In remembrance

All week I have had something weighing heavy on my heart and mind. On Halloween night, exactly 1 year ago, my best friend's little brother was senselessly killed at his fraternities Halloween party. Evan was a fun-loving college kid who was known for his antics and for his zeal for life. Suzanna and I became fast friends when we were in the sixth grade and Evan was just in kindergarten. We spent every weekend at eachothers houses so her little brother soon felt like mine too. I have so many special memories of us all growing up together. We would do everything from going to the lake with her family to making up songs on the way home from school when we had to ride the bus. The Luke family has amazed me in the way they have rallied together to deal with the loss. I know it hasn't been easy for them, but they have showed me how to trust in God even through the worst kinds of pain. Ms. Luke told me something last year at Christmas that will forever be imprinted on my mind. She said that she prayed for Evan every day of his life and although he still sometimes made bad choices she knew that God had heard her prayers and it had helped him to accept Christ. This conversation has given me so much conviction on how important it is to pray for our children, and even our future children. I do ask that if you get a chance today you will say a special prayer for this family for comfort during this difficult time.

Buzzzy weekend!

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend. We had a Yard Sale for the Youth Missions fund on Saturday morning bright and early...it was cold at 5AM. Later that afternoon was our church Fall Festival. It was HOT by then! Annaleigh did put on her costume...but we left off some of the pieces (tights and booties) because it was so warm out side. The third picture is of Annaleigh, her boyfriend Camden and their daddies. We plan to doll her up again tomorrow night to go trick-or-treating so I will be sure to post some pictures of that as well. All in all it was a fun but TIRING weekend. I am still trying to recover! As you can see, Annaleigh is pretty tired too! 

Disclosure of Guilty Pleasure

I have been debating on whether or not to share this information , but I decided in the name of entertainment I would go ahead and spill the beans. OK, I admit it. I am one of those people who have jumped on the bandwagon of indulging in Celebrity Gossip. I justify it by having no other vices in the world...so it can't be THAT bad, right?? It all started will www.people.com. I consider People to be a somewhat respectable magazine with most information from actual interviews, based on facts, etc. I would check the websight every morning when I checked my email perusing the articles with half interest and then browsing through the pictures of the day. Fine. I then progressed to www.tmz.com. I stumbled onto this sight mainly from referrals from TV shows, etc. It is obvious that this sight is based on more "hear-say" than facts with a lot of the pictures taken by their own crew of papparazi. I am stooping lower by the second...then it all came crashing down. I found www.perezhilton.com. Perez is actually a self proclaimed "Celebrity blogger" whose sight has become enormously popular and has been actually able to make his living from it. This sight can be racy & raunchy (DISCLAIMER) but it makes me laugh every time. At first I was so embarrassed I looked at it...now Russell and I both laugh about it. The thing is, its not that I really care what Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears & K-Fed, Jessica Simpson, etc or doing...and I hate it that there are actually people who look up to them because they do NOTHING meaningful and worthwhile with their life (at least from all outward appearances.) It's just darn entertaining so AMEN and dish me up some more celebrity gossip. Is there ANYONE out there with me??

Halloween Costume Test

We have been trying to get Annaleigh used to wearing her hat that goes to her costume for Halloween. As you can see, it hasn't been going so good... but it sure is funny. I am not sure what we did for entertainment before we had a baby!

Feeling Better

We went for our follow up to Dr. Sonnen yesterday and he confirmed that Annaleigh does have a UTI. The antibiotics are doing their job so she seems to be on the up-and-up. The bad news is that he wants her to go in for testing in a few weeks just to confirm there isn't anything wrong with her Urinary Tract or other equipment down there. He said that its pretty rare for baby girls to get UTI's unless there is a family history, but sometimes it just happens by fluke...He just wants to run these tests as precautionary which I really appreciate.

Thank you all for the prayers you lifted up for my baby. It truly means the world to me.
Here is a list of people I am lifting up in prayer today. I am not going to post specifics, but I pray that if you get the chance today, you will also just read this list of people to God. Please lift them up by praying for their protection and peace.

Sam & Hollee Ford
Michael, Courtney & her baby Will
John Forehand
Papa Moore
Abigail and Ansley
Beth & Brian Prewitt
Amanda & Courtney
The Luke Family

Sick little girl

You may have read in one of my postings last week that Annaleigh was taken to the Doctor for Roseola...well, after 8 straight days of fever the doctor decided it was probably something else so he sent us down to Children's Hospital last night for some further testing. After being prodded, pricked, x-rayed, etc. they came to the conclusion that she did indeed have an infection, but they are still not sure if it is viral or bacterial (she has no other symptoms except fever and lethargy.) They gave her an iv of antibiotics and fluids and sent us home with another prescription. Hopefully that will take care of her! I am not super worried, I just don't like knowing exactly what is wrong with her!
Keep us in your prayers this weekend. We follow up with the doctor on Monday so I will be sure to let you know what he says.

Pictures

 

Updates

Sorry for my little lag in postings. I have been trying to do better with keeping everyone updated on our little lives but there has been so much going on around here I simply have not had the time to sit down and do it.
It was so much fun to have my parents visit from Georgia the last few days. Sometimes I feel guilty for living so far away because I hate that they are missing out on watching Annaleigh grow up...but those feelings are coupled with thanks and peace that God has brought us exactly where we are for a purpose right now. We all had a great time visiting but I know they had more fun just being with their granddaughter..and that's ok!
In other news, we finally broke down and got DVR last week (built in TiVo.) Russell has been hounding me about it for ever and I have been putting him off even though EVERYONE swears its the best thing EVER. Well, I have to say that I do like it but I am not that much of a TV person because I just don't have the emotional energy to get into and follow shows. I admit that I have never even SEEN an episode of Lost, Grays Anatomy, or 24 (didn't that show end??) Anyway, Russell is in heaven so I am happy to make my husband happy.
We are sad because we were supposed to go and see our friends in Louisiana this weekend but we cant because Annaleigh is sick. Oh goodness, I just realized I talked about tv before I talked about my sick baby. UGH. It all started last week after she got her shots. I was expecting adverse reactions because she didn't do too well after the last round. She had a low grade fever and was mildly lethargic for a few days, but after 4 days straight of having a fever I finally called the doc and took her in. He believes she has Roseola. Since she doesn't go to day care or anything it is probable that she picked it up in Target or something. yuck. Anyway, we are just watching her close right now and waiting for the red rash to break out on her body. Sound fun??

Thank You God for our Family!

I never realized how much I MISSED living close to family until we had a baby! I totally understand now why people stay close to home or decide to move back home after having children. We had a fun weekend this weekend with Rita and Dean (my mother and father-in-law) here to visit. It was exciting to go watch Brad (my brother in-law) coach at football games...YAY for Friday night lights in Texas and the Rockwall Heath Hawks! We also had a blast going shopping, going out to eat, cooking at home, and just spending time together....

6 Months old...and all Tuckered out!

Everyone says it, but I honestly can't believe how fast the time goes and how FAST they grow. My little girl turned 6 months old today. I can already tell I am prepping my child to have a "birthday complex" because I sang happy birthday all day to her today. She is really going to expect the parade on her birthday at this rate... Anyway, this was the scene on my living room floor this afternoon. I was shocked she fell right to sleep because she usually gives major protests to any and all naps.

We have been pretty busy around here with everyday life! I enjoyed getting all my fall decorations out last week...now I am just waiting for it to be below 90 degrees so I can buy some mums and put a real pumpkin on the front porch without it spontaneously cooking into pumpkin pie.

Family Nights

 

Family Nights

In Light of the nature of our "hustle-bustle" lifestyle Russell and I quickly saw the need to carve out time for family nights shortly after the birth of Annaleigh. Tuesday and Thursday nights we always try to make a good home-cooked dinner and then take the baby for a stroll around our neighborhood park. I think we are all starting to really cherish this time together. It is great to have that predictible time to know that all we have to do in the world is relax and be together as a family. I think this time also means a lot to me because growing up I lived in a very chaotic and unpredictable household. I would love to hear some of the family traditions that all of you are starting...

Word Art

Here is a fun little thing my friend Tiersa did on her blog and I thought I would give it a try...

Just a few pictures to share taken last night and today. I hate to always bore you all with pictures of my PRECIOUS child. Some of you request them, some don't but here they are anyway. As you can tell, we are sitting up pretty well on our own as well as gnawing on ANYTHING we can find ( I say "we" as in Annaleigh) Mommy and Daddy have been sitting up on our own for quite some time now! (heehee)

Weather Report

Not much new to report around here. I started back to school last week with a cold plus going back to work for a few days made for a long week with no time to blog. I am excited about my classes, but reality is starting to set in that I have to buckle down and get working again after my long summer break...
We were so relieved this week to not only see temperatures fall below 100 degrees for the first time in about 90 days, but also to see that wet stuff fall from the sky TWICE (I think I remember it's called rain) Russell walked in this morning from outside and said he thought he could hear the ground "gulping." I am so relieved to see the grass actually turn from putrid brown to "greenish" (see above picture.) I knew things were getting bad around here when someone suggested to us that we needed to be watering the foundation of our house on our ONE day a week that we are legally allowed to water. I had never heard of such at thing, but apparently its old hat around here because everyone is familiar with the way the dirt settles under extreme draught conditions, etc.

Little Ranger fan!

A big thanks to Aunt Hollee for my new Ranger bib.

New Trick

"Look Mom, I can get my foot in my mouth"

Every day is an adventure around here with an ALMOST 5 month old baby! Teething is making us all very cranky and we have begun to wake up again in the middle of the night again even though we have been sleeping through the night since 7 weeks! Oh, the fun! I sure could use some encouragement right now from some of you super moms out there who have gone through the same...
I guess I am really just stressed because I go back to work tomorrow and school starts again for me on Monday. Albeit part time, it still breaks my heart to leave my little girl.

I have no catch phrase...

As I was perusing all my friends blogs last night I realized everyone has a catchy name for their blog. Some of these are: From My Heart, My journey, Check out Becky's World, Stacy's World, Reese Ramblings, Denhams in Brazil, Back Where I Come From, Goff Gossip, All about Linz, Lambert Life, Lovin' Life, etc (sorry if I missed you)...I have none! Since I am not a very witty person, i figured I would open up the floor to nominations for names for my blog from you guys....Any good ideas??

I also wanted to let everyone know that my procedure went well on Monday. The good news was that they didn't find anything major. There were some minor problems that I will most likely have to deal with for the rest of my life but are totally treatable through medicine and shouldn't give me too much trouble from day to day. We anticipate to get the final pathology back next week but the doctor felt pretty confident there was nothing to worry about. Thank you for your prayers.

Little Doodlebug

I can't believe how much I love this little girl!

 

pictures of the Harvison kids

Reed, Kennedy and Annaleigh being silly!

Thanks to my friend Tiersa, I am back in business as far as posting pictures are concerned.