It's been a minute. . .or five. . .I communicate with a particular person 5-6 days a week over e-mail and a lot of the communication is via pictures.  This week I noticed that I hadn't taken any pictures all week!  I work for a tax firm (in operations, specifically learning and development) and this time of the year is crunch time.  Most people are on mandatory 55 hour weeks and the lists of things to be done by deadline (4/15) is LONG.  My job, however, gets reduced to "fill in where needed".  From year-to-year it's difficult to find things to do to fill my hours and then I come home worn out from "lack of anything to do".  Make sense?  Anyway, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it :/  I found it hard to share much of my life with this special person this week b/c I didn't have any pictures to share!  So. . .life lately isn't much of anything - working 40 hours, getting the dog out on nice days, I have gotten some reading in, a little pickleball, a few tennis lessons, and trying to be free to see my kiddos when they are around.

This is me, right this minute.  It's just after 5 a.m. on Saturday morning and all is quiet.  Laura is hosting some out-of-town people overnight - they have some training on the UT campus this weekend.  I heard Erin come in really late last night - she has been in-and-out on the weekends lately.  Laura and her 4 soon-to-be-coworkers (more on that in a minute) have to leave the house at 7:30 and I have a tennis match at noon today - that's about it.  I told ya, not much going on 'round these parts!

When I *thought* I might participate Friday Favorites yesterday I took pictures of my healthy, blooming plants around the house!  I'm loving how some are blooming and/or just lasting - those on my counter came with one of our Easter guests last weekend.  My birthday present from my oldest this year was to come to Knoxville in a couple weeks to help me with my outside beds - they are in BAD shape.  I can't wait!!

So this girlie is fundraising right now for the next year - she is going to serve with Chi Alpha  on the Austin Peay campus!  This is not a campus ministry we were familiar with until she became a student at the University of Tennessee in the fall of 2021.  This has been a group she has been very dedicated to and this last year she has taken the steps to get on staff with them and was chosen to serve at APSU in Clarksville, TN, starting in July.  Fundraising is a whole new world to us, outside of school PTO and sports/clubs while the kids were growing up.  She's working really hard at it, communicating with friends and family about what she is doing, why, and what her goals are.  One way she is doing it is with dinner at our house.  This was her first one about a month ago:

Trying everything out on her family/framily from down the street :). She has since hosted two other dinners here with friends of ours - one couple from a former small group we were a part of and another couple we have played tennis with for years.  She does such a good job explaining who Jesus is to her and why she wants to help spread the gospel through campus ministry next school year.  

And this one got her senior pictures back!!  They are all so great - it is going to be HARD to choose favorites :). We had a beautiful day to get on campus and get these done during Spring Break.  Her brother, on the other hand, did NOT want to join us. . .we'll see if he fulfills my wishes to get senior photos done.  

Easter Sunday was GORGEOUS.  You won't believe it - these are the only pictures I got

Nana & Grandpa went to church with us and Ryan also joined us for the day.  The night before he, Robert, and Laura had gone to an MLS game in Nashville - it was Robert's Christmas gift to Laura last year.  They had a late night so we opted for 11 a.m. service and 2 p.m. lunch.  

I'm not kidding - not ONE picture of the spread or the people :/. We had 16 people total - our regular 10, Ryan, I had a friend from work and her son, and Laura invited 3 friends from campus.  Except for Tennessee losing in basketball in the Elite Eight (the game coincided with lunchtime) it was a pretty perfect day :)

We got together with our "Greek" friends a couple weeks ago!  These are folks we met on our trip to Greece last year and this year we are all traveling to Italy together!!  These are people we have not even known for a full year and yet we feel like they've always been in our lives - so weird how that sometimes works, huh?  We all live about 45 minutes apart in different directions, but we make get-togethers a priority.  There is another couple that was a part of this "Greek Geek" group but they live out of state so we don't see them as much.

Next year one of us is turning 40, one is turning 50, there will be a 25th wedding anniversary and a 30th anniversary - we need to celebrate big!  

Last weekend Stephen got tickets to the UT baseball game and invited Tom and me to go with him.  It was killing me not to ask for a picture with the two of them, but I restrained myself. . .it was a fun game and the weather was great.  We played Georgia and had 2 grand slams, which was so much fun!!

While we were here Laura & Robert sent us a picture of their view at the soccer game:

I'm glad they had this opportunity to be together :)

Last month Tom and I headed to Ohio for the weekend to celebrate my parent's birthdays.  One is on the 14th and the other the 27th so we hit them in the middle :)

This is how "off" my game I am - I only got a picture of Tom and my mom at dinner - why I didn't get one with my mom at the same time is a mystery - all I can assume is the waitress came up for something and then we all just forgot :/

Trio is one of our favorites in the  Cincinnati area.

The next morning my sister, Tom, and I went to Centerville to church with my dad and then out for his birthday lunch - 81 years old!

Well, that's Life Lately. . .when I start writing I do realize we have been up to more than just eating, sleeping, working, and a bit of pickleball - ha!

Let me know what you are up to in the comments :)

Love,

Jenni