Grayson at Samford Homecoming

Me and the G-man hit Samford Homecoming last weekend for some football fun! Before the game, I gave Grayson the "nickel" tour of all my old stomping grounds around campus. We immediately hit the bookstore for Grayson to purchase a Samford shirt and cap. He was so pumped that they carried the Under Armor brand! Then we cruised by the food court (one of my favorite places back in the day) for Icees. We walked around the Quad and listened to a band play in front of the Student Services building. Vail (my freshman dorm) was just up the hill so I convinced Grayson to go up there so I could show him my old window and where I used to park. He was really anxious to get to the game at this point!

While we were waiting for them to open the football stadium gates, we peaked in the awesome Divinity School Chapel. It is incredible with a painted ceiling and very ornate furnishings. I made Grayson stand at the pulpit because I know that Poppa prays that he is a Pastor one day! As I took this photo, I told him that one day he may preach from this pulpit! We shall see...

Grayson's 3rd grade teacher at Brook Hill, Mrs. Alexander, has a son, Wes, that plays football for the Bulldogs. She was excited to have Grayson at the game and even brought a jersey of Wes's for Grayson to try on.

The highlight of Grayson's day came after the game when he got to meet Wes in person and have him sign his cap. I wish everyone (especially his mom and dad) could have seen Grayson's face when Wes gave him his actual game gloves. It was so precious! Pure joy! Wes was so kind to Grayson and wrote the Bible reference for Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Trick or Treat!

We had a busy but fun-filled Halloween night around the Albright home! Our morning was slow because Ava's last football/cheerleader game was called due to the rain. Let me tell you- we needed it! I feel like we have been rushing so much lately and I needed some "down" time. Our church's fall festival was from 2 to 4 and the kids always love that.

After we had done all our damage there, we headed to the Bloom's house in Mt. Brook. Their neighborhood has a parade with the kids for two blocks and then everyone enjoys a hot dog supper in the street. Martin and Kathy had some Boston Butt sandwiches and grilled shrimp for us. It was so yummy and they were such kind hosts for us. The kids loved passing out candy at their house!

Running over to Lake Cyrus was the next item on our busy night agenda. Thomas and Laurie hosted us and some other friends for the trailer ride around the neighborhood to load up on more candy. Griffin and Ava loved the stopping and running up to the doors with their friends!

Ava's first concert

Well, we did it. Ava went to her very first "rock" concert last weekend. Although I regret the content of the show, Ava was oblivious to any questionable material and loved it. Miley Cyrus is definitely NOT Hannah Montana during the concert! Anyway, she had a great time with her friend, Victoria. Here are some photos:

World Vision

I have been thinking alot lately about how blessed we are to live in the house we have, drive the cars we drive, and send our kids to the school of our choice. I wonder about the children who would benefit from our leftovers after dinner and would give anything to wear that outfit that Ava rejects as being "baby-ish".

The Lord has really been prompting me to give until it hurts to someone else. As I was driving to work last week, I listened to Rick and Bubba talk about World Vision and how to sponser a child so they may have food, clothes, medicine and a chance at a decent education. A light went off in my head! This is just the charity for our family! So I came home, logged on and signed up :)

I chose two children from Honduras, William and Yesy. William is a boy and was born on December 27, 2006- the same day as Griffin! Yesy is a girl and was born on March 7, 2003- the same day as Ava! What a providential God we serve that our family will be able to assist two children the same age and developmental stage as our biological children.

Ava and Griffin have really enjoyed talking about what we are doing to help William and Yesy and have remembered them in their prayers every night. Griffin says that William is his best friend! He also pronounces Yesy as "Wesy". Ava is very curious about where they live and what they do during the day. It has been a great teaching opportunity for her.

I want to encourage you to open your hearts and your wallets to charitable organizations. If you have the time to get out there and volunteer, do! It will feed your soul in ways you could never imagine...

New Camera :)

So those of you who know me well know that I love to take pictures! I have loved cameras since my very first experience with a 30 pound Polaroid. I feel like I have kept up with the trends in cameras going from 'roid to film to digital until recently when I began noticing that friends with no camera skill what-so-ever had awesome photos. I nosed around and found the missing ingredient to my photo perfection: SLR!

After many months of research and ratting away money, I have purchased a Nikon D5000! I am so excited but I have no idea how to work it. My lighting is not great and I don't know what all the knobs are for but I guess I can watch a you-tube about it!

Here are some of my first shots:

Pumpkin Patch 2009

This year we had a full day of activity with the Tinneys and Joneses as our annual Pumpkin Patch Day! Everyone was kind enough to come down to Birmingham to see our little cheerleader-in-residence, Ava, cheer for her Upward football game. She loved seeing all of her cousins watching her cheer!

After the game, we headed for a quick lunch at Chick-fil-A and then off to the farmers market here in Birmingham on Finley Avenue. Dad wanted to sell pumpkins at Lakeside this year so he found a place to get them wholesale at the farmers market.

After he got loaded up, we headed to Hayden Corner, Alabama, to the Grand Old Pumpkin Patch. It was a little smaller than we are used to and the drive was not great but I liked not having an admission charge. You just pay for the activities you want to do. Of course, our kiddos wanted to do EVERYTHING!

We did the bouncy jumps, the wagon ride with pumpkins and sunflowers, the pony rides (Griffin's 1st!), the petting zoo and sampled some little "treats" along the way. Since Poppa had just purchased wholesale pumpkins, we just looted his truck to get our pumkin fix.

The best part for me and Chris was that Grammy and Poppa took our two little ones home to Roanoke so we could go to the Alan Jackson concert that night!

Bro. Ron's sermon on Joseph

This Sunday the sermon at our home church of Meadow Brook Baptist was made for me! We have been doing a series on Joseph. We are following him from childhood to death in small steps. I included a short excerpt of Bro. Ron's sermon from our church website: http://www.meadowbrookbaptist.org/. I think that we can all find ourselves in this fascinating story of the Bible.
Here we discover an essential and simple truth, which is this: There is no ideal place to serve God except the place in which He has set you down. There is no ideal job for you to hold, no ideal neighborhood in which to live, and no ideal church to join.
There are good jobs, good neighborhoods, and good churches, but no ideal ones. People who search for the ideal circumstances forget that the ideal and the perfect are reserved for heaven! They launch forth on a journey destined to end in disappointment.
Joseph’s life, at this point, was far from ideal. He may have been tempted to run away, give up, or become angry. But here we discover him making the most of his situation.
Responding to similar circumstances makes us want to run. We say to ourselves, If only I could get away for a while, maybe a weekend at the cabin or a few days at the beach.
Refreshment and a vacation may be of temporary help, but we can’t flee from ourselves. I don’t know about you, but my biggest problem is not my circumstances. My biggest problem is me!
Maybe we think, I never bargained for this. I never imagined being trapped in this mess. No, we probably didn’t. But God has chosen to set us down in this environment. Even in circumstances like those that surrounded Joseph, we can trace God’s hand.
It is immediately apparent that Joseph was under the protecting hand of God.

I hope that I can remember that God has set me down in Birmingham, Alabama, as a Mother, Wife, Counselor, Daughter, Sister and Friend! Where are you "set down" and what are you going to do with the time you have?