Elevator story and comments....

For some reason I have had several people say "hey did you see my comments on the blog post???  Nope, I haven't.  So please if you post, make sure that it actually shows up.  I know that when I updated my blog format, there were a few extra steps for posting comments so if may be a little different.  .

Now, onto the good stuff.  For those of you who know me really well, you know I have a MAJOR fear of elevators!  When Daddy was in the hospital I got semi stuck on one...it opened halfway between floors.  So when at all possible, I take the stairs.  Yes on vacation I would rather climb 5 flights of stairs than take the elevator.  Thank goodness my job doesn't require using one everyday.

So today mom and I were leaving a doctors appointment.  We took the first elevator we came too, double checked to make sure it was going down and got on.  The door closed and the elevator went up...strange.  It stopped but nothing happened.  The doors didn't open...in about 2 seconds I began to break out in a cold sweat!  I look at the emergency call box, start fumbling with the numbers, door buttons etc.  In an instant I press #1 and the elevator begins to drop...guess what...we never pressed a button for the first floor!  Ooopps!

I LOVE THIS KID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The weather here today was really nice.  So when Caroline woke up from her nap, we decided to head outside to play for a while.  She wanted to wear her pj's but we told her she needed to change.  So she said "I can get dressed all by myself.  I don't need any help!"  surprise surprise...  She walks into her room and closes the door.  A few minutes later, she opens the door and and with a HUGE grin says "What do you think?  How do I look?"  We of course say "Oh Caroline..." and before we could finish she said "I LOOK GORGEOUS!"  Yep sister you look gorgeous alright!  :0)  (Yes Mema she did have her undershirt on!  Gotta leave the undershirt on right?)

I love watching her little personality bloom.  Thankful for her and her love for life!

When the unexpected happens

I have tried to write this post several times this week and somehow, the words just don't seem to come...Sunday morning I was up and getting dressed like any other Sunday morning.  The phone rang around 6:25, which never happens.  Instinct tells me somethings wrong, because nobody "just calls" on a Sunday morning at that time.  I pick up the phone, see my brothers name on the caller id and my heart drops...Although I knew it wasn't good news, I had no idea it would turn out the way it did.  My beautiful, fun loving, full of life, 17 year old cousin had been killed in a car accident, less than one mile from her home.  It was early, he didn't know a lot of details, but it wasn't good.  My heart sank...17 years old...a senior in high school...her fellow classmates...her friends...my poor aunt and uncle...her brother...

Monday came and her classmates painted her parking spot at school

Tuesday night came-the visitation.  Nearly 2000 people showed up to pay their respects to the family.  Some waited almost 4 hours in line...my aunt and uncle hugged the last person at 11:55 pm.

Wednesday came and it was a BEAUTIFUL celebration of Megan's life.  The flowers were gorgeous!  Mostly bright spring colors, one shaped like a soft ball, one like a stallion-her school mascot, one like a diploma...it was hard.  It was hard to watch my family experience a parents worse nightmare.  It was hard to watch her fellow classmates mourn the loss of such a special girl.  Although her senior class went above and beyond!  They welcomed us to the graveside with the "senior salute."  Each member of the senior class held a pink balloon.  As the pall bearers passed, they let the balloon go while the song "I hope you Dance" played in the background...then each young man in the senior class presented my aunt with a beautiful long stemmed pink rose.  Oh my heart just ached...And the pall bearers, her closest friends...big strong boys who hunted and climbed trees with Megan sobbed like babies...

Death is never easy and it's so hard to understand why.  However, we aren't given the chance to ask why...we just have to trust in God's plan.  We have to trust that he knows best and look for his will being carried out in all of this.  Would you join me in praying for my family?  Pray for her parents, her brother Will, her classmates, her friends, all those that were touched by her life.

I leave you with a song that my daddy loved and it always helps me in times like this:

Hymn Of Promise

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Until we meet again...

Ansley Kate's 4th birthday

Today we celebrated Ansley Kate's 4th birthday!  The girls had a blast together.  Delores made a beautiful cake which was also very YUMMY!

 Caroline brought her bag of dress up for the party thinking she was going to change into her princess clothes. There was a slight change of plans but sister WOULD NOT put her bag down.  She reminded me of Sophia from the Golden Girls.  :0)

 They did really well with pin the tail on the donkey...they were right on it even thought they said they couldn't see. :0)

 Time for cake!

Happy Birthday Ansley Kate!  May God continue to bless you in the years to come!

Homemade Whole Wheat Honey Bread

 Whole-Wheat Honey Bread

·         4 ½ cups whole-wheat flour

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         1 ½ cups warm water (not too warm or it will kill the yeast-approximately 110 degrees)

·         ¼ cup honey

·         2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter

·         2 ¼ teaspoons of yeast  (or 1 packet)

1.     Heat liquid to approximately 110 degrees F and mix in a small bowl with salt and yeast

2.   Place the honey and oil in a large mixing bowl.  Slowly add the yeast mixture to these ingredients and mix well with a wire whisk.

3.   Slowly add the flour, 1 cup at a time, until the mixture is thick enough to turn onto a floured surface, where you can finish adding the flour by kneading them in by hand.

4.   Knead dough for approximately 10 minutes and then place into a greased bowl covered with a towel and let rise in a warm, draft free area (I use my oven-turn on the oven light and place the pan directly in front of it) until doubled (about 30-45 minutes, maybe longer)

5.   Punch down and flatten.  Roll it up like a jelly roll being sure to seal the ends.  Place loaf into a greased bread pan, cover and let rise in a warm, draft free area until doubled in size again.

6.   Bake at 350 degrees approximately 30 minutes or until loaf is golden brown.

 

**We had toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch!!  YUMMY!**

Brrrr, it's cold outside

The last two days have been extremely cold or at least for us!  This morning Caroline wanted to play outside which I thought was great!  Fresh air does a body good!  The only problem was that the little princess wanted  to stay in her dress up.  My first thought-NO!  Then I decided to work around the dress...we added sweat pants, a turtle neck, a scarf, gloves, boots, hat and a jacket!  She was ready to go and SO EXCITED!

 Uncle Ed made this balance beam for his neighbors.  His neighbors didn't use it anymore and gave it back just as we were heading up for our summer visit.  So we brought it home and she has finally mastered it!

 My girly girl enjoying a Tonka truck

Ready for bed

Not really sure where the kiddo sleeps now that her animals and babies take up most of her bed!!  Don't you just love the night cap!!! :0)

Sweet baby Nori

In the fall of 2002 I was assigned to an internship in 3rd grade.  My cooperating teacher seemed really nice and was very helpful!  She had been teaching several years and had lots of great ideas.  We had a lot of fun together...it was a wonderful placement.  That spring, I was placed in 5k for student teaching but ran in to my former cooperating a good bit.  Summer came, we both got married, 1 week apart and I found out that I would be teaching 3rd grade at the same school and would be working beside my new friend Jill!  I was thrilled!  Now fast forward almost 10 years, we are both married with kids!

Yesterday Jill gave birth to a precious little girl Nori Elizabeth!  I couldn't wait to get my hands on her but selfishly, I wanted to wait until I could have her all to myself!  And this morning I did!!!  And she is precious and prefect!!!  It was a lot of fun to share in this special moment with Jill, John and big brother Tyler!  Congrats guys!

Sweet baby Nori

8 pounds, 13 ounces

20.5 inches long

 beaming Aunt Rita (their our yankee friends so that is pronounced Aunt not ant... :0))

 look at that head FULL of black hair...reminded me of my sweet Caroline

 Mommy and her precious little girl

 Too bad Caroline wasn't around for the girls only picture

Berry Sauce

Due to some recent health issues, Andy and I are trying to do a better job of eating fresh fruits and veggies and cutting out most processed foods.  Thankfully I have a wonderful friend who is my right hand man and is really helping me work through all of this.  Today I made some berry sauce which is wonderful on ice cream, yogurt, pancakes, waffles, etc.  The good news is that you can use fresh or frozen berries!

Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 cup of water
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 2-4 tablespoons honey
• 2 cups berries (fresh or frozen raspberries, blackberries, blueberries or strawberries)

Blend 1/2 cup water, cornstarch, honey and 1/2 cup of berries.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and clear. 

 Gradually add the remaining berries and enough water to reach the consistency you desire.

 Yields 2 cups-perfect for a mason jar with a little extra for yogurt or ice cream

 Yummy!!!!!

Fun days

What did you say???

 Ready to go!

Caroline walked over to the sink where I was washing dishes and said "Mommy I can't get it."  I replied "Can't get what?"  She said "I can't get the rest of my sandwich!"  I said "Eat the ends and then you will be able to reach the middle."  She said "Oh...thanks!"

To GOD be the GLORY

Jude is out of surgery and did well.  Will post more when I know more!  Thank you so much for your prayers.

Urgent Prayers Needed for Baby Jude!!!!!!!!!!!

Please take a moment and pray for baby Jude and his family.  His surgery was moved up to 9am this morning.  Once the doctors got in, they found "the worse thing he could find."  They stopped, regrouped and started back around 11:30.  Please read their blog to see how you can specifically pray for this family!  THANK YOU to everyone who has prayed for Rose and Brian and continue to lift them up.

http://babymorrison2.blogspot.com/

Today's Baby Jude's big day!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Baby Jude will have the surgery needed to repair his CDH.  Rose and Brian have listed specific things to pray for on their most recent blog post.  Please join me in praying for this sweet family and this precious baby boy!  An exciting BIG note, Rose got to hold her sweet baby boy for 3 HOURS yesterday for the very first time...God is good!

A fun day with friends

Praise the Lord!  Tomorrow Baby Jude will receive the surgery he needs to repair his CDH.  Please remember him and his sweet family tomorrow around 1:30pm as the surgeons begin.  They aren't sure how long the surgery will last, it all depends on what everything looks like once they begin.

So we were asked to make a trip to Charleston to pick Annabelle up and bring her back to stay with her Aunt.  In trying to work around Caroline's nap, we decided to make a full afternoon out of it in hopes that she would sleep in the car on the way there.  (However, she feel asleep about 30 minutes before we arrived in Charleston!!)  We planned to visit Battery Park...a place I knew growing up but haven't visited in many years!  We thought it would be a great way for Caroline to get some energy out before we got back in the car to head home.  Thankfully we got to meet our dear friends Jack and Beth, Jude and Annabelle's grandparents, at the park as well!  It was so good to see both of these guys and spend some quality time with them.  They are our small group leaders and have been MIA since Jude's birth...we wouldn't want them any where else!  The weather was PERFECT!  We couldn't have asked for a better afternoon.

Caroline loved looking at all the boats and the "ducks" (aka seagulls)

 Caroline with Papa Jack and Nana Beth

It's hard to tell but Papa Jack is growing a beard.  He hasn't shaved since the day Jude was born and doesn't plan to shave it until the sweet boy comes home!!

 following the princess through the park

 love this in the air shot

 Caroline made a friend and had a blast playing with him!

 One of my favorite things about Charleston, the horse drawn carriage tours

 After the park, we headed over to pick Annabelle up.  This is a view of the Cooper River Bridge which I plan to run in March...yikes it's longer than I remember...Can't wait!

 Almost at the top

 Caroline and Annabelle had a blast!  They played outside for a long time before we left.  I wish I had brought my camera out...they had so much fun and played so well together!  We loved listening to these two in the back...especially their sweet laughs!

Family Fun Night

We were so thankful when we realized that we had not only one night at home this weekend but two!  Wow that is pretty impressive for us!  (Although, we have decided that 2012 will hopefully be less crazy and move at a little slower pace with more time at home as a family.)  I had some Blockbuster gift cards in the cabinet and thought it would be fun to take Caroline to pick out a movie.  Thankfully kids movie's are only 99 cents these days thanks to Red Box and such.  Of course, the movie store was overwhelming!  We must have spent 10 minutes just looking at all the movies, granted there are only like two standing shelves of movies!!!  Finally Andy picked two movies and I picked two movies and Caroline chose from those 4.  She chose "UP" and was very excited the hand the guys at the counter her "credit card."  We learned that Blockbuster went bankrupt earlier last year and now longer excepts their gift cards.  However, their did give us a gift card for 5 free rentals, which isn't too bad either!

We came home, ate pizza, put on our pj's and popped some popcorn.  Caroline loved it!  Still for the entire 96 minutes!  We all had fun and enjoyed the fun night at home.  Hoping for many more in the near future!