Thanksgiving Day... Pics to come.

This morning when Andrew woke, I was not quite ready to get out of bed.  So, as is my custom when we are out of town, I put him in the bed with me at 6:30.  Ultimately I knew that he would not go back to sleep, but I was still hopeful. Oh well, I was smothered with love and kisses as he would lay down and then come up to kiss me and then lay down and then repeat over and over until I got up to get started with the day.  Gotta love it!

We are in N.C. visiting Adam's parents and brother's family.  Andrew has been doted over and loved on by all.  I'm pretty beat, because he doesn't sleep well out of town...no nap today!  However, its been a good time.

I'll post some pics when I can steal some from Debbie, I mean, Grammie.

Mini vacation

We have had a mini vacation before the Peter Anderson fest starts tomorrow. Here are some highlights:


Andrew and Tres at City Park in New Orleans. We were able to meet with Tres and his mom, April. We ate amazing shrimp poboys and had a blast at the park under the majestic oaks.







This is one of my New Orleans roommates, Steph. We stayed the night with them and enjoyed catching up. It was pretty neat, old friends trickled in one by one as their schedule allowed and was able to visit with several of them. I love New Orleans and the people I had the honor of serving with in that broken, but uniquely gifted place. God continues His work there. I'm glad to have a small glimpse.




We did geocaching (Adam's renewed hobby at the audobon bird refuge. It was nice to be outside with just us. The weather was perfect and the view of the bayou was relaxing.

More Fall Pics

Handsome fella

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some pictures from the pumpkin patch. We had a great time, but it was so hot!!! I'll try to go back sometime early in the day to get some more shots.

Andrew an Blackjack

The other day Andrew warmed up to blackjack a little more. He likes him a lot, but prefers to be on the other side of the glass door. While we were playing I gave Andrew a little more room to roam arround our back yard as I watched from the swing. Blackjack followed him arround as if he knew that soon this little guy would be his best buddy. At one point Andrew leaned toward him smacking his lips as if kissing him and was caught by surprise when Blackjack proceeding to lick his face I. response. So cute!

An all-time favorite

This poem has always given me strength, comfort, and courage to follow Him no matter what the cost.

Hast Thou No Scar?

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendent star
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,
Leaned me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that encompassed me, I swooned;
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the master shall the servant be
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has nor wound nor scar?

Amy Carmichael,
Gold Cord: The Story of a Fellowship

Fun family day.

Today we have had a great time hanging out with Adam. We went to the loxahatchee river center and the loggerhead marine center. We love marine life and had lots of fun looking at the fish and turtles.

Bonding with daddy

Andrew loves his daddy! Here they are swinging

Big shoes to fill

Andrew loves shoes. Here he is wearing Adam's flip flops.

16 Months, A Full Fledge Toddler and No Looking Back!

It's amazing how some days, Andrew grows so much that I notice a change over night. This week he turned 16 months. According to the baby sites, he is now a full fledge toddler (whatever that means). He talks non stop and says many words. Anything that he doesn't know, he points and says "DA-no," kind-of like he's saying, "Don't know." As we were riding the other day, he would not stop pointing and asking for the word with the corresponding object in sight. Oh no, hear we go... I'll never get in another word! Often I'll say something to him that ends in "this." For instance, "Do you want to play with this?" "Do you want to eat this?" He walks arround saying, "This! This!"

He also follows more specific requests now. I was surprised the other day when I asked him to go get the book about the big red dog, Clifford, and he brought it to me. Also, he'll bring me random objects that he's taken out of place. I decided to see what he would do if I asked him to put them away. He does a pretty good job of it! I tested a bit further and asked him to put my shoes away. He brought them right to my closet! Okay, I know this will not last forever, but hey I'll enjoy it while I can.

Also, he likes to start the dishwasher, toaster, and about any other thing with buttons and knobs he can get his hands on, including flushing the toilet.

We continue to have a lot of fun watching him grow and learn new things. It's amazing the way God grows this little guy right before our eyes.

Bounce

With Andrew bouncing off the walls, I thought it would be a good idea to get out of the house this morning. We went to a local indoor bounce place (very cool). To my surprise, Andrew looked at the whole bounce arena with suspicion. He stuck by my side even though we were the only ones in the toddler area. He warmed up a bit and found the most enjoyment in the mini ball pit.



Here is his apprehensive face




In this picture he looks a lot like I did as a baby.

New pets

Ever since he came out of my womb, Andrew has been asking for some fish. Okay, not really. However, "fish" was one of his first words and his room is all fish stuff. We pulled an old tank Adam had in the garage and got a few goldfish for Andrew's room. He loves it! Also, the gentle hum of the air pump makes a nice white noise... Great for naps and bedtime!

The dog days of summer

Here is Andrew with Mojo, our aunt's dog. We enjoyed a refreshing day by the pool with family on Sunday afternoon.

Water fun

Yesturday Andrew and I had a ton of fun with the mom's group from church. The park we went to is my new favorite. Here is Andrew playing in the frog fountain. Moments later he fell forward into the stone frog, giving himself another shiner. Poor guy!



Here is a picture of him today with his colorful eye.



This looks like a bad case of eighties eye shadow!

Beach

Blackjack is in doggy heaven every time we take him to the beach. With so much energy, he is hard to wear out. He swims and fetches the ball out of the ocean. He's a great beach dog and very obedient (though hyper).
Andrew loves playing in the sand and picking up shells. On this trip, he actually enjoyed the water a little too.
He looks so big here!
Pointing to the Creator of this beautiful day!

Little Tasmanian Devil

Andrew has been wearing me out lately. He is all over the place and seeks to get into everything. Today he climbed up on the dining room table and was crawling around on it in circles. He also threw the remote in the toilet. Naps are also hard to come by, whew... I'm worn out! How can I get ahead of this little fireball!

Grocery Savings

I am loving learning the game of coupons and saving money. I just got back from Publix where I saved over %50 using coupons paired with the BOGO sales. I spent 25.48 and saved 30.81. This total includes produce, toilet paper and meat. Here is a breakdown of how it worked:
Cottonelle 24 pack toilet paper on sale for 6.49-.75 coupon = 5.74
2 packs of fruit roll ups of adam's lunch. BOGO 2.75-.50 coupon = 2.25 for 2
2 Ocean Spray 100% juice BOGO 3.99- 1.00 coupon for each juice = 1.99 for 2
Luzianne Tea 24 pack 2.29-1.00 coupon = 1.29
2 Mueller Spaghetti BOGO 1.39- 1.00 coupon for each = -.61 for 2
Bridgeford stick of pepperoni 4.89 (not on sale, but adam's lunch)
2 blocks of Publix cheese (mozarella) 2 for $4
3 packs of blueberries on sale 3 for $5 (1.66 each)- $2.00 competitor coupon = $3 for 3
1 pack of strawberries 2.50

Total 25.05 + .43 tax = 25.48
Savings (including weekly sale and coupons) 30.81

I forgot a few things that I had coupons for which would make them free, so when I return a movie I'll pick them up and hopefully get more pasta and Ocean Spray juice.

Thanks for humoring me!

Hiding Peas

Andrew can be so funny. As I mentioned previously, he has a new fascination with putting his peas down his shirt. He hasn't tried it with other foods. The funny thing is that he likes peas. I guess he hasn't gotten the memo that you are supposed to hide the veggies that you don't like. Maybe he didn't know that kids are not supposed to like peas. Here he is saving his peas for later (as if I don't give him plenty of snacks).

Tough guy

Today Andrew got his first shiner. Well actually it's a bad scrape on his upper cheek, but it looks like a black eye. I felt a mixture of sadness and pride for my little guy. He has not quite learned to run, but he tries. He was so excited as he was bringing me something at the library that his body got ahead of his feet and he tumbled head first into a plastic bin. The bin put a nice scrape in his face. Here he is moments after the fall. I'm thankful and reminded of how great a creator God is that he protects the tender parts of our body. The eye is in a socket for a good reason!

Test

Testing another blog client for the iPhone. I've been frustrated by all that I've tried, because I'll write a long post and for one reason or another the post never sends to my blog. Sooo... We shall see.

Dinner Time Nap

I have to preface this with...
Don't worry, he didn't hit his head on the table! The boy refused to nap all day. This is him at dinner at 4:30.

Little Munchkin

I often have to chuckle to myself as my little 2 footer walks around the house speaking his own babble language that sounds like a chinese dialect. It's especially funny if I catch him out of the corner of my eye or he sneaks up from behind. There's a little person in my house, in my life, following me around everywhere making funny noises and saying sentences fully (in his own language of course). Today he found a new way to save some of his lunch for a little snack. He is stuffing peas down his shirt as we speak! It's joyous and humorous to watch this little guy grow and develop.

a lesson in zoology

okay... sorry... it's been so long

Yeah, I know. If any of you actually follow this you are asking where I've been. When I get so behind on this blog, it's overwhelming to jump back in. There's so much I could tell you about.

Firstly, I LOVE being at home with Andrew. He is a delight as he grows and talks and walks and learns all kinds of new stuff. He is so focused and intrigued by new stuff. I think he will be a lot like his dad.

He talks... a lot. he picks up anything flat and holds it to his ear and talks to daddy on the phone as he walks around the house. He tests his strength by crushing grapes and cereal between his index finger and thumb. He is great at pitching and dumping food (my vacuum lives by his chair). He is very friendly, saying "Hi!" with excitement to everyone he sees. I feel so bad if they don't say hey back, because he watches them until they do.

He loves ball, kicking, throwing, and shooting in his hoop (okay at this point it's more of a dunk, but I'm working on the three). He loves books even more. One of our favorite activities is to play at the library a couple of times a week. Of course he still loves to be outside, but with the recent heat, we don't get out much unless it's to a water destination. I wish there were more shade trees in FL.

Other than Andrew...
I get out once a week to a women's Bible study on Thursday nights. Being that it's the first time in 14 months that I've actually done something consistently for myself, its a true blessing. We are studying the psalms of ascents (Beth Moore Stepping UP, to be exact). More on this in a later post.

I have been learning the game of couponing, I'll also have to write more about this later. I'm saving hundreds of dollars and getting a lot for free by pairing coupons up with sales and following a few blogs that tell you about the hot deals to be had. One such site is dealseekingmom.com and another is iheartcvs.com.

Well, hopefully that's enough to get my feet wet into blogging, again....

sorry for such an earful!

One Last Conversation

If I could talk to my father one more time I would hope I could express clearly to him why I decided to move on without him. Not out of hatred and anger, but out of truth, I would want him to know what life was like without him around. I would want him to understand that a child can only be let down so many times before they give up on a person.

I would tell him I do have a few good memories from when I was real young, I only wish that they would've continued. Like when he would drive us in his old beat up pickup truck. He convinced us that it was a spaceship and would have us close our eyes as he pushed the magic button to take off. We'd close our eyes and he'd give a narrative of our space experience, sound effects and all. Or I'd remind him of us all singing "She'll be comin' arround the mountain when she comes," and other songs to pass time as we drove. And then there's one of my favorite. When he would read Sleeping Beauty to us sometimes before bed, he'd reverse the letters through the whole story and tell us about "Beeping Sleauty". We always squealed at how hillarious the story became.
Yes, if only the memories continued.

I would tell him it was hard to see him less and less. It was heartbreaking that he'd make promises that he wouldn't keep. He wasn't there when I needed a dad, and that wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that when he needed a shoulder to lean on, he expected me as a teenager to be that person. I would want him to know that he left a big hole in my heart.

I would tell him that in college, I found my true Father, one who would never leave or forsake me and who could fill that hole and continues to do so.

I would explain to him that he wanted to much from me after not being a part of my childhood. I'd make it clear that I wanted someone who had a large part of my life to walk me down the aisle, and therefore, couldn't fulfill his request to do so. I'd tell him it wasn't about him on that day.

I would tell him that I forgive him for all this. I'd explain that I could only do so through the forgiveness I have received in Christ. I know that there are things to which I need to be forgiven as well. I'd tell him that I know I didn't communicate clearly to him how I felt and that I needed to be forgiven for that. I trust that I am forgiven for any unhealthy ways that I have handled the past.

I would tell him that I just had to move on, that I could not carry the burden of him. I couldn't deal with the relationship as it was so I had to let go.

I would let him know that I understood, to a point, where he was coming from. I understand that life is hard and we crumble as we are dealt a hard hand. I'd want to empathize with the life he was dealt.

I would want him to know that I will not crumble and my life will not be in shambles because I have been restored in Christ. I would wish and pray that he'd know the same healing power that I have found.

I would want him to be in peace. I'd want him to experience forgiveness.

A Little Background

This will probably be brief, but I hope to post more soon. Many of you have heard that my father passed away Sunday evening. His services will be Saturday, so we are visiting New Orleans and the Gulf Coast during our trek. This is not the typical (if there is such a thing) death of a parent. You see, I haven't spoken to my father in years. Growing up he was in and out of my life, coming and going as he pleased. He became an alcoholic and my times with him as a teenager were spent with him and his drunk friends who at times tried to come on to me. He would always say how he loved me and how proud he was of me, but I couldn't believe him. I thought, "how can you love me when you don't even know me." There came a point where I couldn't take it anymore. I had to move on and get on with my life, and that meant without hopes of him ever being there for me. The last time I talked to him was several years ago when he said that he wanted to give me away at my wedding. "Not a chance," I thought, but didn't say much about it. Recent years not seeing him has been more my decision and not his. I had just begun to think that maybe I should get in touch with him so that he could meet Andrew. However, it wasn't top on the priority list,as I didn't know how it would play out.

Monday morning I received the call that I knew would come at some point. My aunt was on the other end of the phone. She said that we had lost my dad. I don't understand a lot of what she said, but basically they found him in his bed on Monday morning.

My initial thoughts were, "Maybe I'll make it to the funeral." These didn't last long as I thought I should be there, if nothing else, for my brothers. When reality began to sink in I knew that I needed to be there for my own healing. Even though in many ways I said good bye to him a long time ago, there's more to be dealt with.

(I understand that this is very to the point and emotionless, kind of mater of fact). I apologize for this as it is the most natural way for me to speak of such things...

My feelings are all mixed up. Most of them are not what you might initially think when you hear that I lost my Father. I'll save them for another post, maybe later on today.

I covet your prayers as I work through all this. Also, that my family would see and know Christ. I haven't seen most of them in a very long time, so please play for the restorative process of our relationships and that I would clearly reflect the love of Christ in the midst of brokeness.

a.m. Life

a.m. Life

Lately we've been really busy with a.m. Life. That's a good thing! We've had shows on an average of two or three Saturdays a month. Unfortunatly I was not able to get into the Fort Pierce weekly market for this season. However, I am really hoping and praying to get into the Delray Affair in mid April. This is a three day show that draws in over 250,000 people! I decided last minute to enter because it is costly. Thankfully they were still taking applications, but now I'm just waiting to see if it made it in time and if I have a spot.

All that said, I've been as busy as a bee. I'm working hard to order shirts and build inventory. If you've considered supporting my business by buying a shirt or have any gift giving coming up, I'm trying to raise more money to order as much as possible to be prepared for this show. Currently all that is made is going back into the business, but it's fun to see God bless my efforts and to see people excited about what I'm doing.

Andrew's new climber

I have recently had a few great finds on craigslist. This is a Step 2 Kangaroo Climber that Andrew absolutely loves. He loves playing peekaboo through all of the holes and going in and out of the door. The slide is fun too, but he still needs help! I've been excited about developing a small play area for him outside and will add a water table soon.

For the Young at Art

I have started reading a book called "For the Young at Art." Very excited about it, we introduced Andrew to his first crayon today. He of course had to taste it and had black all over his face. He did succeed in making a few scribbles on the page and we were very excited. I really like the book and plan on following the suggestions to allow Andrew to develop creatively.

Months later

A long time has lapsed since I last posted. People have actually asked me about it! I didn't know that others actually read this! Well, truth is, since striving so much to grow and live for Christ and then posting about it in previous posts, not much has happened. I have not grown as much as I wished. So I've somewhat avoided the blog thing. Pray that I could grow in my study of the Word and Prayer time with our Father.

On a regular day to day note. Andrew continues to amaze me. He says a few words and seems to know a lot. I was amazed the other night when I said, "Night Night," and he said it right back. I can't believe he'll be one soon, and am excited about celebrating his first birthday. He crawls at lightning speeds and stands well... soon he'll take his first steps!

I love craigslist and have recently had a few great finds... a jogging stroller and an outdoor "climber" ie playground thingy for Andrew. If you must know, I have not jogged
with it yet, but have taken some nice walks. I'm working myself up mentally to actually go running!