Great Year for Visiting Family!

Hello All!
This has been a busy and exciting year! We have been blessed that we have been able to visit our family in North Carolina a record number of times this year, compared to past years. We have had many wonderful family events to attend and have enjoyed every minute of our time together.

Our first visit was in March when we went down to celebrate my husband's 30th birthday! That Saturday Neville ran his first 5K race (since high school). My family is really big into running. My brother JM and his amazing wife, RM, have been running for years, since high school as well. My stepmom-CM, brother-DM (aka Bear), sister-WM, stepsister-RS, and her fiance' J (who has been a family member for 12 years :) have all taken up a love for running as well andB all competed in the race also. My son JD, Little D, and I all jog/walked the 1 mile fun run afterwards. The super cool thing was that almost everyone in our family who ran the 5k won the race in their age class!! Isn't that amazing? It was a lot of fun and a big opportunity for Nev to rediscover his passion for running. Thank You to CM and RS for encouraging him to return to the sport he so loves:)

So our first visit included a wonderful birthday party for Nev. And I have to say how very much I appreciate my parents and family for truly loving my husband just as one of their own children from day ONE. They warmly accepted him into our family and lavished their love on him without hesitation, and it has made me feel so loved by them. It has really brought us closer. My parents are the greatest in-laws and grandparents ever.

Our second visit was for CM's 50th birthday party which was the first week in June. That was a love-filled visit as well. We also did a 5k race that Saturday before the party, and attended the Quay festival downtown. We had a lot of fun. On Sunday we got to go and visit my brother JM and RM's new house. They are officially first time home owners!! It is so exciting:) The house was gorgeous and incredible. So cozy and homey, so full of color and personality. So perfect for them. The backyard was large and had a myriad of wonderful organic fruit and vegetables in the garden, as well as flowers and huge trees! It was like a dream! We got to stay all day and really talk, which was a perfect day for me. I LOVE my brother. He is probably my favorite person in this world. (In addition to my husband and son) And he could not have married a more delightful, beautiful, intelligent, passionate, brilliant, focused, loving, amazing young woman. RM is also one of my favorite people, and a woman whom I aspire to be like in my life. They also took us out to lunch at this delicious restaurant called The Flying Biscuit. If you have a chance to go there, DO!! It was incredible! Thanks R&J!

My son JD was so overjoyed to get to spend time with his uncle DM that he was torn up when they had to leave. It broke my heart to see his face with streaming tears and quivering lip. It was so sad, and also a testament to how much he loves DM.

By the way, my son's name is JDS. He carries the namesake of three of my family members. He is named after my brother, who is also JD, and named after my father, D, and also after my brother, D (aka Bear). I know it is confusing, but bear with us. That is why I always have to post the relationship before the name ie: brother JM or son JD so people know who I am referring to, LOL!

Trip number 3 was the weekend of July 4th. My stepsister RS married her soul mate and my decade long brother-in-law in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. I WILL someday own property there!! It is like no other place I have ever been. They got married in this tiny little church in Valle Crucis, NC. A town so small there are no hotels. CM and Dad treated us to a room in a Bed and Breakfast which was the nicest and most perfect little place I have ever stayed. I don't know if I can ever be happy at a hotel again, the B&B was so quaint and lovely, the surroundings were so gorgeous and green. Nature all around us, we fell asleep at night with the windows open, listening to the babbling brook nearby. Windows open in July you ask? Yes!! It was 20 degrees cooler up there, it was a slice of heaven! Imagine laying in bed listening to the babbling brook, and chirping crickets, watching fireflies outside the window, and the breeze rustling the leaves on the trees. The window sheers billowing in the breeze. Waking up refreshed after a good nights sleep and heading downstairs for a 5 star gourmet breakfast of the most delicious food you have ever tasted! Wow. The owners were some of the nicest people I have ever met. JD had been carsick on the drive up the mountain, and we had quite a mess to clean up when we got there. I was afraid it would be a big problem, but Tessa jumped right in to help, whipped him up some Sprite to settle his stomach, let us use her hose and laundry...she was amazing. The day we left Bernard took out his firefighters uniform and let JD try on the hat and coat. He was thrilled, to say the least! I can't wait to see them again, and hope we can go back and visit once a year!! I don't even have words to describe the experience. One of the MOST fun family times we have had.

The wedding was incredible. It was the epitome of JB and RS. It was so unique and had so many details that I had never seen before. Everything from the custom yet simple dress RS had custom made (with pockets, smile) to JB's seersucker suit, to the way RS had her hair braided in a circle around her head. They had the reception in this amazing little Apple Barn with wooden cathedral ceilings, and ribbon strung around the edges of the room, where people brought their favorite pictures of R&J throughout their lives and hung them up around the room. They were both so full of love and emotion, I have never seen a young man so in touch with his feelings, and so willing to weep freely. It was beautiful. My dad played a song on guitar for their first dance (at their request, which was SO nice) and also sang for them (which no one in our family has EVER heard him sing before, no not even along with the radio). My dad was incredible which was no surprise because he is a phenomenal blues guitarist and composer. As we all watched the newly married couple dance together, gazing into each other's eyes, hands wrapped around locks of hair, whispering affirmations into ears, tears streaming, one could just FEEL the electric emotion radiating throughout the room. My dad even got choked up and emotional seeing them mouth along the words of the song they asked him to play and being so wrapped up in each other at that moment. It was stunning, awe inspiring. I was so sad that no one had been videotaping. That would have been the greatest wedding gift we could have given them. It was so simply perfect, I wished that I had chosen to have a wedding ceremony, the outpouring of love from everyone, and seeing the memory these 2 created...I can't imagine anything more perfect for 2 becoming 1 flesh.

My brother, father, JB, and several others made toasts and we were all overcome with uproarious laughter (is that even a word?). It was too much fun. They had the most incredible photographer and I cannot wait to see pics. They even went over the the river and waterfall to take pictures. Remember that babbling brook we could hear from our B&B...yep, that's the one!
So we had overwhelming emotions all the way from one spectrum to the very polar opposite, it was exhausting. Thank God for my brother J&R for being there to lend me a shoulder and a loving smile. They were my saving grace.

So after all the wedding fun, we headed of to Morganton to visit my best best bestest friend SR, and her beautiful daughter VR with whom we celebrated her 4th birthday!! We spent 2 whole days laughing and playing, splashing in the water, jumping on the trampoline, watching tom and jerry...and after kid bedtime, having long girl talks and staying up all night. Pondering our long term health, and watching Crazy Sexy Cancer (GO watch it!) and discussing the benefits of a raw food diet. I love my girl! We also watched Taken with Nev and loved it as well. We cooked vegetarian food together, prayed together, just shared time loving one another:) SR always insists that we take her bed, and goes out of her way to take great care of us!

After our visit ended we took VR with us to see her grandma near our destination a few hours away. We spent the night with my parents in their uber comfortable "lovers suite" in the basement. They have THE most comfortable king size bed in there. I have never had such a hard time waking up, and that says a lot considering I have a hard time getting up every single day, lol!

We talked some more, and CM loved on me and encouraged me, which was so comforting and appreciated. I will never refuse a positive affirmation or loving gesture! The boys (Bear and my JD) slept in Bear's room in a tent! They had a ton of fun; Bear is such a great uncle. He and WM both do a wonderful job taking care of, spending time with, and entertaining my sweet JD. He told me before we left, this house is my favorite place! Awww I so wish we lived closer.

Though I am torn, because I so want to live on the same street at my best friend CL and her sweet homeschooled boys, EL and RL. CL, ML, & their boys are some of the yummiest and most extraordinary people I know, and some of my favorite people! I need to see their faces and hug them in my arms very soon. I mean, not a want, this a NEED people!! 8 years apart is TOO long! These people are like my family!

The next morning we packed up the car and brought my sister WM with us to visit our Papa at his beach house in OBX, Nags Head, Outer Banks. It is so fantastic there. Sand, surf, family, what more could you ask for? My aunt J, uncle M, cousin K, and nephew K were all there as well. We had a blast. My Papa really went above and beyond, out of his way to show us a great time. He cooked his world famous meatballs and Italian sausage for us, his incredible oriental chicken, yummo!! We even had a crab pickin! He took us out to eat at this great little place called Blue Moon! I didn't get quite as much one on one sister time with WM as I had hoped for, but it was a great trip. We LOVE the beach and went everyday! The water was really rough though, so we had to be super careful. But it was a lot of fun. Nev and M, JaM and the girls went jet skiing, and loved it. And JaM (who is a swim instructor and teacher) taught JD to be comfortable with water in his face and actually put his face in the water and blow bubbles!! I have been trying to do that for 6 years! She was incredible, and it was so unbelievable to see JD feel so comfortable doing it. She has some fantastic skills!

On Sunday we said our goodbyes, and made the 6 and a half hour trek home.
I was getting increasingly sick and found out Tuesday I had pneumonia, which was a drag. But after some antibiotics and breathing treatments, now the fluid is mostly gone and I am feeling much better.

It has been an exciting and fun filled month of July, and year of 2009 to be honest. We will be seeing the family again for my cousin MM and her fiance Jer's wedding in October. We will be staying at a house rented by my parents near the beach, since her wedding is in VA. But it'll be too cold to go in the water :) I am looking forward to seeing everyone again. We have a lot of fun together. I am so happy my family has come kinda full circle and found a place where we can all relate to one another, love each other, and get along so well. It is a HUGE blessing from God. If I had just one wish, I would wish my mother, Stephanie, could be here to enjoy it with us. I love you mom. We miss you, and carry you with us everywhere we go in spirit.
I hope you all are having a great fun filled summer as well!
MUCH LOVE and MANY BLESSINGS to you ALL!!
Jen