Home again...

We are home, we've been home but I haven't had time to blog. I know, how is that possible! Well, we had a great time with Dada in Tennessee but last Thursday we packed up and headed home. It took us just over 10 hours to make the drive with stops for the baby and wasn't really that bad. She was only fussy for a little while and just slept, danced, or watched a movie the rest of the time.

It was good to be back home with both kids. Bo (our mastiff) got attacked while we were gone. We don't know what it was or what happened but our friend who comes to take care of our animals cleaned puddles of blood up off the porch and sprayed the house down where there was blood all over it. Then, talking to the neighbor, he heard it. Bo is hurt pretty bad and the side of his face has a big huge gash in it and is really swollen. I felt bad enough for him that after a nice bath, I let him come in the house and even went and got him a bone. (that is really a big deal for me, he has been inside 2 times now in the past 2 years!). He seems to be getting better though.

We also came home to 2 kittens. We have a, well, promiscuous cat who has now had 3 litters in the past 2 years I think. She is so mean and ugly, I can't believe she can get a date! :-)

Other than that, the house was still standing and I even left it clean. We had a great weekend with Ethan; we went to the lake on Saturday and played all day in the rain. We surprised him and took him over to his best friend Trevor's dock. It was classic when they saw each other - Trevor comes running down the dock, Ethan goes running across the shore, both yelling each other's name and collide when they get to each other. It was like they hadn't seen each other in years! It was fun though, his parents are great people, all the boys (and Trevor's sister) went knee boarding which both the boys just learned how to do this year. Trevor came back into the cove backwards which was quite impressive!

Paul left after church and lunch yesterday; that was tougher than before. I was totally fine until I got out of the truck to hug him. Then it hit me - he's leaving for 2 weeks! I guess I got used to him being around all the time again. We keep praying for a local job, but we know this is what we have to do for now. God has a plan, we are sure of that.

Here are some pictures of our darling kids from the weekend...

Sooooooooooooo happy to be home!

Waiting for Ethan to come home Thursday night, trying to stay awake.

...didn't make it.


E woke Courtney up...he couldn't resist. She was very happy to see her brother.

Ethan 'made Courtney' out of blocks the next morning.

Paul's aunt got these boots for Courtney and I just can't wait until she fits in them. They are a little large yet and make her walk funny, but she loved wearing them and didn't want to take them off.

I don't think she'll be a leg model.

Going out on the lake. My 2 adorable kids!

This was this morning; my favorite time of the day. Every morning I bring Courtney into bed after she wakes up and we grab a book from her shelf to read. She was being quite independent this morning as you can tell.

SCC Interview Link

Click here for the interview

Godspeed Chapman Family

This morning Steven Curtis Chapman and his family did their first TV interview since the accident that resulted in the death of their little girl. I'll tell you what, that family is incredible - what a testimony of faith! For those of you who didn't watch it, they interviewed him and his wife and she is a very normal mom who just wants her baby girl back. But, she knows she is whole, she knows she is happy, and she knows she will be with her again. I think the most touching part of the interview was the interview of the 3 oldest children. The brother of the son that was driving the car said he just wanted to take the pain away from his brother. He said he didn't want to watch him grow though it, that he would rather endear the pain for him than watch him suffer. These are teenagers! I can only pray that my children will feel that way for each other, that they will have the Lord in their heart the way those children do.

I had Courtney on my lap as I watched the interview, as they played the home videos of this adorable little girl and her family. All I could do was hold my baby close and thank God for the time I have had with her.

Here are some pictures of my little girl from our Tennessee trip...getting ready to go home today, we leave tomorrow.

On the airplane...

So proud with her Dada on the tractor.

The rare picture of my husband smiling; really smiling. :-)

So tired but so cute.

She can't leave Dada alone; not even while he showers!



When she was a baby baby she had a 'mr crab' toy; this his her 'big girl mr crab'.


Her hair is just incredible here, not such a good picture, but the hair!

here too. the hair.

I ask, 'do you want to go see Dada'. She says "dada" and goes and stands by the door.




She just thought she was so funny climbing in the big pot.

She wore her pig tails for hours yesterday! I was sooooooooooo proud!

This is her looking at her Daddy - priceless.

What being a Mommy is all about

I knew something wasn't right when Courtney slowly drank 2 oz of milk this morning then handed me her bottle and said done. That is not my typical chug 8 oz in 30 seconds baby. I put her back in bed and a short 15 minutes later she was calling for me. I went in and got her and we laid on our bed and watched her new favorite movie Busy Buzby (or something like that). She laid next to me sipping on her bottle, I was too tired to think much so I just laid next to her. Oh, what a bad idea that was. She coughed, nothing, coughed a little more, nothing. Ok, I was fine. Then it came, curdled mild, cough (to spray the curdled milk all over me), then a little more curdled milk. All in the matter of a few seconds this happened. I sit up and just look at her, trying to decide the best way to tackle this mess. No washer and dryer here, so I strip her and wrap everything up in the sheets to take to the laundry mat at a later time. I ask if she wants to take a bath. With curdled milk still lingering on her chin she joyously says 'ba!'. I wipe her face with the already disgusting sheet and we proceed to the bathroom. I get the water just perfect, bubbled up along with foam letters and numbers and a truck and jet ski to play with but she doesn't want to sit down. Whatever, I wash her hair while she is standing and wash the rest of her which is surprisingly easier than when she is sitting. All clean and ready to enjoy the bath, oh no, not this morning. I must not have been paying that good of attention or there were too many toys in with her because all I noticed was she was sitting down, it took me a minute to notice all the poop floating around with the toys. What does a mom do in this situation? She quickly grabs the poop before the 1 year old - with her hand! OK, that is something you can say you would never have thought you would say. We then drained that perfect bath, washed off all the toys and started the venture all over again....and that was all before 8 o'clock this morning!

Apartment Living

As you all know, Paul is working in Tennessee building some apartments. He recently got an apartment (1 bedroom) and Courtney and I are here visiting for 2 weeks. Tomorrow is our 1 week mark and I'll tell you what, we love it here! Those of you who know me know (I say think) I am spoiled and pretty high maintenance. (I prefer well taken care of and clean) Many would have doubted me living in an apartment, as I did. But I'll tell you what, the simple fact that my husband is here, I get to see him every day, I get to sleep next to him at night, and Courtney gets to kiss him goodnight (many many times) makes it ALL worth it.

There is about 1/4 the space than our house, Courtney trumps us and takes the bedroom so Paul and I are camping in the living room every night, there is only 1 bathroom, no wireless internet, no kitchen table and everything is miniature - the fridge is smaller, the bathtub is tiny, even the kitchen sink is super shallow; none of which I realized until I had a house. But you know what? I don't even mind; it's less to clean! I am so happy to just be here and have our little family together, I thank the Lord that I am able to be here for so long and not have to report to a 'job' and leave my husband.

Last night we were all hanging out in the living room and Paul and I were both messing with our phones and I realized Courtney doesn't call him anymore. Since we got here she has not picked up my phone to call Dada, not once. How incredible is that, a 1 year old has the security that she gets to see her Dada every day and doesn't need to call him. Although she has been sick since we got here, she is so happy to have her Mama AND Dada every day. The other night she gave him a kiss 'ni-ni', walked about 5 feet, turned around and gave him another - turned back around, walked about 10 feet and went back for yet another. She did that about 5 more times until she finally climbed up in Dada's lap with tears running down both of our faces. It was the most adorable thing ever.

Side note - Ethan did that when we first moved out to Arkansas. We dropped him off at his mom's house and as we were driving away he came running up, opened the truck door and said to Paul "just one more" and kissed him, climbed out and closed the door. Aren't children just amazing some times?

Anyway, here are some pictures from the past week here in Tennessee.

This one is at the shopping center (there are sooooooo many of them here!). This is in the family bathroom where there is a mini toilet for the little ones. I had to take a picture.

Dada got Courtney her own baby in a car seat, she is pretty rough putting her in the seat and kinda smacks her around when she carries the seat, but she loves it.

I was taking Courtney swimming yesterday and this is how she came around the corner...I guess I left the 'under garment' drawer open...(that's a sports bra, not underwear!)

Paul got me the best sticker ever!

She LOVES shoes...

After scooping out the apple sauce she decided to arrange her chicken sticks nicely in order.

Not my typical baby who hates the tv. I put a Christian dvd on this morning and she was mesmerized, even climbed up on the couch to watch it with me.


She's not really that fat, just a bad angle. :-)

Support Our Troops

Yesterday Courtney and I flew to Tennessee to visit Paul for a couple weeks. Our first flight was to Atlanta where we had a little over an hour before the next flight. We went to Starbucks of course then back to wait for our plane. I couldn't help notice ALL the military men and women in the airport and most of them were on our flight. I was instructed to get a picture with one of them and Courtney, but I went for it and ask a bunch of them to get a picture with her. They were happy to do so. I had originally placed Courtney down in front of them and this nice man picked her up for a better shot. She didn't even mind. I ended up talking to them for a while and they really touched my heart in so many ways. They were all 'on leave' from Iraq. They had been there for months and were going home for 18 days, then back for 3 or 4 months. They had been traveling for over 54 hours at this point and they were all so polite and happy and played with Courtney. One guy (around my age) was going home to his wife and 1 year old daughter. I asked him when the last time he saw his daughter was and he told me not since the day she was born. That broke my heart! He was very interested in Courtney and so sweet to her. He was nervous that his little girl wouldn't recognize him. I can't even imagine. That reminded me how blessed I am to get to see my little girl every day, all day, any time I want; oh how I take that for granted.

I had sent the picture of Courtney and the guys to Stefani (Ethan's mom) and she said to hold on...and she sent me a picture of Ethan and Anna with a sign that said "Thank You". I showed all the guys and they were touched, then one guy said 'hold on'...and he drew a little sign that said "You're Welcome" for me to send back to Ethan and Anna.

As we were boarding, one guy came over and handed a patch to Courtney - said he wanted her to have it. That about brought tears to my eyes, how sweet is that! What a great bunch of people. I hope we are all so grateful for these men and women and what they are fighting for. They are tough, they are strong, they have drive to protect our country and they have huge hearts.

When you support our troops, I hope you do it in many ways. I personally pray for them often (especially now that Blaine is one of them) and I always say "thank you" when I see one in uniform, but yesterday I realized that they often need more support than that.

When we arrived to Nashville I didn't go the way I should have; down to baggage claim. I'm not really sure why I didn't, I guess I was being put in a different place by the Lord. As I walked around upstairs (when I should be down stairs) I found my way to go down stairs and also saw a guy in uniform using a pay phone. I didn't think that was right so I offered him my cell phone. He reluctantly used it to call his father; who was not at the airport and was not going to be at the airport any time soon. I couldn't believe it, this guy is off in war, comes home for a mere 18 days and his family isn't there WAITING for him? I can not even imagine that. I heard him tell his dad that he would just get a cab and a hotel and get off the phone. When he handed me the phone back I asked him if he needed a ride to his Dad's, and he said he had moved while he was at war and didn't know where his new place was. I told him Paul was down stairs and to come with me and we'd take him where ever he needed to go. Again, he reluctantly came with me. As we were walking away there was another guy on the pay phone and I gave him my phone also. He called his mom and she was on her way. In the elevator going down to baggage I jokingly said 'you guys need a new family' and they both agreed and said that is why they joined the Army in the first place. As I talked to Julian (the soldier we were going to give a ride to) I found out that he has been enlisted for 2 1/2 years, he's stationed out of Kansas, will be in Iraq for almost another year, only has his Dad and some distant brothers and sisters in Nashville, and does administrative work for the Army. We didn't end up giving him a ride, he called a buddy who said he would come get him but as we were walking away I stopped and went back to ask for his email address. I thought, this is such a great opportunity to try to make a difference, to be some one who cares. So I got his email address and thanked him again.

So when I say "Support Our Troops", think about how else you can support them next time you see a man or women in uniform.

Here are some pictures from yesterday.



This patch is apparently a 101st Airborne Infantry patch. I sent the picture to Blaine and he was literally speechless. He said that was the sweetest thing for the guy to do and it isn't just an every day thing for someone to give that away.

Proud Redesign...for free

When I was pregnant I did a lot of watching TLC. Apparently I was paying attention because I have successfully redesigned/redecorated our room; for free. OK, not 100% for free, but just about. I did buy the 2 side tables at Hobby Lobby. But, if you know Hobby Lobby, you know everything is 50%, all the time. So I really only bought one table. Anyway, I am so proud of myself and my sister even says it looks good. Since no one ever comes out to our house, I felt the need to post pictures to get some recognition. I'm not totally done, but what I want to do cost money. So, I'm done for now. What do you think?