Birmingham Reunion

We met our Memphis family in Birmingham last weekend and had a blast! The Lokeys were kind enough to host all ten of us plus three dogs! Craig and Anna took lots of pics and they represent exactly what the weekend consisted of...eating (Buffalo Chicken Dip, Homemade Rosemary Flatbread, Spinach Dip, Oreo Balls, Sausage Pinwheels, Homemade Lasagna) playing games (Nertz, Rockband, MarioKart, Scribblish, Quelf), and hanging out. 

James and I are so thankful for these "forever" friends. Memphis would have been a total bore without them, and I am so glad that despite all the boys' crazy schedules we have been able to get together twice now since graduation. We look forward to many more weekend reunions and hopefully living in the same city again somewhere down the road.

Baby Day

Today was the Baby Dedication Celebration at Otter Creek. The service was really special and Andrew was lucky enough to have sweet cousin Kate with him on stage too. Being a parent is a daunting task in itself, but striving to raise a child to love and serve the Lord truly takes a village of believers. James and I feel so blessed to be at Otter Creek and are so thankful that Andrew has a family and a church family that are committed to walking with him on his spiritual journey.

James and I with the little man

Cousins!

More cousin love!

And I can hardly believe this little guy is now 9 months old!

West Tennessee

James worked nights last weekend, so Andrew, my mom, and I headed to west Tennessee to see my grandparents. We also made it to Memphis on Monday, in spite of the snow, to see my friends at Ruch Clinic. I miss them so much and I was so happy to be able to stop by and visit, and of course introduce them to Andrew. We were able to eat lunch at Holiday Ham which was great, but we missed out on Muddy's cupcakes as they are closed on Mondays. Next time we will have our priorities in order :).  We made it home just in time for it to snow again...

I love snow, but I am very ready for the warmer temperatures to come and stay.

We also got to hang out with the Graves family last week. Kara and I were college roommates and she and her husband, Josh, are parents to sweet Lucas. I hope Lucas and Andrew will be friends for a long time.

Andrew is VERY busy these days. He no longer picks up toys just to chew on them. He figured out this week that the basketball will actually go through the hoop. James and I are thrilled that at this point in time, basketball is favorite sport :).  We had our first stand-off this week as he sat and looked at the electrical outlet, then back at me, then back at the outlet, etc. This went on for a couple of minutes until he finally crawled away from the plugs. I was using my best stern parent voice and I guess it worked this time :). I know this is just the beginning, though. 

In other news, my family (parents, grandparents, and Meggie) is headed to visit Caroline later this week. It will be my grandparents first trip south of the border and I really wish I could be there to witness it, as I am certain my grandfather will have lots of ridiculous things to say. They will do some sightseeing in San Diego and lots of playing with the sweet kiddos at the City of Children. I am hoping they have such a good time that they want to go back.

Happy Valentine's Day! 

On my heart today

There is lots of December blogging I haven't finished yet like the best weekend of our lives with our dear Memphis friends and the little bear's first Christmas, but there is something else on my heart and mind today.This morning,  I read this article about some thoughts on adoption. Lindsey and Logan Thrasher, a couple that James and I knew at Lipscomb, had linked it on their blog. The Thrashers adopted THE CUTEST twin girls you have ever seen last year (you should definitely see for yourself). Adoption is an ongoing conversation between me and James. We are still thinking and praying about it and forms of child sponsorship for our family.  I pray that God will guide us as we think about our family's future and that things like this article will continually be presented to me so that I may be reminded of the things that matter to God. 

Christmas Things

So this is one of my new favorite Christmas songs. I love Third Day and I love Christmas music and this song is the perfect marriage of those two things. Hope you enjoy.

I also really appreciated this blog post written by Lynne Hybels. She talks about what matters and what doesn't matter during this busy and sometimes crazy time of the year.

I have already started working on my New Year's Resolutions. I would like to learn to sew so that I can make this quilt from this blog.

Where have I been that I just discovered Anna Maria Horner?

Anyways, Merry Christmas to you all!

The Beach

I am way behind on the blog, but here are some pics from our beach trip last month. We had such a good time. We walked on the beach, ate, shopped, played with Andrew, ate some more, repeat. James brought a hammock with him and his dad liked it so much, he ordered one and had it shipped to the beach house. We attempted to take some family Christmas pics and Andrew was a pretty good sport. We had great food at  Dewey Destin, Stinky's Fish Camp, The Donut Hole, The Red Bar, Boondock's, and Goat Feathers. We celebrated my birthday at Stinky's Fish Camp and the piece of Key Lime Pie you see above was a slice of heaven. I LOVE a good graham cracker crust! Thanksgiving pics to come soon!

The Graduate

I know what you're thinking, "You're husband graduated in MAY!". That's correct; he did graduate in May. But his graduation may/may not have been overshadowed by the birth of a child. I would have blogged about his graduation at the time, but we were both in the fog that accompanies becoming parents. So I decided to blog about it now. In a 9 day period we became a family of three, James graduated, and we moved to Nashville. I wouldn't recommend anyone trying that. Becoming parents and graduating are blogworthy. For the sake of our marriage, the move is not discussed :). 

This picture was taken early on Friday morning before Convocation, which is the hooding ceremony for the medical students. Andrew slept about 3 hours Thursday night and James and I slept less than that. Poor James probably wouldn't remember the day at all if we had not taken pictures!

Here are James and his parents, Sara and Sam, after Convocation.

And my parents...

And all of the Parnell crew after Convocation.

Sweet, seven day old little Andrew in his daddy's hood. My sister, Meggie was sweet enough to keep him so that I could attend convocation.

I am so proud of James and his hard work over the past four years, and the work he continues to do in an ER near you!