I have to share this with you...

Denise sent me a link to this blog today. This is a girl named Callie who lives in Birmingham. She was recently diagnosed with a Grade 2 Astrocytoma, a brain tumor. Please be prepared to cry tears of laughter and sorrow.

www.calliesjourney.blogspot.com/

I have only read a few entries and it has already put a few things in perspective for me. (Like not being a baby about Kyle giving me a flu shot). Her attitude is incredible and honestly, it scares me a little. For the past couple of months I have been working on my walk with the Lord. There have be some small, but significant, changes in my life that have been direct and obvious answers to prayers. I have been learning so much through sunday school and Brother Johnny at First Baptist and through our study of the Praying Wife and now Apples of Gold. (More on Apples later...) Part of my fear is--what if I get too close to God? What if He thinks I could handle something like that? And then part of the fear is like a ride at Six Flags. Just knowing you're not in control and you can enjoy the ride...

In John Williams sunday school class this week we talked about where we are as a Christian on a scale of 1-10. Shay said that most of us are right in the middle, where it's comfortable. I agree with that. I don't want to be too bad, so I don't get punished or too good so that I am chosen to be an example of how a Christian should react in tough times. I'm not saying this is correct reasoning. I know that bad things happen to all of us, lost or saved, "good" Christian or "bad." I'm just saying I can't help thinking that way.

You know the Dare Devel Dive at Six Flags where they strap you in and pull you way up high then you pull the cord and do a free-fall toward the ground? I feel like I'm at the top. I just need to take the plunge.

9 months old

Our baby is now nine months old! Definitely a milestone age so we are having some pictures done this weekend by an AWESOME photographer. I am so glad we found her just as she is starting her business, because I really think she will be famous one day and then we wouldn't be able to afford her! Fortunately, she is also one of our best friends and she and her husband have a nice 'guest suite' in their house for us to stay in. Usually she travels to your house to do the photos, but then we wouldn't get to stay in the guest suite or watch Bama football on one of their three flatscreen TVs.

Anyway, since the last post Luke has become a much faster crawler and puller-upper, but he still hasn't taken that first step. I've already had to fence in the living room, so I'm not encouraging it! He has been working on a few other things, like THREE top teeth. Ouch!

In addition to "da-da," he has now said "bottle" and "dog." ("Da-da" is for both Kyle and me). When he drops his spoon he says "uh!" or "uh-uh," but he hasn't mastered the "-oh." He has also figured out how to growl and wave "bye-bye."

Have I mentioned that it goes by really fast??

It won't be long...

A few weeks ago Denise Nichols, Kerrie Reed, Lindsey Lee, Jacqueline St. Pierre, Deanna Brannon and I finished a study of "The Power of a Praying Wife." If I haven't told you already, I highly recommend it! When we were done we were supposed to have a celebration dinner at the Nichols' house, but her husband Shay and their two girls came down with a stomach bug. Since that got cancelled, it was rescheduled for this weekend and combined into a baby shower/sunday school social/celebration dinner/football party. There were a ton of people in Shay and Denise's house and they fed us all some awesome barbeque. Thanks again, guys! Luke had a blast playing on the carpeted floor with the other rugrats and was not shy around our friends he had not met yet (who do not have kids themselves)!

He must have thought it was cool to watch the older kids run around, because he decided he wanted to stand up by himself. He stood by himself with everyone watching for about 5 seconds! I didn't get a picture at the time, but this is the next day:

Now he has started letting go when he pulls up on the furniture, all by himself. Such a big boy. When he tries to walk he leans forward before moving his feet and just falls over. He's still got some things to figure out, but it won't be long now.

Labor Day Weekend

This Labor Day Kyle took a couple of days off so we could make a trip to north Alabama. Our families both live in the same vicinity since his parents moved from Memphis to Mentone, so it's now possible to see them both in one weekend. One long, action-packed weekend, that is...

On Friday morning, we drove up to Mentone, stopping in Springville to see Colby and Rachel's (Kyle's brother and sister-in-law) new house along the way. It is a beautiful house in a great area with an awesome deck overlooking a big field. Lots of adjectives! I should have taken a picture of the house. Anyway, that was the first time Luke had seen his cousin Brooklyn in a while and he thought she was hilarious! It must be funny to see someone so close to your size running around and playing! She had fun with him, too, and kept calling for "baby Luke" to come to her room. That's Brooklyn's sister, Madelyn, in the picture.

His parents and sister are staying in a cute little old farm house in Mentone and while it only has one bathroom, it really didn't seem that small to me. It has been updated, but since the owners found a Civil War uniform in the attic, I guess it is pretty old. There were also tons of old books dating back as far as 1897 and stacks of pictures from WWII. The most interesting (or disturbing) one needed no description, but was labeled "Brutswald(?) Concentration and Annihilation Camp." I just can't wrap my mind around that.

On a lighter note, after dinner that night, we went up to the Ponderosa Bible Camp to see where they have been spending the summer. It is a really neat place with horses, swimming, an archery and shooting range, cabins for campers, you get the picture. Just a good old-fashioned summer camp. We also visited DeSoto Falls.

The next day Colby, Rachel and the girls came up to have some family pictures taken. What a challenge to get a 2 year-old and two infants to cooperate. I'm not sure we could have found a more patient photographer than Ann Nelson. Click on this link--Ponderosa Bible Camp--and go to the staff page. Just take a look at the Nelson family. They have ELEVEN children. All good-looking kids, too!

This weekend was also the beginning of football season. We took Luke to Albertville on Saturday to visit his great-grandparents, then we met my parents and handed him off for the night so we could watch Bama beat up on Virginia Tech in peace! Another great time hanging out with the Roden family (we missed you Kaydee!) and the Warrens (for a little while).

The next afternoon we were off to my parents' house for the next leg of the journey. (We did a LOT of driving this weekend!) Luke got to see his other Aunt Kim and his cousin Kate. We were happy to see that they love each other, too.

Kyle and my dad had a two-man dove shoot before we were back on the road to Dothan. It was a fun and busy weekend. This is how we all felt when we got back home:

Can't wait to do it again soon!

Daddy's Home!!

I remember one day in Tuscaloosa while driving with our windows down, Kyle and I passed a house where Dad was obviously just getting home from work. All the way to the road and over the sound of traffic we could hear, "DADDY, DADDY!!" and we saw a little boy and girl who appeared to be between 5 and 8 running out to meet him. So cute! I never dreamed that excitement would happen this early.



I wish I had kept the camera going the whole time. He immediately had a melt-down and soon as Kyle walked away.

While we are on the subject of Daddy, looks like he is going to have to rearrange the nursery.

"What? I'm not doing anything..."