HANGING WITH WORK FRIENDS

 WORLDS COLLIDED LAST SUNDAY WHEN WORK FRIENDS JAZZED IT UP AT JAZZ BRUNCH WITH CHURCH FRIENDS.  IT WAS A BLAST!

DRUID CITY ART FESTIVAL

 This weekend there was a City-wide art fair in Tuscaloosa

 Great job, city planners (including gal-pal Debbie Lee)

 The new Government Plaza behind the new City hall is fabulous

 chalk art from the day

Anybody care to guess who's back this is?

BASKETBALL: Dunk, Dribble

SPRING BREAK 2011 (WOO HOO!)

 Actually Grant was the only one who got to go somewhere exciting for Spring Break

 Reminded me of his first trip to NYC.  I'm sure he had much more fun with Brooke!

 The most exciting thing we did was meet Bentley Wyatt up close and personal

 Enjoyed the scenery

 And bathed in the sun!

PRAY FOR JAPAN

pics from The Sun

Psalm 65:5 New Living Translation (NLT)

You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds,
O God our savior.
You are the hope of everyone on earth,
even those who sail on distant seas. 

We love this prayer from the Desiring God blog:

Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the

 earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your 

power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. 

We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer 

and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees.

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—i\

in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving

 of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes 

and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, 

who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our

 sins, not against you.

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches

 of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments,

 leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways

, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. 

Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion.

 For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord 

Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.

May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the 

wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures' pain.

 You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.

In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows 

and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.

Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.

And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.

O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind

 this providence, soon find a smiling face.

In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

CRAFTY GIRL TIME THIS WEEK!!

We started with lunch at Panera, where I found this shoe under our table, and decided to

try it on.  Josiah was trying to help me get it on.

 Brooke had an idea to make a Easter wreath, so Sommer and I horned in on her idea

 Mom cut some leaves for us with her good arm

 We wrapped a styrofoam wreath with ribbon and made 

flowers out of scrap-booking paper.  Brooke had seen how to make them

on a crafting blog, so she taught us.

 We played it by ear, and messed up a few times

but we tweaked them, and they turned out really cute

The main thing is, we had a good time

FOSTER AUDITORIUM - HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

My old friend, Mara Jo was so excited about her office moving from Coleman Coliseum to Foster Auditorium.  I've always lived in Tuscaloosa, and had heard people talking about Foster, but never knew the historial significance of it until Mara Jo gave me a tour.  No wonder she was so excited!  This is the new plaza outside Foster - a plaza that was built on the site of former Gov. George Wallace's infamous 1963 stand in the schoolhouse door.  The whole building was gutted and rebuilt.  It's beautiful!

The plaza was named after Vivian Malone and James Hood, some of the first black students who desegregated the University of Alabama. Hood arrived to pay his fees, accompanied by Vivian Malone and U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach.   Wallace, backed by state troopers, refused them entry. President Kennedy nationalized the Alabama National Guard later the same day, which put them under the command of the President, rather than the Governor of Alabama. Guardsmen escorted Hood and Malone back to the auditorium, where Wallace moved aside at the request of General Henry Graham. Hood and Malone then entered the building, albeit through another door.  Hood left the university after only two months but returned in 1995 to earn his doctorate degree. On May 17, 1997 he received his Ph.D. (Wikipedia)

Here's the view of the plaza from the balcony off of Mara Jo's office.  Nice!

Here's some inside pics where the girls volleyball players hang out.  It's awesome!  Above are the lockers with stools in front of each one where the coach comes in to talk to the players

This is an X that was preserved in the renovation where the record for the  longest college basketball shot was held for years.  The player threw the ball over his shoulder from the opposite end of the court as he was exiting when  the buzzer sounded.  He wasn't even looking at the goal, and the coach from the opposite team told him he made the shot!

What an intelligent, brave woman Ms. Foster was!  Her expulsion was finally overturned  in 1992,  and she earned her Masters degree in Elementary Education from the University that she had applied to decades earlier.  In a complete reversal of spirit from when she was first admitted there, the university named the building after her, and George Wallace later apologized for his actions.

ALMOST THERE!

Checking in on the progress of Josiah being able to ride his Alabama tricycle

 This was the very first toy I bought - even before he was born.  Let's face it, how often do you come across an Alabama trike with Big Al's face on the front?

Just a few more inches and he can reach the pedals!!!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

WEDDING IN DOWNTOWN NORTHPORT - LOVELY

Any chance to photograph downtown Northport, right?  It's so quaint and old-fashioned. 

I walked around the shops while they practiced. The wedding was at the Maxwell-Peters house.

There were a few glitches in the wedding plans, but the minister, Tony, alleviated the situation with some quick humor.

This Historical home was just beautiful.

We ended the day at Sommer and Jon's for game night.  She cooked a delicious meal,

and we played Quelf.  Grant and Josiah had a little side game going on.  It's pretty easy to see how this game worked.