Update (with pictures)

Lots has been going on! I'm exhausted, but everything has been so so fun!

I'm going to majorly backtrack all the way back to Easter. MomMom and Pepaw came on that Saturday for the day and we had a little Easter egg hunt. Colin was too cute. He just kept saying, "There's another one! And there's another one!" over and over again (referring to the eggs of course). Then we got a surprise visit from Granny and Pops the next day! We were on our way home from church when Jeff got a call from Pops who said they were in Longview. So glad we got to see all of them that weekend.





Jeff graduated from college! I'm super proud of him. For the past 2 years he has been an excellent husband, father, and youth minister all while still being an excellent student! He received an award at ETBU for his service as a youth pastor and also for outstanding senior religion student. He also graduated magna cum laude! It was a fun day because Jenni (Jeff's sister) graduated as well! So we had lots of family in and it was a wonderful day!





I had 2 baby showers this past week. One at school and one at church! I got some way cute outfits and also got alot of diapers and wipes (which I am SO glad to be stocked up on!) Very excited to start getting stuff ready for Carley's arrival! I have all her clothes washed and hung/put in drawers. Next will be painting the room green (her and Colin will share a room for a few years), putting up the crib/bedding, moving all the toys out to the new "playroom" and then packing bags/preparing for hospital! Once Jeff gets back from Greece we will be getting all the way ready just in case I go into preterm labor again! Just as long as I don't while Jeff is in Greece! I'm sure I'll be fine though.....right? Anyway, here is a pic of the bedding and colors we will be using in the kid's room!


Next on our agenda....
-May 11: next dr.'s appointment
-May 16: Jeff leaves for Greece :(
-May 25: Jeff comes home! :)
-May 29: Our 6 year anniversary
-that same weekend, Uncle JonJon comes for a visit and we have our youth end of year "80s skate night!"
- June 4: last day of school! woo hoo!
- June 21-25 Youth Camp (I will NOT be going, Jeff might be...but he's also got back up leaders in case!)
-July 13: tentative due date for little Carley!
-July 31: Kyle and Sheryl's wedding! Can't wait. followed by a stay in Arlington!

Again, I just want to stress that God is good. In the past year some things have been taken away. I lost my sweet sister and sacrifices are being made in staying here in Marshall (financially, being apart from family, etc.). Yet at the same time, he gives. I am about to have a little girl who will carry on my sister's name. And he has provided for us in many different ways. He gives and he takes away, but he is always there. And for that I am eternally grateful! Thank you God for having plans for us that are good and for giving us hope.

"a little of this and a little of that"

When my great aunt was living and first diagnosed with alzheimers she said something that made me smile. At the beginning stages of this she was still cognitive enough to know that something wasn't right with her, so she would find clever ways to "hide" it. One day, someone asked her what she had eaten for lunch. She couldn't remember so she just responded with a simple, "Oh....a little of this and a little of that."

Don't really know why I shared that....thought it would be a good title for a blog that is about to be all over the place and it reminded me of her saying that.

I stayed home (again!) with Colin today. I have just about maxed out out the days I can take between colin and my doctor appointments. I cannot get this kid well. Diarrhea, BAD hiney rash, dehydrated, lethargic. I am so so ready for this to get better. I tried to take him to the doc, but nurse was saying it would really be a waste of time and money because there really isn't much you can do for diarrhea. So....here we are cleaning up mess after mess, trying to get fluids down, and trying to heal a poor hiney.

Life is incredibly chaotic right now. Its not a bad thing necessarily....just makes me tense sometimes that it is one thing after another. But atleast most of it is stuff that I am really excited about and look forward to.

We have a JAM PACKED but exciting schedule ahead of us. Let me share my calendar with you...

April 14 - Plates of Praise at EF high school
April 15 - Jeff's senior dinner banquet (and the first "date" we've gone on in like 6 months! haha)
April 17 - Highway 80 garage sales (LOVE!)
April 21 and 22 - training for school (not love!)
April 23 - dr appointment and another glucose test (yuck!)
April 24 - youth group high school paint ball trip (I will prob not be attending that!)
April 26 - field trip to Gators and Friends
May 1 - JEFF FINALLY GRADUATES! graduation party to follow at our house. :)
May 4 - school baby shower
May 8 - church baby shower
May 16 - Jeff leaves for Greece
May 25 - Jeff comes home!
May 29 - 6 year anniversary!
June 4 - last day of school!
July 13th - Carley Erin's debut! (as of now)

Whew! May not have much time to post between now and then! Or after that for that matter.
I definitely feel blessed and excited about all that is going on in our life since we have been here in marshall. God is good! And even though I haven't had sleep or money in the past 3 years that we have been here, I wouldn't have it any other way. The joy of knowing God and seeing him at work outweighs all that.

On another quick note, please keep the Graff/Hopson family in your prayers. Heather (a former ETBU student and our old neighbors there) passed away last week from a massive brain aneurysm. She left behind her husband, Jacob, and a 4 month old baby girl, Ava.

She wasn't a real avid blogger, but when she did you could tell that she had a love for Christ. Some of the things that she wrote on her blog were read at her funeral. Her blog is http://jacobheather.blogspot.com/

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY Thursday, April 1 2010...

Outside my window...perfect weather! about 80 degrees, sunny, and bright! buy LOTS of pollen. yuck.

I am remembering... when we were putting an offer on this house about this same time last year! It was exciting.

I am thankful for... Jeff being almost done with school! He graduates exactly one month from TODAY! I am so proud of him and really just super glad that he will be done with late night studying/paper writing for a while!

I am creating... well I will change it to past tense. I created a clean and organized closet for Colin and Carley. My dad added another shelf/rod halfway down for Carleys clothes. Cleaned out a bunch of junk that was piling up in there and now it is ready!

I am going...to have an easter egg hunt for Colin in our backyard. Its a GREAT backyard to hide eggs in!

I am reading...To Live is Christ by Beth Moore. I'm going really slow through it, but totally enjoying it and learning alot.

I am hoping... to find an additional source of income(s) for our family once little Carley gets here. I know God has provided and will again!

On my mind... summmmmerrrrrrr!

From the learning rooms... we are so mentally done. My kids are great and I love them and I just want to let them play!

Noticing that... Colin is getting taller.

Pondering these words... You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~Clay P. Bedford

From the kitchen... had spaghetti tonight.

Around the house... watching the Mavericks game, and listening to Colin sing the days of the week song

One of my favorite things... Spring time!

From my picture journal... my team and I have WAY too much fun together at school. This is us when we dressed up as 100 year olds for the 100th day of school.

Broseph

Thought I'd fill out this survey again for Colin. Soon I will be able to do this for Colin AND Carley! Since Colin is going to be a big brother, we have been calling him Broseph (from the Balloon Shop videos). Yes, we are strange. My Colin is a great kid and he is a blast to watch grow up.

Age: 2 years and 8 months

Weight: 29 pounds still. 2T clothes and size 9 shoe

Feedings: He likes to eat! Still a little picky, but eating alot better than he used to.

Favorites: "mario time" with daddy (wii), playing outside (especially at playgrounds), going on walks, playing golf, bubbles, playing drums and guitar.

Least Favorites: being told no, taking naps during the day, transition

Issues: Colin has REALLY gotten better about the fit throwing. He is communicating so much and can reason better than he used to. Now, he is just picking up things from other kids school that I'm not okay with (but I also expected to happen....its just part of letting your kid out into the world.) Things like hitting, telling me no, and the BIG one is him saying "MINE!" Oh well, he will get better.

Personality: same as last time. JUST like his dad with my sensitive feelings. He is very observant and inquisitive. Always noticing little details.

Areas to Work On: Potty Training. We are getting there. He goes in the potty about 95% of the time that we make him sit. But he won't ask to go on his own. If we don't make him sit he is perfectly content peeing on himself. So I guess we need to work on him saying/asking to go sit on the potty!

New Things: wearing undies, identifying numbers and colors, beat-boxing with his mouth, saying his own prayer at night (all it is, is "Thank you God for ______" over and over.)

Randomness: He insulted me for the first time yesterday. I told him he couldn't do something he really wanted to do and he clenched his teeth together and said, "Stinky Mommy!"

i shall write in list form today.

1. New curtains turned out great. Just need more black and white stuff to match them!

2. Lamps did NOT turn out great at first, but I fixed it and it looks TONS better.

3. Got baby clothes all organized by size. Briefly thought about getting rid of all of Colin's clothes but got emotional thinking about it. Just not ready to do that....just in case there is ever a 3rd baby notelpat! Got alot of cute hand-me-downs from my mom's friend for Carley. Can't WAIT to put all these cute little outfits on her!

4. My dad installed another shelf/rod halfway down Colin's closet so each kid will have their own space for shoes and hanging clothes! Got that closet cleaned out and organized.

5. Got my laundry room cleaned/organized and free of clothes on the floor....that is until Jeff came home with dirty clothes to wash!

6. Jeff came home one night earlier than expected and I couldn't have been happier. I missed that man! And Colin got SO excited to play wii with daddy.

7. My Spring Break is almost over and I am sad. REALLY don't want to go to work on Monday.

8. I am really ticked off about the weather being cold and rainy on Saturday....the first day of Spring!

9. On Tuesday, 3 things happen. I will be 24 weeks pregnant, I have a doctor's appointment, and Jeff will turn 26! Happy early birthday to the hubs!

10. In such a crafty/productive mood!!!! Here are future projects I will hopefully work on in the future: curtains for kitchen, new hanging light fixture above dining table (not planning on buying new, but hoping to find a garage sale piece that I can spray paint black), embroidery hoop art to hang in kids room (got the idea from Kate's blog), and the big project will be turning out laundry room into the kids playroom. We have to wait for a shed to move out all the stuff that is in there, then all the toys will go in the laundry room!

I love Spring Break!

Jeff went on a mission trip with the church. I decided to stay back and continue potty training with Colin and get some much needed stuff done in the house. I organized all the baby clothes that I have acquired, added another shelf/rod in Colin's closet for Carley's clothes, got rid of a BUNCH of stuff that I don't use anymore, and finally got a hair cut! My parents have been here helping. We even got around to all my favorite eating places while my parents were here. Got to eat at Porky's, Joe Bucks, Pappacitas, and next on the list is Fuglers.

Todays project is a little curtain project and lamp shade project. I'm using the plain white curtains I already have but adding a strip of boldblack and white fabric to it for some "pop." I didn't get the idea from anywhere which makes me kind of nervous. I can't blame a bad idea on someone else if it was my original idea! haha. Anyway. With the lamps I am keeping the bases but spray painting them black. Then I bought some cheap white shades that I am adding black ribbon to the top and bottom edge of the shades. We'll see how it turns out!

I am missing Jeff so bad. I can't wait for him to come home and see all the stuff I got done. I know Colin misses him too. Last night Colin would NOT go to sleep. He just kept crying and finally he said, "I need to play wii with Daddy!" So we had to call daddy right then and talk to him. That boy loves his daddy.

And even though I am a tad bit jealous of all the fun being had without me on that mission trip (all my dear friends and alot of our sweet youth are on that trip), I am SO thankful for this time to get stuff done for my sweet family.

a few trivial things....and then one not so trivial

1st trivial: My world revolves around potty training. It is a LOT of work. We are constantly taking off undies, sitting on the potty, putting on undies, cleaning up pee puddles, starting the washer, picking up little "escapees" as we call them (the little solid rolly poops) off the floor. He is slowly getting the concept though. The first few days he completly defied the whole thing. He would sit for 20 minutes and the minute I would put his undies on he would drench himself. But now, he still has accidents, but also has some successful tee-tee's in the potty. He even asked to go a few times and actually went! One time, he peed on himself in the hallway and turned the corner with a "uh-oh" look and said, "I need to go potty." So he is beginning to understand the sensation, just doesn't always sense it fast enough. But he is trying! Such a big boy.

2nd trivial: I am LOVING this whole having a girl idea. I am having way too much fun looking at/buying clothes, matching hairbands and bows to outfits, etc. I found a pair of blue jean shorts and a little blue dress on the clearance rack at walmart both for 1 DOLLAR! Can't beat that price! Well I guess you could if it was 99 cents. lol. Anyway, I am just so excited to have a cute little thing to love on. I am excited (and also a little nervous, because the pressure is on) to invest myself in showing Carly how to be a woman of God. To show her how to treat others, how to be patient and how to be a servant of God and others. To teach her that her identity does not lie in her looks or in friends or in boys, but in the one who created her. To show her how to dress cute yet modestly. And to teach her to live in the world but not of the world. (Jeff and I pray/teach those same things for Colin as well!)

3rd not so trivial: Just wanted to share something I loved/was challenged by from the Beth Moore study I am doing. John 19 tells of the crucifixion of Jesus. In vs. 30 it quotes Jesus saying, "It is finished." The study said to ponder and write down all the possible things Jesus could have been referring to when saying this. My thoughts were, "the bondage of sin, the act of cleansing/sacrificing in order to have relationship with God, lives that are bound to the law rather than His love, His life, His purpose to seek and save what was lost." All those things were finished.

She then discussed how the Pharisees did everything that they could to make sure things stay finished. In Matthew 27: 62-66 they went to great lengths to seal the tomb.

Some things were definitely finished, but Jesus was not! I loved her next quote,

"The very thing He finished we can't seem to leave alone; and the very thing He hasn't finished, we try to halt."

How many times do I try to "be a better Christian" and "do more good" as if that will bring me any closer to Him than his death and resurrection already has! I try to add my good works to something that is already complete.

Then how many times do I almost wish the conviction of the Holy Spirit would stop because its too uncomfortable to do what God is asking me to do. Thats when I try to halt something that is NOT finished. God promised that, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ."

I will end with this last quote from Beth Moore:

Salvation is finished. Sanctification is not. Completion is not.....sometimes more effort is required to keep rolling the stone back over the tomb than somply to cooperate with the work He seeks to finish in us."