Good Times with the Shacks: Spring Update

We have started spring with a bang!! Clayton is wanting his own space and Andrew is needing to move out of a crib so I'm doing a little switching around here at the Shackelford house. I started with their closets. I cleaned them out and did a little swap. I'm so proud of the way they look I had to post pictures. (Nerdy?!? I'm okay with it!) Sometimes I just go and open the doors to look again. I thought you'd like to do it as well.

While I don't have pictures, Fred and I have done a few things around the house. I pressure washed just about anything in sight, washed windows (inside and out), and bleached blinds. Fred has gotten the yard prepped for spring, including making preparations for our garden. We also hung new curtains in our room...made by my mother. Lovely.
Spring break was this week and we partied hard! The big boys and Fred camped and hiked at Fall Creek Falls. They took a friend and Dan (Fred' brother) and son met them there. Fred thoroughly enjoyed the trip...as did I. I played the "I guess Andrew is too little to camp and you guys probably need some bonding time" card. I think I will enjoy this card in the future. I went to Jackson and enjoyed a little quiet time shopping with my mom. All jokes aside, I'll join those precious boys the next time...we (or maybe I) just won't camp in a tent.

I bought more junk food for the boys pictured below than I have bought in my life. Fred laughed when I came home with all of it. He reminded me that they were only going to be away one night. For the record, they did not return with much food!

We all met back in Paris on Wednesday. Fred had to work and preach at a Holy Week service. After church that evening we headed west for Memphis to see Fred's family. We spent two glorious days of togetherness in Memphis, including a trip to Incredible Pizza. All three cousins on a motorcycle racing. It was precious. I may or may not have teared up a little at this scene.

That's Clayton in his own go cart. Fred and Jack are next to him. It was a big moment for Clayton.

We left Memphis after dinner Friday night and got home really late. We dropped our bags in the floor and hit the bed. Saturday we had a community wide Easter Egg Hunt that our church did. Friday night we learned that one of our advertisements had the wrong date listed, but despite that we had a great turn out. Who doesn't like snow cones, face painting and hot dogs?!?

After the egg hunt we ~~collapsed~~ came home to get ready for Sunday services. What a great day we had! Since our church is reading the Bible through this year in chronological order we did not have a typical "Easter" sermon. We read Ruth last week. So, Fred preached on Ruth and redemption. I was once again reminded of God's redemptive plan for humanity and how that directly effects me, giving me hope. Amazing. I serve a RISEN Savior!