Happy New Year!

Wow, we have had a fun week! We went to see Kelly in Atlanta this past Saturday and we had the best time. I got to go to my favorite dorky store...Franklin Covey....I have had a Franklin Covey planner since I was in the 7th grade with all the stickers and everything. We went to First Baptist Atlanta Sunday morning and it was great. It was a wonderful worship experience and we learned a lot from their preschool ministry just by dropping Jackson off at their nursery. The youth pastor actually preached and he did a great job....I really enjoyed his way of giving an invitation at then end. He preached on 1 John 3:8. He reminded us that what we think about is what we are passionate about. Romans 8:6 states that

"For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."

What we think about is really what we care about. It is so important for us to take every thought captive to the mind of Christ and to not dwell on things that are passing away here on earth. This is one way we fight the fight of faith. We need to have a time, place, and plan to spend every day in God's Word. Without a plan, we plan to fail. I am so excited that our Bible Study is trying to read through the Bible in chronological order. It is going to be such a blessing to everyone.

The above pictures are us at the Cheesecake Factory in Atlanta...yum! Then, we went to Waynesboro and finally met my cousin's baby Luke who is now 7 months old (he is in the above pictures)! He is so sweet and we had a great time visiting with Aunt Sandi and all her family!

The one good thing that I think I read in Toddler Wise is to have a bedtime routine with your toddler. We started a new one a couple months ago. We tell Jackson to go get his Baby Bible book. We go on and on saying that this is the your most important book you will ever have. We say we are going to read a night night story from this Bible. Then we read a story, pray with him by holding his hands, and then sing a night night song. All in preparation to go night night. I do not ever want Jackson to remember a day with us not reading the Bible or praying.

We had a New Year's Eve party at our house last night that was so much fun. I think we had around 15 adults and 15 children. We played games (new year's resolution games) and had a great time of fellowship. I hope yall all had a great New Year's. Ps- I will never be coming back into town again on the day we have a party...bad planning on my part.

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!