Dan Allender is coming to speak at the Chapel Hill Bible Church. Isn't that GLORIOUS or was it GLAWRIOUS?!?!?!  I started laughing when I heard the announcement today at bible study. It made me miss our bible study.

p.s. If you are not one of the aforementioned people, see  Dan Allender's study on sexual intimacy.  It was totally awesome, and I highly recommend it.  Part of the study includes watching mini-lectures and stories from other couples and then discussing the video as a group... on one of the more "sensitive" topics (I mean it was a study on sexual intimacy, what wasn't sensitive) Dan used an over exaggerated glorious (see above) to describe said issue.  It was early in the study, and so still kind of awkward to be talking about sex with two other couples, and it just really broke the ice because we all just started laughing.   I know mature, right? Oh well...

  The Halleigh Show now has it's own page, here on in medias res.  In the left hand column under the "Things I like to share" header, it's the last item in that list. "The Halleigh Show"  You can watch the latest two videos that we put up last night (The Halleigh Show 4:20 and also Halleigh's Dance Party 0:59), and you can also enjoy past episodes. 

I have spent some time this morning looking back at some of my favorite episodes of the Halleigh Show and I cannot believe that she is already 18 months old. Shocking! She has turned into such a little girl... where's my helpless, tiny, little angel-baby from "Bath Time?"

Easter seemed like a blur this year. We have been so busy that we were not ready. But ready or not, Holy Week came.

We went to the Maundy Thursday service at church, which I love! We meet with a local African American church (Mount Level Missionary Baptist Church) at Blacknall and celebrate the last supper and the entering into a new covenant. It feels so good, so right to invite other believers who you do not normally worship with to join in that celebration.  It makes the "church" feel tighter, more cohesive. I love it. They brought their gospel choir, which I have been looking forward to since last year, and they brought down the house. It was awesome!

We thought we were going to Virginia this weekend, so we didn't make it to the Tennenbrae (Good Friday) service on Friday night, but we heard that it was AMAZING. I am sad to have missed it, and it is on our list of commitments for next year.

Saturday, as Miles' blog commemorates, we took Halleigh to a Easter party.  It was really fun, all except the Easter Bunny part where she freaked out in shear terror.  Saturday night was awful... Halleigh would NOT go to sleep. Crying, snotty, sweating, shaking, standing up in her bed screaming until we went and got her. It was HORRIBLE. The only thing different was that she had been scared by the Easter Bunny that day.  We think that she was having nightmares about the Easter Bunny. It may be a few years until we take her to see another mascoty character, which unfortunately means you too, Rameses. I don't think Miles would be able to handle Halleigh crying at the sight of his beloved Rameses.  (Note: Saturday night was not all bad, as the nightmare drama was unfolding, Evan, Kelly, Dave and Elizabeth we all over  playing Settlers of Catan, and that part of the night was fun.)

Sunday I got up VERY early and went with my friend Mary to the sunrise service that we also do with Mount Level, at their church. It was early, but worth it. I wish I could start everyday focused on Christ’s triumph! The sunrise service was followed by breakfast, and it was fun to chat with people from Mount Level and get to know them a little.

When I got home we got Halleigh all decked out in her Easter attire and took her to our normal church service. After that we rushed home to pick up our contributions to the Weinard's Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt. After the trial run the day before Halleigh really did get into looking and pick up eggs. She was even putting them in her basket without needing to open them and inspect the contents.

At 4:00pm we had to leave that party, run home and change, drop Halleigh off at Miles' parents’ house and rush to Raleigh to see Carolina cream Arkansas. It was an uneventful game, never really a question as to the outcome, but as all Carolina games are, it was GREAT to be there and really fun!

So there is our weekend in review. busy busy busy

I really like this time of year as well.  Fresh and clean, it feels like a new start... a new start and the garden is first and foremost on our list. We have got to get tomato cages early this year, we waited too long last year and couldn't find any and it made tomato farming incredibly difficult.

Here is a massive collage of Easter day. Enjoy!  (The reason she has two dresses is that the first is her nice Easter dress that we didn't want to get destroyed when we played outside at the Easter hunt, so we had to change. There will be more pictures of her in her Easter dress in the next couple days.)

p.s. If you click on the pictures a window will open up and you can see the pictures bigger and better, especially the first collage at the top.

We got a letter today from BEN! As most of you know he just joined the Navy and is in basic training right now. I was so excited. He's doing great. Here are some of my favorite parts of the letter:

"This is going to be the best thing I have ever done. I just have to get throught it."

"I got some awesome glasses, they really look like dad's back in high school but brown and probably bigger but I can see, so that is good."

"I haven't got yelled at too much because I do what I am told."

"I got a job to do for my whole division. I am the mail PO so I get to deliver it to everyone in my division."

I am off to reply to the letter; peace out!

p.s. I censored our address, since we don't want any stalkers and crazed readers showing up at our house wanting autographs!  Sorry Ben, I hope the Navy protects you from our stalkers and crazed readers, because some of our crazed normal readers may want to write you... Carlie.

I am sick of my blog.  Not the blog itself, rather the way my blog looks. I had grandiose ideas of taking pictures to put up as my banner and making it fun and reflective of my personality. My blog is not reflective of my personality, it's boring... I am fun.

So, my dear friends and readers, this blog is overdue for a MAJOR overhaul. I don't know what I am going to do or what it will look like when it is done, but I can't stand it anymore. I need to breathe some life into this space.

In other news, I need to give two book reviews.  One on Ellen Foster and the other on Deceptively Delicious. Stay tuned...

p.s. I was looking for a picture to express the way that I was feeling toward my blog, and this was a really funny picture... somehow capturing EXACTLY how I feel. I can totally relate to both parties pictured.

The title makes Halleigh sound spoiled, and she is, but this time we are embracing it.  Halleigh wanted Carolina to beat Clemson, so they beat Clemson. YEAH!  It was a great weekend of Carolina basketball.  This weekend will be even better as Miles and I have tickets to go to the second round of the NCAA tournament that is being held in Raleigh, hopefully we will see UNC play either Indiana or Arkansas.   

Here are a collection of pictures that Miles' mom took and were on her camera. Two cute girls. (The baby is Halleigh's cousin, Anna.) I really like the picture with Miles' grandmother, it was very difficult to get all three looking in the same direction... which in the end didn't really matter, this was the best one and they are all looking at different things. 

I was on youtube earlier today watching at the latest installment of the Will Green show (it's really cute, you should check it out!) and realized that there needs to be a revival of the Halleigh Show. I'll see what I can do...