BEACH...

Finally!! Here are some pictures from our trip to the beach last month. We had a GREAT time!! A house on the beach is definitely the way to go! We met Jonathan's parents, brother and family friend Kellie there. Grammie and Emma the first morning we were there.

Grampie and Emma looking at the "bubbles" (the water).

Jonathan and Steve building a castle that would last the whole week!

Steve an Emma by the water.

Our view from our porch.

Grampie and Grammie with Emma at the ice-cream place.

Jonathan buried himself in the sand!

Emma in Daddy's t-shirt.

The Kelly's 3.5 :-)

Honestly?!

How hard is it to steam broccoli?! 1 out of 3 times I let the water evaporate and scorch it...today was one of those 1 out of 3 times. *rolling eyes*

There's a piper down...

Emma fell down the stairs outside this evening. :-( This is her first bandaid. She cried a little, but overall she was very brave. Poor thing!

NEW CAR!!!!!!!

We got a new car! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! Was our old car still running? Yes. Did it get us from point A to point B? Yes. But with a new little one on the way, it sure is nice to know that we will have plenty of room for two kids and even an extra adult or 2 if we need it. It's also nice to be able to put Emma in and take her out of her car seat without bending over and killing my back. I've even already changed a diaper once and it was so much easier than stooping over.

We wrestled over the decision to get a minivan or an SUV. I had settled into the idea of a minivan until Jonathan came home a few weeks ago and said he thought we could make it with a Hyundai Sante Fe. I was thinking, "There's no way! It doesn't have 3rd row seating." But before I could even get the thought out into words he told me the 2007 models have a 3rd row seat option and they seat 7. Wow. Let's look at them. So we looked on Thursday and bought one on Friday. They didn't have the color I wanted, so they had to get it for me. We drove a white one until yesterday. And finally...our car was here. I have to be honest. I don't know that I've been so excited about a purchase in my life. I want to be careful and not seem as though all I care about in this world are material things, because that is certainly not true. But this car is everything I have ever dreamed about in a car up to this point in my life. Thank you to my husband for indulging me in this purchase. Thank you to God for the means to purchase it. Thank you again to my husband for spending his birthday negotiating trade ins and signing all kinds of paperwork.

Church sports?!

Ok...it's official. the guys shouldn't be allowed to play church sports anymore. If you haven't read Michael's post about Sunday afternoon baseball, you should read it first to have a frame of reference. The following Wednesday at small group, my husband (yes my husband) hit a wiffle ball in our backyard that smacked Tom in the forehead. It was red and looked like a little bump to me, to which of course Tom said, "I don't think you realize just how big my forehead is." What?!? There's a bump and it's red! No more church sports and that's final, do you hear me?!

Parent's visit...

My mom and dad were here the last week in July. It was really good to have them here. It's hard not seeing them as often as we'd like, but I suppose the distance makes our time together all the more sweeter. They arrived Monday night late. Their flight was a little late, it took an hour to get their luggage and then I offered a man a ride to the store after he and his family got stranded in Charlotte for the night with no luggage. After all that we finally got home around 12:45am! Tuesday was our least busy day. We did a little shopping and tried to eat at Olive Garden. Emma did not sleep very well the night before and was horrible in the restaurant. I ended up getting my food to go and sitting in the car with her while Mom and Dad ate lunch. Wednesday we went swimming. :-) Thursday was shopping and Friday we left for Myrtle Beach! We decided to go down for the weekend while they were here. I'm SO glad we did. We had a great time and Emma finally warmed up to the sand and ocean. We got back to Charlotte Sunday evening and Mom and Dad's flight left the next day. It's always kinda of crazy when they come to visit. It seems like we try to fit everything we've missed doing together in one week. But it's fun! Here are some pictures from the beach for you to enjoy. There are a few more on Emma's blog.

Little Dot...

We had an ultrasound on Monday. Here's a picture of Little Dot. :-) You can sort of see a profile and feet. The baby had the hiccups and everytime it would hiccup, it's whole body would jump. It was the cutest/funniest thing! I couldn't stop laughing. I'm surprised the tech was able to get everything she needed! :-)

Everything seems to be going well! I've lost weight instead of gained so far. Food hasn't sounded good at all to me the last 7 weeks or so, but I finally started feeling better on Sunday. Hopefully, I'm over the 1st trimester hump!!

Limeade - YUMMO!

So I bought a lot of limes on Monday thinking I would make some limeade. Well, I did today and can I just say YUMMO!

Here's my adapted recipe:

Limeade

juice from 4 limes
1 cup sugar
2 quarts water

Squeeze lime juice into 2 quart container. Pour in sugar with a little of the water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add cold water and stir. Tastes best when chilled for a couple of hours, but if you just can't wait (like me), just add some ice to your glass. :-)

ARG!!!!!!!!

Why is my daughter in her bed NOT alseep again today? This is day 2 of refusing to take a nap. She doesn't know it, but I'm more stubborn than she is!!

Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!!

You scored as Elizabeth Bennet, As one of Austen's most beloved characters, Elizabeth Bennet represents what most women would like to become: strong, independent, and loyal. Of course, she has her faults including a stubborn will of iron and a clinging to first impressions. Overall, Lizzie is bright and lovable...something to admire and aspire to. Elizabeth Bennet 59% Elinor Dashwood 56% Emma Woodhouse 47% Jane Bennet 44% Marianne Dashwood 44% Lady Catherine 13% Charlotte Lucas 9% Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!! created with QuizFarm.com Thanks Kelly for the quiz!!

Where were her parents??

This was the first thing we saw when we walked into our bedroom after putting E to bed...

Upon further inspection, we found this in the bathroom...



I guess this is what happens when Mommy and Daddy are trying to restore internet to the computer!!! I supose it could have been a lot worse! I'm actually surprised there is any paper left on the roll!!

A few wedding pictures...

Isn't she just beautiful! ....Mrs. Andy DeBruhl

The married couple

Blissful...

I absolutely love Laura's dress!!

And off they go!

It's a nice day for a...

WHITE WEDDING!!! Our friends Andy and Laura are getting married this afternoon. We are so pleased the Lord has allowed us to know them and be a part of their lives and their wedding! Andy was one of my Orientation Counselors for 2 years. I remember seeing his application and thinking, "Wow, an Eagle Scout. I bet he'd make a great OC." And he did, so much so that I asked him back for a second year. It was his second year as an OC that he mentioned this girl Laura in one of our meetings. He was concerned about hurting another girl in order to pursue Laura. I advised him to pray about it and that if he felt God was urging him to pursue Laura, that he should. Along with other counsel and wisdom, he did! And the rest is history!

I first met Laura on my way to teach Freshman Seminar. Andy was my teaching assistant and Laura had walked with him to class. She was beautiful and it was obvious she really liked Andy. I knew then that God had big plans for the 2 of them!

Andy and Laura eventually began attending our church. Andy also needed an internship for his degree program and I talked with Jonathan about the possibility of his company hiring Andy for the semester. The semster turned into the rest of the year and that year turned into a full time job. Jonathan and Andy were able to really get to know each other through that avenue.

Jonathan and I have both enjoyed watching the ways in which the Lord has grown both Andy and Laura over the last 2 years. We have enjoyed growing our relationship with them simply from employee/supervisor to dear, sweet friends.

Andy and Laura ~ May God continue to draw You to Himself as He draws you closer to one another. We pray the love you now have for one another will only grow and the relationship you have with one another only deepen as you seek to serve our King, our Lord Jesus. We love you both and look forward to knowing you as Mr. & Mrs. Andy DeBruhl!

In case you hadn't figured it out yet...

We are expecting!!!! According to the ultrasound today, Little Dot is due January 31, which makes me 8 weeks 4 days pregnant. We are thrilled to be pregnant again and thank God for the little life growing in me! So far everything looks good. I wish I could say I've been feeling good! I have felt worse this time around, but got a prescription today for the nausea I've had. Jonathan will be happy as maybe our house and the laundry will get some of the tlc it desperately needs!! You can't tell too much from these pictures, but here they are nonetheless!!

Charts...

WARNING! Ths may be more information than some of you want! :-)



I started charting last month, and I've been meaning to blog about it for a few weeks. Women, if you have never charted, DO IT! I say this only so that you can see how intricately God created our bodies. It truly is amazing. Our temps are lower during our periods, drop significantly during ovulation and go up after. They then drop again when we start our period.........AMAZING! I'm including my chart from last month from www.fertilityfriend.com so you can look at it. Some of you who know a few things about charting will be able to tell something else! ;-)

Van Gogh...

I made this "Van Gogh" cake for my friend Amanda. Her birthday was in May! We love Miss Amanda!

The edge is gummy bears. The pot are broken up Necco Wafers. The flower petals are Starbursts (melted, rolled out and cut into petals) and the centers are mini chocolate chips. The stems are icing. It was so much fun to watch it transform into exactly what the magazine looked like!

Van Gogh...

Twilight Run...

Jonathan ran in another 5K this past weekend with some friends from church. I'm really proud of him. Maybe in the next year, I will run with him...

This is what E did while Daddy ran! :-)

Broccoli...

Can you believe we grew this in our garden????

Trip to Texas...

Emma and I were able to fly to Texas last month to surprise my Dad for his 60th birthday. He was completely surprised and we had a great time! Enjoy some of the pictures!
Tera, Abby, Reg, Trent, Me, Mom, Dad, Jay and Emma




Trent and Emma in the pool with no water





Emma playing in the dirt (we could not keep out of that corner!)












Me with Abby












Emma playing TBall

IKEA Pot Rack...

All you get from me are a few pictures. Jonathan says he will blog about putting it up. He surprised me by putting it up while Emma and I were in TX. :-)

Radishes...

Look at these radishes from our garden! I should have taken pictures before I cut the stems off. Oh Well!! I can't believe these were just little seeds about a month or so ago! Amazing!

Thoughts...

I've been trying to think what I should post about the shootings in VA. I haven't come up with anything profound, but maybe that's OK. Maybe I'll just post what's on my mind...

As I watched the news media unfold their version of what happened, I just began to cry. What a senseless act of violence!! I couldn't imagine being a parent of one of these students! And how nerve wracking it must have been for all parents and loved ones of students who attend Virginia Tech...waiting to hear from your child, to finally hear their voice and know that they are safe. And then I began to mourn for the students who are left there to deal with the aftermath...those in the rooms next door, those in the building, those who knew those that were shot, the whole campus community, and the list goes on. And finally I began to think like a college administrator. What a task the faculty and staff have ahead of them. Questions will continue to flood the phone lines that no one can answer. Blame will continually be put on the university and it's leaders. Students will grieve and counselors will try to help them make sense of it all. Residence hall directors will ask themselves if there was anything more they could have done to save the two gunned down in the residence hall. Faculty will question what could have been done to prevent this young man from coming into their building with guns. Leaders will ask what security measures should have been in place to prevent this from escalating (or even happening, for that matter). Blame. Who to blame? I suppose we as humans need a place to lay blame.

Some blame has already be given to campus leaders. Is this the correct place for blame. I don't think so. I think the only true blame can be placed on the shooter. Could measures have been taken to prevent further killings after the first two murders. Probably. But how could ANYONE know? I truly believe campus leaders did what they felt was best for the whole campus community.

I could go on, but I won't. It's a tradegy and I'm praying for the families of the victims and for Virginia Tech.

March Madness...

So if Florida wins tonight, not only do I win the Kelly trophy, but I will also win Keller Madness!! Whoda thunk it?!?!

GO GATORS!!

Memorial Garden...

We madea quick trip to the gardens this weekend. Everytime we go, I'm amazed at the beauty! Who, but God, could create such profound beauty?

Cherry blossoms...

Finally! We have cherry blossoms, 3 years after we planted it! Now if the Japanese Beetles will JUST STAY AWAY!!!!!!!