Paige and Morgan lakesideWe had an absolutely wonderful Memorial Day weekend at Silver Lake. This has been a Memorial Day tradition for many years. Just a few years ago it was a big group of single college kids and it has progressed to a large group of young families with kids. I have to be honest I had several reservations (even more than last year when I was very pregnant and only had one child). I wasn’t sure how it would work and where everyone would sleep, etc. I wasn’t sure how the kids would nap, or if they would even nap at all. But everything worked out beautifully and it was such a refreshing and renewing weekend. It’s always such a blessing to be in the company of excellent friends. These people are genuine friends who mean so much to Justin and me. These are friends that we know we will be friends with for life. Even the ones we just see on Memorial Day. I look forward to seeing all these little children grow up together.
We had excellent weather and thanks to lots of SPF we had responsible tanners and everyone escaped without a trace of sunburn. Even the little fair skinned babies! Sunday was our busiest day, with a total of 24 people, 8 of which were children under age 5. We ate lots and lots of really good food, played lots of dock basketball, threw horseshoes, took several boat rides and canoe rides, fished, read, listened to music and just spent time catching up on each other’s lives. I’ll attach pictures from the weekend, but I will warn you there are lots and lots of them.
This is Reed Payne, she is the precious daughter of Brannon and Ann (Buster) Payne. She is 10 days older than Paige (10 months old). The Payne’s found out last week that she has a mild case of Cerebral Palsy. As you can imagine this is devastating to them. They have an amazing faith in Jesus and I know they trust Him to bring them through. Please keep them in your prayers as they seek second opinions of doctors and therapists in Birmingham. Pray that they will find comfort in their Heavenly Father and that through this He will strengthen their faith in Him.
On a much lighter note and one of no importance at all compared to that of what the Payne’s are facing… our old dog Jackson showed up at the lake this weekend. It’s been almost a year since we had him put down and somehow he survived and was in full force at the lake this weekend. For those of you who had the pleasure of knowing Jack you will be quite surprised at the resemblance between Jack and the mysterious cur that showed up as soon as we got to the lake.
Enjoy the pictures…. the girls are both at my feet and I have a hard time concentrating… imagine that!!
Erika McPherson
May 30, 2007 at 12:38 pmHey Sister,
Looked like a fun weekend, I’ll send pictures of our weekend in a minute. Please tell Brannon & Ann that I am praying for them and for Reed! Morgan is so sweet with her friend Judson, they are so cute together… love her halter swimsuit… she’s a doll. I can’t wait to see yall again!
XOXO
mommasissy
Abby Maddox
May 30, 2007 at 1:18 pmI am so jealous that we missed the weekend! It looks like yall had a great time. I personally didn’t take ONE picture our entire vacation and am miserably behind on blogging.
Darby Stickler
May 30, 2007 at 3:33 pmAbby, We missed y’all terribly! So glad I got to see you, Jeremiah and Pace on Friday! What a treat! Hope that y’all had fun in ATL we missed you! Love you, D
Gmama
May 30, 2007 at 4:18 pmGreat pictures. Thanks for sharing. Makes me miss them even more. Paiger is changing so fast and Morgan gets prettier. Did not think I would miss them so much. We will be praying for Reed. I know Jesus can heal her and that is how I will pray.
Love, Gmama
Matthew David and Amanda Christine
May 30, 2007 at 7:42 pmHey Darby, This might seem completely random, but wanted to say hello…someone told me about your blog recently so I logged on. The world of blogging is so fun! It looks like everything else in “your world” is fun, too! best wishes to you and your family. sincerely, amanda (ruble) wallace