Spring Cleaning

Well, I guess it should be called "summer cleaning". Chris and I decided to take advantage of his three day weekend and clean like crazy people. Now, we did spend some good family time together in between the cleaning. We went to the pool on Saturday. The boys had a blast! So far, Chris and I have cleaned all of our drawers, cabinets, and closets downstairs. I have to clean out the pantry today. I figured that was something I could do without Chris here since I know what we should keep and what we should give away.

I cleaned out the boy's bedroom closet which was a crazy task and cleaned my side of our bedroom closet. All of the boy's clothes are now in the dresser in their closet. The other dresser/changing table is completely empty now and moved into the nursery along with the crib and my grandfather's rocking chair. It is all ready for our sweet baby coming in December. Walking into that room is so fun! I can already picture a sweet little one sleeping in the crib. Chris put up a new book shelf in our bedroom. We had SO many books just sitting around our house with no home. It feels so great to have a spot for them now and it looks really nice in our room!

All we have left to do is put the boy's daybed back together. They are currently sleeping on their mattresses on the floor. And, we have to fix the changing table/dresser because one of the drawers in broken. Tonight, poor Chris is tackling all of that and the attic. He is going to take the 5+ bags of clothes into the attic and go through everything to see if there are things to give away.

It feels SO nice to clean and get rid of things! I feel like we have a HUGE head start on getting our house ready for a third child.

Sweet Valentine

Chris and I don't ever do anything much for Valentine's Day. Normally, we just use it as an excuse to get a date night. We will be going to see "Valentine's Day" on Monday since Chris is on call this weekend. I am so excited about his movie! This year Chris had something he said he wanted to do for me. I, of course, responded, "We never spend money on each other on Valentine's Day". He told me it was only going to cost about $5. So, I decided we should start a new $5 Vday tradition. I went shopping today and came home to the most wonderful surprise. My boys had been working very hard. I am so blessed.


I LOVE strawberry iced from Dunkin' Donuts. There was another one in the box but I had already eaten it...hehe. We never buy them but they are my fav. What a treat!


My sweet Kael colored his little heart out...love him.


Wow. This one really got me...tears and all. Of course, all of these things aren't true, but still sweet ;0).


Bryce was SO proud of himself for this! He put all the stickers on by himself. He kept saying "Happy Birthday, Mom. Do you like your Valentine's we made?".

And The Journey Continues

Well, this past Wednesday was supposed to be my last court date. My lawyer assured me that if I got my license back before we went before the judge that the judge would more than likely dismiss my case. Well, that did not happen. He continued my case until March 16th and will consider dismissing my case pending I complete 20 hours of community service. I walked out of the court room extremely upset and very defeated. It really isn't the hours of community service (well, it is a little but I'll go into why in a minute) it is the fact that it was never mentioned to me as an option. I am a planner. I want to know all the possible outcomes. I just wish my lawyer would have let me know that it was a possibility. She didn't even act surprised. She said, "Man. That's a bummer." Really?

There is only one other thing that bothers me a little. I have done 2 weeks of inpatient rehab, 60 hours of group counseling, and attended 4 AA meetings. That is a lot of stuff. In the eyes of the court, what is the purpose and how will doing 20 hours of community service help me "recover"?

I love to serve. So, the act of the community service is exciting to me. However, it is the humilation that comes along with the reason that I am doing the community service that I have to deal with. I know I shouldn't feel this way but, for now, I do. I am praying that God will take this feeling away from me before I start or at least after the first time.

On Wedneday when we got back home, I sat down to do my quiet time. I had missed my quiet time the day before. One of the chapters I read was Romans 12. Romans 12:12 says "rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer". God is so good. He knew that I need to hear that. I just meditated on that verse for the rest of the day and the next. I am more at peace about continuing this journey.

Now, I just have to get my community service set up. I am really praying (and would love for you to) that they allow me to choose where I serve. Tori Young (most of you know her) is head of junior volunteers at Duke Hospital. She said she would be more than happy to set me up with something. This would totally take care of the humiliation issue. We will see. I will keep you updated.

Also, please pray for wherever I serve. I pray that I will be able to build relationships with people and show them the love of Christ. I pray that God will recieve all the glory from all of this.

The Day Has Arrived!!

I just got the phone call...my 508 has been approved so I can go and get my LICENSE!!!! WOOHOO!!! Well, I will definitely write more about this later but I need to go get ready for our girl's disciple group tonight. Guess what? Next week I can drive myself : )!

Dairy Free

I have been meaning to do a post like this on my blog for a while now. My son is allergic to dairy products. We found out when he was around 4 or 5 months old (I can never keep up with dates). I was nursing him, so I had to cut all dairy and soy out of my diet. At the time, I was overwhelmed with all of it but was also willing to do anything to make him feel better and help improve his eczema. Now, we have introduced soy to him and he is doing great with it...Praise the Lord. However, we tried him on dairy when he was a year old and it was not good. He will be 2 in May and I am afraid to say that it will be a while before he grows out of his dairy allergy (if at all).

Well, recently a friend of mine found out that she has to go on a dairy free diet because of her sweet baby girl. So, that is the main reason that I am doing this post. I wanted to give her some information on cooking and eating out...dairy free. I figure I might as well post it for everyone just in case anyone else is going through this. Let me know if you have any questions about any other items or things. I might know the answer and just didn't post it on here. However, I might not know the answer but would be HAPPY to research it for you. It can be overwhelming at first.

Cooking meals at home is very easy. EVOO, soy milk, and Smart Balance Light (w/ EVOO or flaxseed) will become your friends. You can make just about any recipe with these three ingredients (unless it is something that contains cheese or creamed soups). I put soy milk in a lot of stuff from pancakes to mashed potatoes and have great results with it! Watch out for chicken and beef bouillon cubes. They contain milk (whey). So, always use canned chicken or beef broth. You will get SO good at reading labels that you just have to look at the label for a couple of seconds check for dairy. The wonderful thing about labels now is that most of them announce in bold letters if there is dairy in them. However, you should always double check for "hidden" dairy ingredients. If I am making pasta or a chicken dish that contains cheese, I will just take out some pasta and chicken (before adding dairy item) and put a dairy free sauce with it to serve it to Kael.

Here is a wonderful little cheat sheet that lists all of the "hidden" dairy ingredients AND it prints out on a business card size so that you can carry it in your purse or pocket...awesome!

This is also another favorite website of mine for dairy free information and recipes. However, their list of restaurant items that are dairy free are NOT always correct. So, I always go to the individual restaurant's website to double check.

Dairy free grocery store list: (These are items that you can find in your normal grocery store. There is a LOT more...this is just a short list)
Smart Balance Light (either w/ olive oil or flaxseed)
Fleischmann's Light Margarine sticks
Oreos : )
Saltine crackers (Most crackers don't have dairy in them unless they are some kind of cheese or butter crackers. Except goldfish...ALL flavors of goldfish contain dairy.)
Wheat thins
Graham crackers
Teddy Grams
Soy yogurt
Potato chips and pretzels of course (as long as they aren't cheese flavored)
Duncan Hines brand of cake/brownie mix/frostings (even buttercream)
Orville Redenbacher's Simply Salted microwave popcorn
Arnold's sandwich bread (I was so excited when I found this. It is only $2 compared to the $4 and $5 that I was spending at Earth Fare. Now, I make my own bread which is much cheaper, but Arnold's is nice to have as a back up.)
Ghirardellis Semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips Also, their baking bars and dark chocolate candy bars do not contain milk. This is their allergy list.


Dairy Free restaurant food list (Of course, ordered with no cheese if that applies and this is also not a complete list)
McDonald's: Quarter pounder, Southern style chicken sandwich ordered on either a honey wheat roll or sesame bun ( I love honey wheat roll with this), NO fries
Wendy's: Chicken nuggets and fries!
Chick-fil-a: NO meat, but you can eat their fries
Burger King: Chicken fries, whopper, french fries
Subway: any regular sub without cheese
Taco Bell: Spicy chicken soft taco or any fresco menu item
Little Caesar's: You can actually eat there pizza dough and sauce so just order a pizza with only veggies and no cheese...ugh ; ). Also, you can eat the crazy bread ordered with NO parmesan.
Zaxby's: fries
Red Robin: Burger and fries
Chili's: This is not a good choice : ). You can eat a burger without the bun and no fries.
Barberito's (This is for you, Faith. I asked the Osbolt's.): You can totally eat a burrito just no cheese or dressing on it.
Hardee's: You can have grilled chicken or burger patty on a honey wheat bun.
Panera: Most of their sandwich bread (wheat, white) is dairy free so you can order a sandwich with no cheese.

Well, this is all for now. I will post more in the comments as I think of things. Let me know if anyone has specific restaurants, food items, etc. that you are wondering about!!

Iron Sharpens Iron...

I am so excited to see what God is going to do through this new discipleship group that was started tonight through a dear friend of mine, Tori Young. There are about 10 of us...leaders and college students. We will meet every Tuesday and discuss what we have read, ask questions, and seek God's will for our lives. We will also be paired up one on one...college student to leader. We will meet with the person we are paired up with once a week if we can so that we can get even deeper into God's Word and other things that come up in our lives. "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17
I am so excited about this! I never really had anyone (outside of family) when I was growing up that discipled me. I have already seen in one evening how beneficial this could be. I encourage you to be discipled and find someone to disciple you. I can already tell that it is going to change my life in so many ways.

We are reading two books this semester: Christian Beliefs by Wayne Grudem and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donal S. Whitney. I am pumped about digging into to these books along with the Word and filling in some gaps in my knowledge of Christian beliefs. I will continue writing what God is doing in my life through this ministry (of course, in keeping with the confidentiality of the Dgroup).

I am also going through a Bible reading plan on esv.org to read the Bible in a year. I am learning a ton and loving it! It is the first time that I have committed to reading the entire Bible and am actually following through with it (just being honest). I am anxious to see everything that God is going to show me. I need Him to do a great work in me and I am seeking Him to prune away my fruitless branches.


"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:1-17

Feeling 16 again...

It's almost here! I officially completed my last alcohol/drug treatment group today. I can't even believe it. In some ways I never thought the day would get here and in others it flew by. I will hopefully have my license in hand by the end of next week. Now...want to hear something funny? My car is making a really weird noise so we can't drive it until we can take it to get it looked and pay to have it fixed (which might be a couple of weeks). Ok, so it isn't really funny, but I just have to laugh about it, you know? God is still good. And, I guess, if I've gone this long without driving then I can go a couple more weeks.

I didn't really learn anything new about alcohol or drugs that I didn't know before now. I spent two weeks in inpatient rehab so I spent a lot of time learning about it and how to cope with abuse/addiction. However, I learned to deal with my past and be open about it. I shouldn't be ashamed of my past. I should be thankful for God's grace and use my past to influence others for the Kingdom. I don't, by any means, want to dwell on it every second. But, I do think it is good to remind myself of what I have gone through because it will only strengthen my relationship with Christ.

I also got to be around a lot of people that are really struggling. Right now, at this very moment, they are seriously struggling with addiction to drugs/alcohol. When I say seriously struggling, I mean getting ready to lose (or already have lost) everything. As part of my treatment (in addition to the 60 hours of group sessions), I had to attend 4 AA meetings on my own. These were not offered at the treatment center that I attended. However, there is a place right near our house that is a women's center. It is mainly a homeless shelter but they do a lot more than that. They also do alcohol/drug addiction treatment. So, since it was so close to our house, I decided I would attend AA meetings there. My eyes were opened to so much. There are people there that are truly hurting and struggling. I realize that it could have been me...so easily. I am grateful. My heart is burdened for these women (and men...they also have a men's shelter and sometimes have joint meetings). I don't know what I want to do, but I want to do something. For now, I am praying for them to be reconciled to Christ and fill their hole with His love instead of their drug of choice.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

At our church we are doing a series called, "Resolved...The End of Self Help". Instead of hearing our amazing pastor J.D. Greear, we had the opportunity to hear our young professional's pastor, Andrew Hopper. He did an amazing job of bringing the message of reconciliation and the ministry of reconciliation through 2 Corinthians 16-21. He explained it as one complete circle beginning with being reconciled to Christ (v.16-18) and then moving on to the ministry of reconciliation (v.19). Next, we become ambassadors of Christ (to beg people to become reconciled) (v.20). And lastly, we come to righteousness (v.21). We should be resolved to tell everyone because He is our only hope and our only Savior.

One thing that Andrew said that really hit home with me was that we must "not forget to remember" our reconciliation experience. If we stop remembering, then we will not have anything to pull from when sharing the gospel to someone. He explained it as drawing from your well of experience. You must have them and remember them in order to draw from it.

I have a lot of experiences with reconciliation to draw from and I don't want to forget. Believe me, I don't think that I will. However, for years I have wanted it all to just go away. Today...I have decided that I will hold onto ALL of it and put it in my well to draw from when I am talking with unbelievers. I want to use my past to be able to let unbelievers know that we have all been there. We are all sinners and we all have a past. We have all made mistakes. But, in the end, God is our Savior and we have been reconciled to Him so that we might become the righteousness of God. Absolutely amazing.

2 Corinthians 16-21
16Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Well...here goes

Whew. This is hard. There has been a lot going on in my life lately. I have been thinking long and hard about sharing it with all of you. I think I just need to get it out there in the open. Man, I honestly don't even know where to start. Keep in mind, that this is a really LONG story made short. I am leaving out a lot of stuff. Honestly, there is a ton that I don't remember. I am just going to hit the high (and low) points. I am leaving out most of my emotions about everything for now. I'm sure I will write more later. Also, I am just rambling in this post. I am not going to read and re-read it to get it just right. So, if there are things that don't sound right...sorry. I also want to say that I am not writing this to say "look at where I have come from". I am writing this as therapy for myself and to say "look what God has done in my life". I'm going to start with some background information.

Okay, so when I was in high school I experimented with alcohol and marijuana. When I went to college in 1998, I really got into alcohol and drugs. It was bad. So bad that I failed out of my first year at Lander University and my roommates moved out on me without telling me. I came home one day and they were gone. I don't blame them for it. I did so many things that you wouldn't even believe from selling drugs to stealing from my own friends and family. When I say it was bad...it was bad. I got a DUI while attending a community college in Greenwood, SC. I told my parents and my Dad drove down to Greenwood and moved me back home.

I got a job working with my mom and started attending Greenville Tech. I continued to stay in trouble for a little while. Then, the guy I was dating got in a really serious car accident. The day he was getting out of the hospital, a dear friend of mine and my family's was killed in a car accident. At this point, my eyes were opened. I decided to really try to make a change in my life (so I thought).

I applied to Mars Hill College and began attending there in the Spring of 2001 to get a degree. I got baptized during the Spring of 2001 at my home church with some of my friends that I had made from Mars Hill. That summer, I did Work Corp which is a program for college students to be youth directors for churches that can't afford to pay for one. It was an amazing experience.

During the Fall semester, I started getting back into drinking. One thing led to another and I got myself back in the exact same place I was in before...drugs and alcohol. I just couldn't seem to stay away. I managed to still keep my grades just above passing...praise the Lord.

Now, I will skip ahead to my Senior year. In January of 2004, I got another DUI. It was a Sunday. My friend and I began at a restaurant in downtown Asheville drinking bloody mary's for brunch. It ended with me getting pulled over by three police officers at about nine o'clock. I was so intoxicated that I didn't know or remember being pulled over. Wow. Every time I think back to that night it brings tears to my eyes (every time) when I realize that it was God that sent those police officers to me. He saved my life. Better yet, He saved someone else's life. I am so thankful to those police officers for doing their job. Unlike most people, I love police officers!

So, the judge ordered me to either 30 days in jail or 2 weeks of inpatient rehabilitation. Obviously, I chose the 2 weeks of rehabilitation. I continued in school in hopes that I could graduate in the Fall of 2004. In April, I "met" Chris. Chris and I had known each other the entire four years in college but our eyes were opened to each other in a new way. We started dating pretty seriously. I checked into rehab that summer. The judge had allowed me to finish my semester before going to rehab. By the time I went to rehab, God had already done a lot of work in my life. God really used Chris to show me how He could change my life and love me no matter what. Everyday that I was in rehab, Chris wrote me a letter. He was amazing through everything. His friends were extremely worried about our relationship. At the time, that made me so angry. But, now, I see that I would have been the same way. I was trouble. Plain and simple.

Chris stuck by me. It was completely obvious that he was the man God created for me. I had a lot of baggage and he didn't care about any of it. As you could guess, I did not save myself for him. He never made a second comment or had a second thought about it. He loved me for who I was then instead of who I used to be. I am so thankful to him for that.

As most of you know, Chris and I moved to TN in 2004. I got a TN driver's license and (for the most part) never looked back. We had a wonderful church family and God taught me a lot of things during our four years in TN. Then, we moved to Raleigh and it came time to get my NC driver's license back. I knew I would have to meet with a counselor and prove to them that I went to rehab for two weeks. I thought once I did that then it would be over. Boy...was I wrong.

I put it off and put if off, thinking that it didn't matter. On September 13th, driving home from my parent's in SC with just Kael in the car, I got pulled over. Come to find out, my TN driver's license means nothing in NC or SC. So, I got a ticket for "driving with a suspended license" even though technically I had a squeaky clean TN driver's license. I have been without a driver's license since that day. We had to pull Bryce out of preschool. I have court on December 17th. I had to get an assessment with an alcohol and drug treatment center. They concluded that since I have had 2 DUI's and I admitted to having a couple of glasses a wine a week, that I needed to do 60 hours of group counseling. So far, I have gone to 12 group sessions. I have 10 more to go. I will write more about this later. It is kind of crazy.

I want to say that I am not an alcoholic or drug addict anymore. I do not believe in "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic". I know a lot of people will strongly disagree with this statement and that is okay. We all have different experiences with alcoholism. However, I am (daily) putting ALL of my faith in Christ to keep me on the right path. I don't struggle with wanting to be on the path of drugs and alcohol anymore. My life and family are wonderful. I know what abusing alcohol and drugs will do to my life and I want NO part of it! God has blessed me so much and I know that He has taken away my desire for that life. But, as one of my friends always says, none of us are above anything. Sin is always right around the corner. It is a daily commitment to follow Christ and to seek His face in all that we do. I am so incredibly in awe with God's grace and mercy in my life. If you know me well, you know that I cry a lot. I used to think that it was because I had so many years of not being sober that I didn't know how to deal with my emotions. I still think that was a lot of it. However, I realize now that I am often overcome with complete awe that God saved me.

"For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

three boys!

Haha! Gotcha! No, I am not pregnant. However, I am hoping to be soon ; ). Well...I have been hoping to be for a while now, but am waiting patiently on God. I started keeping my neighbor's five month old little boy yesterday. He is absolutely precious! Bryce and Kael think that he is the coolest baby ever. I was a little nervous about how I would handle having three little ones in the house, but I love it! It really hasn't added any extra stress to our house at all. I think having Kael prepared me for anything. Don't get me wrong, he is a sweetheart and absolutely adorable. But, he has been a challenge at times. Nathan is a very laid back baby. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to take care of him while his mom is at work (she teaches special ed in high school). It is really going to help Chris and I financially and it has definitely confirmed that we want another child (preferably a sweet little girl...hehe). Isn't God great?! This was my conversation with Bryce today:

Me "Do you want mommy to have another baby?"

Bryce "ummm...yes"

Me "Do you want a brother or a sister?"

Bryce "ummm...a sister"

Later on in the day:

Bryce (as he is loving on baby Nathan): "Awww...I love baby Nathan. Mom, let's keep baby Nathan and get a baby girl."

God is good.

You know those times in your life when you are not sure when something is going to work out. You know God is going to take care of it, but you are still struggling with it all. Well, I have been struggling with not having a church home. We will have lived in Raleigh for a year come the end of this month. About a month or so ago, Chris and I had a long talk about what our next step was going to be. We were both emotionally exhausted from church hunting. We were just having a hard time not comparing every church to our last church (which we still miss dearly).

We decided that we just needed to commit to one of our favorite churches and dive in. We narrowed it down to two churches, ultimatley choosing the church that is closest to our house and the one our neighbors attend. We are now regularly attending The Summit. We are positive that the Summit is where God wants us to be. We weren't positive when we first committed to it, but after JUST a few weeks it became clear. God is so good. I am already singing in the choir which is so fun! My neighbor friend and I are leading the worship this week for Route56 (5th and 6th grade) during VBS. We are having a blast! As soon as Chris' schedule will allow, he is also planning on getting plugged in (hopefully helping with the youth in some way). God is doing great things at the Summit and I can't wait to be a very small part of it! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!

Summertime

Ahhh...it has been a while. Well, so far, this summer has been busy and wonderful!! We just spent a week in Greenville, SC at my parents house. Chris came for 4 of the days so we could have the boy's birthday party. Bryce turned three and Kael had his first birthday. I can't beleive it! Their party was amazing! It was just our family, my parents, and my sister's family. It was perfect!

From my parents, we drove to Isle of Palms to spend a week at the beach with our friends, Barry and Mendi. Mendi's wonderful family invited us to stay with them for the week. It was so fun! Bryce is still talking about his Mimi and Bekosh. I love that he knows they are an important part of our family. I am so glad that we got that time with them. I miss them so much it is ridiculous!

This weekend we are going to a friend's wedding in Asheville. It will be nice to see old friends. I am driving to Johnson City on Sunday to go to my old church and see some friends while Chris stays at his grandma's to work. I am VERY excited about seeing my friends!!

Then, I have two more trips planned for the summer. In June, I am going back to JC to spend a week with my friend, Faith and to see some other friends. It is going to be a fun week! In July, Chris and I (and da boys) are taking our first family vacation to Colorado. WOOHOO!! We are going to see our friends, Barry and Mendi. We can't wait!! We are excited about seeing them and have some fun things planned!!

Bryce starts preschool in August. He is going on Tues. and Thurs. from nine to one. He is very excited! He talks about school all the time! Kael still isn't walking. However, he is cruising everywhere and is very close to standing on his own. We go back to the doctor next week to get his weight checked. He dropped from 75% to 25% at his 9 month check up and from 25% to 13% at his one year check up. So, we take him next Thursday to see if anything has changed and then we go from there. I am praying that it is nothing. Chris is busy working. He has one more month of his long hour rotation and then he will be a second year resident. WOOHOO!!!


Well, that is all for now. I just thought I would give an update on what has been going on and our plans for the summer!

Home, Sweet Home

Well, I am home after being gone for almost 2 weeks. I left on the 28th of October and got back yesterday. I went to Johnson City to see my dear friends before they moved to Colorado...bittersweet. Then, I went to my parents in Greenville, SC. I had a wedding on the 1st and 8th of November (both in Greenville) so I just decided to stay for the week. Chris came down over Halloween weekend, but he couldn't get any more time off. It was GREAT to spend so much time with my parents and sister's family! Bryce had a BLAST playing with his cousins everyday! We really had a wonderful time. It is SO great to be back home with Chris! Bryce and I missed him like crazy! I don't think Kael had any idea that we were somewhere else : ). Now, I am trying to get all of my laundry done. I am getting cloth diapers in a few days so I need to be caught up on all the other laundry so I don't get behind. That is all I have to do though since my wonderful husband cleaned the house for me before I got home. It is so nice to come home to a clean house! While I was gone, I decided to change everything that I am doing with Kael to see if I can see improvements in his skin. I changed his soap already. I spent WAY too much money on some kind of organic soap that is free of anything that might break him out. I am also switching to cloth diapers and wipes. I ordered them last night. I was VERY reluctant at first, but now I am kind of excited about it! I will not have to buy anymore diapers since Bryce is potty trained. That is going to be AWESOME! I am also taking him back to the pediatrician to see about getting him tested for allergies so I will know what food to stay away from. My mom is coming up next Monday to be here for Bryce's surgery on the 18th. She is going stay at home in the morning with Kael and then bring him to the hospital for me to feed him. I am glad she is coming to help! Well, I just wanted to give you an update. I am going to take a shower and go to a store here that sells cloth diapers to see if they have any different ones (from the ones I ordered) that I want to try. Have a great week!

Love Dare Day #9

Chris and I started the Love Dare book (the one from the Fireproof movie). It has been SO wonderful! It really just makes you think about how you treat one another every second of the day. You definitely don't need to have a marriage that is on the rocks to benefit from this book. For us, it is all about slowing down and paying attention to each other...particularly during the week when we don't get much down time together. Chris is in residency and we have 2 boys that keep us VERY : ) busy. Chris and I didn't get much "newlywed" time in our marriage since I got pregnant 2 months after we got married. This book is really bringing the "newlywed" phase back into our marriage. We are actually getting to take time (in between diaper changes and throwing bouncy balls) to learn even more about each other than we already do. I know this book is going to grow our relationship even more. I would highly recommend this book to ALL married couples!! We are on day 9...31 more to go, but it won't stop there : )!!

Update...

I've not been as good at posting as I was in the beginning. We've been busy around here. This morning I am packing to leave for Asheville. We are going to stay with the in-laws and go to our college homecoming. Chris and I always look forward to going back to Mars Hill. It is always nice to see everyone. We are supposed to go to Wild Wings on Friday evening. Mars Hill always reserves it for MHC alumni. I am going to test Kael on taking a bottle today. Pray he takes it or I won't be able to go.

I know I haven't posted about Crazy Love in a while. Honestly, I have only read the first 2 chapters. I am still as crazy about it, though. I just haven't had the time to read it. Now, Chris and I have started the Love Dare so it might be a while before I finish reading Crazy Love. I can only do one at a time : ). The Love Dare is good...hard, but good. It really helps you to realize how you talk to one another especially in stressful times. I will try to keep you updated on our Love Dare journey.

Kael is having some trouble. He had eczema and blood in his stools. The MD thinks he might have a dairy allery. I am on a dairy free diet until I go back to see her next week. We shall see. She gave me a great combination of things to use on his cradle cap...it was really bad. She had me take mineral oil and a plastic comb to lift up the scales. Then, she had me shampoo it with selsun blue shampoo. No more cradle cap...yay!!! He looks so much better since I took him in. He was starting to look kind of crazy with his scaly scalp and red skin. She gave us a prescription foam for his eczema. So far, it has worked really well!

A new home...

So...Chris and I have been in Raleigh for three months now. Honestly, it seems like we have been here for a year (and I don't mean that in a good way). We absolutely LOVE the area and we have the best neighbors ever! Our neighbors have definitely made this a much better transition. However...I still miss my friends like CRAZY!!

Ok...here is the good part...we found a church!!! YAY!! I can't stress enough how excited we are! It is called Newhope Church and it is in Durham. It is exactly what we have been looking for. The pastor, the people, and the worship are all incredible. God is doing BIG things at this church. We are so excited just to be there! We really believe that this church is going to be our new church home. Thank you to those of you that have been praying for a church for us. I really don't know how people go without a church home. I can't imagine doing it for much longer than we did. The community aspect of it is so crucial. I praise God for sending us to this church! We are so grateful!

You can click on the title of this post to take you to the church website.

Surgery for my baby...

Hello all! I just got back home in Raleigh (still feels weird calling it home) after being gone for a week and two days. I am SO glad to be back with my hubby. I had a GREAT time with family and friends, but I missed him! It was nice to get away for a while and see some more familiar faces. I left Greenville at 7 this morning because Bryce had a dr appointment with a pediatric urologist at Duke. Our pediatrician thought he had a inguinal hernia (for those medical people). It turns out that it is not a hernia but a hydrocele. For babies, hydroceles will most likely go away on its own within the first two years. However, since it is just now presenting in Bryce then the dr says it will most likely not go away. The urologist says that it could cause him problems if we don't take care of it. So...Bryce will be having surgery to correct it on November 18th. The surgery should only last an hour and Bryce will be able to go home the same day. The surgery itself is very minor. The only thing I worry about a little is the anesthesia. It is a little scary. However, I know God is in control and it will be okay. Thank you for your prayers. Pray for me to be strong as they are taking him back. I don't want him to see me being worried because I know he will be able to tell and get scared. Thanks!!

Every second

So...last week Bryce had to go to the emergency room. He is COMPLETELY fine now so don't worry. However, the whole experience was terrifying. I won't go into detail, but he got really sick all of the sudden. We thought he had swallowed or drank something that he wasn't supposed to. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. We never did figure out what the problem was. I am convinced it was not a virus. I wish I could explain all the details of why I think this. You just had to be there or hear about his symptoms. It was not my son. It was so weird. Anyway...I really never even thought for one minute that I could love Bryce anymore than I did because it was so much. However, Thursday changed that for sure. Man, I love that kid. Thursday made me realize that I need to treasure every second with him...good and bad. Every second. I thank God for getting us through that day.

Ten things...

Ten things about this weekend...5 good and 5 bad.

5 good things about this weekend:

#1 Chris was home...YAY!
#2 Bryce and I got some one on one time at the pool!
#3 Bryce said, "Hmmm...licious" and rubbed his tummy while he ate honey rabbit cookies.
#4 Chris got a movie Saturday night and surprised me with a coke and a new flavor of Ben and Jerry's Sorbet...yummy!
#5 We walked across the street with "da boys" to pick up a pizza for dinner tonight.

5 not so good things about this weekend:

#1 I took my car on Friday to get a weird sound checked out and they told me it would be $1000.
#2 My car broke down on the same day that I took it to get it checked out. We paid $70 to have my car towed ONE mile!
#3 We didn't get to try out another church because the boy's car seats won't fit in Chris' car.
#4 I was supposed to leave today to see my family but I don't have a car.
#5 Hmmm...ok pretty much the bad things were all caused by my car and I can't think of another one : ).

We were very blessed that I was by myself when my car broke down. The boys were all at home. I was just a few miles down the road picking up a movie for Chris. Also, PRAISE GOD for having the money to pay for my car to get fixed!!! He is SO good even in the bad!!!

My birthday

Yesterday, my sweet hubby reminded me (not that I needed reminding) why I married him. It was my birthday. He was being very sneaky. After he got home from running some "errands", he made me drive around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes. When I was told I could come home, he took the boys and put them down for their naps. Then, he walked me upstairs into our bathroom. In our new home we have a garden tub that I am completely obsessed with. He had bought candles and bubble bath from Bath and Body, my fav cookies (geneva...pepperidge farm), crackers, cheese, a bottle of wine, a book, and a girly movie. He also bought one of those trays that sits on the bathtub to hold a book and candles. It was SO thoughtful!! What an amazing birthday!! I had said at one point that I wanted some bubble bath for our bathtub and he took it quite a few steps further. It was very thoughtful of him to think about giving me some much needed alone time!!