Summer Family Fun

Glenn and I have had a LOT of family togetherness over the last month, so here is a recap, and a few pics.

My mom stopped by for a long weekend to hang out, and helped us work in some of our flower beds. We cleaned out a lot of crap, and planted some really pretty flowers. No pics of this...sorry, you'll just have to take my word for it! :) Two days after she left, Glenn's entire family (mom, dad, sister, and brother) came into town for a Braves game fiesta! We went to 1 Yankees game, and 2 Red Sox games. It was pretty fun, but super hot!! Glenn had a blast, so that makes me happy. The following weekend we made the trip to Pensacola to see Glenn's family again and spend the 4th with them. We also got to see lots of good friends that we miss a lot, and wish we could see more often. The fireworks were great, as usual, and the homemade ice cream afterwards was awesome!! The weekend after that we went to Myrtle Beach with my family for my stepdad's 55th birthday! It was a lot of fun, we had a couple of great beach days, went out for some yummy seafood, played putt-putt (there were a million people there, so we had to keep ourselves entertained in between holes, but everyone got a hole in 1!! but Mark and I got 2!!) and played a hilarious board game called Quelf. What a great weekend! Sadly, all the family time is over, and it is back to reality. Glenn is finishing up his first 2 classes, and will probably pull straight As! yay! And I have 1.5 more weeks of freedom before school starts again. It's been a great summer, but, as always, it has gone by too fast!!

Here are a couple of pics from the 4th and Myrtle Beach. (not all in order, the 4th pics are last for some reason)

etsy

Thanks to my friend Lanie Beth, I am now an Etsy seller!!  I had no idea what etsy even was, and had never heard of it, but after LB sent me some cute ideas from there and suggested that I put my stuff on-line, I decided to check it out.  SOOOOOO much cute stuff!!  and not just mine :)  there is some really professional, adorable stuff, and there is honestly anything you can imagine for sale!  There are some incredibly talented people in this world, that is for sure.  

So, here is a plug for my etsy site. You can either click to the right of this post, and it will take you there...or you can go to http://wishcreations.etsy.com  

I have 5 super cute onesies (6-9mos.) and 2 bib and burp cloth sets on the site right now.  I will be adding many more things over the next few weeks.  Thanks for taking a look, and tell your friends!! :)

bows and beyond!

So I am embarking on yet another crafty adventure...bow making!!  I made my 1st seven of them this afternoon and wanted to show them off.  I think they turned out pretty cute!!  I have about 12 more ribbon patterns that have yet to be made into bows...and I will post pics as more are made. They are of course for sale if anyone is interested.  The bitty ones are $2, the medium ones are $3 (or 2/$5) and the larger ones are $4.  Let me know if you need/want some bows!!  

Quick update on lots of things

Okay...so first an update on baby Evan.  He is home, and doing very well!!!!  He is completely healed from his bacterial meningitis, and is doing better every day relearning how to eat and crawl and sit up.  His muscles got so weak from everything he went through and laying in a hospital bed for almost a month, that he's had to get stronger.  I know that they were concerned about his hearing, he doesn't seem to be hearing very well, and hearing loss can be a result of bacterial meningitis (the kind he had that is contracted from ear infections).  But I don't know the latest on that....a couple of weeks ago it was still the same, but they are working with him!  Thanks to everyone who prayed for Evan, my cousins, Chris and Jennifer are incredibly grateful and blessed that so many who don't know them or Evan would pray so diligently for him!!  We serve a great God who chose to heal Evan, and we will be forever grateful for that!!!

It's nearing the end of school for me!  Only 21 more days, and it will be Summer Break!!  I have LOVED being in 3rd grade this year, and I work with the 3 most amazing women ever!!!  I am so glad that I get to work with them again next year...they really make me love coming to work!

It's nearing back to school time for Glenn!  He will be starting pre-engineering classes at Clayton State in May.  Please be in prayer for us as we try to decide if this is the path God wants us on.  

Our home renovation project is almost done! (pictures in a few weeks when it's totally complete, and a more detailed blog outlining the drama and fun for you!)  I know you are all on the edge of your seats!!!  

My sewing is coming along...mostly I just really love doing it!!  I made several things for our Silent Auction at school to raise money for Relay for Life, and I will be making some aprons, bows, and dresses to sell at our school's Spring Carnival.    I'll post pics later of the things I have made recently.

And, finally the reason for the procrastination in posting pics is because I have lost my camera charger.  My beautiful, newish, pink camera is out of commission because of the stupid lost charger....so once I buy a new one I can start taking and posting pics.  

Well, friends, that's it...not super exciting, but at least an update of our lives.   

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!!