Category: Friends

Friends · thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday

Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

This Thursday, I am exhausted.  I know you don’t want to hear that, but I am.  Who knew staying home was so much work.  Am I doing it wrong?

Anyway, I am oh, so grateful, this week for so many folks who are helping me with my problem of over-commitment.  I think it’s an illness I’m hoping to put in remission soon.

First up, I’m beyond blessed by this sweet friend.  Somehow during her kids’ naptime yesterday she managed to help me do my MOPS job, calm my nerves, and encourage my heart.

Then there’s this….

who doesn’t love baby showers?  And though I was a little apprehensive at first that I shouldn’t have tried to plan something on a week when I’ve got a dozen other commitments, the blessings that have come my way during this week have been amazing.  And the shower’s not even for me!  When our host site was already booked, another wonderful friend offered to host at her beautiful new home (that’s right across the street!), ladies are planning dishes galore and everyone can’t wait to decorate in blue for this family’s first little boy (he’ll be welcomed by three big sisters).  But for me, the best part has been finding the most wonderful deal on the perfect gift.  Can’t wait!

It’s not this…though that would have been fun!  Who wants to do this for the next baby shower?

Finally, we’ll be traveling over to E-town for the first time all summer to celebrate birthdays and the anniversary of my grandparents at our annual family event: Lazy Hazy Crazy Daze of Summer Meltdown.

And that’s an event sure to be blog-worthy.  Good food, fabulous fam, big waterslide.  And a meltdown or two, I’m sure.

Have a fabulous weekend (you know you’re already planning it)!

Linking up with the crafty Julia at Black Tag Diaries.
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Friends · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · summer · thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday

Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments
Thankful Thursdays Button

There are so many blog posts bouncing around in my muddled brain right now that I figured I’d stick with something tried and true for my one and only post this week.

I know that makes some of you so sad.  Where are the Bracketts?  Has mommy finally cracked?  No…..we’ve just managed to fill our last three weeks of summer with events that take me far away from my landlocked computer.  Oh, how I miss my laptop.


Complaining aside, so many gifts to be thankful for this week.  I’m nearing 400 on my list of 1000 gifts but I could have so many more if I stopped in every moment to write them down.  Beauty and love and this messy life are all around and it’s not hard to count the grace.

Though sometimes in the midst of my girls not putting on shoes before we tried to leave for the park or Amelia shrieking like a banshee because I strapped her into the grocery buggy or Walmart not having the yogurt I wanted, it does get hard and I forget.  So before I leave for the MOPS conference and turn them loose on their daddy (I told the girls I had to go learn to be a better mommy), I wanted to take a minute to count our many blessings.

Like these crazy gals who spent two days in the Pisgah National Forest with Madelynne, Belle, and me.  (We decided Amelia wasn’t ready for girls-only-camping.)

This was taken after we did this….so thankful for natural wonders.

We’re heading back up to Asheville in a few days for a family mini-vacation, so Joshua will get to slide down the “big rock into freezing cold water” as described to him by the girls.

I’m also thankful that I chose a long and windy road to travel for this journey, so that when I had to pull over to fix Belle in her carseat so she could sleep better, I got to drink this in….

It’s hard to be mad about having to stop when this is the view.

Have a wonderful Thursday and link up with Julia and share your thankfulness.

Friends · motherhood

Blessings for Brooke

Lindsey P. Brackett6 Comments

We’ve known each other since August of 1998 when my dad helped her dad put up the loft in her dorm room on the third floor of Morton-Lemley Hall.  Her room was next door to mine and we wore a path between the two. 

The next year we moved to the first floor with less room and a better view of the volleyball court.  We lived together until the day I got married and she went home to student teach.

Life happened and while I was learning to balance motherhood and a career, she was advancing hers and having all sorts of adventures that sometimes made me jealous.  And when the timing was right, I got to stand beside her in a little white church on a sea swept island and realize I wasn’t her best friend anymore.  He was.  And that’s how it should always be.

They made a home and a life that was theirs and when I had to tell her I was pregnant again, she rejoiced despite her own unrealized hope.

This summer she came and spent a few days with me and the girls and she left, shaking her head and saying, “Maybe I’m not ready for this after all.”

But, yes she is.  Brooke and Matt and all of us who love them are now counting the days until the arrival of Leah Kate in March.  Brooke will celebrate her birthday this year by becoming a mom and though it’s been a long journey, I know she believes the timing is just right.

Surrounded by friends who have already started down this road, she has been blessed with gifts galore and has been promised that if she needs it, we’ve got it.  But more importantly, she has something I never had when I first brought home that tiny pink baby. 

Mommy friends.  The ones who completely understand how a seven-pound angel can completely unhinge your sanity.  The ones who will bring you dinner and fold a basket of laundry and leave without ever holding the new baby because she was sleeping they they won’t dare wake her.  They’ll just come back tomorrow with another casserole and offer to hold her even though she’s screaming so you can take a shower.

In college, we sat up all night studying, watching Friends and Gilmore Girls, eating ice cream, and planning my wedding. 

Now we call each other before nine o’clock because bedtime comes early, we plan get togethers weeks in advance so I can arrange babysitting, and we’ve traded the ice cream for coffee with plenty of cream.

And soon she’ll know she can call me in the middle of the night when the baby isn’t sleeping because fourteen years of friendship has that privilege.  And I can’t wait.

Friends · In-Laws

Random Acts of….Birthday Weekends

Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

Fancy pink cupcakes, ribbon adorned flip-flops, thirty birthday candles, and a plate overflowing with fried shrimp. Yep, all part of a weekend filled with birthday celebrations. Apparently July is a popular month for making babies!

And luckily for us three of those babies are growing up to be good friends of ours or our children’s. The fourth birthday belongs to “Baba” as in Tom, as in Joshua’s dad who was Grandpa until the girls shortened it. And we’re lucky he’s around too!
On Saturday morning we jumped for joy (literally-we couldn’t get them off the trampoline) at the Fancy Four party for Hailey Reed who is one of Annabelle’s bestest girlfriends. It was girly and pink and fancy and just perfect for the six little divas in attendance.
After rest time that same afternoon we headed back out for the party of Princess Abby who is also an Annabelle bestest friend. Many of those same 4-year old divas gathered for pizza and high heels and more dress up than the Princess Boutique at Disney World.
So how did we get the girls away from that party and on to another one? We promised them hotdogs and cake! Then we headed to Shelter Cove to celebrate our friend Noelle joining the 20+10 in 2010 Club.
It seems the majority of our Sunday School class is turning 30 this year and we’re having a good time celebrating this milestone with many friends and their sweet families. At Noelle’s we enjoyed classic cookout food and had to designate a corner of the room for the baby carriers. Amelia, Sam Garrett, and Chandler McKay were quite well-behaved at their first “adult” party. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures!
Finally, today after church we spent some time with Baba whose birthday is still a week away but whose request for a trip to the Harbour Inn Seafood restaurant in Anderson had to be honored today. So we headed a little north and ate enough fried shrimp to carry Tom through to next year since it will probably be his birthday again before my mother-in-law allows him another meal like that.
It was a fun and exhausting weekend but we’re glad to be blessed with more celebrations than we can schedule. And I haven’t even got into Aunt Calley turning 22 last week or plans to love on Marmee when her birthday comes at the end of the month. Good thing I’ve still got maternity pants in the closet since all this cake isn’t helping me back into my pre-pregnancy jeans!
Happy April Birthdays everyone!