Evan

I felt like I needed to tell Evan's whole story...I know there are so many people praying for him, and I have only been giving snippet updates on Facebook.  I know I like to be able to pray more specifically, so here are the specifics.  First of all, Evan is my cousin Jennifer's 10-month old son.  He is one of the cutest babies I've ever seen!  He laughs a lot, and has a very sunny personality.  On Wednesday, he was taken to the ER via ambulance because he was having a seizure.  The seizure lasted for 2 hours before they (doctors) were able to get it to stop.  THroughout the past days they have determined that Evan has a strain of bacterial meningitis (not the fatal strain) but  nonetheless critical.  When by Friday afternoon he was still having mini seizures, they decided to do an MRI to try to figure out what was going on.  At first glance the neurologist said he thought it looked like there were 2 small places of infection on his brain (the meningitis clearing up) and that was what was causing the mini seizures.  By Saturday morning he had finally woken up a bit, and was using his paci, and was able to be held by Jennifer, and her husband Chris a bunch.  But, Sunday afternoon he had a pretty violent seizure. They scheduled a CT scan and that, and the official MRI read determined that he had had a small stroke and now has 2 spots of dead tissue in his brain.  

The meningitis won't be totally out of his system for at least another week, and at that point they may begin to determine just how much brain damage he has suffered.  Please be in prayer for Evan, Jennifer, and Chris.  They are so worried about him, and the fact that a 10-month old baby has had a stroke is terrifying!  I will do my best to update everyone on Evan's progress, and we are all praying for divine healing, and complete recooperation for Evan!!  

I am attaching some pictures of Evan so you can put a face with a name.

Holiday wrap-up

Okay...hang on, this could get a little crazy!

So, Christmas Eve Glenn, Brooklyn, and I packed up and headed to his parents' house in Pensacola, FL.  Once we arrived we had enough time to unpack, get settled, change clothes, and then off to Mawmaw's house for the Christmas Eve finger food fest and presents.  Then on Christmas morning, since Glenn's dad had worked the night before, we were all up at 7:30 (yes AM!) to see what Santa(aka the Smiths) had brought for us.  We opened crazy amounts of gifts, and everyone got really nice stuff, and Glenn and I did our presents for each other then too.  Then it was off to Mawmaw's again for the Christmas feast...which was basically a rerun of Thanksgiving...so much good food!!!  Christmas Day night, Bekah (my sis in law) and I went to see Twilight, since I had gotten hooked on those dang books over break.  It was pretty good actually.  The next night Glenn and I met our friends Steven and Mandy to go see Marley and Me...all 4 of us cried!  The early antics of Marley reminded Glenn and I very much of our crazy Brooklyn!  It was great to see Steven and Mandy, even if it was just for a couple of hours.  (we miss you guys!)  Saturday was a bunch of football, and Saturday night I made my first bag with my  new sewing machine...only to realize the next day that we had put the straps on the wrong way and had to take most of the dang thing apart and start over!  But it turned out super cute in the end.  After one more yummy meal at Mawmaw's on Sunday, it was time to hit road back to Atlanta.  

We were home all of Monday and Tuesday, when we were off again on New Year's Eve to go to my parents' house in Durham, NC.  Luckily traffic was great and we made it there by 11:40...I was worried I was going to be ringing in the New Year in the car!  My family started a tradition this year with pancakes at 1:00am!  The next morning we got up and had Christmas #2 with my family, opening all of our presents and having fun hanging out.  Later that day we watch the Dawgs win the Capitol One Bowl!  We had a bunch of other family over for dinner on Saturday night, and it was so good to see everyone!  On Sunday Glenn actually played bass at my parents' church and sang a little back up!  He did a great job, but then, he always does!!  I still love to see him play even though I've probably seen it a million times!  He truly loves to lead others in the worship of our Lord, and it totally shows when you watch him!!!   On our way home on Sunday we stopped in Gastonia and visited and had dinner with Jamie, Eric, Bella, and Tot.  It was so much fun to see them all...the girls are so cute and so much fun, and it made me miss by best friend even more!!!  We got home at almost midnight on Sunday night, and it was back to work Monday morning for both of us.

I think we are finally starting to catch up on our sleep and get back into the routine, but now we need a vacation from our vacation!  

On the job front...there are none.  I think we have pretty much decided that Glenn is going to go back to school to persue a degree in Engineering. (not sure what kind)  We will have to move eventually once he figures out where he wants to end up going to school at. (Meanwhile, he can take some core classes here in town)  We are still up in the air though, and are still trying to figure out exactly where God wants us to go.

So, that's the holiday wrap-up for us!  We are looking forward to seeing where God takes us in 2009...it will all be new, uncharted territory...but we know He will lead us to where we need to be!  We hope everyone has a wonderful 2009!!

playing catch up

Okay, I know it's been a while, but there hasn't been much excitement to report, and I hate to write about the mundane!

For Thanksgiving Glenn, Brooklyn, and I made the trip to P'Cola to spend the long weekend with the Smiths.  It was lots of fun!  I really  have the greatest in-laws ever, and I love going to visit!  After a YUMMY meal courtesy of Mawmaw (with enough food to feed an army...and all of it unbelievably good!)  Karen (my mother-in-law) and I hit the stores for Black Friday.  We sat down the night before to decide our plan of attack, and were out the door by 7am!  (I will always get up for shopping!)  We found some really great deals, and got lots of fun things for everyone!  Mama Smith bought Glenn and I a Dyson...which I am so excited about I can't stand it!!  AND IT'S PINK!!!  I am in love with this vacuum cleaner!!!  So, after we shopped til we almost dropped we headed home for a quiet night of pizza and cards.  On Saturday we watched some football...1st the Georgia game...we won't even talk about it...then the Auburn/Alabama game...we won't talk about that one either!  The only bright spot of the day was the Heels pulling out a win over Dook!  We headed home on Sunday and sat in traffic for what seemed like a million hours!  Brooklyn was a very good traveler and always loves going to see MeMe and Papa!

No change on the job front.  Glenn is just undecided about what he really wants to do...so we are exploring a few options.  We have a few resumes out for youth minister jobs, but so far haven't heard anything about any of those.  It's just frustrating because he feels so bad for "dragging me into this" and that breaks my  heart!  Please continue to pray for us...mostly for direction and guidance, and a sense of peace for Glenn.  This is not an easy time for him, and extra prayers will help!  :)  God has been amazing through all of this so far!  This was our first month without his paycheck, and although he is working full-time at the UPS store, that is only a little less than half of what he was bringing in before...but we have managed to pay all of our bills, tithe, take Brooklyn to the vet unexpectedly, participate in some Christmas giving, but presents for each other, and our family, and still have a tiny bit left over!  On paper there is NO WAY that should have worked out...we should be WAY in the hole....but God has worked it out!  He is so good!!!!!!!!  We know that one day we will look back on this experience and say, "Oh, I totally get it now!"  but truthfully, it is hard when you are in the thick of it!  Thankfully we have the love and support of family and friends, and we have an amazing Father to go to!!  I can't imagine going through this and not having a relationship with God, and a husband that is truely seeking His will for our lives, and amazing family and friends...so thank you to all of you who have prayed for us, and who have been there for us!!  (Life group...we couldn't do it without you...we love you all!!)

So, that's pretty much it...only 4 more days of school, and I will be on Christmas break so yay for that!!!!  Merry Christmas everyone!!

Not much to report

I know I promised to keep everyone posted on Glenn's job situation, and I haven't done that.  But that is because we don't have anything to report.  Unfortunately, we are in the same place we were when we got the news.  Glenn has applied for a job with the North American Mission Board, and we are still waiting for news as to whether he will get an interview or not...we hope to hear something this week.  He has been working sporadically at the UPS store to bring in some extra money to squirrel away, and we have been in competition with ourselves (the best kind!!) to see how  much money we can save at the grocery store each week...it's been pretty fun, and we've done really well.  Other than that we really don't have any news.  We appreciate so much the prayers from our friends and family, and we ask that you keep them up!!  We are faithful that God will get us through this time, and show us where He wants us to go from there!  It's really cool to see Him work during this time!!

So, Thursday was Brooklyn's 1st birthday!  She had puppy ice cream and Glenn and I sang to her.  She of course, had no idea what was going on...but she LOVED all the attention!!  We will be going shopping this week for a birthday toy courtesy of Nana and Papa!

Well, half time is over...gotta go cheer on the DAWGS!!  Until next time... 

Prayers please!!!

So, this weekend Glenn and I went up to TN to see my dad and other TN family.  Overall it was a really good trip, much to my relief.  So, we are very happy about that!  We watched football all day yesterday, and I was the only one to go to bed happy!  Tennessee lost, Auburn lost, North Carolina lost....but Georgia won!!!  GOOOOO DAWGS!!!!  4-0...take that!!!  Also, some interesting facts I learned while watching the game... only 3 other teams have been moved down to #3 while remaining undefeated, and all 3 of those teams went on to win the national championship the year they were  moved to #3.  Interesting huh?!

Anyway, moving on.  Thursday, on our way up to TN, Glenn got a call from Rob (the money man for Mobilizing Students!) and Rob told us there is no more money, and that as of Nov. 1st there will be no more paychecks.  YIKES!!  Needless to say we are very overwhelmed, and very unsure as to what to do.  We are faithful that God will take care of us, and get us through this time.  However, we have some huge decisions to make.  So, please be in prayer for us, as Glenn and I try to decide what God has in store for us over the next several months, and for the rest of our lives.  Please pray that Glenn will find a job he likes, that will make us enough money to get by, and that God will show us where we should go from here.  We appreciate so much the support and prayers we have already received from friends and family, and we will keep you posted on this new chapter in our lives!  

Fall break, travels, and marriage

I can't believe it is already Wednesday night of my fall break!!!  It's been very restful, productive, and a lot of fun.  I think I could easily get used to being a stay at home person! :)  So, last weekend we (the band, Mere, Brooklyn, and me) headed to Pensacola, FL to play at Glenn's uncle's church.  There were a decent amount of people there, and the band played for awhile, so it was a lot of fun!  I was able to watch the UGA/SC game at my in-laws house, and even though they are DIE HARD Auburn fans, there were helping me cheer on the Dawgs!  We headed home on Sunday after being stuffed full of amazing food prepared by Glenn's grandmother and mom...it was REALLY YUMMY!  

The rest of this week has consisted of cleaning the house, getting school work done (report cards, lesson plans, etc.), and hanging out with my sweet husband.  I have really enjoyed getting to spend all day with him everyday this week, I will really be sad to go back to work. 

In other news, our church has started doing a marriage series, and our Life Group is going a Song of Solomon study.  I am very excited about both of these, because you can always learn more about what makes a good marriage, especially since we are still new at this!  2 years does not make us experts by any means!!  So, needless to say, it will be fun and interesting to see where God takes us through these studies!  

Well, that's it for now!  Until next time....

Football Weekends

Well, so far the Dawgs are 2-0.  Take that all you naysayers! (who knows if I spelled that right!)  Anyway, we have had some fun football Saturdays so far.  Our living room has been converted into a sports bar of sorts, thanks to my football obsessed husband, who has rigged up 3 TVs so we can watch 3 football games at one time!  These TVs are not up all week long, they are only rigged up like this on Saturdays.  Men love it, women think it's ridiculous, I just think if that's what makes him happy, then it's fine with me! :)  Last week we had our friends Derrick and Lauren come over to cheer the Dawgs on to their victory over GA Southern, and today we had my friend Allison come up, and bring Bailey.  We cheered the Dawgs to victory over Central Michigan, while we played referee for our very rambunctious puppies!!  They had fun though, and should both sleep VERY well for the next couple of days! 

Tomorrow I will be going to see Glenn and the rest of the Momentum flag football team play their first game, so that should be fun.  There will be more updates on that later, apparently Glenn will be playing Wide Receiver...so we'll need to make sure he has very unslippery hands!!! :)  Also tomorrow, Glenn will be playing in the Momentum band, and leading worship in both services, so that will be fun.  It will also be a little weird, because I've never seen him play with anyone but the CWB...so we will be branching out!  

Only 1 more week until Fall Break!!!  YAY!!!  I am REALLY ready for a week off!!  I need to rest, regroup, and get ahead of the game (by more than just a day or two).  We will be going to Pensacola, to see Glenn's parents, and the CWB will be playing at a church down there....that is as long as Ike doesn't decide to land on PCola instead.  The tail-end of my fall break we will be going to TN to visit my Dad and family up there.  So even though it will be my "break" I won't be doing too much resting, since we will be pretty busy.  Oh, well, story of my life!!  

Until next time...GOOOOO DAWGS!!!  Enjoy watching us win!! :)