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