A New Decade for Me!!!!

So, I turned the big 3-0 yesterday! It feels so wierd to say that! Jeff took me to Birmingham and we met up with some of my best friends who live there! It was so much fun to all be together and catch up. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the whole gang. I'm really sad about that! The dining room table and chairs arrived Tuesday and were my big gift! I love having a dining room and can't wait to start entertaining! The bottom right pic in the collage above is of Samuel and Ellie Kate giving me their card (that Samuel picked out all by himself). Thanks to my sweet husband for organizing a fun night and thanks to Jennifer, Carey & Andrew, Catie & Jamie, Meredith & Gary, Deborah & Will, and Kelly & Ryan for coming to celebrate!

The pics below are of when we celebrated with my family last weekend (again sad I didn't get my parents in any of the pictures). Samuel was so excited to have a cake for me and he put 30 candles on it and then even helped me blow them out!

Happy 18 Months!

This crazy, beautiful, hilarious, stubborn, energetic, silly, sweet, friendly little girl is 18 months old today! She is growing up so fast and we are loving every minute! Ellie Kate has 13 teeth, talks in short sentences and says around 80 words, can climb like a monkey, gives the best kisses, finally sleeps with a lovey/stuffed animal, tells me when she has a "stinky," builds legos, plays with Samuel's cars, pushes her dolly around the house, bugs her brother, loves taking baths, does not obey, loves books, and is most definitely a daddy's girl!

Starting to Sink In

So we've been official residents of Alabama now for one month. I even got my shiny new Alabama state driver's license this morning. Just what I wanted to do at 7 months pregnant (my Georgia one expired next week on my birthday)! For some reason, even though I am doing pretty good on my weight gain my face is already swollen and my nose is even bigger. YIKES! Suffice it to say, this is not a driver's license picture that I will be showing off! So this morning was one more step towards the reality that Georgia is no longer my home. People keep asking how the transition has been going and how Alabama is, and for the most part I've been answering the token "pretty good." And that has been true until this week. I think I'm finally really beginning to grieve the loss of a place I really loved, as well as friends and family I miss dearly. Add to that the aches and pains of pregnancy along with lovely hormones and sometimes out of control children...it has not been pretty. I'm overwhelmed with all the newness...

New doctors. New home. New school for Samuel. New church. New friends to get to know. New ministry. New town. New reality of not seeing my parents that much. New baby to prepare for.

I used to think I liked change...but I'm realizing it was in the little things like changing decor in my home, rearranging furniture, new seasons, new wardrobes, etc. All this change and newness has caught up with me one month in and I'm not exactly digging it! I'm having to start over with so many new relationships and that is something that does not come easily to me. I love people and cherish friendships...it just seems harder to get close ones the older you get. In Athens, I had friends I could be vulnerable with and who knew me pretty well. I had a doctor I totally trusted and loved and who also knew me really well. We had history, ya know? I also had my parents 50 minutes away. Now, I'm just overwhelmed at having to start over. However, I really am thankful for the way that the Lord has provided many new opportunities to meet other women my age and people in the community who have made us feel so welcome. It really has been a blessing to already have some natural friendships here. I am hopeful that I will one day like (love might be a strong word at this point) Tuscaloosa nearly as much as I loved Athens. I am hopeful that I will have friends who truly know me and a doctor I truly love. I know it's going to take time and I know from the past that times of pain and heartache will eventually bring me great joy.

Would we know that the major chords were sweet,
If there was no minor key?
Would the painter's work be fair to our eyes,
Without shade on land or sea?
Would we know the meaning of happiness,
Would we feel that the day was bright.
If we'd never know what it was to grieve,
Nor gazed on the dark of night?

"All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness." Psalm 25:10

The Boys

The Akers came for a visit on Saturday and we had so much fun. We set up the slip n slide (pictures below) and the boys loved it! Samuel, Hudson, and Rowen will hopefully always share a special bond as they were all adopted from Ukraine in December of 2005. I hope they will be friends forever! They also had so much fun wrestling and just being wild boys!

Slip N Slide Fun!

Life These Days

The kids are busier than ever! As you can see in the pics, Ellie Kate is a little monkey and climbs on everthing which she thinks is hilarious. Her favorite spots are the ottoman, fireplace, and the top of our big chair. If I take my eyes off her for a minute, she is into something as evidenced by the toilet paper picture. Samuel has taught her how to say "cheese" for the camera. He is so good with her and she still adores him so much!

A Shout Out...

...to my friend April who created the new blog design! I love it! April was a sorority sister at Alabama and she loves to change her blog look as much as I do mine. I think we are kindred spirits. She just happens to have a really cool program I only wish I had that enables her to make the cool stuff she did for me!

Thanks April for creating my fun new look!

Look alike?

I love to see pictures of Jeff and myself when we were little especially now that we have Ellie Kate. It's so fun to see parts of her that look like each of us. I found this picture of me (I think I am around 2 years old) during the move. I don't know why I had it, but it looks so much like Ellie Kate! It's hard to tell in this picture, but our hair color and style/cut is almost identical. If you compare this pic to the one of her up in the header of this blog...you can definitely tell she is my child!


Then, here is a fun one of Jeff and his dad that I got at his parents house awhile back. I think he and Ellie Kate have very similar smiles. And of course, their eyes are pretty much the same! Jeff is about 12 months old here. Wasn't he a cutie?

Good News!

The long lost camera is found!!! It was in Jeff's parents car that we had used one weekend when looking at houses in T-town (we left them our van with the carseats). It must have fallen out of my purse and gotten under one of their seats or something. The even better news is that it's actually not broken anymore! When I got the camera from Jeff's parents this weekend, the battery was dead. I charged it up and stuck it back in the camera. Lo and behold, it turned right on and acts like it was never broken! I had tried recharging the battery before, but it had not worked. Who knows why it's working now, but I am so excited to not have to spend birthday money on a camera again!

At Home

Since I have had so many requests, here are some pics of the house we just moved into. Not included are dining room, office, and the nursery for baby girl (who still has no name) because they are not done! We feel so blessed that the Lord provided this house for us after many agonizing days looking. It is a great location and in the best school district! While we miss Athens a lot, we have felt so welcome here by so many people and I think this is going to be a great fit for our family! Our neighborhood is full of kids and we are really looking forward to getting to know more of our neighbors.

Foyer looking down from the upstairs

Family Room

Kitchen...with brick floors which I have already developed a love/hate relationship with!

Master bedroom (pics and curtains not hung yet)

Ellie Kate's sort of big girl room

EK's closet/playroom...cool huh?!

Samuel's room

And some recent pics of the kids and me...

Samuel and my dad planted a wild flower garden

25 weeks preggo

Growing Up

This morning we walked Samuel into his kindergarten room and dropped him off. He did really well and just walked right in and hung his backpack up. He was really excited about today and even woke up on his own at 6:30 am this morning (he usually sleeps until 8 am). I could tell he was a little nervous going in his classroom, but I tried really hard to hold it together so he wouldn't see me upset. It's hard to hand off your 5 year old knowing that he now will spend more time with his teacher than you during the day. I mean I have only had him to myself for just under 3 years and yet I know that this is going to be so good for him. He has been a bit bored since we moved so I think the structure and fun of school will be just what he needs. Of course we are nervous how he will do since he is still considerably behind most of his peers developmentally. This is just one of many moments as his parents that we are to entrust him to our heavenly Father and give him the wings to begin growing up.

They had a "Boo-Hoo" breakfast at the school for all the kindergarten parents. I thought that was really nice...although no one seemed to be boo-hooing thank goodness! When we were in the car about to drop him off, Samuel said..."I hope Ellie Kate doesn't miss me too much." I thought that was so cute! Of course we will miss him although I'm not sure she is really old enough to really notice he is gone. I can't wait to pick him up at 2:45 today!

Here are some pictures from this morning...

It's a citywide policy for students to have a clear backpack...how uncool is that?!

Such a big boy!

Showing off his backpack

hanging up his backpack under his cubby

By the way, these pics are not from a new camera (thanks for all the suggestions by the way). I did find our very old and very slow Nikon Coolpix that I hate with a passion, but at least it will do until I can decide on a new one.

7 Years...WOW!!!!

Happy Anniversary to Us!!! Boy did we look young...and a lot skinnier 7 years ago! It was a wonderful day...hot...but wonderful! The 7 years since then have been an adventure of ups and downs and all the in betweens. We have traveled to many cool places together (Italy, Ukraine, Jamaica, Bahamas, Virgin Islands to name a few), grown our family in ways that were once unimaginable, experienced great joy and sorrow together, laughed a lot, cried a lot, moved 4 times, owned 3 houses, lived in 3 states, had our fair share of arguments, grown together in the Lord, and much much more. I wouldn't want to experience this journey of life with anyone else! I'm so thankful that the Lord brought us together and allowed us to meet in 1997 (gosh that seems like forever ago) at the University of Alabama. I love you, Jeff!!!