I have to confess that I've avoided getting back into my blogging because it was just too hard to face the reality of responding to my last post about my friend Emily. Every time I thought to put some pictures or Ava's antecdotes on my blog, I knew I needed to first write about Emily and I just wasn't quite ready to do that yet.

Sweet Emily was taken into her Savior's arms on January 27th, 2010. She was improving greatly and wasn't near as sick as she had been in the fall, but I think that the Lord just decided to take her on home. As her sweet hubby Jason said, she had struggled so much lately and her spirits had never been the same after her long, hard, emotional and physical fight with the swine flu in the fall. I can hardly begin to tell you what this girl meant to me and how much I thought of this precious woman who dearly loved her God. Please don't waste a moment of your life... seek Him, love others, honor His name, draw near to Him, spread His love and salvation. I wrote the following on Emily's blog as her entire blog will be printed and bound for her toddler daughter, Faith, and for other family members as well.


Dear Faith,
It was my desire, on the day your dad called me to tell me your mother had passed away, to have her blog printed and bound for you along with letters from those who knew your mother to you. I wanted for you to have this, to be able to know her and learn about who she was, and to treasure it all your life long. I wanted you to be able to see all that your mother was, and all that her God was to her and will be to you. I wanted you to have a glimpse of the faith that your mother had, the kind of person she was, and all that she found in her relationship with Jesus. Faith, now as the task is before me, I have found myself at a loss for enough words to tell you all of that. I am so grateful that your life will always be filled with an abundance of people who will have enough words and enough time to tell you all your life long all the things she'd want you to know. Your daddy is a blessed and loving man and I have no doubt that you will not lack for him telling you about your mother. She is a part of who he is. Your mom's family, her parents, siblings, and so many others as well as your dad's family will all have accounts of your mom and they'll be able to share with you how each of them was impacted by her in many different ways. Your mother's precious friend, Emily T, was given life-giving, anointed words to speak at your mother's memorial service and you will always have that precious account as well. Faith, your mom never tried to be anybody but herself, she never tried to be anyone's miracle, but in living her life, surrendering herself over and over again to Christ, she was a miracle in every sense. The miracle I witnessed was a faith against all odds. Faith, to others' eyes your mom had every reason to live a life of despair and discouragement. Now, she did experience those things on a regular basis, I cannot deny, but she LIVED a LIFE of HOPE and FAITH through every circumstance. Your mother was one unique young lady. She lived 26 full years and yet she lived at least 100 years of experiences. She was in the unique position of being given the raw choice on a regular basis of whether or not to depend on God fully. And she did so. And in so doing, she regularly saw the face of God, felt the comfort of God, and His deep and never-ending love. Your mother was blessed abundantly and she knew it. I remember her saying as she walked through Walmart one day with you, your dad, and your aunt Callie, that she was very much aware in that very simple moment of how blessed she was. She was amazed and thankful to still have your aunt Callie, her precious close sister, after her battle with brain cancer. She was amazed and thankful to have a husband who would marry a woman in her circumstances and who loved her and was committed to her through thick and thin. And, Faith, she was so amazed and so thankful to have you. A very precious gift from God. She had faced the reality and grieved the loss that she'd never be able to have a child of her own. And then she was given you. She knew you were a miracle and a precious gift and she didn't waste a single minute of her time with you. She was a very normal mother with normal feelings and challenges, but with an abnormal knowledge of what a gift you were to her. Faith, through you, God provided her with hope and joy and a reason to live when her circumstances seemed too hard to bear. Your mother did not lose heart easily, she did not complain lightly, she did not become discouraged easily, and yet she did experience all of those things. I'll never forget the times that she would come to our weekly Bible study (the MOMS group in Cullman) when she had just gotten out of the hospital, had very little strength, and yet was determined like a bulldog to come if she at all could make it. It was very important to her to come, connect with other moms, learn about God and share together. I'd see her in the hallway or entering the room and at these times I could see written all over her face how hard it was to endure and we'd embrace and she'd softly cry that she didn't understand why she had to go through this and why it was so hard. But, Faith, these moments didn't last long, she didn't wallow, she did allow herself to feel and express what she was feeling, but she always captured those thoughts and feelings and stood on His promises fully instead of letting discouragement get the best of her. She brought an easy, comfortable wisdom to our group that should have belonged to a much, much older woman. Yet she was young and fun all the same. Your mom was one of the easiest and truest people to be around. I would often visit your mom and dad in the hospital over those few years and I would try to bring a little something to brighten her day. I learned of her love for Sonic slushes (or Sonic anything) and Mike and Ikes! She was always so very appreciative and so caring of those who came to spend time with her. She loved to visit with people and she always turned the conversation back to the other person and what was going on with them over and over again. She was truly a selfless woman who loved others with the love that only God can give. Your mother sought the Lord and she found Him each day! She was always learning more about His character and His love for her and then sharing it with others. She was amazed by God on a regular basis. Oh Faith, how I loved your mother! And what can I say about your dad? Equally selfless, equally personable, fun, wise, loving, and a young man of great character. He loves his God, honors Him, and he loved your mother deeply and cared for her well. When he had to move back to Lubbock and leave your mom here for a while (in the care of other family), he was so torn. He knew he needed to work and that he could come back often until the transplant came, which they hoped would be very soon. Fairly soon, your mom had to go back in the hospital and she had to have a chest tube inserted, which was incredibly painful for her. Your dad could not stand that he had not been there with her in that moment and he rarely left her side after that. I remember talking to your dad and he regretted not being there for her so much. Faith, your dad and mom had a lot of fun together and he would put everything aside for her and was her very faithful companion through all of their life together. Faith, I hope you'll know that your mother's life had such an impact on so very many people, more than we'll ever know, and not a small impact, but a life-changing, lasting impact. She did on me. When I first met her, I knew she was about to be a mother and so I invited her to come to our MOMS group for support from other mothers and learning together about mothering for God's glory. She was unable to come for a while due to prenatal appointments, staying at home with her brand new baby, and then some struggles a little while after your birth, so I went to visit her in the hospital to help make the long days in the hospital a little shorter and to get to know her a little. God quickly showed me that there was a depth of relationship with Him there that I would greatly benefit to see. He encouraged me to spend time with her, for my own gain, and so I told your mom this when we had met to eat at Chick-fil-A when you were just a tiny baby. She so wanted to form a friendship based on who she was, not based on her circumstances and her disease. She never wanted pity and, I think, was delighted when someone wanted to get to know her for their own benefit, not for hers, if that makes any sense. She struggled with accepting help and yet, she did so graciously, for the sake of her family and for the sake of the person offering. She was so strong! I knew from the beginning that I would be able to minister to her in some ways and I wanted to minister to her in any way I could, and yet that she would minister to me in much greater ways than I could begin to imagine. So that, Faith, is who your mother was. She wouldn't have traded what God had for her, she knew His plans, struggled with them yet embraced them as His best for her, trusting Him completely with her very life. And she lived that life for Him and for her family, to the fullest. I learned so much from her and I am challenged daily by her sweet, unassuming example. You, sweet one, will have your own shoes to fill, not hers, but you will benefit greatly from her example and her legacy, just as I have. Precious one, always trust God completely, be very vulnerable and honest with Him, learn about Him from His Word, and love Him as He has loved you. And, thank you, for sharing your mother with us. Love, Carrie

My Friend, Em

I have a dear friend, Emily, who has had such a long and hard battle against her CF. In June, it will be 2 years since her double lung transplant, and it has not brought quite the health they were hoping for as of yet. Yes, she has been able to breathe like never before, engage in activities like never before, and have freedom from her twice-daily CF routines, but she has been very sick time after time after time.

She is an amazing, strong, honest, truth-seeking Christian young woman, mother, wife, daughter, and sister. If you'd like to keep up with her blog and pray for her, you'll be glad you did! You'll gain spiritually as she posts very honestly about the struggles she encounters and the hope she has in her Savior, whom she is very close with:) Here's the address for her blog http://themulkeys-mulkeys.blogspot.com/ . Right now, she is in ICU fighting pseudomonas in her lungs and so the latest post is by her best friend of the same name. To avoid confusion, her friend posts as Emily T. What a sweet friend she has in her!

Please pray for my sweet Em when you think of her:)

Thanks!

So much catching up to do!

Well, just a couple of weeks after I tried to get back to my blog posting, we looked at a house on a Wednesday, took a second look that Friday, and bought it on Saturday. Wow! We weren't even looking at the time... it just came across us randomly and it was clearly God's plan for our family and for the former home-owners as well. We're really enjoying our new location, which makes Shawn's drive to work only 20 minutes instead of 45! We also have the blessing of being surrounded by the beauty of nature from both sides and the entire back of the house, with no other homes in sight except to the front and yet we have the convenience of being less than 5-7 minutes from Ava's school, our church, and many other conveniences.

So with the busy-ness of packing, taking down wallpaper, painting, moving, unpacking, minor repairs and improvements, and planning and getting ready for a big Christmas vacation, I've been negligent of our blog until now!

One big thing for 2009 in north Alabama was 3 snows! And now, today in Januray 2010, we're experiencing another beautiful snow! What a blessing to watch God paint white lines on the trees, the tops of large rocks and leaves on the ground... the woods behind our house are beautiful!

Ava is busy with loving kindergarten, reading like a whiz kid, playing with friends, and she also played soccer in the fall of 09 and had a blast with that again. What a great opportunity to make new friends:) She has also been spending some time forming friendships with the 4 other small children in our cul-de-sac, who also go to our church! Shawn has continued to hone his photography skills and has been blessed with several contract jobs, all within minutes of our new home as well. God has definitely clearly directed our paths this past year! I hope to post pics from all our fall adventures soon.

Post a comment and tell me about a blessing from 2009 for you!

Ava's in Kindergarten Now!!

I still can't believe it! Some days she seems so big and others she still seems so little. How precious these years are!

Ava has been excited about kindergarten since the first day of K4 last year! On the final day of K4, she told the kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Krenkel, that she didn't want to have a summer and she was ready for kindergarten to start that very day! Mrs. Krenkel smiled and bent down to Ava and said, "That's sweet, honey, but Mrs. Krenkel needs a LITTLE break!" Ha!

Yes, I started to cry on the first day, but then reminded myself that I'm blessed to have Ava in a Kindergarten that is only half-days, so I didn't give myself permission to fuss anymore! Soooo, I will just cry a lot next year! :)

Oh, one more thing... on the third day of school I needed to go in with Ava to pass some flyers out to the teachers and Mrs. Krenkel says, "Ava likes bugs and frogs and things". I said, "Yes, she does". Mrs. Krenkel said, "Yesterday she was catching frogs on the playground and the boys wouldn't have anything to do with it". I laughed and Mrs. Krenkel said, "So you have a boy AND a girl." So true! Ava is as girly as it gets when it comes to clothes and pink and ponies and unicorns, etc., but as she says "I'll touch any kind of bug". Yes, she will, and let it crawl all over her hands and arms.

Ready for me to quit taking pictures so she can go in:)

She was so excited to give Mrs. Krenkel her little gift that I wasn't quite ready for the shot!

Daddy came down from work to see her new classroom, etc.

Just after this she gave me a sticker and said "this is to remember me by"! Like she was going to be gone for a year!

Mrs. Krenkel and most of the class at the end of the day

Catching Up!

Soooooooo, yeah, I've got a LOT of catching up to do! Just working part-time, being mom to Ava, managing my MOMS Bible Study group, and running my household was too much, so I decided to step back from my wonderful job. OK... so that's been a couple months ago and I'm ready to get back on track with our blog!

Ava and I have been having a fantastic summer! It's going by way too quickly already! She's really progressed in the pool this summer even though we haven't been swimming really all that much (if it were up to me, we'd go at least a few times a week!). She swims under water a few yards at a time and can go down and pick things up from the bottom of the shallow end now. She's having a blast trying new things in the pool this year. About a month ago Ava and I spent several days at my parents' house in La with my sister and her kids. Those cousins had a great time together:) We also had the privilege of mom and dad's neighbor, Gabby, coming over to join in the fun! I have a new favorite sound... Gabby's giggle! I wish I could can it and listen to it whenever I needed a smile! The week before last Ava struggled with a really bad case of strep throat, so last week was spent with her eating us out of house and home to catch up from eating hardly anything that entire week! Oh, and Ava got to spend a day with her GG and TomTom, who took her to the Chattanooga Aquarium and then she got to spend the night... more great memories made:)

We also had a yard sale, which went very well... most of all, I got rid of extra stuff! Yay!! Ava sold some toys and earned herself a new scooter, which she already rides like a pro! We are still so blessed to have little Brady next door to spend lots of outside time with. They LOVE picnics and request one at least a few times a week... well, last week Brady's uncle Dan made him a new picnic table so we've had the joy of using that nice gift! This past Saturday we were so blessed to get to enjoy an incredible marriage conference at the church, put on by Dale and Jena Forehand. If you ever have a chance to hear them, don't miss the opportunity!

The rest of the summer and fall proves to be busy and filled with fun! In a week, Shawn will be in Nashville for a training and Ava and I plan to join him for at least a few days. Then comes the start of soccer for Ava, a last summer trip to Louisiana (my parents house), the start of Kindergarten for Ava, the children's ministry consignment sale, the beginning of my MOMS group... and that's just August! September will bring Ava's birthday and a visit from my parents plus a trip to the beach:) And yet, we'll have plenty of time together in between. We're not big rushers... we like to spend lots of quality time together as a family so this is a busy schedule for us! But, we'll be sure to make lots of time for each other:)

Shawn has gotten even more new camera equipment and gained more knowledge and skills, so I will be posting some great new pics very soon. He also plans to referee high school football this fall, so he's really, really excited about that!

I'm sure I'll think of something later that I've forgotten, but this will have to do for now. I promise to keep future posts less wordy and to post pictures soon!

Here We Come, 2009!

The holidays have been GREAT! I have so enjoyed the extra time at home with Shawn and Ava and the extra time with extended family! My folks were "home alone" this Christmas with Lee and I both spending the holiday with our husbands' families and their own celebration with Dad's mom wasn't until the weekend after Christmas. But, they ended up at some dear friends' home on Christmas Day and had a great week getting some major projects done together!

2008 was a big year for us... we had great pains, great joys, and most of all, learned and gained so much in the process of it all! We hope that the Lord has just as much in store for us in 2009 and hope to 'see His face' more and more as well! God is so good!

Shawn got a new photography toy for Christmas and so enjoyed a little more practicing. It's too bad, though, that he doesn't have a beautiful and willing subject! Here are some examples!

Happy Strawberry Shortcake Birthday, Cadee!!

So, my background today (strawberries) is in honor of my niece's birthday today! Happy 4th Birthday, Cadee! You are such a big girl and we love you so very much! Have a wonderful day today!

Cadee is a "pistol" as my dad said today and so I thought this picture might be the most representative of her personality! Yes, the red hair is to blame!

Christmas Time's A-Coming!

I LOVE Christmastime! Especially through Ava's eyes. Each year is different and so enjoyable! I was determined to get the Christmas tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving even though we had just gotten home from a week at mom and dad's at 4 that morning, and I still had unpacking and laundry to do! It's all about the priorities! We got the tree up and Ava was a great helper to decorate it, got Ava's tree up, Ava hung the "sockins" all by herself, we had hot cocoa, and listened to Shawn read Twas the Night Before Christmas.

While in La, we had family pictures made with my parents, Granny, and sister's family. Shawn took several of his own and did a great job! Me and Ava

The Girls!

Shawn and Ava

Dad and Granny

Ava, Cadee, and Justin

Ava taking care of little cousin Jonathan

Ava and her "best fwend" for the week!

My sis with her family

Families are fun!!

Ahhh, here with family again! We're here in Louisiana spending quality time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephews, and Granny. Thursday we'll also have more family here with us! The kids have all had a great time together! They each love their cousins SO much!

A couple of funny things we've overheard from the kids this week:

• Last night, Ava and Cadee were playing with the dollhouse and dolls and we heard Cadee and Ava figuring out which dolls were which and Ava told Cadee, "You have to be really, really old to be a grandma!" Just as my mom (her grandma) entered the room!
• The kids invited Granny to eat at the kids' table with them for dinner tonight and she delightedly accepted! Then, I overheard Ava say, "Granny, you're old. How old are you?"
• Tonight, Cadee wanted to sleep in her mom and dad's room instead of in Granny's with Ava, which is very unusual. We kept asking and she just did not want to sleep in there. Her dad told her in his sternest voice, "Cadee, I will NOT tolerate you waking up in the middle of the night, because Jonathan is in our room and you don't need to wake him up! The first time you wake up, talk, whine, whatever, I'll spank your bottom". She turned right around and said in her sweetest voice, "Ava, I'm sleeping with you now". Smart girl!
• OK, Justin is usually the king of the funny quotes, but I'm asking everyone and we're all coming up dry! I'm sure I'll be posting one in the coming days!

Thank You SO much, Lord, for the blessing of family and for the lessons we learn from the kids you've blessed us with:)

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

It's Clompicated

Yes, Ava has created a new word. As we were driving home from Bible study this morning, Ava was singing her own song in the backseat and sang something about "situations". I asked her if she knew what a situation was and she said no and asked me what it was. I was so stuck! I could only think of an explanation that involved the word "circumstances" and I didn't know how to describe either word without using the other!

After I took a short phone call, Ava still wanted a definition. I couldn't think of how to explain it to her. She reassured me... "I will believe you, mama. I will. I will trust you". Give you a hint that she doesn't always believe or trust me? Anyway, I tried to tell her that I knew she would believe me, but that I couldn't think of how to explain the word to her! After going back and forth on that and after more unanswered questions, I told her that it was "complicated". And the rest is history....

All I heard the rest of the way home was "You're clompicated, mama." Giggle, giggle, giggle.

On another note, we enjoyed a very fancy, 'Fancy Nancy' birthday party at Mercy's house on Saturday. The girls dressed up and wore their finest jewels, made bracelets and crowns, ate some fancy food and played the afternoon away. Here are Ava, Mercy, and Emma all beautified:)

I am so blessed! Today I had a wonderful friend invite me over to pray together and I am filled with joy for what God has done in me and what He is going to do!

Well, it took me FOREVER, but I finally figured out how to post a slideshow of some pictures of our fun last couple of weeks! Our recent days have been filled with pumpkin patch, Peinhardt Farm, Fall Festival, and a really special morning at Doss Farm with Mr. Morrow, who told me he got his "pay back from yesterday morning" the next day at church when Ava put her hand on his arm and said, "I love you, Mr. Morrow". Too sweet!

I'll also go back and add some soccer pics and birthday pics from September... Ava had a surprise family birthday party and a really fun time at Build-A-Bear with friends! Please look below and check it out! If you click on the slideshow, it will bring it up larger and you can also read the captions. Just click on the slideshow, then click on the word 'Slideshow' on the page that comes up.

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