JSL - Mother of Pearl Fundraiser

The Junior Service League I am apart of had its second annual Mother of Pearl Brunch and Service Auction on Saturday. I was on the Décor Committee and also helped serve the brunch. It turned out to be a big success and hopefully it will be for years to come.

The guests enjoyed bidding on various service related items that League members donated. Some items they bid on were a salsa canning party, a birthday party planning package, fajita dinner catering for 20, family photo package, a month of sweet treats, and four seasons of wreaths. We also had five items we raffled off as door prizes, and mine was chosen as one them- I made pallet bookshelves. For the grand prize, we raffled off a Pandora pearl ring- sorry mom and Dar, we didn't win :( .

Other than bidding and eating, the attendees also listened to our guest speaker, a professor at SHSU, who also was a previous League member. She spoke about the impact the League has with its various service projects, and also how mothers and wives who give back are most influential in getting their families to do so as well.

My pallet bookshelves :) 

Photobooth

I Just Love This...

While Brad was in Cabo, I recorded this to send to him, because he always says their prayers with them before bed. This way, he didn't have to miss out.

Storm/Tornado News Articles

http://m.itemonline.com/news/storm-does-some-damage/article_f767adf6-e5f3-11e4-9890-b724eda68cc8.html?mode=jqm

https://m.facebook.com/page/mediaset.php?id=187682704613367&album=pb.187682704613367.-2207520000.1429565396.

Tornado Aftermath Photos

This is the orchard. The fence is down and so is one large apple tree, which was knocked down by an oak just outside of the orchard.

This is a tree that fell from over by our mailbox. It was inches from the suburban.

Fence between our house and neighbor's house

The shop came out unscathed, but it was a close call.

The tree that damaged the back porch roof

We had a lot of fun times on that trampoline :/

The dog kennels are behind this tree. It did some damage.

Tornado Video Footage

Tornado struck our little neighborhood around 5:45 p.m. Thursday night. Brad hadn't even been in Cabo a full day when he got the news. Around 5 o'clock, I got an alert on my phone that we were under a tornado warning. I rounded up the boys and went inside not thinking much of it. I flipped on the t.v. and it said a storm capable of producing a tornado was on the north side of Huntsville and headed East at 15 mph. I played it safe and sat in the closet with the boys until about 5:30, when the warning expired and I thought the storm had passed. Not long after, I heard a LOUD gush of wind and the power was out. I knew it wasn't good. My heart was racing. I immediately grabbed the boys and took off for the bath tub.

Braylon was asking "why are the lights out?", and "why is the wind so loud?" My mind then went to Rollie, as I thought he was headed back to Huntsville, and to the dogs. I was panicking. I stuck my head out the back door and called for the dogs, only Gus came. Poor Hoss had to fend for himself as I already see a tree through our backporch roof.  The boys played in the bathtub unaware of the danger around us. Once it all passed, we went outside, found Hoss, surveyed the damage, and found Suzy and Tommy there to rescue us. Brad had called Suzy as I was texting him throughout the whole thing. Suzy's side of town only got a bunch of rain. We spent the night at their house and returned home the next day around 1p.m. when the power was back on and the roads were cleared. Again, I walked around surveying the damage and got a little emotional as to how lucky we were. So many trees were down and if one or two had fallen this way or that way, our whole home could have been destroyed. Thankfully, God protected us, our home, our animals, and all of our friendly neighbors.

Sister's First Baby Shower

Last weekend (seems like it has been longer), we threw Bonnie a baby shower in Rockwall. We prayed for good weather, as it was planned for outside, and the good Lord answered!  It was such a beautiful day with friends and family to celebrate baby Harper Grace and her fabulous momma. I can't wait for her debut, especially since she has a better wardrobe than I do! :) 

Easter

This Easter we didn't have any place to go since Braylon had a baseball game on Saturday. The boys enjoyed plenty of Easter festivities though. They had two Easter parties, one at school and one at a friend's house. Then on Good Friday we celebrated with a yummy meal and stories from the Bible. We discussed the true meaning of Good Friday and Easter. Braylon really understands more about Jesus now so it is pretty neat to have those discussions with him.

Saturday morning we were at the ball field and that night Braylon and I went to the Walker County Fair and Rodeo(Wyatt stayed home with Brad). Sunday we went to church and celebrated with baskets from the Easter Bunny, a delicious dinner of ribs, homemade potato salad, baked beans, and bunny cake. It was a wonderful, blessed celebration of our Lord and Savior.