A Gift from The Lord...

Our new house! It's right across the street from the church - in a new subdivision. We're just way too excited! We hope to close at the end of next week and move in next weekend. Praise the LORD! (And, yes, Betty... we have tons of room for your clan when you come visit us next month! yay!)

A Little Truth about The War...

This is a myspace message from my friend, a soldier in Iraq who I went to high school with, sent me today. I asked him what he felt about the war... it's something that we rarely hear about. You know, feelings from the soldiers that are involved with the war more personally than anyone in the media or congress. We never hear what they think about it, only how awful it is that we are still over there and how nothing has been accomplished. Well, here's a little insight from a fellow soldier:

I would like you to know that on behalf of my guys and myself we all appreciate your support. As you said it seems that the media is against us completely. Why, we will never know. I wish that we could go back to older days and just kick their rear ends out of the country or at least limit them on what was seen. Although, you and I both know that will never happen. I just wish that they would tell more of how we have helped these people over here. Of course there will always be organizations out there that are always against us, but that is besides the point. We, the United States along with help from others that believe in better have changed this country, have helped build an economy, and have pushed out most of those that are against a true democracy. Again I would like you to know that we truly do appreciate your support. Thank you.Please take care of yourself and please stay in touch. It really has been great talking to you. Your support to our country and all of us crazy soldiers over here is a blessing, especially with all of the media that doesn't support a war on terror. I look forward to again hearing from you. Stay safe.
Jason

(Jason Logan)

Brayden Lost His First TOOTH!

Ashton's Game Ball

Last week, Ashton had a double header game and received the game ball at the second game. He ha dbeen wondering why he hadn't gotten it yet if he kept doing good and getting people out and hitting well, etc. The reason why he got it was hilarious. He was at third base this time... the player hit the ball and kids were throwing it all over the place, the runner kept going to base to base. Ashton got the ball and was at the pitcher mound (even though he was supposed to be manning the third base), saw the runner going for third base and threw it to third base - but no one was there b/c HE was supposed to be there! I think we were all laughing too hard to remember if the runner went home or not. It was hysterical and the Pirates were up by quite a bit, so that run didn't matter (which was why he was on 3rd base instead of pitcher mound).

Random Pics

This is what Emy looks like everytime we leave the ballpark... DIRTY FACE!


Ashton saved enough money and was able to buy his very own Nintendo DS. He was so excited!



Emy and Papaw Wayne a few days after surgery, in the Rehab center

Daddy said, "Emy, put your undies on."

So, she did!

Ashton's haircut

I had just finished Ashton's haircut when I started on Brayden's. My clippers started messing up, so I had to just shave his head "balded" again. Not a big deal, Brayden has a good "balded" head. After I finished Brayden's and started cleaning up, I noticed hair all in the bathroom sink. I just thought Ashton had hair all over him and just shook it off in the sink at the mirror. Then, Ashton came to talk to me and I noticed THIS!

He took scissors to his hair and cut these chunks out. He was NOT happy with me b/c he knew he made a mistake and now I would have to shave his head to fix it and everyone would know his mistake.


I AM LEGEND, anyone?



Trying to be happy about his new haircut.

He DOES NOT like for me to tell this story... lol

Papaw Wayne

Here's Papaw Wayne and Emy, a few days before his surgery...

Brayden's Field Trip to the Aquarium

Brayden's 1st grade Class


Brayden in Butterly Garden, posing really still so a butterfly would land on him. (no, one didn't, but one did land on my camera and he was so excited!)



SHARKS!

Brayden in a tube with an ugly crab

Me and Brayden in a cave

Me and Autumn - she loves Skittles!

Time to catch up...

Sorry it has been so long since I have been able to post. We've been CRAZY busy these past few weeks. Here's a little catch-up... Around Brayden's birthday, Wayne hurt himself at work. An air conditioner unit fell and he tried to catch it. He started limping around, saying his back and leg hurt. He filed a workman's comp claim and began the horror. After given run around after run around for THREE WEEKS, the doctor's office (provided by workman's comp) finally got an MRI set up and that's when they realized it was something serious (even though the whole 3 weeks, he was telling them there was something very seriously wrong!). His family doctor sent him to the ER in Chattanooga where they discovered he had spine and neck problems. If they would have seen him right when it happened, no surgery would have been necessary. Frustrating, isn't it? But, he had to have surgery on his spine (scary) and everything went very well with it, Praise the Lord. He was in Siskin Rehab center for 2 weeks and the workman's comp is still "under investigation" so he had to go home. He's getting around pretty well with a walker and a wheelchair. It's going to be about a year to 18 months of serious physical therapy and there's still no guarrantee that he will be back to what he was before the accident. So sad.
The day of Wayne's surgery, I had to be in Cincinnati for Eric and Becky's wedding. Emy and I went while Tony and the boys stayed here for Wayne and ball games. We came back home Sunday night. Monday night, Tony and I left for Atlanta for the Orange Conference (a ministry conference-we took Children's ministry break-outs to learn how to improve our Children's ministry). We left Ashton and Emy with the Lannom's (our worship leader and his family) and Brayden stayed with Jason and Michelle. They took him back and forth to school, too. They all had a great time! It was the first time for us to leave our kids with people other than grandparents! But, all went well. We had to leave early Wednesday because two out of three of the Lannom children started throwing up all night. So, we had to get Emy and Ashton and we stayed home for a few days, just waiting for it to start in our family. It NEVER did, Praise the Lord! That sick bug passed through all the other staff families, but not ours. It was the strangest thing b/c Camron and Liz were throwing up on Ashton's sleeping bag and his pillow, but... nope. We were all in the clear and that was a couple weeks ago.
So.... with all that going on, we sold our house during the week after Wayne's surgery (actually the day we left for Atlanta) and have been house looking like crazy for the past few weeks. There's a few prospects, so we will see what works out and what doesn't. We close on our house this week. CRAZY!
The boys ballgames have been a good distraction from the craziness but still adds into the craziness b/c we have barely been at home for the past month. Both Pirates teams are doing VERY well. Brayden's team remains undefeated and Ashton's team only lost their first game of the season. Brayden has been hitting very well... his coach told us last night that he's not even the same kid up at bat since the beginning of the season. He had two great hits last night, but they got him out at first both times so he was bummed about it. It's a good lesson for him to learn, though. Ashton is an all star with hitting and being on the pitcher mound. He stops that ball and throws it to first base like a pro. He lives and breathes baseball. All he wants to do is throw with Daddy. It's very cute and he has improved so much with catching a ball in the air. Just can't wait to see him play for the major leagues one day! =)
Emy is doing good, too. Growing too fast and about to three next month. Where has this time gone?