Send Me an Instant Photo

I heard about Send Me An Instant Photo from Pampelmousse 1983. If you know me, you know that I absolutely luuuuuuurrrve instant photos. SMAIP is a place where you can send in an instant photo and it gets a chance to be posted on the blog for others to enjoy. It's such a creative idea! I sent this one of beautyberries from my backyard and it got picked to be in a post!

I think it's great that there are others out there like Lauren of SMAIP that are helping to keep instant alive. So if you're an instant photo lover, go check out Send Me An Instant Photo and DO IT! Thanks, Lauren!

Busy, busy!

October's been a busy month and it's been such a blessing. Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting our dear friends from North Carolina for a few days. It was awesome to see my good friend and her cute little belly! Seriously. She's so little, she doesn't even look pregnant from the front or the back... only when she turns to the side! Can you believe she's FIVE MONTHS preggo here??

We were fortunate enough to take them to Disney. It was such a treat spending the day with them and especially their little girl. Here she is with the hubs while we were on a Mickey D's lunch break. Isn't she presh?

We love you guys! Come back soon!!

And next week will be even busier! We're gearin' up for these two lovebirds' wedding! I can't believe it's already here!

Pretty pumped about our friends coming in for the wedding. It's gonna be like getting the band back together. Awesomeness all around! There will be tons of pictures and recaps to be sure! And to continue with the busy-ness... The day after the wedding, my bestie and I will be traveling to St. Augustine to celebrate this beautiful little one:

This precious little one is our other bestie's pride and joy. Isn't she the cutest?! I can't take it... And she's going to be turning one! Since her birthday is always the day before Halloween, you can pretty much count on all her birthdays to be costume required. This year it's forest-themed, so we have to come dressed as our favorite forest friend (say THAT five times fast). My costume is still a surprise and I will DEFINITELY post pics of it and this party.

WHEW! Did you get all that? I told you it was busy, busy!

Hazzle Listens to... Common

My iTunes is on shuffle. This song came on. Made me wonder what happened to good hip hop? Aaaaannnnd I just dated myself...

I cried all over again.

Seriously. BEST. DAY. EVER.

Hazel & Chuck from Keith Roddy on Vimeo.

Grateful for another beautiful day

It's day 3 of my outdoor office workdays. I do love fall in FL. Our back porch is the best place to be. Makes my workload feel less daunting. PTL for gracing us with another gorgeous day!

Yep. This happened.

(Sorry for the bad quality of my phone photo.)

On Monday night, Chuck and I went to go see an old school buddy of his who tattoos at a shop off I-drive. This isn't my first tattoo, so it's not a new pain... But that face I'm making was definitely not for show. That sucker hurt! It was worth the pain. And in a couple of weeks, when it's all healed, I get to have the lovely Laynie take pictures of it. All will be revealed in time!

Sometimes God's "no" is better than our "yes"

(Source)

It's that time of the year. As I did last year, I kept reliving the days before and after my father passed away. It still feels surreal that he isn't here.

I was in Savannah a few weekends ago, with one of my best friends, to visit our other best friend, her hubby and their sweet little baby girl. It was a weekend that I really needed. And on Sunday, before the car ride back home, we gathered in their living room to watch Northland Church's live stream of that day's worship service.

Dr. Joel Hunter was the speaker and if you've never heard him before, let me tell you that he is amazing. He and his family were experiencing the recent loss of his granddaughter, Ava, to an extremely rare brain cancer.

I'm a firm believer in how God comes through at the right moment. And he came through in the form of Dr. Hunter's talk. God knew that I needed to hear what He had to say, that I've been really missing my father, and feeling the pain fresh today as it was two years ago. Through Dr. Hunter, HE spoke these words:

"There's never a time when the pain gets any less. Because for the pain and sorrow to get less, it would somehow diminish or dismiss the value of the person...almost as if it would make you forget a part of what you had with them; forget part of the contribution they had to your life. The pain doesn't get any less, but you get bigger around it. Your life gets bigger, and deeper, and better because of it."

 As I sat there on the floor of my friends' living room, I felt a peace and a comfort that evaded me for a while. It comforted me to be reminded that God always answers our prayers. That sometimes God's "no" is better than our "yes."

I miss you, dad. I know that you're alright and that I'll see you again someday. I love you with all my heart.