You could have told me

OK So none of you told me that in this post when I mentioned a certain recipe book incident, that I had not previously mentioned it! I had it all ready for a "Not Me" post and forgot to post it. LOL I am a busy woman here! Anyway since none of you mentioned it, I guess because you thought I was losing it or something, then I am going to make you wait until Monday and then I will post the "Not Me" post where I tell you what I did not do with that recipe book. Just act like I have not already given you a large hint. Okay well already spilled the beans. It will be funnier if you act like you dont know what I am talking about. Okay, wait for it! (Until Monday). Until then I have a BIRTHDAY of one tiny PRINCESS to CELEBRATE! See you after.

Wordless Wednesday

Yes Me!

Today I experienced a first, Yes Me. After getting off work, I walked in the door. Immediately I smelled something. It was something good! I was caught off guard and confused because it smelled like food. Todd, my sweet husband was standing at the sink. With a dazed look on my face I said "What do I smell?" This is what I smelled:Okay now I know that all of you bloggers out there have a husband that cooks for you on a regular basis, but did I mention before that this was a FIRST? Seriously my husband does not cook. EVER! I remember once I came home from work and he had grilled steak. So I will give him that. But honestly that was so long ago that I cant remember how many years it has been. (Now he does tons of other sweet and helpful things, he just doesnt cook.) Every now and then when I am leaving for work on his day off, I will say "You do supper." to which he will usually plan supper. He is sweet to tell me not to cook supper, he has already planned to get something out. Today was one of those times. When I was leaving I said "cook supper." We both laughed and went on our ways. It NEVER occurred to me that he would actually cook! He said that when I said that, he decided to look in my cook book. (The one I told you about that I was going to organize and ended up making cookies instead.) He found my (well his moms recipe) for chili and whipped it up. It was really great! I think maybe even better than mine! I was so proud of him. I think he was proud of himself as well. I told him that we can have chili night once a month! Josh of course disagreed because he doesnt like chili - No surprise there, he doesnt like a whole lot. Anyway just thought I would share my wonderful surprise with you all. I still cant believe my husband cooked supper for me! Yes Me!

LOOK AND WAIT

As for me, I will look to the Lord. Certainly that is something we should all do. I know that is the place to look when I am in need in any area in my life. There is no other place to look than to the Lord. He is our all and the answer to every question and situation that arises. I thank God that my mom placed in me the knowledge of that so that I can say I will look to the Lord. Many times though, actually usually, after you look to the Lord, you dont want to wait. I will wait on the God of my salvation. There is waiting involved. Don't we usually want God to "hurry up!" I know I do. Look we can see what needs to happen and we can just go ahead and tell God, "this is what needs to happen now". Dont we do God like that sometimes. Maybe a lot. But is that really "Looking to the Lord"? Or is it just wanting the Lord to "look to us"? Once we look to Him, we wait on Him. He is the God of our salvation. He is the God of all creation. He is the one true God, Almighty. That is who we wait on. My God will hear me. He hears. He knows. He cares. When we wait, he will answer. We don't need to worry that satan will jump in and take over things. God is our protection. If we look to Him, and we wait on him, not only will he renew our strength, but HE WILL HEAR US. We can say "Rejoice not over me, oh my enemy. when I fall, I shall rise." See there will be times when we, as imperfect human beings will fall. But when we do, we just get up. Thats it. He is still there for us and hearing us and loving us. So when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. We are not promised that we will always be in something positive, and rosy, and fun. But we are promised that He will never leave or forsake us and so much more. There will times when things happen that cause a cloud or a shadow or bits of darkness, but see JESUS came into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Him shall stay in darkness! He will be our light. - This memorizing is awesome!

Micah 7:7&8 As for me I will look to the Lord. I will wait on the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice not over me Oh my enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. When I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light to me.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


I just wanted you to know that I did not spend quite a while this morning SEWING! Because if I had done that I would have ended up with something that Avery could actually wear instead of something that ended up in the trash can. I do not still have the little iron on flowers that were going to go on the cute little shirt that I was making. I may not make her a blanket instead since I most definitely can hem up a square which is basically what a blanket is, right?

I so did not get together a package filled with useful things that my nephews girls need,(All their things burned in the fire) just in time to find out that the post office had just closed and now wont be open until Tuesday. (In honor of Martin Luther King)

That was not me that slept late this week. I did not turn off my alarm and lay my head back down just for a second and then wake up 45 minutes later only to find out that Calley had come for our morning jog and waited outside for me in the cold while I was sleeping soundly under my warm covers. Wasn't me!

Oh and I do not still have my 101 Dalmations (From McDonalds Happy Meals) on the shelf. Of course not, because they are Christmas Decorations and all that stuff has long been put up.

AND I am not the least bit worried about my mom who has her house full now not only with my brother who normally lives there, but also his son, and two toddling daughters. (Not to even mention my sisters son who also stays there while he isn't working.) I'm not concerned at all because I am sure she is used to toddlers running through her house, and I am sure she is kid proofed. Babies crying is something I am sure she loves and is enjoying. She is a great cook so I am sure she is thrilled to be a chef to so many these days. So no that isn't on my mind at all.

And last but not least as you can tell from my last post I definitely did not get a little discouraged that everyone was sick and we had to postpone Averys Big Birthday Bash!

Now surely I am not the only one who has so many Not Me's!

CAUTION DETOUR!

You know what? I am sick of DETOURS! We have had our share it seems. Lets go back. Back in 2006 our beautiful daughter and her witty husband were expecting their first baby. Moving right along in the pregnancy, all looked great. At 20 weeks we scheduled sonogram to find out if it was a boy or a girl and then STOP - DETOUR! Baby Carson went to see Jesus two days before that awful quiet horrible sonogram. Move ahead to 2008. Baby Avery on the way. After very careful observation from Doctors and sonograms, finally given the "Bill of Health". Heading again to a way cool 4-D sonogram just to see her and to make sure it was a "her". (Since we had completely painted the nursery in PINK the day before. CAUTION - DETOUR! "The baby is breech" "There is very little fluid in the amniotic sac" "I see reverse blood flow in the umbilical cord" "We are having a baby now" (At 31 weeks) Then of course one detour after another in the NICU. We went from high to low, from good to bad, from infection to clear. Down the right road to detour after detour for the next 58 days. Move ahead to almost a year later. Which is now. Planning the biggest birthday bash for the littlest one year old! CAUTION - DETOUR! RSV appears again and the doctor says scale back the bash! No problem - Plan B - We will move the princess party to her own house and only invite grandparents, great grandparents, and Aunts and Uncles - No kids! It can be done. Thats what we will do. You guessed it - DETOUR! Averys Mamaw is having surgery (Hope she heals and feels better soon.) That side of the family wont be attending the party. Gran Gran and Pap have the flu or something very like it - so they wont be attending the party so as to keep Avery away from any leftover germs. (You know that bubble thing - You only get that if you read Caseys blog) Anyway, it will be ok. Avery can still have a celebration of her miraculous life with just our immediate family. It can be done and she will still have fun and eat her first taste of cake! Thats what we will do! Settled! Umm - What again?!?!?!?!?! DETOUR DETOUR! Now Poppa is sick too!!!!!! UGHH!!! So if they went ahead with the party I guess it would really just be Casey, Charlie, Uncle Mark, and the Birthday Princess herself! (Since Josh and I will have been EXPOSED! and possibly CARRIERS!) So we are postponing the birthday bash! Now I know a party is no big deal to reschedule. Seriously, not a big deal but I am seriously getting pretty dad gum SICK of these detours. Grumble grumble grumble! So we will have to wait to bring the most precious one year old in all the world her birthday gift and watch her eat her first taste of cake. We will have to wait to see her for another couple of weeks. (Which will seem like FOREVER!) But it will be worth the wait for sure. Now I realize some of you think that you have the most precious one year old in the world - But are you sure, just look at this: And despite all the detours we know for sure what a miracle God performed and so blessed us with when he brought us to that sonogram that day so that the doctors could see what was happening to our little Avery Grace. We are so thankful for that detour and her early birth so that she could survive and so that we can get our hands on our sweet precious miracle.

Memorizing

Man it sure feels like Friday to me today. That kinda stinks since its not! The good thing is that I dont have to be at work until 8 tomorrow. Yay, an extra half hour! What will I do with my time? Today I started my new verse. Remember I am memorizing with Beth Moore. Oooooh lucky me! I am so excited about memorizing. I have done it before but in the past it has been with a book and it felt more like something I had to check off a list of things to do. This time I get to pick out the verse I choose to memorize. If you want to hop in and join me, go ahead. Oh yea, if you go to the LPM Blog (Beth Moore's), you can check the comments for today's post. That's where all the scriptures are posted that everyone picked. Tons of people are doing this with Beth and I (LOL). There is some GOOD WORD there, let me tell you! So anyway, here is my scripture for this time.

Micah 7: 7 & 8
But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy, when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light to me.

Man, that is POWERFUL! Well if you want to jump in there and memorize with us, go ahead. If you live near me and want to join a Beth Moore Bible Study, e mail me and let me know that too. We are starting one in a couple of weeks. (No I don't stalk Beth Moore.) LOL But she is a pretty powerful teacher.
One more thing - Please pray for my nephew. His name is John. He is raising two little girls ages 1 and 2 by himself. The night before last their home burned to the ground. They lost everything but the clothes they were wearing. Thankfully he got the girls out of the house. Everything however is gone now and they must start over. This is a very stressful situation for him. Please lift him up during this time. Thanks so much.

Tagged

Okay I dont know how in the world I missed it but a little while back I was tagged and I didnt even know it. I stumbled across it tonight looking at this sweet lady's blog. So anyway what I am suppose to do is show you my fourth picture in my fourth folder and tell you about it. Here it is! I know, I know you are soooooo surprised that it is a picture of Avery! Me too! LOL She is in her bouncer that we have at our house. We have another nick name for that bouncy seat but I dont know if I should share it. Okay I will - It's the poopy chair, (Sorry) Well everytime she sits in it thats what happens!
Now I am suppose to pick four people and tag them to do the same thing. So you pick your fourth picture from your fourth folder and link back to my blog ! Do it now if I tagged you!

1. Averys Place
2. Olivia and Logan
3. A Homemakers Halleluia
4. A Lamb's Perspective

What's For Supper

Since I have not seen Avery since Christmas, I havent had much to take pictures of lately with my new camera. So I decided to do a recipe post and show you what we had for dinner. A week or so ago we ate lunch at a local restaurant. - {Nikkis} They have a great 'home cooked' lunch buffet. So that day they had this potato dish that was really good. I asked the cook what was in them and I made my version of them with my dinner tonight. Our pretty healthy menu was:

GRILLED PORK CHOPS
PAN POTATOES
CUCUMBER TOMATO SALAD
CRESCENT ROLLS

Marinate the boneless chops in olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, Tony Chacheres, & ground pepper. Then grill to perfection!
Then for the Cucumber Salad - Just peel and slice the cucumbers 2 or 3, and add grape tomatoes. Add Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Stir together and allow to sit for a little bit.

For the Pan Potatoes you peel and slice the potatoes. Slice and chop a Red Bell Pepper, and a Green Bell Pepper. Slice Onion and sautee all in a small amount of vegetable oil. Add a good amount of paprika to color the potatoes. Add salt, and cayenne pepper to taste. (I actually forgot the cayenne tonight. I knew something was missing but they were still really good. Next time I will do the cayenne.)
So after that I ate another piece of Joshuas birthday cake.

(HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY JOSH)

Hope your dinner was good too. Now this time tomorrow I will most assuredly be taking pictures of AVERY GRACE. Don't worry I am sure I will post some of them.

Day One and Two

I just want to say - I AM SORE! I have embarked on a new adventure. Well for me at least its an adventure. I do live a sheltered life! LOL Can you guess what I'm doing? Here it is. Wait for it.... Jogging! I know crazy huh. For the last two days the first thing I do in the morning is, get dressed, brush my teeth, and jog 2 miles! Woo Hoo!!!! So now you know why - I AM SORE! Man I am so out of shape, its a shame. Day one, we (Me and my sweet friend, Calley) jogged and walked 2 miles. When I got home I felt a little sore already. As the day went on I was fine. By this morning my hips and behind were a little sore. Can your hips even be sore. It was like at the top of my legs in hip joints sort of. That makes me feel like an old person. Anyway so after jogging on day two, this evening it pretty much hurts to move my lower body! But I am pressing on! There may be plans with this jogging thing, but I will get into that later. First I gotta see if I am too old for this. So far so good though. Wish me luck! Or better yet, pray for me. Never mind, there are a whole lot more important things to pray about other than my jogging. Like Kayleigh for instance. Read her story here. She is improving Thanks be to God! Also you can pray for a sweet little baby that hasn't been born yet. Her grandparents go to my sisters church. They found out this little babys liver is growing outside her body and really needs a miracle. But we know who the God of miracles is. So please say a prayer for her. Thanks so much. More to come on my adventure

Guess What

Yep you guessed it - It's time for "Not Me Monday"! So on with the program!

...I did not skip my mile jog simply because it was raining and eat a chicken and cheese soft taco with chips and salsa instead.

...I did not make that first "did not" sound like I ALWAYS jog a mile!

...I did NOT eat my taco I ordered and the extra free one they gave me, plus the one Josh ordered but he didn't eat. Oh my gosh, no I didn't!

...I did not heat cheese dip for Josh in one of Granny's "old" bowls, and when it cracked in the microwave - I did not just pour it into another bowl and let him eat it anyway. (He's fine by the way.)

Okay that's enough embarrassment for one Monday.

The fog

The other morning I woke up and it was a really foggy morning. I thought about the fog. What is it really? A thick cloud settling on us. That's what it is. I had been sick all week and decided to simply just get out of the house. I didn't even know where I was going. Just somewhere besides the house. Then I saw the fog at the bridge. I had my new camera with me and decided to go take a picture or two. The fog was all under the bridge and was something to see. Different pressures and different temperatures in the atmosphere are things that cause a fog. The thing about a fog is that it is hazardous. It's way easier to crash into something in a fog because you cant see clearly. You have to be careful and aware of what is going on around you, and use the right light. I guess there isn't much else you can do but wait it out.
Sometimes after the holidays a fog settles over people much like this one. I don't really understand what that's all about. I am sure a psychologist could explain it. I am also sure just like on a foggy day, different pressures on us add to a fog settling in. I know what it seems like to be in a fog. You seem to be just aimlessly going about from one thing to another, trying to get through a day and get done what you are suppose to get done. You are pushing through the haze and sure are wanting some light. You have to watch out. You have to be careful. Sometimes in a fog things can get in your way, and trip you up. The thing about this fog though, is there is something you can do to help it along. Again you have to have the right light. Jesus said "I am the light of the world." His word "is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." There is a way to clear up this fog. I have seen it happen time and time again. Get yourself into Gods' word. Find yourself a scripture that speaks to you. If you haven't found one yet, like the one I have memorized recently, {Luke 1:45 - Blessed is she who believes that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished"}, then keep looking - there is one there for you. More than one actually. Seek and you will find. That really is what lifts the fog; the seeking and finding of His word. It is great to experience the refreshment the word of God brings. But don't be discouraged if you open the word and don't find it right away. Keep at it. It will come. The fog will lift. There are brighter days ahead.

WHAT A YEAR

Last night at a New Years Eve get together someone asked what was your most memorable moment in 2008. For us that was EASY! On January 21st we went for that sonogram that saved Averys life. It was so scary at first. Day after day we watched miracles unfold before our eyes. We are looking forward to what 2009 will bring. - Toddling, hugs, kisses, hearing her say Nonna and Poppa, and oh so much more! Happy New Years to You!

Averys first days in the NICU. That's her daddys finger. She was so tiny.

One Month later I got to hold her. What a long month!

58 longs days after she was born she got to leave that NICU and go home!
This is the first time she got to see her beautiful nursery.First taste of food from Nonna

Saying prayers of thanks for all those who prayed for her! Amen

First time to get to stay with Nonna and Poppa for a weekend.
Another stay with Nonna and Poppa while Mommy and Daddy watch an LSU game in Baton Rouge
How EXCITING to see her CRAWL!What a beautiful blessing in 2008!