See You on April 8!

This morning while I was taking a shower before church, I started thinking about Lent. Which is kind of different for a born-and-raised Baptist girl like me, who never really learned about or practiced Lent growing up. Kyle, who grew up Presbyterian, was the one who really introduced me to the tradition of Lent when we were in college and encouraged me to start thinking about participating. As someone who still has a very small understanding of the Lenten season, I only want to partake in it if I know God is calling me to deal with a heart issue, and not because it's what everyone does this time of year.

Which leads me back to when I was in the shower this morning, where everyone has been inspired with a divine idea or two. ;)  I asked God if there was anything in my life that was serving as a distraction from Him, and He gave me an unmistakable answer: BLOGS. Yes, blogs. Exactly what I was afraid to hear, but exactly what I needed to hear. 

So for the next 42 days until Easter, Front Porch Sittin' will be taking a little vacay and I also won't be reading any other blogs. I know I am a little late since Ash Wednesday is the official start of Lent, but I think this is less of a matter of following man's rules and more of a matter of following God's. This will be an extremely hard thing for me to do, since my blog serves as a creative outlet for me and I love reading everyone else's blogs. But all the more praise be to God since He alone can get me through it!

So why give up something that I love and something that brings me so much joy? Can that really be a negative thing in my spiritual life? Well, the answer is yes and no. The minute that something becomes more important to me than Christ, it becomes a negative thing in my spiritual life. And to be honest, right now the first thing I read everyday is my Google Reader rather than the Bible. And that needs to change.

Also, in this past year and a half I've been blogging, I've been more susceptible to comparison than I ever have been in my life. I fall too easily into the trap of basing my worth on how many pageviews I get on a post, or how many comments I get, or how many followers I have. And while reading about other bloggers' lives can be a lot of fun, it also gives me an unrealistic view of what my life should be like and causes a spirit of ungratefulness to swell up in me. So that needs to change as well.

I have to tell you too, Kyle's first response when I told him what I was giving up for Lent was, "Crap, now I have to check all those couponing blogs!" Haha yep, knock yourself out sweetie! 

But don't worry, unless God calls me to, I am not giving up blogging forever! I will have plenty to write about once I'm back, since we have our 2nd Wedding Anniversary coming up in March and I have a few spring crafts up my sleeve. Stay tuned!

Like I said, this won't be easy, and there will be times when I am sooo tempted to just click over to Google Reader. But on the flip side I am actually excited about it too, and am hopeful that it will be a fruitful period of growth. I will miss all of you dearly,  and may whatever you chose to do this season of Lent make you fall more and more in love with our Savior!

Baby Bennett

Remember when I posted about my cousin Creagh's gorgeous Mobile Bay wedding? Well, she and her husband recently welcomed a sweet baby boy into their family and we got to meet him this past weekend! His name is Bennett and he was the most precious baby to hold. I took a million a few pictures during our visit that I am so excited to share with you today. But don't say I didn't warn you ladies, you might catch baby fever if you read any further! ;)

My Uncle Bill, the proud grandfather.
My Mom (left) with her two sisters, my Aunt Carol is the beautiful new grandmother in the middle.
My sister, Ashley, looking like a natural.
Don't they look cute with a baby in their arms? ;)
I just love this picture to pieces. My Pawpaw gets to experience one of life's greatest joys, being a great-grandfather!
As always, with a new baby comes plenty of gifts! My sister gave Creagh and Chris her signature baby gift, a book called On the Night You Were Born. And my Mom gave them an Alabama onsie, which was very hard for her to order since she is a Georgia fan through and through!

Bennett seems to be a great baby, he just slept his way through most of our visit despite the commotion and being passed around from person to person. Can't wait to see more of this cute kiddo!

My Parents Visit Augusta!

The first weekend in February, my parents came to visit us for a day! I had such a great time showing them around Augusta, but I know they are counting down the days until we move back closer to home. ;)

They brought along their white miniature schnauzer, Mister, who is now 12 weeks old and so big! As you can see, Doc gave him a very warm welcome.

Unfortunately, for most of the day Kyle had to study for a practical exam he had that coming Monday, but that didn't stop my parents and me from enjoying the beautiful day together! We started things out by eating lunch at Manuel's Bread Cafe. My mom and I ordered the chicken wrap with hummus and it was absolutely delicious! We rounded out our meal with a half slice of cake each, and then I took my parents just a few blocks down from the cafe to walk along the Savannah River.

We then went back to my house to let Mister out, where my dad decided he needed an after-lunch nap. So with some time to kill before dinner, my mom and I decided to do what we do best--go shopping! We hit up the Promenade outside the Augusta Mall and I scored this AMAZING red pencil skirt from Ann Taylor Loft for only $15. Holler!

A few hours later we brought our treasures back to the house and started getting ready for dinner. Of course my mom couldn't pass up the opportunity to have her picture taken with her grand-dog, as she likes to call Doc, so we had a little photoshoot before we left for dinner.

Isn't this one of Mister yawning so cute?
Since we still had a little bit of daylight left, we took a quick stroll along the Augusta Canal before we finally made it to dinner at The Polka Dot Pig.

We weren't too impressed with Polka Dot Pig, the food was good but we were unfortunate to get stuck with a waitress who really didn't want to be there. But all in all it was a good trip for my parents, and we were so glad to get to spend some quality time with them. Can't wait until we move closer and we can have more days like this together!

Our Valentine's Getaway

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all! We celebrated V-Day early this year in the Fenton household and went on a little getaway this past weekend. We had my parent's lake house all to ourselves and we seriously contemplated not coming back home! Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Oh and if you're wondering about the picture of the cork and the screw, we had to get a little creative with opening our bottle of Moscato since we forgot to bring our corkscrew. Thankfully there is a way to open a bottle of wine without one! ;) Enjoy your Valentine's Day and tell someone you love them!

Happy Birthday, Doc!

Today our precious Weimaraner is one year old! Doc, who has brought so much love and joy into our lives, has the perfect birthday of the day before Valentine's Day. We are so happy that he is ours and we love him like we would any member of our family! Though it does break my heart to say that Doc is no longer a puppy, I know he will still be as playful as a puppy for many years to come. And now I'm going to do what Mommies do best--show off pictures of my baby growing up! ;)

Looking at his 6-week-old pictures always makes me tear up a little, he was such a cute little squirt! Now he's our 70-lb. squirt. ;) He got his favorite kind of rawhide bone as an early birthday present this past weekend, and we also plan to order him a shiny new ID tag. He's gonna be the best lookin' Weimaraner in town! I'll post pictures of his handsome new tag once we get it in the mail. Happy happy birthday, Doc! We love you buddy!

Monday Cuteness

Happy Monday afternoon, y'all! We had a FANTASTIC weekend this past weekend. My parents came to visit on Saturday, and we had perfect spring-like weather while they were here. Yesterday we had a great time watching the Super Bowl with some friends, and I just didn't want the weekend to end. But more on that later! For now, I wanted to share these super-cute pictures of Doc wearing a UGA sweater Kyle recently found in one of our moving boxes. He is a never-ending source of entertainment for us!

Isn't he so cute? He wasn't as amused by it as we were though, as you can see in this video I grabbed:

Hope that brightens up your Monday! :)