Swing Batta Batter....Swing Batter

Our church has several softball teams.  We have two men's teams- one for the young fresh out of highschool guys and one for the older men that take it very seriously.  We also have a Jack and Jill team. Cullen has played on all of the teams in the past years not all in the same season, but really enjoys the Jack and Jill for the team spirit.  This year I decided I'd try it out.  I am not athletic.  I will never be and I'm kinda okay with it.  But I love to try...

This is Ms. Tammy and she leads the dugout cheers...note that is most likely where I'm best...in the dugout, but I did get a hit the first time I was at bat.  Note this was the first time I had been at bat since I was 5...hitting off a tee.  I was so shocked that I hit, I didn't care about getting on base.  

Cullen tried to coach me from 3rd base...he said choke up on the bat...apparently I went the other way...he just shook his head...and then...remembered he didn't marry me for my ability to play sports or any type..  Thank the Lord I have my hit on video to prove it really did happen.

25 again

So you guessed it July brought hot days that lasted seemingly forever and seemed to fly by in a way as well as my work day drew closer and closer.  I have never before worked on my birthday.  My mom being the over achiever she is made sure that I had a cake to share with the women at my internship.  It was the perfect size and was enjoyed Friday at work.  

 For my family gathering she made me the cake above...this she called...."So you want to be a principal?"  Better known as Edvard Munch's the Scream.  I loved it and was completely blown away by her rendition of his work.

 Cullen and I left after work on Friday and headed to Pickwick with our Sunday School Class and when I got there they had cupcakes waiting for me.  It was a sugar filled weekend.

 Did anyone else have to take pictures like this with your cakes when you were little...since my mom made most of my cakes this was the standard cake pose growing up...I know I perfected it by age 6.

Uncle Wayne decided to get his apron I have been holding hostage since Thanksgiving back he would need to get me one of my own...It was an Apron Exchange...but I will one day get that apron back...It just wears so well...I really want it back--much like I would like my early 20's back.

St. Thomas

The week Cullen and I spent in St. Thomas was an awesome time.  Cullen flew out on Saturday morning with the rest of the group and after our respective weddings Brother Ken and I flew out Sunday morning.  We left Pontotoc about 3 and made it to St. Thomas about 3 that afternoon.  We met Pastor Turnbull at the airport and then headed to the church which is also where we stayed.  I went to meet with the group at Magen's Bay.

After we left the beach we came to the church, showered and got ready for Sunday night church.  That particular night they were recognizing their graduates and they also recognized our seniors and teachers. We sang all their songs along with the National Anthem, the Virgin Islands National Anthem, and the Black National Anthem.

On Monday our group headed to St. John for our touristy day out and about.  This is our group right off the ferry, before the hike in the National Park, before the hike to the beach, before we were exhausted.

On our hike down the Cinnamon Bay Trail to the beach we were able to see the British Virgin Islands.

We also stopped to take a lot of group shots.

Our main goal there was not to enjoy the beaches...that was a highlight.  Our goal was to share about Jesus and we did each and every nights.  We averaged about 60 kids each night.  The kids were from a lot of different churches and they sat in Bible Study groups led by our team before they broke into age groups for basketball camp.  Of our group 16 kids were saved.  It was awesome and inspiring and life changing and all those things and more.

The following picture shows just what we dealt with all week.  J.T. was my group leader partner.  This picture displays the total exhaustion we felt after a week of no air conditioning day and night.  We were so excited to be at the beach the last morning....it was what saved us from our sweating sleep and refreshed us just before our flight home.  What this is a real picture of is J.T. acting like a beached whale.  Yeah he wanted to know what it was like to be beached, then he flopped and floundered until is wife drug him back off the shore...Yep, that was our entertainment.

This was the final shot of the beach I got.  It was beautiful and wonderful and made us all stop and think...that the God that created this tropical locale is the God that created Pontotoc.  The God that touched the lives of those sweet faced boys and girls in St. Thomas is the same God we know and love.

How great is the love the Father lavishes upon us, that we should be called children of the Lord.  And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us, is because it did not know Him.  1 John 1:3

Polka Dots, Pig Tails, and the Color Pink

 Ellie and my brother came to visit for the wedding.  She was only here a little while, but she was precious while she was here.  She is completely obsessed with the movie The Princess and the Frog.  She loves loves loves our cat, Pollyanna.  She can recite the Pledge of Allegiance. She calls Cullen, Bubba and me Fifi.  She has a bit of a temper, and she knows what she likes...when she was here that was Polka Dots, Pig Tails, and the color Pink.

She also loves Merilese and the feeling is mutual.  Merilese is a great babysitter, too.

Foof's Wedding Weekend

Foof- is he nickname that everyone called my little cousin Anna from the time she was born.  To think she is a married woman now, just makes me feel old.

The weekend started off Friday morning with a Bridesmaids' Brunch at my house.  It was given by my mom and my aunt, but they needed a space so my house was it.  

 The bridesmaids 

 Wedding ready- aunt of the bride- cousin of the bride

 My in laws came to see the nuptials

 Aunt B-me-Ellie-Mom

 Favorite Cousin

 Mother of the Bride- Uncle to the Bride

 This is Broc is he not the cutest- he is Anna's little brother and was in my classroom two years ago.  Absolutely the sweetest kid.

Off they go...

The wedding was super sweet and a little long considering I was standing in 5 inch heels...what was I thinking?

The reception was awesome.  My cousin, Rayanne-Foof's mom, loves to decorate!  I knew the weekend was going to be filled with lots of work before hand.  Rayanne is best when she is operating a crew of people.  She can delegate with the best of them and in true form...she made sure everyone worked to make it all beautiful.  The reception had a mashed potato bar, bbq sliders, ice shot glasses filled with shrimp skewers and cocktail sauce, fruits, dips, veggies, and everything you can imagine....I might have had too much to eat...once or twice.

Anna's Pottery Shower

My little cousin, Anna, got married July 9th.  At the end of June, once I was out of school, my mom and I hosted a shower for her.  It was a super hot Sunday afternoon and lovely ladies filled my home.  Anna got some great gift that have helped to fill her first house.  Now she and Andrew won't have to share the same bowl when they eat cereal.

PC Banquet

I have been meaning to put these pics on the blog for about forever...but as you know my summer slowly slipped away and here they are now- almost three weeks later.  To close out the summer session of classes the PC has a banquet.  This is a great time for the cohort to get together a final time.  Building principals, superintendents, and past cohort members come together to hear where the latest grads have gotten jobs, and for the new hires to also get their signing bonuses....this my friends is a big deal.  You walk in as a recent grad and you walk out $10,000.00 richer.   Oh yeah at this point in the night Cullen perked up.  Sadly the checks had not made it in the mail at the time of the dinner so they were hand delivered the next week.  Hopefully next year I'll post a pic with the me and my check.

In the next few days Cullen and I are going on a trip.  I have been praying for his trip for sometime.  Long before Cullen and I knew each other I prayed I would marry a man that would love serving the Lord, a man who loved church like I do, and would step out of his comfort zone to serve.  While it is extremely comfortable for me to talk to anyone and natural for me to go and do, Cullen is not so comfortable doing all this.  This spring he was invited on a mission trip with our church.  Not just any trip, but one that was specially picked by our pastor, with a team that had been prayed about, one that I was not invited to go on.  It was an athletic, mission trip.  I'm not athletic.
On Tuesday they conference called with the church and found there was a need in the youth for non athletic ministry...you know other stuff...arts...crafts...
Arts and crafts are right up my alley...I can craft with the best of them..and Wednesday Brother Ken called Cullen to see if I could go.
I had plans- for Destin and Britney Spears and New Orleans with my best friend.  We had planned for one of our family unit to go...we budgeted for Cullen...
This trip I had prayed about, and sulked about not going, and worried about Cullen flying without me...I had come to a peace about.
God had other plans.  He is working His plan.
Cullen will spend the night in Memphis tonight and fly out tomorrow morning at 5:30 to St. Thomas with the team.
Through the generosity of Cullen's precious parents I will be flying out Sunday morning with Brother Ken, we both have weddings tomorrow and couldn't leave with the team.
Please pray for safe travel to and from our destination.
Pray for the 75 children we will serve.
Pray for health for our team.
Pray that God will use the humble hands of our team to help further the Kingdom.