Eggs everywhere!!

Jacksonville put on a really fun Easter event today for all the kids in Jacksonville! There was a big turn-out..........

and a TON of eggs!

They did each age group...and had the whole football field filled up with eggs for each group!

There were bouncy houses.......and face painting, and all sorts of games too!

The weather was perfect and it was a fun time!

Lily was our special helper today while the girls decorated/painted their eggs since she spent the night with us! They had a blast decorating them!

I took this picture and didnt realize Alexis' expression until I was putting the picture on my computer! Apparently....she loved the color of her egg and was super excited about it!

These three sweet girls! Love them all! Alexis and Lily are super excited to take their eggs to Aunt Pam's to hide!

Alexis was soooo excited when she saw Caroline! They took off together.....because they think they are all 'cool'...and everything! :) :)

Miss Jacksonville State was there and she gave Kelby and Lily a crown too!

Finley, Elyn, Kelby and Lily!

The creepy Easter bunny picture! ha! Im sad Lily's eyes were closed. This is the 'best' I can get of my girls with the Easter bunny. They refuse to take a picture with him when we see him at the Mall, etc!

Lily loved the bouncy houses and slides!

A field full of eggs!

'Hop to it'......and get all those eggs!

This gang was ready to get some eggs....well mostly the candy inside!

Off they went!

Adalee and Lex racing to see who got more!

Lily filling up!

She actually missed her age bracket time to go because she went to the bathroom with Kelby. By the time they got back, there were zero eggs left. So.....Lily took it upon herself to go out in the middle of the field and collect some of the eggs that they put out for the next age group! OH me! She filled up...and then I made her run off quickly before the older kids came running and pound her!

Daddy helping Lily see what all goodies she got! Lily was SUPER excited when she found some money in some of her eggs!

We headed over to Pam's after and continued Easter fun with dinner and the girls opened their Easter baskets from Gran.

Grey's first Easter! Cute picture!

The official...

today is brought to you by...

'The official!'......

We have capped off the week! I have been off for two weeks.......and it, honestly, doesnt seem like it. It all has been a blur...and busy...not relaxing...and just plain tough at times!

BUT, Im thankful that it all could have been worse...and thankful that I have had this time off to get our house in order, etc!

There is always...always...always...something to be thankful for!

Well, its official. As of today...I found out my new home until at least August. OH...looks like SO much fun!

This picture is the first official picture showing the tornado that came through Jacksonville! A security camera on the Square captured the picture! WOW!!
I am SO thankful that we were not home during it! I am sad that we only had one day of our Spring break trip....but at least we had that one during this coming to our house!

 Its official...she had a BLAST at her Kindergarten Easter egg hunt at school today! I LOVE that Mrs. Bean sent me this picture! Made my day!

Its official...Collins loves the 'goodies' I took over to her! Since I have been cleaning out the girl's toys, etc...due to the tornado, there were some items that I just knew a certain 2 year old would love! Kristi sent me this picture of her playing with the ABC's and the numbers! :) :)

Its official...Lily couldnt get in the door fast enough to dump out her Easter basket from all of her eggs today, from school, to see............and try and EAT all the candy! What cracks me up is that she dumped all of the 'grass' out very very quickly to get to the 'good stuff!' :) :)

And....Alexis and Lily have become the OFFICIAL 'Millie the dogwalkers'...........and they love it! For about 3 weeks now...Lily {big Lily as she is referred to} has been coming over and getting my girls to go walk Millie {the dog} with her around the neighborhood. BOY...my girls get soooo excited when she comes knocking! I can literally hear them laughing and talking up and down our street as they walk Millie!
It worked out...too...that 'big' Lily is spending the night with us tonight since its a Friday! They are all curled up...watching YouTube...right now in Alexis' room as I type this!

Go tell it on the mountains!!

Tonight...

my heart BURST!

Alexis accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and became a sister in Christ with me!

She has been asking a lot of questions and has seemed to be right on the fence of being ready for about a month or so.

Well, last night...about 15 minutes after putting her to bed, she came into the living room in tears and saying she wanted to talk to me.

She crawled up in my lap and tears just flowed. I was worried about her because I didnt know what was making her like this. So, then she told me what was on her mind! She said that she didnt want to not go to Heaven when she died and that she wanted everyone to know that she loves God and wants to be a better person! The recent tornado has really affected her and has brought so much emotion from her. She has been trying to understand it all and last night, it just came to a point for her that she finally hit that moment that she was ready!

Talk about chills!

OH me! I am SOOOO proud of her! She asked some more questions and then told me that she wanted to be baptized Sunday...which just SO happens to be Easter!!

What a BIG Sunday it will be!

God is good all the time, all the time.....God is good!

I pray that she stays strong in her faith but knows....we are all broken, sinful, messed up people living in a broken, sinful, messed up world. We all sin. She is still going to sin but by professing God as ruler over her life and asking forgiveness, God will still love her...and protect her, help her to be a better person and have his light shine through her......and...

hold her in the palm of his hands...

always.

Amen.

Mrs. Angie {our Children's Church Director} came to our house to speak to Alexis. To talk deeply with her and to make sure she understood exactly what she was about to do. Her Daddy and I listened and responded and we answered some of her questions before Mrs. Angie prayed over her. It was SUCH a special time and it brings me to happy tears! Mrs. Angie is the best and I am so thankful for her knowledge and mentorship that she has given to Tyler and I.{Along with her husband, Mr. Rick who is our Sunday school teacher!} We are just SO thankful, blessed and proud!

Being a kid!

Wordless Wednesday, today, comes in the form of.....

Lily just being a 6 year old!

We had about 2 hours yesterday afternoon where the sun actually came out and it was warm enough, finally, to enjoy being outside.

Alexis went on a bike ride around the neighborhood with Lily Weathers so Lily and I took a walk!

She had a BLAST just being a kid by kicking all the dandelions and making them fly as we strolled through the streets! It was a great little afternoon!

Practice makes perfect!

I got to watch Alexis rehearse today for The Wiz production that is coming up in April!

She had SO much fun up on stage and it showed! She loves being on stage. She is familiar with the stage at Oxford Performing Arts Center since that is where her dance recital is held each year so that helped her be more comfortable!

She is so excited for the big day to come!

The producer worked them! Practice makes perfect!

I cant wait to watch her in costume!

The munchkins!!

Working her moves! Im so excited for her and it makes my heart smile that she has adventured into this new territory and is loving it!

A day in the park!

Tyler and I have been soooo busy with trying to get everything back in order...and cleaned up...and in line...

that yesterday afternoon....I told the girls we were having a break time!

The girls were sooo excited to just keep it simple and hit the park!

We got to see Grey! We were so excited since we havent got to see him since he was first born. He is just precious and I know Alexis and Lily are going to be great cousins to him!

They were so good with him. It made me proud!

I snapped some fun pictures of my two while they played. It was a great afternoon!

This chick.........there are just no words.....how old is she?!?!?!

My little one!

She let the bunny swing! :) :)

She wanted me to take a close up....of her teeth....she is SOOOO happy about her teeth being lined up now! :)

LOVE!

Sweet girl!

Taking a break and meeting Grey!

Yesterday the girls and I took a little break from everything that has been going on and headed to the park for a little family time!

The girls got to meet Grey for the 1st time!

All day was gorgeous. I worked out in the yard up until about 2:30 because it was so nice and I was even hot! Well, at about 3:30, it got COLD!

We still enjoyed the beautiful afternoon at the park...but whew, I am SO ready for it to warm up!!

Introducing themselves! Alexis is a natural but she didnt want him to 'throw up' on her! ha!

SO LOVE this picture!

Sweet baby! Today he is a month old! Wow...time sure does fly!

Badgett

I cant get over how alert he is!

Daddy and son

Recovering!

I have internet again!

Whoo hoo! Its the little things....and crazy that this day and time....you just dont know what to do without internet!

The recovery process is coming along here in Jacksonville! We have a 'hashtag' #JacksonvilleStrong and to say it is perfect is an understatement. The community has rallied together and we have fed hundreds.....cleaned up tree debris, tarped roofs, cleaned up buildings and more!

Tyler has worked his booty off every day since the tornado and I commend him! He has gotten up super early...and gone to be late and continues to push through and it is amazing at the difference Jacksonville and JSU looks in just a matter of days after the storm. There is still alot to do and accomplish but it all has come a long ways quickly! We are out of out school and work this week. The girls have to go back to school Thursday due to it all. Everyone is trying to give the community time to regroup and be ready to be back on track and have structure again!

Our house has already gotten a face lift. We have stripped the carpet and cleaned the walls. We have been letting fans dry everything out. The yard is back to normal with the tree moved out that hit us. We still have a little bit of debris left to move down by the air/heat unit...but other than that, we are good! The insurance adjuster came out Saturday and so we are underway to start getting repairs done...and Im ready too! Life being back to normal....is coming along!

Katie and I hit the ground running with coordinating and helping deliver out 1095 lunches and 580 dinners between 2 days!! It took my breath away at all the help and all the people willing to drop what they were doing and stop and help! All the donations and local restaurants helping with free food. It was so humbling!

This is just some of the volunteers! It was soooo amazing to be a little part of helping the community!!
Jacksonville and JSU will rebuild and be stronger and better than ever! Our God is sooo good, all the time!

The whirlwind....tornado.

So, at about 8:00pm Monday night....there were all sorts of reportings of tornados hitting...and hitting our neighborhood.

I did not sleep Monday night. We had a super nice VRBO apartment and was on Spring break vacation...

and it was miserable!

We heard how bad the damage was at around 10:30 that night...

so we got up before daylight and packed up and left our super fun Memphis trip to head home since Tyler is over the emergency crew and needing to go home and help.

To say the pictures...and what we were told wasnt even close to how it actually was when we got back home.

That night...5 different friends went and checked on our home...and all said we didnt have any damage and we were fine.

So...about 2 hours in of us driving back home....completely thinking we were just going home to help with all the damage...

we get another call from another friend telling us the news of our home. To say it was like a hit in the stomach is an understatement!

I am SO thankful that it wasnt as bad as those around us! I am SO thankful that we were out of town and didnt have to experience all the horrible sounds and stories that I have heard from our friends and neighbors...and SO thankful that there were no deaths out of all the destruction!

Our GOD is GOOD!

It is devastating in Jacksonville and JSU right now...but we will rebuild and be stronger and better than ever! But...oh WOW....it all just took my breath away as Tyler and I drove back from Memphis and saw it all. No words!.......

We are without power and who knows when the work will be done to fix the holes in our roof...but it will get done and we are all safe and fine...so that is all that matters!

Nan and Pawpaw have taken us in and are keeping the girls while Tyler works on still helping and I try and help and do what I can with friends who lost it all!

Something you dont see everyday in your house! It could have been SO much worse....compared to the rest of Jacksonville and JSU!

We cleaned up what we could...tarped the holes...and will just wait to have it all put back together!

Our new AC unit..........is a goner! It is amazing how many trees are gone...and buildings, etc. What amazes me more...that yes, there is a lot of damage.....but the way some of the trees fell....it was just crazy because they fell the opposite way to a house...or fell right smack, within inches, of a house. It could have been SO much worse! So thankful too that it was Spring break week...and all the JSU students had gone home!

My Nursing building! So sad! We have needed/wanted a new building. Hate that this is the way we are getting one! I hope my office is still in one piece. Anxious to be able to get in there and survey!

The upstairs portion of the Nursing building.

This the hallway to Tammy's office. So scary!

This is to the right of the Nursing building between the Nursing building and the ROTC building. It used to be covered with trees. Now........nothing!

This makes me so sad. The Alumni house is a tear down now. I had my wedding shower here when I was marrying Tyler. This is where Brittney and Mitchell got married. It was a beautiful home that JSU used for many functions. So sad!

This is the side of the Alumni house too. Completely destroyed.  The pictures dont even do the extent of the damage justice. I have never experienced anything like this...and I hope I never do again! But...through it all.......God is good...and Im counting my blessings!