Tuesday, May 19, 2009

GNO May '09

We finally coordinated schedules to set a date/place for a Girls' Night.

It was one of the first times we've been able to all get together following the latest multiplication. It was great to see everyone and even some new faces, too.




Colton acted as the head of the table of lovely ladies, until his daddy came to rescue him.


Bethany, Jamie and Heather


Martha, Ashley and Lori


Martina and Laura


Lori and Whitney


Some of my new favorite friends, Maloree and Audry.


Picture of our whole table thanks to Carlos (our waiter).


Closer shot of the far end of the table.


The whole group of fabulous ladies. Thanks for coming out!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Welcome to Promiseland!

Dad is the Children's Minister at our family's church in Nashville. For the last 6 years he has groomed and trained these kids to love worshipping God in a dynamic and fun environment. He works through the different aspects of worship and presents a lesson each week on their level. They range in age from 4 to 4th grade, but this is not your typical "babysitting" Children's Bible Hour. Dad is extremely talented in working with kiddos and spends hours investing in how to deliver messages to them.

Bret and I love worshipping in Promiseland when we're in town and learn more about God's love and the Bible than most people do in "big" church.


Here he is illustrating the Parable of the Net.


He draws the kids in with the stories, painting perfect pictures in their imaginations. It is amazing how much he has taught them over the years. They will enter adolescence and adulthood so much more prepared about understanding scripture and God's desire to know us than most generations gone before.


Singing is always fun, too.


Our friends, Danny and Lee are missionaries from Brazil. The kids pray for them each week and it was great to visit with them during their visit to the states.


Mom and Dad do Promiseland at Rural Hill both services each week (except the 1st Sunday). They average 40-50 kids each service. If you are ever in Nashville and would like to stop in, they'd be happy to say "Welcome to Promiseland (insert your name here)."

Dad has also started a weekly email on the lessons. If you are involved with Children at your church and want access to some great material, just let me know and I'll have you added to the listserve.

I am so proud of what God has and will continue to use my parents for in his kingdom. Love you both more than you'll ever know!

Good Friday in Murfreesboro

A tornado struck the town near where our families live on Good Friday this year. We drove through the hail and remnants of the storm that afternoon on our way up from B'ham and saw the devastation first hand on Saturday morning. Some of our friends actually saw the funnel cross in front of them on the interstate and had damage to their homes.

Here are some pics I snapped driving down the road near the Thompson Ln/M'boro Rd intersection.





A preacher in the area experienced the tornado first hand. Read his story here.

Easter Weekend

We celebrated Easter in Nashville this year and got to spend some quality time with both of our families.


Even the St. Louis crew came to join in on the fun. Libby did a cute photo shoot of the girls at The Factory in Franklin and then we enjoyed some fun activities with the girls (and a great meal) at my parents' house. Read a cute blog from my fabulous sister-in-law, Dorothy, about the time we shared.

Even Grandpa joined in for the Bronco.


Uncle Bret is always the ultimate jungle gym, but is also a pretty good story reader, too.


I love getting to spend time with my super cute (and super silly) nieces!

(I will have to steal one of me and Ellie from Lib's pics sometime.)

We were also blessed to be able to visit with Grandma Bach. This lady is such an encouragement to Bret and I both. She is kind, thoughtful and pretty witty for 85 years young. We always enjoy getting to see her.


I unfortunately didn't get any pics of my family this time around. We did enjoy a yummy lunch at the new Cheddar's. Now we just need one in Birmingham!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Spring Break Getaway 2009

This March we had the opportunity to head out West for a Spring Break getaway. We flew into Phoenix and enjoyed seeing the city as well as Scottsdale, Sedona and the Grand Canyon. Later in the week we drove to Vegas to finish out the trip and stopped by the Hoover Dam on the way. It was the perfect combination for a Walters vacation: historic sights (B), warm weather (me), incredible food, tons of pictures, nice hotels, fabulous memories made and of course lots of driving. Check out the slideshow to see some of the pictures.

Click
here and here to see more pictures and details about our trip.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Monkey Grass & Green Acres

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go see Rick & Bubba live! For those of you living in the dark, R & B are a nationally syndicated radio show based out of Birmingham. They are two Christian guys who tell it like it is and have a lot of fun in the process. If they aren't on a station in your area, you can listen online or on XM radio channel 158. Get in the loop!

We are huge fans and already are booked for the Golden Ticket Seats in May. A friend of mine called and had an extra ticket, so of course I volunteered to join them!

Katy and I


Laughing big in the studio.


It was SO cool to see it LIVE!


Me, Rick, Brittany, Bubba, and Katy
Yep, they get to come to work in gym shorts and t-shirts. I guess that's a perk for being in the radio business.


The girls with Speedy, the producer.


Rick doing a drum solo for us.


Bubba playing tennis off the glass during the breaks.


We had such a fun time. Thanks Katy!

It made me even more excited about going back with my family in May.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

L1 - Love God, L2 - Love Others

Winterfest 2009 was a huge success. This was the first year we were able to spend the whole weekend with the Homewood Youth. As you may remember, last year I tore my ACL the week prior... so Winterfest was not an option. Needless to say, we were really excited about being a part of such a wonderful weekend this year. The theme was based on the simplified concepts of what being a Christian is all about: Loving God and Loving Others.


This was B's 16th Winterfest... yikes!


Even super-intern Libby came back to enjoy the festivities with the Homewood crew.


I had a fabulous group of girls to "chaperone" and really enjoyed getting to know them better. They joked all weekend about how I blended in as one of them and was in fact not an adult at all.


Cool painting that was part of a session.

Lindsey made the decision to be baptized into Christ that weekend.


Praise be to God!


What a fantastic group!
We were blessed to be part of such an amazing weekend.