Aunt Becca

I do not take lightly the role that people so graciously allow me to play in the lives of their children. And this past weekend, I got to see my two girls, Bella and Emerson. Their mothers are the dearest of dear friends, and it is so neat to have seen them both grow so naturally into motherhood. As if I ever would have doubted it! Bella's trip was a planned one, my visit with Em was a total random (and short!) luck kind of thing. Yahoo for BOTH!I love you both so much, my dear, sweet girls!

xoxo,

Aunt Becca

Lately

I have been missing these girls so badly that it HURTS. I certainly miss them all the time, but for some reason lately it's like I would do anything to have my front door fly open and one of them walk through (because we never knocked) and need to borrow a necklace or want to go to Target or on a walk or need to vent about the mailman or the weather or need help with something for work/school or need back-up on a mission to stalk a boy (TOTALLY used to do this). Or I'd love to fly through any of their old doors, but I don't know the people who live in their old places. So that would be weird. We are trying SO HARD to plan a trip for all of us. But I am in NC, Beth is in DC, Katie and Allison are both in Tennessee, Cath is in Georgia and Ash, for crying out loud, lives in Wyoming. So yeah, it's a little hard and it is making. me. sad. that it isn't any easier to get us all in one place. Spring is trying so hard to pop up and stick around here, and it makes me so badly want to sit out in the grass with these girls like we used to do and talk about nothing and everything all at once. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY, we can make something work soon. These girls are proof positive of God so very purposefully dropping 6 random people in one neighborhood and making forever friends out of them (that sounds like some mix of the "Real World" intro and a Hallmark card, doesn't it?) But it's the truth. I know that wherever we are the funny emails and occasional visits will always happen and always make us feel loved and leave us with happy hearts. I love you girls. I will see you SOON one way or another!

My Boys

When I was growing up I always wondered what it would have been like to have had an older brother. I think things like this are normal to think about - you wonder about a "what if" and wonder about things that didn't end up being your specific reality. What if I had been good at sports but not creative? What if we had lived in California and not NC? So, that same wondering happened regarding sibling life: I have one, younger sister, so I wondered what it would have been like to have an older brother.

Lucky for me I have never believed that family strictly means blood-related. Because if you ask me, I pretty much got 3 big brothers out of these dear boys. They're all just enough older than me to be way protective of me but not too much older to not be some of my very favorite, very dearest, closest friends.

I don't get them all in one place as often as I'd like. I can pull off a 2-out-of-3 rather often in different combinations, but there's something about the 3 of them together that I adore more than anything. They love each other so stinkin' much and just have the best time together.

I love that they open doors for me and pull out chairs for me and know what to order me to drink if I'm late (which I never am, but you know, just in case). I can tell their moods from 2 words on the phone and from the second they walk in the door. I love that my parents treat them like sons and that they treat my mom and dad like another set of parents.They have taught me how I deserve to be treated, and right after my dad, they are the reasons that I have such high standards for guys. They have allowed me to see with my own two eyes strong, honest, Godly men. I have seared into my memory a night that they were all at my apartment in college, and we sat in the floor of my bedroom while they told me how much they adored me and that they would never let someone who wasn't good enough pass by them to get to me. They would absolutely drop everything and come running for me if I needed them (and believe me, they have), and I would do the same for them without hesitation. We have laughed together in fun and cried together in pain.

I love them because they are the same in some ways but so different in others. I love their sweet spirits and big hearts and fabulous hugs. They without a doubt make my world a better place. Every. Single. Day.

Sweet Bella and Her Beautiful Mama...

Let's start at the beginning... In the summer of 1999 I had just finished high school and headed to Lake Champion in NY to do Work Crew for Young Life. I had gotten into Tennessee and was STILL waiting to hear from UNC. While I was there I met a girl on Summer Staff, Molly, who was from Knoxville and went to UT. I made sure to at least get to know her a little because a) there was the potential Knoxville connection if I ened up there and b) she seemed like a total hoot.

Sure enough, didn't get into Carolina (whatever, Go Pack), which I found out while I was there, so the Tennessee connection was an even bigger deal. And Molly was even more of a scream the more I got to know her. My time in Knoxville was short-lived, but Molly was great. She helped get me through some crazy times, whether she knew it or not, just through kindness and prayer and being a friend. Unfortunately, my leaving town meant us losing touch.

Never fear, because God is way too cool and I don't believe in coincidences. Fast forward to summer of 2004. Ellen goes to Windy Gap to intern for the summer and calls me the first day. "You'll never guess who my bunkmate and our camp nurse is this summer. Molly - from Knoxville. Marks, right? - we totally just figured out that we both know you. Small world!" Ellen and Molly became frick and frack that summer and it opened the door for me to reconnect with Molly. We even got to be in Elle and Terry's wedding together in 2007. Yay God.

Okay, so anyway....when the earthquake hit Haiti a little over a month ago Molly felt an overwhelming calling. She needed to get down there to help (medically) and maybe do more. And boy did she - long story short is that a week and a half ago she brought home the cutest dang toddler I've ever met in my life, Bella. Bella was an orphan and when Molly met her and saw the shape she was in, knew she was to bring her home. She fought a hard fight and won, and brought this angel home to take care of her.

The Bruces and I headed to see them in Knoxville this past weekend (with a car FULL of amazing gifts from AMAZING families in Winston) and Aunt Becca had the TIME OF HER LIFE with Bella and Emerson and all of their respective parents.

Bella has gone from a weak, sick, pitiful little girl to a giggling, singing, eating like a horse child in no time. Seeing Molly with her makes you feel like there are some things in the world that really are just RIGHT. The joy that Bella finds in the tiniest things really makes you stop and think, because you know it's just more than a baby finding fun in something silly. It's a child who has truly never seen such things or known such love and attention and care. My heart felt like it was going to explode all weekend and has been sad to have left ever since Sunday.Emerson. You are about the cutest little peanut on the face of the earth. Seriously.With 2 of my very favorite moms. :)Sweet Bella sent me flowers at work after we got back. Melt me!Molly, I am so darn proud of you that if I could crawl up on my roof and shout it without getting hurt I totally would. You are truly a hero. To Bella and to all of us. I love you big and huge and always. And Bella, Aunt Becca loves you something fierce. Forever.

Just Keep Shoveling...

That's a line from Father of the Bride, folks. When Franck Eggelhoffer and his assistant Howard Weinstein are clearing the snow from the front walk at the Banks house before Annie Banks becomes Annie Banks McKenzie.

It is also what I have jokingly said to my dear father who has come over every darn time it has snowed to dig me out of the bowl that I live in. I am not saying we live in Alaska, but NC hasn't seen 3 snows before Valentine's Day in I don't know how long...and we are currently getting more as I type. And oh now I MISS my Ford Explorer from high school and college, even if it did nearly ruin a Spring Break trip to DC one year because of a silly broken seatbelt (Katie Mulder do you still read this blog?). The Honda just can't hang in the snow and ice.

But, the snow has luckily come for the most part on weekends, so it has been playtime. I live near many of my favorites and a great place to sled, so that's what we've done!

Mary with Will & Ben!The Vivster - loving it and oh-so-stylish at the same time.
Doubled up with Ella Bear and Maggie Moose!This eager watching would make you think Nora couldn't wait to go out in it...She HATED it. But what a precious little snow angel she was anyway - as long as someone was holding her and she wasn't "TUCK! (Stuck!)" in the snow!Happy Snow Days!

Once Upon a Christmas Picture...

Just a little slideshow of some of my favorite pictures from Christmas card season. Enjoy!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Just Click Your Heels 3 Times...

(Katie Tison (Baddour) this one's for you...)

I'm not allowed to show pictures of the bride in her dress just yet, but I feel like this one doesn't count. I took her bridal portrait back in November on a PERFECT day at Duke Chapel (thank you 18 degree weather we have now - you can go away at once) and had a blast and I'm quite the fan of the way they turned out.

The flowers are totally from Lowes Foods and I drove them to Durham and stripped them and cut them and arranged them and wrapped them AT the salon while she was having her hair done. I like to think this is just a teensy bit of my mother's floral talent coming through. I can only hope.

The shoes are my favorite. The girl LOVES some Wizard of Oz (love is not the right word - straight-jacket obsessed might be more fitting) so these are her tribute to Dorothy Gale. I totally love them.

The wedding is in 11 days. I feel like the man that counts down for the NASA space shuttle liftoffs should call and wake me up for the next 10 mornings. We're almost to liftoff...buckle up!