Happy 60th Anniversary!

Dedaddy and Memama (Russell's grandparents) will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary coming up in June. What an accomplishment and how bountifully the Lord has blessed them and He still continues. I am so thankful God allowed me to be a part of such a strong Christian family.

We had a little family celebration this past weekend at our church. I don't guess its really "little" when you consider there are 32 in their immediate family. Anyway, we had a great meal, lots of fellowship and watched two videos of the past years. Thanks to Mandi and Dave for all of their hard work on the newest one!

This is the whole crew! All 32 of them... Dedaddy, Memama, their 4 children, 9 grandchildren and spouses, and 7 great grandchildren. Uncle Pete and Aunt Shirley were also in this picture with us.
The Wiggins Crew... (Flemings, Reeves, and Orton)

Uncle Alan and Aunt Kathy with Dedaddy and Memama

Aunt Amy and her boys Dave (Mandi) and Chad (Sabrina)

Memama and Dedaddy's youngest daughter Jill and her family... John, Emily, Riley Ann and Jenny

Uncle Pete and Aunt Shirley (Helms) are some of their dear friends.

Happy 60th Anniversary Dedaddy and Memama. I love you both SO much!!

P.S. Russell and I were laughing the other day when we realized we'd have to live to be 89 to have a 60th anniversary... we're shooting for it though!!!

Our Girls...

Thank you Lord for letting me be a mother!!!

What an absolute blessing it is each and every day. Maggie Ruth (17 mo.)

Riley Grace (8)

My sweet girls!

Have you ever...

tried to get a picture of 7 children? I don't suggest it without some serious patience in tow! We had fun trying, but didn't have a lot of success!

All 7 grandkids posing in Heather's backyard. There was not a picture without hands flying, eyes closed, really funny smiles, etc.

Again, all 7...maybe a little better?
I did get several good ones of some of them by themselves. This is Jacob. He turned 2 in March.

If all else fails... give them suckers!!! Caroline, Jacob and Maggie Ruth enjoyed that part best!

Boogie Shoes

5,6,7,8...

I wanna' put on... my, my, my, my, my boogie shoes!

Riley Grace's dance recital was last night. The theme/name (I don't really know what you call it) was 5,6,7,8... She did such a good job. Man, she is WAY better at dancing than I ever was. She knew the dance and lots of the girls were watching her! I was always one of those girls that had to watch somebody the whole dance which meant I was usually a few beats behind everyone else. I know its had to tell which one is her because they all look a like but she's pretty much in the middle of the screen the whole time.

Extraordinary Women Conference

Last weekend some of the ladies and girls in our church traveled to Pensacola, FL (Olive Baptist Church) for an E-Women Conference (Extraordinary Women). We had some really cool speakers like Lisa Welchel (Blair from "The Facts of Life"), Shonda Pierce (Christian comedian), Karen Kingsbury (Christian fiction writer), Angela Thomas and several others. We also had some incredible entertainment. Charles Billingsly led most of the worship service music and he was SUPER, but we also had Mark Schultz, Mandesa (from the 5th season of American Idol- sorry, I didn't know who she was since I don't watch it), Micheal O'Brien (I think that was his name, I've sort of drawn a blank), and "The Children of the World." It was so fun to get away with friends and enjoy their company. I hope I can go every year!

Ashley, Beth, Shonna, Lyndsay and Amy before the conference started Friday night.

Mendy, Adrienne and me -Friday night

Shonna, Beth, me and Ashley Saturday during the conference. That is Olive Baptist Church in the background and we're sitting in about the middle portion of the balcony. That is one HUGE church!

"The Children of the World" concert was absolutely the most moving thing I've seen in a very long time. These are children from all over the world (mostly 3rd world countries) that have been left as orphans from parents who've died of AIDS. They could sing like NOTHING I've ever heard before. They also danced and played drums. It was beautiful!