The Friend

Adam and I are both blessed with amazing friends. There is something about having friends who have known you since childhood and still want to be your friend :) It is my hope for Noah that he can have these lifelong friendships as well. It has been really awesome to watch these friends have children and be able to share all the firsts. I know we can't force our children to be friends but I like to think that maybe they will be friends and grow up creating memories together. Last night we had the Looney Family over for fajitas. The first time I met Brandon and Micheal I was really nervous. Adam and I had only been dating two months and I really liked him and wanted his friends to like me to. I had passed the test with his Auburn friends since those were the ones who had introduced us, but I had yet to meet Brandon and Eric. Adam and watched the Alabama Auburn game at their house while they were at the game. I remember meeting Micheal at Brandon's house briefly. The next memory I have of Brandon and Micheal is at their rehearsal dinner. I remember tearing up several times at the amazing testimonies their friends and families gave about each of them and their love for God and for each other. I remember praying for their marriage and thanking God for Adam and such great friendships. I really enjoy the time we spend with Brandon and Micheal and now their son Cohen and soon their daughter Harper. Cohen and Noah are just a few months apart, which used to be a big difference but as they get older it gets less important. Cohen is adorable and has a sweet spirit. I hope that as our families remain friends that Cohen and Noah can really be friends and can enjoy each other and learn from each other as they grow up. If I could handpick Noah's friends Cohen would be among them because I see how his parents are praying for him and training him up to be a man of God! This has been way more sentimental than I intended it to be but here are some pictures of Noah and his friend Cohen!

The 2008 Post

Before I look forward to the new year and all the things I hope it will bring I wanted to reflect on 2008. It was a Tale of Two Cities kind of year (you know, "It was the best of time. It was the worst of times." ) . But I think God taught me so much about myself and about Him as well. There were some rough days and some unforgettable moments. So I thought I would make some lists. These are going to be Top Five lists but aren't in order within that five, mostly because I am indecisive and it was hard enough to narrow down to these five.

Five Answered Prayers:
1. Noah still has his front tooth.
2. Noah is not allergic to Charlie.
3. I was tenured by the Tuscaloosa City Schools. (I'm really happy about that this spring with proration in effect.)
4. Noah crawled for the first time and took his first steps with me and not at school.
5. Puddin' s health.

Five Things I Heard from God:
1. Be still and listen.
2. Delight in me.
3. Be content.
4. I love you.
5. Seek me.

Five Noah Memories:
1. Sand and the pool for the first time this summer.
2. First steps.
3. Delight in discovering new things.
4. Kisses.
5. Playing games at dinner with Adam and I.

Five Things I wish Had not happened:
1. Noah's Moses bite.
2. Noah knocking his tooth loose.
3. Noah's stomach virus at 12 weeks old.
4. My sister's miscarriage.
5. Granny's stroke.

Five things I tried to work on but still need to perfect...
1. Forgiving those who hurt me yet don't acknowledge it.
2. Reaching out to others in compassion.
3. Being patient with my students.
4. Being kind to others who are not kind back.
5. Self discipline.

Five Favorite New Things/Routines/Discoveries:
1. Pringles Stix
2. Blogs
3. Blessed Be The Name Clothing Line
4. Using Ebay
5. Walking in the Neighborhood

The Three Days of Christmas

I love Christmas! I don't know if you can tell that or not from all my Christmas posts. We celebrated Christmas over three days. The first day was with our family of four. We are excited about the tradtions we are establishing with Noah. We have decided that Santa brings three presents to celebrate Jesus' birthday like the three kings brought gifts. Then we give a sentimental present to create some memories or a keepsake. At Adam's house growing up presents came set up and unwrapped. At my house presents came wrapped. So we compromised and Santa's present was unwrapped and our present was. We stayed up really late getting Noah's Christmas all set up, but we had fun doing it! Santa brought Noah a wagon, a walking toy and a set of blocks. We gave him a big book of fairytales for bedtime stories. (Its hard to get sentimental with a one year old.) Adam gave me the first year of the blog in an edited book! It isn't ready yet, but what an amazing gift! I cooked a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs, and muffins. We took the wagon out on its inaugural ride. That afternoon we packed up and headed to Birmingham. That night we went to Zoolight Safari. Noah loved all the lights!
Christmas Eve was spent at the Joneses. We spent time with Aunt Robin and Uncle Chris who were home from Texas. We attended the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Noah did really well! Then we celebrated Jesus' birthday with cake and a fantastic dinner! We opened presents and stockings and then spent the rest of the evening enjoying eachother's company.

Christmas day we went to the Key's. We ate the traditional Krispy Kreme for breakfast and opened presents and stockings. We played a four hour round of Auburnopoly that Aunt Emy got. She beat me bad! Later Aunt Jenny and Uncle JJ and Michael came over to play and eat a very delicious Christmas dinner. We ended the day by watching the Dark Knight together.

We had a great Christmas visiting with family and reflecting on how many blessings God has given us this year!

We didn't take pictures from al the Christmas events but we know people who did :) I'm sure I'll have more pictures to share.

The Christmas Moment

Yesterday Adam and I were driving to Birmingham to spend Christmas with our extended families and I had my iPOD plugged in to the radio and was making Adam listen to my music. He loves that. There is a new song called, "You Are Here". I like it a lot. If you happened to get an iTunes giftcard buy it. It is a Christmas card in Mary's perspective of holding her Creator and Savior in her arms and marveling at the sacrifice he was making in becoming human to save us. The lyrics are very moving and touched my heart as I prepared for Christmas. I love moments like that where God touches you and lets you know how amazing His love is. How amazing that God became human, he chose to feel pain, to be made fun of, to be ridiculed and hated, to be be killed to save ME! Incredible. I cried like a baby right there in the car. Tonight we were at the Christmas Eve service singing Silent Night in candlelight and looking at Noah, and I thought of Mary again. I can't imagine giving birth in a stable without my labor and delivery nurse and heart monitor. I think about how amazing it was when I laid eyes on Noah as they gave him to me for the first time. Imagine that feeling time a thousand..... your son is your Savior! He came into the world to save you form sin. To bear your sin. Wow! I hope that everyone can have a Christmas moment and take the time to reflect on the birth of your Savior. How amazing that he loves me that much. That he adores me. That he delights in me. That he pursues me again and again no matter how often I turn my back on Him.

The Game

This is a video of Noah's new hide and seek game. I had to share it.

The Incredible Husband

My dad half joking and half serious once told Adam that I speak all five love languages . I do. I love words of affirmation, I must hear what you feel for me or I will doubt it. I love gifts, not necessarily presents but surprises, unexpected thoughtfulness. Who doesn't like physical touch, I've got to be cuddled time and again. Acts of service are nice and I certainly feel spoiled when things are done for me. This is Adam's primary language of expression. He loves to serve me! I love it and I am not complaining. He finds the best way to help me when I am stressed or upset or worried is to cook or clean something. Its just what he feels he is good at. I don't think I washed a dish while I was pregnant. Seriously. So this week Adam had to use some of his vacation days and school was winding down very stressfully. So I come home today to this:
Only people who have seen our fridge can truly appreciate this immaculate cleaner than when we bought it version of our fridge. But isn't he incredible?? Adam is not only a servant but he is pretty selfless and so it is hard to repay him for his act of service. So this post is a thank you Adam for cleaning the fridge better than I ever could!

The Hair

At school and the church nursery Noah is known for his crazy hair. I have no idea why that is.....

The Reader

Noah loves to read. Really, he loves books more than all is other toys combined. As a teacher this could not thrill me more. I am not an incredibly smart person and however sucessful I have been in life and school I attribute to my love for books and all the reading I have done. There is no better exposure. I hope that his love for books continues when he can actually read the words. And that he will always want to be read to!

The Christmas Feeling

Now that the semester is winding down and the stress of the busy last few weeks is subsiding, I am beginning to get giddy about Christmas! I am so excited about the traditions we are establishing with Noah and to celebrate this season with him! We have been baking goodies for his teachers and my teacher friends at school. It tastes and smells like Christmas here. Plans have been made for the Annual Christmas Cookie Party Adam and I have hosted since we got married. Our vacation time has been planned and includes plenty of resting and being with our extended family. I think we are just excited to spend time with the three of us without worrying about the stress of school and office. Tonight we took Noah on a walk around the neighborhood. If you have never visited Clear Creek at Christmas time, just picture Christmas Vacation except a whole neighborhood! Lights set to music, full size nativity scenes, as many blow ups as there is grass to set them on fill the neighborhood. One yard even has a movie screen that plays Christmas movies. People drive to come and see the lights. Needless to say it is something to look at. We loved seeing Noah's face taking it all in. Wonder and Joy. I love living Christmas through children. I can't wait to see the joy of knowing and loving God in his face as well. Yesterday I tried to take his picture by the Christmas Tree (Buddy). It didn't go so well. My prayer for all who read this blog is that no matter what trial you may be facing or what valley you are walking through that you would feel the Joy of Christ through the cheer of the season, the laughter of excited children, and the overdone lights of a nearby neighborhood. Christmas may be commercialized but the excitement, giddiness, and warmth are all good things that God desires us to find Him in. He gave us an amazing gift in His Son for the sole purpose of letting us know He loved us that much! It just blows me away!

The 13 Months

Yesterday Noah turned thirteen months old. I've been thinking a lot about when you stop keeping track of a babies age based on months. I think its around two?? One thing I love as a busy mom about keeping track of his age by month is taking time out to think about Noah and celebrate him. I think for each child until I die, I want the day of their birth (16th) to be their special day of the month. I want to do something special whether it be picking out what we will eat for dinner, an extra hour of T.V., game night, a special trip to the park, alone time with mom and dad, a care package to the college dorm, an email, a note in the lunch box just something that says "You are Special." I wanted to start yesterday but the weather was nasty so there wasn't going to be any park excursion or anything that required going outside of the house. And since he can't really voice his choice in meals.... we just played hard and stayed up a little later to play all three of us. Then we both gave the bath, and read stories. It was so fun just to delight in Noah. To forget all the stress of daily life and getting things ready for the end of the year and just enjoy being a family of three. I mean four, sorry Charlie! Below is a list of my 13 favorite things (at the moment about Noah).
1. Big blue eyes!
2. his new hide and seek game (I'll post a video of it later.)
3. His love for his dad! He is just crazy about Adam.
4. Appreciation for Charlie.
5. Love of books, his favorite toy!!!
6. kisses
7. excitement when he discovers something new
8. underneath his new fit throwing stage he has a sweet spirit
9. his love of fruit and vegetables, we have never struggled to get him to eat healthy things.
10. his health, despite the rough start Noah is a healthy boy!
11. his social nature, I love that Noah loves people
12. his sleeping habits, I continue to appreciate Noah's love of sleep
13. his potential, Noah's future is wide open, he can do anything he desires, dream any dream, I'm excited to see him grow into an amazing man!


And yes I am posting this from school! And I feel the need to justify. After the board/ state review visit yesterday a virus swept the school grade system and we are locked out while they fix it. So everything is graded, exams printed, room clean. Just waiting to get in and enter grades and I will be ready to walk out of here Friday and 3:30 ready to focus on Christmas!!

The Hopeful Letter

A couple of weeks ago I assigned my students a letter from a WWI solider or nurse. They were to include many details about what they would have experienced on the front and in the trenches. We did many activities to show what they would have tasted, smelled, heard and seen. The letter was to be creative and informative. In one of the letters the student was a nurse and she described everything perfectly. She took on the role of her character to a tee. At the end of the letter her nurse describes to her parents how she led a dying solider to Christ. It was beautiful and I cried. It was just touching to see a teenager include that in a school assignment. It gave me great hope for the generation I am working with. Then in fourth period they had a farting contest. So I had to read her letter again.

The Not So Snowy Snow Day

Do you remember when the rumor of snow would send excitement and joy through your heart and mind as you thought about the possibilities of a snow day? When you could stay home and maybe your mom would build a fire and make you hot chocolate. And then maybe it would snow and you'd get to play in the snowflake or two that fell (if you live here that's all you get). Well, I still get giddy about the possibility of snow. For different reasons. The possibility of getting out of school early thrills me! Even the slightest chance of not seeing my fourth block makes my heart skip a beat. (Yes they are that bad. Especially six days before Christmas Break.) I've had James Span's weather blog pulled up all morning.

Wishing. Hoping. Praying.

Unfortunately, it is still just raining.

The Love Story

Guess What? Jesus loves me more than Edward loves Bella. I know some of you are rolling your eyes right now because I am talking about those books again. But I am serious about the love story I am writing about. I know so many women who love the Twilight Series and hundreds of girls around the school carrying them around and reading them during my interesting class on WWII Battles. Why all the attraction? Why do most women love romantic comedies and cry at weddings and gush over proposal stories? Because we are made to love and be loved! There is a verse in Psalms that says, "One thing you have spoken O Lord and two things I have heard. That you O Lord and loving and that you are strong." This verse has always meant a lot to me. It speaks to the nature of God and the image we are made in. I believe God designed women to be loving and he designed men to be strong. Not that women can't be strong, I certainly know hundreds who are. And not that men can't be loving, because I also know many that are. God made men and women to partner each other, to complete each other. To be strong and loving together. And women crave this love. We look for it our entire lifetime. And if God plans include a husband for us it is partially fulfilled. Within marriage we are loved by our husbands as Christ loves the Church and vice versa. In the popular love stories in literature most (not all) but most are about finding and falling in love. I know this is one of my favorite parts of my own love story. Sometimes I miss the butterflies in my stomach at the mention of Adam's name. The delight at his smile and touch. The rearrangement of my walk to class hoping to catch him on the concourse. The sitting in the student union hoping he'd take a break to eat lunch there. I miss the exhilaration of our first kiss,the first time he told me he loved me, the image of him on his knees with the ring in his hand, him standing at the end of the aisle. I am not saying I don't adore and cherish the level of deep love we now enjoy, complete trust and unwavering commitment no matter what life throws at us. But I do like to revisit the passion and intensity of our early relationship. And I believe that we are hardwired this way. That's why I can't put Bella and Edward down and love to watch romantic comedies over and over. Because I crave passionate love. Because Christ wants me to love him this way. He loves me even more than the intensity and passion in my favorite books. His love is self sacrificing and perfect. And he wants me to be obsessed with him. He wants me to think about him all day. He wants me to be so passionately in love with Him it makes me sing from the joy it brings. Not just once in a while but all the time. He wants me to spread the joy his love brings me to everyone I meet. He wants me to make decisions and react according to that love. He wants me to crave spending time with him and to miss Him when I don't. And the best part, he never leaves or fails. Even if I do. The love story that he has planned between me and him is better than any author could ever dream up! I hope that I continue to fall deeper and deeper in love with my Savior. I hope that one day my children look at my love story with Christ and are inspired by it. And that my marriage to their father reflects that love. So now I am going to show my husband that I am crazy in love with him by making dinner and picking up the house.

The Christmas Tree

We had the full intentions to take Noah to a Christmas Tree Farm to pick out a tree this year. But we ended up at Lowe's. Adam and I have found all our trees at Lowe's. Adam and Noah saw a tree. They touched it. They smelled it. And they decided it should be ours. Traditionally, Adam and I name our Christmas trees, silly I know but we do. I sugessted Tommy for our departing coach. I was vetoed. Apparently not everyone is as heartbroken about his departure as I am. "Tommy" was also deemed not Christmassy enough. But Buddy is Christmasy enough. Because it is for Buddy the Elf. So Merry Christmas Buddy and welcome to Bristolwood Circle.

The Coach

You already know how much I adore Auburn so I won't go into another rant about how it warms my heart to step on campus and how it symbolizes more to me higher learning and how I tear up when I read the Creed or how much I hope everyone has a place they love as much but I did want to say a quick word about Tommy. I love Tommy Tuberville. His first game as an Auburn coach was the first Auburn game I attended. I feel like we have a connection. I love him for the kind of program he ran. I love him for giving Auburn fans dreams and hope of national significance. I love him for the videos he always shot for the Auburn United Methodist Youth Spring Retreat. I love him for being a little cocky and holding up all his fingers. I love him for looking kinda like my dad and making me a little less homesick. I love him for believing in Auburn. I will miss him. And I am sorry for all the things he went through. And I really hope somewhere he knows that Auburn loves him!

A couple of years ago I inherited a poster from the library of Tommy "getting caught reading". The librarian brought it to me saying they had no use for it in the Paul W. Bryant Library. He's been on my wall by my desk keeping me company for the last four years. He had my back when Stephen and Jacob stuck seven fingers in my face all week. And for the 150,000 times kids have told me Auburn stinks. I will miss Tommy's support inside PBHS.

The First Words

Noah is talking! He has been babbling for months. Constantly saying "Ma ma ma ma." "Da da da" But it is now official. Noah talks and he says, "Dada" He looks right at Adam and will laugh and say Dada. When Adam calls my phone (the ring is his voice saying my name) Noah says Dada. Today Noah went to the garage door and pointed at it and said, Dada. That's where Adam walks in when he gets home from work. It is adorable and sweet that dada is his first word, I won't pretend that I'm not a little sad he didn't say mama. I worked really hard at it! But I do just love how he loves his father! What a beautiful relationship. I hope to never stand in the way or do or say anything to hinder the relationship between father and son! How I love them both!