Carrie's Wedding in Atlanta

Carrie made a beautiful bride.
Notice her amazingly flawless skin
I've been coveting it since highschool.

Me and Kelley

Kelley and Daniel
I shared a room with these fantastic 2 on SaturDay

Mandy and Greg

Matthew telling secrets

I loved the back of her dress

An amazingly delicious wedding cake!

Petal throwing

Me, Mandy, and Kelley
We were a trio in highschool.
So much fun to spend time with them.

On Saturday I flew to Atlanta for my friend Carrie England's wedding. I was only gone for 26 hours (Julia's still nursing and I didn't think she could survive much longer without num-num) but I had an amazing time. Kelley and Daniel picked me up at the airport then we went and hung out in our funky hotel room. There is never a dull moment with Daniel and Kelley. Kelley and I went out to lunch and had some delicious sandwiches that we split. I ordered the grilled chicken panini with pesto, artichoke, and tomatoe. Amazing. The side was the most delicious sweet potatoe fries. Kelley ordered the Spicy Bean Burger, yummy. Made me think of The Loop, oh how I miss you. Then we got ready. The wedding was beautiful. I cried. I always cry at weddings. Carrie looked beautiful, her mom was there and we have been praying for that for months, what a blessing. The reception was amazing. Good food, great band, and delicious wedding cake. Afterwards, I begged Greg to let Mandy spend the night with me. Mandy had warned him that I would ask. He said yes. We had a great time. I woke up at 6am with explosive tatas, hopped on the plane at 8:30, David picked me up at 10:30 on the way to Church. Julia was happy to see me and I was just as happy to see her. Sweet relief. Congratulations Carrie, it was all beautiful!

If you come to visit...

expect to be treated like family--black undies and all.

Brian, a friend from Winston-Salem, came to Miami for a fellowship interview. He was received with a warm welcome, a delicious lasagna dinner, and the best sofa accomadations in town.
Good luck on the match!

Class President

Congratulations Noah!
Second grade class president!

Magical Mail

Isn't this how we all feel when we get real mail--you know mail that is written by hand and the best is when that mail comes in the form of a BIG box from someone who loves you.

You can never get the box opened fast enough. I always use a knife to break through the tape and if someone was watching they would think I was starving and the box was full of food. But it is just excitement-pure excitement. Oh how I love that feeling.

Once you get the box opened, you examine all its contents. New things that belong to you. And they magically appeared at your door.

Then you try them on, of course. New bow, new dress

So happy!

Lots of bows, lots of love

Virginia says Thanks!
You made our day!

Darth Vader, Pink Princess, and a Fairy

Our Cubscout

Noah loves Cubscouts. He is completely into it. He gets so excited every Wednesday to go to den meeting. Last week the den mother brought his new uniform. David said he has never seen Noah so excited in his life. He grabbed his new get up, ran into the bathroom, and changed into the uniform. He has talked everyday about how we need to sew on his badges. Last week David sewed on his Bobcat badge. Now he is determined to finish his wolf book and get another badge.

"Take me a bath, bug mouth"

For the rest of my life I think I will remember when I heard these words uttered from Ella Joy's mouth as she walked up and down our stairs wearing only her pink Mary Jane crocs.

The story begins 2 days before with me sick on the sofa with flu like symptoms. I had a perfect plan. Julia was in bed. And I thought surely Ella Joy will lay quietly and watch a movie so I can get at least an hour of rest. However Ella Joy was so concerned with my being sick she kept laying baby wipes on my forehead and telling me how sorry she felt for me.

"Why you sick mommy?" gently wiping my forehead with a baby wipe
"Because I caught a bug. Ella Joy you need to stay away from my mouth because I don't want you to get sick too."
"Mommy, I sorry you so sick."

Fast forward 2 days. Post dinner. Ella Joy wants to take a bath.

"Take me a bath, mommy."
"Ella Joy, I am feeding Julia then I will Give you a bath."

Ella Joy goes upstairs, takes everything off but her crocs, and begins to chant,
"Take me a bath, take me a bath, take me a bath."
She is playing on the steps while she sings.
Distracted. Good. I finish nursing Julia. Walk to the kitchen to finish cleaning up dinner.

"Take me a bath, mommy!" This time with a little more volume and desperation.
"Okay Ella Joy I just have to finish cleaning the kitchen."

Her chant continues.
A few minutes pass. She continues to chant walking up and down the stairs. Then as if she can't believe the lady in the kitchen has ignored her for this long she adds a new line to the end of her chant,
"Take me a bath, bug mouth."

I look to see if she is saying this to me. She is not. She is in her own little world and has labeled the woman she once called mommy, bug mouth. In her face I can see she likes the new name.

I turned to David and we laugh so she can't see.

Bug mouth finally gives her daughter a bath.