the weekend, Murfreesboro edition

A few weeks ago, my friend Katie (who used to live next door) texted me and asked if we would consider coming to see them for her oldest boy's birthday.  I answered that a combination of us would come, but I wasn't sure who all it would be.  Well, that weekend was this weekend, and we left on Friday at two.

I do not know why my face appears to be larger than life, but whatever.  Alex in the background never smiles right.  I took fourteen of these until he somewhat obliged.  We stopped once, at a rest stop outside of Jackson, Tennessee, and at that point, I relinquished control of my car to my oldest son who was BEGGING me to drive.

We passed this on the way there.  It's about fifteen minutes from where they live.

This is Castle Gwynne.  An ordinary man and woman live there, and they open it to the public a couple times a year, one of which is in May for a Renaissance fair.  I told the boys we might go.

(You can see this from the interstate, but when we left on Saturday, we went to see it closer.)

We got to their house right around dinner time, so Travis and Graham left to get pizza for dinner.  The weather was amazing and they all just played basketball and explored the land past their backyard.

That's pretty much all we did was just stay there and visit.  On Saturday morning, Katie and I (and baby Ellie) went to the Christian Publishers Outlet and I bought a couple of books, a pen, and a little gift for a friend.  And later on, the boys all wanted to go to Bojangle's for lunch, so they went and we stayed back and had leftover pizza.  We left their house around three thirty to start the drive back home.

I made them all pose for my picture.

Sweet Katie and Ellie.  I love these friends so much and am so thankful to God for the gift of friends that are like family.  I really miss them living next door to us.  It used to be that all I had to do was cross the grass that separated our houses.

We stopped twice on the way back home, once for gas and dinner and at a rest area outside of Jackson again.  I was really creeped out by the rest stop.  We were the only people there and I thought later on that it would have been a better idea to stop at a well lit and full gas station.

Yesterday was church as always, but last night, we had an amazing night of praise and worship.

Todd texted me this picture of some of our youth and leaders worshiping.  It was an incredible night!  I am so thankful for our church family and our pastor and worship pastor and staff.  I love having nights like these.  My friend said that last night was like a balm to her soul, and that perfectly describes how I felt about it as well.  It was not a choir program, production or a concert.  It was truly a night of praise and worship, and while the choir and praise teams did lead, it was all singing to God and worshiping Him.

I love this picture and I loved seeing our youth up front near the stage and seeing them do this.  They were a blessing to US in the choir and on the stage.

I hope your weekend was great!  Love to all.