What a long strange trip its been:)

I haven't always been a 'planner'. In my younger, more careless years I didn't worry myself too much with schedules and having 'definite' plans. Here I am at 29 years old, VERY aware that I am a textbook planner. Maybe it is because JM is so laid back or maybe its motherhood, I don't know what it is, but my unscheduled days seemed to be over... or at least i thought.

We arrived here in the ATL Thursday morning ready to start our well planned holiday break. All of our events were saved on the trusty google calendar and with a few clicks we knew exactly what each and every day had in store. We knew what days were open so that we could meet up with pals, we knew what days we allotted to what family members and for what occasion. That is until Friday morning as I was leaving a brief visit with 3 of my favorite people in the fleetwood sac and Caroline realized that sweet IGN had nasty green stuff oozing out of her eyes. Yeah, gross. I knew my girl was not quite up to par and an eye infection had attacked in moments! So I took her home and a friend got an eye drop prescription for us and I canceled our plans for the evening which involved other children:( That night I noticed that my girl was congested and I was afraid that she may have caught a little virus that I had been dealing w/ for a week or so. Unfortunately it made her throw up that night and the next. It made me thankful that I knew how to clear my throat and cough-up unfortunate things that don't belong in my chest, sadly sweet girl couldn't handle it in her sleep and would throw up.

So once we felt we were through the worst (3 days later) we attempted a Christmas party at my cousin's house. While we were there my sis started feeling sick and on the ride home IGN tossed her cookies... more than once. That night JM, my dad, my mom and I were taking turns with the 3 available bathrooms here. Meanwhile at my sis' house her fam was dealing wit the same torment of symptoms. This brought us into Christmas Eve. We were all miserable, so more plans were canceled and we all laid around the house (some of us were still pretty sick). So today, Dec. 26th (I think its already the 27th actually), I finally felt like a real person again but now JM's mom is sick as well as my brother so we are not yet finished with our diseased holiday:(

My plans were thwarted. Nature decided to intervene. What can a girl do, really? So this is how I have spent my holiday thus far, I wonder how this last week will pan out... we'll see. I'm kind of scared. :)

We're coming home!

It is 10:30 on Wed. morning, my girl is sleeping away, packing for now is finished, my house is still a mess but I don't care because this time tomorrow... I'LL BE HOME!!!! I can't believe its already here! When my parents left here in November I thought it would be forever until Christmas break would get here but it is here and I am so excited to see all of my wonderful friends and my sweet family:)

IGN had an early Christmas this morning. Last night after she was in bed some friends stopped by and dropped off a gift for our girl, and let me just say, she'll never be the same, literally. When she woke up this morning JM pushed out IGN's very own baby doll stroller! (attachable car seat included!) So this morning she spent the day pushing her baby around the house and rocking her in her car seat... it was precious! My little girl was taking care of a baby instead of being a baby and I was kind of sad. Its weird how as she enters a new stage in life i am always excited for her development and ability to learn new things but at the same time I'm sad that she's growing up. Every mothers plight. I guess that is our job though, its to RAISE her, to help her develop into an independent, intelligent, compassionate, lover of God, not to try to keep her as a baby for all eternity (thats just weird). She is beautiful though and her personality become more defined each day and I think she definitely has my stubbornness and temper. Those traits though are greatly over shadowed by her love of other people and her desire to interact with everyone. She flashes her big, 4 tooth grin and waves at any one who will glance her way. She loves kissing on the lips, being tickled, being chased around the house by her daddy, 'helping' me with chores and of course meal times:) My girl is an eater!! I am just amazed by my girl and my love for this family that God has given me.

Ok, this blog was supposed to be short and sweet about our trip home... oops! Well, I'm Georgia bound!

Cold? Seriously?

Dang it! Dang it! Dang it!

I have heard all the stories from those living in marietta, of 70+ degree weather and air conditioned cars and tank tops in December and sweating bullets trying to make winter fashions work. Well, darn it if the day we fly in the temps don't plummet and the rains begin. I was PUMPED to pull out the maternity summer gear from when IGN was coming along but now I must pack my traditional winter wear that has protected me from the ferocious element that I face daily here in the land-o-snow. For example the high tomorrow is 11. Yep, just 11, I can't even say 'its in the teens', because it isn't, we're 2 degrees shy of a 'teens' shout-out. Well, at least I have some fabulous winter maternity gear thanks to my madre that i will be sporting down south. And to be fair, it really isn't that bad, it feels good to have cold on your face sometimes... IGN would disagree as she likes to crumble in a pile and whine when ever we put her coat on, and thats after we have to catch her (she runs when she sees it- and she can't run so good yet!). She does however love wearing mittens indoors or out, and she holds her hands up so that people can admire her beautiful mittens and tell her how lovely she is in them. We have definitely cultivated her vanity, but it works in our favor(getting dressed fixing her hair, brushing her lonely few teeth, etc.), so whatever!

I took somewhere close to 15 minutes of video this evening of our girl in her 'evening form'. She is comedy in a cute little package before bed. I'll post it on the youtube probably tomorrow its too long for me to post here.

Well, happy holidays to all and I CAN'T wait to see my fam!!!!!!

Hi Mom!!!!

Yep, this is a blog just for you! There isn't much going on here. We ate with Nita tonight for dinner and it was lovely! IGN didn't sleep much today so when we put her to bed tonight an hour late, she was OUT! I think I'm OUT too... its only 9, but its just the right time, you know? Love ya!

I'm getting excited!!!

This evening I was thinking about our little boy and thinking about the goodies he will get to use of IGN's when he arrives. We have all the 'baby necessities' thanks to big sister and those who hooked her up when she was on the way:) Here at Bethany a family has offered us a double stroller and I am PUMPED! It will make life much easier being able to roll them both around instead of carrying one in a sling or something and strolling the other. (Although I'm sure that will happen a few times.) I am realizing what an amazing privilege it is having TWO little ones in our house and I'm getting so excited. At first I was all nerves wondering what it would be like and knowing that it would be a challenge but the nervousness is becoming excitement as I realize that he's 14 weeks away from being here with us! I know it will be hard and I'm trying (if that is possible!) to prepare for it but more than anything God is confirming in my heart over and over again what a blessing my family is. I mean I can say that they are a blessing all day long but the Lord is stirring my heart for my family like He does a person for a people group or a nation. I think many mothers and women feel this way especially if the longing of their hearts was always to be a mom. It was never a 'passion' of mine to have a family and to be a stay at home mom so it has taken me longer than the average girl to get to this place. Don't get me wrong I have adored JM and my little angel but I never felt like this was my 'life's calling' and that what I was doing was bring glory to God and inviting the Kingdom of Heaven. (I hope I'm making sense.) But God is doing a new thing in my heart and showing me that where I am is where I have been called and serving and inspiring my family is the desire of my heart. Sometimes its easy to go through the days looking forward to nap times and feeling guilty because my house is lacking in cleanliness and beauty but all I have to say is that "its all gonna burn anyway" (quote from Caroline-thanks!) so why not put my time and energy into what is eternal and that is the spiritual climate of my house and the lives that are in it. No, I'm not going to let my house go to pot but if my girl (and soon my boy) need extra time with me, I'm going to let the dishes pile up for the day or let the kitchen floor have some extra crumbs on it. I LOVE my family and I am passionate about them and their spiritual well-being. I long to be the wife and mom that God is calling me to be. There are no pressures of this world that can tell me what we NEED to be a happy, healthy family, there is only the TRUTH of God and the revelation of the Spirit that will sustain us and give us what we need. I always wanted to be a worship leader somewhere in my heart and now I realize more than ever that I am, I have the honor of joining with John Mark and leading our family before the throne of God every day. I am blessed and humbled that God saw me fit to place these lives in my hands.

I didn't plan on getting off on this little tangent, but whatever, it was obviously wanting to get out:) I think I'm just excited about this new precious life under our roof and tonight I even filled out a baby registry just for fun to get more excited about him. He is a miracle and just as God used IGN to open my eyes to so much, He is already using this little guy to make me more and more aware of His goodness. I am thankful.

The boy is a healthy one!

In the past 24 hours God has very obviously answered 2 of my prayer requests. I'll start with last night. Last night I was praying with IGN before bed and her room felt so cold. It has been this way all through the fall and now that its winter it is so much worse. The window by her rocker has been drafty and each morning when I walk in her room its like 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house- sad! So last night night as I prayed with her I asked the Lord to make her room warm... why i didn't pray for this sooner? I have no idea. So around 10pm she cried a wierd little cry so I went her room to make sure she was ok and I rocked her for a minute. It was so cold in there that I was contemplating putting up her pack-n-play in our room for the night until we could get a good space heater (they kind of scare me). I decided that right then I was going to investigate the window. So with the girl in my arms (I eventually put her on the floor), I took the screen off the window and there was SNOW on the inside window sill!! Ok, so I realized the window was never locked shut and it opened little by little over the past few months. So I got the window locked shut and its like a new room! So God didn't 'make it warmer' but once I gave the concern to Him, He opened my eyes to the problem. I was just blessed by His desire to meet me immediately. So yay for a warm night sleep for my girl!

Next is my prayers for my little boy. About 5 weeks ago I had and ultra sound appointment and there were some cysts on the organ in the brain that produces spinal fluid. I was told that it is somewhat common (like 1 in 20) normal children had the condition in utero. But they felt the need to do a more detailed ultra sound to make sure there were no 'markers' for any kind of chromosomal abnormalities. Well my little boy is perfect and he didn't have ANY of the markers they were looking for! The perinatologist said that there is almost no chance that our boy would would have an issue without at least one marker, so we're good! I was confident going in there that the Lord heard our prayers and protected and directed every bit of his development. We got a few more pictures of this cute little guy and I'm going to try to scan them and post them soon. Thank you all for your prayers for our baby boy, we appreciate it so much!!!

Injustice?

So here we are at the end of the football season. As a Georgia fan, its kinda hard to complain about the season, looking back. I mean I wish things had been different concerning Tennessee's lucky breaks.

Vandy kicker sums up the Dawgs feeling when he missed the game winning field goal.


Consider this...Tennessee got three lucky breaks that I witnessed in their games. Three of their opponents missed a winning field goal, to give the Big Orange their 4th loss! South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky. Speaking of Kentucky, they needed one yard to put the game away and they couldn't do it. To me that says that they shouldn't have been in the SEC championship. If any of these things actually happened, and the Dawgs got in the SEC game, I am confident that the BCS chaos wouldn't be so confusing, cause Georgia would spank LSU, (like in 2005) and then would have jumped Ohio State for the #1 spot. But it didn't work out that way. If you look at their sec standings, they are the 4th best team, not the best in the Division. The fact is though they rocked the dawgs world, and therefore were not deserving but were elected to be there.

Now for the BCS chaos... as everyone is saying the BCS is messed up. The championship game is not being played by the two best teams, nor the two most deserving. I had a big beef with the polls moving the Dawgs down to 5 after being idle for a week, and moving Ohio State up two spots after being idle for a week. I just don't get the logic. If this was week 8 and the same scenario happened, the #3 and #4 team would slide into #1 and #2. (We have seen this happen ALL year long, when #1 and #2 would fall.) If your going to jump Idle teams with conference champs, take Ohio State out of the picture. I mean yeah LSU won the SEC (by 7) against a pretty bad TN team. After that they jumped from #7 the week before to #2 to play for the National Title. They will probably give us another game like last year where Florida waxed the "#1" team in the nation. Although I think FL was a lot better and more deserving of the #2 spot last year than LSU is this year. So yeah I think UGA got bumped b/c the pollsters decided that we weren't deserving that spot for the title, and changed the rules at the 11nth hour. Lame. I also think other teams (Oklahoma, USC, Missouri) have reason to complain at the outcome as well. Playoff anyone?

Now for a little bit of good news for the Bulldog nation.

1.The Dawgs get the opportunity to put a stop the the only unblemished team in the nation, and we are in a quality bowl. I mean seriously who thought after the TN game that we would end up in the Sugar bowl, or after Vandy was driving for their seemingly game winning touchdown (before we forced a fumble) Granted I would have loved to see a USC/UGA matchup, but they decided to pick a blowout game instead of what everyone wanted. Hawaii is boasting that they are undefeated, and threaten to show UGA a good game. I think it will be a good game, but I am also fully confident that their dreams of having a perfect season will end in New Orleans. Georgia is too deep and have too much of a chip on their shoulder to let this one slip by. So lets break out the blackout gear, and welcome these Rainbow-Warriors to the SEC.

2. Last year LSU had to play Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl and didn't get in the SEC game for the same reason we sat out this year. They were a solid team, and are now in the championship, what will next season bring???

3. A bunch of teams that we play next year are having changes this year. GT and LSU will have different coaches, Auburn, KY, South Carolina,Bama, TN will have new QBs, and even Arizona State shouldn't be a big issue, since Richt hasn't lost in regular season, out of conference. I think next year Florida is going to be the big game. I think we can beat them, but they are going to be SICK with Tebow again. I think this game will decide who goes to the SEC, and who plays in the championship. Fortunately for us we have more confidence going into the game after this year.


Here are some highlights from the year, in case you haven't followed the dawgs take a few minutes to see what all the fuss is about.


I think the Dawgs found a team dance. Expect to see more dancin' at the Sugar Bowl, and for years to come.


Shoot Moreno is even doin' it in class. Rumor has it that some of the team is teaching it to Richt to dance with the team. Classic.

There is my Dawgs summary of this crazy season. Annie, your Christmas wish is granted, Merry Christmas.

This just needs to be seen.

The girl loves to cruise around town in her diaper (or w/o it) but she ALWAYS wants to wear her pink slippers. Its crazy cute. On this particular night we were laughing at how big her tummy was! It looks like she ate another kid or something... so we filmed it. Here are some pics and a video.







In other news, we are living in a winter wonderland up here! On Saturday we watched football and snow all day long and now we have a 6"+ covering of snow out here. Its really pretty, especially today because its really sunny and everything is shinny and white. Tomorrow though we're supposed to get another 2"-4"! I like the snow and I think its pretty. Its great to have the opportunity to enjoy a real cold winter because I haven't had one for a long time and may be a very long time before I have another. So when the urge to complain about the cold rises up in me I try to remember that this is a blessing to see this and to have these memories with our family. We took IGN sledding on Sunday and it took us 20 minutes to get her us all dressed and out the door and we spent maybe 15 minutes in the snow. It was just to cold and windy to really let IGN get the most out of it. I do have video though!



Blessings to all!