Currently camping out in the basement...

Because a LARGE tree fell down near our house and snapped the power lines, so I'm writing this on Molly's phone! It sounded like the Fourth of July, and it's darker than Lindsay Lohan's first day in rehab down here. But come back on Wednesday for a real update... hopefully!

home for thanksgiving!

I had such a wonderful time at home these past few days!  It was the first Thanksgiving I can remember in a LONG time that we didn't actually have Thanksgiving dinner with anyone outside our immediate family.  It was different, but it was still fun!  Leanna and I got to have coffee with Katie, one of my best friends from high school, and we also got to visit Granddaddy in Burlington on Friday.  But we definitely didn't miss out on Black Friday... Burlington's shopping has exploded in the past few years, and we cleaned up!  We even bought matching coats, which may mark one of the few times we've voluntarily bought the same item of clothing.  But it's okay since we live 200 miles apart!

We also watched a TON of football (Carolina beat Duke, thank goodness!), and I capped off the weekend with a visit from Amanda... only 21 days until her wedding!

I'm sad that it's Monday and I actually have to work a full week, but we've officially decorated our house for Christmas, so stay tuned for those pictures!  Here are some from this past week.

Trying to move Reba and Dottie away from the turkey would have probably required heavy machinery.

Another amazing Thanksgiving meal thanks to Mom!

Leanna and I let Dottie get a lot closer to the table than Mom would like...

Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers from Publix!  (All my GA, SC, and FL friends will understand, but for those of you who don't, watch the video!)

These lights were hanging on a bridge near Granddaddy's house in Burlington.  Love them!  I seriously made Leanna drive by them four times so I could get pictures.  Best sister ever.

Just pretend the "L" isn't missing.  (Sometimes the "L"s don't come when they're supposed to come, right Dad?)  :)

Granddaddy has this pond right behind his house, and the neighborhood always does such a beautiful job decorating it!  The candy canes look kind of funny during the day because the tops are just bent pipes attached to tree trunks, but they look good at night!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving!

To get you in a festive mood, here's Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song from the '90s!

This year, I'm particularly thankful for my new job and new big adventure in DC, and I hope y'all have had fun following along on my blog!  But of course, I'm always thankful for my amazing family and the wonderful friendships with which God has deeply blessed me.  I hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'll see you back here on Monday!

Know that the LORD is God.  

   It is he who made us, and we are his; 

   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

   

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

   and his courts with praise;

   give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100:3-5

leanna's senior day!

Despite the tough week my family had, Saturday was definitely a day of celebration, because it was Leanna's last Carolina home game!  Even though we lost to NC State (who, I'll admit, I wasn't upset with because they needed the win to get to the ACC Championship), Leanna was honored at halftime with the rest of the seniors in the marching band, and we got to go out to a celebratory dinner as a family afterward.  I'm so, so proud of her for all she's done in her four years at Carolina, and I'm really glad to have her join me as an old fogey in May!

Getting ready to play for the fans on Franklin Street...

Mom and me at the Davie Poplar tree...

They say if you kiss on this bench, you'll get married, but I think my parents took care of that one a while ago...

Back at the Old Well!

Leanna headed up for her last pre-game meal!

Pre-game show!

There's Leanna's face on the Jumbotron during halftime... so exciting!

I'm pretty sure I looked like a dork in this visor, but the sun was SO bright!

Dad had to wear Carolina blue to get the half price tickets from the band, but no one told him what to wear underneath or who to pull for...

I guess things went his way!  But that's ok, I think the bigger victory was Leanna's!  Love you, sissy!

Grandmama's photo boards

Though this past week has been a really, really difficult one for my family, the services that were held for Grandmama were very much celebrations of her life and reflections upon the great love and faith she had in Jesus Christ, and my mom and my aunt were dead on when they said she had every single fruit of the spirit.  She really did!  It was tough to let her go, but I remembered these words from a poem shared at my dad's mother's funeral, and they brought me such comfort:

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die.

-Mary E. Frye

How wonderful it is to remember that we serve a living God who does not allow those who follow Him to perish!

For Grandmama's memorial service at First Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC, Mom had the brilliant idea of having photo boards placed in the atrium to give all her friends, particularly those who hadn't seen her in a while, a chance to see all she had done and loved during her life.  So, I got right on it, and everyone loved them!  So, here's your chance to enjoy a few pictures of my grandmother, who, by testament of that full chapel, is loved very, very much.

(You may want to click on the pictures so you can see each individual picture on the board easier).

The older picture on the bottom row is Grandmama and her two older brothers.  They loved doting on their little sister!

Grandmama holding me shortly after I was born.

Grandmama (second from left) and some of her high school friends.  She always loved being with her girlfriends and adored her Chi Omega sorority sisters!

This picture was actually meant to be an advertisement for Burlington Industries' family life.  Both Mom and Granddaddy worked for them for several years.  Can you tell which one Mom is?

What about in this one?

(She's the older daughter in case you needed help!)  Grandmama loved her children, grandchildren, and great grandchild more than just about anything in the entire world!

These pictures of my grandparents are the ones they sent each other while they were still students at the University of North Carolina and the University of South Carolina.  Grandmama looks like a movie star!

This is my absolute favorite.  I believe she was about 11 years old in this picture, but that curly hair and those crystal blue eyes are just beautiful!

Special thanks to Dad, who followed me all around A.C. Moore as I gathered supplies, and to Bekah, who drove me to more craft stores, painted the Chi Omega letters, and helped attach the photo corners!  I could never thank you enough for being there for my family and me despite your crazy schedule. 

I had never seen most of these pictures before, so you can imagine that most people hadn't seen them, either!  It warmed my heart that they loved looking at them so much, but what I loved more was that they all got a chance to remember Grandmama in her best days, of which she had so many. 

We are all so very blessed to have known her.

Jeanne Sargent Phillips, July 29, 1926 - November 15, 2010

Last night marked the beginning of a difficult time for my family.  Around 11:00 PM, my mom called to tell me that her mother and my grandmother, Jeanne Phillips, passed away.  Though my family had a bit of time to prepare for this possibility, it doesn't make coping with it any easier, and we are drawing heavily on the strength of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ right now.

Grandmama had been suffering with dementia for the past few years, and until now, it had so impaired her brain function that she really was a shell of herself.  But Grandmama was as strong a believer as they come, and, in a way, it is a comfort to my family that she passed away peacefully to be with her Savior.  In fact, among the few things her memory never let go were the words to old church hymns she had sung since she was little, and I know she's just singing them at the top of her lungs now.

While she and Granddaddy were staying with us in Raleigh last fall, she got so much joy out of being with Dottie and Reba, and it never took more than two seconds after she sat down for both of them to appear on either side of her!  She also loved gardening with my mom, which is something they both have enjoyed for quite some time.

She was so happy to be reunited with Granddaddy after his surgery last fall, and since we all decided her wedding rings should be stored away for safe keeping, he gave her some gorgeous stand-ins to wear after they were together again.  I think she thought he was proposing for the second time!

This picture just gets me every time!

I was truly, truly blessed to have been able to spend as much time with her as I did last fall, and it is further testament to God's perfect timing that we were able to bring Granddaddy up to DC to tour all the monuments last weekend.

I could not have asked for a more loving, generous, caring, and sweet grandmother than she.  She was always up for playing with Cabbage Patch dolls and singing "Easter Parade" with me in her living room.  She made the most addicting spaghetti and lasagna, and her chocolate chocolate chip cake is legend both in and outside our family.  I will miss her so, so much, but I am so glad she's home.

I'll be flying home to North Carolina tonight and will probably take a break from my blog until next week in order to be with my family.  We know this will be a time of sadness, but it will also be a time of great worship, and we are already so grateful for all the prayers we have received.

"When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.'

'Where, O Death, is your victory?

Where, O Death, is your sting?'

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

- 1 Corinthians 15:54-57