Life Lately

It's been a while since I have done this but there has been a lot going on lately.  Here are some of photos to recap our life lately.

Finally got my glasses and decided to rest my eyes from contacts for about 5 days.  This was last weekend when we met Crawford's family at Buffalo Brothers in Wake Forest.

This one is a big one.  I was scheduled for another infusion about 3 weeks ago.  I took off work for the afternoon and drove to Raleigh and was excited because my body was begging for medicine.  I had come down with a sinus infection that week and had just been put on an antibiotic.  The sinus infection sent me in to a flare and it had been a bad day/week.  I get to Raleigh and as soon as I sit down, the nurse asks if I am on any medicine.  I tell her about the antibiotic and she immediately had this look on her face.  She told me she would be right back and, low and behold, she came back and said I couldn't get my infusion BECAUSE I was on an antibiotic. Learned something new that day.  You would have thought they would have told me that little bit of information when I first started my infusions.  I was NOT a happy camper and had to wait a week before I could get my infusion.

Crawford stepped through our ceiling while we were trying to get our Christmas decorations down.  Thankfully, we have GREAT friends and Corey volunteered his time to come and help Craw patch the hole.  It has now been about 3 months since he stepped through the ceiling and it still looks like this.  Let me just say, I married a major procrastinator BUT at least he took it upon himself to fix it versus us paying someone $300 to fix it.

Superbowl Sunday, a bunch of the girls got together and we went to Artful Expressions in Rocky Mount.  This is a little bit different than Wine and Design as each person can pick what they want to paint.  This lady runs her little business right in her back yard and we had so much fun.  I loved the way my flower turned out and it is already hanging on my front door.  

**Disclaimer: I am not as talented as this picture makes me look.  All of the details were added by the owner.

Our Panther flag came in and I think someone else likes it just as much as I do.  I can't wait to fly this flag HIGH come August.

One of my best friends dad was recently diagnosed with brain cancer.  I know there are many people in the world that are going through difficult times but this family has been hit HARD over the past 1-2 years.  Maggie lost her father-in-law about a year ago to cancer, she has a young cousin fighting breast cancer, her dad has already beaten lung cancer, and now this.  Mr. John is like a second dad to me.  Something that he LOVES to do is make things from scrap wood.  His newest obsession is these beautiful crosses.  I am pretty sure every single woman in our church has one.  He even made one for all of the nurses he sees each day while getting radiation.    I am pretty obsessed with my spring table.  It not only makes me smile every day when I walk by but it also makes me stop and say a small prayer and reminds me that "God is God and only God is good at being God."  Praying for complete healing.

2016 Ski Trip Weekend

I love to ski.  I have grown up my whole life going on yearly ski trips.  I remember being in elementary school and watching my dad chaperone youth ski trips and how I couldn't wait to start 6th grade so that I could join him.  Back then, our youth group was a little larger so we took awesome trips to West Virginia and would rent cabins for the weekend.  It was amazing and will forever be some of my best memories.

The last weekend in February, I tagged along with my parents and some of my best friends to take our youth to Cragmont and go skiing.  Cragmont is our denominational youth camp in Black Mountain, NC.  I grew up going to summer camps every year at Cragmont so this is also a place that holds special memories.  My best friend even met the love of her life at Cragmont and got married on the mountain almost 3 years ago.  

We drove to Cragmont after work on Thursday evening and arrived around 10:30 PM to a snowy mountain.  Friday morning, we woke up bright and early and headed to Wolf Ridge to ski.  It was still snowing a little and the ground was covered in a small blanket of fresh snow. Once we got checked in, we suited up and were ready to ski from 9-4:30 pm. 

Mom doesn't ski so she sat in the lodge all day and sat by the fire...you won't find her complaining.

The view from the top of the mountain was GORGEOUS!

Josh and Kelly were the only snowboarders.  

Most of the youth had never skied before so they had to take lessons.  This was a picture of them taken from the chair lift.

It's not every day that you get to ski with your 56 year old dad.

We left the ski resort around 4:30 pm and headed to eat at Cheddar's.  Let me just say...after skiing all day long and then going straight to dinner...we were a HOT MESS!

Saturday we woke up and I went shopping with mom and dad. Majority of the youth went on a hike but were sorely disappointed that the view at the top was nothing but a tree line and a shed.  After lunch, we headed to Montreat to walk around and take some pictures.

After we left Montreat, we headed to Hendersonville and went shopping for about an hour.  Then we headed to Moonshine Mountain to go tubing.

We had so much fun and this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Sunday we woke up, had a devotion, and then walked around one last time.  This was such a great trip.  There was no drama and the youth have already started planning next years trip.  I did miss my husband and Hankers.  I have already told Craw that he has to go next year.

Marriage: Top Three Challenges

Crawford and I had the pleasure of attending the Art of Marriage (AOM) Live conference on Valentine's weekend at The Bridge in Goldsboro, NC.  We started the AOM during our wedding counseling but with the busyness of wedding planning and the fact we were not living together before the wedding, it was a bit hard to do separately. I cannot say enough positive things about attending an AOM conference live.  What a difference it made for us as opposed to being by ourselves and watching the videos and studying the lessons.

While our first year of marriage is still fresh on my mind, I want to write about some of the top 3 challenges that we faced as newlyweds.

1.  How to live with a person of the opposite sex.

Girls and boy are different. Plain and simple.  I had never lived with a male (other than my dad) before we got married.  Learning that we both say/do things differently was a real challenge at first.  I would not say that either one of us are neat freaks but we are not sloths either...at least we DID have that going for us.  However, I have my pet peeves and he has his.  For example, Craw has a bad habit of leaving dresser drawers open and not closing them and I. CANT. STAND. IT!!! However, I have a bad habit of leaving my towels on the floor and not hanging them up and HE. CANT. STAND. IT!!!  It's quite comical...


2.  We both handle issues very differently.


I feel like this may be a given for most newlywed couples.  Most relationships have one person that likes to talk things out right then and then the other person needs to be left alone.  This definitely applies to Craw and I .  He is the one that likes to talk and hash it out right as soon as we disagree/argue...and I'm like...DON'T TOUCH ME!  He's definitely a person that likes to touch and thinks that he has to put his hand on mine or on my knee while we work through a disagreement...#nope! I will quickly spazz out on him. Thankfully, we learned this about each other while we were dating and again during marriage counseling but it seems to be a much bigger deal when you're living under one roof.  It took some time but I can happily say he knows he needs to give me about 5 minutes and then we can talk and I guess I learned that he can at least touch my knee...


3. Juggling two very different, yet busy, schedules


This one was tough.  Craw and I are go-go-go people.  Even when we try not to plan anything and stay home, we end up going somewhere and doing something.  We both have jobs with different hours, we are both involved in different church activities, his family lives out of town, he plays softball during the spring/summer, and we both love to travel. One thing our pastor told us during counseling was that we would need to learn to say NO during our first year of marriage.  I don't like saying no but Craw has no issues telling a person no so that really worked well for us.  One thing that really helped us was communicating with each other.  This allowed us to let each other know when one of us was burned out and it also helped us keep our busy schedules straight.  Also, Craw is not good at remembering things so he knows that all plans need to be ran by me, otherwise, there is a chance he is not going to remember.
#imtheplanner


Marriage is definitely not easy but it is so worth it.

Little Miss Eva Frances Pipkin

Yall, yesterday was the most amazing day.  My bestfriend since birth gave birth to her very own little girl.  I have had so many close girlfriends have babies and each one is so special to me...but this one...I cannot even put in to words what this one was like. 

#emotionalrollercoaster

When I say Rebekah and I have been friends since birth, we were literally born 18 days apart and have been inseparable since then.  Our moms went to the same college, we went to the same church, her mom kept my sister and I every summer, we went to the same high school, both worked at Harris Teeter, attended the same college for one year in which we were roommates, and even now we both work at the same company, same building, and were in the same department until recently. People joke us all the time and say whenever they see one of us, they know the other is usually right behind.

We have been there for each other through every possible situation.  Through break ups, health issues, divorce, marriage, depression, you name it...we have experienced it, together.  And now, we get to experience this next chapter together.  I posted this on my Facebook last night but I literally love Eva as if she were my own.  The moment Rebekah sent me that very first picture of her precious daughter, I wept with pure joy in my heart. I cannot wait to watch this little one grow up.


Born 1.19.16 at 11:17 am | 8 pounds 1 ounce | 20.5 inches long

So cheers to Rebekah, Zach, and little miss Eva Frances Pipkin. 

New Year, New Beginnings

I have so many drafts that are just sitting waiting to be published.  So much has happened within the last year and it has take me away from this little space for quite a while.  A new year calls for a chance of new beginnings and I am certainly thankful for a fresh new year. 

Here are my top 5 highlights from 2015:

(good and bad)

1.  I was officially diagnosed with Crohns Disease in September. 

After many sick months and a few changes in doctors, I received my diagnosis and it's safe to say it changed my life. I started infusions of Remicade immediately upon my diagnosis and have been responding well to treatment.

2.  I experienced not ONE but TWO hospital stays triggered by my Crohns.

This was definitely the lowest point of the year for me.  The picture below was taken from the first stay.  I plan to write more about this later on but for now, just know it was not a fun time.

Making the best out of a miserable situation.

3.  Crawford and I travelled back to our favorite city and got to cheer on our Panthers! 

This is one of my favorite trips of the year and it also helps that the Panthers ended the regular season 15-1.  I wasn't sure if I would be well enough to go on this trip but the Lord blessed me tremendously and I was thankfully able to get away with the hubby.

4.  I received a promotion at work at the very end of the year.

Self explanatory...

5.  Last but certainly not least, my love and I celebrated ONE

 BLISSFUL YEAR of marriage!

It really was a year filled with ups and downs but at the end of the day, I am so thankful to be where I am today.  I finally have a diagnosis, I'm feeling better with each day that passes, I love my new job, and I am so in love with my husband.