For His Birthday

We surprised Mark with a birthday celebration on Wednesday, and here are a couple of pics.

Here V and S are hiding under the kitchen table, waiting for Dad to walk in. They're poised to yell "SURPRISE!" at the birthday boy! V looks a little scary, though!



Oops! I hope I haven't given Mr. Incredible's secret identity away with this pic!

Our celebration was a day early, because I needed to be out on Mark's actual birthday. Heather, a wonderfully gifted friend of mine, was teaching a Digital Scrapbooking Bootcamp at church, and he knew how very much I've wanted to learn how! My sweet husband stayed home with the kids and just did the dad thing on his birthday. He gave me the present- the night out to learn a new, much-needed skill!


Heather did a wonderful job teaching the class at an elementary level- just what I needed. Here are my first 2 digital scrapbook pages. I have so much to learn, but it will be fun!

Victoria's Little Victory

Victoria has been the first of our first 5 kids to be afraid of swimming in deep water at the age of 5. She was able to swim on her own, but was just simply fearful. She has been swimming on the neighborhood swim team for the past two months, and has improved dramatically. We are so proud of her! Today she came to me while Samuel and I were swimming with her in the shallow end. She announced, "Mom, I want to swim in the deep end." I was rather shocked, to be honest. I told her it would be hard for me to help her since I needed to watch Samuel. She replied, "No, I mean I want to swim all by myself." I promptly walked her over to the diving board. With very little hesitation she took her first jump into the 9 foot water!!! Swimming to the side all by herself, she grinned all the way! Once I knew she was okay swimming on her own, this proud mama went to get the camera!

Victoria diving off of the diving board!

Smiling after her victory dive!

After several jumps and dives she was so brave she started to do twisty jumps! Mark and I are so proud of our baby girl, and she just beams when any of us mention it!

Her "Little" Brother

Yesterday I happened to look over at Madeline (15, almost 16) and Alex (13) standing next to each other. I realized that Alex had suddenly caught up with her in height!!! I cried out, "Madeline, Alex, how did that happen?! Alex is just as tall as you are, Madeline!" He must have grown about an inch in just the last week. We had noticed him suddenly shooting up, but I didn't realize how much. I told Madeline, "I remember the day my little brother caught up with me, then he passed me. I've looked up to him ever since!" Brian was also 13 when that happened, and I was 16. Seems like just yesterday. My "little" brother is now 6"4", but forever my "little" brother!

Blessings from Blunders: Part 2

..We headed back to Montgomery first thing Monday morning, knowing we had to get our Suburban in the shop. We had no idea we wouldn’t get it back until 3 ½ days later. Aunt Annette and Unc took us in, and we gradually received worse and worse news about our vehicle. Each day we would hope to be able to head home, and each day we continued to be “stuck” in Montgomery.




















It’s hard to call it that, though, since we were receiving blessing after blessing from Aunt Annette, Unc, Kim, Brandt, Kevin (their son) and Penni (Kevin’s wife), and their wonderful children. The kids got some awesome cousin time in, really getting to bond with JD (Kevin and Penni’s 11 year old son) and Melison (Kim and Brandt’s 11 year old daughter). Those kids blessed our kids socks off. Mary Liz and Victoria savored that time with Melison. Alex and JD captured some great Lego building time together. All enjoyed quite a bit of backyard pool time in both of their pools, as well as a cookout at each! Aunt Annette and Unc just kept right on feeding us wonderful meal after wonderful meal, and we felt like we were staying in a resort home. Everyone was spoiled! You can see how our blessings poured forth from the blunders.














The promised Thursday at 1:00 completion turned in to 6:00. Aunt Corine and Uncle Elmo were our “meals on wheels” and arrived in Montgomery with a scrumptious fried chicken, butter beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rice supper while Mark and I were retrieving our greatly missed vehicle! We came back to spend dinner with these dear loved ones. Below is our group picture right before we finally pulled out, at 7:30 central time. We can’t thank our family enough for all the love and care they poured out on us. My children saw such a great example of sacrifice and giving, and for that we are eternally grateful. Like we told Brandt, they’ll have another jewel in their crowns when they get to heaven! If Grandmama Tate somehow knew about it, I know she was so proud. The family that the Tates, Jeters, and Graves all are today is a heritage from the prayers she prayed daily on her knees for each of us by name everyday while here on earth. I miss her, and I’m so grateful for each of her sweet prayers.


Thank you, Grandmama, for raising such loving children and grandchildren!

Blessings from Blunders: Part 1

We just got back from what we have tried to make our annual trip to Alabama to see extended family. This year my cousin Michael was getting married near Birmingham. As soon as we found out in the winter the kids all began begging to go. They know how much fun it is to travel to see Granny (my Grandmama and their great-grandmother), all of my aunts and uncles, and my cousins and their children. My parents are both from south Alabama, so their roots are there. Having grown up going to Alabama at least twice a year, I consider it like home. Mom has 6 siblings, and Dad has 2 sisters. When you start adding everyone up, we are abundantly blessed with a big family. They are all “salt of the earth”, as Mark’s Aunt Retta and Uncle Wade used to say.










We had lunch at Cracker Barrel with Mom and Dad before arriving in Atlanta. It was their 44th Wedding Anniversary!







All was well for the first leg of our trip. We spent Friday night in Newnan, Georgia with Mark’s brother Jeff, and his wife Darlene. What a great visit! It was so good to see Darlene doing so well, since she had struggled through completing radiation treatments for cancer. We were thankful to give her hugs. We also enjoyed Hope’s sister Emma, her daughter Hope, and Hope’s baby girl Kyndal. After taking the photo below in Jeff and Darlene’s Georgia Bulldogs room, we said our goodbyes and headed for Birmingham to the wedding.

Alex, Melinda, Samuel, Madeline, Kyndal, Victoria, Mary Liz, Jeff, Jacob, Darlene, Hope, and Mark

Samuel, Jacob, Mary Liz, Madeline, Hope, Kyndal, and Victoria

This is where the blunder comes in- When we were about 2 miles from our destination, we heard strange sounds coming from the Suburban. We tried to figure them out, but they just went away, so we thought all was well.

Meanwhile, back to the wedding- Michael and Chasity’s wedding was elegant and beautiful, just like the bride. The children enjoyed the ceremony, but they had a blast at the reception. Samuel danced the night away, and Victoria played and danced with Belle (my cousin Mandy’s daughter, who was the flower girl). It was special getting to spend such a memorable evening with the Campbells, Mom’s family.

Melinda Madeline Tate Comer, Madeline Campbell Alford( Grandmama), and Madeline Ashley Comer- The Three Madelines

Kaitlyn, Cari, Samuel, Mallory, Madeline, and Alex

Senor Alex

Madeline, Cari, Kaitlyn, and Mallory
Okay, so I know these don’t look like a wedding photos. The bride and groom wanted all of us to pose for silly Polaroid photos with props and sign them. This was a cute idea!

Here Belle and Victoria are looking at all of the silly photos. They were so sweet together!

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Curtis’s First Dance

Samuel and Victoria enjoyed sleeping on a palette on the floor together throughout the week. This was the night after the wedding.

Sunday morning began with hotel breakfast with Una Mae from Hunstville (Mom’s cousin), Ben and Doris from Tullahoma, TN (Mom’s aunt and uncle), and Mom and Dad (aka “Gran and Papa”). We packed up, said our goodbyes, and began what was to be a full day of “visiting” with Dad’s sisters and their families.

We were greeted with big smiles and hugs in Montgomery by Aunt Annette and “Unc” Jeter, and all of their precious, dear children and grandchildren. Aunt Annette and Uncle Ira prepared a delicious “Sunday dinner”, as Grandmama Tate would have wanted us to call it. She was all that was missing, since she’s gone on to be with Jesus, whom she loved with all of her heart, soul and strength. We even got to see my sweet cousin Sheila, who took a break from her heavy law school studies.

Here’s where the blunder comes in again- After our goodbyes to the Jeter family we pulled out of their driveway only to hear a much worse sound from the Suburban. Mark drove around the block, but it could barely go, and we suspected the trouble was the transmission. We decided to put it in the shop in Montgomery Monday morning, not willing to risk breaking down in the extreme heat on I 85 in route to Raleigh. My cousin Kim and her husband Brandt generously loaned us their 8 passenger minivan.

We decided to go ahead with our original plan to drive to Goshen to see Dad’s other sister, Corine, and her husband, my Uncle Elmo, who had recently celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. The kids just had to visit Aunt Corine and Uncle Elmo! They are such dear family, and they live on the world’s greatest farm! Here’s the sign that Uncle Mo’s children gave him for his 80th birthday this year. As soon as we got there the kids started driving the golf cart and the mule, with Uncle Elmo helping.

Here Biz and Jacob are hugging our sweet Aunt Corine.

All were sad that we had lost so much time figuring out our car repair situation, and we didn’t have time for the much anticipated fishing at the farm. It was time to move on to spend the night outside of Luverne at Grandmama Campbell’s farmhouse, the home where Mom, her 5 sisters & 1 brother were raised. A delicious spaghetti supper was waiting for us, lovingly prepared by my Aunt Liz (from Panama City) and Aunt Kathryn (from there in Luverne) These pictures show the kids eating supper, and then breakfast at Granny’s. Sweet memories…