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Rick's 29th Birthday

2012-02-26T19:16:00.002-05:00

Rick's 29th Birthday is today! Happy Birthday to Ricky. He had to work of course, but for the rest of the day his wish was to play golf. So he got a buddy from church and they golfed all afternoon. He had a great time. He had birthday brownies and blew out his candle when he got home. :)

Like most people, we try to go to a nice restaurant for birthdays. Rick's favorite food is Thai food so that's what he chose this year. We went to Oishi Thai two years ago on his birthday as well and it was as good as we remembered. Rick is a creature of habit, if he gets something once and likes it, he gets it every time. He repeated his order this year and got cashew salmon. He loved it and ate it all, which is rare for him. I got a filet mignon with Thai basil sauce. It was tender and spicy. Our food was DELICIOUS! We will definitely be back.

We went to Baskin Robbins afterwards for Rick to get his free birthday scoop. I get emails from them every month and they send me coupons for a BOGO ice cream flavor of the month. We love our desserts.

So, Rick had a good, relaxing birthday. Woohoo!

My Valentines

2012-02-21T19:15:00.006-05:00

I love my two Valentines, Rick and Fiona. We got to celebrate this week together. Here are a few recent pictures of Fiona first:

Fiona was given a balloon at Publix during our shopping trip that day and loved it. She played with it a long time.

She's so pretty in yellow.

Picnic in the park with Daddy. This is my favorite T-shirt she wears. The color shows off her eyes and it has a panda with a pink mohawk playing an electric silver sparkle guitar. :)

She started walking along the walls this week! She is going to be walking in no time. I heard her coming into our room and when I turned around, I expected her to be crawling, but she was walking into our room! And yes, it is that warm in February that she's wearing that onesie by itself.

My other Valentine and I went out on a date this weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day. We went downtown to a fun place we went to last year, Lola's on Harrison. We had a fun time.

Rick got the lamb neck with polenta. He wasn't a huge fan but was glad he branched out.

It got the ricotta gnocchi with mushroom sauce. Yum!!!

The view from our seat. Not a great picture but it was nice. We could see the bustling street outside.

There is a bakery just a few blocks away that we really enjoy on a special occasion. After dinner, we walked over and enjoyed some pastry. I would never guess in a million years Rick's favorite thing at this bakery would be anything involving fruit, but he loves the fruit tart at Chocolada. Rick has even said to me, "If a dessert doesn't have some kind of chocolate, what's the point?" Yet, there he was eating that tart. I got the vanilla eclair and we shared. It was delicious. Meanwhile, right outside the bakery, there was a live performer, as do many restaurants downtown. Fortunately, south Florida has outdoor seating about 10-11 months out of the year because of the very warm weather, so the music never stops. :) We had a wonderful time together.

Our Life This Week

2012-02-01T20:15:00.004-05:00

I, Stacy, with two other women (mothers and also good friends of mine) head up a Mothers of Young Children group at our church through our Women's Ministry. We started recently and decided this year in 2012 to do an achievable "resolution" every month for every mother in the church with a child 6 and under. This month, since Valentine's Day is coming up and February is known as the month of love, we did a challenge for the moms and kids. The kids are making a valentine and sending it to one home-centered member of our church. The moms are doing a love challenge. :) They are all married so we decided to do something centered around love and marriage. One of the moms on the committee said she has a "craft" that she's done before and she and her husband enjoyed it. You get red and pink paper, ribbon, and envelopes. You cut the envelopes in half to make a sleeve. The colored paper gets two holes punched in the top of each slip and ribbon tied through the holes. There are 14 slips of paper with 14 sleeves to hold them. You write something on each slip that you and your spouse have to do that day and put it in the sleeve. For example, tell each other 5 things you love about each other today, play a game together, watch a movie, have a picnic, etc. Numbers are written on the sleeves and you can put them anywhere. I chose to tape them with painter's tape on the wall in our room so we would remember to do it every day. It's easy, fun, and quick to make. Against all odds, I finished putting it together yesterday just in time to start this with Rick this morning. I think it's going to be fun.

We had some friends over this weekend for dinner. We had a nice time together. We always enjoy entertaining and spending time with people we really like. I always end up making something for dinner I have never made before. Not smart, Stacy! So it's kind of hit or miss which is not a good idea when you are entertaining guests. This time, Rick grilled an apple bourbon marinaded (I got the pre-marinaded kind this time) pork loin, and I made a stewed apple and butternut squash side. It was good! Success! I saw the recipe on Food Network one day. It sounded so good so I got the recipe off their website. It was surprisingly simple and cost effective. It is good for any day but also tastes like a holiday dish. One of our friends that frequents our home is allergic to gluten so we always make our meals gluten free when she comes over. That can be a challenge but one that is fun to take on. So, every thing was free of gluten for this meal. I also made a flourless chocolate cake and whipped cream for dessert. Food Network website, of course! It actually turned out well and tasted really good for having no flour. It wasn't that complicated either and I made it during Fiona's nap time. Now that I'm a mom, I have to make it snappy and simple or it doesn't get done. Rick, myself, and our friends always enjoy playing some kind of game after dinner. It gets rowdy and funny. We had a great time.

Our little girl is growing and changing before our eyes. Here are a couple of pictures of her from the past week:

MLK and Christmas

2012-01-16T09:40:00.004-05:00

Today is MLK day. Growing up teachers and television specials educate you about what this day means to us as Americans. While I understood that information, it has become more and more meaningful to me over the years as I ponder what it truly is. Themore I see and read about civil rights movement, the more horrified I am at the hate that was present during that time and the more proud I am that people like MLK stood up peacefully in the name of God with courage. It is our firm belief that when Christ died, he died for all. MLK said that all men are created equal under God. We are all created in His image and it makes me so proud and humbled to say that MLK believed that and stood up for it. I am thanking God today for men and women like him who stand up for what God has for them and for His people.

One of the things I love about today as well is the reflection of these things and thinking about how I love our church. Our church is multiracial and multicultural. There are people from every economic level and ethnicities. Sometimes I look around and it gives me joy in the thought "this is what Heaven must look like." South Florida is an interesting place, some things good and some bad, but this aspect of our lives is definitely one of the good. MLK and others helped make it possible for people of all races and walks of life to have the freedom to worship together. Our church was built out of that! What a cool thing!

Moving on from civil rights and backtracking to Christmas...We actually had Christmas day here at home this year! We haven't done that since we moved 3 years ago. Since it was on a Sunday, of course, Rick had to work the service that morning so we got to stay. We got up and opened presents with Fiona and it was so nice. It was slow, relaxed, and uneventful. That's just what we wanted. We didn't get Fiona a ton of stuff since we knew she would be showered with gifts from relatives.

We went to Birmingham the day after Christmas to see family. It was extremely busy and there was a lot of love. Rick and I appreciate that we have so many people that want to see us and spend time with us. Sometimes I think our lives could be the opposite and we could have no one. But we have so many people we can't even see them all! While it feels good to be loved by family, when you have kids, it feels doubly good when others love them. Fiona was showered with visitors, hugs, kisses, and presents. That made me happiest of all that all these people want to invest in her in that way. Here are just a few pics from Christmas morning at home and then the following trip:

Our First Christmas as a Family

Fun and Good Food

2012-01-07T20:59:00.008-05:00

Rick and I go on a what we call a "splurge" date. We love to eat at new restaurants and to eat new foods that we never have before. There is a celebrity chef here in Miami, Michelle Bernstein, who we like. We have seen her as a guest judge on Top Chef and we watch a PBS show she hosts called Check Please South Florida that reviews local restaurants. We still haven't been to her restaurant here yet. So, we headed to Michy's this Friday night for a nice dinner.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Saffron

Fresh Yellowtail Snapper for Rick

A yummy Mango Mojito!

We had a great time. Rick got the Yellowtail Snapper that had Jasmine rice and curry plaintains. He really enjoyed it. He usually gets seafood on our splurge dates since it's so fresh and tasty where we live. I got the risotto which I had never had before. It had butternut squash, chantrelle mushrooms, and saffron. I love butternut squash and risotto is such a classic dish that I had never tried. No meat in it, but it was filling, and I really enjoy vegetarian dishes. Hooray for creative and delicious food.

Fiona also turned 9 months old this week! She had a cold and I always get nervous when she's sick. It's the mama in me, but she is a great baby even when she's sick. All of a sudden, when she hit 7 months, she just started getting sick a lot. I think she and I are ready for her to be well. I feel so sad for her when she has a bug.

She's such a big girl and is rapidly changing. She is starting to be able to stand up while holding onto something without us holding her up. She is pulling herself up from the floor into a sitting position by herself. She is still talking and talking. She is crawling like a wild woman. She just took off this week and is into everything at a much faster rate than before. Her hair is getting longer every week. Rick and I noticed her hair curling up at the end now. She is also doing better about feeding herself little rice puffs on her own.

She is so funny. We love her dearly.

At her 9 month check up

Sitting in her rocker like a big girl...

One Crazy Month

2011-12-21T19:57:00.006-05:00

This month has been nutso. Yes, that's a word I use. Lots and lots has been going on. Fiona turned 8 months old. She is still just as happy, energetic, and silly as ever. She's not really crawling but scooting with her arms. But don't be fooled, she's fast. She especially loves the curtains. She still loves to talk and yell. She is saying "ma-ma" and "da-da" and that's really fun. Oh, and look at all that hair!

Just a couple of weeks ago I found out my grandfather died. I was sad and was very sorry to lose him. I was especially sad for my grandmother and her loss. They were married over 60 years. Rick was not able to travel since he had to work and we had already scheduled a Christmas visit just a couple of weeks following, so Fiona and I hopped on a plane. I was a little nervous about traveling by myself with her but she was great. I thanked God for that later.

I attended the funeral and got to see family. It was very sad and we all mourned for the loss of my grandfather and celebrated his life together.

I decided to have a little bit of an extended stay since I don't have a job to get back to now. Unfortunately, while we were there, Fiona picked up a stomach virus (which she had had only 3 weeks earlier as well) that landed her in the ER. I was so upset. I was away from home, without my husband, and my precious, tiny baby was very sick. My heart was saddened to see her that sick and I will admit, I was a little bit of a wuss. I guess that's just a mother's heart. I was incredibly thankful to have family around to help and be a support.

Thank goodness, and to our mutual delight, Fiona recovered quickly and we were able to travel on the designated day of our ticket. Needless to say, we were both exhausted when we returned home.

It has continued to be busy since. This is Rick's crazy time of year (along with Easter) so he works a lot. We happily decided to decline plans on Saturday and go to the beach to spend time as a family. We haven't been to the beach in so long since we've been busy and it's been so hot. Now, it's in the low 80's and cool enough for us to go with Fiona without melting. She's never been in the ocean and I wanted that day to be the first time, but the water was so cold I didn't think she'd appreciate that. I put her feet in for just a second and she was unhappy, rightfully so. We really had a relaxing time and were able to decompress a little bit. She loved sun bathing in her lady bug bathing suit.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-03T21:02:00.007-05:00

We went to Savannah for Thanksgiving as is our tradition. This year, we had a baby in tow. She did really well, but unfortunately, Rick and I got colds before we left and weren't feeling too hot. We were so excited that my sister Jessica and her husband Adam were able to come again this year. We had a lot of fun with them. Jessica did a short shoot in a square on our way to dinner one night. Here's a couple pictures from it.

We have our favorite spots now to go to while we're in town. Most of them are food related. :) The picture below is one of us at a little cafe that we like. It has art and books displayed everywhere. It's very quaint and fun. They also have the best grilled cheese and tomato bisque. It's delicious!!!

We always go out of town and therefore out to eat for Thanksgiving (which I love because I don't have to cook!). This year, I really wanted to go to Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons, for Thanksgiving. Here's Fiona all cute in her little polka dot dress and tights ready to hit the town.

Here were are with Paula, at least her cardboard cutout at the restaurant. It was a mad house in there! We always stay in the historic district and walk everywhere. It's so beautiful and the weather is always nice. The strolls to our destinations are really pleasant.

The other day Rick just put Fiona in her hamper to see if she liked it. haha. She really did. She's so cute playing in her hamper in her Turkey pajamas.

We had a good Thanksgiving and now we are looking forward to Christmas. Rick plans and rehearses and spends a ton of time on the Christmas concert at church each year. It's held this first Friday and Saturday night of December. So, last night and tonight were the performances. He did a FABULOUS job. The music was phenomenal and I was very thankful that I was able to go this year. Our friend, Mary, was nice enough to sit with Fiona while I went to the concert last night. I was very proud of Rick. Here we are after the concert.

More things...

2011-11-21T08:49:00.003-05:00

So much happened in the last couple of weeks I couldn't get to all of it in the last posting. So here we go...

1. Our bathrooms flooded again. Pooh! This time, we had already gone through this before and knew what to do and who to call. They were here the next morning and it was fixed! Disgusting to clean up. Hooray for first time home owners! We are starting to get the hang of things. Of course, something else will happen tomorrow that we have no idea how to fix or handle but that's ok. It's an adventure.

2. Atticus had surgery. He has been vomiting so much lately but wasn't acting sick at all. We have had bloodwork done, exams, and finally an X-ray. The vet said (and showed Rick) that he thought he saw a round object in his stomach and that we needed to do surgery. Dang! I didn't want that for Atticus or our pocketbook but we had to do it. Turns out, there is no ball only inflammation! The surgery was a bust but the bright side is, we got some medicine for him and he has only vomited once in the last week. Poor buddy...He got his staples out today and is raring to go play, of course. He's a wild man.

3. Fiona got the stomach bug that is going around. I suspect she got it from the doctor's office since she went in the get her flu shot in the afternoon and the next morning she was sick. The good thing is, she was surprisingly happy and resilient. Her case was mild but even so, I was a nervous mommy. Dehydration can set in and get serious really fast and so I had eagle eyes that day to make sure she was ok. I took her to the doctor just in case. She did great and got over it quickly.

4. Rick and I thought we had dodged it. Lysol had covered our house and we were feeling good. The following night, I came down with it. Rick was at work and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours. Mine got so bad I had to spend the night in the ER. Our friend from church, Mary, was a God send. By some miracle she was up at 11:00PM that night, which she doesn't normally do, when we called her and came right over to sit with Fiona. What would we do without Meemoo (that's what her grandkids and some kids at church call her)? She is like Fiona's resident grandmother and we are super thankful for her. She spent the night at our house while Fiona slept. Poor Rick stayed up all night with me at the hospital and took care of me. We got home at 6:30AM the next day. Fiona was just waking up. I went to the bed and Rick stayed up with Fiona.

5. By God's divine plan and Sovereignty, Rick's mom was already scheduled to fly in that day. She got there just 5 hours after we arrived home from the hospital. She helped out a lot around the house, especially with Fiona. I was able to recover and Rick was able to get some sleep. We thanked God for his provision a lot that week. Thank goodness, Rick never got it. He's got a immune system of steel. He never gets sick, which I am thankful for. What would we do if we all had it?!

6. Rick's family loves Christmas so Rick's mom set up our Christmas tree while she was here. While I am not a Scrooge, and enjoy Christmas myself, I have never enjoyed decorating for Christmas. I hate it actually, so it was pretty nice having someone else set it up for me. hahaha. I definitely needed the tree up this year since it's Fiona's first Christmas. I haven't decorated in years. For various reasons: Christmas season is very busy for us because of Rick's job, we are never actually home for Christmas, and I really don't like doing it. :)

I also ordered and received a stocking for Fiona with her name embroidered on it. So sweet! I love seeing all three stockings hanging up there together. Since we don't have a fireplace or mantle (why would we, it's 85 degrees outside!), our stockings are hanging on our music key hooks in the dining room. hahaha. When you have a small house, you improvise. :) We'll have to post a picture of the tree and stockings soon.

But first, Happy Thanksgiving from Rick, Stacy, and Fiona. We will be thinking about and praising God for all the many blessings He has so graciously given us the year, especially our little girl. We hope you are able to do the same.

So many things...

2011-11-14T20:20:00.008-05:00

It's been so long since I've posted that I have to report on many things. First, Halloween was fun. Here's our little Woopie Cushion. She looked adorable and everyone laughed. She was great at the Fall Festival at church. We either haven't had trick or treaters or haven't been home the last couple of years for Halloween, so this year I didn't buy any candy and we had people ringing our doorbell. I felt so bad. Rick put a sign on the door telling kids we didn't have any candy so they wouldn't wake up Fiona with the doorbell. So sad...She had a good time though. :)

We had a Halloween party at our house for our Young Adults Group at church. It was fun and everyone dressed up. Rick was a cereal killer (cereal boxes stuck to his shirt with knives through them) and I was a bag of jellybeans (big clear trash bag suit with balloons inside). We went the homemade route this year.

Here's our little punkin' with a pumpkin. I found these little black and white leg warmers at Target and thought they were funny. That smile is so sweet.

Early this month, Fiona turned 7 months. The time is really flying by. She's so big now! She is up on her hands and knees (but no crawling yet), making consonants sounds, eating more variety of foods, talking more, and scooting around on the floor. She's changing so quickly this month. And of course, all that hair! It keeps filling in and getting longer. So pretty...

We love being parents and love our little girl. She's such a joy.

Weekend Fun

2011-10-16T18:45:00.011-04:00

This weekend Rick and I went out on a date Friday night. It is very important to us to be able to spend time one on one together, especially since Fiona was born. I had bought 2 tickets a couple of months ago on Living Social for a wine tasting in Fort Lauderdale. We only had a short time before they were going to expire, so we decided to go this weekend. It was held in a wine/liquor shop and it got crowed very, very quickly. They had different stations to taste different wines and a couple with liquors. They also had hors d'oeuvres of gourmet crackers, breads, dips, spreads, and cheeses. We had so much fun! It was really crowded though and we were packed in this little shop like sardines. Therefore, it made it difficult to maneuver around.

There was this lady at one station that we were having difficulty getting because of the crowd that said "You gotta get in there. You have to be aggressive." We said "We know, but there are too many people." She proceeded to ask us "Is this your first wine tasting?" We replied, "Yes, it is." She said "I can tell! Just push through and go up there." She was so funny and led the way to get herself and Rick and I some wine from that station. It's the south Florida way! Everything was really tasty and we had a wonderful time.

The original plan was to go to this, get dessert at a restaurant, and then go to a late movie starting at 9:45pm. We were finishing up our dessert and both agreed we were too tired to move on to the theater! Haha! We just laughed about that together at the table eating our dessert. We are definitely parents now. We are tired but very happy to be so.

Halloween is coming up and we are excited for it being Fiona's first. I ordered her costume and it came the other day in the mail. I was tickled when I got it. She's going to be a woopie cushion! When Halloween comes, we'll post pictures. Here's one of her in her "My First Halloween" jammies and her lady bug jammies. She looked so cute!

Fiona is incredibly funny and very vocal. She loves to yell and squeak. This is a video Rick took today of her yelling. We just laugh and laugh at her doing this daily.

6 Months

2011-10-07T18:23:00.005-04:00

Fiona turned 6 months this week! She's such a sweet, big girl. This stage of her life has been fun. Her personality has come out much more and she's happier. (She's also napping better too which is fabulous). She's incredibly silly, funny, and social. She loves to be around people and enjoys being held and talked to by others. She is curious, active, and loves to squeal and yell with joy. Rick and I love hearing her having a good time. We just laugh together with her.

Look at how beautiful that smile is! Sometimes Rick and I will be lying in bed at night and talk about how much we love her and how beautiful our Fi Fi is.

We had her 6 month check up today. She is growing so quickly. She's 90% in height, 75% in head circumference (to hold all those brains), and 55% in weight. I can't believe how big she's getting.

I had thought about using baby sign language with her even before she was born and my mother actually sent me a book on it (without me even mentioning it to her)! You can start as early as 6 months so we started this week. I hope I can be consistent and teach the signs to her. It will probably take her a couple of months to start using them herself. Their hand coordination isn't developed enough before then. I think it will be great for our communication and hopefully prevent some future frustration on her part and on ours. I want her to feel heard and not be frustrated with me not knowing what she wants and I want to meet her needs as quickly as possible. I think it will take the guess work out of parenting a baby that can't talk well yet. We'll see how it goes. It might totally flop, and that's ok too. We'll give it a shot.

DIY Onesies

2011-09-21T19:34:00.006-04:00

I was inspired to decorate some onesies for Fiona. I don't sew so I had to think of some other way to do it. I found out that you can just use Heat n' Bond and fabric. I went to the fabric store and picked out some cute fabrics that would look adorable on her. I found some images that I thought would be good and printed them to the size I wanted. Once I bought everything, I cut and ironed everything and this is what I came out with...

Free Miami!

2011-09-20T11:42:00.003-04:00

In the last couple of weeks, Fiona and I have been out and about in Miami with my friend Jen and her three kids. She is such a wonderful friend and we always have a great time together. She has three kids ages 3 and under! I don't know how she does it but she makes it look like she's Wonder Woman. :) She is also incredibly savvy about deals and ways to save since she is a stay-at-home mom too. Saving money becomes a second job. Miami-Dade does a program with their county's libraries where you can check out passes for 4 to different places around the county, mostly in the city of Miami.

First we went to the Miami Children's Museum. It was adorable and so fun. It was Jen's middle child, Caleb's 2nd birthday. We celebrated with the museum visit and cupcakes! When Fiona gets older, I can't wait to take her again when she can appreciate it. Since Jen had the passes, we all got to go for free! There were some fun little things to do. One that I thought was particularly funny was that they had a Publix grocery store the right size for kids. They had kid size grocery carts, baskets, plastic food, registers, and checkout lanes. Adorable! Everyone got to go shopping.

The next week, we went to Deering Estate, also in Miami. We used another free pass from the library. It's a beautiful home built in the late 1896 by a wealthy man (James Deering) and his family as their summer home. Now, the city owns it and keeps it up for tourists. It sits right on the water and has extensive, gorgeous grounds which they also keep up very well. We walked around, looked at the house, ate lunch on a picnic table on the grounds, then walked around the dock to look in the water at the fish. Jen spent a year in college as a Marine Biology major and therefore knows so much more about sea life than I do. (I know nothing. The ocean scares me half the time. haha!) Her kids were very curious about the fish in the water. We had a good time running around on the hot but nice day.

Next week, I think she is going to check out a pass to Vizcaya! It's a popular tourist site in Miami that I am looking forward to. It's a museum and gardens also built by James Deering. (He was an avid gardener and amateur botanist/horticulturalist.) It supposed to be really beautiful. Jessica, my sister, and her husband, Adam, went there one time during a visit with us. I think we were working that day and they wanted something fun to do. I still haven't been even though we live here, so it will be another cool thing to mark off my list. We are very blessed to live close to numerous restaurants, cultural, and entertainment venues. We love that about living in south Florida!

5 Months, Grandparents Visit, and Birthdays

2011-09-07T11:54:00.012-04:00

Our little Fiona turned 5 months old on Monday (Labor Day)! She is growing and changing so much. I keep a list going of all the milestones and new personality quirks each month for me to look back and remember how she developed as a person her first year of life. Her personality has really come out more this month. She smiles a lot and is so happy. She loves to laugh and yell and scream with joy. She enjoys playing and is very curious with all things. She of course, likes to feel every surface and put everything in her mouth now. She is much more expressive these days with her face and her voice. I could go on and on about my love for her and the new things she is doing. She is getting more and more beautiful and fun by the day. Here are some pictures in her monthly onesie.

Smiling at Grandaddy.

Funny!

Reading her new book.

Sitting in her Bumbo seat like a big girl.

She doesn't sit in it much because she always wants to play with her feet, leans forward, and in turn puts too much pressure on her legs and cuts off her own circulation. So, unfortunately, we don't use it much.

Sweet baby...

As I have mentioned before, Fiona has recently started solid foods...and she LOVES it! I can't shovel it in fast enough. She will whine in between bites she wants it so bad. The only thing she isn't in love with so far is peaches. It's mostly the really sweet stuff (sometimes bananas and pears) that she isn't as enthusiastic about. This is unusual to me since most babies/kids are the opposite and don't want to eat their vegetables. Hooray for Fiona Joy! I expected the integration of solids to be much more work. It has been a breeze. She loves everything! In between bites she will fuss a little and open her mouth as wide as possible for the next one! haha! It is so funny.

Waiting for the next bite like a little birdie.

I have no idea why she is making this face, but it was funny.

Rick's mom (Mimi) and stepdad (Grandaddy) were in town with us for Labor Day weekend. We enjoyed having them and I know they loved to see their sweet Fiona too. Here they are all three together.

Grandparents and Fiona.

Rick's family are big Auburn fans. His sister sent some Auburn goodies down with them for us all! She gave Rick and I Auburn T-shirts and Fiona the cutest outfit! Thanks, Lea!!! We watched the game on Saturday in all our gear.

Me and my precious family.

Playing in her new outfit.

Chillin'

We also celebrated some birthdays while Trisha and Rex were in town. It's Trisha's, Atticus's (our dog), Fiona's 5 month, and my birthday all within a couple of weeks. We had dinner at our house on Saturday night. Instead of making a huge layer cake (like I normally would) and having an enormous portion in my house after company left, I made a Chocolate Delirium Torte for the first time. A friend of mine has a gluten allergy and had made this since it's flourless for a dinner we had. It was delicious and it is so easy! I made a little whipped cream to go with it. If you like chocolate, you'll love this dessert.

Rick's mom and stepdad took us to a birthday lunch on Sunday after church. There's a program that Miami does during the months of August and September called Miami Spice. The fine dining restaurants in the city do a flat fee for a 3 course lunch or dinner. It's delicious and cheaper than the regular menu. It gives people a chance to have a little fine food and culture. They asked me to pick the restaurant, so I picked a cool place on South Beach called Tudor House. We had a fun time. Going to South Beach is always an event. As you know, we love to eat at our house and this was a great opportunity to go to a new restaurant. Thank you, Trisha and Rex!

On another birthday related note, I try to read as often as I can (doesn't happen as much since I have a baby now) and I have been wanting a Kindle for a while, but wouldn't spend the money on it. It's compact, you can take it in your purse anywhere and it's great just reading at home. Rick, Trisha, and Rex went in together and got me a Kindle for my birthday!!! It was a special and wonderful surprise! I was ecstatic! Rick's sister and her husband got me a cover with a built in book light to go along with it too! I was thrilled. I have been using it a lot. It was a great birthday.

Stinky Winker

2011-08-23T15:03:00.017-04:00

First of all, the title of this post "stinky winker" does not pertain to the first part, the soup, but to Fiona, the second part. I call her "stinky winker" sometimes, especially after her naps when she's extra happy and she likes it. :)

So, to start off, when I was 8 months pregnant I went to my friend's house in Miami. I hung out with her and her three kids for the afternoon and she made me lunch. She made me this soup! It's Chicken Enchilada Soup and it's so easy and good. After Fiona was born, she was going to bring me dinner one night and asked if she could bring this. I knew Rick would absolutely love it, so I said "please bring it on!" I was right! Rick loved it and raved about it. So, I just had to get the recipe so I could make it myself. It took me a while to get to it, but I finally got it from her and made it for the first time last night. It was delicious and we'll be eating leftovers tonight. :)

A few new things happened with Fiona this month that we've been meaning to share and document. Yesterday, I witnessed Fiona rolling over from her back to her front! She did it so well and afterwards didn't even notice she did anything significant. Here she is!

Just rolled over.

Fiona loves to play in her Exersaucer. She yells and squeals!

She gets cold in the morning when she gets up, so sometimes we put her jacket on. It's so cute, especially when the hood is on her head.

Playing in the morning.

Sometimes, Fiona likes to have some tummy time where she plays and talks to herself in her crib.

Fiona contemplating the meaning of life...

Fiona started solid food last week. We got her a highchair and she looks like such a big girl. She loves to eat. She's been doing so well with the new foods she's eating. She has already eaten rice cereal, green beans, squash, carrots, and pears. She loves them all and can't get enough. In between bites, she fusses because she can't wait for the next bite! She wants food and she wants it now. She's just hilarious. We love our sweet girl.

Fiona in her highchair the first day she ate solid foods.

First solids day.

Last week, I was giving Fiona a bath and she started grunting right after we started and I thought "Oh no you're not going to poop in here!" It was so funny, but I snatched her up out of the bath before she could do anything. She didn't poop after that, so I put her back in. I bathed her and she was splashing around and towards the end of the bath, she started grunting again. The minute she did that, I went to snatch her up again, but she was too fast. There was poop in the tub! I just grabbed her up and died laughing. She was completely happy. She kept pooping by the way and I had to catch it. Once I got her cleaned up, I got the poop out of the tub, put her in her jammies, fed her, and put her to bed. I had to go back in there and disinfect the tub. Rick was at work that night and he laughed so hard when I told him about it.

As much as he can, Rick likes to give Fiona her bath. Last night, he was giving her the bath, then he walked into the kitchen while I was making dinner, looked at me and said "She just pooped in her tub." Hahaha! Stinky Winker struck again! She definitely lived up to her nickname that night. We just laughed together and Rick put her to bed.

Here's a onesie I randomly came across on Amazon.com the other day that I thought was funny, awesome, and appropriate for this story:

4 Months

2011-08-06T15:04:00.005-04:00

Fiona's 4 month photo! So cute!

She's so surprised. hahaha!

Fiona loves to grab EVERYTHING now. Here's a pic this morning when she's pulling daddy's hair as he's snuggling her. :)

Fiona loves to play on her activity gym. She has also found her feet in the last 2 weeks and enjoys grabbing them. She's so sweet.

That's all we have time for today. Hope you enjoy seeing our sweet baby girl. She's such a gift.

Fun Weekend and Lentil Soup

2011-07-18T20:27:00.003-04:00

We had a very fun and busy weekend. On Thursday nights, we host our young adults home group from church at our house. We have dinner, Rick teaches, and we have discussion. We enjoy having everyone over every week. We try to do lots of social events with the young adults group during the summer because many of the people who are away at school during the year are home. So, we had our annual cookout at our house on Friday. Needless to say, we cleaned up from Thursday's event on Friday morning and started preparing for the cookout. We had tables and chairs set up on the back patio (and plenty of citronella candles because the mosquitoes can be brutal). We ate hot dogs and hamburgers and had a good time. We later played Catchphrase with the whole group and it was hilarious. We played boys versus girls and it is so funny to see how differently men and women communicate with the same sex. We understand each other so well. When the boys were giving each other some of the clues, the girls were furrowing their brows and the boys knew exactly what each other meant. haha!

We cleaned up and got in bed by midnight on Friday night, then, on Saturday morning, we went to a pool party/get together with our young marrieds with children home group. This group just formed at church and we recently joined up. Rick and I were just talking about how refreshing it is to be part of a group of our friends/peers that we don't have to lead in any way. Rick has been teaching youth and home groups for years and we have never gotten to be a part of one just for ourselves. We had so much fun at our friend Jose and Sarah's home. The have a nice patio and pool in the back. All the parents were swimming and hanging out with their young children. Little kids are incredibly funny and entertaining. We had fun but were so pooped after this we tried to chill the rest of the day and Sunday afternoon. Whew!

On another note, I have written a little about new recipes and/or foods I like. I get my recipes from two different sources: friends and foodnetwork.com. I like lentils and have eaten them in dishes at restaurants but have never cooked them myself. I went to Carrabba's with a friend the other night and ordered one of my favorite things there: Italian sausage and lentil soup. Yum! It made me come home and look up a lentil soup recipe on foodnetwork.com. It's not an Italian soup like at the restaurant but it's tasty and very healthy. It is vegetarian (I am not a vegetarian, but I don't like a lot of meat either) but filling. It's got all kinds of veggies and some elbow pasta. So good...

New Dishes

2011-07-10T20:51:00.003-04:00

There are a couple of new dishes that I have tried recently that I really liked. One is an entree and one is a dessert. Right after Fiona was born we had some friends (the wife is a terrific cook) bring us over dinner one night. We invited them to stay and eat it with us. At the time, I didn't know she had brought Shepherd's Pie and I thought to myself, "Oh crap! I have to eat this in front of her and pretend to enjoy it!"

The reason I had this reaction was because the last time I had Shepherd's Pie, I was 13 years old and in London. You would think, since it's a native dish, that it would be really good there. It was not. I guess it was just the place we had it. I don't know but it was so gross. So, that being said, I did not want to eat this. I thought I'd be nice and shove it in and pretend to like it. We sat down and portioned it out onto each person's plate. It was time to dig in and...it was great!

It was so delicious! I enjoyed it so much I got her recipe. Whew! That was a close one. I thought I'd have to use some acting skills to get through that dinner but it turned out to be a great one. I just managed to snag her recipe and make it myself recently. Rick and I enjoyed sitting down together and sharing in some Shepherd's Pie.

I love to make desserts. I usually try to make a nice cake for special occasions and big church group events. Rick's family was here a few weeks ago for Fiona's baptism, so in honor of that occasion, plus Father's Day and our brother-in-laws birthday, I made a layer cake. I love almond flavor, so I made a chocolate almond cake with cheesecake filling and buttercream icing. Not to brag, but it was so good. Not because I made it, but because it's dessert and we love dessert. Rick's family are big sweets people. Needless to say, I ate a couple pieces that week, and I did not lose any baby weight like I had been trying to do. hahaha. Oh well. It was so good though.

3 Months Old and Busy, Busy, Busy...

2011-07-09T10:00:00.013-04:00

Fiona turned 3 months old this week! She's such a big girl. She has moved on into her 3 month clothes. I can't believe she is not a newborn anymore. She's just the cutest and the sweetest little girl. She talks all the time and loves to kick her legs and flail her arms. She smiles a lot at just about anyone that's smiling at her but especially at her mommy and daddy. And, believe me, we love that. I tried to get her to smile for these, but it just wasn't happening. She's such a pretty girl.

She has been really sucking and chewing on her hands lately. I mean whole-fisting it. They are always in her mouth. She actually has preferred them over her pacifier the last couple of weeks. She has been fussy and fighting sleep. It hit me yesterday, "wow, it's early, but she might be teething already." So, today I looked up top rated teethers online and ordered a couple since we had a gift card from a friend. Hopefully, this will help her. I was researching a little about teething and I knew it's typical for babies to teeth between 4 to 6 months, but I read today that they can start teething as early as 3 months. Who knew? My friend said her son is 9 months and still has no teeth which I have read can happen also. Every kid is different, I guess. Fiona seems to be ahead of the curve on this one. We'll see if it really is happening.

She looks so pretty in green!

We started cloth diapers this week too. Woo hoo! It really isn't that bad. Of

course, it is more work than disposables, but I knew that going into it. I am doing it to save money and on the up side, it is environmentally friendly. :) It's going well. Rick had to deal with the first poop diaper in the cloth diapers. We have a diaper sprayer that hooks up to the side of our toilet so you don't have to dunk the diaper or touch poop like the old days. I am sure we'll get used to it. I am getting into the routine of washing them and reassembling them. Right now, she only has blue and green diapers (yes, they come in colors), but I want to get her some cream, yellow, and pink ones. Cream for those lighter colored outfits so the color of the diaper doesn't show through and pink and yellow because they're cute. I bought the blue and green because it was cheaper to buy them in the 2-pack and they only came in those colors. Just trying to save some money, but I'm sad I don't have more colors. I know it's silly; they are only for utility but it's fun to have a little fun with it too. We do need a few more because I am washing them everyday!

Here's our cutie in a blue diaper.

See the picture below. hahaha! Rick came home late from church Wednesday night and Fiona and I were sitting on the bed. I was getting some things done on the computer and Fiona was laying in front of me with her legs on my lap. I looked down and this was how she was laying. SO FUNNY! She's just chillin'. She was like this close to an hour. During that time, Rick came home and I told him to grab the camera. We were ecstatic that we caught this moment.

My dad came to visit this week with us. He really enjoyed getting to meet Fiona. He was excited to hold her and snuggle her some. His birthday was this week as well and he got to eat some of his favorite food on that day...Cuban! We went to a local Cuban restaurant called Las Vegas. I never really tried or ate black beans before we moved to south Florida but they are soooo good. This place makes them really well too. Rice and beans is such a tasty combination. We took pictures of he and Fiona with his camera so I will have to post a picture later after he sends some to me.

A couple of weeks ago, Rick and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We had a wonderful time together. Rick's mom was in town so we left Fiona in her care and headed out. We went to this awesome restaurant that I found in downtown Hollywood called Lola's on Harrison (it's on Harrison St.) that was absolutely delicious. We love our food! It's a contemporary restaurant serving American cuisine. We ordered cocktails and a baked brie appetizer. YUM! Rick ordered trout with an arugula, onion, and tomato salad. Now, I am not a big fish eater (only very mild ones), but this trout was so good. I ordered ricotta gnocchi in a mushroom sauce. I could eat that every week it's so delicious, of course, I'd be as wide as a house if I did. :) Halfway through dinner, we liked each others dishes so much we just switched plates. hahaha. Rick got an after dinner cappuccino and our sweet waitress brought us complimentary champagne for the occasion. Hooray! This restaurant is going on our favorites list. We then went to see the movie Midnight in Paris which was good and interesting. Over dinner, we talked about our four years together. They have been wild and wonderful. We have squeezed a lot into 4 years, for sure. God has blessed us with one another and is teaching us every day how to love the other better. We couldn't ask for more. We thank God very frequently for all that we have. We are rich beyond measure.

Trio of Events

2011-06-29T20:23:00.014-04:00

We have had so much going on in the last couple of weeks. Rick's family came in town for Fiona's baptism which incidentally was on Father's Day. His dad, sister, and brother-in-law only got to stay two days but we were very privileged with their visit. Rick's mother was here too and was able to stay the whole week with us. We were appreciative that Rick's mom did all the night feedings while she was here. :)

Fiona's baptism went well. She was happy and quiet. It was such a special day for us. We dedicated our little girl to the Lord. She is a covenant child and I hope one day very soon she understands what that means and she makes Christ the Lord of her life. We pray for her a great deal that she will come to know Him at a very early age and never be far from Him. We want her to dedicate her life wholly to Him and know his love fully and abundantly. She is such a precious gift.

For Father's Day, we went to brunch after church to a pretty restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale. The food was yummy. We went back to our house where the men proceeded to watch golf. It was their day, they could do what they wished. :) I made a cake and we had a piece to celebrate the baptism, Father's Day, and our brother-in-laws birthday.

We were super blessed and excited to have family in town for such a special occasion. Here are a few pics from their trip...

Mommy and Fiona

Daddy and Fiona

Mimi and Fiona

Beautiful little girl

Baptism Day in her pretty dress

Family at church for the baptism

Fiona and Uncle Russell

Fiona and Aunt Lea

2 Months

2011-06-05T17:20:00.012-04:00

Fiona Joy is 2 months old today! It's amazing to think about. We have her two month well-baby checkup tomorrow. She's got to get 4 immunizations. Sad! Hopefully, she will not be too fussy. Now that she's two months, we can start going out in crowds and back to church. We are going to pray that she doesn't get sick any time soon. I miss church so much! It's been too long. Most couples switch off so one person can go to church every other Sunday, but since Rick works in the church, we are not able to do that. It's been a while since I have been able to go.

Look at that smile! Isn't she beautiful!?

Fiona is going to be baptized on Father's Day! We are super excited and it should be an extra special day for Rick since it's his first Father's Day and the dedication of our little girl to our Lord. I went this week to our local swanky mall and got Fiona's dress. There is this really cool clothing store called Zara there that carries beautiful adult and children's clothes.

We got a special present for Fiona in the mail the other day. It was from Rick's parents' friends from the church he grew up in. He was friends with their children growing up too. They sent her a cute outfit and a book. The book is called Aren't You Forgetting Something, Fiona? I was so excited when I saw the title. We appreciated this book so much because it was the same book that they read to their own children growing up and they gave it to us! It means a great deal that they would pass something so special on to us. What a sweet gesture! We can't wait to read it to Fiona. We know she will love to hear it since it's got her name in it! We love it!!!!

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T17:47:00.018-04:00

Today is Memorial Day and Rick and I wanted to do something fun since he had the day off of work. We still aren't going out in crowded closed spaces yet with Fiona. The thought came to me the other day that we could go to one of our favorite restaurants in town for breakfast, complete with beautiful outdoor seating on the intercoastal waterway and then take a trip across the street to the beach. So, that's what we did.

We got up and got ready first thing this morning and headed to Giorgio's Bakery and Bistro for breakfast. Fiona had her red, white, and blue outfit on that Rick's aunt and uncle gave her. She looked so cute and patriotic today. Since we got there at a decent hour, the beach/restaurant parking wasn't full yet. Thank goodness! It's a nightmare sometimes trying to find a parking spot, especially on a holiday. Giorgio's has a beautiful view from its outdoor seating. It's right on the waterway and you can see all the boats go by. We had a nice breakfast with a cool breeze and Fiona behaved herself.

The Bakery/Bistro

The view from our breakfast table

Then, we headed across the street to the beach. Fiona got changed into her cute bathing suit her grandmother gave her. We spread out and enjoyed the weather. It was hot but there was a nice breeze. The three of us just chilled for a while and then packed it up and went home.

Fiona in her bathing suit on the beach

She is so cute! We love her so much and had a wonderful time at the beach with her. She's the most precious baby and we are having a blast being her parents.

Date Night

2011-05-24T16:41:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, Rick and I got to out on our first date since Fiona was born. We were so looking forward to spending some alone time together out of the house having fun. We decided to have an afternoon/evening date because Fiona's cranky scream time happens around 7 or 8 pm and we didn't want to subject a babysitter to that. Our sweet friend who we love, Mary aka Mee Moo, came over and watched Fiona while we were gone. She was so sweet to volunteer to watch our girl. Mary is super good with babies and we trust her totally. I had heard many moms say it was really hard to leave their baby for the first time, but I really didn't feel upset. Not that I don't treasure my little girl, but it just felt normal to be able to go out. It probably helped that the person watching her is a trusted friend and baby expert. :) Rick and I went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and went out to eat. We had a wonderful time. When we got home, Mee Moo gave a wonderful report. Fiona was a perfect angel for her and we were so happy about that. We were excited to get home and see our sweet baby. She's the best!

First Trip to the Zoo

2011-05-13T15:37:00.019-04:00

My good friend Jen has annual passes to the Miami Zoo and was kind enough to invite Fiona and I to join her and her three kids for a free trip this week. It's rare that I get to get out with Fiona these days since she is too young to be around crowds. We have taken a few ventures thus far into open spaces where there is fresh air and where the germs aren't floating around. So I packed Fiona up yesterday and we headed down to Miami for our day of fun.

As I mentioned before, Jen has three children and her youngest is a girl who is 5 months old. It is nice to have Jen around for mommy advice and support. We walked around the zoo and looked at the animals. Unfortunately, it's south Florida and very early in the year it starts heating up. It was 93 degrees yesterday!!! We were sweating our butts off! We all were dripping! Even Fiona was super sweaty. Regardless of the heat, we had a fun time. After a couple of hours, we packed up and headed home. Needless to say, I had to take a shower when we returned home and Fiona had to have a bath. She had a great time on her first trip to the zoo. :)

One Month and Mother's Day

2011-05-10T11:22:00.007-04:00

Our little Fiona turned 1 month old last Thursday. She is wearing her 1 month onesie courtesy of her aunt Lea. Lea also had a onesie made for every month of her first year of life. We love them and will be taking a monthly picture in them throughout the year. What a good way to mark her growth! She is so beautiful and we love her to pieces.

We went to Bimini Boatyard Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale for Mother's Day dinner. We decided it would be ok to go out if we sat outside in the open air with Fiona. She was so good and slept most of the time. We had a nice dinner while sitting by the water watching the boats go by. It was a great first Mother's Day for me. I am incredibly happy to be a mother. My daughter is the most beautiful little girl in the world. I am so fortunate to be able to stay home and take care of Fiona. Not everyone gets to do that and I treasure our time together. What a privilege it is to be with her every day.

Fiona Joy

2011-04-25T11:32:00.003-04:00

Our little girl is here! She is 3 weeks old tomorrow! It's hard to believe that we are parents. She was born April 5th at 1:53 pm. She was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 inches long. She is beautiful and precious and we love her so much. The first few weeks have been wonderful and hard at the same time. Now we know what all those parents have been talking about. :) The sleep deprivation is hard but we are getting used to it and getting into a routine. What a miracle they are! Just a few weeks ago that little sweetheart was in my tummy and is now on the outside. She's our baby and a living breathing person that will impact our lives forever. That's pretty amazing.

We had wonderful family in town to care for us for the first week or so which was very helpful. My sweet photographer sister, Jessica, did a photo shoot when she was here when Fiona was exactly one week old. She did a great job! The pictures are beautiful! I am terrible at remembering to take pictures and we need to document our daughter's life and growth. So, it's great that we have a talented photographer in the family.

We have had so much support from our friends and church family as well. We are truly blessed. We have been receiving regular meals. We have had many phone calls and people checking in and asking how we are doing. I have some sweet friends that are young moms that have been super supportive and helpful through the stressful first weeks. I pray and thank God for His guidance in moving us to a place where we have so much love and encouragement from our church community.

Needless to say, it's been a wonderful roller coaster ride so far. We love our little Fiona.

Cafe, Cuisine, and Chocolate

2011-04-01T15:15:00.004-04:00

Rick and I are trying to spend as much time together as possible before our little girl comes, so today, he said, "Get ready quick! We're going out to lunch." I had gone out to lunch with a friend a few weeks ago to this cute little cafe close by that makes gourmet food and has a chocolate shoppe next door. She's a native of Hollywood and knows the coolest places that I could never find! I love that!

You would miss Jimmie's Chocolates and Cafe if you weren't looking for it. It has a cute, quaint patio area where we sat today. Even though it's 90 degrees outside now (yes, it's that hot already) it was shaded and breezy. Really nice! We got bruschetta as a starter with a tomato, cheese, and herb tapenade. So good! Rick ordered a grilled chicken breast with fruit BBQ sauce, zucchini and radicchio coleslaw, and plantains. The BBQ saice was tasty and sweet. I got a NY strip sandwich that had greens, sauteed veggies, and a Brie sauce. We had a fun, delicious, relaxing afternoon on the patio. :)

After lunch, we headed next door to the chocolate shoppe. We both love dessert but Rick's eyes got big once we got inside. He was in heaven. We got an assortment of handmade truffles to take home. We ate one each after lunch and that was enough. Those things are super rich and really good.

Thank you God for good food and for CHOCOLATE! There are so many daily pleasures that are reasons to celebrate your goodness.

Corn Soup and a Cool Gadget

2011-03-29T11:44:00.007-04:00

I got a gift card to Crate and Barrel for Christmas this year and tried to decide what I wanted to buy with it. Shortly after receiving it, my food processor stopped working properly and I ended up dumping it. I used it mostly to puree vegetables and soups. It was a pain in the butt to transfer hot soup from the stove into that processor and back into the pot. It was a mess and I have scalded myself multiple times. I needed a new processor and/or blender for this purpose since I make a lot of soups. I thought, "what about a hand blender?" These things are so cool and you can submerge it in your soup pot and puree it right there on the stove instead of the hassle and mess of transferring it. After much thought, I decided to use my gift card towards a hand blender. I got a Dualite one that supposed to be really good and durable.

I have had it for about a month but haven't had a chance to use it yet until last night. Rick gave me a new cookbook for Christmas called Five Ingredient Fix. The author is celebrity chef Claire Robinson. This book is based off her recipes from her Food Network show Five Ingredient Fix. All of her recipes are five ingredients excluding water, salt, and pepper. I love that because so many cookbooks these days (at least the good ones) have 10+ ingredients for all the recipes. That can get pricey and time consuming. I saw a recipe for Creamy Grilled Corn Soup and I decided to make it last night. It was so tastey and healthy too (I used fat free half and half instead of regular)! Only five ingredients too! After I finished cooking it, I pulled out my hand blender for the first time and...voila! It was sooooo easy and worked great. I LOVE this thing! Rick was amazed as I pureed the soup in seconds. If you make a lot of soups or need to blend things from the stove often, get one! It's awesome!

38 Weeks!

2011-03-26T10:35:00.003-04:00

I'm 38 weeks today and ready for our little girl. It can be any day now. Whether it be tomorrow or 3 weeks from now, we are very excited to be parents soon.

Visits and Outings

2011-03-19T13:25:00.016-04:00

Rick's mother, Trisha, came for a little pre-baby visit this past week. We had a great time. It was good timing since we were incapacitated somewhat just a few days before she arrived. She helped us out a lot. She got the chance to hang out with some of our friends and co-workers while she was here which was special. She also helped us out around the house and in getting organized for Fiona's arrival. Thanks, Trisha!

Rick and I are trying to spend a good deal of time together before the baby is born since we know we won't have a lot of honey time for the first couple of months. We got a coupon in the mail a few weeks ago for this nice restaurant in Aventura (really nice, ritsy area near our city of Hollywood). I guess they were advertising for new business and we were happy to oblige. It was a nice fine dining restaurant that specializes in steaks and seafood called Ocean Prime. As you know, we love to eat, especially new and fancy food. :) It's one of our favorite activities to go to new restaurants and try new foods.

Rick got some jumbo crab cakes with large asparagus and corn salsa. I am not a big seafood fan so I ordered a pork porterhouse with French beans and a rich jus. So good! We had a wonderful time and the decor and atmosphere were really nice. Thanks Ocean Prime for the discount and the opportunity to eat your wonderful food!

Geez...

2011-03-18T08:43:00.004-04:00

We had a rough week last week. On Wednesday morning I woke up to some Braxton-Hicks contractions that weren't severe but uncomfortable. I went about my day, going to a church brunch in the morning. After the brunch, the contractions were getting worse and I was supposed to go visit my friend in Miami, but had to call and cancel. I went home to rest and prayed these things would stop. Unfortunately, the contractions just got stronger and closer together. I ate lunch midday and layed around the house. The contractions were coming as close as 3 minutes apart and as far as 15. It was awful. I was 99% sure this was not real labor. My doctor was out of town (of course, the one week I actually need him) so I called the office and they recommended that I go to the hospital to get checked out since the contractions had been going on consistently all day long. So, Rick and I headed to the hospital.

We were led to maternity triage where a nurse checked me. She said you aren't dilated but the doctor says we can give you up to 3 doses of a shot to hopefully stop the contractions. She said, "Let me warn you, this shot will make you feel like you are running a marathon." She gave me the first shot and she wasn't kidding! I was shaking all over and my heart was about to beat out of my chest. Unfortunately, the contractions did not stop. So, she came back and gave me another shot. I had the same reaction and also threw up this time. The intensity of the contractions lessened but they still did not go away. She said she could give me one more dose or I could head home. I didn't want another shot so we headed home feeling defeated. Very quickly, the contractions came back full force. I didn't sleep all night because the pain was constant. The next day they persisted and I hadn't eaten in 24 hrs. The pain got so bad on Thursday that I couldn't keep liquids down either and was vomiting, so once again we headed off to the hospital. I was really dehydrated so they hooked me up to an IV. Once that was done, they sent me home. Needless to say, I DID NOT want to go home without relief or a solution but there was nothing they could do. Once we got home, I continued to have contractions for about 5 hrs while trying to walk around the house a lot (heard that helps) and drink as much as I could, which wasn't much. I was utterly exhausted! Rick was pretty tired himself doing all he could to comfort me. I finally got to sleep around midnight.

I woke up on Friday with the contractions waning but still present. I was so thankful. It felt like they would never end! I continued to have contractions on Friday and Saturday but they continued to get better. Sunday was a dream as the contractions ceased to be. I had never heard of someone having these contractions that long, consistent, or painful. But, I suppose it happens to some and thankfully is not harmful or dangerous for the baby, just hellacious for the mother. :) Rick and I were praising God and thanking Him for keeping the baby healthy and safe. Tomorrow, I am 37 weeks and considered full term! Little Fiona Joy is welcome to come any time now. We are so excited!

Fun Home Doo-Dads

2011-03-08T08:22:00.010-05:00

Our little girl is coming soon and I am trying to get ready. There are a few things around the house that I wanted to take care of before she comes. I know I won't have time or money to do them later. :) Our drinking glasses have dwindled down due to wear and accidents. It was time to buy new ones. These are the funky, assymetrical new drinking glasses I just got. I love them and they are so cool.

My sweet work family gave me a gift card to IKEA (one of my very favorite stores) on my last day of work. I have been trying to decide what I should buy with it. We entertain a lot and our dishes don't match anything and are worse for wear. We didn't get any fancy dishes or china when we got married so I thought it was time for some fun ones. The original ones we got are a light beige color and they are stoneware. They are so scratched up and are not looking so good. I saw these at IKEA and love them. Hooray for gift cards!

Feelin' Great at 28

2011-02-26T14:52:00.010-05:00

Rick's birthday is today and he is 28 years old. We always try to go to a nice restaurant and do a big to-do/event for each of our birthdays each year. Rick's favorite food is Asian, so I always pick a cool Asian restaurant. Last year we went to a fabulous Thai restaurant in North Miami that Rick loved and then went to see Wicked afterwards. He loved that show! He wanted to go again this year since it will be in town next month but it was going to be too close to my due date and we didn't want to risk it. We decided to go out the night before since he always has to get up extra early on Sunday mornings for church.

So last night, off we went to a super cool Asian restaurant in South Beach (wahoo!!!!) that I picked called Philippe. The food was really good and the decor was super cool. Parking in Miami is a nightmare but parking in South Beach...forget about it. It took us a while to find a spot and not without an expensive price tag, but what are you going to do?

I had a few ideas of what to do after dinner in the planning process but ultimately I wanted him to choose his perfect birthday event. After some deliberation, he decided that he wanted to go to a Miami Heat basketball game. I bought us both Miami Heat T-shirts a couple of weeks ago to wear to the game. After dinner, we quickly changed and wore our fan gear. We were late for the game because of traffic and had some trouble parking again, but in the end, we got to the arena and had a good time. The game was good and close against the Washington Wizards. Rick got to the see "The Big Three" play and he was happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKY!

33 weeks and fun baby stuff

2011-02-20T13:11:00.010-05:00

We're in the home stretch now. 4 more weeks to full term status and 7 until my due date. Sometimes it feels like my body can't stretch any more but I know it will. I have one and a half weeks left of work and I can't believe it. It will be a very sad day on the 28th. But, in the end I am glad that God has so blessed us that I am able to stay home full time with our little girl. As I am getting closer to delivery I am also relieved that I decided to stop working a month early. I am EXHAUSTED! All of a sudden my body and energy level has slowed significantly coupled with the typical (and irritating) 3rd trimester symptoms. Plus, that month will give me time to get things done and organized before she comes.

Our friend and Rick's co-worker at church, Mary, called us a couple of weeks ago and said "I'm cleaning out my garage and I have a children's bookshelf. Do you want it?" And of course, we'll take what we can get, so we went and picked it up. It was red, so I took the leftover paint from the tree I painted and now the bookshelf fits right in. I put her dolls and books from my Birmingham baby shower on the new shelves. This bookshelf is so tiny and cute. I love that I looks like a house too! :)

I was in Target the other day and randomly saw these and had to get them. Since Fiona is due close to Easter, I thought it would be cute to put some bunny ears on her and take some pictures. She's going to be sooo cute!

Free Download

2011-02-14T20:04:00.003-05:00

This is a good, Christian book about adoption by Russell Moore called Adopted for Life. The first part of the book talks about theology and the following parts talk about important topics of adoptions like race, substance use, openness, paperwork, etc. I have a hard copy of the book but need a review. A co-worker and friend told me that this book is available for free download until the end of February at christianaudio.com. This will help me get through the book easier while I'm in the car or cleaning the house. If you are interested in adoption, whether on a personal or topical level, I would definitely recommend this book. And now, it's free, so why wait?!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T18:36:00.004-05:00

Rick and I went out on Friday for our Valentine's date. Rick did some research and picked the place. One of our favorite things to do is eat at good restaurants. We like to go somewhere different every time we have a "nice" date or special event. This time, we went to a cool, artsy Italian restaurant in Miami Beach. It's called Joey's and the weather was so nice. We sat outside and of course, like south Floridians do, they had heaters by the tables to keep everyone warm in the 70 degree weather. :) They had really good, authentic Italian food. For an appetizer, we got bruschetta carprese that was so good and simple. I had a vegan zucchini and eggplant soup with foccaccia that had parmesan and rosemary on it. Rick had the grouper special with a side of zucchini polenta. Very tastey. We had a chocolate cake with marscapone cream for dessert. Delicious! The portions were perfect, small and satifisfying. Here's a picture of the inside of the restaurant:

We can't wait to go out again for Rick's birthday. His favorite food is Asian so that's what we're doing but the place will be a surprise. It's really fun to have two large cities on either side of us. There are tons of varieties and ethnicities of foods here and we love to experience them all. Plus, there are many good restaurants to choose from. Yea for food!

30 weeks

2011-01-30T21:26:00.006-05:00

We have made it to 30 weeks! My belly is ever growing. My body is starting to slow down with its bigness, but it's still trucking along. The normal third trimester symptoms are ensuing. One of those symptoms are swollen and aching feet, so I have just invested in some new duds. I had heard that Crocs are great for pregnant ladies' feet. I have some already but they are the big, bulky outdoor boat kind. The originals if you will. Now they have so many styles out that can be worn other than on a boat. :) I needed some for the weekends and running errands and a pair that could pass for semi-appropriate for work. Here they are:

My cute weekend shoes. Great for running around with Fiona!

My work shoes for the next month. And yes, they have sparkles in them!

Hives!

2011-01-22T14:00:00.003-05:00

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. I made creamy butternut squash soup. When I was cleaning and cutting up the squash, I had to core the middle of seeds. Some of the seeds dropped on the floor during the process. Rick speedily swept them up and threw them away. We hung out for a few hours with our friends and they ended up leaving around 11:30. We decided to watch a little TV before bed. Atticus had been hanging out sleeping in our room during our TV watching. So around 12:30 or 1:00, Rick went and got Atticus to put him to bed. Atticus had hives all over him! This has happened to him once before about a year ago when he had a reaction to an immunization. But, this time we didn't know what he had eaten to make him do this. As a rule, we don't typically feed him people food and certainly hadn't that night. Rick ended up finding one of those squash seeds close to Atticus. I don't know if he ate one or just licked it, but he was definitely allergic to it!

When he had the last reaction, the vet told us that we could give him Benadryl and that should help the hives. But just to be safe, I called the on-call vet. He said to give him Benadryl. If the reaction hadn't gotten better in a few hours, give him another dose. Rick hopped in the car and ran down to the 24 hour CVS close to our house and bought some Benadryl. We gave him a dose right away and hoped he would sleep. Rick got up at 6:00 this morning to check on him. Atticus's hives hadn't gotten much better, so he gave Atticus another dose. We got up this morning and Atticus still had hives. Rick called the vet and they said they would be closing at 1:00 today and were not open tomorrow, so we decided to just take him in for a steroid shot. Atticus is back to normal and the hives are gone! He scared us! We felt so bad that he had hives all night, but the good thing was he didn't seem to be upset or wasn't acting sick. Poor dog!

Nursery Pics!

2011-01-21T13:56:00.008-05:00

I have finally finished Fiona's nursery this week. I completed the painting of the tree on the wall and made the finishing touches. I love it! It's super cute, fun, and blue! Hopefully, she will like it too. Check it out! :)

View from the doorway

View from the closet wall

View from the back wall

View from the back wall again

The painting of the tree was a fun project. You can't see it up close, but the trunk and branches are black, and the leaves are medium and navy blue.

We've gotten so many wonderful things from the two showers we have had so far. We had one in Birmingham when we were there for Christmas and I had a surprise shower a couple of weeks ago from my awesome co-workers at ASC. My final shower will be in early March at church. That will definitely be fun too.

I am now working hard to make room for all Fiona's things. We don't have an attic or extra storage space like most homes. We have Fiona's closet and our guest room closet, so we have to make the most of that space. I have been reorganizing and cleaning out things to make our home organized and efficient. I think that will take up most of my time during March when I am off from work and awaiting Fiona's arrival. As nerdy as it sounds, I love to organize!

Projects

2011-01-15T20:47:00.002-05:00

We feel like we have done so many projects and things in our home since we moved in in February. We have replaced the appliances, drain field, and air conditioner, and put up a fence. Whew! Well, when you have an older home, I suppose I never ends. We have just took on another project.

We have taken out the carpet in the living room, dining room, and hallway. We had terrazzo underneath which is so nice but a very difficult and tedious job. First, you have to rip out the carpet and padding. Then, you have to break the tack strips in small sections as to not rip the nails out of the floor beacuse it will crack. Then, there are large nails left in the floor after the tack strips are removed. The nails have to be sawed down to the level of the floor and cannot be completely removed or pulled out because it will crack the floor. Why anyone would put carpet over a beautiful, expensive terrazzo floor in the first place baffles me. Rick has worked diligently over the last few weeks and has finished all these steps. Now, we have to clean up the carpet in the doorways of the bedrooms and put the metal divider strips down. After this is done, we are going to hire a friend from church that owns a floor cleaning and restoration company to use his big, specialized machinery to get the carpet glue up and buff the surface of the floor. We can't wait to see the final product. No more dirty carpet, just clean, sanitary terrazzo! Wahoo!

I, Stacy, started my own project this week as well. I found this cool tree graphic and decided to paint it on the wall in the nursery. So, I went to Kinko's and got the graphic put on a transparency. Then, I borrowed a projector from the church and used the transparency to trace the image on the wall. I traced it and went to Home Depot and picked out the three colors for the tree. Today I painted the trunk, branches, and the majority of the leaves. It was tedious but fun. The leaves are the same colors and similar shapes as the leaves on the curtains in the nursery. So cute! I can't wait to finish it up and see the final product. I hope to finish this weekend. If so, pictures will be posted soon!

26 Weeks (6 1/2 months)

2011-01-03T17:37:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since we've posted anything much less a pregnancy photo. It's a couple of weeks late but here we are. My stomach is significantly larger since the 20 week photo. This has been the biggest growth month for sure and it will only continue to rapidly expand from here on out as she gains weight. Our daughter is 2 pounds and 14 inches long. She is kicking up a storm and is healthy.

The last month or two have been very busy for us with full work schedules and church events. We just got home from a Christmas trip to Birmingham to see our family and friends. They even threw me a baby shower! It is my first one and I was so excited. It was precious! My sweet sister-in-law, Lea, had a onesie made for each month for the first year of her life! We will be taking a picture of the baby each month with the numbered onesie and framing it for her. How fun! I got a lot of wonderful and much needed presents as well. Our car was packed to the brim with gifts on the way home which we are so thankful. We are blessed with family and friends who love us.

3 more months and our little bundle of joy will be here! We can't wait!

20 Weeks (5 Months)

2010-11-21T15:31:00.003-05:00

As of yesterday, I am officially halfway there! The 20 week mark is here and we are very excited about that. The morning sickness is getting better with every passing week and the belly is getting bigger. I have my next appointment with my doctor this week to check on her progress.

We have also purchased our daughter's crib, mattress, and dresser. With these additions, to the previous items we have bought, the nursery furniture is complete! Rick put the dresser and crib together last weekend and it looks great. It's so exciting to see everything set up and in its place. I am still debating on whether to get this cute table I found. The only thing I am concerned about is I don't want it to be tight or cluttered in there. The good thing is, it's still early and we have time to get everything just the way we want it. Once we get everything in place, I will paint a funky tree on the wall to finish it off. Can't wait!

Happy Thanksgiving this week to all of you. We love the fall weather and have missed it so much living in south Florida. It's still in the 80's here during the day and there no changing leaved or sweaters to be found. Palm trees and blooming flowers are everywhere and while it's beautiful, it's not festive. We went to Savannah, Ga. last year for Thanksgiving and we are starting to make it our tradition. We are returning this year with a welcome addition of Jessica and Adam, my sister and brother-in-law. We like to go there because it's closest attraction to us that's not beach. :) Plus, it is beautiful with Southern charm and one of the best parts is Good Food!

Rick has been working so hard getting his Christmas concert for church together that this will be a much needed break for him. We both are in need of a vacation. When we return home from Savannah, we feel recharged and rested. It will be a short and fun trip. We will post pictures later!

It's a Girl!!!!

2010-11-05T10:28:00.006-04:00

We went to the doctor for our 18 week sonogram this week and we were so excited to find out that we are having a little girl! Now, Rick and I have got to settle on a name. Good luck to us. :) We can't wait to meet our little girl. It's so nice to be able to call our baby a "she" and "her." We wanted to post a picture of the sonogram but it's too dark. It was perfectly clear on the screen but when they printed it, you could barely see anything. Dang it!

I get so excited when I run an errand to Target and see the baby stuff. Even if I have no need to go over there, I just go to browse. They have this really nice quality organic cotton clothes and blankets from The Little Seed there and they are on clearance, so I bought a couple of things. I couldn't resist. I also bought a little baby book for her. I started it by putting all my sonogram pictures in it for her to look at one day.

I am so excited to start getting baby stuff. It's so cute and fun.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T18:46:00.005-04:00

Happy Halloween! We went over to our friends' home on Friday night with another couple to carve pumpkins! We hung out and carved our pumpkins together. Here's how ours turned out.

Unfortunately, in south Florida, Trick-or-Treating is kind of sketchy and most people don't do it unless you live in a super wealthy neighborhood, so our church has an annual Fall Festival. It usually falls on Halloween night but since it fell on a Sunday this year, we had it the night before. A lot of the kids from church come, but it's also open to anyone in the community. Most of the people that attend are those from the area whom we've never met before that want to give their kids a fun, safe Halloween. There are tons of games, pony rides, a rock wall, bounce houses, and a dunk tank. Rick did the dunk tank last year and this year we did the putt putt golf game together. The little kids were especially funny. They had such a hard time trying to putt the ball into the hole. No matter how they did, they still got a piece of candy though.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween as well! BOO!

4 months (16 weeks)

2010-10-21T21:45:00.002-04:00

We have been meaning to post pictures each month of my belly growth, but have yet to do it. So, we finally got around to it. I am now 16 weeks along and my stomach feels as though it is constantly growing. We will post another picture in a month.

12 weeks

2010-09-29T13:34:00.007-04:00

As most of you have already been informed, we are going to have a baby. I had my 12 week appointment yesterday and everything is going well. I have to go to another office on Monday to do a standard test including another ultrasound and blood test. They don't have someone on staff at my doctor's office that can do it. Rats!

The morning sickness up until this point has been rough but it seems to be getting a little bit better. The doctor said I have actually lost a little weight since my 8 week appointment. Even so, I still am not able to wear my regular pants anymore. Hello to maternity wear. No zippers or buttons, just comfy elastic! Sounds pretty good. I have started registering which is really fun. We can get more specific on what we need especially with clothes when we find out what we're having. I can't wait to pick out clothes.

Rick and I went to my boss's son's 11th birthday party this weekend. He was adopted from Colombia about a year ago. He is the cutest little boy. He loves to look good and he fixes his hair every morning into a faux-hawk. He loves to be dressed well too. He is very proper and has to look good to go out in public. This is the general attitude and philosophy of the Colombian culture. When he first came to the U.S. I got him an outfit as a gift. He wore the shorts I got him almost every day for months. My boss, Nidia, said she had to wash them daily! hahaha. Well, for this birthday, I went to Old Navy and picked out another outfit for him. He loves to skateboard so I got a skate shirt and more shorts. Most 11 year old boys wouldn't want that gift but as I said, Victor loves clothes. He and his family sat in the pew in front of me the next day at church. They were pointing at Victor and smiling because he was wearing his outfit I gave him! His mother said he loved it and had to wear it that day. She told him that I was pregnant and he said, "I hope it's a boy. She will know how to dress him. She has good taste." So cute!

Well, we don't know what we're having yet. We will find out in about 5-6 weeks. We can't wait. We are starting to look through names and hash out what we can agree on. Rick likes the normal, standard names and I like the more funky, different names. What shall we do? We'll figure something out...

New & Improved Backyard!!!

2010-09-16T17:46:00.009-04:00

The subtitle of this post should be "Stan Williams is the man!" Stan is a contractor/former landscaping business owner from our church that provided the sod. He and his trusty sidekick, Victor, knocked it out in about 5 hours. The big plus in all of this is that not only does our backyard look better than it did before, but Stan dug out all the weeds next to the fence and put new grass in places where there used to be no grass at all - the dirty/sandy spots. There isn't one thin, dirty, sandy, barren spot anywhere! Atticus is especially happy...

This is the yard before it got ripped up for the drain field installation (looks old and thin)...

New St. Augustine grass (looks new and fresh)!

Act of Congress Coming to SoFlo!!!

2010-08-30T09:30:00.002-04:00

Act of Congress is coming to South Florida!

Tuesday September 7th
Broward College (Coconut Creek)
7:00pm

Wednesday September 8th
Broward College (Davie)
7:00pm

PLEASE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO GO AND SUPPORT THIS BAND!!! I'm not only saying that because my best friend/family member is involved, but the musical experience/message is worth your while! Adam and I grew up making music together, and I've been heavily influenced by his music. Go check out their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/actofcongress to hear some tunes. When I find out if there's a cover charge or not, I'll let you know."

Bye...Bye...Backyard

2010-08-02T20:58:00.008-04:00

This is your yard after a fresh mow...

This is your yard after a machine with a giant shovel rips it apart...

Before...

After.

We're told that the installation of a new septic drain field takes approximately 5 days, so this is what we're going to be looking at this week. But, thank God, these kinds of things have a 20-year guarantee.

"Out, Out Damned Spot!"

2010-07-31T18:08:00.003-04:00

Lady MacBeth said it best, didn't she? Even though she wasn't talking about her carpet, I like to think she was, because that's how I have felt about mine. My carpet has been so gross since the day we moved in our house months ago. We have white carpet and it's miserable to clean. It gets dirty so fast especially since we have a lot of foot traffic through our home on a weekly basis. The carpet was somewhat dirty before we even moved in from service people going in and out. Then, the night we moved it was raining and you can imagine what got tracked in from the great outdoors. Now several months have elapsed and it is fully dirtied up.

There was one spot in particular that bothered me. I have been tempted to put a rug over it even though it is in an awkward spot. You would definitely be able to tell something scary was under there. I kept saying, "Rick, we HAVE to clean this carpet." No money to hire someone and none to rent a cleaner. Hmmm...what to do? We decided to ask around to our friends and co-workers to see if they had a wet vac that we could borrow. We were in luck!

One of Rick's co-workers had one and graciously let us borrow it. I spent hours on Thursday working away, but it was well worth it. Just dumping out the water that got sucked up from our carpet after the shampoo went on was a relief. It was so gross!!! But you know what?! That spot is gone, baby!!!! The whole house is clean and I feel so relieved.

Rick's Worship Blog: Karma vs. Grace

2010-07-29T18:53:00.000-04:00

Rick's Worship Blog: Karma vs. Grace: "The following is a conversation that was recently shared between my pastor, TJ Campo, and a woman in Starbucks: WOMAN: 'Ah, I see you're re..."

One Sweet Day

2010-07-27T19:05:00.006-04:00

I (Stacy) got a chance to witness one of the coolest and somberest things today. I got to watch the process of a birthmother do what is best for her child and new parents accept their baby into their family. I get to see this every so often anyways being an adoption caseworker, but each time it happens, it never ceases to amaze and sober me. I do not usually work directly with birthparents, I am more on the adoptive parents's side, but every once in a while I get asked to go with a birthmother counselor to do consent paperwork with a birthmother. We always have 2 witnesses sign paperwork and I go along to serve as one of them. It is a very serious and somber experience to go in a hospital room with a woman who just went through the anguish of childbirth a day or two before and watch her make the best decision she can for her child no matter how much it hurts her. What a selfless and courageous thing to do. Sometimes I ponder that and don't know if I could do it. I makes me respect these women a lot. In an age where abortion is at an all time high, it is a miracle that adoptions even happen. The birthmother counselor and I got to discharge the baby and take her back to the agency. The baby is so tiny and sweet, with that velvet skin. The parents are at the agency signing their papers as well. I got to hold this little miracle for about an hour while we waited for the parents to finish their documents. When we brought their daughter in, they were overjoyed and couldn't wait to get her home. Thank you God for showing me your goodness and grace today.

After work, I went home and made homemade cannolis! YUM! I ran to the Italian market close to our house and bought the shells. Oh my goodness, they smell so good. Then, whipped up the delicious filling. Who would have thought that cheese would taste this good in a dessert? I also got baker's chocolate and dipped both ends of the shells in it to give it an extra crunch and chocolate taste. My co-workers are going to love me tomorrow when I bring these babies in!

Septics and Such

2010-07-25T19:20:00.002-04:00

As some of you already know, we have been having septic tank issues the last week or so. One night I (Stacy) was taking a shower and the water wasn't draining properly. I thought, "Oh, the drain is just clogged and we need to put some liquid plumber in it." It finally drained very slowly. Then, that same night, we flushed the toilet and water started pouring out from the base of the toilet all over the floor and poop came up through the shower drain!!! We checked the guest bathroom and the same thing had happened! SICK! We cleaned it all up with bleach and what seems like a million paper towels. We couldn't use any of our water sources in the house. We used our kitchen sink to brush our teeth and wash our hands, but that was it. For the next 48 hours, we went to the gas station or church to go to the bathroom and had to go to a friend's house to take a shower. Looking back, it wasn't fun but is now somewhat comical. It took so long because we have a 1 year homeowner's warranty but when something breaks, we have to call the insurance company, they have a list of service providers that they schedule to come out to our house. This process takes a VERY long time. We have no control over the situation and cannot schedule ourselves. They came and pumped the septic out. Then, proceeded to tell us our drain field needed to be replaced which is going to cost a pretty penny. They have to apply for a permit, so it will be a couple of weeks to replace the drain field. They also said their equipment is so large, they will have to take part of our new fence off to do it. They said we should be ok for the time being until the permit comes through. Thank you God, for providing for our needs.

So last month when our AC broke, it took 2 days, a very miserable night's sleep and a hotel stay before it got fixed. With the septic, it took multiple gas station and church runs, poop cleanup, and showers at foreign houses. But, desperate times call for desperate measures. We are learning pretty quickly what it means to be an owner of a very old home. We pray nothing else breaks any time soon. All these major fiascos are sucking us dry!

Vacation Time - Birmingham

2010-06-30T09:09:00.004-04:00

As of this morning, Stacy and I have booked plane tickets to the Magic City for Mon Aug 9th - Sun Aug 15th. We're very excited to be able to get back to Birmingham before Christmas. If any of you want to hang out, please feel free to call or comment on the blog. See you in August!

Hotel Hopping

2010-06-09T22:59:00.003-04:00

So Tuesday around 5pm our AC stopped working. Still unsure of the diagnosis. We'll know on Thursday. Today I stopped by the house around lunchtime to take care of a few things and the thermostat read 93 degrees. That's when I decided Stacy, Atticus and I wouldn't be spending the night there until the AC gets fixed. Right now, we're at the Comfort Inn & Suites on Stirling Rd right by I-95. Tomorrow night...who knows? We figured since the AC guy isn't coming until tomorrow and there's a chance it won't be resolved right away, we'll just try another hotel tomorrow night!

Here's the good news:

1. FPL (Florida Power & Lighting) supplied us with $300 that is going to pay for our attic to be insulated. A guy came out today to assess the situation, and yeah...there wasn't even a patch of insulation up there. It's a crawl-in attic so I haven't really seen much of it. Last week the heat index in Hollywood/Miami was 115 degrees, so this is a huge blessing for us.

2. The previous owners purchased a homebuyer protection plan for us that covers the AC among other appliances units, etc., so hopefully if we have to pay anything, it won't be much.

Slowly but surely, this 1965 house is being repaired and updated...

New Worship Blog

2010-05-17T09:19:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone, it's Rick. If you're interested in more reading, I have a new worship blog - http://www.ricksworshipblog.blogspot.com/.

House Pictures!!!!

2010-05-07T20:26:00.002-04:00

Our friends and family have been asking to see pictures of our house since it's been unpacked and decorated. Our fence is up too! We are so happy with it. It's a great first house!

BACKYARD

MASTER BEDROOM

OUR NEW FAN!

MASTER BATH

GUEST BEDROOM

THE OFFICE
(we're still working on this room)

GUEST BATHROOM

HALLWAY

KITCHEN

(check out the new appliances!)

DINING ROOM

LIVING ROOM

(new furniture)

We hope you like it because we do! :)

What's the Hippity-Hap?

2010-04-26T18:17:00.002-04:00

Our house is coming along so nicely. The bright colors and contemporary decor just soothe me and make me feel happy. While it's not perfect, it ours! My friends have been such a wonderful support through our house buying process and even got me a housewarming gift. Wow! They are the best! Pictures of the finishing touches we did over the past few weeks are coming, I promise.

So much has been going on lately. Rick had a big Easter concert a few weeks ago and of course, he did a great job. He is definitely developing his style and encouraging people in their worship of the Lord. Right after Easter, he went on a golf trip to central Georgia with father and uncle. He reported that it was a fun, relaxing trip. He was in much need of a getaway. While he was gone, I had a housewarming get together at our house with the ladies from work. We had girly fun with wine, hors d'oeuvres, and chatting. It was really fun to have people over to ooh and ah at our first house.

This week Rick's mom and sister are coming for a visit! We are excited to have them. This is Rick's sister's first visit to see us in south Florida since we moved. We are ready to show them around town. We are blessed to be smack dab in between two large, fun cities. So many things to do and so much good, diverse food to eat! We hope to take them to the beach, go to some good restarants and get some R & R.

Pictures coming soon...

TW

2010-03-25T09:18:00.004-04:00

When I was younger, my hero was Michael Jordan. I wanted to be just like him (even though I'm as white as they get I've only grown to be 5ft 8in). Watching him slam dunk a basketball, shake a defender with a nasty cross-over dribble, or use that signature move, the fade away jumper, to put a game away was a thrill to me. Every week the Friday newspaper came in, I would immediately turn to the "Punch", the TV guide section. My #1 goal was to find out when and where the Chicago Bulls were playing, and once I did, I made a mental note - Tuesday night, 7:00, TNT, Tuesday night, 7:00, TNT.

Now I'm older, Jordan has retired 2.5(?) times, and honestly, probably embarassed himself a little by coming back the third time to play with the Washington Wizards. He now is talking about (or already is) in some sort of high rank with the Bobcats. I understand that Michael Jordan didn't have it all together. I realize that he's not this fantasy figure I always made him out to be (although catching some videos of him on YouTube is still pretty fascinating). Although he was a superstar, he is human just like the rest of us, susceptible to the same temptations as each of us...

Remind you of any current-day athlete? Yes, the "modern-day" Michael Jordan.

Not Kobe or LeBron.

Tiger.

Kobe never interested me at all. I always saw him as a Jordan wannabe. LeBron is fun to watch, but his coach isn't Phil Jackson, and he doesn't have 6 NBA Championship rings.

Tiger Woods, on the other hand, is my modern-day superstar. He's your "overcome the odds" kind of guy. He's got the mental toughness of Jordan. He's got the passion of Jordan. And he's had the same level of success as Jordan. Yet, as we all know by now, Tiger has also shown his "human" side in the past few months. People seem to be a little more forgiving for Jordan's gambling addiction. But for Tiger, his sex scandal was a lot uglier and for many people a lot more difficult to forgive. If the internet had been as widespread during Jordan's era as it is for Tiger, we may have had a lot more info, but Tiger lives in my generation, so he's the one who's getting tweeted about, facebooked about, posted on blogs, websites, search engines...

Any difference between these two guys? Not really. But in my mind, yes. Since Michael Jordan was my childhood hero, he remains there. Although I know there were issues in his life, I was really too young to understand, so his picture is a lot more polished. Tiger became a part of my life in 8th grade when he won his first Masters, so as I've grown up and matured, so has he. I'm alot more aware of what the media says about him, what the search engines and websites and facebooks are saying about it. We have ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNnews, ESPN.com, GOLF channel, PGAtour.com...I'm pretty well-educated on the guy.

Yet, Tiger's personal issues aren't going to change the way I feel about it. Saying that I forgive him on this blog post probably won't mean much because I don't know him personally, and whether I not I watch him play golf is going to have absolutely no effect on his game. And no, I don't agree with his religious choices (that's a whole 'nother blog), but I do think there is one good thing he has done, and he's mentioned it in his interviews...

"I was forced to face the truth of the man I had become."

As a Christian, I believe that is one of the healthiest things I can do. Allow God's Word to help me see who I really am. I am a needy sinner who is susceptible to temptation like Tiger. His situation (and Michael Jordan's) reminds me that no matter how much of a front we put up, no matter how much of a superstar we think we are, the truth is, we are needy people. I am a needy person. I can't walk through this life without grace and mercy. I mess up. I have judgmental thoughts. I use hurtful words. We may not have all gone out and cheated on our wives, but we're impatient, we get envious, we feel that have "rights", we love people and get mad when they don't love us back. That's how the Pharisees acted, and they didn't think they were needy. But a "needy sinner" is the most attractive person to Jesus. He is drawn to needy people, and his death allows needy people like you and me to be healed of all the disgusting motives, behaviors and actions that we do every day. All we do is believe on Him and repent.

This Easter season, when you are attending your Good Friday service or Easter service, let's come as needy people. Let's come like Isaiah did, in awe, but also aware of the great gap between God's holiness and his sinfulness. And then, as we see that gap, let's look upon Jesus and see Him for Who He is, the bridge that closes the gap.

The CA Championship at Doral (The Blue Monster)

2010-03-15T21:12:00.007-04:00

My friend Roberts had 2 extra tickets to the WGC-CA Championship at Doral, so upon offering them to me, I gladly accepted. For those of you who aren't much into golf, Doral is an upscale golf course in Miami. The resort has multiple courses, most which are identified by a color (i.e. the red course, etc.). The blue course, or "blue monster", is the most challenging and is played by the PGA Tour professionals.

I called my buddy Trey (the attorney for the adoption agency Stacy works for) and invited him to go, and thankfully he was available. Trey and I are golfing buddies. We both have a love for sports, particularly football and golf, so it was a no-brainer who that 2nd ticket was going to. As soon as church was over, I went home (which is about 2 minutes driving), changed clothes and headed over to pick up Trey. We got a bite to eat from Mcee-Dee's and hopped on the Palmetto Expressway towards Miami.

Parking was a piece of cake. Roberts had also given us a parking pass that got us into a free lot. It's nice when the guy collecting money at the gate waves you off to the "special" parking lot. After parking, we got on a shuttle bus that took us to the course.

As we approached the first tee, we noticed that the putting green was just across the cart path, so we thought, "Hey, let's see who's on it." Putting greens are usually a great way to get an up-close look at the golfers, and that's exactly what happened. As we approached, there's Padraig Harrington, ten feet away. Paddy's a lot taller than I thought, and really slim. I guess that goes to show that most people you watch on TV look different in person. A few yards away from him, Ernie Els. Ernie's an exception to the TV rule...he's as big as he looks. Short torso, really long legs, huge forearms. Afterwards, we were fortunate enough to find a seat in the stands behind the 1st tee. Sitting behind Paddy and Ernie while they practice swing is absolutely stunning. Watching them hit the ball and seeing it almost disappear, breathtaking...

Trey and I decided we'd follow the last group, which was Ernie Els and Charl Schwartz. They stayed neck-and-neck for most of the day, but Ernie pulled away on the back 9 and won by 4 strokes.

Some quick highlights:
Ernie's tee shot on #4 (Par 3, 236 yards) - the ball came off over the water, disappeared, and re-appeared as it seemingly floated to the green. 8-foot birdie putt, good! Oh yeah, it was a 6-iron.

Following Ernie Els and Charl Schwartz for the entire front nine.

Finding a spot in the grand stands on #18 - we were fortunate enough to come across some front-row seats with backrests!

Watching big-name golfers walk on the green at 18 - Villegas, Mickelson, Singh, Mayhan...to name a few.

Getting to see a guy win a tournament on a Sunday...live.

The only low-light? No Tiger.

House Pics

2010-03-11T22:16:00.008-05:00

So these are a little out of order, but oh well...

Back patio looking from the inside.

Back patio looking from the outside.

New dishwasher!

Atticus and the kitchen.

New refrigerator and cooktop!

Hallway looking from the guest bedroom.

Guest bedroom.

Hallway looking from the living room.

Master bedroom.

Front.

Front yard looking west (away from the beach).

Side yard.

Front door and carport.

Living room (with new leather sectional and armoire!)

View of the dining room from the living room.

*Also included but not pictured: office (3rd bedroom), master & guest bathroom, side yard on the east side of the house.

The New House

2010-03-11T08:55:00.004-05:00

So I (Rick) have started taking some pictures of the new house, and I was planning on sitting down and uploading a few of them, but I put the camera down somewhere amidst all of our boxes and now I can't find it, so I guess we'll just have to wait a little longer.

Up to this point, we have about 70% of our stuff unpacked. The past few days we've really begun to feel like it's our home, not box land. Stacy's mom came down last week and helped us paint and unpack. She was a big help (Thanks, Cyndi!).

In other events, Stacy and I went to see "Wicked" in Miami last weekend. Man oh man, what a show! It was my first time seeing it. Stacy saw it in New York a few years ago. The music is very, very good, and alot of that has to do with the incredible actor/singers that are cast. If you haven't ever seen this show, go see it when it comes near you.

So as soon as I find my camera I promise I'll post some pictures of the new place...

Next Week

2010-02-18T17:20:00.002-05:00

While we have had some road blocks through the process to home ownership, we are still excited. We are supposed to close next week on our very first home! We bought our new appliances for the kitchen and they're beautiful! They are all stainless steel and energy efficient. I can't wait to see them in our kitchen. We also bought our new living room furniture last week and it's fabulous. I picked out and bought our paint for the living room and bedroom last week as well. The colors are very bright and some that have seen them are scared, but that's what I like. All this "new" is very refreshing and exciting. We are anxious to be in our home and looking forward to staying in one place for a while. We did it...

Beach House

2010-01-30T17:10:00.003-05:00

Rick and I have finally found a home! We have a contract on it and are waiting to hear back about the appraisal. We will close in less than a month and we are so excited. It's definitely retro but most of the houses in our area are older. With a few updates, we'll be in business. We looked for 5 long months but I think we have found the one. It's a three bedroom, two full bath home. It's peach too! A true, traditional Florida color. Houses are every color you could imagine here. It's extremely close to both of our jobs. Rick could ride his bike to work if he wanted to. We can't believe it actually happened. God has truly blessed us and taken care of us through the long struggle that is buying a home.

Orphans

2009-11-11T20:05:00.003-05:00

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling."  -Psalm 68:5

This past Sunday was deemed "Orphan Sunday" (www.orphansunday.org) dedicated to the issue of and provision for orphans around the world. Of course, I work at an adoption agency and a lot of my time is spent thinking about adoption and more importantly, the orphans/children being adopted. While my life is enveloped in this issue, most others are not. In saying that, I challenge all who read this to take a minute and ponder how you can help these children in need. Not everyone is called to adopt, but God says in His Word that we are all called to care for orphans.

"Pure and faultless religion in the sight of God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." -James 1:27

There are 143 million orphans in the world. That current number was nearly half its size in the last few years and honestly, it is a crying shame. While that number might feel overwhelming to you (and honestly, it does to me at times too) and you might feel like "i can't even make a dent in 143 million." You absolutely can! Don't let the number intimidate you but motivate you. One by one, we can make that number go down. If every person willing and able took a small part, think about how much that number could be reduced! Think of the stark contrast in their current daily lives to the life they could have in a loving, caring home!

As I said previously, not everyone is called to adopt, but there are ways to help aid these kids:

1. You can help sponsor a family wanting to adopt.

2. You can commit to pray for orphans and their needs.

3. You can adopt a child or be a foster parent.

4. You can donate funds to an orphanage or shelter for children.

5. You can give a donation(s) to an non-profit organization or agency that aids and/or places children.

6. You can donate your time to volunteer with a church program or children's organization

providing for orphans.

The possibilities are many. Really think about this issue and figure out a way, no matter how plentiful or small your resources, you can make a difference. God is calling you.

Glorious Vacation

2009-10-21T20:37:00.002-04:00

Since this is Rick's first year at his new job, he only gets a one week vacation, so his time off is limited. The longer you are employed with the church, the longer the vacation time. Next year, he will have two weeks. We are trying to use those vacation days sparingly, but a vacation is much needed. So, since we do not have family close by, we have been pondering our Thanksgiving plans. What to do...what to do? I didn't want to cook traditional food for just the two of us and we'd just be here by ourselves, so we thought we would do something different. Maybe we can make it a new tradition for our family. We have decided to go to Savannah, Ga. for a few days for Thanksgiving! We have never been there and I (Stacy) have always wanted to go. The pictures are so beautiful and Southern and friends that have visited Savannah have only said good things. My sister, Jessica, and her husband, Adam, coincidentally just went for their anniversary and had a wonderful time. I have gotten suggestions from her but more are welcome, so let us know what fun things we can do while we're there! We are staying at a super cool hotel in the historic district which will be close to all the sites and happenings of Savannah. We can have some leisurely strolls through the city to get to our destinations since our hotel is so close. We have also booked a special riverboat dinner cruise the night of Thanksgiving! It's an old timey riverboat and they are serving a gourmet Thanksgiving feast for dinner. There is a band and dancing and the weather is supposed to be ideal. Maybe we'll make this a regular Thanksgiving trip. We are so excited. Rick has been doing a great job and working so hard at the church. He especially deserves a few days off. Hooray!

Still Looking...

2009-10-21T20:26:00.004-04:00

We are still on our prolonged house hunt. The market in Florida is nuts. People are jumping on properties like wolves on a piece of meat and it's hard for us to compete (hey, that rhymes!). Every time we like a property and put in an offer, there are others that come in the same day with offers as well. A lot of investors are buying now too, which means they have more money up front and sometimes even pay cash for the properties! Crazy! There are tons of foreclosures and short sales here which are not fun to deal with considering the bank has to approve the offer (can take months) and the properties are run down due to lack of care or upkeep since they are vacant. Closing costs, property taxes, and insurance are sky high as well and is something that we have to consider when buying. It has been frustrating and a little exhausting but we are still trucking along. We have been looking with our realtor every Friday morning for a couple of months now and have still not found "our house." We just want to get it done. The federal tax credit expires November 30th so we are in a time crunch and it looks like we are not going to make it. On a positive note, our realtor is pretty confident that the tax credit will be extended for another year which buys us more time to get it. Our lease is up February 1st and time is a' tickin'. The market is so different in south Florida than what we are used to in Birmingham. It's definitely an adjustment but we are getting more and more comfortable with it. In Birmingham, you can find a nice starter home with enough room that is move-in ready. Here, the houses are much, much older (most are built in the 1950's or 1960's) and need a lot of work on them. It is rare to find a home in our price range that is move-in ready. It seems like the odds are against us, but we are praying hard and know we will eventually find our home. Please pray as well!

Home Sweet Home...Where Are You?

2009-08-27T22:51:00.002-04:00

It felt very strange tonight being on the phone with our real estate agent talking about escrow, mortgages, and contracts. I feel like such an adult. It is rare that I feel apart of the category of "Adult."

We are in the process of looking for a home to purchase. It's our first home buy at that! Everything is new and we are learning a great deal. Thank goodness for friendly advice and counsel. We have a wonderful real estate agent who is a trusted friend and she is working hard for us. It's just been a couple of weeks since we initiated the process but things are moving and grooving. (It doesn't hurt that there is an $8,000 tax credit available for first time home buyers either). Homes are much more expensive here in south Florida but fortunately for us, it is a buyers market. Florida's market has been hit very, very hard so prices are low.

We are really looking forward to settling in here and planting our roots. We have been doing so much moving in the last 2+ years and are tired of it. We will be our new home for a long time (we hope). I, Stacy, am so excited about finally being able to paint and decorate my new home. Every home we move to, the layout is different, home needs are different, etc. Pictures never get hung, rooms don't get finished, things are not always matching. I am ready for our home to be polished, funky, and so us! I have been shopping online at IKEA to coordinate our decor and fill in the gaps. I love to do it and am pumped. How fortunate are we to have one so close to us. Hooray!

We have an appointment in the morning with our agent to view some houses we are interested in. We'll see what happens. We are praying every day that God would provide a nice, suitable home for us that we can afford. It's just the beginning...

The Magic City

2009-08-17T18:42:00.002-04:00

Rick and I spent the last few days in Birmingham and it was great. I can't believe it. It's been 7 months since we've been been there. We went so Rick could be in a friend's wedding but the bonus was that we got to see our family and friends while we were there. We squeezed as much and as many people into those 3 1/2 days as we could. We love living in south Florida but coming back to Birmingham for the first time after we have moved, I think we appreciate the people in Alabama that engulfed our lives. We know we made the right decision by moving here. It sure is nice to visit every once in a while though. Magic City, we'll be seeing you again soon.

Viva Colombia!

2009-08-05T19:36:00.006-04:00

" For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are

sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery

leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption

as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself

testifies with our spirit that we are children of God."

-Romans 8:14-16

I (Stacy) returned this past Saturday afternoon to the U.S. from the beautiful country of Colombia. It was a wonderful, emotional, tiring, and amazing trip. The team was totally focused on the Lord and everyone worked their butts off with no complaining. We worked every day in the emergency shelter. The shelter had 3 floors of offices and bedrooms that needed repairs, painting, and replacements. Our team worked incredibly hard all day every day and accomplished more than we thought possible. We painted all the bedrooms (including the ceilings) hallways, doors, and baseboards on each floor. We also had team members with us that specialized in certain skills i.e. an electrician, contractors, tile/flooring that came in very handy. After a few days we even got the children hot water running for the first time!

"Freely you have received, freely give."

-Matthew 10:8

The people of Colombia are so giving, hospitable, and grateful. The workers at the shelter welcomed us with open arms and served us so much. We were prepared to bring boxed lunches with us to the shelter each day to eat, but they workers insisted on cooking and serving us lunch all week. They barely have enough to feed those children. While they have nothing, they gave everything. What amazing attitudes!

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be

demanded; and fromthe one who has been entrusted with

much, much more will be asked."

-Luke 12:48

We played with the kids and also did a craft with all the children every day after lunch. They seemed to really enjoy them. One day we took a picture of each child and printed it out. Then, they made a picture frame for the picture to keep for themselves. Most of them have never taken a picture, much less have anything to call their own. While my Spanish is not that great, I know enough to get by. Sometimes, carrying on conversation was frustrating because I couldn't understand what the children were saying or what they wanted to tell me. Some of their stories were heart-wrenching. I have no idea how they get through the day with crisis after crisis. They have no one and nothing. Most of them have been abandoned, abused, or orphaned. They are thought of as lowly by their fellow Colombians. They are the outcasts. There are so many children just sitting around and waiting to be loved by a family in that country. It's devastating. They are ripped from one home, one place to the other.

"He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow,

and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing."

-Deuteronomy 10:18

Every night the ladies on the team worked on decorating some cute, canvas drawstring backpacks for each child with their name on it. We stuffed them each with a coloring book, crayons, sidewalk chalk, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a teddy bear, and a toy. We gave them out the last day we were at the shelter. They loved them and the joy each of us felt was immeasurable.

"For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I

was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was

a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you

clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in

prison, and you came to Me."

-Matthew 25:35-36

The last day was especially emotional having to say goodbye to the wonderful staff and all those children, knowing that most of those kids would never have a permanent family. The children performed some native dances for us which were great. We exchanged gifts with the staff members at the shelter and said our goodbyes. We had ordered new mattresses and bedding for all the beds and the staff put the new supplies in one boys and one girls room for us to see before we left. It was an amazingly beautiful sight. Most of our team, including myself, cried at the sight of those bedrooms. We saw the fruits of our labor right in front of us. I am tearing up even as I write this. While the work we did that week was small in comparison to what needs to be done in the world for all the orphans, it made a dent and truly touched my heart forever. I can still see the precious faces of those children in my mind.

"A father of the fatherless, defender of widows,

Is God in His holy habitation.

God sets the solitary in families;

He brings out those who are bound into prosperity."

-Psalm 68:5-6

God has called and commanded us to care for the orphans. God's work is never done but we each can make a difference together for the cause of Christ.

A Lonely Week

2009-07-29T21:37:00.002-04:00

Stacy's been in Colombia since Saturday. This isn't the first time we've spent a night or more away from each other, but it is the first time I've been the one to stay home, and it's the longest we've ever been away from each other since we were married. I'm not going to lie - I had a case of separation anxiety when she left last Saturday. I wasn't on the floor in the fetal position or anything, but I had a sadness that stayed with me. I've gotten more and more used to coming home alone as the days have gone by, but being alone isn't something I'm going to miss once she comes back. She's been working hard painting and hanging out with some of the orphans. When I asked her if she was glad that she went, she gave me an enthusiastic "YES." That made me smile.

Colombia

2009-07-17T19:16:00.003-04:00

As some of you know, I (Stacy) am going to Colombia next week for a mission trip through the adoption agency I work for and the church we attend. I am incredibly excited and honored to be given this opportunity. I will be with a team of 22 consisting of co-workers from the agency (Adoption by Shepherd Care) and members of our church (St. Andrews Presbyterian, PCA). We will be working in an emergency shelter for children in Bogota, Colombia's capital. Over the past few years, my passion for orphans has grown, especially since I started working in adoption. So, this expedition is especially close to my heart since we will be working with children who are in this shelter due to being orphaned or abandoned. There can be up to 120 children there at one time that are waiting for adoption, an orphanage, or to be put into foster care. It is truly devastating that there are 143 million orphans in the world. Can you believe that?! 143 MILLION! That number continues to grow every year. The particular shelter we are visiting has great workers who care deeply about the children but have very little resources to provide for them. The team is taking supplies to paint and make reparations to the structure. We have also collected donations of clothing, books, toys, hygiene products, etc. to help aid these children in their daily lives. They have so little and we have so much. The team will also be doing a Vacation Bible School with the kids to teach them about Christ and His love for them. They are the fatherless who desperately want a Father who desperately wants them. I pray that we can show the workers and children in this shelter the love that only Christ can give and they will be truly impacted by it. It is going to be a blessing and life-changing experience. I cannot wait to serve in South America!

Home in August

2009-07-09T08:12:00.002-04:00

Stacy and I will be coming back to Birmingham Aug. 13 - 16 for Chris and Nancy's wedding. We fly in at 10:30 Thursday morning and leave around 3:00 Sunday afternoon.

Sorry, this post is really short...

Miami!

2009-06-21T05:26:00.014-04:00

Stacy and I spent Friday and Saturday in Miami this past weekend to celebrate our upcoming anniversary (June 23rd). We stayed at a hotel called the Doubletree Grand, which overlooks the beautiful Biscayne Bay (separates downtown from Miami Beach). That city is a lot bigger than I thought. Endless amounts of things to do. Be sure to scroll to the end to see what pulled up to the marina yesterday!

Driving in downtown Miami

Entrance to the Doubletree Grand

View from our balcony overlooking Biscayne Bay

View of the hotel next to us from our balcony (lots of these hotels down here have 50 billion stories)

We went to a place called CocoWalk for dinner (in the area of Coconut Grove). It has a bunch of shops and restaurants. This is where we ate dinner.

You can't tell from this picture, but these pianos have the original keyboards gutted out and have electric keyboards inserted. It allows you to keep the volume of the pianos under control, and you never have to tune them! There were two guys playing dualing pianos (as you'll see in the picture below). They had a very rockish, Elton/Billy style. Very fun!

Hanging out at CocoWalk

Another view of downtown (you really need a panoramic view to see it all. It's huge)

Another view from our balcony

same

Standing on the 10th floor pool area. This plane was alot closer than it looks!

View of the marina from the 10th floor pool area

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but this boat brought in a big "fish". Scroll down to see!

Cruise ships waiting to be boarded

This is another part of the Doubletree Grand. Our hotel was situated on the outside of the structure with an outdoor balcony, and these, as you can see, have indoor balconies.

Giving you an idea of how ridiculously high this place is...

So I decided to be a man and ride the elevator up to the 38th floor. My palms were sweating when I got off the elevator. This is a view all way back down to that fountain I was standing at a few pictures ago. Frightening! I don't think I'd feel comfortable staying in a room this high up.

Outside view from the 38th floor

Sea Isle Marina & Yachting Center. Same marina of the pictures I took earlier.

View of Miami from the marina
The Miami Post-Herald

Brace yourselves...

This is the big "fish" I was telling you about earlier. A nice-sized hammerhead shark! Double-click to get a closer look!

Visits, Visits, Visits

2009-05-30T15:34:00.004-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been extremely fun and busy. We have had family visits back to back and it's been great!

First, my (Stacy) parents were here for a week. We did a lot of things during their time with us. We went and ate our first Cuban meal here in south Florida. What took us so long?! I'm not a big Latin food fan, but to my surprise, it was very good. My dad loves Cuban food and was dying to go. As you might know, there are a lot of Cubans that live in our area, so the food was very authentic. We went and ate on the bay which is very pretty. You sit outside on the water and have your meal with picturesque scenery all around. It's very relaxing. We also went to the Everglades and my parents got to see some gators close up. They went to the beach and our pool a few times. All in all, it was a good visit and we're very glad they got to make the trip down. We've missed them.

Second, in between family visits, a couple we know from college was in town one night on their way back from vacation. Rick and I met up with them at their hotel and took them to Las Olas in Ft. Lauderdale to eat at a seafood restaurant. Then we went for a walk on the beach. It was very refreshing to see some old friends our age. We had a great time with them.

Lastly, my sister, Jessica and her husband, Adam (and Rick's best friend), came a couple days later for a whole week of fun! Unfortunately, Rick and I had to work a few days while they were here, but they made the most of their time. They went to Miami for a day as we were working. They visited the Miami Museum of Art and Viscaya, an early 20th century home of grand architecture. We took them to the Everglades as well. Obviously, there's a theme here. We take all our family there when they are here for the first time. We took them out to eat in beautiful downtown Hollywood and some other places around town. One night we even went to the IMAX theatre in Ft. Lauderdale to see the new Night at the Museum movie. It was great hanging out with them. They are so much fun and we can truly be our silly selves around them. As we dropped them off at the airport yesterday, we truly felt how much we've missed their company. Friends like that are a precious treasure. We will really miss them.

We love having company in our home. Hosting is a joy and seeing friendly faces from Birmingham doesn't hurt either. So, come on down and see us.

We will be in Birmingham for a friend's wedding from August 13-16. Hope to see you there!

Never a Dull Moment...

2009-05-11T20:30:00.003-04:00

So yesterday Stacy and I decided to go to Little Caesar's to get one of their $5 hot-n-ready pizzas. As we were about to leave, I saw an interesting site...a middle-aged man driving a motor-scooter with his legs crossed smoking a cigarette. The way he was sitting, it looked like he could hop right off that thing and walk to the door.

Never a dull moment...

Here's Atticus...

2009-05-05T18:56:00.002-04:00

Fabulous, Da'ling

2009-04-28T19:40:00.015-04:00

Stacy originally started this post, but as I added more pictures, I couldn't figure out how to pull the text up, but just scroll down and read a little and you should get the idea. Enjoy!

Yes, it's RED! Fire Engine, Candy Apple, RED! So I got it in my head last week that I finally was going to start decorating my house. I never was able before, ever since we were married, but now is the time, my friends. I am starting with the living/dining room. Because it needs it the most, it's the room we entertain in, and it's the first room you see when you walk in. And, we want a nice, bright first impression, right?!

I said, "Rick, I want to redo this table. It's time. Can we do that and get some new accessories for the living room this weekend?"

Rick: "Sure. And I will help you."

(he was probably regretting making that statement/offer halfway through the painting. haha.)

Just a few days after I decided to grab this project by the horns, we headed off to some stores to get some quick accessories (shown below) and the paint supplies to get to work on our table. After a few short hours of getting supplies and accessories, we were home and ready to rumble.

We spread out a tarp on the back porch, sanded the tabled and all six chairs (with 6 spokes per chair included!), and went to work. The chairs, I will not lie, were incredibly laborious. The tiny little spokes on each chair were meticulous and irritating, but we did it. We worked on Saturday and Sunday afternoon to finish but we did it. 2 coats later, it looked RED and FABULOUS! Just how I envisioned it. It's a wonderful, bright surprise each time I walk in the room. I love it. It's different, funky, and modern. Just how I like it.

As you can see, I picked out some accessories to go with the room. I am sticking with my colors being red, yellow, and blue with a brown as a neutral. I think I am going to really like our new living room when it's done. Let us know if you have any suggestions or ideas, especially if they are funky and inexpensive.

Music to My Ears

2009-04-18T10:07:00.003-04:00

Last week was Easter and Rick did a great job with the music! He had three different days of music to plan: Maundy Thursday concert (which was an hour long), Good Friday service, and Easter services. The music was fabulous and everyone really worshipped the Lord for the sacrifice He made on the cross. Rick is appreciated and loved at St. Andrews for his talent and focus. He is doing a great job and we're very proud of him. This is definitely where God wants us and that is a peaceful feeling.

Nunchuck Man

2009-04-06T20:46:00.002-04:00

(Rick writing)

Before I begin this post, I need to point out that our dog, Atticus, is snoring like a grown man...

I've been meaning to write about this for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. Usually on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, I like to go to TY Park across the street before work to have a devotional. At 7:30 a.m., there's already a good number of people out walking or jogging around the track. It's a really popular place that many people call their "back yard". During my time there, I have recently discovered a man that roller blades around the track with his dog on a leash. He usually has earphones in and seems to either be singing with the music or talking to himself. That's not the fun part, though. Once he's done roller blading, he puts his dog in the car and removes his roller blades. He then takes out his nunchucks, stands in the middle of the park for all to see, and goes through his nunchucking routine. And if you're lucky, you'll catch him on a day when he's doing his routine...while rollerblading! It's definitely a fun distraction!

First Week of Work

2009-04-04T14:45:00.002-04:00

Well, as some of you know, this week was my first official week of work at the adoption agency. And...IT WAS GREAT! It was the best first day and week of work at any job I have ever had. I really feel like adoption is my niche and that I will be in this field for a long time. There is so much to know and learn, but I feel great about the upcoming journey. Everyone that works there is a lot of fun. They have a conglomeration of personalities that makes work interesting and definitely not boring. They have been great in giving me insight into the world of adoption, and more specifically, adoption in Florida. They are educating me and training me in a helpful, supportive way in a Christian environment that is really uplifting. We meet once a week and have a devotion together and pray for the agency. We eat lunch together every day which helps me get to know each person better. So far, it's been great and spurs me on to learn more and to keep coming back to work with a positive attitude which is a hard thing to find in a job! Thank you, Lord, that Rick and I have found great jobs in this tough economy. You're awesome!

Update

2009-03-29T21:32:00.003-04:00

Hey guys,

I figured it was time for a new update since it's been about 2 weeks since our last post. Hmm...what to write about...

Stacy starts her new job as a case worker at Adoption by Shepherd Care tomorrow. She's really looking forward to being able to work in ministry. She's been wanting to do something like this for a long time, and I'm thrilled that God's brought this opportunity.

Every year St. Andrews does a Maundy Thursday concert (I'm not real sure what "maundy" means, but Thursday is the Thursday before Easter), a Good Friday service at noon, and, of course, an Easter service. I've got a lot of work left to do to prepare for that busy week. The Maundy Thursday concert is going to be a little more contemporary in style. We have the following instrumentation lined up:

Myself: piano
Johnny Moore: guitar
Tom Lippincott - jazz guitarist (I think he teaches at U of Miami)
Rob Benson: bass
David (don't know his last name): drums
Caleb Gundlach: synth
Elissa (forgot her last name): flute
Robin Puentes: percussion
Theo Campo, Katie Taylor, Stacy Barnes, Bobbilee Tanner: vocals
Choir

The Easter service will be mixed in style, including a string trio and our usual Sunday morning instrumentation (guitar, bass, piano, percussion).

Stacy and I recently have been exercising together with Wii Fit. It's really fun and has a lot of different things you can do. For those of you who have a Wii and are looking for intruiging ways to exercise, we highly recommend it.

This afternoon I watched golf. I'm a huge Tiger Woods fan, and it was definitely his day. It's so much fun watching him make a winning putt with a fist pump to follow. That guy is unreal.

That's all for now...

The Everglades

2009-03-16T20:14:00.014-04:00

This weekend, my (Rick) mom was in town. We took a trip to the Everglades, which is only about 30 minutes west of Hollywood. It was really neat. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but I'll say that it was quite the unique experience. We took an air boat through the water to search for alligators. I've never stopped to think about it much, but seeing a large animal like an alligator in it's natural habitat is a very rare experience. It almost didn't seem real. After the boat ride, we got to walk around and look at other animals, too.

I got a job!

2009-02-25T20:39:00.004-05:00

I got hired at a Christian adoption agency here in Hollywood on Monday, Adoption by Shepherd Care! (www.adoptionshepherdcare.com) I am so excited to embark on the wonderful yet tough world of adoption. I thought it was going to be so difficult to find a job after moving and in this difficult economic climate in America, but the Lord provided. Not only did He provide me a job, but one in a field I have been praying about entering for some time. What a blessing! I will be a caseworker primarily working with birth mothers. It can be a heart-wrenching business but seeing those sweet babies/children being adopted by a family that will love and provide for them is all worth it. I am excited about entering this new world. It takes at least 6 months to train to do what I will be doing. It's a good thing too, because there is so much that goes into the adoption process and to learn about it. The staff at ABSC is fantastic! They are all Believers and it shows. Most of them also go to our church which is really nice. They truly love what they do and are so passionate in sharing their life's work with me.

I got to go on my first shadowing experience today with two caseworkers at the agency. We drove about an hour to see a birth mother and father who are about to deliver. I saw how paternity rights paperwork and proceedings are done, how the agency supports its birthmothers whether emotional, spiritual, or physical/financial, etc. I got to meet the couple and watch an adoption pro from that agency at work. She was amazing! I also got to ask her a lot of questions and hear her stories on the car ride. It was a wonderful learning experience and I look forward to more in the future. No matter what the circumstances of the adoption, you can see God through each one. He has adopted us as children through Christ in his Great love for us. What a beautiful, tangible picture of that! Thank you for all the encouragement and prayers for me in finding a job. I could not have asked for anything better. I look forward to my future at ABSC. I know that the Lord will teach me to love just as Christ has loved me everyday through this job.

General Update

2009-02-22T14:25:00.004-05:00

This post is going to be a general update with no specific theme. Last Tuesday I (Rick) went and got my Florida drivers license. I have to admit, I used to pride myself that I knew my AL license # by heart, but I have been humbled. A Florida license # is about 12-15 characters long! It's got a letter or two in there as well. Luckily, I made an appointment online, so I was only there an hour. Everyone in my office kept saying things like, "Well, prepare to be there awhile" or "see you in a few days", so I'm glad it didn't take too long. Another cool thing is that they print the hard copy right there in the office, so there's no waiting 2-3 weeks for it to come in the mail.

Stacy has her 2nd interview at Adoption by Shepherd Care tomorrow. She's really excited about it, and the staff seem very excited to see her again. There are multiple women from our church that work there, and all of them seem to really enjoy their work. Our church also works very closely with them. We're praying hard that if it's God's will, Stacy will get the job. If not, we'll pray he gives her something she likes.

This past Thursday, I bought a used Apple laptop (iBook G4). I wasn't planning on getting one yet, but one lady in our office heard of a certain business in Hollywood that went under, and they were selling all of their computers for great prices (the company hadn't officially announced the sale yet, so we got in before anyone else did!). Stacy and I were in need of a new computer, so I decided I'd just go look. At first it seemed that everything was a desktop, but then I happened find this Apple laptop. After playing around with it and checking with some Apple users from work, I determined it was a good buy. Stacy and I love it.

I'm going to play my first round of golf in Hollywood tomorrow with a guy named Trey Miller. I think he's a lawyer. He's a couple of years older than me and has a wife and kids. We're playing at a course he recommended called Orangebrook. Looked pretty nice from the website, and it's only about 10 minutes from my house. Speaking of golf, I'm STOKED about Tiger Woods returning to the tour. Golf sure has missed him, and I told Stacy for my birthday that I wanted to watch Tiger.

That's all I've got for now. Will post later.

More Stuff

2009-02-16T19:21:00.007-05:00

Today, I had the whole day off, so Stacy and I went to TY (Topeekeegee Yugnee) Park and the beach. The park is always full of people and has a walking track that stretches about 2 1/2 miles around. There's a couple of playgrounds...even a small waterpark. It's right across the street from our subdivision. The beach is about 15 minutes from our house. There isn't really "sand" on the beach. Instead its rocks and seashell bits about the size of sand grains. It's still soft enough to walk on. It was really windy today, so it made 78 degrees feel like 70. It was funny because some of the locals were in jeans and hooded sweatshirts, but it wasn't too cold for Stacy and me to wear our bathing suits. Enjoy the pictures!

Meet Our House

2009-02-15T14:05:00.015-05:00

In this post, we would like to introduce you to our house. It's in a subdivision called Tamerlane, and, coincidentally, most of the people living here own dogs. Atticus has had a few opportunities to get acquainted with other dogs, where he actually just freaks out and tries to jump on them. Below you'll find some pictures I took.

Pic 1: There's 4 parking spots in front of our house. It's two stories and has 3 bedrooms. You can't see it from this shot, but there's a "Beware of Dog" sign in the window! Atticus is anything but a guard dog...funny.

Pic 2: This view is looking at the front doors that you can see from the outside on pic 1. The first door on the right has the laundry room, a bathroom and a bedroom. The next one (closest to you) is the kitchen. The stairs take you to another bedroom and the master bed/bath.

Pic 3: This is the view from the stairs. As you can see, it's just a big living/dining area. There's also a deck outside the sliding glass doors.

Pic 4: This is the view standing by the door to the deck. Our kitchen has a nice long bar and tons of cabinet space. Atticus likes it when I stand this far back and throw one of his toys all the way to the front door. He's definitely got plenty of room to play.

Pic 5: This picture shows you the loft above the kitchen, which is the master bedroom. It makes it easy for us to toss things over the edge if we don't feel like walking up the stairs! I think we should have a fire pole installed...there's also a little side yard through the sliding glass door.

Pic 6: This is our deck. Some gracious church members came by and planted the flowers that you see. Unfortunately, we had a couple of nights in the 30s last week and the one on the far left died. I really like this area.

Pic 7: Atticus decided to get in the camera while I was snapping some shots. He's gotten up to about 15 lbs. He's a fiesty little booger, but he seems to be loving his new home.

We're Finally Here!

2009-01-30T15:45:00.002-05:00

We are in Hollywood and have moved all our things in our new home! The past two days were long and tiring but we made it. Rick did a great job driving the massive moving truck that was also towing my car behind it. It was like driving an 18-wheeler. We had a few times when we got in a bind and ended up at a dead end and Rick had to do some clever maneuvering. Whoops! We found out what truck stops are like and how stinking long it takes to fill up a truck that size. You live, you learn.

We eventaully got to our house and some church members were there to greet us and help us unload our truck. We couldn't have done it without them. They put some essentials in our fridge and pantry, planted some flowers in the back and front yard, and fed us dinner. What a blessing!

Our house is nicer and roomier than we thought. We didn't have a clear idea of what we were getting ourselves into since we didn't get to see it before we moved in. We just saw pictures and signed the lease, praying that everything would be ok. We trusted and God provided. We are so happy with it! It's nicer and roomier than we thought it was going to be. Pictures will be coming soon.

Now, we're just concentrating on unpacking all our things and making Hollywood feel like home. Rick starts his new job this Sunday. I am in the process of looking for one for myself. We can't wait to hear from all of you. We will miss you!

Doggy!

2009-01-14T18:40:00.007-05:00

I (Rick) would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our new dog, Atticus. He was Stacy's surprise Christmas present. He's a pure-bred Boston Terrier and is almost 4 months old. He can be fiesty at times, but he sleeps ALOT. Never heard him bark. He's been an enjoyable addition to our home. Enjoy the pictures!

Not Homeless Anymore!

2009-01-12T12:31:00.005-05:00

It's been somwhat stressful trying to work and pack and see everyone before we leave. But, we're getting details nailed down slowly but surely. We have finally nailed down a place to live! It's a townhouse close to the church which is nice. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, so visitors are welcome. There's plenty of room. We really like it as far as we can see from the pictures. Unfortunately, we have to just trust the Lord and the church member that helped us find it that it would be a good place to live. He always provides and we know it will be great. We have booked a truck and some movers to pack it for us. We have mapped out our long car ride down there and Rick's dad is going to go down to help us as well. Our house here is mostly packed and in shambles. Poor Atticus, our dog, has to weave through our maze of boxes to get anywhere. Nevertheless, it's all coming together. We are getting more and more excited the closer we get to January 28th. Hooray for Hollywood!

Get in gear!

2008-12-31T10:22:00.006-05:00

We have recently had to push our move date up two weeks! We will be officially leaving Birmingham on January 28th and arriving in Hollywood the following day. We are hurriedly preparing, planning, and packing for the long trek to southern Florida. It's less than a month away! We can hardly believe it ourselves. We are currently corresponding with a St. Andrews church member that works in real estate about finding a place to live. There are so many uncertainties and decisions to be made and most have to be done somewhat blindly. We are just trusting in the Lord that He will provide.

If you want to check out our new church, St. Andrews Presbyterian, PCA, you can go to their website at http://www.standrewspca.com/. They just renovated the church so it's not white with a steeple anymore. It's a light yellow stucko with influences of Spanish architecture. It looks like a hacienda! Very characteristic of southern Florida and very fun too.

We're going to Hollywood, baby!

2008-12-22T16:36:00.002-05:00

This blog will serve as a means for our friends and family to be updated on all our happenings as we transition to Florida and start our lives afresh. As you all know, we have made the decision to move to Hollywood, Florida for Rick to be the new music minister at St. Andrews Presbyterian, PCA. While we are sad to leave our friends, family, and the place we grew up, we are excited to see what the Lord has in the works for us. You never know what He has up His sleeve. All we know is if He calls, it is our joy and obligation to obey. It will be a huge adjustment in many ways, but the Lord is with us. We love the relationships we hold so dear in Birmingham and hope to hear from all of you frequently. We will need all the love, support, and encouragement we can get as we make a new life in southern Florida. We have a spare room just for visitors, so come on down! It's a free vacation! Thank you for all the love you have given so far. We look forward to keeping in touch and sharing our lives with you.

P.S. It's really, really hot down there.