Carrie Grier Lowe 08-02-1984 to 04-27-2011

Many of you saw my facebook post a few days ago when I found out that one of my classmates from Samford lost her life in the tornado a few days ago. Carrie and another classmate, Jennifer Long, were my two closest friends in nursing school - without a doubt. Those girls meant more to me than either one of them probably ever knew. Through the years and distance between states, we had lost touch since I left Samford in 2005 to come back to Atlanta.

I came across an article in the AJC (Atlanta Journal Constitution) on those that lost their lives in the twister. Although it is painfully descriptive, I believe that we should never forget how terrible that day must have been for her. Here is the portion of the article with her story ...

"Back in Pleasant Grove, Jonathan Ford watched from atop the cab of his pickup as his neighbors slowly climbed from the rubble in the silent landscape.

Then, from where Curt and Crystal Grier's house had once stood, two doors down, a voice pleaded: "Please help! Please help! We've got babies stuck!"

The Grier's and brother-in-law Josh Lowe had escaped from the crawl space under their collapsed porch. But the couple's two children, Curt's sister, Carrie Lowe, and her newborn baby, Tucker, remained trapped. All that was left of the house was the brick front steps. Slowly, the men extracted the screaming children from the rubble. But when Jonathan Ford went to help dig, and he reached for Carrie Lowe, hunched over her son's car seat, her body was cold to the touch. The baby was alive, in the seat.

Later, after the rescue crews had come to take away her body, friends marked the spot with a red rag tied to a splintered piece of wood and placed a Bible found in the wreckage on the steps."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42841063/ns/weather

I knew that she had lost her life and that a room collapsed on her, but to read the details about her clutching to her baby in her last moments brings me to tears each time I read it. Selfishly, I think about myself as a soon to be mother and only a month younger than Carrie. I cannot IMAGINE how scared Carrie must have been that day for herself, and her family.

My heart goes out to you, Josh (Carrie's husband), and almost 8 week old, Tucker. Carrie was an AMAZING woman and I am deeply sorry for your loss! May the Lord be with you and surround you and your family during this time. We love you :)

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To look her up on facebook - her name is "Carrie Grier Lowe" from Birmingham, Alabama. Her profile picture is a beautiful black and white photo of her new family.

Babies and Wedding Bells!

I think that 2011 is totally going to be the year for weddings and babies :)

Let me list the weddings so I don't lose track ...

Amanda - Dear friend of mine for about 6 years now, we were introduced by fate alone and our friendship has been life changing, for both of us!
Andrea - A sweet friend of mine in Florida is finally marrying her sweetheart at the end of this month!
Taryn - My bridesmaid, and friend from college, and now work, too!
Erin - From work, although I've only known her for about 5 months - we go together like peas and carrots :)

And now the babies ...

About 4 girls I know from college have already had their babies this year, so let's move on to the ones that are still due to pop :)
Chasity - Friend from work, is due with little Beckham at the beginning of May
Elizabeth - One of my highschool/church friend's little sister's is having her second baby boy in the middle of May with little Henry! Love keeping up with her cute little family on her blog!
Nicole - Friend from college, is finally adopting her precious baby Lily from China sometime before the end of May!
Jennifer - Met through a mutual friend, is due with little Liam at the beginning of June!
Heidi - Although we only met at work orientation, we keep up on FB :) Her little girl, Hunter is due in July!
Tracey - Friend from college, (I think we met in Physiology, how fabulous was that class girl!?) is due with her little one in the beginning of September!
Me - Due mid-September!
Andrea - Met through a mutual friend a couple years ago, is having her little one about a week after us!
Casey - Friend from work, is having her little one in the beginning of October!
And another friend that I've known since high school just found out she's due at the end of November!

If I missed you on the list, it surely wasn't intentional - I just cannot believe how lucky we all are to be starting and making families of our own :) God is SOO Good :) Can I get an AMEN!?

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I want to take a minute to share my favorite proposal story and my favorite baby story! My favorite proposal story for this year has to go with the couple that has been engaged the shortest (only a couple days!), miss Amanda and Aaron! I cannot just start with the story, have to give you some background! Amanda is my godliest friend, by far. She has taken two seven month mission trips overseas and even donated her 2004 accord (paid off completely by her, might I add!) to her fabulous sister, Steen! Needless to say, Amanda is so selfless! Well, I digress ... On one of her mission trips, she met a girl friend who happened to live in Canada, named CJ. After their return home from the mission trip, they kept in touch and Amanda even went up to visit CJ at one point. Cue Aaron :) Amanda met Aaron through this CJ's boyfriend at the time. Well, needless to say. The rest is history! Amanda and Aaron have maintained a Christ-centered relationship, across two countries. I truly am impressed by their dedication to each other an the Lord. They could not ask for a better spouse :) Well, on to the proposal story already!!!

Aaron came to visit for Amanda's birthday this last week, and while he didn't propose to her at her surprise birthday party like we all thought ... He went above and beyond any of our dreams for our sweet Amanda :) Amanda and her family took Aaron to the beach over the weekend. Aaron finagled a helicopter ride over a beach with "Amanda, Marry Me!?" written in the sand! Now, isn't that like only in the movies!?!? I cannot stop smiling just thinking about how my patient, amazing friend finally has her prince charming!

I think they are thinking about an August wedding, and I cannot wait to help her plan (if she will let me!)!!! God is going to bless this couple like crazy and I cannot wait to see what He has in store for their lives together!
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Now, onto my favorite baby story! Hands down, without competition - my friend from college Nicole, get's this award in my book! Nicole and I met at Jeff State's nursing school in Birmingham. Well, I have to give a little background on this amazing woman, too! ... Nicole was inspirational to me in a number of ways, but the three most prominent were her genuine, caring attitude, her wealth of knowledge (always the highest scores in the class!), and the fact that she has lost nearly 200 pounds with exercise and diet alone! I mean, WOW! Just to type those words alone it doesn't seem like one person could possibly lose that much weight on their own, but she did it!

Nicole and her husband Jeff have been married for a number of years, I'm thinking like 15+ maybe? [Correct me if I'm wrong Nicole :)] And they have never been able to successfully conceive. After years of trials in attempting to have a family, they decided that adoption would be the best option for them. They decided that they wanted adopt from China (which happens to be the most difficult country to adopt from). After nearly a 6 year wait, they were finally matched with their sweet, Lily Faith a little over a week ago! I cannot tell you how much paperwork they filled out, how much money they spent on the process, or the physicals, but I can tell you - it's a LOT OF WORK! I had no idea that adoptions were so complicated! Every time I talked to Nicole about her adoption on our study breaks (I miss those talks by the way - not the studying!), I always admired her courage and patience with the process. I always thought to myself - wow, I wish I could be like her! I'm the least patient person I know!

Nicole and Jeff are, by far, the most deserving parents I know! I cannot wait to see the pictures of when they finally get to meet their sweet baby girl for the first time in the next month or two! I am so excited and happy for you guys :)
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Well, I think that concludes my novel of a blog post - MAN, I wrote a lot! Have a great rest of your week!

Light at the end of the tunnel!

I'm finally headed to day shift, yahoo! I can't wait to have enough energy to work out regularly, work at the salon more often, and spend time with family and friends when they are awake! An answer to my prayers :)

Thirty-One

I decided to become a consultant for a company called Thirty-One. They do in-home parties for embroidered goodies like lunch bags, purses, totes, towels, makeup bags, backpacks, etc. I think the Christian company mission is fabulous ...


I'm excited about sharing these cute new products with my friends and family. They are reasonably priced, and we all know that I like to keep myself busy with random side jobs .. so this will suffice for now :)

Please check out the catalogs if you are interested http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/catalog.htm .. I am not going to pay for the personal website monthly fee, so contact me directly for any orders or parties!

RIP Sugar

Our family golden retriever, Sugar, passed away on her 10th birthday, 03/30/2010, while being rushed to the emergency animal clinic. She had pericardial effusion (fluid in the sac surrounding her heart). Soo happy she could enjoy her new, baby sister (Cupcake) for the last couple weeks of her life. I will miss you, Sugar! God, thank you for allowing me to enjoy your creation through Sugar. Please take care of her up there :)

Sugar (dog) and Cupcake (puppy) 03/2010

Working on the night train ..

Sorry I haven't updated in a while... For the last few months I've been trying to adjust to night shift at the hospital, working at the salon, finishing moving, and celebrating grandma's 92nd birthday up in Young Harris, GA.

Now that life is starting to settle down for us, of course I have to throw in a wrench and start back to school this summer. So I'm going to be a slave to school until I have N.P. behind my name (nurse practitioner for all you non-medical people out there).

David and I are both enjoying our jobs, but I do have to say that not seeing him at all when I work night shift really puts a damper on things. He works 9-5 and I work 7p - 7:30a so most days we don't even see each other for five minutes :( Oh well, it's the sacrifices that we have to do to make that money!

Our First Thanksgiving

This year we decided to spend our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple in Birmingham. Our niece was born last week, so we used last weekend for our vacation time. I (Brooke) had to work at Brookwood on Thanksgiving, but at least I got time and a half! We decided to celebrate today (Friday) instead :) The picture above is my first attempt at cooking a turkey on my own so I wanted to document it with a picture. It actually turned out really yummy! I made stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes (from scratch), gravy (from scratch), and green bean casserole.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been being with family, but maybe next year! We can't wait to see everyone for Christmas. I guess that means we need to put up our decorations this weekend. Man, this year is flying by! Hope you all have a wonderful night!