Our Weekend in a Nut Shell....

I spend the majority of the week at home, alone with my precious Quixote. Although I do treasure the time I get to spend with her (because I'm definitely her favorite), I do miss the interaction with an actual human being that can carry a conversation! So when Friday afternoons roll around I get antsy for Todd's arrival. I'll usually text him around lunch time to convince him to get all his work done and leave early. Todd is very fortunate in the sense that he works for a wonderful company that doesn't mind him leaving early every Friday! So I've become accustomed to getting to see him before 5! During the week I'm happy if he is home by 7. Todd is commuting from Madison to Tallahassee, which usually takes him an hour and 15 minutes. It would sadden me deeply that Baby Boy has to drive 3 hours a day, if he didn't enjoy it so much!

So Friday Todd got home a little later than usual, which was fine because I was trying frantically to finish my previous post. After finishing the post and getting ready Todd, Julie, Zachary, Braxton and I headed out to Quitman to meet Brian at the Mexican restaurant. I'm sure the majority of you are unaware of what 'Quitman' is. Well, it's this small stereotypical country town, population 453, that happens to have a great Mexican restaurant in it. We had a fabulous dinner and I was able to get my Mexican fix for at least the next week. Here are some pictures to help you conceptualize what I mean by 'small town' living!

Courthouse and only stop light

Main Street

Saturday was such a blessed day for many reason. One, Todd and I laid in bed till probably close to 11. After getting the energy to leap from bed I got up and made us some cheesy grits and toast with homemade jelly. As if we hadn't already been lazy enough we spent the majority of the day on the couch watching western movies and HGTV. We had a special missionary singing group performing at our church at 6 so we eventually had to make it up and off the couch. I think it's always a great thing to have a lazy day and it was even more special because Todd was lazy with me, which is unheard of! The biggest blessing happened while we were at church Saturday night.

The night started off great with a fish fry. I'm not gonna lie eating scaly fish is not my idea of a good meal. However, I do enjoy the sides that go along with scaly fish! Cheese grits, coleslaw, french fries, baked beans, and the best part HUSH PUPPIES are what I did enjoy about the dinner! The reason for the fish fry was because we were hosting the Arc Missionary singers. The Arc singers are from the Ukraine and come to the US to gain support to provide for the millions of people struggling to survive in the Ukraine and Russia.

A little history - The Ukraine was once part of Russia, a communist country up until 1991, which is when the Ukraine split from Russia and became its own entity. When members of the Arc singers first started meeting to read and learn the Lord's Word they met in houses with fear of being prosecuted or even killed if caught. After Ukraine became their own republic they were then giving government money and land to build a church of worship. The church now has over 500 members and reaches out to millions in neighboring cities. Their singing Saturday night was so moving, there was such a happy, Godly presence in that room it was truly moving. In the midst of their singing they showed a slide show of pictures of their organizations and different missions they have done with money raised in the US and as the tears rolled down my face I realized how truly blessed I am. Do you know that if you have a roof over your head, food in your refrigerator, and clothes to wear you're in the top 5 % of the wealthiest people in the world? I'm not sure about y'all but I NEVER look at myself as in the top 5% wealthiest people, nor anywhere close to that. Most of the time I think of all the things I don't have that I want. Wish I could be like this person or that person because they seem to have everything (money, nice house, good clothes, fancy things... etc...) but in reality we should all be blessed to have the comfort of not having to worry about finding our next meal or a place to sleep at night or even clothes to put on our back. After sitting there watching the slide show Todd and I felt moved to do something, help out somehow, just anything. We decided to sponsor a little girl from the Ukraine named Snejanna. Here is a picture and little description that we got about our little girl!

Snejanna Nikitina

Snejanna lives in Donezk on the Eastern side of Ukraine

'Snejanna is raised by a single mother who is an orphan. Snejanna's father left the family when Snejanna's mother became pregnant. Family does not get any government benefits. They do not have their own place of living. They rent an old house together with their friend. When Snejanna was 1 year old she fell ill with pneumonia. Mother didn't have money for treatment. She took ill Snejanna and went to ask for money and treatment in the streets. Snejanna goes to school. She is a calm, obedient girl. Her mother lost her job because of the crisis now. It is hard for her to find another one since she does not have an education.'

That's the only description we got, but we do have the opportunity to write to her and learn more about her and hopefully some day we'll have the chance to go on a missionary trip to the Ukraine and meet our little Snejanna! We are excited God has led us to this precious girl and given us the possibility to help make her life a little easier.

Our Sunday's are pretty routine. We go to Sunday School and then Church. Since moving to Madison and having to leave our amazing church FCB that accommodated our every need it has been hard to find a church relatable. We've been going to Todd's family church Concord Baptist. On the average we probably have 35 people in service on Sunday's. So going from around 800 people in a service to 35 has taken some adjusting! We visited First Baptist of Valdosta a couple weeks ago and weren't very impressed so we've been at Concord since. Don't get me wrong Concord is a great church. After church we went to Todd's grandparents house for lunch. Todd's grandad is 93 and his grandmother is 84, so we cherish all the time we've been able to spend with them weekly. We spent the afternoon watching football on the couch together, we're going to be very sad after next Sunday because we won't be able to spend the weekend revolving around football games!

Since Todd and I don't get to spend much time together during the week we truly count down the days and hours till the weekend because we get to be with each other all day everyday! Until next weekend....