our stay in Savannah

Two weeks ago my mother in law invited us to stay in their Savannah condo for the weekend. We happily obliged and honestly left the next day knowing we wouldn't have many opportunities to stay in the condo, since it has been leased out the last 4 years! We left the 10 degree weather in Atlanta and enjoyed a sunny 40 degree weekend in Savannah!

Savannah is a MUST when you visit the South, there is no other way around it. For some reason, you forget your troubles and just bask in the light of the city. I feel at home here and it's comfortable and familiar. We made our plans very simple, keeping our time and money spent on only things we absolutely love here, which includes...
1. Picnic lunch and play at Forsyth park (FREE)
2. Supper at Lady & Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant)$$$
3. Walking shores of Tybee Island ($3 parking)
4. Walking around downtown as a family (FREE)

Savannah, until we meet again!

Valentines for baby

These pictures are from 4 years ago!  I can't believe it was just 4 years ago my little boy was a 6 month old and oh so cute!
You can read the post on how little Charlie made his adorable valentines here!
Oh, and how he asked Julia Glenn here!
And Julia's response here!
Oh, how life was before instagram!!

small towns, part 1

 One thing I absolutely LOVE about living in Georgia are all the small quaint towns within a 30 minute drive from us.  Yesterday, we had to pick up my husband from work since our other car is in the shop.  We got down to Smyrna 30 minutes early and decided to head 7 minutes down from his building to discover the cute town of Vinings.  I have driven by Vinings a handful of times but it seems even more enchanting in the rain.  It has history written all over it, and even the newer shops maintain the whimsical white paint, green roof motif the entire town has.  Even the CVS pharmacy is adorable, can't believe I forgot to take a picture of that!
The visitor center has old pictures, maps and journals of the first families and leaders from the town.  The original windows still have the signature of Walter (last name I forget, but he was pretty important) etched in the glass, you can barely see it in the middle picture.  Of course Charlie was more curious with the trap door to the basement cellar than anything else but he behaved himself enough that the tour guide asked us to come back! And come back we will!

sip and see

I want to come back blogging in an effort to share myself, all of me.  Not just updating on family milestones but writing about the things that make me tick, or not tick each day.  The past 3 1/2 years I have been waiting and waiting for things to happen, the type of things that anyone would expect to occur within the last 3 1/2 years. In retrospect, I would get sad and disappointed that we didn't progress in ways everyone else seemed to be.

Our main goal was to have more children 

and for our family to grow.  

We didn't grow in the way I would have expected, 
but we did grow. 
In heart and strength.
In having charity and love.  
In patience and endurance.
In relating to others and having empathy.  
In all, we have only learned and progressed to be more like Christ, which is our most divine goal and life-long desire. 

I have found that having a hope for all things gets me through the day.  I hope to have a family continually growing in the Gospel.  Hope to be happy in all things.  Hope to settle down and buy a home and a hope for more children.
Which is why I am writing this blog, to keep the hope alive and burning strong.