The heartache of breakups

I am beginning to think that God has prepared me to counsel those who are going through breakups by allowing JR and I to experience our fair share of them in our dating life. Just recently I have been talking to several friends and my sweet brother about life after a break up and what happens next. It is so weird for me to think back to JR and I's breakups and needless to say I dont like re-living those memories, and JR sure as heck doesnt! Why are there times that there is nothing really wrong with the relationship and yet someone still wants out? What seems to be a perfect relationship one day, the next day can turn into a disaster. I can tell you from experience that God uses each of these experiences to help you grow. He wants you to rely on Him, trust Him, know that it is about His timing, and believe that He truly knows what is best for you. I did my far share of not nice things to JR while we were dating and am ashamed to admit them honestly. However, I can without a doubt say that I would not change what happened FOR THE WORLD! Men- know that you can NOT make your women love you. Women- know that you cannot have your cake and eat it too!. (And of course vice versa) Oh the lessons that we learn and continue to learn throughout life. Marriage is a never ending session of lessons to be learned, that is definitely what I have learned in last 10 months. It is also a tremendous gift from God. I cannot believe there is a way I can love my husband more today than I did yesterday, the day we married, the first few months of us dating.... but oh how I do :)

(Just for fun I have included a picture of JR and I back in 1998!)

Welcome Home Tiffany

Tiffany has been in Sweden for a year and just came home last night!!! She had been working with Campus Crusade over there and the year before that served with them on campus at UT. Tiffany is a dear friend of mine that I met my freshman year of college. Her and I did campus crusade together in college and were also Phi Mu's. She is an incredible friend, always there to listen to me and encourage me. I have missed her so much this past year. She was one of my bridesmaids, well i guess you could say long distance bridesmaids. She actually had to fly over to Sweden before the wedding so she wasnt able to be with us physically, but no doubt was there with us! I will never forget for as long as I live getting a phone call from her on my wedding day and being so surprised and yet sad that she couldnt be there with me. That was the only tear I shed the whole day, can you believe it. But yes this shows how much she means to me and how much I dearly love her and value her friendship. We have been able to keep up over email and occasional phone calls since she has been gone, but it seems unreal that I have not seen her since July 1st of last year. Tiffany and I lived within 10 yards of each other all four years of college, so needless to say it was quite the change. I am so thankful that I will get to see her THIS weekend finally!!! Oh what a reunion it will be :)

A wonderful week of vacation

Of course I have been on vacation.. do you think I would just not update my blog on purpose hahah! Well this is one long update but it includes the whole week, so get ready.

The vacation week started off with JD, Jessica and I making the trip to Myrtle Beach. We had so much fun just being girls and spending time together. There were too many pictures so I had to do a montage. Enjoy :)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tuesday- On the way back from the beach the girls dropped me off with JR so we could hang out with his family. We had a great time celebrating his parent's 26th wedding anniversary with the whole family in Gatlinburg. We did the usual walking around the shops, eating caramel apples, watched cute little cloggers and there was even a parade... what a bonus :)


Happy 4th of July! Wednesday- We went to spend the day at the pool at mom's. JD and David joined us and we had a relaxing time in the sun and then had a cookout. Just perfect for the 4th!!!



That night we went to Kingston to watch the firework show with JD, David and Rachel. We ran into so many old friends who we had not seen in SO long! By far the best surprise all night was seeing Adam Woody, his wife and new son... definitely blast from the past :)



Thursday- JD, Rachel and I slept in and then had some fun in the sun. We went to visit our friend PD and her kids Keyona and Jaylon. I could not get over how much they had grown since the last time I saw them in September (Key was my flowergirl in the wedding). We then went down to Mimi and Potts' house to swim, just like old times!
That evening JR, JD, David, Jessica, Brittany , Jamie, Rachel and I all went to eat dinner. We then went back to the Riddle's house for some ping pong and hot tub action. It was really fun to catch up and relax with friends.



Friday- JR and I spent the day with dad on the new jetskis!! We had so much fun racing, circling and tubing. Unfortunately there are no pics b/c i was scared I would ruin my camera, but you can only imagine the fun we had :) However, check out this beautiful shot taken off my dad's porch of the sunset that night. How awesome is that?!?!

Saturday- Mom's birthday! The whole family went to celebrate at Aubrey's and then mom, mimi and the kids went to see a movie. Notice that Cici got a gift from Lindsey's monograms :)




Sunday- The weekend ended with church, lunch at Cracker Barrel and the boys playing golf together. Dad and JR teamed up against the youngsters, but fell one stroke short of the victory. Best of luck to Mason this Tuesday and Wednesday as he competes in the 18 and under state competition. I sure do love these guys :)

Auntie Lindsey

We got the news last night that I get to officially be "Auntie Lindsey." JR's brother JC and his wife Leeann are expecting their first child in March. We are so excited to have a baby Isham coming our way... I love being an aunt that gets to spoil my little babies :)

These are also two new little ones that I will claim as being their Auntie. This is Jonas Kade and Nolan Kole. They are the precious new twin boys that my friend Mandy (Smith) Raymond just had last week. Mandy was a dear friend of mine in middle school and high school, and our families were always spending summer days on the lake together. Her and her husband Chris got married in December '05 and needless to say now their lives will never be the same. I am looking forward to visiting the new little ones when I go home to visit Tennessee next week.

Are you kidding me?

I saw this ridiculous guy on TV the other night and just had to take a moment to vent. "Adam the DreamHealer" is a 19 year old from Canada who claims special healing powers. I decided to watch it to see what this guy was claiming and how ABC dealt with it.

Adam’s story begins around the age of 15, where he claimed he began to experience telekinetic events such as pencils flying into his hands, although apparently no one but Adam actually witnessed these events. More importantly, it is claimed he cured his Mother of MS. That clearly convinced his family, and his parents now work full time on Adam’s business of lectures, tapes, books etc. (He couldn’t cure his sister’s acne though - “I wasn’t about to waste any energy on a little pimple”. Don’t bother this guy with trivial stuff.) But his fame grew after he cured musician Ronnie Hawkins of “inoperable pancreatic cancer”. He achieved this through a series of long distance treatments (ie he stared at a picture of Hawkins), over eight months, after which, Hawkins’ tumor had gone. Are you kidding me?

It showed him in action at one of his seminars. With infra-red cameras, we could see Adam supposedly manipulating the auras or “quantum holograms” as he calls them of the people in the room. His actions were compared to Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report, who moved images in this way. To me he looked more like a kid pretending to do some kind of Kung Fu or Jujitsu moves he’d seen on TV. I’m not surprised he wanted the lights out – I don’t think I’d want anyone to see me doing anything as daft as that either. Still, Adam claims to be able to see auras, detect what is wrong with a person and manipulate brainwaves with these techniques.

But the truly hilarious piece was the explanation of where Adam got all his scientific knowledge. If you didn’t see the program, I promise you that I did not make up what you are about to read. Asked how Adam is so sure what he does is real, he recounted how, when he was 16 he had a dream telling him to go to an island to meet a large black bird. Apparently this dream impressed his parents so much that the next day they went with him to the island named in the dream. (What understanding parents!) There, on what appeared to be acres of forest or wild land, Adam found (drum roll) – A BIRD. Amazing! What are the odds? It gets better. Adam’s parents were so impressed with this bird they took a picture of it

Don’t believe it? Don’t have to – here’s the picture they took of the bird to prove it:

I have to admit, it took me fully a couple of minutes after that before I could stop laughing enough to hear what followed.

Here is his website if you want to entertain yourself: DreamHealer web page.

Again, are you kidding me?

Trail Dog

Today JR will set out for his big hiking/camping adventure on the Appalachian trail. Dont worry he is not doing the whole thing hahah, just a part of it this time, I think 30 miles. He is going to the Smokey's to meet up with Richmond's dad, Steve, tonight and they will head out tomorrow morning for a 4 day adventure. JR has been thinking, dreaming and preparing for this trip for over a month now. He has always LOVED the outdoors and wanted to hike/camp whenever he could. Because of school he hasnt had a chance to do so and so now that he has a break for the summer he is taking advantage of it. He has bought all sorts of new "contraptions" (as I call them) for the new trip. The whole goal is to get your pack as light as possible and so his goal was 20 lbs, which I think he has made it to. New purchases: Extra light sleeping back, water boiler, hiking boots, extra light tent, extra light toothbrush, extra light shirts, extra light water bottles , okay I may be exaggerating but only a little!! :) But I think his favorite new purchase, a dehydrator. He has made enough beef jerky to last him about 3 weeks I think haha, and dried peaches, plums, strawberries, you name it! Every hiker, well serious hiker I guess I should say, has to have a trail name. Steve's is "Moonlight", and now he has given JR his own, "Trail Dog." Pretty funny huh? Well please keep JR in your prayers this weekend, that they will be safe, stay as dry as possible, and see lots of God's beautiful creation. Love you sweetie, Have fun!

Jackey's shower

Yesterday I helped throw a shower for a friend here at the seminary, Jackey Perry. She is due with her first baby, Miss Abigail, on July 23rd. We had a wonderful afternoon of fellowship with some very sweet women of the seminary circle. Jackey got lots of great goodies for Miss Abigail. Tara, Elizabeth and I did a basket of monograms.... I know I know, of course I had to use my machine for something :)

Watch out Tiger Woods

Mason competed in the Tennessee National Golf
Tournament and WON!!! As you can see from the score sheet Griffin shot a 75. Dad and I have given him the nickname of "Moose the Masher" and he is definitely proving himself in that name. I am one proud sister!!!
























Father and son also participated in the state "Father/Son" tournament and won 2nd place. What a team they make!!!! Yall make me so proud to be a Griffin :)

Special Visitors

We love it when we get visitors! This past Sunday and Monday my Mamaw Ann and Frank came to visit on their way back through to TN from New Jersey. They are master travelers who love to just back up their camper and start driving... who they end up no one ever knows :) JR and I were so grateful that they decided to make a pit stop and see us and our new home. We had a great visit and did a lot of sewing! Mamaw taught me to sew when I was a little girl. I used to love to watch her as she worked her magic and made beautiful creations. Now I have taken up her love for sewing and am grateful that she is here to teach me. We hemmed my very first pair of pants, sewed back on buttons AND a took up my bridesmaids dress (dont worry Jenn we did good!) It worked out perfect that she came through at this time because I needed this dress done before Jenn's wedding in August. Mamaw always has done my alterations for anything I ever needed, so I decided who better to learn from? I will have to say, after one minor boo boo (and you have to have boo boo's in sewing, esp when you are first learning hahah), it turned out very well! I love figuring out things that I can learn to do on my own and plan to do everything on my own from here on out. Of course Mamaw is only a phone call away if i need her thank goodness!!! Thanks Mamaw and Frank for stopping by... we love to have you anytime :)

Myrtle Beach here we come

It has been 6 years since this picture was taken of JD, Jessica and I... this was from our high school senior trip hahha. We went to Panama City Beach with a big group of our fellow '01 graduates and made a lot of memories while having a blast doing it. This next weekend we will be able to update this picture because we are headed back to the beach together again! I am so so so excited (of course)!!! They decided to come and visit me in my new home since they are both teachers and off for the summer. I couldnt think of anything better to do than to make the extra 3 hour drive on down to the beach while they were here... so hotels.com + a few hundred bucks = a much anticipated and waited reunion trip to the beach with the Girsh from Rockvegas :) (Great pictures to follow our return!)