Year 3

I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. Jeremiah 33:6

Mom just had her annual mammogram, and all is clear!  She is now three years cancer free, and we praise God.  He is good and He is the healer of all.

This is an old picture of us, but one of my absolute favorites!  Mom, I love you and am know that you will be around for me and my kids for a long time!

Surprise Flight!

I hope my Fat Kid friends don't read this (and I'll write a post about how we got that name- it's what we call each other fondly) because I am going home to New Orleans to visit them today!  

One of our Fat Kids is Holly- also affectionately known as Hurl- is knocked up with little Savannah and is having her baby shower in NOLA this weekend.  I looked at the flights and they were too expensive.  Luke had something to do and I didn't want to drive with Claire by myself, so I chalked it up as something I would miss as a consequence of moving far away after high school. 

That was until my mom had a Skype session with Claire last weekend and decided she wanted to see her in person (it's no longer about me, it's all about the baby now, and I have come to accept that) so she bought me- since Claire can't fly by herself quite yet- a ticket to fly home this weekend!

So off we go!  I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share after this fun weekend- which will also be crammed with trying to help mom and dad get ready for my brother's wedding which is in ONE MONTH!  We are T-Minus four weeks until Jay and Grace tie the knot.  Lots and lots to do, but I am starting it off with drinks by the pool with good friends tonight!

Happy Friday and enjoy the weekend with people you love!

Birthday & Wedding: Part Two

The wedding was amazing!  I mean she spent more than two years planning it, and so well worth the wait!  I loaded up on Tylenol Cold & Sinus (and as I mentioned yesterday, not a good idea to drink heavily on that) and cough drops and made it through the reading without really being able to tell I had a cold.

And here I am with the beautiful bride...

And here are all the Zetas, Jay and Grace dancing a jig (they are so cute, I know), Miss Martha with Grace and I, and the happy couple...

So the father-daughter dance was to "I Loved Her First" by Heartland (which I also danced with my daddy to on my wedding day, tear) started like this...

But it ended like this!

It was really a great time, and we had a ball spending time with family and friends.  Claire had a bit of a fever and got pretty fussy, so Luke took her home early so I could stay and party (and party, I did).  I just feel blessed to have been a part of this wonderful day!  Hope your weekend was filled with love and laughter.

Birthday & Wedding: Part One

I feel overwhelmed just talking about the weekend, so I figured I better split it into two seperate posts.  But I can start by saying it was a wonderful weekend!  Granted, I felt like I was getting sick all of last week, and I was right.  (By the way, Tylenol Cold & Sinus and white wine are a bad combination!  I learned this first hand, so please trust me, mk?)

But the rehursal and dinner were great.  Claire was a trooper and made it through with no major meltdowns.  She even got her first kiss. True story. Little boy, about two-years old, came up to Claire and kissed her on the mouth. His parents were embarressed.  Luke got his first taste of daddy rage.  Overall, a good time by all.

The bridal luncheon was Saturday morning at the Swan Coach House in the Atlanta History Center.  Jackie wanted a hat theme, and so it was.  I wish I'd gotten a picture of the awesome garden hat cake Grace got and the great garden hat earings that mom had made as favors, but I didn't :(

It was beautiful, Southern and delicious, as were the bridesmaids...

Even Julia with her cute little belly.  And while she didn't feel like it was little anymore, I told her to just wait for the immense growth in those last few weeks.  I give you Exhibit A.

And here is me, mom, Grace and Auntie Em...

After the luncheon, my dad agreed to keep Claire while Luke and I attempted to celebrate our birthday.  We went over to the AMC Fork & Spoon, and if you've never experienced a movie/ restaurant, I highly reccomend it.  Not for those on a budget, but hey, it was our birthday.  We saw Iron Man 2 (I also highly reccomend it) and had a pitcher of beer with queso dip and a burger.

And can I just say that I'm really glad that Luke drug me out of the hotel room.  If it were up to me, I just wanted to chill, maybe nap, while I had someone else volunteering to care for my child.  But he wanted to go the movies and I figured I shouldn't let him spend his birthday alone, or mine for that matter.  And when we got back, it was straight to hair and makeup and before I knew it the shuttle wad there to bring us to the wedding.  So I didn't get a nap, and now I wouldn't have had it any other way.

More to come!

Thankful on a Thursday

Well, I guess you can see this past week has made me reflect on all I have to be truly thankful for.  I have really incredible people in my life, and I should really tell them more often how much they mean to me.

11. My Grammie. I've never really thought about how it will be when she is gone, but I know the lessons I've learned from her will remain in my heart forever. I am thankful that she is comfortable and that I will see her again in Heaven.

12.  My Mom.  I know I was thankful for grandparents last week, but that's because they are so wonderful to my girls.  I am thankful for the wonderful mother she is to me.  She is so strong, inspiring, loving, thoughful, and while I could go on and on, I think you get the idea.  I love her more than words can say!

13. My Mother's Day flowers.  You remember when I posted this?  Yeah?  Well, they are still alive, and are so beautiful on my desk.  I am thankful that Luke knows when I need a little "pick-me-up" and that stargazer lillies are my favorite!

14. My Mother's Day cards. Although I was away from my sweet husband on Sunday, Luke sent me to New Orleans with two awesome cards. The one from Claire and Bella made my heart melt.  It had duckies on the front, and on the inside was Claire's hand print with the words "Best Mommy Ever, HANDS DOWN!" 

Luke's card said "I may not be completely trained, but I am completely in love with you."  He is so thoughtful! 

(side note: My Mother's Day gift was a blog redesign from Blogs by Jocelyn so look for that soon. We have our annual Customer Conference at work this week, so I will be slammed and probably not able to post or respond to your wonderful comments. So my new design may already be up when this is scheduled to post.)

15. My church.  I know I have blogged about Highlands before.  But two weeks ago I was sick and last Sunday I was in New Orleans, so I have really been missing my church.  The worship is amazing, Pastor Chris is an incredible communicator, and I just feel so blessed that we found a place like this.  I know that God led us here, and I look forward to the wonderful things He has in store for Highlands in the future.

What are you thankful for today?  Be sure to go visit Nish at The Outdoor Wife, too!

Detours on the Road of Life

So just when I think I have everything under control and I am finally in a groove, life throws you a detour.  I can't tell you how often this has happened to me, but this one really hurts.  Grammie, my mom's mom, had a stroke about seven months ago (the week before Claire was born). 

Mom and I went to visit her in Huntsville when Claire was 11 days old.

She was in a skilled nursing facility, trying to rehab the left side of her body (the stroke was the right side of her brain).  In November, the family made the decision to move her from Huntsville to New Orleans so that she could receive care at Ochsner and be closer to mom and dad.

But she didn't get better.  She really just got worse.  Claire and I went to see her in December, and Luke came with us again in February.  She was weak but still herself, making jokes with the nurses and laughing about figure skating in the Winter Olympics (she loves figure skating like no other).  She then moved back and forth from the nursing home into the hospital with pneumonia, an infection, a seizure and last week, another stroke.  This one was in the frontal lobe, which contains your personality.  She is no longer the Grammie I know.

There isn't much time left, and my family needs me, so Claire and I are jumping on a plane tonight and heading to New Orleans.  It's last minute, I'm exhausted from packing late last night, I have no idea what I even packed and I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday, but you do what you need to do when family needs you.

My relationship with my mom is irreplaceable.  We talk at least five times a week, if not every day.  We tell each other everything (it was so hard not to tell her I was pregnant with Claire for two weeks until I saw her in person).  She is the rock of our family.  And now I need to be the rock for her.  I have a few things set to publish this weekend, but I'll be back Monday with an update.

We know the Lord is a mighty comfort, and we rest in His peace.  Please keep us all in your prayers as we travel this road.

Weekend Update

I can't tell you how weekends both re-energize me and exhaust me at the same time.  I am really trying to take in each moment and enjoy time with my family while simultaneously staring the laundry and dishes in the face, as if to say, I will not let the idea of a perfect and clean house get in the way of playing on the floor with my beautiful baby.  I have really been inspired by Kelle Hampton over at Enjoying the Small Things as she documents her days with the two most beautiful girls (other than my two, of course).  We are both step-mothers and mothers just trying to navigate through life, and she simply takes better pictures and writes more elequently than I do.

But back to weekends... I had a wonderful time with my mom this weekend and loved spending time with Jay and Grace.  Little Claire was a trooper at the party Saturday night, and here she is with Aunite Em and Uncle Cliff.  Cliff's mom gave that yellow dress to me 26 years ago and my mom had saved it for Claire- so weet, I know. 

But she had simply had enough when it came time for brunch Sunday morning.  Between being off of our schedule and cutting the first tooth (YES, CAN YOU BELEIVE SHE IS CUTTING A TOOTH? and yes, I was yelling that) she straight up screamed through the entire brunch.  Mom, Jackie, Uncle Cliff and Auntie Em all took turns bouncing and walking with her as far from the other post-church crowd as possible, but would you like to know who was able to calm her down?  A stranger.  You read that right, I allowed a complete stranger to hold my screaming baby and walk around the restaurant, and you know what?  It worked!  She went straight to sleep to his rendition of "Hush Little Baby."  Not sure what it is about a big man's deep voice and cushy chest that settles my girl down, but it worked and I don't care how or why? 

Honey and Auntie Em were freaking out that this man was going to run out the front door with my baby, but I was at my wits end and would have simply sent my half-marathon running brother after him (note to self: write a post about Jay and Grace's awesomeness in running).  And with her still not sleeping through the night, I was sure he would promptly return my angel.

And while I was enduring the wrath of teething, Luke was at church enjoying Catalyst, our men's conference.  I'm not too sure what went on there, as he won't share any details.  But I know what a powerful God we serve, so I'm sure Luke learned a lot.  After dropping Honey off at the airport, Luke and I enjoyed an awesome Palm Sunday service that outlined all of the benefits we received when Christ died.  And then, of course, it's back to work Monday... Hope you had a great weekend too!

The Weekend Ahead

Honey has arrived!  Although late last night, I swooped her from the airport and returned her to my oh-so-messy house (which she is expected to tolerate and not to clean) and in typical mommy fashion, she took over night time duties.  What is it about moms that make us feel whole again?  That makes us feel like we can do this: work, wife, mother, Christian, everything?  I don't know about you, but having my mom close has always made me feel better.  And Claire feels better too- she slept almost six hours for Honey (although she continues to wake every three hours for me)!

And Honey has been so wonderful as to give Jessica the day off and keep Claire today, so the rest of my in-law family is off to South Carolina to visit Kristin and Christian in Columbia, SC or to see my favorite cousin (really, she's Luke's cousin, but I think I talk to her more than he does) get married tonight in Knoxville, TN.  We were so sad not to be able to attend either of these always-entertaining family vacations, but with the time Luke took off when Bella was here and the time I have yet to accumulate at the new job, anything more than a Saturday-Sunday one-night affair is more than we can do.

But we do have big plans for the weekend ahead.  Luke is off to the men's conference at church this weekend, and we are praying that God moves these men in a very special way.  We feel so blessed to be a part of the Highlands family and the wonderful people there.  This Easter marks two years we've been at Highlands, and we are still amazed at the wonderful, life-giving work they do (note to self: write a post about how we found Highlands).

And tomorrow morning, Honey and I will take of for Atlanta for Jackie and David's wedding shower.  For the non-family readers, Jackie's mom, Auntie Em- as I fondly refer to her, is mom's friend from back in her Zeta days who has become like a second mom to me.  And Jackie was awesome enough (among other thigns) to read in my wedding back in 2007 and I will be reading in hers this May (actually on Luke's and my birthday).  We are also going to see my little bro (ok, he's no longer little, but he will always be little to me) and his wonderful fiance, Jay and Grace.  (Another note to self: write a post about Jay and Grace's AMAZING engagement party.)

And bruch at Serpas will follow Sunday morning before I have to get Honey back on a plane to New Orleans (and subsequently cry that I won't see her again until our Fourth of July vacation in the Smokey Mountains).  And then back to church for a Palm Sunday service.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead of you too!