Casual Fridays

Another Friday, another casual post. And how about making this one a Photo-Prompted Post since it's been a couple weeks and lots of stuff has been going on, ok? Good. 

First up: the Major. I feel like I haven't put up as many pictures of him as I have of the Colonel because he always just looks like a big black shadow whenever I try to snap a photo. But he's just the sweetest most lovable puppy in the world. He's every bit as big as Colonel now, and I think he's still got some growing left to do yet. He'd eat everything (including my ChapStick--remember when Colonel did that? what is it with puppies and ChapStick?!) and then keep going if we'd let him. He's the best. You should meet him.

This was back from St. Patrick's Day a.k.a (and more importantly) Danette's birthday! We surprised her with a little party at Manny's, and y'all, you've never seen true joy if you haven't seen this chick being surprised by her two nieces coming all the way from Tallahassee a day early and showing up at her school. I only saw a video of it myself, but it was too. good. Think green mullet and two cute blondes. Anyway, I love these ladies and I love this picture. iPhones for the win, amiright?!

Thought you were going to make it out of here without a photo collage or two? Think again. Collages are a game changer for our Photo-Prompted Posts in a fabulous way. Instead of posting 11 individual pictures for a specific event: voila! Collage it and now maybe you'll actually make it to the end of this post without quitting or hating me. Anyway, this is Gatorland! We took our Guard girls there on March 19th, and yes, those are real gators, you guys. And they were everywhere. This was actually my very first visit to Gatorland, and I can't believe I've never been before. Even though we got rained on, the girls had a fabulous time, and I have to admit, I want to go back and try out their (apparently) world-famous zipline. Cody thinks I'm totally crazy 'cause ain't no way brother's gonna' be suspended by a string over a multitude of hungry gators. But I'm down to try it. As long as I'm not suspended over any snakes which, as you can see if you look to the bottom right of our collage, ain't got nothin' on Miss Mary. Those same guys tried to put two gigantic, hairy, disgusting tarantulas on me (and no, I'm not kidding), but they picked the wrong girl for that trick. I was back to my seat in about 6 seconds flat and they got some willing sucker to hold those nasty things. #notthiswhitegirl  #notever

Y'all. Apparently, Colonel is just as big of an Austen fan as I am. I had been lying (laying?) on the floor reading with Colonel nearby (like he always is), and I got up to get a tissue because allergies, and when I turn around, this is what I see. I can't even. How sweet is he?!

Speaking of allergies, it rained a whole bunch last week, and I haven't been suffering very much at all anymore. All the praise hands! And the weather this week has been perfect. Cool in the mornings and evenings and sunny with a breeze during the day. It's what I like to call Be Out In It Weather and believe me, I have. I've pretty much just been coming in to sleep. #floridagirlforeverrrr

Umm...the most recent bag of carrots I bought has been a little funky. As in: every handful I've grabbed has included 2 or 3 of these mutant, siamese carrots. Should I be concerned? 

So I've instituted a monthly Girls Movie Night at my house, and I can always count on these two to stay till they have to wake me up and tell me they're leaving. It's been so fun, and I hope we can keep it up because every girl needs girl time, and really, how am I ever supposed to break in to the twenty-first century without girlfriends to teach me how to snapchat?

Am I doing it right?

This past weekend was Living Proof Live in Miami. I've been looking forward to this since they posted the schedule for this year, and I bought my early-bird ticket about as soon as they went on sale. Up till just a couple weeks ago, I thought I'd be going all by my lonesome, but I finally convinced this girl that she needed to come with me, and I'm so glad she did. I can honestly echo the same words I used last year when I told you about Living Proof Live in Tampa: it was a powerful, Spirit-filled weekend of edification and worship. This time around, Ms. Beth brought us some lessons from the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 and challenged us to pray for GIANT DEFIANT faith. I'm so thankful for special pockets of focused time geared specifically toward worshipping our Mighty God, and I'm also thankful for sweet sisters in Christ, especially Amy. The recap video for this particular event can be found here, and did you notice our little secret Siesta photo? There were only 6 of us this year! We each got to hug Ms. Beth's sweet neck and chat with her for a couple minutes. How fun! #becausecheese #insidejoke #1samuel17:18

Because can you get enough of my dogs? I can't. This is a new favorite picture of them. Since our new house is almost completely carpeted, they love to lie (lay?) on the little square of tiles at the front door or in one of the bathrooms to keep cool while we're all just relaxing inside, but I caught them like this on the linoleum in the kitchen the other night. I think this picture might give me diabetes it's just so stinkin' sweet. 

Have you had just about enough yet? We're almost done, I promise.

Speaking of precious sisters in Christ, one of mine just handed my husband and me an envelope on Sunday completely out of the blue, and inside was my new favorite thing. An American flag ChapStick keychain. Which I can only assume she made. And it even had a brand new tube of lip balm in it. Y'all. Remember how excited I was when I found this one? It doesn't even compare to this new one, mostly because it wasn't made especially for me by such a thoughtful, praying lady. Thank you, Miss Rhonda! I absolutely love it!

I started a new Bible study this week, and I'm really excited about the study and the group of women I'll be studying alongside of. This is the first Bible study I've ever done by Jennifer Rothschild, and she is just as sweet as sugar. I can tell I'm going to love it. The very first day of homework already had me crying some tender tears. What a blessing to have God's Word in my own two hands and to see His unfailing love for His own on every page! Hallelujah!

Alright. Last one. Just me and my boys soaking up that gorgeous Florida sunshine this week. Lookin' a hot mess per usual. If you made it all the way down to this, I congratulate you. Tell me what's going on with you! And if you can figure out how to leave your own photo in the comments, all the better. Have a fantastic weekend!