Happy Birthday to Bill! 🎂❤🍭🍨

Anna and I celebrated Bill's birthday at the best restaurant in East Cobb (and one of Alton Brown's supposed haunts), Seed, in Merchants Walk. Great table, great service, amazing food! They even included a birthday greeting on our personalized menus! And...a surprise birthday slice of cake that was amazing - almost as good as a hunk of dark chocolate!

We missed having Braxton and Rachel with us, but they were with us in spirit, as always! Cards, texts, Facebook messages and phone calls are nice but never as good as having family close.

Afterward,  Bill and I topped off the evening with an amazing movie, The Case For Christ, which every Christian MUST see! I read the book, but the movie was just as powerful. 

This has been a really good year for Bill in so many ways, and we are so happy for him. He is a great father, husband and over-all cool guy. We think we'll keep him for a long, long while!

Happy birthday, dear Bill!

UKy ΑΔΠ Parent Weekend 2017💎

Bill and I had a great weekend with Rachel and Cam and all of Rachel's sorority sistas for ΑΔΠ parent weekend. Such a wonderful time!

The first order of festivities was eating a grand ole meal at one of the oldest, most established gourmet restaurants in Lexington, the Merrick Inn. We dined with the elite horsey set (at least that is how it appeared to me) in a gorgeous old house decorated with antiques and colorful fabrics. Little did we know, but there were two open seating areas outside surrounded by beautiful gardens. Very romantic and posh! We feasted on lobster and crab nachos, brochetta, grouper stuffed with crab, salmon, bacon-wrapped steak, and seafood pasta in a white wine sauce. Yummy.

After shopping a bit, we nestled down into comfy recliners at the Movie Tavern and watched the live action version of Beauty and the Beast. Really great movie, but I still love the animated version the best!

The next day was the Keeneland racetrack, but the weather kept us away. Instead, we ate lunch at the sorority house, got the full tour of accommodations, and then took a road trip around the horse country and gawked at all the beautiful horse farms. The narrow roads and stone fences reminded us of our time traveling the English countryside. Makes one feel like one has stepped back in time!

After a dinner at Outback and ice cream at Crank and Barrel, we called it a night. Btw, Crank and Barrel is an interesting combination of gourmet ice cream and exotic drinks. Very delicious!

Last, but not least, was an ADPi philanthropy event/fashion show at the Round Barrel Stable where vendors sold the cutest clothes and jewelry. We ate biscuits with country ham, fruit, and coffee, and then shopped and visited with sorority sisters and their mamas.

After such a great weekend, driving back to Atlanta in the rain is a let down, but we will see our daughter very soon. Exams are around the corner and summer is almost here.

We are very thankful for all of the heavenly Father's many blessings, which includes our three wonderful children! Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all you have done for us! ❤

Wonderful Easter/RESURRECTION day! 🌞

It was so great having everyone home this weekend to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! Where would we be without Him? I shudder the thought. When one looks at all of the evil going on around the world, it is so comforting to know that we have a safe refuge IN Christ Jesus!

I thank the heavenly father that He put His spirit in me so that I would know Truth! These last three years have been a journey of developing a deeper relationship with the savior so that I might see and know things I had never seen and known before. Truth is deep and long and wide and the depths of the Father are immeasureable.

I have been so blessed with a fabulous family who all love each other! The heavenly father has brought us favor with our school studies, jobs, careers, talents, creativity, spiritual walk, friendships, relationships, finances, and so much more! He is a wonderful, loving father!

I pray everyone experiences the love of the heavenly father and the savior as we enter into this spring and summer season. I pray all of us in the body of Christ come to see and know things we never saw and knew before regarding WHO we are IN Him.

Love in Christ Jesus from the Fridays!

Girl's Weekend 2017 👭

It is interesting how the death of a childhood friend resurrects memories from the past, as well as longtime friendships that have grown stale.

When one reaches a certain age, the death of friends is inevitable, and sadly, this happened to me and my high school friend group in January of this year. But miraculously, my girlhood buds and I reconnected and something wonderful happened! A funeral was the impetus for the beginnings of a regular girls' outing which will surely be an annual event.

Amazingly, we grown up ladies with grown children (some of whom are married and/or are close to being engaged) got together for a long weekend at the beach and acted like a little group of college sorority sisters. We laughed, cried, told stories, compared fashion tips and antiwrinkle creams, and marveled that some of us still cook dinner every evening! Such a glorious time. Such deep love for dear friends who have known your heart since the time that you were a teen and before. What a happy time we had!

Here are some pics of me and my long lost sistas who have come back together and renewed our bonds! They have my back and I have theirs.

Cannot wait to get together again and have a good laugh! Thank you to the heavenly father for the blessed gift of friendship!

Update: June 2017 in Swansboro, NC

Christmas 2016 🎄

The Friday household had an amazing Christmas this year! While the grandparents were cruising the isles, we continued the holiday traditions of food, gifts, church, family games, shopping, the Nutcracker ballet 👸 and just having a grand ole time together. Several new additions were added to the mix: dear Alex and Cam. Also, Christmas Eve day was spent with the beautiful Ricks family who treated us with yummy food and showered us with amazing gifts. They are such a blessing!

Even though the kids are older now, Christmas is still fun and exciting. Santa still visits us 🎅and the gifts are beautifully wrapped with fancy bows that take hours to unopen. We thank the heavenly Father for all He has done for us!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!