Safety first!

It seems that here lately I've done a lot of blogging about my little one but haven't blogged as much about the big ones. Well, rest assured that they are fine as ever! A couple of nights ago I walked in to their bedroom to find them pictured above. They were wearing their sunglasses and working with their "tools". I asked them why they had on those glasses and they explained that you ALWAYS needed to wear safety glasses when working with tools! :) They are so funny! They improvised with their sunglasses since they had no "safety goggles". 

Pictured below is what I found a couple of weekends ago. Brandon is so good to entertain the boys on the weekends while I try to do that dreaded Saturday cleaning. I noticed that it had gotten awfully quiet so I went to check on them to find them having a boys pow-wow. Even the dog was on the bed with them. I had them all lay side by side on the bed to take a picture and admitted that once we all grow a little more a king-sized bed might come in handy! :) These boys make my world go 'round!

Say WHAT?????

Can you believe that this little guy is 6 months old? Actually he was 6 months old yesterday. Here is a little update on what has been accomplished in 6 short months:

Rhett has finally gotten into a pattern of sleeping all night. He still wakes up occasionally and fusses a little but usually puts himself back to sleep. (Now that I've said that aloud I've probably jinxed us!)

Rhett is eating cereal and likes it for the most part. We recently tried oatmeal and he was definitely NOT a fan of that. Other things we've tried include squash, applesauce and bananas. He seems to like the bananas the best.

As seen in the picture above, he's also experimented with a little juice in a big boy sippy cup! Ok, so he mainly just chewed and teethed on it but he sure did like it! :)

He has found his hands and feet and finds them very entertaining. He loves to be as naked (or necked as we say in the south) and does not like socks! He can now pull them off himself so if we want his feet to stay warm we have to keep him in sleepers!

He is no where close to sitting up on his own or crawling. He did scoot around on the floor yesterday but mainly just rolls to get where he wants to go--and let me tell you--he gets to where he wants to go! :)

Not sure what his weight and height is right now as his appointment is not until Tuesday.

And yes, you are reading this right! He is saying "da da". So not fair! After all, it was "ma ma" that birthed him, stayed up all those nights with him and even cried with him when he had colic. Doesn't "ma ma" EARN that first sound? Ha. Seriously though, it is still a sweet sound. See for yourself:

And by the way, yes, I realize that I'm probably going way overboard lately with all the videos but Rhett is just doing something new every day! He's just growing and changing WAY too fast and I'm trying to capture all I can on video so that after I've blinked I can go back and look at what I've missed! :) 

We have Rhett's 6 month checkup on Tuesday and he will get another round of shots. No fun! And, Lawson is also coming along to get his shots for Kindergarten. Yes, Kindergarten!!!! See what I mean by blinking! And believe me! It doesn't matter if they are 6 months old or 5 years old, shot days are NO fun! Hopefully a trip to Chuck E. Cheese will ease the pain--at least for my 5 year old. :)

Everybody needs a little giggle!

Just a really quick post but I couldn't help but share this. Rhett thinks Jagger hung the moon most of the time and I would say the same is true about how Jagger feels about Rhett. Jagger is great to entertain while I do the unpleasant diaper changes. Below is a clip of what unfolded. Please be sure your volume is turned up--the best part is at the very beginning! Gotta' love those hard belly laughs and we all need those every now and then! Enjoy and happy Monday, everyone!

I needed this...

You know some days you just have "one of those days". I won't go into detail but today was just not a great day. I think I was getting lost in worry and self-pity when this email came through. Funny how things can speak to you at just the right time. The following is an email about an interview of the author of "A Purpose Driven Life". Some of you may have read the book--I have not. But this portion of the book hit home with me today and at a time that I really needed it. Please allow me to share. This is what the email said:

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,
'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California  
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: 
People ask me, What is the purpose of life? 
And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. 
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for..
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.
It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, 
Assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free. We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? 
Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. 
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

Updates and prayer requests

The picture above is of me and my college roommate on our graduation day from FHU. We roomed together all through college with the exception of my first semester of freshman year. We were a good fit together and had some great times! I found out that she lost her father this weekend very unexpectedly. I hate so badly that she is suffering this loss and wish I could be with her to let her know I love her! Please keep her and her family (The Woody family) in your prayers in the coming day and months as they absorb this blow. There are a couple more pictures of me and Bethany below. The top left picture is me and Bethany on my wedding day (thus the slicked back look from me--I was getting my hair done!). She was my maid of honor. The lower right picture is us on "hippie day". Aren't we cool? Ha. The picture on the lower left hand side was taken on one of our road trips. This particular trip took us to Tupelo for a wedding and as an added bonus we got to see the birthplace of our beloved Elvis. :) As I said, we've had some great times!

Update on Brandon's dad: There may have been some improvement today. He remains on dialysis for now but Brandon said he was sitting up in the bed this morning before he left and was fairly bright-eyed. I think he's beginning to feel a little more like talking and we are so thankful. Please pray that he continues to improve over the coming days.

Please keep Brandon in your prayers as he travels home today. I worry about him being on the roads for such a long trip alone. We sure are ready to see him this evening!

Thanks for remembering all of these special needs and special people in your prayers!

Hard Work pays off!

Lawson has worked for weeks on learning his 10 commandments for Bible class. Lawson has an incredible memory--when he wants to. I mentioned to one of my friends that I would get pretty frustrated with him at times while trying to learn these, simply because I felt that he wasn't trying. But when he found out that he would receive a bookmark for learning them he turned it around a little. He worked really hard for that bookmark! He actually said his 10 commandments for his teacher last week but she had forgotten the bookmarks. This week he got his long awaited prize and has been so excited. We had to take his picture of him with it! I've bragged and bragged on him and hope he will continue to work hard toward things in the future. Shown in the picture is the side that says "Great Job!" and on the other side are, you guessed it--the 10 commandments. He's so proud and I'm very proud of him in return! Thanks Mrs. Kim for motivating them and being so creative! You really are a GREAT teacher! :)

A late Valentine's post

Well, another Valentine's day has come and gone. Valentine's day is not a very celebrated holiday around our house. Ever since Brandon and I started dating, he usually has been working on Valentine's day. Sure, we do the ritual card exchange, etc, but it is rarely celebrated by us going on a "date". I thought maybe this year would be different since Valentine's day fell on a Saturday. Brandon doesn't work Saturdays but there were more important things to tend to this year. Brandon's dad continues in the hospital following his wreck. While he is not any worse, they are still not seeing much improvement in his recovery. The doctors and nurses warned that this would be a slow process and we are all finding out how accurate they were. So, Brandon headed north to visit his dad this weekend. I'm so thankful that he was able to go and spend time with him. I know it meant a lot to Bruce for him to be there.

I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get to go with him but with two little ones plus a nursing baby it just didn't seem ideal for us all to load up and go together. Brandon decided it was best for the whole family if he made this trip alone.

I have missed him TERRIBLY! I hardly slept at all last night (although, it might be because I gave in and let my "biggies" sleep in the bed with me!) but I will be so glad to have him back home tomorrow. Please pray that he has a safe trip back home to us!

While he was gone my parents went with me and the boys to Jackson. We went to one of my favorite places--RED ROBIN! I love the Whiskey Burger! Yum, yum! Mom took some pictures of us all there but I don't have them on this computer so more of those to come later. For now, here is a picture of me with three of the cutest little Valentines I've ever seen! They made the day special as they do every other day as well!

Hope everyone enjoyed a good one!

Bad night=Good morning?

I've talked with some of you so some know that recently (well, the past three weeks really!) we have not been sleeping so good. I'm not sure what happened to the baby that was once sleeping 12 hour + stretches but he's been replaced with a baby who sleeps MUCH less! Rhett has taken on the pattern of waking every night around 2 or 3. Sometimes he goes back to sleep on his own, sometimes he demands to be fed, sometimes he lays in there restless dozing off and on until time to get up around 6 or 6:30. Even on the nights that he goes back to sleep on his own, getting back to sleep is not so easy for me. Unfortunately, I lay there on many nights never going back to sleep before having to get up for work. As you can imagine, I'm exhausted! But, I'm coping.

Restless nights do not mean grumpy mornings for little Rhett, though. Each morning he is awake with a sweet angelic smile on his face. This morning before I went into his room I could hear him chatting. I grabbed my camera and this is what I found. Be sure to turn your sound up so you can hear all of his precious little squeals!

Sweet little baby! Doesn't this video clip just make you wonder how you could have been frustrated with him for being up all night?? I'm so thankful for him and I'm thankful that he is so happy to see me in the mornings. My big ones (including their father) are not always so happy to see me bright and early in the mornings. Ha. :)

I'm saying CHEESE!

So, some of my blogger friends started a new "tag" post--as if the ones we've already done weren't enough! Ha! :) What I'm to do is take a picture of myself right then--as is, post it, tell 5 things about it and tag four others. I'll not be tagging any others but if any of you reading this wish to participate, please feel free!

When I read that I had been tagged I snapped the picture right then (last night). I didn't have a chance to write about it right then so just to assure you--I did not cheat. The picture truly is from last night. So, here goes:

1. This is me--no make up, no fancy hair-dos--just plain ol' me on a typical Saturday. Gross, I know but I don't get dressed up on weekends (well except for church on Sunday).

2. I am wearing my favorite Tennessee sweatshirt! Go Vols!

3. Rhett was sitting in my lap. He was catching up on everyone's blogs with me because he was too fidgety laying on the floor. We snapped this picture with the web-cam on my MacBook. (Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE my MacBook???) He later tried to help me type so we soon had to put the computer away. Little helper hands...

4. We had just come in off of the road from staying the previous night at my grandparents' house.

5. Earlier that day we had also received news that Brandon's dad had been involved in a very bad car accident which leads me to...

Please pray for Brandon's dad. He was on his way home from work and hit a patch of ice. His car flipped several times and he ended up having to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. He has two cracked places in his spine a broken hip and pelvis and some broken ribs. He is VERY lucky and we are all SO relieved that he's going to be ok! He still remains in ICU for now but they hope to move him to a regular room soon. There is a possibility of him needing a surgery for his hip so just please pray that he heals with as little surgery and as little pain as possible. He's a pretty special guy and we feel very blessed to be able to keep him around for a long time hopefully! We love you, Pappy!

Now, although I didn't tag anyone in the "cheese" game, I think Steph should have to post a picture of herself right as she is reading my post! Since she started the game she had a chance to get all "prettied" up for her picture! Ha. (Seriously, she looks great all the time but it's only fair that she should have to post a picture that she isn't exactly expecting!) Ha.