Christmas 2007...Lots of Pictures!

The first picture is of Jackson getting his very realistic vacuum cleaner. I should say under that picture, "One play vacuum cleaner, 19.99 at Toys R Us...Jackson's face....priceless." I think we could have just got him that for Christmas and he would have been content. Anyway, we also got a dvd player for the car from our parents that we got at Sams...Yeah! (it is 10 inches). And Charlie and I got him The Jesus Story Book Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones. It is such a great book I might be posting a story from the book. I found the best deal for this book at Westminster Bookstore at http://www.wtsbooks.com/ The other pictures are from us enjoying family time with my dad's extended family (this year is our year to go to be with my parents for Christmas). All my cousins have had babies so all the little ones are my cousins' children...they are so precious! On the 22nd we celebrated Christmas with Charlie's family and Jackson got lots of Veggie Tale tapes, toys, and great gift cards to the Sandhills mall. We really had a wonderful Christmas celebrating Jesus birth. We went to a beautiful candlelight service on Christmas Eve. God has blessed us so much this Christmas. I am so thankful that the Lord did not take my father up to heaven this month. We are so blessed to have him!

Updated Pictures for December 2007

Here are some updated pictures. The first ones are of Jackson enjoying that dancing Hallmark gift, then the next one are of us with my sister Kelly...followed by pictures with Mimi and Doc at Jake's 3 year old birthday party at Leaping Lizards. And of course, last but not least is our dog Millie Boo. She just got her hair done....Jackson loves to play ball with her! I am still enjoying listening to the Bible daily on cd as well as Mark Driscoll's series on Philippian's. I
listened to Joy in Temptation today.....these series really has been life changing....especially on how I view events. Here is the series:

• 10/07: The Rebel's Guide to Joy (Acts 16; Phil. 1:1-1a)
• 10/14: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Loneliness (Phil. 1:1b-11)
• 10/21: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Suffering (Phil. 1:12-18)
• 10/28: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Death (Phil. 1:19-30)
• 11/04: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Humility (Phil. 2:1-11)
• 11/11: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Temptation (Phil. 2:12-30)
• 11/18: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Conflict (Phil. 3:1-11)
• 12/02: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Exhaustion (Phil. 3:12-4:1)
• 12/09: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Anxiety (Phil. 4:2-9)
• 12/16: The Rebel's Guide to Joy in Poverty (Phil. 4:10-23)

I would encourage everyone to download these series and listen to them. If you want me to make you cd's of them just let me know and I will make it for you.

Jackson does have a sinus infection now and he is on a great antibiotic that he has never been on called Omnicef. I am really glad he is on an antibiotic so it can not turn into anything else serious since we are going out of town for so long and since he had the flu. We were just there last week and now he weighs 23 pounds and 4 ozs and we are down to 3 bottles a day....Yeah! Morning, midday, and before he goes to bed.

We are going to celebrate Christmas in Spartanburg with my family as well as all my dad's extended family (it is my parent's turn this year for Christmas). We are really looking forward to it! Then we are going to take a little vacation and going to see my sister in Atlanta...I think she is even going to keep Jackson for 1 night while we stay across the street in a hotel room. Finally, we are going to visit my mom's sister in Waynesboro and meet Britt's baby boy Luke for the first time, and back in time for our New Year's Eve party at our house....everyone is welcome to come! Wow, that sounds busy! Ha!

Video of Jackson enjoying Christmas Time!

Thank you for your Prayers for my Dad!

Thank you so much for your prayers for my dad. He went to the hospital Wednesday with major chest pains and had a catheterization done Thursday at 1 pm. Me and my sister were with my mom the entire time this time! We are still in Spartanburg and things have been crazy. Dad is doing great now. God is so good to give dad a nephew who is a cardiologist who is always right about dad (he did not do the procedure). Here is the latest update:

We are home from the hospital with dad and he is doing well! Christopher(my 1st cousin, the cardiologist) did say that he had another blockage and what he was feeling on Tuesday night was very serious and he could have had a heart attack that night. What he was feeling was a blokage that was occuring in the current stent. They needed to put another stent within the current stent (that was put in 2 years ago) because a blood clot had formed. His LAD artery had hardly any blood going through it. But the good news is that they fixed the problem with no complications! Dad will not be going back to work till January 3rd.

Jackson is 15 months old today!

We actually went for his 15 month old check up today:

He weighed in at 22 pounds and 12 oz (25%)

Height was 30 ¼ in (25%)

Head circumference 47 cm (45%)…he use to be in the 15%!

We are at a new pediatrician office and they actually asked me to fill out questioners. Jackson was doing everything he is suppose to be doing except he does not point to his head when I ask him to point to it (pointing to certain body parts) But he is advanced when he comes to problem solving issues such as putting blocks in containers and taking them out, and trying to sweep up the floor. We only had to get the Hep. A shot today (he has already had chicken pox…he had a ton of shots when he turned 1).

Some issues:

1. He fell last weekend at my parents house and his bottom 2 teeth cut the top of his top two teeth gums…she said it looked fine!
2. He still loves his morning bottle and night time bottle. During the day I can feed him enough table food that he is ok. The doctor recommended putting water in his bottle (this helps with constipation as well) and put warm whole milk in a cup. I just feel like he does not eat enough some days so I am having a hard time getting rid of the night time bottle. She said to be sure to brush his teeth after he eats the bottle….the main concern is for his teeth. Some days he has 3 scrambled eggs in 1 day! He loves grits, yogurt (yo-plait), baby food of sweet potatoes, squash, and banana strawberry. Sometimes I will feed him eggs in the morning and at night. He also loves bread, crackers, pudding, etc. He is doing a lot better with eating…he will even eat chicken. Mimi even got him to eat some green beans from KFC! He also likes most dry cereals.
3. He is bored and ready to learn. I am going to sign him up to go the Lexington library once a week. When I worked at the YMCA, I used to schedule out activities for the kids and on Sunday night and I am going to have to start scheduling out his activities for the week. Part of the problem is that we had to stay home for like 10 days while he had the flu. Do yall plan activities for your children? Have yall read Toddler Wise? Do yall do an activity schedule for your toddlers? Toddler Wise says children until they turn 3 learn best by actually seeing things such as animals and that is why it is so good to go to the zoo! Usually 2 major schedule activities a week are good for toddlers such as the library and a play date.

These first pictures of us at Barnes and Noble. It always cracks me up how people go to coffee places to ignore each other....Some of them just could not help but notice Jackson!

Busiest Time of the Year

December is always the busiest time of the year I think for everyone. We actually had two Christmas parties to go to yesterday and Jackson had shots this morning. I have not even had time to wash our clothes. However, God is so good to me and in the morning He always gives me 30 minutes to read the Bible and I am not behind on my daily reading....it is a miracle! Jackson did turn 15 months old today and I will have to post pictures and update soon. I feel that in our society we are isolated now more than ever. That is why I just want to post this what I read today. Sometimes I think that blogs are the only voice some of us have.

If we died with Him,
we will also live with Him;
If we endure,
we will also reign with Him.
If we disown Him,
he will disown us;
if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

2 Timothy 2:11-13

Wow, dwell on these words for a while, it will have your brain spinning. I have learned so much just by listening to God's Word being read daily through the dramatized NIV Bible on cd. I have also been blessed by listening to Mark Driscoll (he has been a big influence on Charlie and his ministry) series on Philippians's on cd in the car. We have itunes and so we can download his sermons for free by going to http://www.marshillchurch.org/. Then we just burn cd's for us to listen to in the car. Gigi and Gran are getting Jackson a dvd player for the car for Christmas so Jackson can watch the crazy Doodlebops, while I get spiritually fed. Yeah! Also, we are getting everyone sermons that we have burned as cd's for Christmas gifts along with easy to make homemade fudge. This is a great way for us to save money on Christmas presents (burning sermons on cds). Why do we waste all of our money giving our family memebers things they do not want or need, and items that will not help them grow in their knowledge of Him?

Which Picture is the Christmas Card Picture?

Here are the pictures we had taken at Walmart for our Christmas card picture. Last year trying to get the perfect picture of Jackson was very stressful for me, so I just went to Walmart and had them done. Surprisingly, Walmart has not gone digital yet so we had to scan these pictures. I was very pleased with how they turned out. He was having a great day, and I am so thankful that we went ahead and did it early before he got the flu! Which one did we choose? You will have to wait to get your card to see, but feel free to tell me which one you like the best!

Pictures Taken at Swan Lake in September 2007

Here are some pictures we had taken in Sumter at the beautiful "Swan Lake" park right before we left in the beginning of September. So, Jackson was 11 months old here. Carodel Photographers did them and they did a great job for a wonderful price. These pictures are Christmas gifts for many of our family members, and Charlie just recently scanned them at work. Enjoy!

Update on Jackson and What God has taught us This Week:

The above pictures are taken at the many trips to the doctor’s office. I was trying to take a picture of his rash.

• Wednesday he broke out in a rash all over his body and the doctor said I had to come in so he could examine it. Of course Charlie and I try to be doctors online and we read on WebMd that if your child breaks out in a rash after he has the flu that can mean that he has toxic syndrome and certain organs could be shutting down and he could die (but that it is rare and only 5 percent means this)
• The doctor did do a complete examination on him, but he did not take blood work (they did blood work on Monday) Jackson has not had a fever since Monday night and his ears are not infected and they did a Strep test Monday and it was negative. He was actually laughing at the doctors yesterday, and yesterday afternoon he did not sneeze or cough that much. The doctor said at first it looked like the Strep rash. But he concluded that it was just Jackson's reaction to the flu (but that this type of reaction is rare). He is doing so much better, just real tired.
• Jackson being extremely tired and bored is a bad combination. I did everything I could today to keep him entertained. We watched 2 episodes of the Doodlebops, watched a Cedarmont Kids DVD, and watched Mickey Mouse. We went outside and played…we even played kitchen and he made eggs. But, he normally gets out of the house a couple times a day, and I think he is going stir crazy. He even threw himself on the floor at one point!
• Jackson can say “cracker” now when he wants a cracker…yeah!
• He loves to say “boo” and “moo” and tries to make a barking sound when he sees a dog or even a picture of a dog. Every day he communicates to me more what he wants and he is a great helper. He even helps me unload the dishes, put up his toys, and put his diapers in the trash. I learned after sitting in Rene’s Sunday School class that if you expect a lot out of your 1 year old….they will most of the time rise up to those expectations. They understand a lot more than we think they do. I will have to blog about Rene’s Sunday School class. It was unbelievable, and I am hoping that she will teach a seminar on what she does (she teaches the older 1’s).

Two new great discoveries:

1. Cup/Bottle id tags. Go to http://www.inchbug.com/ Have y’all heard of these tags? This is so great especially when your little ones go off to the nursery. They are $11.95 for 4 of them
2. If you need Diaper Bag ID tags e-mail Katherine and tell her what your diaper bag colors are and she will make you a very cute ID tag, and if you are in SC you will get it the next day. They are $4 each and her e-mail is sinclair_t@bellsouth.net.

What God has been teaching us:

1. I guess I have been wrongly dwelling on some people’s weaknesses in churches in general. Well, God spoke to me yesterday through His Word - unbelievable. I had not been reading the last four days because of Jackson’s high fever…but God knew what I needed to read and when.
2. My reading for yesterday was 1 Corinthians 10-13. In Chapter 12, Paul is explaining how the church is one body but many parts. Paul states, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body…..If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” Do we really as church members believe that? Do we believe that God has arranged the parts of the body just as he wanted them to be? Some people have gifts of teaching, some have the gifts of encouraging, some administration….but it seems to be that I want everyone to have the gift of teaching or encouraging. But, that is not how God wants it to be!
3. It is interesting that right after Paul speaks about how everyone in the church has different gifts and different roles he speaks about how important love is. I had never really tied the two together. I had made the connection of the use of spiritual gifts and using them in love….but not loving every person in the body of Christ. Do you think I am way off?
4. Paul basically says that if he has faith that can move mountains, BUT IF HE HAS NOT LOVED, HE IS NOTHING. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to flames, but have not loved, I gain NOTHING. It seems that Paul is saying if you have all of these spiritual gifts in the church but do not love you have nothing and gain nothing. If you do not love all the different members in the church in ministry you gain nothing. Instead of focusing on what is wrong with the members of the bride of Christ maybe we should focus on loving them….doesn’t that mean we need to love all of them?…even their weaknesses? Are we, as ladies, really loving everyone in the church? Or are we trying to “fix” everyone? Are we “loving” them when we slander them? I think if we try to help people without loving them we gain nothing. Again, God has arranged the parts of the body just as he wanted them to be./

Jackson has the Flu....Sad!

After 3 trips to the doctor this week, we have finally found out what is wrong with Jackson...he has the flu (they actually have a flu test that they did up his nose). This morning he had a high fever again (over 102) and just looked completely dazed. It really scared me....he could not even hold his head up or keep his eyes opened. He is highly contagious so we will all probably have it, so pray that we have enough strength to take care of him. He sometimes looks so sad and sick, and he wants me to hold him constantly and reaches up for my neck many times during the day. My doctor was not comfortable giving us tamiflu because of the side effect of hallucinations is high with children under 2 years old, and it only helps them get over it faster by like 1 day. So pray for Jackson. Children under the age of 2 can have complications with the flu such as getting pneumonia. He did not get his flu shot, but believe me we will all have the flu shot at the beginning of October next year. However, the nurse said that they have had many children come in with the flu who had the flu shot this year (so they are not sure if they predicted the right strain of the virus this year). We are not sure where he got it from but we will be here at the house for the rest of the week trying to get better. So keep us on your prayer list. Thank y'all!

How I am treating the Flu:
1. Like any other virus, with a fever, I am giving him children motrin every 6 hours. Tonight I am going to wake up at 3 am to give him his motrin so he does not have such a high fever in the morning.
2. With saline solution up his nose when his really congested and then we blow the mucus out with a blue suction instrument that they gave us when he was born at the hospital.
3. When he is coughing or real congested we go to the guest bathroom and turn the shower on real hot and let the steam break up the mucus.
4. Let him take some naps in our bed with me propped up on pillows
5. I am feeding him with his bottles and formula at night. He is not eating much of anything and he has already lost 1 pound and the doctor said he could loose another one before the flu is out of his system. Last Wednesday he was 22 pounds and 10 oz, today he was 21 pounds and 7 ozs. Today, he only ate 12 ozs of whole milk, and then 6 ozs of formula and 1/2 cup of grits. I even offered him rainbow sherbet and he wanted no part of it.

If anyone has any more suggestions, I am all ears!

Lots of Thanksgiving Weekend Pictures!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend until today. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Mimi's here in Columbia, and Jake and Jackson had a fun time playing together. Then, my parents came Friday and we went shopping on black Friday (Gigi got Jackson a little broom) and then of course on Saturday we all went and watched the Gamecocks lose again....I cannot even write about it. Remind me never ever to go to a Clemson/Carolina game ever again. I just get way too upset about us losing to Clemson, and it is just a game. Anyway, our good friend Carol (from Sumter) came to stay with us and Jackson ran a little bit of a fever with her last night so we left the game early. Well, this morning Jackson wakes up and he was on fire. His temp. under the arm was 102.4! Ah! Carol is such a great friend and God knew that I needed her this morning. We immediately gave him Motrin and the fever went down to about 100 within 30 minutes. We did go to the doctor and the doctor said his throat was red, and they did a strep test, but it was negative and his ears had a little fluid but no infection. The doctor said he just has a virus combined with teething. It was so scary his temp being that high...he was shaking all over. Pray that we glorify God in our actions even when Jackson gets sick through these winter months!