I've Been Tagged

Okay, so here are the rules: List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself. Tag seven people to do the same. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag “whoever wants to do it.”

The problem is I don't have seven people to tag, but I will at least share seven habits/ quirks/ facts about myself.

1 - I am a speed demon. I actually ruined a car once by going 100 mph on interstate in August with the air conditioner going full blast. I have to say though, I drive much slower today, now that I have a baby, but I am still a pretty aggressive driver.

2 - I love doing tax returns and learning about different tax codes/ rules. Yes, I know it is nerdy, but I find taxes very interesting. That is why I became an accountant.

3 - I like precision, which is why I hate cooking. If a recipe says a pinch or a dash, that drives me crazy. I want to be able to measure exactly how much should be used.

4 - I LOVE Sweet Tea!!!

5 - I cannot sleep unless there is a fan on. I grew up sleeping with a fan and now if there is not one (or at least a similar noise) I can not sleep. I even sleep with a fan on in the winter.

6 - My brother's name is Three, yes T-H-R-E-E. I know this isn't a fact about me specifically, but he is my brother and it is an interesting name.

7 - I love Broadway shows.

First Tooth!!!!

Addison has her first tooth. It is so exciting. Daniel and I didn't even notice it. A friend of mine noticed it. It is in the lower front of her mouth. I can't believe that she just turned 5 months and she already has a tooth. She is growing up so fast.

Addison - Almost 5 Months

Dear Addison,

I can not believe how fast you are growing. You are 4 1/2 months old now. You weigh 15 lbs 14 oz. You can sit up with assistance and sometimes, for a few seconds, you can sit up by yourself. You love to stand while holding on to mommy or daddy's fingers. You love playing in your exersaucer. You have started riding in the big girl area of your stroller, instead of the infant seat. You like sitting in the big girl area of the stroller because you can see everything. You are a very happy baby. You always smile when mommy or daddy talks to you. You love sucking your thumb. We are pretty sure you are teething, because anything you can get into your mouth you chew on. You like making all kinds of sounds and you like sticking out your tongue. You still have the most beautiful blue eyes. I think at this point you will probably keep your blue eyes. We are still not quite sure what color hair you are going to have.

I love you with all my heart.

Mommy

Christmas & Faithwalkers Conference

We had a great Christmas in the Mountains. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, my brother and my Aunt & Uncle’s family. Though Daniel and I both were sick, we still had a great time visiting with the family.

Christmas day was spent with my parents and my brother. My parents went a little overboard with gifts for Addison, but we didn’t mind and Addison really enjoyed all the gifts she got.

After Christmas Daniel and I went to a conference our church (Great Commission Churchs – it’s a world wide church) puts together called Faithwalkers in Ridgecrest (near Asheville). We left Addison with my parents, which they loved!

The Faithwalkers conference was wonderful. It was so inspiring and encouraging to hear all the stories of how people are reaching out with the gospel. There were people from all over the world, sharing their stories. The conference showed me a lot of areas that I need to grow in as a Christian.

First, I need to be faithful in the little things before God will give me bigger responsibilities. Luke 16:10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” I need to be more faithful in my prayer time and in reading the Bible. The girls in my root group have committed to reading the whole Bible this coming year, 2008. But the point is not only to read it, but to be open to see what God wants to teach me.

I also want to commit each day to God. There are so many days that I don’t know what I should be focused on and I spend time doing things that are not a priority for me, and I don’t get done the things that are a priority. Every morning I want to start my morning asking God to direct my day and show me the things he wants me to focus on that day. This will also help reduce my stress. By better understanding the things I need to focus on, I can eliminate from my day the things that aren’t that important.

Practically speaking, I want to commit to getting up before Addison gets up each morning and having a prayer and quite time. This will help me start my day focused on God and help me see what my priorities for the day should be. My hope is that this will start my day off with the right attitude. This will be a challenge though, considering I will have to get up around 6:00 for it to work.

I also am going to be better about memorizing verses. There are times when the verses I have already memorized really help me to remember something important in a certain situation or they help me make decisions. I know the more I memorize the more I will live my life the way God wants me to. And the better prepared I will be with sharing God’s word with other people.

There are many more areas I need to grow in, but I am starting with these. Please pray for me that I am faithful in these areas, so that I can move on to bigger areas of my life that also need work.

Amy

Precious Moments

I love those moments when I am staring at Addison and my heart fills with this overwhelming love.

I love watching her sleep. Every now and then, while she is sleeping, she smiles. She looks so peaceful and happy. I watch as her chest goes up and down with each breath. She is so beautiful and perfect in these moments.

I love it when she makes new sounds or when she does something that surprises me. Pride wells up in me and I just want to share with the world the wonderful things Addison is doing.

I love it when she looks in my eyes and smiles, because she knows who I am.

I love it when I am holding her and she buries her face in my shoulder.

I love watching her grow and change each day, as she discovers the world around her.

I love daydreaming about her future and the things we will do together.

When I am at my worst and feel completely horrible, I look at Addison and she makes me feel hopefully and full of love. I thank God for blessing us with Addison!

Dispite My Best Efforts

The past week and a half I have been working on a project that should have been really simple. The project was not my idea, but I thought that I would enjoy doing it and it would provide a service to a group of people I enjoy working with. Little did I know that this supposedly easy project would turn into craziness. The problem started when I decided to ask some questions. There were a few things that were uncertain and I felt that it would be better to make sure we were doing things right, instead of finding out later that we did things wrong. So I called and asked my "should have been easy to answer" questions, but one person told me one thing and then sent me to another person who told me something different, who then sent me to another person. In the end I ended up talking with 5 different people at this one company. The last two people I talked to were the most helpful. Joyce (the second to last person) was very honest with me and said that she did not know the answers to my questions, but she knew who would and she was going to get the answers for me. The last person I talked with, Todd, was extremely helpful and answered all my questions. The problem is that it took 5 people (including Todd) and almost two weeks to get to were I am now. Another problem, and probably the one that bothers me the most, is that during this process of trying to find the answers to my questions, I annoyed and bothered the people I was trying to provide the service to. Now there was a way to find out my answers in an easier method, but that method just happen to be home with a newborn. Since I just had a baby myself, I understand that she is busy and very tired and the last thing she would want to be bothered with is my questions. So I do take responsibility for the fact that I might have taken the harder route to find my answers, but you would think that a company would be able to answer questions about its own products.



Okay, now that I have vented, I feel much better.



Thanks for listening.

Addison at Two Months

Today Addison is 10 weeks and 2 days old. Yesterday she went for her two month check up. She weighs 11 lbs 13 oz and she is 22.75 inches tall. She is growing so fast and she is changing so much. She loves to look around. One of her favorite things is to be held facing away from the person holding her so she can see everything. She has started making more noises. She smiles when you talk to her and she will stick her tongue out at you. I have started reading baby books to her and she seems to enjoy them. It is incredible to see how quickly she is developing.

The doctor was impressed with the fact that she already sleeps about eight hours at night and during the day she goes four hours between feedings. Last night she actually slept 10 hours, though that is a rare occurrence. The doctor said that she is developing wonderfully.

Addison's eyes are a beautiful bright blue. They are actually more blue now then they were when she was born. We asked the doctor if they would stay blue. The doctor said that there is still a chance that they might change, but it is very likely at this point that she is going to have blue eyes. It also looks like her hair is going to be very light brown. It is so funny to think of Daniel and I having a blue eyed, light haired child. With Daniel having black hair and brown eyes and me having brown hair and green eyes, it doesn't look like she is going to look like either of us. The doctor said this is just Addison's first way of showing us that she is her own person.

Addison also got her first shots while she was at the doctor's office. It was heartbreaking to see her cry in pain when they were giving her the shots. But she claimed down pretty quickly afterwards and she didn't seem to having any problems last night.

She really is such a good baby. She is happy most of the time and she is easy to entertain. I am very thankful that she is sleeping eight plus hours at night. God has blessed us so much.