Here I am.

Hello everyone. I am still her and still trudging on with this thing called life. It is such a challenge to enjoy everyday and not say I will be glad when.... I am posting. I have been fussed at so here is a post. Last week was the week from ..... uh you know where. It was like the perfect storm in bad children behavior. When you have four children you always have one of them who is being more whiny or more difficult. Sometimes you have two which makes life interesting. Last week ALL FOUR were in foul moods all week. Emma was as snarky and sarcastic as she knows how to be which is a lot. For example Nathan would say "Hey Emma look at that pretty tree and Emma would say Ya Nathan that is a pretty tree... NOT." Which would make Nathan dissolve into tears and declare "Emma is being rude-to-me" Katie did her best impression of a snotty teenager, which she is sadly getting pretty good at. I actually sent her to bed without dinner one night last week. Granted she had Yogurt and a pop tart for a snack at 5:00, so I didn't feel like she was going to perish. She did though, she layed on her bed screaming "I'm going to STARVE... you can't do this to me!!!!!" She is no stranger to drama. Ian has been his lovely and mischievous self. He bit a kid at school and had to sit in time out. Which is really hard because you can't talk to a two year old about his behavior hours after the fact.
On top of all that Andy worked until 9:30 or 10:00 every night last week. He is in the final push of his current semester, and doing three jobs at work so he has been really busy lately. We would covet your prayers.
Here's to a better week this week... it can't be any worse! (Can it?)

Reflections on nine years.

Today is mine and Andy's ninth anniversary. It has been quite a ride. I'm pretty impressed with nine years, especially since it seems like we just got married yesterday. I have had a great time being married to Andy. It hasn't been without it's bumps in the road but we have weathered it all together.
Just to give a few examples, right before our second anniversary Andy's father had a heart transplant. Katie was born in January a week after she was born Frank went into the hospital not to come out again until he had a heart. At the end of March Frank got a heart. Andy was at the hospital at least four nights a week while his Dad was there. You can probably imagine what a stressful time it was for us. Andy visiting his Dad and being concerned for his Mom and his Sister traveling back and forth to the hospital. Me at home with an infant who for some reason despised the hospital. I'm serious as soon as we would pass the fountain in front of Carolina's Medical Center she would start screaming so what time I did get to see Frank my Mom or Emily sat in the lobby with Katie so I could go up.
Then, While I was pregnant with Emma, Andy went back to school to get his Masters Degree. He got it when she was about 8 months old. For any of you who have done the school thing with a spouse and then thrown kids in on top of that you know how hard that is.
We had a few years of smooth sailing during which we had Nathan. Nathan was a perfect baby. The kind that makes you scared to have another baby because he couldn't possibly be as easy going as Nathan.
Along came Ian, who is a joy and a delight but comes with his own set of challenges. Most of you know that Ian was born with some health problems. He was in the NICU for a week after he was born. Unlike when Frank was sick this was a crisis in our own nebular family. The decisions that were made were all Andy and I. The outcome would most closely affect us and our children. We felt this responsibility when the other kids were born, sure but not to this extent. It was really hard to watch Ian struggle but it was a great feeling to know that Andy and I were in this together. That he cared about our little boy as much as I did. A few nights after Ian went to Charlotte we got a room in the Hospitality House at Presbyterian hospital. They gave us a family room because we were a married couple. There was a set of bunk beds and a single bed in the room. Andy and I slept on the bottom bunk of the bunk beds because we couldn't stand the idea of being so far away from each other and we both need the comfort of the others nearness.
As you all know Ian is great now he is a thriving two year old who is one of the bright spots in our days.
I guess its true what they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And closer to each other and to God if you will let it.
Now nine years have also brought us many blessings. We have had two houses, numerous vehicles, four wonderful children, continued education and success in business. We also have the support of friends and family. I know all of you loving and praying for us has helped make this marriage a success.
We still work on our marriage and I'm sure we always will. I got some criticism for getting married at nineteen. People said "don't you want to travel and play and experience life before you settle down?" I said to them that there was nothing I wanted to do in my life that I wanted to do without Andy. I'm happy to say that I still feel that way today.
Andy I know you appreciate me being frugal so this blog is my anniversary card to you. I hope you always know that I wouldn't want to be anyone but your wife and the mother to our children. I love you, Babe.

Nate update.

As I was sitting her blogging yesterday about how concerned I was about Nathan's leg I realized that I wasn't going to wait until today to know what was going on.
So I pulled the power of Mommy and called the Children's Clinic and told them I wanted him seen that day. I wasn't rude I just told them that I was concerned and wanted to know what was going on. So we went and he got to see Dr. Noodle (Dr. Hayek, my kids have called him Dr. Noodle since Katie was a baby). He examined his leg and said that he couldn't see anything wrong with it and Nathan didn't flinch when he mashed on it. He dose have a definite limp that is very noticeable. We are to give him children's Motrin twice a day for a week and see if it improves. If it doesn't he will go next week and have his leg x-rayed. Dr. Noodle also said that it was not MERSA and not to worry about what I heard on Dr. Phil, he said a lot of that information was sensational anyway. It always helps me to talk to him he is so level headed. So now we have a time frame and we are watching him closely. Thank you for your prayers. I will keep you updated.

O.K. people time to pray!

Nathan has been limping for a week. He started last Saturday, we were at my in-laws house for Easter and my Father-in-law has a heal spur so we thought he was imitating Papa. However no three year old can imitate that for a week without ever not doing it. Some days he limps worse than others. He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow to have it checked out. I have to admit I am feeling pretty anxious about it. Then today I watched Dr. Phil and he was talking about MERSA so now I'm a basket case. The strange thing is he says it doesn't hurt. He limps wether he is wearing shoes or not and no matter what he is wearing. Once we ruled out all of those factors it has us pretty concerned.

Pray for me to leave this with the Lord and to be anxious for nothing. I am not usually alarmist but this has me pretty alarmed.

Wow I'm flattered!

Hello people I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. We had a great one. We traveled to Virgina to visit my grandparents. We left on Tuesday and came home on Friday. My parents went with us and stayed until Thursday. On Wednesday the guys went and played golf while we ladies kept up with the kids. Then on Thursday Granny B, Mom and I went and got manicures and pedicures. It was great. Andy and Papa Joe took the kids to the airport to watch the planes take off and land and then to Papa Joe's limo company to see the limos. (Papa Joe drives for a limo company) Nathan was very impressed with the "limbos." We had a great week.

Over Easter I got several comments from people who said they really liked my blog and wanted me to post more. I was blown away I didn't know anyone was reading. If you read my blog and would like to read more leave me a comment so I know who I am talking to please. I dearly love to read all of your blogs and I am flattered to think that some of you may be enjoying mine.

I'm Trippin!

We have done a lot of traveling lately. I happy to do them all but it is also nice to be home.

The end of February my cousin had a baby shower on Saturday then on Sunday my uncle got married. Me, Mom and the girls went and had a girls weekend. We went to the shower and then went shopping for the girls Easter dresses and then to the wedding on Sunday. We had a good time it's nice that the girls are old enough to travel with without to many headaches. When we were shopping at the Children's place the girls decided to do a little window modeling. So I did what any good mom would do... I went outside and took pictures. We got some giggles and "how cute" from passers by so I think they sold it. Funny thing was that most of what they were wearing was from Children's Place.

Next we had the trip to Gatlinburg with our friends Matt and Kathy.

We got home on Sunday and Andy left Monday morning for a conference in Greensboro and then went from there on Wednesday to a conference in Asheville. He got home on Friday evening.

Then this Wednesday my Mother-in-law and I are leaving to go to a Joyce Meyer conference. We get to do this about once a year and I love it. It is so good to go and get spiritually refreshed and it's great to get to spend some alone time with Becky.

I'm also looking forward to a trip to Rocky Mt. to see Joy and the Boys, and her new house. I will be traveling with Missy and Bella and some of my kids so that will also give us time to spend together.

We also may be going to Virgina to see my grandparents over spring break. I hope we get to do this. Andy will travel with us and he could use some rest and relax time.

Anyway that all about me Trippin' hope you all are well. Have a God Blessed week.

Wonderful Weekend

Andy and I went to Gatlinburg this weekend with some dear friends of ours, Matt and Kathy Beam. We use to travel together all the time. In fact we were sitting on a beach together the year after Andy and I got married and we named Katie. We were looking for a good name to go with Jeanette, which is my middle name, and Kathy said "Katherine is a good name". And that was it we loved the idea of calling her Katie. So Katie is named after our friend Kathy. We loved the idea of honoring her as well. We had a great time with them which included a lot of "Remember the time when...?" It was so fun.
We got to do this great thing called Ober Gatlinburg, which I have never done. We rode a trolley car up to the top of the mountain and then a ski lift to the very top. It was so cool to look down on the world from that height and enjoy God's creation and man's ingenuity. We also did this thing called and Alpine Slide if you get a chance you should try it. It is a concrete slide that you slide down in a yellow sled thing. Kind of like bobsledding in the Olympics. Andy and I raced the first time and I won, he says he slowed down for me but I don't know.
We also enjoyed just hanging out with our friends. We have 8 kids between us and soon there will be 9 (Kathy not me) so this was a rare opportunity.
Anyway the new week brought a hefty dose of reality. Andy is out of town for the whole week and Emma and Katie woke up sick on Monday. That and all the other delights of taking care of four kids alone should make for an interesting week. I'm glad I got some time to recharge.