A few last items left to be caught up...

David got to play softball with the First Wesleyan crew this season.  He had a blast!!!  They were champions of their section...or something like that...honestly I couldn't tell you exactly what they were champions of, but they got a big, huge trophy to display behind the glass at church, so they were proud and I was happy for them!

Sadly, the VERY LAST GAME of the tournaments at the end of the season, David fell and tried to catch his fall with a straight, locked arm.  That was last Tuesday, October 25th.  By Thursday he'd had X-rays at the Chiropractor who sent him to get an MRI at the Radiology Clinic who then sent him to the ER to get a splint for his BROKEN ELBOW.  :(  We are very thankful that the fracture was non-displaced, so he doesn't need surgery for the fracture.  We had an appointment today with Dr. Casey at Andrews Orthopaedic Center over at St. Vincent's in Birmingham.  She gave him the ok to lose the splint which he was VERY HAPPY about!  She said the ligament in his elbow looked fine.  She checked out his wrist and shoulder and reported that she is almost 100% sure that he, at least partially, tore the cartilage on the outside of his wrist, so he is now in a brace.  He is prescribed physical therapy twice a week for the next 3-4 weeks.  Hopefully that will help the elbow, as well as the wrist and shoulder to heal.  We are praying for a full and speedy recovery with as little pain as possible!

We bought Ashlyn a little Carhardt outfit to go with her little Cowgirl boots.  She LOVES her boots.  She will bend down and investigate the stitching and it just cracks us up!

I loved this picture of Ashlyn in one of her little "Gameday Outfits" that "Aunt" Teresa made for her for her birthday.  I love the adoring look that she is giving her Daddy.  She truly does adore him!  Such a Daddy's Girl! :)

 Lastly, but definitely not least, we (Me, Ashlyn, and my little neicy Shelby) got to attend my little cousins 5th Birthday Party.  He had a Pirate Theme and you should see the cake that his MaMaw (my cousin Becky) made.  She sculpted a pirate ship out of cake, complete with little miniature Goldfish swimming in the icing sea around the cake.  She is so talented...and the test of a true pastry chef...she passed...it tasted great!  We were really late because I didn't plan so well for the trip to Huntsville - but we still got some time to visit and had a great time!  I love hanging out with the Huntsville crew.  I wish I got to see them more often!

 The "Next Generation"!  We are missing a couple of the kiddos, but these are the children of all us cousins that grew up together!  I just can't get over how crazy it feels that we are all the parents now.  Ha Ha!

First Trip to the ZOO!

I love that we are still having tons of "firsts"!  The Sunday after Ashlyn's birthday party, we took Ashlyn for her very first visit to the zoo.  This kid LOVES animals!  She is definitely her parents daughter!  :)  She liked the big animals, but she LOVED the farm animals!  She chased after the rooster for at least 30 minutes!  It was pretty hot out, but Ashlyn did so great!  We had lots of laughs and lots of fun!

The Onesie Finale!!!

Anyone who says the "Monthly Onesie" pictures are easy is CRAZY! 12 months of trying to get a less than one year old child to sit or lie still in relatively the same position and place long enough to snap a picture that is good enough to print out - forget the gray hair - I think I lost a few hairs pulling them out. I am NOT a photographer! To say the last months of onesie pictures were challenging would be quite an understatement, but I would definitely say they are unequivocally WORTH IT! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having the pictures. I really don't think I would have fully appreciated how much her appearance changed each month if I hadn't taken these. Now I'm not going to claim that each pictures was on the 23rd of the month. In fact...there is at least two that she is over the half way point to the next month, but I'm ok with that. Hopefully Ashlyn will enjoy them when she grows up too.

Technologically challenged...

I admit it...technology is changing faster than I can keep up. Now I know how all the old people felt when computers first started taking over the world! It is so frustrating to know the computer can do something, but not know how to make it do it...and of course each software program is just enough different that this one will do this thing, but that one will not. I have been struggling with our new camera. I love the pictures it takes...I don't love the massive size of the files that every single picture from Ashlyn's first birthday takes up. I've tried uploading this and downloading that...and Great News!!!! I finally figured out a way to reduce the size of the file. I'm having to upload the pictures to some software (that came with the camera and I FINALLY had time to download) and then I can download the pictures in a different, smaller file size, so that then I can upload them to the blog and email and all those places that have been just out of my reach since I took the pictures in August. I changed the setting on the camera when I first realized the files were creating this problem...but in the meantime, now you know why I've had no new blog entries lately. I have had to literally run in technological circles to get to use my pictures. So much to learn...so little time. I am uploading the last of the ones I picked for sharing to the software and tonight (hopefully I will have time) I will download them back in a smaller file size and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to share my precious, little baby girl's 1st birthday pictures. Say a little prayer that I don't throw the computer out the window during the process. :o)

1st Birthday Post - a little belated I know...

Click here to view this photo book larger

I have finally stolen a moment to share our First Annual Birthday Shutterfly Photobook. Hopefully I'll get to do one of these each year. We enjoyed Ashlyn's First Birthday so much! I hope she had some fun too! She had a special little outfit to wear to school since her birthday was on a weekday. David and I both took off work a little early to spend her special day with her. We went home and let her open the presents we had gotten for her and the ones that her "Oklahoma Family" had sent to her. She really enjoyed tearing the paper....and yes...she liked the ribbon and paper better than alot of the toys. Ha Ha! I baked her a homemade birthday cake - complete with made from scratch icing. Maybe through the years they will begin to look better, but believe it or not it actually tasted really good. :) We had dinner at home as our new little family. I LOVED it! The weekend rolled around and we prepared for Ashlyn's "official" First Birthday Party. I chose a "Princess" theme with pink and purple. I was going for "as girly as it gets!" and I think I accomplished just that. MiMi and Papaw came early with Aunt Becca and helped decorate. GrandMary came early and was sent to the store to pick up all those essential items you "swore you got" when you were at the store last but now they aren't anywhere to be found. David prepared the most yummy menu! He grilled Hamburgers and Hotdogs...I know that sounds simple, but this man is a chef. We actually had someone from church say it was one of the best hotdogs they'd ever had. We had baked beans and potato salad and of course CAKE! I am always overwhelmed at how many people love and care for us! I am so grateful that Ashlyn is surrounded by people who love her and want to encourage her to excel in life! I am so grateful to each person who helped us throw our little shindig! It was kind of funny...Ashlyn had such a fun filled day and got so many wonderful gifts!!! - but she would open a gift and LOVE it...then we would take it away and give her another box. She was so funny! She actually got a little upset by the end of presents...she just didn't understand why we wouldn't leave her alone and let her play with her new toy. She was sleeping like a log before all the guests had even left. I know she won't remember her First Birthday Party, but we will and with tons of happy memories!

My heart for today

This blog is mainly the means that I use to archive our little adventures and the little things that are going on daily as we grow as a family...but every once in a while, I feel it necessary to archive what is on my heart.  Today I am a little overwhelmed.  I've been feeling severe conviction over the last few months about my tongue.  The Bible is very specific and detailed about God's directions for the use of our words.  He tells us that words are powerful.  In multiple verses He tells us that the wise and prudent know when to speak and when to hold their tongue.  He says the tongue can bring life or death.  He describes our tongue as a sword...a weapon...and isn't that so often how we use it?  As usual, our Sunday morning service, although not specifically about what's been on my mind, was used to not only teach me what our Pastor had on his heart, but to further challenge me to listen to and act on what God has put on my heart.  I spent most of Sunday morning before church and after Sunday school pretty fussy.  It was one of those get up on the wrong side of the bed kind of days and I definitely wasn't holding my tongue.  One of the very first verses our pastor cited was James 1:19 - "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger."  There is was...the words seemed to glare down at me from the projector screen...there was no ignoring the fact that I had done the absolute and complete opposite of all three directives all morning long.  So many times, I jump to anger and speak my thoughts as soon as they pop into my little head and in my pride, I feel justified because I'm standing up for myself and for my loved ones.  As I stared at those words on the screen though...the only thing I could see in my mind was Christ beaten and bloody carrying the cross He knew he would die on...He didn't speak...He silently endured a punishment that was not His own...a punishment that belonged to me.  In fact, some of the few words He spoke were of forgiveness to the thief who was dying next to Him...instead of screaming of His innocence, He spoke of eternal life in paradise, giving that dying man hope.  Maybe that may seem extreme to some people, to equate my "giving someone a piece of my mind" with Christ silently enduring the cross, but I don't think so.  I no longer feel justification in making a big fuss over the petty things that I feel I am "wronged" by.  God has offered me grace to cover my sin...shouldn't I also offer grace when I am sinned against.  The Lord's prayer indicates that is just was the Lord wanted us to do - "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against  us..."  I know I have a lot to work on in the way of controlling my tongue..the words I use and the words I keep to myself...and I'm not saying we should roll over and let the whole world stomp all over us, but before I get angry and speak, I will definitely be thinking twice about the benefit of calling out the transgressor.  I will be asking myself...do my words fit the description in Ephesians 4:29 - "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."  I pray God gives me the wisdom to know what to say and when and the strength to keep my jaws closed when the words I'm thinking aren't meant to be said.