases are steady climbing so that concerned us, but we went ahead with our date of 8/14/21.  This should have been our 8th year but since last year was canceled it was our 7th year of hosting this race.  I asked for people to wear mask until they got started and not to gather in huge groups at the finish line.   Everyone did a really good job.  

As with most races I don't really sleep well the night before.  I remembered early that evening that I didn't have safety pins for the bibs! I quickly contacted Renee our timer and she said girl I got you covered.  😍😍  So I went to bed wondering what else I might of forgotten!  Our race last year was canceled due to COVID so it seemed like it had been forever since we hosted a race!  I tossed and turned and then was WIDE awake at 2am!  I knew I had to be up and ready at 4am to go set up so I got up and drank coffee.  

Yes, we start at dark thirty setting up to be ready for runners that arrive prior to race time at 7:30am.  Here are a few pictures of set up.  We had a beautiful sunrise!  We had our car lights on shining so we could see to set up. 

Soon it was time for the prayer.  I asked Krista if she would do the prayer.  After the prayer, we had a special treat.  Luca a St. Jude patient that has been to our race a few times was there with his family!  He was first diagnosed in 2011 when he was barely 2 years old.  He has fought hard and had many, many surgeries and treatments.  Today he is 4 years CANCER FREE!  🙏💓💓💓  His dad is a musician so I asked him to play the National Anthem.  It was so special!  He was AWESOME.

Nicholas Playing and I'm holding the flag

So many friends were at the race!  It was a great day!!!

Not sure what I'm doing for Mr. D to take a picture.. we are always cutting up. 😁

Miss Coffee Runner - group pic

Nestor, me and Sunshine

Who saw this guy today at our race? Wasn’t he amazing?? He is carrying his ruck pack!! We talked after the race. He is at camp Shelby right now. We discuss the race next year at camp Shelby the Norwegian foot March where soldiers will carry their Ruck packs for 18.6 miles in full gear!! They have a time limit he said to earn their badge. I can’t wait to be there!! I was invited as one of 100 runners to come run with them. It’s going to be amazing!!! They are beast!

PPRF group! LOVE my peer pressure running friends!

Our race shirts!

Awards that Sunshine made! WE are so THANKFUL for her!  She's been making our medals for several years now.  Ronnie also a team member make the bowls!  

We also had another family .. the Hartfield’s who’s children have been on a mission to raise $500. Well they met their goal also and we recognized them. . There mother said she is trying to show them how important it is to help others. 💙💚💛💜💘

So after the race right b4 awards we had another special treat!  Luca's mom had a goal to raise $5,000 for St. Jude and she has met that goal.  Part of the deal was that Luca would get to "PIE" his parents if she met her goal.... well here's proof... 😂😁😂😁😍

Luca get's dad first

Then mom

I so enjoyed having them at our race and Praise Jesus that Luca is cancer FREE!

As some of us were about to leave after cleaning up, Nestor mentioned that we hadn't taken a group  pic.  We grabbed this quick pic, but Ronnie, Be, & Penny had already left so they are not in the pic.  I can't thank this group enough!!! I could never host a race on my own.  They are ALL a blessing!   

Here is Ronnie, Be  & Penny before they left to go set up water station at the turn around:

Well until next year!! 💖 Hope to see you at our race! It all goes to St. Jude! over the 8 years of having this team... we've raised over $200,00 for St. Jude! 🙏🙏💕💕💖💖