I missed Day 7.

I spent the afternoon in Charlotte yesterday with one of my best friends, Christina. It had been too long since we’d had a day to just catch up. We literally spent all of our time together just walking and talking. Christina is a big “two birds, one stone” person, so it was only fitting that we could catch up for two hours while getting some exercise.

Yesterday morning, I was extremely sad to hear the news that my sweet blog friend, Julee, lost her beloved husband Matt. You can read more about it here.

Most of my day was spent in prayer. I had a lot of time in the car, and was just covering Julee and her precious baby girl, Preslee in prayer. I know they are surrounded by family and friends, and I believe that this is when the Body of Christ is most powerful.

Please join me in praying for them. My heart is broken for this beautiful woman and her sweet baby girl.

Today was one of the most fun Saturdays I can remember.

The Gamecocks (#6) played Georgia (#5) today in Columbia. ESPN’s College Game Day came to town and set up their show on the Horseshoe. Todd and I got engaged on the Horseshoe (lots of people have gotten engaged on the Horseshoe). It’s historic and it’s just a special place.

The university administration let the students camp out on the Horseshoe in preparation for College Game Day. They delivered pizzas, played music, and just made the whole Game Day experience really fun for the students.

So, we wanted to walk to the Horseshoe from our house and take the boys. It’s less than a mile there from our house. So the Fuller family came over this morning with their stroller, and we loaded up all the kids and walked to the Horseshoe.

Hudson was a little out of sorts when we got there, but once he got to borrow Gracie’s “princess cup” he was all better.

Hayes was thrilled. He just wanted to run around and check everything out.

I love it when our kids are all together. We always joke when we take their pictures that we’ll show them again at their rehearsal dinners.

After we walked back home, I went and got my hair cut and highlighted. There are very few things that are as great as a cut and highlight.

Todd and I got a babysitter tonight and went to the game. The traffic was just crazy. If you’re not planning on going to the game, be very careful not to get in game day traffic. It took us two hours to drive three miles and park at the stadium. We should have just walked from our house.

But the Gamecocks dominated tonight. It was such a fun game with the most fun atmosphere I’ve ever experienced at Williams Brice Stadium. The fans were on fire, and the Gamecocks just played so well. It was a great night!

And honestly the best part? As part of the pre game “entertainment,” the whole crowd got to witness a military family reunite with their father/husband on the field. It was a complete surprise to everyone and was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen.

And guess what!

We have a contract on our house! So many reasons to celebrate today!

*This is Day 6 in my 31 Days of Back to Basics Blogging series.

Yesterday was just a doozy. I felt like I couldn’t get ahead and was just dragging behind all day with everything.

In the middle of the morning, I got an unexpected phone call from my friend Beth, and there was just something about talking to her that turned my day around. She had no idea that she had encouraged me, but she did. I felt a huge load lift from me after I hung up the phone.

Later in the day I talked to Nina and to Crist, and was once again so thankful to be able to just be honest with a couple of friends about what’s wrong when something is wrong.

I was telling my mom about my phone call from Beth, and my mom reminded me of the Max Lucado book titled, “When God Whispers Your Name.” And I feel like that’s what that phone call was. Beth didn’t know it, but I felt it.

We had a great day today and we could hear  God whispering our names even louder today, as we received a little bit of hopeful news.

The boys had “fun lunch” at school today and Hudson stayed after school for karate. Hayes and I killed a little bit of time by working on some of his activities from his early interventionist. I can see improvement already. I’m so excited about this process.

When we went to pick up Hudson from karate, we saw him doing this really fun activity. Their karate class doesn’t wear the full uniform because they go straight to karate after school, and there’s just not enough time for them all to get dressed. But they do have belts. So now Hudson is a white belt.

They were doing this fun activity with balloons where the balloons had a “bully face.” And they were hitting and kicking the balloons. The boys and girls were having the best time.

One of the other great things about karate is that their teacher is very strict about two things. One is discipline. He wants the kids to always be listening and to obey. The other thing is that he tells them not to touch other kids. There is a strong message about the purpose of karate and that they need to be respectful, kind, and gentle to their friends and family.

We spent the evening with some friends over at their house. Our kids had a great time playing together and it was a fun night out of the house.

Tomorrow, Todd and I are going to take the boys over to the Horseshoe on the USC campus for College Game Day. We’re going to the game tomorrow night, too, but we’re very excited about showing the boys the Game Day experience.

I’m thankful for lots of fresh air today, and just little whispers of hope. Those whispers made my burden a lot lighter today and I know that when I cried out yesterday, He showed up and whispered my name.

*This is Day 5 of my 31 Days of Back to Basics Blogging