Fort Worth & A SHOOTING?!

It is feeling much more spring like here in West Texas (ignore the 40 degrees today.. we should be back to normal tomorrow). I am grateful for the warmer weather. We have three very active young kids here that love to be outdoors!

Here is a collage of the kids just being cute the past couple weeks..

Braelyn, Happy and I got back from Fort Worth yesterday. We went for the weekend to see friends and family. We all had a good time and I was thrilled to get to spend some time with my family. Braelyn and Brylee think they have the best Granny and Papa ever, I agree. It was fun to see them play in the backyard that my mom and aunt played in as kids and me and all my cousins did too. How lucky am I to have grandparents who are still able to go outside and play with their great grandkids and kids down on the floor and tickle them?! They are in their late 80's and in really good health. We are grateful. Papa taught Braelyn how to pick up "porcupine eggs" from the sweet gum tree in the backyard (a long time family activity). She also learned how to make Papa giggle.. by acting like a monster and scaring him. See all of this in the collage below..

Here is some pictures of the girls spending time at Granny and Papa's. Braelyn didn't want to come home. She wanted to stay with Granny. :)

On Saturday, we met up with Nana, Aunt Hather, Aunt Misty, Uncle Jon and Cousin Colton to go to the fabulous Fort Worth Zoo. The weather turned out to be perfectly warm and it was so much fun (aside from the other 5,000 people who had the same idea that day!). Braelyn was amazed, she hadn't been since she was barely one so she didn't remember it from before. It is so big! We really enjoyed seeing everybody. We will definitely be making another zoo trip this summer.

Sunday turned out to be a strange day. We got up and went shopping with Granny (be excited to see their new Easter dresses this weekend). After a morning of shopping we came back and ate lunch and got ready to hit the road back to Abilene. My brother called me with some big news.. there was a shooting next door to our house on Saturday night/ early Sunday morning and our neighbor was murdered. Long story short.. my neighbor and her boyfriend had broken up and she was dating someone else. New boyfriend and old boyfriend apparently got in a fight and there was a shooting. Her old boyfriend, who we knew only through small talk, was killed from multiple gunshot wounds. It is very sad. She has twin 4 year old girls who were home at the time. Since I posted this on my facebook, many people have been asking questions so.. yes, we knew them only briefly (we talked to them just about little things or if they needed anything, we helped). Yes, it does look like a crime scene.. there is blood in the street, grass, etc. He was taken by ambulance from the house to Hendrick Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. No, we did not see or hear anything that night (I, of course, was in Fort Worth and somehow Jeff and James slept through it all!). No, the shooters have not been caught. They know who they are but they have not been found which makes me very uneasy! Although this is frustrating for us, it is still very sad. There are some more details that I really don't want to share to the whole world wide web but I am asking you to pray for this family. We live in a good neighborhood where we shouldn't have to worry but right now (and probably from now on) we are worrying. Our neigborhood is a circus right now with people driving by and looking almost every 5 minutes and news reporters knocking on our door or filming next door almost non stop for the past 24 hours. Just pray for the situation in general. If you want to read more details.. my brother (who lives with us, if you didn't know) was on the news last night talking about our feelings of the situation. You can read that interview by clicking HERE

Here is the story from the Abilene Reporter News as well.. HERE

IN EXCITING NEWS... NICK AND MAHER GOING TO HAVE A BABY BOY TOMORROW! Maher called this morning and without sharing all the details on the internet... there is progress being made :) She will be induced tomorrow morning! Corbin Ollie should be here by tomorrow night. They are very excited. Maher has been in the hospital with complications for the last three weeks and I know she is so excited to have Corbin here safe and happy and she is ready to go home. We are going to see him tomorrow and I will post pics as soon as I get them :)