Daddy

God has been drawing me to himself lately in a way that I haven't experienced in quite a while in my walk with Him. To be honest, the past few years have been really stagnant and I feel like I've just been going through the motions!

But, the past few months we have been praying and seeking God for this internship process for Andrew's school and about 2 months ago God lead us to switch Sunday School classes. In the midst of these things God has drawn my focus and given me a renewed desire for Him and His word. I knew that God was using this preparation for next year and thoughts and worry that I had about it to refocus me on Him! He knows that I ultimately, despite my selfishness and lack of discipline, want His will to be done. All that to say, my time with Him alone as well as Sunday School lessons and church have all tied in so closely to one another I know it could be nothing more than the Holy Spirit at work in my life...for what I thought was preparing me for decisions and the road to finishing school for Andrew and where we would be.

But, it may be for more than that. My dad has not felt "good" for quite some time now. We have blamed it on how much he works, the fact that he needs a valve replaced in his heart, and what seems to be new diagnosis upon new diagnosis in the past few months. All this to say, the past few weeks he has begun to ache and hurt all over. My dad never complains and this past week he told mom that it was all he could do to get out of bed. Finally, today mom made another appointment with his Dr. and she went with him to say "something is NOT RIGHT!" And...the Dr. agreed. He has referred daddy to a rheumatologist to rule out rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus! My heart and my mind and my gut all hurt! I hate to see my daddy hurt and suffer.

God is so much bigger than me, and I believe these past 2 months have been a time of preparation for this too. I have cried on and off today at the thought of what "could" be for us, well for him. And then I go back to praying to the Lord that He would be glorified. That he would give my mom and dad faith and peace like they have never known. He is IN CONTROL! I have to remind myself of that over and over again. And I also remind myself of the truth that our Sunday school teacher has said almost every Sunday since we started going..."EVERYTHING is filtered through the SOVEREIGN hand of God." Even this! and then I am reminded of the old hymn we sang a few weeks ago in church....

Tis' so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word;
Just to rest upon his promise
and to know "thus saith the Lord!"

Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him!
How I've proved him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
Oh for grace to trust Him more!

He has shown His faithfulness to us OVER and OVER again! Please pray for my dad and his health, for my mom as well..peace for both of them and faith in the Lord as they walk through this together. Pray for my dad and the pain and aching to go away. For the doctors he will see and for a diagnosis that is easily treatable! Also, that dad would be able to continue working as he doesn't get paid time off AT ALL! God is good.

Riggs is 5 Months!

I know, I know, Riggs is now almost 6 months old and I am just posting this! But in my defense, I've had the post written since he turned five months I've just needed to add the pics. Anywho, Here you are at 5 months baby boy!

LOVE YOU BABY BOY! I will say this every month...I CANNOT believe you are 5 months old!

• We don't take you to the doctor again until you are 6 months old, so we will see how much you weigh then.



• You are still in size 2 diapers.



• You are still in 6-9 month clothes.



• You are loving your excersaucer and we just started putting you in your "johnny jumper" and you are so cute to watch jumping around!



• You love to try to put all 8 of your fingers in your mouth at once with just your thumbs hanging out of the sides:)



• You are drooling like crazy, but no signs of teeth yet.



• You have started to recognize faces and you don't like it when you see someone you don't know:(



• You have had bananas, sweet potatoes and squash and you have liked them all so far.



• You are changing your schedule up on a weekly basis on us! I am so glad I just let the schedule go and do what works best for you and me!



• You are still at home with daddy while I work which is a huge blessing!



• You have laughed out loud about 3 times and each time has been at your daddy.



• You now hate your carseat no matter how happy you were to start with, you just scream!

5 Years

Today we celebrate 5 years of marriage, of committment, of love (no mattter what the cost), of friendship, of learning, growing, frustration, joy and all the in betweens! I am so thankful to be HAPPILY married to such a wonderful man.

On another note...this same day last year (our 4th anniversary) was the day that we went to my first doctors appointment and saw his little heartbeat for the first time and found out I was only 6 weeks pregnant! What an anniversary gift!

Just Pics

Happy Anniversary!

Andrew and I will celebrate five years of marriage on the 29th of July! I can't believe that we have been dating and married almost ELEVEN YEARS! CRAZY!

My mom came and kept Riggs on Thursday night for our first night away:). We left Thursday about 2 o'clock and went to Lenox mall to walk around. We checked into the Marriott Grand Marquis Hotel about 5 o'clock and got ready for dinner. We went to Two Urban Licks and enjoyed a great dinner before going to the Fox to see Fiddler on the Roof. After a late show we went to Cafe Intermezzo for coffee and cheesecake and then headed to the hotel where we stayed in bed until 10am on Friday morning! We ate breakfast at a little place called the West Egg! We had a great time and really enjoyed eating at some new resteraunts and just being together.

Andrew asked what I have learned about him over the past five years that I didn't know going into marriage?!?! LOADED question! So I tried to list the first positive thing that came to my mind:) and that would be what a GREAT DADDY he is! He is so attentive and willing to do whatever. He longs to be with Riggs when he is gone and is always quick to keep him for me to go to the gym or grocery shopping or whatever! I asked the same question and got a little bit of a different answer (could have been taken positively or negatively). He said he didn't realize how protective I was going to be as a mother. He didn't say OVER protective, just protective in how I take care of Riggs:) and also how patient I am with him. Which I am surprised by in myself as well, as I usually am the impatient one of the two of us but I think my impatience just comes with actually waiting on things, not with my sweet sweet son. All that to say five years has flown by and I'm sure the next five will as well. I can't wait to see what our future holds and what the Lord has in store for us.

Yum yum

Riggs had his first little meal of rice cereal this past week! We were told by the pediatrician that we didn't have to start with rice cereal, that we could give him anything as long as we waited three or more days before introducing another food. She also reminded us that he doesn't NEED solid food, that breastmilk is still his main source of nutrition ect. I found this odd because everything I read says to start with rice cereal!? I'm curious what other mommies have done?

All that to say, he didn't love or hate it! He did what I assume is typical...held it in his mouth for a second and then

thrust it out of his mouth. I love watching him learn and try new things.

How we told our family...

I am linking up with Kelly at www.kellyskornerblog.com for show us your life Friday. I thought it would be fun to document how we told our families we were pregnant with Riggs since I haven't written it down anywhere!

We found out the week of July 4th while on vacation with Andrews family that we were pregnant. Andrew refused to believe it or even get excited until we went to the doctor! I, on the other hand, was already trying to plan how we would tell everyone, calling the doctor ect. All that to say, on July 29th (our 4th anniversary) we had our first doctors appt at about 6 weeks along. I had my first ultrasound and we were able to the little peanut and the little heartbeat!

All this time we knew we would be going home (or visiting Augusta) the friday after this appointment which was on a Thursday! So I had planned a birthday dinner for Andrew (his birthday is the July 28th, the day before our anniversary:) with my parents and brother and his parents and one of his brothers (his oldest brother and his wife live in Savannah) and their families. We were going to all meet up at T-bonz for dinner. I was getting a "surprise" cake for Andrew to have while we were there. To make a long story short, our waitress brought out the cake with candles, plates, ect. and Andrew and I awaited everyones reaction! No one said a word! My brother across the table from me started tearing up but didn't say anything. My mom apparently couldn't read it and Andrew's mom had the Susan shocked face on for a few seconds, or maybe minutes! Once everyone realized what the cake said the reactions were great and mostly expected! We are so thankful to be able to look back to almost a year ago and see how the Lord has brought us great joy from this little life!