Tornado in the ATL

One of my carpool buddies forwarded this picture to me. There was a tornado here in Atlanta on Friday night, Mar 14. This was taken from a balcony in mid-town Atlanta during a lighting strike. The Westin, Peachtree is right in the middle of the photo and received a lot of damage. It is pretty wild to ride through down town and see a lot of the windows blown out of several buildings. Isn't it random?

So Long Schoonbees

We had a fantastic Easter weekend in Piedmont visiting Darryl's family. And the best surprise was that Terese, Johan, and Neels joined us for one night before departing for South Africa. My nephew, Neels, is adorable and CRAWLING. He is beautiful. The South African Schoonbees are going to be very blessed to watch him grow up over the next few months. There were many fishing expeditions, an Easter Egg hunt, bar-b-que, fish fry, several Martin competitions, the Easter Bunny, and a fond farewell to the Schoonbees. We laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed. What fun. We also had the opportunity to hear Allyson sing in church on Sunday. It was wonderful and a great reminder that....The Lord has risen....The Lord has risen indeed.

An Easter Turkey

We were in Piedmont, Alabama for the weekend visiting Darryl's parents and family. Turkey season is open. So, Darryl got me up early on Saturday morning and we set out to hunt us up a turkey. I was in charge of the turkey decoy. It is a very important job. You must keep the decoy covered in camo so as not to tip off the turkeys? Ok. Well, we walked for about an hour and a half trying to scare us up a turkey. We used an owl call and a turkey call. We never were able to get a turkey response...gobble, gobble, gobble. No turkey sightings. However, we did call up an owl and it was really cool to see it turn it's head all the way around to have a look at us. We enjoyed a beautiful morning but no turkeys this trip. Maybe next time.

Favorite Things

This is us playing in the yard on Sunday afternoon. It was beautiful. Ryan's new monster truck papaw Brown gave him for his Birthday has been all over the house, yard, and up/down the street. What a happy face. Chase's favorite thing on the "Martin Clubhouse" is the slide and his favorite person is daddy. Isn't he the sweetest boy you've ever seen? He is a daddy's boy right now. What/who are some of your favorite things? These are a few of my favorite things ... Willi's burritos (Ryan comes by it honest), carpooling (saved me 30 min and gas$ this AM), and 4 day work weeks (yipee).

WW II

Word Up. Bet you thought this post was going to be about a recent battle between Ryan and Chase. Nope, actually I went to see a great movie Friday night. I cannot get past mentioning that it cost me TEN BUCKS to go to the movies. You have got to be kidding me. Do you know what I can do with ten bucks? At the Last Chance Thrift Store I could get 2 pairs of pants and 2 shirts. At a garage sale I could get bookoos to stuff. It is all pretty random how I ended up at this movie, not as random that I was going to the movies, but I am very thankful. We had 2 of Ryan's classmates and their families over for dinner Friday night. Talk about some wild 3 year olds. They were so excited. When Elena arrived Ryan ran out into the driveway wanting to give her a hug (again, ladies man). And Evan is his Auburn buddy. They were singing the fight song together before dinner was over. After dinner I had pre-arranged (aka warned the guys) that the girls would be going to the movies. Brilliant idea!! Random, because this movie was the only one playing at 8:00, when we wanted to go. Anyway, back to the movie itself. "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is set in London during World War II and it is just charming. Reminiscent of an old Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, or Audrey Hepburn movie. Miss Pettigrew's life is transformed. In one day she experiences luxuries and things like never before. It has a great message about materialism and the honesty or realness of people. I loved it. Totally worth the $10 bucks. I am also thankful that the tornado did not hit my house while I was engrossed in another erra.So the question of the day is....if you could "live for a day" (aka you are limitless, financially and otherwise), what would you do? And would you REALLY want to make it a permanent lifestyle trading in your current one? Word up.

Have you seen God today?

Okay, everyone knows what a George Strait fan I am; that goes without saying. …but really, have you heard his new song? I cannot believe it! It is AWESOME! I was driving in Crimson, my Honda, a week or so ago and all of sudden an announcement of a new George Strait song coming on. Immediately my ears were on point. And, I am telling you, after the first verse I was crying and I am generally not a weepy type person over songs and movies. But wow, what a moving song. He's genius! Best song ever I think. (I am still debating it over.) Anyway, if you haven't heard it, you got to. The title is "I saw God today". It is the highest single debut of George Strait's illustrious career. This brand new song debuted at #19 on the R&R and Billboard radio charts around Valentines Day. Royce Risser, Sr. VP of National Promotion at Universal Music Group commented on the single's immediate success, 'At this point, I don't know how you call any single from George a 'Career Record' but I have heard more unsolicited praise for this song than any since I have been at the label. I have said this before, but we will never witness another artist like this in our lifetime...simply amazing.'

Here are some of the lyrics...

I’ve been to church; I’ve read the book; I know he’s here, but I don’t look near as often as I should. Yeah, I know I should. His fingerprints are everywhere. I’d just slow down to stop and stare opened my eyes and man I swearI saw God today.

The song is an incredible reminder to stop being to busy to notice God. He's there, the big Man upstairs. George says His footprints are all around. Have you taken time to notice Him? Please post comments of the small or big ways you have seen God lately. I can't wait to hear what you have to say. I am ashamed to say that I don't have a story of my own this week (I've been to busy), but I am bound and determined to experience one. Word up, George.

ps I especially like the verse about the baby girl in tiny pink socks....oh, Darryl.

Chase Is ONE!

March 10, 2007, Chase's one year Birthday. Chase, Ryan, and I started the day at Dunkin Donuts. (Ryan and I also had dunkin donuts on his first Birthday.) What a hoot. Chase sat in my lap and loved the munchins. They were the perfect size for him to cram into his little mouth. Ryan said over and over "momma, I love these donuts." It was a real treat for all of us. Ms. Elaine and Ms. Carolyn sang Happy Birthday to Chase all day at school and treated him to bananas for snack (his fav). We ordered his favorite meal for dinner, pizza, and I had made a cake. His favorite toy is a wooden clown, sent to him by Jane Anne. So, I tried to build a cake that looked like the clown and put the clown on top. I think he liked it. His reaction to the cake was just as I suspected. He dug into it with his hands and chowed down for a few minutes. Blue icing everywhere. Eventually he grew frustrated and shook his hands trying to get the icing off, and blue icing really went everywhere. For his first Birthday, Chase got a Birthday Thomas of his very own, a Thomas book, and some bath toys. He was thrilled with his very own Thomas. Ryan learned a very important lesson about how only the Birthday boy get presents...ha. Here are a few photos.

Make special note of the picture with lovey in his mouth. Lately, lovey goes everywhere with Chase and is usually carried in his mouth as seen here, so as not to slow him down or prevent him from getting into things he ought not to.