Alison's Birthday

Yesterday was Alison's birthday!  We had a birthday dinner to celebrate.  Bert grilled hamburgers (which were amazing) and later we enjoyed a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Cake from Dairy Queen.....so amazingly good!  If you haven't tried one you're definitely missing out.  Dairy Queen's ice cream cake has been my favorite kind of cake for many many years now.  I know you're probably all thinking that it was very selfish of me to get Alison MY favorite cake on HER birthday.:)  This past year on my birthday was the first time Alison had tried an ice cream cake.  She really liked it and mentioned to Stephen in passing that she would like one for her birthday sometime.  Stephen remembered and surprised her with the ice cream cake!  We finished off the night with a little Settlers of Catan!  Here are a few pictures from the night!  

Happy birthday, Alison Watts Sandridge!  We're so thankful for you....I'm thankful for your love for the Lord, your love for your husband, your heart for adoption, your love for our family, your friendship, and so much more!!  We all three love you so much!!  

North Wake Baptism Service

Our church has baptism services out at Falls Lake every few months.  It is such a sweet time of fellowship with the body of Christ.  Each person that is being baptized stands up and gives a short testimony telling how they came to trust in Christ and why they want to be baptized.  It's encouraging to hear and causes us to reflect on our own testimonies.  I love that our church does public baptisms.  There are always people around who are not there with our church, and they are able to see the church celebrating together and hear the good news of the gospel.  After the baptisms we all share a pot-luck dinner together.  I'm so thankful for our church family.  

We enjoyed being able to hang out with some of the guys and girls from our small group that afternoon, and we had to snap a quick picture to mark the occasion! 

Meeting Jackson

Our friends Keri and Patrick had their son, Jackson, a few weeks ago.  We were able to stop by and meet him on our way back to Wake Forest after the wedding weekend.  He is such a handsome little thing.  Jackson let me hold him and feed him his bottle....SO much fun...I loved every minute of it!  

We wanted to get a picture of the girls, but it was a little harder than you might think.:) 

Kayley (22 months) and Emily (13 months) 

Ahhh....please just look at this sweet smile Kayley gave me!  She is growing up SO fast!   

The Watts with Jackson Harmon (1 week)!!  

We love and miss you, Harmon family!!  We can't wait to see you again soon!!

Lopez Wedding

Bert had the honor of being a part of his friend Brendan Lopez's wedding a few weeks ago.  The wedding was in Atlanta, so we packed up the van and hit the road for a quick trip to GA.  Emily enjoyed some special time with Mimi and Papa Stan on Saturday, while Bert was taking part in the wedding festivities and Stan and I were doing a little shopping.  The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we had such a great time spending time with friends that we don't get to see very often!!

Me and my handsome husband!

Julie and Lenore 

Bert, Nate and Rob 

Brendan was Bert's roommate for a couple of years in college, and they became Christians within a few months of one another. We got to spend some time as well with some of Bert's other college friends, Rob and his wife Julie, Nate and his wife Lenore, and Matthew and his wife Kristen. These guys have each had a big impact in Bert's life. We're so thankful for friends who encourage us, challenge us, and push us closer to the cross.  

Wordless Wednesday: Emily and her friend Noah

A Shower for Sunni

A couple in our small group, Sunni and Corey, are getting married June 11th.  We're all SO excited and we had a wedding shower for Sunni on Saturday to celebrate!!  

Yummy food....

 

Earlier in the week Claire sent Corey an e-mail with a list of questions that he had to answer (w/o talking to Sunni) that would be part of a game we played.  Sunni had to give the same answers that Corey had given or she had to put a certain number of marshmallows in her mouth and hold them there until the end of the game. Sunni ended up with 51 marshmallows in her mouth at the end of the game.  She was a great sport.:)  

She said that she was going to have a "discussion" with Corey about some of his answers.:)   

Congratulations, Sunni and Corey!  We can't wait for your big day!!:)  

 

Southeastern Cookout

Every Spring and Fall Southeastern has a cookout for all the students.  They provide hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, cookies, drinks, live music, bouncy things for the kids to jump in, and a climbing wall for the older kids.  All for free.  It really is so much fun to bring lawn chairs and a blanket and just enjoy hanging out with everyone.

Emily and I with two girls in our small group...Carolyn and Jen.  LOVE them!  

Emily was very interested in what was going on around us this year.  She kept getting up and walking around. She said hey to lots of people, waved to everyone, picked up leaves, etc.  It was quite a job to try to keep her on the blanket while we were eating our dinner, but it was so fun to watch her explore.  

This was the 7th cookout we've been too.  Thank you, Southeastern, for putting on such a fun event for the students.  We're thankful!

Graduation Fun

My brother, Stanley, graduated from North Georgia College and State University last Saturday so Emily, Katherine and I headed down to GA for the graduation festivities.

Bert had a weekend class that he couldn't miss so we had to make the trip without him.  Here he is telling Emily bye before he left for work.  He missed his girls.:)

I was able to catch up with my good friends Misty, Ashley and Holly.  We ended up closing down the restaurant that night.:)

Misty's daughter, Emily, is two and a half months younger than my Emily.  They just came to visit with everyone for a little while and then their grandma's came to pick them up.:)

Emily holding her bunny.  When she wakes up from her nap she usually stands up and cries until we come and get her.  As soon as I open the door to come pick her up she drops to her knees and dives for her bunny.  She does NOT want to leave the crib with out the bunny in hand.  She LOVES her bunny.:)  

My Mom had the idea to put Emily in the middle of one of her flower beds and take a few pictures.  It was a good idea, but she was way too interested in the leaves to pay much attention to us.  

Emily and her Mimi

Saturday was graduation time.  We loaded up and headed to Dahlonega, GA (which is about an hour from my parents house).  

Emily did so good during the graduation (I was a little nervous b/c we were sitting on the top row).  She was starting to get a little frustrated with not being able to get down and walk around, but then the clapping started.  Every single time one of the graduates went on stage to get their diploma (and everyone started clapping for them) Emily got so so excited!  She would literally almost jump out of our lap from bouncing up and down and clapping so much.  

The graduate.  We love you and we're so proud of you, Stan!!!