VA BEACH

Enjoyed some moments with Mama & Daddy, Brian & his boys.  Also Sheri surprised me with birthday flowers and we celebrated Jasmine who also had an April birthday!

Jasmine...6yrs old!

Braelynn, Sheri, Jasmine & Benjamin (Jessie had to work)

Sheri reading her birthday card

Special "twin" dolls

Precious!

Love her excitement!

Benjamin starting Braelynn early on video games!

SWEET TIME IN NC

Seafood Feast to celebrate Gennis' B-Day!

Adorable Maeve!

"Chuckbaby" loves his Maeve!!

We had a great visit with Chuck and his crew on our way to see Mama & Daddy.  Great times...good memories!!

Dinner @ Andrew & Gennis'

Sweet Lauren & Chuck

Love this guy!

TV was on...but Maeve was our entertainment!

Adorable family

Not complete without the Grandma's!!

Sweet Lauren surprised me with a HUGE bucket of my ultimate favorite...NC Bar B Q!!!

ANCESTRY

Steven and I took a couple weeks vacation and headed to Va. to see Mama & Daddy.  However, we had a little detour off I-95 at Selma, NC, which is the birthplace of my Daddy.  We got a call from Daddy's cousin, Harvey Edwards, (known to family as "Tink") and he asked if we would stop in for a quick hello as we passed by on our way.  He was very considerate of our eleven hour driving day and did not want to detain us long, so we met at Wendy's for a frosty and chatted for a short while.  I had not seen him since 1985...a long time.  He and his sister, Bonnie filled us in on Dad's remaining cousins there in Selma and he even sent some pictures with me to give to Daddy, so thoughtful.  It is amazing to look at the picture below and see my great-grand parents and my granddad (far left) that died when my Daddy was only eight.  Good to look into the eyes of my past, even if only in a picture.  Thanks Tink!

PURE SWEETNESS

A couple of weeks ago I did some Granny duty with B&B and A&A.  The girls were tired and as I rocked they gave up and fell fast asleep in my arms.  Heaven to a Granny, for sure!  After a few minutes, I noticed that Alayna had reached over and was holding on to Arianna's hand.  Awwww, pure sweetness!

BIRTHDAY TREATS!

April is my birthday month and also Ellen's!  She & Lee came to visit us in Lake City for the weekend of her's and we had such a great time, ate out several times, hung out, worshipped together...all great memories.  However, I lost my brain and did not take any pictures!  Only snapped a quick one of Steven & Lee playing pool in our clubhouse.  Oh well, thankful the camera of my heart will remember our fun weekend despite of my major mess-up!

Then two weeks later I had some special treats on my birthday.  I was blessed to celebrate it while were on our vacation with Mama & Daddy.  Seemed appropriate since that is how it all began!

Birthday Pedi...fancy toes!

New necklace...
My niece (by marriage) Gennis Edwards has started a jewelry business!   You can find her on Etsy...her shop is SaltyMaeJewelry.   Check it out!  

APRIL...

We continue to enjoy life in sunny Florida (most days) and really enjoying the mild weather knowing that our humid summer is coming!  Many blessings being with our Gateway Church Family and so thankful that God brought us here.

Family blessings also abound...

Sweet Bubba

Steven's favorite part of Sunday AM!

Family at the Talent Show

Liz & Cael sang & he played guitar

Great evening

Sibling Love

So proud of these two...so talented!

Scrumptious!

Both Liz & Taylor got their braces off this month!!!  Beautiful smiles on beautiful girls!!!

GLORIOUS EASTER!!!

What a wonderful Easter Sunday we had at Gateway!!   Our "Sonrise" service was a great start with 100 in attendance and God held off the rain as we listened to the Resurrection story from Steven and watched the dawn break in the eastern sky.

Then we joined several other of our new brothers & sisters in Christ for a delicious breakfast at Deb & Jim's house.  We have been so blessed by so many sweet new friends.

Our morning was also blessed at our Worship time with 328 in attendance, plus 12 in the nursery!  The music was great, the message was so inspiring and the fellowship was awesome.  We had a couple join Gateway and a young man was saved.  So exciting!  The icing on our cake was that Clayton, Erica, Braddock, Beckham, Arianna & Alayna joined us for worship.  Then we enjoyed lunch together and they visited with us in our new RV park in the afternoon!

So eternally grateful to our Lord & Savior for His sacrifice that ensures our abundant & eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son.  That whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life."  John 3:16