Pray. Pray. Pray!

I know, I know, it's been awhile since I've updated the blog- I haven't even posted Christmas pictures yet!! But, more important than playing catch up, is this post about my brother's good friend Caleb- seen in the picture- he's FSU's garnet glitter guy! Caleb has just been diagnosed with Lymphoma and has had to withdraw from school in order to return home for treatments. They are still trying to identify the type and the stage, so I don't have tons of specific information to post- but I would like to ask you to begin to pray with us! If you are willing to commit to pray for Caleb throughout this journey, don't just let me know- tell him yourself! He's got a website, just like the one for Allie that so many of you have visited. You can keep up with his story, his progress and his prayer needs there, and you can leave him encouraging messages too!

On Caleb's site he says this:
"Whatever it is, no matter how severe, no matter how widespread, no matter the outcome, God is in control. I am not scared, I am not worried, I know I am in God's hands.
What Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:27; 'Who of you by worrying can add but a single hour to your life?' means that all the worrying in the world is not going to make a difference. God has a plan for this whole situation, we just have to find it!"


We are trusting the Lord to work in great and mighty ways! Join us in asking God to provide peace and strength for Caleb, his family and his friends- for healing, for wise doctors and for His name to be glorified through all of this!

(Just in case www.caringbridge.org/visit/calebhall)

Boo Boo

During our visit to Wauchula, my dad and I were standing in the kitchen one afternoon talking when we heard the loudest shriek, followed by screaming and crying, coming from the bathroom. I have never seen my dad move so quickly- he was jumping over toys and running at warp speed- We discovered that Collin had fallen off of the Mickey Mouse stool trying to wash his hands and in the process had busted his chin on the counter. We got him calmed down, cleaned up the blood, prepared a bag of ice and then he politely asked if he could watch some t.v. because it would make him feel better! :-)! Kids! So, here is how he spent the next 30 minutes! My dad went to town and bought a much larger and sturdier stool so there would be no more crazy accidents and little boo-boo's like this one!

My Griffin

A cute one of Griffin looking out at Grammie and Pop Pop's yard.... actually, he was probably looking for Jake, the neighbor's dog!

My Eden Girl

While we were in Wauchula Eden was playing in my brother's room, which has amazing natural light and I got a few super cute pictures of her. These are two of my favorites!

Visiting Grammie and Pop Pop Again!

Just a week or so before Christmas, Rahul had staff week at the convention in Jacksonville, so we packed up and went for another visit to Grammie and Pop Pop's! One of the many blessings of living so close to your parents- a couple of extra sets of hands whenever you really need them!!

The boys love going to Grammie and Pop Pop's for many reasons, but outside time there is always better than at our own house! For one, the yard is like 4 times the size of ours and then my parent's neighbors, Mrs. Kay and Mr. George, have a dog- which the boys talk about all the time!

One afternoon we took the kids outside and that of course meant a photo opp! My mom and I traded off shooting pictures and playing, but she got such great images of the boys I had to post them here!

Griffin mastering the art of catching!

These pictures of Collin are just so fun to me!

Check out the action in this one!

He must have needed a rest!

And then Griffin decided he must have one also!

It gave him some more energy for sure!

But then he was distracted by the acorns... again! Remember the Tallahassee post?!

Eden, who carries around this teddy every time we visit, wouldn't even let go of him outside!

Collin always wants to climb this tree in my parent's front yard- and he always wants me to take a picture of him in it to prove to his Daddy what a big boy he is!

Up until this point Griffin hasn't been quite brave enough to try it, but lately, he's been in a "monkey see, monkey do" stage and repeats EVERYTHING that his big brother does. That meant that he HAD to climb the tree. And he did (with a little help from his Mommy)!

But, on the way down, he ended up with this nice scrape!

Park Time

One December day we packed up the kids for a little park play time. I was appalled that during the 12th month of the year, my children could run around in shorts!! They had a blast, although Griffin was a little camera shy for some reason. I love these pictures of Eden. She had such a great time swinging! The smiles just kept coming! Once I got home and downloaded the images, I noticed that her legs were really looking long! That was super exciting for me! Oh and for those of you wondering, she doesn't have shoes on because she simply doesn't like wearing them! On one second, off the next! I figured until she's walking were gonna be mainly a sock girl! It sure will save me a ton of time!

Traditions?!

I am sure many of you have one of the same traditions as us- watching those old school Christmas movies- Frosty and Rudolph at some point during the month of December. Well, several years ago we purchased a DVD on sale after Christmas, that was to contain this collection, probably even before Collin was born. Collin is now 3 and a half and we seriously just took off the plastic wrapping this year!

Here are my boys, ready to start this new tradition...

...and then the intro shows us this is in fact, an updated edition!

You might be thinking- oh that's good- better animation! While that might have been the case, it was was completely scary to our kids!! We turned it off (and then back on) multiple times, until we finally were able to just fast forward through some very odd sections. This will not be a tradition!! ha! My Gran quickly gave us the old videos that I used to watch as a kid! Thank goodness G.G. came to the rescue again!

Allie and Abbie
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If you've been reading my blog, you'll probably recall the story about a precious family we have grown to love here in Tampa. Their youngest daughter, Allie, was diagnosed with ITP in 2006. She is absolutely precious and has such a spunky personality! For their family, this year has been one full of many ups and downs, but their faith and trust in the Lord is unwavering!

Abbie is their oldest daughter, and is incredibly smart and beautiful too! She is so thoughtful and concerned for her sister that it brings tears to my eyes as I realize how strong she is for her age. Abbie is in our Wednesday night kid's group at church and is a complete joy to be around.

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On this particular day, Allie was at the hospital receiving another treatment, and we thought it would be great to give her big sister a special girl's day, full of one on one attention, some pampering and enough stuff to keep her from worrying about Allie. So, we brought her to the BCM and gave her a "spa" treatment! She picked out makeup, fingernail polish, hair clips, the works and some of the girls from my Bible Study loved on her for the entire afternoon. It was a blast and blessed our hearts far more than we think it could have ever blessed hers!

The first activity - and the only one I allowed my boys to be a part of: making snowmen out of Oreos, marshmallows, red hots, twizzlers, pretzel sticks and icing, which I discovered Abbie is not a big fan of! The icing that is!

The boys working hard...

The final product... a little scary I know. The Kraft test kitchen did not perfect this recipe, I promise! Otherwise, it wouldn't have looked this frightening!

Abbie getting the treatment and talking on my cell phone with her mom all at once!

Enjoying getting her hair all styled!

How beautiful is she?!

Seeing the finished product for the first time...

So cute and such a sweet smile!

Then it was time to make a scrapbook (to put all these pictures in)!

Showing off her work of art- after the glitter was removed from her clothes! :-)

Posing with the girls and her new bear from Miss Rachel!

Finally, we asked Abbie where she wanted to go for dinner- any where - it was her pick. I was expecting her to say something like McDonalds or Chick-Fil-A. Normal responses for a kid her age!
Do you know that she asked to go to Longhorn?! This girl's got some taste! She cracked me up when she told me her favorite things there were the sweet tea, the bread and a baked potato- all of which she gobbled up!
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Spending this time with Abbie was such a joy! Please continue to pray for her as she works so hard at being a good big sister, as she waits expectantly with her family for God to heal Allie and for her tender heart to be full of joy and peace. Pray also for Allie's platelets to rise, for her continued protection and for her parents, Wally and Renee, as they provide, sustain and bring up their girls in a Godly home, as they walk this difficult road please pray that they will find strength, peace, hope and rest in our Heavenly Father.

Purity Celebration

Here I am again, trying to catch up on all the missing posts for the past month or so... this one is always a super special one to share. These are the precious girls from the Gift Wrapped By God Bible Study that I lead. On our final evening together, I pull out the china and we celebrate all that God has done over the semester. I am always amazed at how close we become and how much the Lord challenges us and stretches us during our time together! These women really are presents, wrapped by the Creator and worthy of being treasured all the days of their lives!

My incredible hubby took these pictures before our evening officially started.

There must always be one silly one!

The table- with grape juice! :-)

Each setting had a mat that was signed by the girls with words of encouragement and reminders to wait for God's timing and God's best.

The random picture that took many attempts. Can you see us in there?!

Catching Up....Again!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted something! I decided to start playing catch up by posting Eden's weekly pictures from the past 4 weeks!

Here she is at 42 weeks in her poodle outfit from her Dadiji. She was super cute in it, despite the fact that the weather didn't really call for a jacket! At least she was cooperative and had some pretty sweet smiles to share!

Here's our Eden Grace at 43 weeks. I was trying to take some pictures of her with flowers and ornaments. This is about as good as it got though! When there is only one person trying to keep her still, it can get a little difficult, especially since her debut of standing up and trying to walk started this week! It's almost impossible to keep her seated now!

At 44 weeks, the pictures were even more difficult to come by! There were actually 3 different attempts in one day before we got something! Thankfully her Baboo was in town for Christmas, so I had an extra pair of hands to help manage this "session!" We later discovered that her fussiness was to be blamed on a developing ear and sinus infection. Still she was a pretty"little princess!"

By this point, the medicine had really started to work. We couldn't have been happier. I had spent at least a week sleeping with Eden in either the rocking chair or propped up on the couch. These 45 weeks pictures were taken in Miami, after a 4 hour trip the day after Christmas. I was surprised that she was pleasant for them simply because she had been a little antsy in her car seat on the ride down. Eden's beautiful dress is from her G.G. I think she is darling in it!

And finally, week 46! This adorable get up was a gift from her Grammie and isn't she just so cute in it?! These are some of my favorite pictures to date! Since week 45 she's cut her 4th tooth and is "talking" so much more! She is really a chatter bug lately. She's over the sickness, is back to sound sleeping and is getting braver and braver with her steps each day!