Goodbye LITTLE car!!

Well, we took the rental car back today! Of course, Truett was SO fazed by the new scenery of the back seat. (He could care less what car he's in!) BUT Mommy was so glad to be rid of the Chevy HHR we had to rent because of the Wednesday damage I did to my BIG car! Like I said, I'll spare you the details. Let's just say, one of the youth called me DIESEL on the way out of his house Wednesday night after church! Thanks, Riley! It still makes me sick to think about it! I just had to have a picture to have a memory of this great experience! HA!
We'll see what next Wednesday has in store! Satan, you better watch out!

little man chillin' in whatever car I put him in! HA! He's a trooper!

Satan!!! Get Thee Behind Me!!

If my mother-in-law is reading this, she's probably LOL at the title!
Well, it's Wednesday, and I think I'm going to label these days – Anything Can Happen Days or Wacky Wednesdays or SOMETHING! Satan always tries to get in my way and break me down! I shouldn't be surprised any more BUT I let this morning's happenings get the best of me (I'll spare you the details)! Sorry, Lord! But when I finally got it out of my system ... I'm good and SATAN, you're not stopping me now.
Tonight's talk with the youth, 'Girl Talk — What the Lord Expects of Us'.
Please pray for the hearts of these teens! They are great!

One More Month

I can't believe that our little man is 11 months old today! We've survived the things I never thought we would at the time ... breastfeeding every 2 hours for forever (it seemed like it at the time), getting in a routine and then it changing, learning a good routine, adding a part time job in there, all kinds of fun stuff God has miraculously removed from my memory! I do know that the times it was time to transition out of something, we never had to do it, he has always done it himself. God knows what we need!
How thankful we are to have such a happy boy! So far he hasn't been sick aside from the occassional cold, loves to laugh and be silly, loves OTHER people, can play all by himself for a little while, and now he's standing up on his own without really realizing it! He's such a joy! We are so blessed. I remember times when I thought I would never make it and so many people have it so much worse!! Thank you Lord for such a blessing!
Only one more month and we'll be partying for a ONE YEAR OLD!!

What a Week!!

What a week! My mom said it best ... "The angels must have come down with a bus and said, come on and load up!" Heaven has definitely had many victories this week (Mr. Abb, our sister-in-law's grandfather, Mr. Shearin, Nana, and about 3 more that we didn't know directly). I have been reminded in these past 3 days that family and friends are precious and spending time together is even more precious! Mom and dad have some amazing friends and will be Mrs. Theresa's support for the next while and New Hebron has showered the Berry family with love and GREAT stories of Nana. It's so neat how you learn so much about someone after they're gone.
Nana's funeral was precious! Everything was so NANA! There were so many expected at visitation last night that they moved her to the chapel (She would have been so proud! :)) I was able to do her programs which turned out great with her pretty pink lips in the picture on the front (so Nana). The service was simple, yet perfect. The pastor's words were perfect and so personal after using her Bible for reference! There were tons of flowers. "Nana loved flowers and handsome men" as her obituary stated! LOVE IT!
What a week! Lots of grieving and tears but happiness too! How can you be sad for someone who has won the victory!!

What a week already! Yesterday afternoon Nana met Jesus too. What an amazing woman! She will surely be missed. Mrs. Ernestine Berry was a sharp, 97-year-old lady until just a couple months ago when she began to really lose her health. Having only known her for a few years, it was a pure joy! She was like my own grandmother since I lost both of mine before meeting Ryan. It was always so neat to sit and listen to her stories of the men that proposed to her and her turning them down to riding in the car in Big Creek, MS (where she grew up) while the curtains blew in the wind. I never heard the words for myself, but she apparently always told her granddaughters that "You can marry for money just as much as you can marry for love!" Ryan and I will miss all the letters and newspaper articles she sent for years. And, we'll never forget how she was so proud of Truett and said, "He is well made!"

Nana, Mrs. Ernestine, Miss Priss, The Queen will be missed, but she's so much better now!

New things at the Berry House

I know you guys have been DYING ... I mean on the edge of your seat dying ... to see all the updates we've done to our house all finished and beautiful! I promise i haven't been holding out on you. We've been holding out on the house! Since I started working with the students at the church and taking a class last semester online, the blog AND the projects slowed down just a little bit! BUT we had a very productive weekend doing little finishing touches but we wanted to show off just a couple of our NEW things around the house!

This is the most exciting of all! We finally got rid of the solid wood door and let a little light in the den. What a beautiful door and just the beginning of transforming the outside of the house!

New ... teenage guys helping? HA!! No! But they did help me pull off a great surprise for Ryan ... not having to pick the bed up and put it together after a long week!

Ryan and I have been looking for a bed since we got married. The slow to find the right thing people we are, we've (or maybe I) FINALLY found the perfect bed and the perfect deal!! LOVE IT!!!


And last but not least, someone is doing A LOT of new things! Truett has overnight become quite the little man! No more baby food for him unless mom is too lazy to fix something! Seriously, I've realized how little I have cooked in the past 10 months but we're loving it! He thinks he's so big — really wanting to walk, but loving to crawl. He's such a joy and the highlight of our days!
It's hard to believe he'll be a YEAR OLD in a little over a month!

There is a lot more going on with the house. Promise, more to come!

Life is Precious ...

I'm faced this morning with news from my mom that she and dad's best friend, Mr. Abb Henry, met Jesus face to face this morning. Those of you that know the Henry's, know they are precious people and have been through a lot in the past 2 years. I'm so glad to have the picture below of Truett with them from a few months ago. Mr. Abb was given the news about a month ago that his cancer would take him quickly after choosing to discontinue his treatment.


Mom and dad were able to spend a lot of time with the Henrys over the past several months and are now with Mrs. Theresa and the rest of their precious friends at her house — a house that will forever be a beautiful memory of Mr. Abb.
Please pray for Mrs. Theresa, Morgan and his wife and little Abby (their granddaughter - she lost her mother only about a year and a half ago). I know Mr. Abb and Neely (Abby's mom) had a sweet reunion in heaven this morning! Life is precious and the time we have with family is as well. Mom and dad also had a friend pass away from a inoperable brain tumor last week. Oh how short our days are!

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Please also pray for Ryan's family. His 97 year old Nana is not doing well. She is sleeping most of the day now as she is in hospice care at her home in New Hebron. Oh how we wish we were closer to spend some time with her. What a full life she has lived!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the COUSINS!!!

It's hard to believe how fast kids grow up. Sunday was Baby Jake's (who i guess we can't call 'baby' anymore) 2nd birthday! Melanie and Matt no longer have a baby and they survived! Congrats! Jake is a sweet little man regardless of what his mom and dad say. :) (I know, they have to live with him!) I think it might be called being the youngest child and having to hold your own! I can't wait to see this little boy grow up into a young man! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAKE!!


Tomorrow is sweet little Parker darker's big day! She will be 8!! Parker is the sweetest child! She's the oldest of the Berry grands and a very big helper! She's also such the little singer and her favorite thing...she's a cheerleader! I mean a REAL cheerleader on a competition squad in Meridian. She is a tiny little thing and !so flexible. I can't wait to see her in action!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET PARKER!!!