Diana's surgery was a success - praise God for that answered prayer!!!! The doctor reported that indeed Diana had ovarian cancer HOWEVER all cancer/tumors were successfully removed during the surgery. Mark & Diana will meet with the doctors tomorrow to discuss chemo treatment plans. Diana and the family are so humbled by the outpouring of prayers, love and support both near and far. Please continue to lift Diana and the family in prayer to our great and wonderful Heavenly Father!!

Setting the Stage

Fall 1993 – Florida College – Sadie Hawkins

There was “this guy” who sat behind me in chapel. We talked a little bit BUT for the most part our talking was because he was ALWAYS picking on me … pulling my hair, messing with my chapel seat, taking my books, etc. – you get the point. It was Sadie Hawkins which meant the girls had to ask the guys to fall banquet. During breakfast one day “this guy’s” friend was inquiring who I was going to ask to fall banquet … he suggested I ask “his friend” – you know to “just go as friends” … I agreed. Asking day came and I went to the local card store to purchase the “asking prop”. Back in the day those stuffed animals in balloons were a BIG thing so I bought a soft, stuffed brown dog with big floppy ears, tied a note written in calligraphy around his neck and had it all put inside a balloon. The best part was that “this guy” worked as a night watchman and was going to be on shift until midnight. I made arrangements with his roommate to have the balloon sitting on his bed when he came in from his night watch shift. So “this guy” had to go a whole day of seeing each other in chapel, at meals and in class BUT never once did I say a word about fall banquet. Rumor was that “this guy” was nervous ALL DAY LONG that I had changed my mind and wasn’t going to ask him. Shortly after midnight I received a phone call from “this guy” saying he would be more than happy to go to fall banquet with me!! Our official “first date” was on “guy be nice to girl day” – Byron took me out to dinner, then to a movie and then we finished our date with hot chocolate and HOT Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Little did I know that just two years later on our “anniversary” Byron asked me to marry him … so I guess you can say the rest is history!!

My constant friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward.

In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow.

I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.



Fall 1993



June 21, 1997



March 19, 2011


To this day Byron LOVES to pick on me and when I get mad or frustrated he reminds me that it all began with him picking on me!! I thank God EVERY day for the blessing he sent my way 18 years ago ... even when he is picks on me!!


I know it's been awhile since I have updated and hopefully I will be back SOON with a post about what has been going on in the Davis household ... I have been trying not to devote as much time and energy to the internet and to pour that time and energy into more meaningful and important things in my life ... things that will be beneficial to both me, my family and most of all my commitment to the Lord!!

When we bought our new house we delayed our move-in for a month so that we could paint the inside while it was empty. Although I love a lot of color my man on the other hand is very plain and simple so we painted the entire living room/kitchen/dining area plain ol’ white.


The first room I wanted to add some color to was the laundry room –after all if I have to do laundry, which is one of my least favorite chores, I wanted to be able to do it in room I liked and enjoyed. So during one of my MANY visits to Lowe’s I picked up several paper paint swatches and taped them to the wall so I could see “what they would look like”. After a couple of days I picked out a color I was “in love with” (just for the record my amazing husband AKA “the painter” agreed on the color too) so off I went to Lowe’s to make the paint purchase. I can remember my man painting that room – although I had a BIG SMILE on my face I was looking at the color and thinking “Oh my goodness … it looks like someone has thrown Pepto-Bismol on my wall”. Of course I could not bring myself to say a word because I was “in love with the color” AND I know my man’s “love/hate relationship with painting” … he’s one of those perfectionist-kind-of-guys ….
So here we are 1 year and 5 months later and I had all I could take of my Pepto-Bismol laundry room. A couple of weeks ago when we were in Lowe’s I “casually wandered” over to the paint section and started picking out paper paint swatches again. I narrowed down my “likes” to 4 paper paint swatches. I picked out my favorite and my husband picked out his favorite and of course they were different. This time I did not just use those paper paint swatches to make my decision - this time I knew about these little ditties – the best $3 you will EVER spend.




So Byron and I labored all weekend long on various house projects but most importantly transforming the laundry room from Pepto-Bismol Pink to Pomegranate Red. I am so thankful for the MANY people we have had in our new home BUT why on earth didn’t someone tell us how horrible the laundry room looked?? At any rate we certainly appreciate the fact that nobody wanted to hurt our feelings! One of the main reasons Byron and I fell in love with our house is because it is great for entertaining. Along with the laundry room transformation this past weekend the outside got some transformations as well that will make our get-togethers nicer and more enjoyable. With a list of projects completed and the cool air we are already excitedly planning a get-together ….

Here are some before and after pictures ....


Before - "Pepto-Bismol Pink" AKA Olympic "Coral Coast" (with the sample color painted)



Before - "Pepto-Bismol Pink" AKA Olympic "Coral Coast"



After - "Pomegranate Red" AKA Valspar "Fabulous Red"


After - "Pomegranate Red" AKA Valspar "Fabulous Red"


After - "Pomegranate Red" AKA Valspar "Fabulous Red"


After - "Pomegranate Red" AKA Valspar "Fabulous Red"


I tried my best to capture the "true colors" BUT the sun shines in our back door in the afternoons/evenings so it was hard to get a good picture without the glares from the sun.


The first words out of my man's mouth were - "WOW that looks SO MUCH better!!" He is such a trooper ... just one of the MANY reasons I love him so much!!!! Oh and by the way, my husband (and his momma), picked the winning color!!

I have always admired anyone with a green thumb. I have never considered myself to have a green thumb; however I never had much of an opportunity to “practice at it” either. Almost 18 years ago I was brought into a family with “green thumbed women”. I was AMAZED at the farming and gardening that Byron’s family did (and still does). Let me just tell y’all how “uneducated” I was … the first year Byron and I were married, Nana (his grandmother) called to say that there were LOTS of peanuts to be picked - so we headed to Nana & Papa’s after work the next day and on the way out there I asked Byron which tree the peanuts grew on … YEP – that’s exactly how uneducated I was!! Somehow it became routine for Byron and I to go to Nana & Papa’s every Monday when we got off work. Between the full garden and the sugar cane, there was always plenty of work to do. Fortunately the Lord blessed me with 12 years to watch and learn all about farming, gardening and canning from Nana. One of the first things she taught me was how to cook and freeze pumpkin so that we could have homemade pumpkin pies all year round. Of course, teaching me how to make a pumpkin pie from scratch was part of that cooking lesson. I am so excited that Papa planted cooking pumpkins this year … it has been way too long since I have had one of those from-scratch-Nana-pumpkin pies!!

Shortly after Byron and I bought our new house last year I asked my mother-in-law to come over and help me start planning on what to plant. My sweet mother-in-law certainly got Nana’s (her mother) green thumb … I do believe my mother-in-law could resurrect a plant from the dead!! After almost a year of plotting and planning on what to plant, we finally commenced to planting this past March. Let me just pause and tell y’all that we didn’t go to the local nursery and buy a bunch of stuff to plant - everything that my mother-in-law and I have planted has a “deep rooted history” – ultimately everything came from Nana’s yard.






We are in the process of plotting and planning our fall planting session, all of which will continue to have that “deep rooted history”. Right now my mother-in-law is in the process of rooting some Hydrangeas to plant. We are also going to move 2 larger Pink Crape Myrtle Trees from Papa’s house to our house. It seems almost every Monday night Papa, Byron and I walk around in Papa’s yard and talk about all the things we need to transplant from his house to ours.




On Easter Byron and I went to Uncle Kenny and Aunt Dorinda’s for supper. Wouldn’t you know she had a bunch of Crinum Lilies that she didn’t want and of course I was kind enough to take them off her hands. The pictures of the lilies are a mix of the ones my mother-in-law and I planted and the ones that I got from Aunt Dorinda. Aunt Dorinda also gave me several Purple Crape Myrtle sprigs that kept coming up from a tree they had removed.





I have always been fond of the beautiful Oleander bushes at my BFFs parent’s river house so I decided to take a couple of clippings while I was there Memorial Day weekend …


I know, I know, Oleander is poisonous! There may be some folks we would like to “accidently” slip some Oleander sap to, but I think we will be able to refrain!!




One night my nieces and I were at Lowe’s and they helped me pick out some seeds to plant in our yard. I will be honest that the seeds sat on the kitchen table for a long time. Finally I decided that they weren’t going to grow in the packages so I went outside and hoed up a corner of the yard, threw down the last of the potting soil I had, threw out a little fertilizer and the seeds and this is what I got …




Now that I know I can grow wildflowers with little to no effort, I will take a little more time actually planting the seeds instead of "throwing them out" next year.




The very first thing we planted in our yard was our Bradford Pear Tree. Byron and I are so blessed to be part of an AMAZING church family!! Words could NEVER adequately describe how we feel about our brothers and sisters at Glen Springs Road Church of Christ!! Last year when Byron and I bought our house, our church family surprised us at the annual Easter potluck with a Bradford Pear Tree covered in gift cards and money as a token of their happiness for us buying our new home. Byron and I both were speechless with the outpouring of love they showed to us. This tree is planted just inside our gate and we are reminded EVERY DAY of the blessings God has given us in each and every member of our church family.



One day while my mother-in-law was at our house she noticed a sucker at the base of the tree. She told Byron to cut it off and stick it in a pot with some potting soil and see what it did. This is what it did ...


Undoubtedly my husband has inherited a green thumb from his Nana, Papa and mother!!




As most of you know I have been walking one of the hardest journeys of my life with my Best Friend SaraBeth. 8 months ago today Rob and SaraBeth received a fatal diagnosis for their sweet baby Faith. The last several months have been filled with so many ups and downs, so many prayers, so many sleepless nights and so many tears!! There were so many times when I felt so inadequate as a friend because I didn’t know what to say … the only thing I knew to do was to pray - I prayed so hard for the Lord to be with me, to guide me and to give me the strength, courage and wisdom I needed to help SaraBeth on this journey. I immediately reached out to my AMAZING “30 Somethings Sisters” for their prayers not only for me but for SaraBeth, Rob, Baby Faith and the rest of the family. Again, I can’t even begin to tell you of the love, encouragement and support that my sweet sisters so freely bestowed to not only me BUT to SaraBeth, Rob, Baby Faith, and the rest of the family during this difficult journey. I can’t even describe how it felt to see so many from my church family at Faith’s service and meeting my BFF for the very first time BUT because of our common bond there were no introductions necessary.

This is a Hibiscus Tree that some of my sweet sisters gave me to plant in honor of Faith. I promise you that EVERY DAY since I have had this beautiful tree there has been at least 1 bloom on it. Each day I look at this tree and remember precious Faith and that although her life was very short her testimony will live on through SaraBeth and Rob for years. I am truly blessed to have such an AMAZING best friend and to be part of such an AWESOME church family!!



Maybe I do have a green thumb after all ... at least a "learned green thumb" from Nana and my mother-in-law. After our last planting session my mother-in-law said that it reminded her of when she and Nana would plant and garden together. I look forward to many more years of planting and making memories with my mother-in-law.

For months there have been so many people gearing up and planning for an AMAZING week at camp. One of the things I LOVE the most about having the camp in our area is that it brings so many visitors to our worship service on Sunday morning. Y’all we had 311 people at worship Sunday morning. The singing was AMAZING … so amazing that I found myself covered in chill bumps and just sitting there listening!! Just a side note here ~ I love love love my church family AND we have AMAZING singing ALL THE TIME BUT “Camp Sunday” is ALWAYS extra AMAZING!!!! I also love the familiar faces that Camp Sunday brings … faces that I may only see once a year BUT they are faces of people that I love dearly!!

For several weeks I have been trying to think of what I could send to my oldest niece and her 3 “buddies” AKA the 4 Amigos. I mean regular ol’ mail is just boring to 13 year olds. So it hit me one day … my niece has been eating her Aunt Amy’s Famous Amos Pound Cake since she was 5 months old and I know that the 3 other girls LOVE Aunt Amy’s Famous Amos Pound Cake as well so the big item of the care package was decided upon! While I was doing my weekly grocery shopping I added some other care package items to my cart … chocolate M & M’s, Blow Pops, Twizzlers, Mike & Ikes, Pringles, gummy worms, sour gummy worms, bubble gum and minty gum. My original intention was to package it all up and ship it over night so that the girls would get their package on Wednesday. Then it hit me just as I was pulling the pound cake out of the oven yesterday morning … a few phone calls later and I was Florida College Camp bound to deliver the care package in person. I quickly made up a card to leave with the WARM pound cake in their chalet. I then drove over to the gym to deliver the other goodies to someone who was going to deliver them to Brooke during lunch. While I was making the exchange I looked up and Brooke was coming out of the gym (we had no idea that she was in the gym)!! Y’all that sweet niece of mine ran over to the car and gave me the biggest hug and kiss and she was smiling from ear to ear … it absolutely melted my heart!! She peaked in the bag and was thrilled with the “junk food” selections I had made, then she quickly reminded me that I was picking her up on Friday, gave me another hug and kiss, an “I love you” and scurried off to her chalet to primp before lunch. It made my heart SMILE to see my girl SMILE!! Then this morning I had the sweetest voicemail from my girl thanking me for the pound cake and all the other goodies, she told me she loved me and she would see me Friday …

I pray that all of the kids will soak up God’s Word this week so that they will be better equipped to let their lights shine when they come home!! Lord willing I will be able to be a part of this wonderful camp next year so that my youngest niece Hayley Bug and my nephew Jake will be able to experience what Brooke is experiencing this week!!