Awkward...

I don't know about you, but my face started feeling red for him!

Old Blog

I found my old blog. It made me want to cry... a good kind of cry. It's amazing how much you can go through in just 3 short years and how much your life can change. Sheesh! God taught me SO much, that it's even hard to write it all out. Not even just natural things, that I'm now a wife, a mom, living in a state I wouldn't think I'd live in, going to a different church, etc BUT also spiritually. I was reading my old blog (that I had completely forgotten about, by the way) and just smiling with tears in my eyes.

Oh how often I forget... God is just plain GOOD!

Just even a year ago I was in one of the worst situations that I have ever gone through in life, and God so encouraged me and talked to me through the whole thing and brought me out as soon as he could. Louisiana was one of the worst seasons of my life. Whether we made a mistake and didn't hear God correctly, or if God wanted us to move there for a reason... all I know now is that He TRULY does turn things around for good for those who love him. He is faithful!

Anyway, I will probably be posting some of my old posts because I really enjoyed learning from myself. Does that sound arrogant? Well, shoot, who cares! Ha. I loved reading what God was teaching be a couple years ago. How cool that I can look back and learn from what God did in me? It's crazy how quick my little human mind can forget the things He teaches me. Can't wait to get me a brand spankin new heavenly mind. Bring it on, Jesus!

If you want to check it out, you can. Read through all the craziness of my life pre-marriage haha. I even put the list up of what I wanted in a future husband and how Will fit that description perfectly. Pretty funny.
HERE

Momma's Boy

5 Month Shots

Little man is in his 5th month and I decided it was time to take some pictures. I am so bad about being online lately. Maybe that's a good thing? I can't find time to get on here as much and update or do my health blog or anything else for that matter. When I have an extra minute, I take a nap or do some cleaning. Ha.

Anyway, with the 3 minutes of spare time that I do have today, I am going to put up some pics I took today :) (the pictures look better than this. I hate what blogger does to pictures. Ugh!)

Click on the pics to make them bigger

Oh and if you haven't yet, check out our youtube channel for a bunch of new videos. I'm in the process of uploading more today.

First, some dada love...

Cai modeling the Abe Lincoln shirt we made for him yesterday...

Loves those toes...

Taking pictures are different now that he can get into things. He reached over and pulled off a flower from the plant (now knocked over to the left). He was picking a flower for mama, right? :)

Best smile...

Hammin' it up for the camera...

All he wanted to do was chew while I was taking pics. Here's me trying to take it away and he's got the death grip like, "mom... step away from the chew toy"

Chewing on the lens cap...

Sitting up all by himself, big boy!...

What? I'm not doing anything...

Loves that Johnny Jump Up...

Oh Please Help Us

Our little boy is starting to get up in the middle of the night for his pacifier. He cries until one of us comes and puts it back in his mouth. Probably 3 times a night. We have continued to do it because, welp, it's just plain easier. Now it's biting us in the tush. I am in the process of getting rid of his pacifier for sleep time. I'm going cold turkey with it because I'm not one of those who can easily just do the whole wean for months thing. If we're getting rid of it, we're doing it now. Kinda stinks... for all of us. So, so far he has been crying non stop for his morning nap. Poor kid! Never does that. I have been going in every 5 minutes to pat his back, and not pick him up, but he continues to cry. He wants that dang paci!!! I'm realizing that he is old enough now to self soothe and, as much as I hate when he cries, it's kind of my first step at helping him overcome something that's tough as a parent. Tough for me and him (and Will and Gibson...). I know if I don't teach him how to do this, he will never learn on his own. And he'll be newly married and won't be able to fall asleep on his honeymoon without his wife sticking a pacifier in his mouth and patting his back. Ok, maybe it won't be that bad. But we need some sanity in this house!

All you veteran moms.... WHAT DO I DO? Any tips on how to get him to nap/ sleep at night without a paci?

Help!

Lotsa Updates

So, I haven't updated in a while. Sheesh! I gotta catch up!

- This weekend : On Saturday we decided to venture out and take a trip to Stone Mountain, GA. It is apparently the biggest tourist attraction in the state so we had to check it out. It is the largest piece of exposed granite in the world. It was about a mile and a half hike up a mountain that was a half a mile high. It was pretty tough! And this comes from a girl that hiked a 13,000 ft mountain in Colorado while wearing a 40 pound pack. It was shorter than that, obviously, but it was steep! At the end you have to hold on to these railings because it's so steep. Poor Will has Cai strapped to his chest the whole time. But, getting to the top was awesome and such a cool sight. You could see everything... even the city in the distance. We rode the sky ride down... because Cai was miserable, and heck, we were exhausted! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. Besides the fact that I put sunblock on Cai for the first time and somehow it got in his eyes and for the rest of the day he was miserable. I am not kidding, I've never seen him like this. Barely smiled all day, didn't want to open his eyes much, eyes teary, crying.... ugh it was SO sad. If you know him, you know that he is allllways happy. Especially when we are out and about. Poor thing!! I felt awful. We have a lot of pictures with extra red and watery eyes. He feels better now. Here's some pics from the day...

Those poor little eyes...

Here I am at the top....

At the top...

This was about halfway up...

There's a smile...

When we first got there...

- Mother's Day : I woke up to breakfast in bed at 7:30 am by my sweet husband. He is the best. He then took care of Cai the entire church service for me. We went to Moe's, of course, where I enjoyed a free meal (and our friends Kevin and Rachel happened to be there so we ate with them). Then, I came home and napped while Will watched Cai. Then, when I got up, he surprised me and told me that the babysitter was here (our friend Amanda). I looked around the apartment and saw that it was spotless. He had cleaned the whole thing, including putting all the laundry away, while I was asleep. He took me to a movie and I didn't know what it was until it started. We saw Soul Surfer (which was really good, by the way. Highly recommend). I am SOOOO incredibly appreciative of William. Love him.

- Micaiah : This little man has grown up in the past 2 weeks. He is rolling... a lot. From back to stomach and from stomach to back. He's pushing up on his hands with his arms fully extended. So cute. He just started sitting up a little bit last week. He can sit up for about 3 minutes by himself and then after that he needs a little help. He is talking up a storm and responding to what we say. If I say, "where's dada?" he looks around and smiles when he sees Will. He has been teething the past couple months and it finally broke through. There were a rough couple of weeks for all of us. Poor guy couldn't sleep... it was sad. He officially has one tooth through the gum line and another is coming in, so we will start the process over :) I got a Johnny Jump Up from Goodwill a couple weeks for him and he is in love. He is just now learning how to use his legs to jump. For a while he just tapped one foot on the ground. It was funny. We took him to the doctor for his 4 month checkup, which was really his 5 month because I forgot to take him, and he is 73rd percentile in height, 41st in weight, and 63rd in head circ. Basically, pretty normal.... just like me and Will. Don't know where he got the height from?? Maybe some of his uncles :) We also started introducing some foods to him. He's not too interested yet... but he's getting there. Here's some recent pics of my boy...

In Need Of Some New Dance Moves?

Well, you're in luck...

Prayer for my mom

Please be praying for my mom. She has been in and out of the hospital the past few days for extreme pain under her left shoulder blade. Oftentimes, that can be a sign for bigger problems. They have done tests and xrays, but still haven't found the answer. If you know my mom, she is such a strong woman and always serving others.... but right now, she is really having a hard time just coping with the pain for normal things.

She is going back to the hospital today because the pain is so bad. Just pray for the pain to subside and for God's hands to be on the medical staff.

Sheri, Gavin and Garrett

It's May 5th... 2 years from when our friend and her two young boys were murdered. Sheri worked with Will and we went to church with her. She was the sweetest person. Seriously, when I picture the definition of happiness, I picture her. She ALWAYS had a smile on, and, from the outside you would never guess that anything could ever be wrong. She loved the Lord and missions and loved her kids.

They concluded, after a 7 day trial, that her husband Chris is guilty of murdering all of them. This is such a relief to so many people. After seeing so many of my friends deal with deep hurts over this for the past 2 years because they were so close to Sheri, it is nice to finally have an answer.

I don't even want to talk about the evil that happened or the details anymore. The only way that anything like that can happen is through pure demonic evil, and it doesn't even deserved to be talked about. Sheri, Gavin, and Garrett are now with Jesus and satan didn't win.

There are so many, "I wish I noticed this..." or "I wish I knew that..." running through my mind. There's thoughts in my mind like when I talked to her for the last time a couple days before her death. She looked really sad... that was the only time I've ever seen her sad. She talked about her "knee surgery"... which really wasn't knee surgery. The fact that Chris and Sheri both attended our wedding and reception just a short 6 months before. I can't help but think about those things. I remember the day that it happened... Will called me while I was at school and I was crying all day long. I couldn't even go 5 more minutes at school, I had to leave. I could barely drive home.

I can't dwell on the sadness. I am glad that they have found him to be guilty. On none other than the 2nd anniversary.

Thank you, Jesus, for bringing justice. I just hope that Sheri's memory lives on of what a joyful person she was to be around. The memories that everyone has of her little boys at church... always behaving well and having so much fun with their friends. Those are the memories I want to remember. I pray for her family to be comforted, for friends to be comforted, for Joyce Meyer to not get discouraged through all of this.

I never thought I would know a murderer... much less know one that so violently killed his own family. It's a very weird thought. But, I do know that God is good, despite the evil in the world. He turns all things around for good... and always will. He is faithful.

We miss you Sheri, Gavin and Garrett!