Thankful For Redemption

At the Charleston market!

I know it's after Christmas but I have to share about our Thanksgiving holiday in Charleston, SC before I forget! My gracious grandmother and grandfather live in Charleston and for the past four years or so we've decided to gather as a family in their honor since they can no longer travel as easily. They're so precious to me! It was such a special visit for Blake and I because it was the first family gathering since we've moved to Florida! We have had plenty of visitors thankfully but you know, large family events are just special! We rented a beautiful beach home on Folly Beach that had four stories and an elevator! Ha! The men LOVED that. My sister from Hawaii and her boyfriend Falcon came too which was amazing!! We had cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, grandparents, parents, nieces, nephews, you name it! We certainly missed our sister Jill and her husband Kevin but they are expecting a bouncing baby boy any day now!

Before you see a million pictures I just have tell about the stories of redemption in our family! God is so good! After all, isn't that what we see in the Old Testament time after time? Redemption. Titus 2:14 says, "...who gave himself for us, in order that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds." I'm just amazed at how God has brought so much peace and healing to relationships in our family. My grandparents' marriage has survived the darkness of alcoholism by the grace of God. They love and forgive each other with a bold love that has influenced us all. They pray for us daily and are some of the most encouraging and beautiful people I know! My mom and dad are both happily remarried by the grace of God. I love our friendship! We are able to gather as a family with peace, love, joy, and celebration of Christ our Lord! Of course there have been ups and downs, seasons of growth and pruning, seasons where "she isn't talking to so-in-so," but the overarching theme is grace and redemption! It's only by God's grace and mercies that we are able to still love and forgive each other! NOTHING we have done. I praise the Lord that we don't gather, stare at screens, and avoid the elephant in the room ready to leave town as soon as we can. We have true fellowship! We play games, we sing songs together, we pick on each other, pray together, we talk about life, we share details about how our marriages are really going, what recipes we love, and just genuinely treasure each other's company. It's just a joy to be around my family!! I'm thankful for each one of you and miss you dearly as we live so far away these days!

Blake and I have never flown with Jude before so it was definitely an interesting trip getting from FL to SC. We reached the airport thanks to our pastor and great friend and at that moment realized... we FORGOT THE STROLLER. It's just the MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember when bringing a walking toddler to an airport... especially the Atlanta airport where we'd have to make a quick connecting flight. Nightmare. However, we managed to carry our luggage, carry on bags, and Jude without losing any precious cargo. He did so well on the airplane on the way there and back. He wanted to play of course, so he was mister wiggle monster haha but he slept almost the whole trip. On the way home, he had a little ear infection so that was not fun but he slept well on the plane again!

We saw BUDDY THE ELF at the airpot. Haha! He was cracking us up!

We made it to Charleston!

Sleepin on the airplane

The views from our lovely beach home we stayed at

It was such a joy to see my little niece, Elise! She's so beautiful!

Isn't my sister Amy so beautiful!!?

My Mom, Jude, and Timmy! My mom and Michael picked us up from the airport! It was so good to see their faces!!

My heart about exploded when I saw Michael, Lea Ann, Jackson, Parker, and Mallory! We used to live only fifteen minutes from them and we have missed their little hugs and kisses, babysitting them, reading to them, oh everything!

My beautiful sister Lea Ann!

we were so excited to get out our jackets and coats... love these two!

He loved "getting" Mallory! Big boy!

making her delicious salad!

It was FEAST! My grandmother bought all this food, my sister Mary Beth made a salad, my brother in law and I made cookies and a cake, my aunt made some casseroles, another sister brought homemade rolls, oooh it was awesome! Honey Baked Ham... that's all I have to say. I can smell it all now!

So, since it was my beautiful grandmother's birthday, my brother in law Michael picked out this AMAZING red velvet white chocolate cheesecake recipe from Southern Living. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it because let me tell you, it was divine! So, we started the night before since cheesecake has to chill overnight.. it's temperamental, literally! The recipe called for disposable tin pans so you could easily get the crustless cheesecake out; the only ones they sold looked like a flower... oh well!

In case you've never frosted a red velvet cake, it's probably the most stressful and tedious baking task. Those little bits of red cake just get have their way of ruining the beautiful white icing. I sound crazy. You know what I mean? That's why in the store, they usually just sell red velvet cakes with red crumbles all over them. My theory anyways. My mom did an amazing job... she used to own a bakery so she knows the drill. Get as much water on the frosting as possible and it comes out sooo smoothe! PERFECTION.

My grandmother was in love! I think it's safe to say that she liked it! She's still talking about it. I love how cakes have their way of making a lasting impression.

Isn't she beautiful? My grandmother is just precious!

Gathering around to share what we're thankful for and sing some Thanksgiving songs!

Singing together as sisters. We missed Jill but she's about to have a baby boy! Yay!

Facetime with Jill and Kevin in St. Louis

The boys being silly! We were so excited to go out to eat on the town!

Poor little Jude was coming down with an ear infection at this point. Also, he fell down the stairs which was the worst moment of my life thus far! Our hearts skipped a beat! Poor little baby was ok and my sister the doctor came and checked him out.