Big Update!

I am long past due for an update! May has been very busy (and great!) so there is a lot to report.

First, Laurel's Baby Shower!

The ladies in my Care Group threw me a wonderful baby shower on May 18. I was absolutely blown away by everyone's generosity and kindness, both by those who served to make the shower possible and to everyone who came and blessed us with many gifts. Here is a picture of all Laurel's things piled up in Will and my room!

I can't wait to decorate and set-up her room! I only have 12 more days of work, so I should have lots of time to devote to preparing for Laurel in only a couple weeks!!

Anne and Mary DeGennaro took a road trip to visit over the shower weekend! It was really special having them there and we had a wonderful time shopping, eating, talking, and spending time together. I don't have any of those pictures, because they are on Anne's camera. Hopefully she can e-mail them to me soon.

This past weekend Will and I had the opportunity to attend New Attitude. The conference was excellent and it was wonderful to get to spend so much time together. The messages were all about God's Word and it was encouraging to me to hear about prioritizing my bible reading and memorization because I know that it is going to become a lot more difficult in the months/years ahead! I highly recommend listening to the messages which are available at newattitude.com.

On the last night Will and I had a special meal together at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Notice our matching colors :-)

It was wonderful to see so many special friends! Bebbie and I got to eat breakfast together and catch up a little. We both agreed it wasn't nearly enough time!

I am still trying to recover from the business of the conference and catch up on my sleep, but it was completely worth the lack of sleep for so much fun and great teaching!

We have a lot more fun and exciting things coming to us in the next weeks and months. This weekend Mom and Dad are coming for visit, next weekend Will and I are going on a long awaited getaway together (!), and the week after that I finish work and we head off for the Connolly Family Beach Vacation. We sure are blessed!

This is becoming a long post, but there is one thing that was on my heart to clarify concerning this blog. I assume that it goes without saying, but just in case I think I aught to say it. I want to make sure that everyone who reads this blog understands that the things I choose to post about are not necessarily the most important things in my life and that the amount I might devote to a particular topic doesn't mean it is more important than another topic that I don't really discuss. For example, I have recently been posting more about pregnancy and baby Laurel that I post about Will and my relationship. I am very aware that Will is my primary human relationship and I really do cherish him far more then I could ever cherish anyone else. I love Laurel and I am very excited to welcome her into our family, but she will never have Will's place in my heart. I don't want anyone to think that I am more consumed with her just because I post about her more often. Another example is that I don't really discuss Will and my involvement in Cornerstone and my relationship with the Lord on this blog. I love to discuss what God is doing in my heart and what I am learning about him, but I don't consider this blog to be the place to do that. My primary purpose in writing is to update friends and family who don't live in Knoxville with pictures and short descriptions of my activities.

Sorry that I took so long writing about that! It was on my heart to make it clear and I hope I have succeeded!