Late Summer Vacation, Part 1

One of the perks of Ryan becoming an ordained minister last year is that he now receives 4 weeks of vacation a year. Other staff members highly suggested that we take 2 of those weeks together to be able to truly unwind, so we followed their advice (thanks, Laniers!) the end of August. It was wonderful!

We spent the first week near Atlanta, staying with Ryan's mom, Gail (aka Nana). While we were there, we acted a bit like tourists by visiting some local attractions. We also were able to reconnect with some of our old friends (although it still wasn't quite enough time to see everyone we would have liked to, so if you live there & I didn't see you--boo! hopefully next time!).

First, we visited the Aquarium, which I would highly recommend to anyone with kids! I had visited there a few times as a teacher, but never as a parent. The joy on their faces was priceless (although the dolphin show was a little scary for them-too many flashing lights & loud noises)!

Not sure what they're looking at,
 but at least they're both seated & smiling!

In awe of the whale-shark

Loved seeing the special exhibit on frogs

Levi preferred to walk the museum himself
(with Nana's help, of course)

We also visited Zoo Atlanta. I had not been there is years, and again, it was fun to go this time as a parent. There were some fun animals that the boys had never seen before, their favorite being the pandas!

Making animal noises while looking at the giraffes with Poppy

Levi's favorite animal

Cheering on the tortoise.

It seemed to motivate him...

My little birdies

Uncanny resemblance

Slightly frightening :)

Front row seat to watch the Panda eat his lunch.

Such a beautiful creature!

And last, but certainly not least, we were able to have a family reunion with some of Ryan's family.  We were honored that some of them drove down from South Carolina & over from Augusta to visit us while we were in town. It was a great week!

Cousins & their kids

The parents responsible for all those folks in the picture above-
my mother-in law, Gail, and Aunt Nancy & Uncle Bill

Brother Love

Ever since Levi started walking the beginning of June, a whole new world of play has opened up for him & Evan. It's been a blast watching the two of them having fun playing together (& a mother's dream come true, because now they actually entertain each other!). I love that they love each other so much, & I hope this brotherly love continues to grow throughout the years.

Here are some of the snapshots I've been able to capture (you'll notice some blurriness; sometimes they're just too fast!).

My Construction Workers (notice the blankies they take with them to the job site!) 

There's something about a guitar case that cries out to be sat in! 

Look how still they are for story time with Daddy!

\

And just a few minutes later...

Wrestling time-their favorite time of the day!

A Month of Firsts

The past month of June was a busy one for us with Ryan being out of town for 3 of the 4 weeks with church related activities (the summer is a busy time for youth pastors!). It was also a busy time b/c there were a lot of firsts for us.

Levi started walking, I mean running, everywhere!

The first broken bone in my family (boo!), Mom broke her wrist while visiting us.

The boys & I got to attend one of those weeks away with Ryan to Louisville, KY for our denomination's annual gathering (called General Assembly or GA). It was our first of many in the future I'm sure! Then we stayed in KY for a few extra days to visit my aunt, uncle, cousins, & second cousins in Lexington. It was the first time that the kids had met each other (there were six kids ages 3 & under...crazy, fun times!).

My papaw got to meet Levi for the first time!

It was a whirlwind month, but oh so fun! But I have to say, it is nice to be home as a family again :)!

The Best Donuts in the World: A Dean Family Tradition

Ryan's culinary world (at least the breakfast part of it) was rocked awhile back when he discovered a local doughnut shop, Monroe's Donuts, that just might make the world's best donuts. Now, you have to understand that it is a BIG DEAL for this Krispy Kreme-loving man to admit he might have found a doughnut that tops his original fave (I mean, his groom's cake was a tower of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, people!).

Gotta love that logo :).

Monroe's is kinda off the beaten path, but ever so often (can't do this weekly b/c the sugar might kill us all!), Ryan & Evan will head out on Saturday morning to buy us a dozen of these delectable, melt in your mouth glazed donuts. Part of the tradition is that Evan gets to go in his pjs, and Mr. Monroe always greets him with a free doughnut. As you can see from the picture, Evan sometimes dresses to the nines for the occasion :).

Dressed & ready to go!

Those of you who are local Jacksonians, check out Monroe's sometime soon. I promise you, you will not be disappointed! For those of you out of towners, if you come visit us, we'll make a special trip to get some just for you :).

What Could've Been a Scary Day

I am not an overly dramatic person, in fact, I'm usually quite the opposite, generally pretty even-keel. Now, if you know me really well, you know this is by far not always the case. Seemingly little things stress me out like losing my phone, forgetting my coupons when I go to the grocery store--yes, trivial things often get the best of me. On the other hand, I tend to be calm in what others might consider high stress situations: fender bender, speeding tickets (yes, I admit it), managing special events, responding to tragedies, etc. What tends to happen in these situations is that I am calm in the moment, emotions in check, and able to take care of what needs to be done. The stress/reality usually hits me a bit later.

Tonight I am feeling the stress of what happened (or rather didn't happen) to me & the boys earlier today.

This morning was a beautiful one, so when Levi woke from his morning nap, I decided to take both boys on a walk to our local library, which is literally two blocks away. We had never walked there before, we usually drive, but it was a nice walk on the sidewalk of Northside Drive, a busy 4 lane road in the city of Jackson. Our visit at the library was pleasant, too. When I left I thought to myself how I'm really starting to feel as if I'm a part of this community because I saw & visited with three people who are my neighbors & that I know from our church. We returned home and had lunch at about 12:30.

I didn't know until a few hours later that at around 2:00 that afternoon, a man had been shot and killed, in broad daylight, right in front of the library.

Ryan had received an email about the situation & at first was a little panicked that it might have been one of the two young men I had seen at the library, Scott or Kenyel, both of which have been in our youth group & are really like family to us. Thankfully, he was able to contact them relatively quickly to make sure they were okay.

The identity of the man is still unknown at this point, and when I first heard about this, I wasn't too shook up. This evening is a little different. I have tucked my boys into bed & am praising God that today didn't go differently: that we are all safe & that we didn't have to witness it. But I'm also saddened that someone needlessly lost their life today.

You know, most of the time I honestly feel really safe here, we live on a quiet street, we have a monitored alarm system, but the truth is, living & working in urban ministry isn't always safe. But you know what? That's okay. I know that God has called us to live & to serve here. He is sovereign, & I completely trust Him with our lives.

Thanks for letting me share my story. I needed to get it off my chest, but at the same time, I wanted to praise my Father for His provisions for my family.

The Journey of a Dining Room Makeover

Our dining room has been a work in progress that is now pretty much complete (minus some artwork I want to create to hang in there, I mean, are we ever really finished with a room?!). When we first moved in, this is what the room looked like with our stuff in it:

Not terrible, just dark & boring...kinda blah!

Well, the first thing I wanted to do was lighten up the space by redoing the chairs. Our dining room table & chairs were a yard sale find before we moved to Jackson. Ryan did a great job of refinishing the table, but the chairs were really a little too beat up to be worth the effort of refinishing them. However, the beat-up look was perfect for the distressed look I wanted to accomplish! Plus, the more beat up they get, the better they look-perfect for a household of boys & dog!

So here's the chairs before & after:

I found the fabric in the remnants pile at a local home fabric store & fell in love. Obviously a white background is not kid or dog friendly, so I decided to cover the fabric with vinyl I purchased at Hobby Lobby. Granted, it's probably not the coolest thing to do (I know, a little reminiscent of Grandma's vinyl covered sofas from the 70's), but every time I wipe down the chairs after a meal of spaghetti, I inwardly give myself a pat on the back for being willing to go there with the vinyl.

The next step was to find a green for the walls. This was not an easy task. In our former house in Georgia, one of our bedrooms was yellow and the kitchen was green. I was unsuccessful in choosing the right shade of yellow & green the first time around for both of those rooms. Beware! Greens & Yellow are tricky! It seems they always appear much brighter on the wall than on the sample! To make matters worse, when we painted the nursery in our house here in Jackson a soft green, I also chose the wrong shade the first time. So, you can imagine my paranoia about choosing the correct color for the dining room after three previous failed attempts to choose the right shade. Plus, it's one of the first rooms you see when you open the front door. Oh the pressure!!

So, that history explains why 7 samples later, our wall looked like this:

See what I mean? Greens can look so different! Believe it or not, all of these shades seem to coordinate with the fabric on the chairs. So maybe it seems like a lot of trouble to buy that many samples, but it was worth it to me because I felt completely confident about my choice. I LOVE the final result!

So, here's the after shot:

One of my favorite additions to the room is the floor to ceiling curtains I found at Ikea during our trip to Atlanta over the holidays. They were $24.99 for a pair! What a deal! A great trick to make a room seem taller is to hang the curtains just under the molding (thanks Nate Berkus for that tip!).
All in all, I am very pleased with the outcome!

Construction Complete!

For the past year of our lives, we have had a front row seat to the major reconstruction of Redeemer's sanctuary & educational wing (seeing as we live behind the church). It's been exciting to watch (and hear), and Evan now thinks that any construction he sees around town is for a new church. I often hear him call out from the backseat, "Look, Mommy, they're building a new church over there." A typical PK response I suppose...

This is the demolition a year ago of part of the educational wing.

We have been worshiping in our new sanctuary for a little over a month now. Our old sanctuary seated about 350, and now we seat about 650, but since we have over 700 each week, we still need two services to accommodate everyone (hallelujah, not a bad problem to have!). It's very exciting to witness all that God is doing through Redeemer in our community. Can't wait to see what else He has in store!

This is our newly expanded sanctuary during our dedication service!

Also, I couldn't blog about our new sanctuary without including a link to the song "Son of Man" that Ryan & Redeemer's choir performed at our dedication service (I posted this on FB last month). It was a special time of worship for everyone there. If you have a free moment, be sure to check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksoEHo5ozE0&list=UUPbTgAzzqZ2HSOfURVEAXzQ&index=1&feature=plcp