Easter Sunday

This past Sunday was Easter. In the morning Stephen and I met my parents at ECBC for the Easter Service. It was a great message. After a time of worship one of the members went up and spoke about an experience he had. He was one of the passengers on the flight that landed in the Hudson. He talked about the peace he had when the plane was going down. He said that even though he thought he was going to die he knew he would be meeting his savior and was completely calm. It was a very moving story. Afterward Buster got up and compared Christianity to Buddhism and other religions. He explained that only in Christianity are we accepted by grace and not our own doings. What a wonderful and comforting thought.

After church we went home. We were going to try to do a little studying, but ended up taking a four hour nap instead. When we woke up, we drove to my parent's house for Easter dinner. Along with the traditional ham, we steamed oysters in the backyard. I ate one but couldn't bring myself to eat anymore. They taste good but I can't get over the texture. That didn't bother my two and half year old niece, Layna. My dad was feeding them to her and she kept saying "Another one please." I was very impressed. We watched her hunt plastic eggs with candy and dollars in them. After we ate the candy, we watched Stephen juggle the eggs and we even threw a couple at him to see if he wouldn't drop them. It was a lot of fun. We watched a little of the masters and blew bubbles in the back yard. It was a very nice, relaxing day.

Layna Bell

This is what I put in Stephen's Easter basket : )

Look at those cheeks!!

MUSC Charity Ball

Saturday night the Medical University of South Carolina held their 22nd annual Charity Ball. This was mine and Stephen's second year attending. The Charity Ball is a great event that raises money for charities such as Charleston Miracle League, Families Helping Families, Make A Wish Foundation, and several others. One of the local charities it helps is CRISIS Ministries. This is a free health clinic run by 2nd year MUSC students at the homeless shelter. Stephen is one of the six coordinators that ran the clinic this year.

At the event there is a silent auction with a variety of items donated. They have things like jewelry, art, household items, gift cards to restaurants, big screen TVs, books, movie tickets, spa packages, and there was even a used surf board. This year there was an African Safari Trip whose bidding started at 3 grand. It is a lot fun because you can get things for a percentage of their value but everything goes to charity. Last year we got a hotel room that we used for the wedding and a golf package Stephen used with some friends. We didn't get anything this year. We bid on some stuff but were outbid. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on things, especially things we didn't need. We had a lot of fun dancing, socializing, and eating great food though!

Chick-a-fil

Last Wednesday was the big grand opening for the Goose Creek chick-fil-a, or as my sweet grandmother calls it, chick-a-fil. Whenever a new one opens, the first 100 people in line get coupons for 52 free value meals. That's a lot of chicken! Ben and Christy have been to an opening before and invited us along for this one. Stephen got to the restaurant around 7 am and got his number. He was number 99. Ben got there shortly after and got number 100. Phew.

The rules were you couldn't leave the parking lot of the Chick-fil-a, except to go into the restaurant and use the restroom. There were lots of chick-fil-a employees there monitoring everything and if you left they cut off your bracelet with your number on it. I drove over at lunch time and found Stephen and Ben with their tents already set up. Ben had to himself a huge, deluxe tent that we dubbed the "tenthouse suite." In the parking space next to him were three college aged kids sharing a tiny one person tent. It was a very funny sight.

The weather was awesome and we spent most of the day just laying around reading. In the late afternoon is when the fun began. We started playing games and participating in all of the activities. I ended up on a different team than Stephen for a water contest where you had to carry water with a sponge from a bucket to a gallon jug relay style. It was really close but my team won and we got a Chick-fil-a mug and some candy.

Around sundown a DJ came and we danced in the parking lot. Along with the electric slide and other group dances, we had a dance and hoola-hoop contests. It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of really nice people. I was surprised how many families were there with kids. At one point in the night there was a giant game of freeze tag. It was great watching all the little kids chase Stephen around. Chick-fil-a fed everyone breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and even had an ice cream party later in the night. At first I was a little nervous to sleep in the parking lot. I was worried strange people could walk up to the tents. However, there were police officers there and when people not in the contest tried to walk up he stopped them and wouldn't let them on the property. We went to bed in our tents around 11:30 and were awaken at 5am by a trumpet. I had to go straight to work but Stephen stayed for the opening at 6am and claimed his prize : ) We had so much fun and would definitely do it again!

A view from our tents.

Some really great guys : )

Stephen squeezing a sponge over a guys head he doesnt know, lol.

Good effort babe, but this is the winning team!

Stephen in freeze tag, which he took very literally : )

My wonderful parents bringing us coffee.

Brian Regan

Sunday night Stephen and I went to see Brian regan at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. He is our favorite comedian. He is so funny and all of his material is clean. His brother, Dennis, used to write for the King of Queens, and opened up for him. It was great show and almost all of the material was new to us. I had tears in my eyes most of the time from laughing so hard and my cheecks hurt by the end of the night. Stephen and I laughed the whole ride home requoting our favorite material. We had a lot of fun and I recommend watching him on you tube.

Here is a link to one of his bits about UPS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89frRi8GgGA

This one is about the Emergency Room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-JRQXYy9wk

Bridge Run

Saturday morning Stephen and I did the Cooper River Bridge Run. We had such a great time. One of Stephen's good friends, Chad, came down for the event and spent the weekend with us. It always amazes me the kind of things people dress up to run the bridge in. While waiting in line we were right in front of a guy wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a bill Clinton mask. Right behind him were 6 guys in full suits wearing blue tooth head sets. As honored as were to run in front of the former president, we felt really bad for his secret service agents having to run in suits : ) We also saw a tortoise and a hare, Gumby riding a horse, and all of the fruit of the loom fruits. My favorite was a woman with a t-shirt that simply said "2 Timothy 4:7" which we later looked up and it says "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." After the run, we all went back and took a four hour nap. It was a great day.