The Bryan Life

Lessons Through My Children

2011-09-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

Everyone says that when you have children your life will change. I don't think I ever could have imagined how true that statement actually is. Yes, I have personally changed, my marriage has changed and my day-to-day life has changed. But I never fully realized how much having children would effect my relationship with the Lord.

Let's start here.....

In my "younger years" I made tons of mistakes. I realize now how selfish I was. Even if I knew the Lord was strongly telling me to walk down one path, if that was not the path I wanted, well, I did not always take it. I knowingly walked into sinful situations time after time. Looking back I can see a pattern of brokenness after every period in my life when my relationship with the Lord struggled. I always grew closer to Him during this time of brokenness, however, I always asked "Lord, why do I have to experience this amount of pain?" I would think "If You can do things like part the Red Sea can't you just teach me this lesson without having me go through so much heartache?"

And then I had kids........

When Campbell first learned to walk I would get so nervous watching her walk around our family room due to the fact that it was not baby-proofed yet. We have an entertainment center in the corner of the room that would easily hurt her if she fell on it. So clearly, she would continually clumsily walk toward the entertainment center. Time after time I would put things in her path to try to distract her. I would pick her up and face her in the other direction. I would even pop her little bottom and try to talk sternly to her. But without fail, she would continue to rebel against me and eagerly walk toward what she knew was off limits. One day I realized that the only way she was going to learn that the entertainment center was dangerous for her to play around was for her to fall and get hurt. So one day I sat on the couch as she pranced on those cute little pudgy legs toward the entertainment center and I held back every impulse to run and save her. It broke my heart. I knew she was going to be in pain. But I also knew that I loved her too much to continue to watch her continually walk towards a dangerous situation. So I sat and watched, just waiting for that moment where she would truly learn. I sat on the edge of my seat just waiting to run and scoop her up and love on her and kiss all of her "boo-boo's" until those tears stopped flowing.

Then I understood.

The Lord never wanted to see me in pain. He just wanted me to truly learn. I realize now those times when He was allowing me to experience brokenness were times when He was loving me in a deep and intimate way. He was drawing me away from my sin and toward Him. Away from danger and toward safety. I realize that not only did He not want to see me hurt, it absolutely broke His heart. He was waiting to come and scoop me up and love on me and kiss all of my "boo-boo's" until those tears stopped flowing.

Praise Him.

Thank you, Lord, for what You teach me through my children.

Happy Birthday, Campbell!!

2011-08-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Campbell,

You are two years old!!! I can't believe you turned 2 on August 5th. You are looking and acting more and more like a little girl instead of our little baby. We feel like we blinked and you are all of a sudden dancing around the living room with your little purse on your shoulder and putting on your pretend lipstick. You have such a sweet personality that is full of energy and curiosity. You are so adventurous and enjoy stressing mommy out by climbing to the tallest point you possibly can and jumping off of it. However, when you flash that huge grin of victory mommy can't help but smile at your fearless spirit. Daddy and Mommy just melt watching you run around the house with your bouncing blonde curls and your beautiful blue eyes and we are tempted to give you anything you want when you show us that pretty smile or start bursting out in that contagious laughter. We absolutely love hearing you talk and are so proud when we see that look of determination on your face when you are trying to figure out how to say a new word. You are starting to put sentences together now and while we are so proud of you when you get the sentence right we absolutely love it when you get the sentence wrong because it is ridiculously cute.

Your favorite thing in the world right now is your piglet doll. However, piglet is not the only stuffed necessity in your bed at bed time. We also have your Minnie mouse doll, two bunnies, a lamb, a monkey, shamu, baby shamu, 2 baby dolls, a zebra and a blanket. You are so thoughtful and you want to share your pillow with all of them so you don't have much room left. You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE shoes! You want to put on a pair as soon as you wake up and you have recently starting telling me "no" when I pull out the wrong pair until I get the exact pair out that you want to strut around in that day. You love your purses and your play make-up. You also take great care of your dolls by telling me you need to change their diapers, feed them and burp them. They are so lucky to have you. You love to play your Disney princess CD player and dance around the room. You are such a good little dancer. You love to have books read to you and love watching Strawberry Shortcake, Sid the Science Kid, Mickey Mouse Club and Curious George on TV. You absolutely LOVE to be outside playing and if you see a set of stairs you could spend all day going up and down them.You are SO much fun!!

You have blessed our life more than you could ever imagine. You bring us so much joy and have given happiness an entirely new meaning. We are so proud to call you our daughter. We pray that we love you in a way that points you to Christ and that you commit your life to loving and serving Him. It is our prayer that you always have confidence in the value and worth you have as a child of God and that you choose to have faith and trust in Him. We want you to always be secure in knowing that we love you so, so much and there is nothing in this world of greater value than our family. Happy birthday, sweet girl:)

Love,
Daddy and Mommy

The Gang

2011-07-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

When Campbell goes to sleep (at bedtime and during naps) her list of "friends" that she has to have in bed with her has grown and grown. It started out as just Piglet (or "Pigga") and 2 small stuffed animals but apparently she thought that the "gang" needed some more members. It absolutely cracks Blue and I up! She totally recognizes if someone is missing and calls each one of them by name. She also wants to share her pillow with each one of them so it make things kinda crammed when she lays down at night. But if she is happy, we are happy:) I snuck in the other night after she was asleep to take a picture........

She is such a good big sister to Piper. Whenever Piper seems upset Campbell does whatever she can to make her happy. If she cries Campbell will run in with a diaper and say "wet" to let me know I should change her, or she will come in with a bottle or a paci to let me know she might want one of them. P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S. Well, Piper was on her playmat the other day and Campbell wanted to share her "gang" with her. I am not thinking Piper is as much of a fan..........

However, once Campbell got one of her books and started to read to Piper she calmed down. Campbell knows all the tricks.........

Piper is 6 Weeks Old!!!

2011-07-28T08:21:00.000-07:00

I can not BELIEVE that Piper is 6 weeks old today! Our lives are so blessed because of her. We took her for her one month check-up last week (I know, it was a week late) and she is doing great! She has gained a little weight and is now up to the 36% in weight and dropped to the 84% in height. She has consistently been getting up one time through the night (usually somewhere between 2 and 3 am) and then starts the day between 6 and 7 am. So for a newborn, that's not bad - we'll take it!! One night this week she actually slept about 7.5 hours but we decided not to hold out hope that that would be a continual thing (YET!) :). She is such a little snuggler and just loves to be cuddled (which I would love to be able to do ALL DAY). I just keep looking at her and want to soak in these moments as much as I can because I know I am going to blink and she is going to be asking me to borrow my car so she can go to the mall. We love her so incredibly much and are so happy to have such a perfect addition to our family. Praise the Lord:)

Silly Little Girl

2011-07-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is how I found Campbell when I went into her room first thing this morning to get her for breakfast...........

Piglet on the Big Screen

2011-07-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took Campbell to her first movie - Winnie the Pooh. My sister kept Piper for us so that we could spend some time with just Campbell. In case you are reading this and you are unaware, Campbell's greatest treasure in life is her piglet stuffed animal. I mean it truly is an endless kind of love. She wants to take it everywhere, she sleeps with it every night and if we happened to forget it when we run errands she starts asking for it in the car. She sits in the car seat and continues to say "Pigga" hoping that I will magically pull him out of my purse. It really is precious and I want to permanently seal the image of her cute little arm wrapped around him in my mind........L.O.V.E. I.T. Anyway, we thought Winnie the Pooh would be the perfect choice for her first movie. It went really well too!! I mean for a 23 month old it went GREAT! They were having technical difficulties at first so it was about 30 minutes late starting (which led us to getting free tickets...yay) so since Campbell finished eating all of her popcorn before the movie even started we got a little concerned. But once she saw the love of her life on the big screen all was well:) She was completely into it for the first 30 minutes or so, then she got kind of restless for about 15 or 20 minutes and then she was back into it for the last 10 or so. We had such a great time!!!

Blue and I tried to take some pictures with her in front of the movie advertisement, but clearly the glare won the battle...

Campbell with her first movie popcorn

This was the Winnie the Pooh booth. They had little Piglet, Winnie and Tigger hats you could take for your child to color on and wear....super cute!!

Back into the Swing of Things

2011-07-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

You know, as I wrote that title I realized how ridiculous it actually was. Isn't it kind of impossible to really feel like you are getting back into the swing of things until you actually know what the "swing" is?? Because in all reality Blue and I are totally still flying by the seat of our pants. I still have no idea what our new routine is. Piper will be 3 weeks old on Thursday so we are definitely still in that "newborn unpredictable night sleep" schedule, which then translates into the "daytime I'm so tired and want to take a nap but feel like I should clean something" schedule. I know that this time period was hard when we had Campbell, but it's funny how the Lord sort of blocks that out before you have the second child. Well, we now remember:) But I am not lying when I say we are still having so much fun and are so thankful to have a reason to be figuring it all out. I feel so unbelievably blessed. Holding that precious little girl is worth every under-eye dark circle I have. Tonight I was just looking at Piper, Campbell and Blue while we were hanging out in the bonus room and was just in awe thinking how blessed I am to have them. I love them so, so much.

Campbell is adjusting really well to being a big sister!!! She loves to give Piper her paci and help give her her bottle. We definitely still have our moments where she is having to learn to share or moments when I need 20 more blankets of protection around Piper's little body because Campbell doesn't realize she can't use Piper's head as the means to push herself off the couch, but I know that will come with time:) She really is doing so good. I was so, so concerned about that. I just did not want Campbell to feel pushed aside and was so worried that she would struggle with jealousy, but everything has been going great!! We have just been trying to focus on keeping her involved in what we are doing with Piper and in making sure we give her special attention while Piper is sleeping. But I mean really, why was I ever worried?? Campbell is a rock star:)

Piper Claire Bryan

2011-06-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

She is finally here!!! Well, she has actually been here for about 2 weeks, I just haven't had time to post anything. Piper was born on June 16 at around 8:20 a.m. and weighed 7 lbs. and 3 oz. and was 21 inches long. She is doing great and we are COMPLETELY in love with her.

I will write more later but here are a few pictures for now.......

Very, Very Pregnant!

2011-06-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have one question.........How in the world am I about to give birth to my second daughter in less than a week?? Where has the time gone?? I can not believe that it is already time but I can not begin to tell you how THANKFUL and how EXCITED I am that this amazing time has finally arrived! On Thursday, June 16, at 8 am I will have a c-section and will finally get to meet my second little girl, Piper Claire Bryan. We are beyond thrilled and are so thankful to the Lord for choosing us to be her parents. Praise the Lord!!

Side Note: I think we all need to address, and maybe even pray over, the size of my legs, feet and above all my ankles (if they even deserve to be called that anymore). I do believe they have taken on a complete life form of their own. Ridiculous. I mean don't get me wrong, it is totally worth it and I would gladly pay that petty little price a million times over to be able to have and meet Piper. I'm just sayin'........I'm a freak show.

It's been a while....

2011-03-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

So my biggest excuse for not blogging in so long is that we did not have a working computer at home for a while. That is valid, right? But if we are all being honest, after we finally got one I had gotten so out of the habit of blogging that I am just now hopping back on the wagon. I truly have missed you blogging world.

There have been so many things that have happened in our lives lately that I am not even going to try to play catch up with it all - I am sure it will all come out bit by bit in future blogs. But things have been going great in the Bryan household! I am going to brag on Blue for a minute - his project got passed in the Doctorate of Ministry program at Southeastern so he got his snazzy letter from the school letting him know that he is officially a doctoral degree candidate! We are so proud of him! So if everything goes as planned he should graduate next spring. Campbell has been doing great as well! She is growing like a weed and making us laugh more and more every day. She is hilarious! Her little personality just shows itself more and more. I can't believe she will be 20 months old on April 5th?? Where in the world has the time gone?? Baby Bryan #2 and I are doing great as well! I will be 28 weeks on Thursday and will be entering the good ol' 3rd trimester. All of my appointments have been well though so she seems to be growing up to speed:) We decided to name her Piper Claire Bryan. It is so nice to finally be able to refer to her by her name instead of saying "the baby" all the time:)

Anyway, here are a few pictures.........

Catch-up

2011-01-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

So, clearly I haven't blogged in a while. Honestly, things have been so insanely busy for the past month (or more) I just haven't made the time too. Any spare time I had all I wanted to do was sit on my tail and stare at the TV - and those times were very few and far between. We had company in town or we were out of town for a few weeks and then a very, very close friend of our family passed away so I left Blue and Campbell and headed to Columbus, GA for the visitation and funeral for a couple of days. It just feels like so much has happened in the past month I am still trying to process everything. We have had so many joys and we have had some heartache and I think right now we are all emotionally and physically drained.

And then came the winter storm:)

I mean seriously, to say that the Lord made me smile is an understatement! This was absolutely perfect timing for us. We were all trapped in the house for three days!! No schedule or anything. B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. Blue had to work on some schoolwork Monday and Tuesday but it was so great to just have him in the house. He spend Wednesday just hanging out with us. The Lord knew that we needed some down time together and He sure did give it to us. We played in the snow a little bit on Monday but Campbell is not what I would call a snow bunny - she wasn't a huge fan. She was pretty skeptical but I am sure that will change over the years.

Blue is out of town at the moment and has the computer that I have to use to post pictures so I will post some of those when he gets back:)

Oh the joy of seeing Santa.....

2010-12-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

... or not :) Apparently she is not a fan.........

Bun in the Oven

2010-12-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

Wanna hear some exciting news??????? We are going to have another precious little baby!! YAY :) We are so excited. I am about 14 weeks right now. I know it is ridiculous that I am just now getting to post this but there really are reasons for the delay...........really.........I am not making this up.........I promise I was not just being slack:) I will tell all about that in another post, but for now let's just focus on the fun and joyful fact that we are pregnant again :) I am due on June 23rd, but due to Campbell being a c-section baby they went ahead and told me they would need to take this one a week early so I guess we are looking at mid-June. I will give more details as they come. We are just thanking the Lord for choosing us to be parents to this precious child!

Halloween and the Pumpkin Patch

2010-11-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

Better late than never. I am so behind the game in posting pictures from Halloween and our visit to the pumpkin patch! I. Have. To. Get. Better. At. This. Anyway, Halloween was fun this year! Campbell dressed up as a flower and we went to our church's fall festival the week before Halloween, then we joined my sister's family at her church's fall festival on Halloween (but I did not get any pictures taken there :( ). My nieces, Madison and Lily, looked super cute too! Madison was Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Lily was Tinkerbell.
We also took Campbell on a little trip to the pumpkin patch. All she really cared about doing was sitting on top of the pumpkins, haha. She would just sit herself right down, pat her little hands on her legs and just look around at people. Cracked us up! Then all she wanted to do was run around. But she could care less about the pumpkins. Anyway, here are some pic's!!

Ladies beach trip = very fun times

2010-10-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

I. Love. Girl time. Love it, love it, love it! So needless to say, I had so much fun last week on our ladies beach trip! I was so blessed to get to go to the beach with a group of my closest and dearest friends from school for a few days (Danielle Nelson, Amy Fletcher, Rebecca Adair and Temarie Kendall - love them!). Amy's family has a house at Holden Beach so we were blessed to have a free place to go and live it up :) We drove down to Myrtle one day and went to Broadway at the Beach and, of course, we knew it would be a sin to not indulge in the Tanger Outlet goodness they offered to us. So we indulged. We definitely indulged. I think I shopped more in one day than I have in the past 6 months! We had so much fun together. I laughed so, so much the entire time we were there until that dreadful moment when we all had to say good-bye and part ways. *Sigh*

My home for 3.5 beautiful days. Glorious.

All of us at Hardrock Cafe (Danielle, Rebecca, Amy, me and Temarie)

Saying goodbye (minus Danielle - she had to sneak out early)

One of two big days:)

2010-10-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Well, 4 years ago I married my man :) On October 7, 2006 I became Mrs. Jeremy Blue Bryan and I haven't stopped smiling about it. I can not BELIEVE it has been 4 years!!! It has flown by. To celebrate our anniversary (well, one of our marriage/wedding anniversaries - I will explain that in a minute) we asked a sweet friend of our's, Mallory, to come keep Campbell for us. Campbell LOVES her so we knew she would be completely on board with getting us out of the house:) We decided to go to dinner and then just go downtown and grab some gellato and walk around and enjoy the scenery. Greenville has an AWESOME downtown! If you have never been you are totally missing out. We had so much fun!!! It was so much fun to sit at dinner and spend as much time talking and enjoying our meal as we wanted! And we had such a sweet time walking around downtown together. I love that man. I love him so much. It is such a blessing to know that I can be completely truthful in saying that he is my best friend and I have more fun with him than with anyone else. I love being his wife.
Ok, so I can already hear the comments coming from my friends who know our story. Long story short, in early November of 2006, about a month after our wedding, we grew concerned because we still had not recieved our Marriage Certificate in the mail. While we were away at a youth conference Blue asked me to call and find out what the deal was while he was in a meeting. After exchanging several phone calls they finally called with the answer....."Oh, we figured out what happened.........you are not legally married." What???? Excuse me?? And they said it so casually! Apparently our marriage license (in NC you have to apply for this prior to the wedding) had expired 6 days before we got married. The one time in my life I was actually pro-active it totally bit me in the butt. Me: "Well, what are we suppose to do??" Them: "You just need to come downtown and get remarried." Awesome. So now we are on staff at a church and apparently shackin' up. I feel good. Really good. So to celebrate my birthday on November 17th we headed downtown and got remarried. They asked us if we wanted to be a part of the group ceremony where are group of couples go into a room and the pastor marries all of them at one time. Honestly, I kind of wanted to just to experience it! HA! I kept telling Blue before we sealed the deal again that this was his out - if you have had any second guesses over the past month here is your chance, haha. I guess that is the mark of true love - when you marry the same girl twice in two months :)

Blue and I downtown on October 7, 2010 - FOUR YEARS!!

A few wedding pictures from the big day........well, the first big day:)

A Healthy Little Girl :)

2010-10-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

PRAISE THE LORD. We recieved Campbell's MRI results on Monday and every thing came back completely normal!!! We are so, so, so relieved. No matter what we know the Lord still would have been faithful and abounding with love, but I am SO THANKFUL that a clean MRI was our answer! After we received good news with her EEG results we walked into the MRI with more peace and calmness, however, there was always that chunk of anxiety and worry knocking at the door. So it is such a relief and blessing to be able to throw that anxiety in the trash can and shut the lid. I am sure I will pull it back out some time soon when something completely insignificant comes along to worry about :)

Campbell did great through the test. She could not eat for 6 hours before the test (and our sweet girl loves her food) so we switched our appointment day in order to get an earlier time slot. We had to be at the hospital business office at 7 am to register and her MRI would begin at 8:30 am (which turned into a little after 9). She was SO hyper!! She was running around the waiting room in her little hospital gown with her little diaper covered rear-end poking out the back. They had to put an IV in her arm and wrapped it in an arm brace to protect it, but that did not phase her one bit. She owned the room. Her daddy was chasing her and jumping out from behind walls to surprise her and she thought it was HILLARIOUS! After she woke up from the MRI and we were in recovery she was a little loopy from the anesthesia, and I have to say, she was so funny. They told us she would seem "drunk" until we got some food in her tummy. She just kept wanting to smile at everyone and looked at them with the most adoring gaze and kept saying "bye" because that is the only word she really says right now. She was precious. Love her.

This whole experience has absolutely broken my heart for mother's who are experiencing so much worse. I can't imagine. Seeing other children in the waiting rooms during this process made my heart hurt thinking about the stories they may have and the fear their parents are carrying. I pray for these precious children and I pray for their brave parents.

Blue and I can not thank all of you enough for supporting us in prayer through this. We have always been very confident in the power of prayer, but we both agreed that we have never felt it in a more profound way. We have truly felt your love and your prayers and we are eternally grateful. We love you all so much.

Thank you, Lord!

2010-10-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

Campbell's EEG results came back with NO ABNORMALITIES :) We are so very thankful! She has a MRI scheduled for next Friday, October 8th, but we all are very confident everything will come back alright - but please still pray :) We thank the Lord for His blanket of protection! We also thank Him for such an awesome pediatric medical team that has walked us through this. Our pediatric neurologist sat with us for around an hour today discussing everything with us and being as informative as possible - which definitely won her a gold star in my book. Make that five gold stars :)

Praise the Lord!!!

They had a cancellation!

2010-09-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

The neurology office called and there was a cancellation so Campbell's EEG got rescheduled for tomorrow at 11:oo am!! God is so good!! I am so relieved that we do not have to wait another week. Please continue to pray for our sweet girl. Please ask the Lord for NO ABNORMALITIES and a completely clean EEG. We have to cut her sleep between now and tomorrow in half so say a prayer for all three of us on that one :) They want us to keep her up until 12 and get her up at 5. Obviously, they have not met my daughter :) She is in love with her sleep at night so this should be interesting.

We hope to get an earlier appointment with our neurologist to discuss the results. We will keep you posted. We can't thank you enough for lifting us up in prayer!!

Quick Campbell Update

2010-09-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

Campbell is doing great! She is playing and laughing a lot. Thanks so much for your prayers. We have felt God's answer to your prayers through the peace that we feel. Campbell is scheduled for an EEG on Tuesday, October 5 and we are set to get the results on Friday, October 8. We ask you to join us in praying that the test would show nothing abnormal. We will keep you posted.

Please Pray for Campbell

2010-09-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

written by Blue:

This past weekend we had a frightening experience that we would like to make you aware of. Friday morning was normal with exception that Papaw (my Dad) was in town. I fed Campbell her breakfast and went to play with her in the bonus room. After a few minutes of playing, Campbell let a painful scream out and slowly went down to the ground on her hands and knees. I went and picked her up and her body was limp in my arms. Heather heard the painful crying and came in and noticed that Campbell’s eyes were rolling back and she couldn’t hold up her head. We immediately laid her down and noticed that she had lost all color, her lips had turned blue, and she was basically unresponsive. We immediately grabbed her and drove to the ER. Heather drove (fast) and I sat in the back with Campbell. While in the car, I tried to get Campbell to respond. She would not respond and just stared out the window with a blank stare.

By the time we had reached the hospital Heather had already spoken to our nurse and they contacted the hospital to make them aware of our situation. When we arrived at the ER they took us straight back. At this point Campbell started coming back around and within another 30 – 45 minutes was back to normal. My Dad brought Campbell’s diaper bag to the ER and Heather’s mom came as well. Just so I don’t leave my Mom out, she called and text several times. Heather’s dad was keeping up with the situation as well. While there, our pediatrician sent Heather a text to find out the details and another doctor from her group stopped by to check on Campbell. They ran numerous tests – EKG, took blood, and had to insert a catheter to get a urine sample. Each test came back with good results. Praise the Lord! The ER doc said that she might have had a seizure.

Saturday morning we had an appointment with Dr. Butcher. Dr. Butcher is a blessing from the Lord. I want to take a minute to tell you how she became our pediatrician. Before Campbell was born, we had already chosen our pediatrician group, Carolina Pediatrics. After Campbell was born, Dr. Butcher came to check on us the second day. We were supposed to be discharged on the third day, but since Dr. Butcher was able to come see us the evening of the second day we were able to leave early. At 8:30 pm Dr. Butcher came in to walk us through the next couple of days. She spent over an hour with us. Only because of her help was Heather able to breastfeed. She prepared us immensely to be parents of a newborn. Dr. Butcher treated us as though we were paying her a million dollars. We left and I told Heather that Dr. Butcher would not rest if something ever happened to Campbell; therefore she became our pediatrician at that moment. I never thought anything more of making that statement until last weekend.

At our appointment Saturday, Dr. Butcher said she wanted to know every detail. She wanted to know how Campbell was laying on the ground when I went to pick her up. In order to get this detail, Dr. Butcher laid in the floor in different positions until she had a perfect picture of what that awful moment looked like in order to be as precise as possible in helping us. She asked such detailed questions. That is just one example of several, in which she went the extra mile for Campbell. She feels certain that Campbell had a seizure and is sending her to a pediatric neurologist for an EEG. We are still working on getting the appointment scheduled. We plan on requesting an MRI after the EEG.

Since this time, Dr. Butcher called Heather Sunday night and text her Monday morning to check on Campbell. Thankfully, we have been able to report that Campbell has been happy and playing and being her normal joyful self.

Through this trial we have experienced God’s faithfulness and love. We are so thankful for the support of our family, church family, and friends.

Please pray:

1. That God would be glorified through our family and this trial.

2. That we would consider this trial a joy (James 1).

3. For healing for Campbell.

4. That the EEG would be schedule, read, and a follow-up appointment be expedited.

5. That the EEG does NOT reveal anything.

6. For Mom and Dad – that we would grow in faith, and trust the Lord. Pray that our minds would be protected.

These pictures were taken well into our time in the ER when Campbell was back to her normal self.

God is SO good!!!!!

2010-09-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Take a deep breath, it's a long one. But it's worth it, I promise...........

God is so good!! I love it when you get to experience something that is an obvious, hit you between the eyes, kind of "God did this" moment. Well, the Bryan family was SO BLESSED to get to experience one of those kinds of situations this past weekend....

Blue and I bought a pathfinder back in April that we absolutely loved. It was in our budget when we bought it, but as months passed and some medical bills surfaced we were realizing more and more that our car payment was causing a little stress and resulting in us pinching pennies. Through some conviction we realized that we needed to sell it and get something cheap and reliable that would last us for the next 2-3 years, or at least until Blue graduated from the doctoral program. Something that was probably high in miles but still a reliable vehicle. Again, this is not something that we wanted to do, but something that the Lord made aware to us that we needed to do. Admittedly, I was also kind of bummed to say good-bye to the DVD player that was in the pathfinder because I knew that would prove to be SO beneficial to have for Campbell on road trips to Alabama to visit family.

A family in Georgia contacted us last Thursday and, after some communication, decided to drive up with the intention of buying it. We met them at the bank on Friday evening to transfer the title and receive payment. From the very beginning I just LOVED them. We felt like we had known them much longer than a half hour:). They were downsizing from their Toyota Sequoia because Dana just wanted something smaller. She is a real estate agent and had her advertisement on the windows of the vehicle. So I asked her how business has been and she just started telling me about how much the Lord has blessed them. She said when people apologetically ask her how work as been she is able to use those moments as a way to give a testimony as to how the Lord has blessed and provided for their family because business has been great for them despite the tough economy. The next hour or so resulted in us getting to be encouraged by hearing them discuss how the Lord has blessed them over the years, hearing Scripture that has encouraged and directed their lives and testimonies of how the Lord proved Himself faithful to them even when He surprised them with changed plans. It was so encouraging!! Anyway, when we were saying good-bye they mentioned that they were trying to decide what to do with their vehicle. I did not think anything of it because I knew we could not afford a Sequoia so I did not even let my mind go to the option of purchasing it from them. Afterward, Blue and I went to test drive a Chevy Equinox that we ended up loving that was priced at $9000, which would have been a little easier on our checkbook. We decided to go home and pray about it and we needed to let the dealer know the next day. The next day we woke up and we both had a peace about the vehicle being a good buy - it was a great car at a great price. But something kept us from saying "yes" immediately. We told the dealer we would come on Monday in order to take it to a mechanic and have it checked again, and we would just hope and pray it didn't sell before then.

So Saturday afternoon, OUT OF NO-WHERE, I thought "I should ask Dana what they plan to ask for the Sequoia if they decide to sell it." To the point where I was SO anxious to get to my phone to ask her. Her response: "We have looked at a couple of options: donating it to a ministry or selling it. Joe and I have talked and if you and Blue would like it we will sell it to you for $3000. Then we will reach a happy medium of selling it and donating it to a ministry for the use of His shepherds." CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?! But wait, it gets even better!! Because it is higher in miles she proceeded to say that they have already given it a brand new transmission within the last year, new brakes and the tires still have a good year and half on them!!! Keep waiting.........there is still more!!! She also wanted to let me know that she was going to include the DVD player with 2 screens!!! WHAT?!?! Can you believe it???? We are now saving around $300 a month and have more than we could have thought to ask for. God is so good.........all the time, He is good.

There are so many details in this story, even some that I haven't written about, that make it so obvious that the Lord used His gracious hands to orchestrate this entire situation. Our God is so amazing. It as such a sweet reminder that when we are obedient to Him, even in situations that we are not "excited" about, He blesses us so abundantly. Not only did the Lord provide buyers for our pathfinder and, in turn, supply us with a vehicle that is reliable and something we absolutely love, He also gave us such precious new friends in Him. We are on each other Christmas card list :)

Wait, there is still more................

My absolute favorite part about this entire story is how this lovely couple behaved in the midst of such great generosity. Every time I went to thank Dana for being so incredibly gracious her only response was to give thanks to the Father. In the most beautiful and gentle way possible she held me accountable in pointing my thankful fingers to the Lord, not to her and Joe. They were so humble. She told me that they had lumps in their throats to even be able to play a role in such a blessing. What an amazing example of a believer in our King who has a willing and giving spirit. When I told her I was struggling with even know how to show how thankful I am she told me that she has learned that the best way to say "thank you" to our Lord is reciprocity. Go and bless someone else.

I just love our Lord so much. I also love Dana and Joe for being such a radiant light for our Father.

We LOVE long weekends!

2010-09-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

There is just something SO GREAT about having that one extra day over the weekend, isn’t there??? We tried our best to savor it and enjoy it as much as possible. While Blue did some sermon preparation on Saturday Campbell and I met my sister and my niece to do some shopping at Sam’s Club and then went back to their house to have some fun in the sun. And just in case anyone is keeping score, it is official……….Campbell does not like water. She had a super time watching Madison in the pool but was much more content sitting in my lap or running around on the grass. I am hoping that with time she will grow to appreciate splashing around in the pool because it is so much fun!

On Sunday we joined my parents at my sister’s house after church to just eat lunch and hang out for a while. Of course, fun was had by all. I got to hold my new little baby niece for a while………….she is just too cute I can hardly stand it! Even though Campbell is only 13 months old, it is still hard to picture her being that little! Holding Lily made me realize even more clearly how quickly Campbell is growing up.

Today (Monday) we did a little shopping as a family and then just lounged around the house all day. We got Campbell a child’s swing for the swing set that her Papaw and Mamaw got her and she LOVED it!!! On behalf of Campbell………….THANK YOU SO MUCH, MAMAW AND PAPAW!!

It was a great LONG weekend:)

My baby niece, Lily

Kind of random, but I thought it was cute. Campbell and Madison when we were shopping at Sam's Club.

Campbell after the drive back from "fun in the sun" at Amber's. How is that comfortable??

Fun times with Play Doe

Campbell and Mommy

It is hard to find many things that are more fun than a swing

Let the football begin....and bring on the appetizers.

2010-09-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the day. That's right folks. Today is the day that my husband has been looking forward to since that dreadful day too long ago when football season ended. Today marks the day that we begin blocking off Saturday's due to Georgia football games and when we begin trying to figure out new strategies in getting people to generously give us game tickets ;) Technically, Blue's life won't fully change until Saturday at GA's kick-off (scratch that - it will probably change when his feet hit the floor after he wakes up due to the anticipation). I, on the other hand, am excited about a different aspect to game day. I am super pumped about finding yummy new appetizer recipes to try :) Here is one that I came across that I am going to try this weekend.....

Buffalo Chicken Dip

8 oz. package of cream cheese
1/2 cup blue cheese salad dressing
1/2 cup any flavor Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese dressing
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

(I am probably going to have to subsitute blue cheese for ranch and some other cheese due to Blue's taste buds)

Heat oven to 350

Place cream cheese into deep baking dish. Stir until smooth.

Mix in salad dressing, Frank's Red Hot Sauce and cheese.

Stir in chicken.

Bake 20 minutes or until mixture is heated through; stir.

Garnish as desired.

Serve with crackers or vegetables.

Blue and Heather time!!

2010-08-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

Campbell stayed with her Oma and Opa this weekend so Blue and I 1) had a lot of fun going on a couple of dates and to a couple of weddings on Saturday and 2) tried to play it cool but really missed our little girl like crazy. Her Oma is bringing her back tomorrow and we are super excited to hug her. But while we missed her, we had so much fun together this weekend!! On Friday we went and did a little bit of hiking at Table Rock after I got off work and then stopped at this cute little place called Aunt Sue's to get some ice cream and listen to the blue grass band they had playing. It was seriously a scene you can only find in the country :) I love it. Then on Saturday we had 2 weddings to go to (which I was completely fine with because I love going to weddings) and we capped the weekend off with a dinner date tonight. We had so much fun! It was so weird to just sit at a booth and slowly enjoy my chips and salsa from Chili's (that's right, I said it, chips and salsa from CHILI'S - my favorite) and not be continually bending down to the floor to pick up whatever my daughter has thrown down on it or to not be inhaling my food as quickly as possible so that we can head out the exit before Campbell reaches her limit in the high chair. We seriously did not know what to do with ourselves. We actually got to eat slowly!! Do ya'll hear this??? We had a date with adult conversation! But if we are being honest, I think we both sat there and looked adoringly at the cute little kids that were seated around us and were just reminded about how much we miss our little girl. Man, I hope she gets a good nights rest because she is going to be WORN OUT from hugs and kisses tomorrow night.

In case I haven't told everybody today, I really, really love my husband. I am so thankful for him. And I am so thankful for family members that will watch our little girl for us for the weekend so that we can enjoy some Mommy and Daddy time. We had such a great weekend together! Monday morning is approaching way to early........

Campbell turned 1!!!!

2010-08-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

I am not even going to try to make an excuse for taking this long to update this blog. Moving on..........:)

Well, our little Campbell Brooke is now 1 year old!! Where in the world has the time gone?!?! She is now walking ALL OVER the place, which has definitely made things a lot busier for Blue and I :) We had her 1st birthday party at our church on July 31st and then saved a big ol' cupcake that her Oma (german word for grandmother) made her to eat on her actual birthday, which was August 5th. Unfortunately, she wasn't feeling to good at her birthday party - but hopefully she still had a good time :) She was a little timid toward her birthday cake at the party but showed no fear diving into it at home on the 5th.

First Campbell needed to check out the cake.....

...then she got a little more into it.

We tried so hard to get a good family picture but we were never able to get one with Campbell looking at the camera. Is she checking out her nails in this one??

Once she knew what this whole cake thing was about she was all about it. Here she is on her actual birthday at home.

Here Campbell is rockin' her birthday shirt.....

and wait..............there's more!!!!!.......

My sister, Amber, gave birth to my ADORABLE niece, Lily Morgan!! Ya'll seriously, she is so stinkin' cute!!!! I love, love, love her. She was born on June 23rd and is a precious and healthy baby girl. Amber and Brian are doing great and Madison is super excited to have a little sister! I thank the Lord that I live close so that I was able to be at the hospital for the delivery. I actually got to be in the room with Brian and Amber when Lily was born!

The birth of Lily and Campbell's birthday have been the big milestones over the past several months. Other than that it has just been the same busy day-to-day life. I have been busy with work and keeping things managed and in order at home and Blue has been super busy with church, school and keeping ME managed and in order :)

So much has happened!!!

2010-05-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

Worst. Blogger. Ever. I have no excuses, I have just really stunk it up lately with the blogging. So much has happeend too!!! I hate that I have been so slack! Campbell started crawling (now standing!), we went on our first "family of 3" vacation (which also means Campbell saw the beach for the first time), we bought a new (new to us) pathfinder, Blue went away to school for a week and my precious mom came to stay with Campbell and I, Milie (Blue's sister) came to stay with us for a few days, and I know there is more I just can't think of it at the moment. I am not even going to try to go back and write about each thing because this would turn into a novel and I know that nobody signed up for that :) I really am going to do better........really........... :)

Happy Birthday, Blue!

2010-04-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

Blue turned 30 on April 21! His birthday fell on a Wednesday this year so I surprised him with a little birthday celebration at church with the youth and we went out to lunch that day to Flat Rock (yum :) ). I thank the Lord for sending me such an amazing man to be my husband and the best daddy to my children. To celebrate his 30th birthday here are 30 of the reasons I love him..........

His daily life encourages and challenges me to pursue the Lord and grow in my relationship with Him.
He has a sincere heart to reach the lost and grow the kingdom.
He challenges me to reach outside of my comfort zone.
He is truly the most amazing father I could have ever dreamed of and daily pursues our daughter.
His life reflects his pursuit of the Lord.
He truly makes me so happy. I am always happier when he is around.
He has a thirst for studying and absorbing the Word.
He loves to learn.
He leads us in such a fun marriage that is full of SO much laughter.
He has a goofy side that only few people get to see and he makes me laugh so much.
He makes me feel completely safe and protected.
He is direct, yet gently, in calling me out in my sin - I am so thankful for this.
He desires to please the Lord before pleasing people.
He always puts others before himself.
He is one of the most generous and giving people I know.
He is an incredible leader in our home and makes it easy for me to follow and submit to his leadership.
I have never doubted or questioned his love and devotion to our family.
I love the way he looks at our daughter, Campbell.
He is such a Godly father and husband and desires to continually be refined.
He isn't embarrassed to make every goofy noise and gesture imaginable to make our daughter laugh.
He is quick to forgive and never holds a grudge.
He is one of the most patient people I know.
He never judges me.
He is very bold and not easily intimidated.
He is completely confident in who he is without an ounce of arrogance.
He honors his word.
He loves, respects and treasures his friendships.
He is quick to listen and slow to speak.
He so easily trusts the Lord and exhibits so much faith in Him. He never worries and always trusts.
He makes me need a much longer list.

Happy Birthday, Blue! I love you!

Fun on the playground

2010-04-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

Blue's mom and step-dad came up last weekend and we took Campbell to the playground for the first time. A park near us was having Family Fun Day so it was a perfect excuse to go out and enjoy the sunshine. I have been so excited about putting her in the bucket swing for the first time. Seriously, if I was not already completely obsessed with my daughter seeing her on the swing-set would have for sure done the job. She absolutely LOVED it!! Blue also took her down the slide, but the slide did not impress her nearly as much as the swing (you think it was just an excuse for Blue to get to go down the slide?? :) ). Here are a few pictures from the playground fun....

Easter

2010-04-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Easter weekend! I have to say, I can not believe that Easter came so quickly this year, but it was such a gorgeous day to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior! We had family over to our house Sunday after church to eat (of course) and to just spend some good ol' time together. I thought I would get a motherhood demerit if I did not make Campbell her first Easter basket, so we put together a little basket with a stuffed bunny in it. I realize she had no idea what it was and it was purely for the picture, but hey, now we have a snapshot of the memory. All she was really interested in was eating the plastic egss..........

Better late than never.....

2010-03-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

I feel the need to begin by saying that I am in complete awareness that the fact that I am just now posting this is pathetic. My daughter is now over 7 months old and I am posting her 6 month stats. I know, I'm such a rookie. But here they are anyway....

Length: 26.5 inches - 74%

Weight:17.25 lbs. - 72%

Head circumference: 16.93 inches - 64%

Here are a few things about our sweet little Campbell Brooke....

Things she loves:

Sweet potatoes (in the baby food form, of course)
Her glow worm and her little bunny
Rolling ALL over the floor
Her exersaucer
Her jumparoo
Anything that mommy and daddy are holding
Watching Baby Einstein videos
The bumper in her crib - she BURIES herself in it every night

Things she hates:

When we try to wipe ANYTHING off of her face
When we put her jacket on - you would think we were enforcing cruel and unusual punishment
When she sees her bottle and we do not give it to her IMMEDIATELY
When she does not get to have everything mommy and daddy are holding

Things she does that are WAY cute:

Babbles and babbles and babbles....
She laughs so much when mommy and daddy tickle her, I love it!!
She gets SO excited and opens her mouth really wide and just starts bouncing up and down
Plays with her feet
Lays in the crib in the morning and just quietly plays with her bunny before we go get her
Moves ALL OVER the crib when she sleeps
Can I just say everything?

Here are a few of her 6 month pictures that we had taken.....

Weekend Fun!

2010-02-24T12:52:00.001-08:00

Blue and I went to the best Bed and Breakfast last weekend - Chateau on the Mountain. It was awesome!! We stayed for two nights and they went by entirely too fast - don't they always??? When we got there we found out they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite for free!! Oh happy day!!!!! We had a big ol' canopy bed, a big'ol shower with TWO shower heads, and a big ol' hot tub in a seperate little section of the room. You just can't go wrong with that folks. It was such a sweet time for us to get away together.

It was also our first overnight trip away from Campbell. I missed her so much!!! I knew it was going to be hard to drive away and leave her, but I never knew I would be THAT mom who overly worried and thought that something tragic would for sure happen to her while I was away. Ridiculous. Anyway, she had a great time with family, and yes, she was still happy and healthy when we returned. I have no idea why I even allow myself to worry. She will be 7 months old on March 5th, is that insane or what??? Wasn't she born yesterday??? I am going to post the stat's we got from her 6 month appointment along with some fun stuff she is doing in the next few days. I have been off of my blogging game lately...........shocker, I know.

Vows to my man

2010-02-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday in church we were reminded of the vows we make to our spouse when we commit our lives to one another in marriage. On October 7, 2006 this is what I vowed to my sweet husband......

"I love you, Blue, and today I take you to be my husband. With the greatest joy I come into my new life with you as we join as one flesh. Besides the gift of salvation you are the most precous gift God has given me. On this day I joyfully and humbly receive you as a blessing from the Lord to be my partner and my best friend for life. By God's grace and strength I promise to be faithful and trustworthy to you as your wife, to serve you and love you in all circumstances, to always submit to your Godly leadership, to respect you, to forgive you as we have been forgiven, and to allow God to use you to build qualities in me until our Savior decides to carry us home. Together as one may our marriage and oneness express Psalm 34:3 "O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.""

I am so unbelievably blessed that the Lord sent me a man that makes keeping these vows so easy. I love him more than words could ever describe and he makes everything in my life so much more joyful. Blue, thanks for being such an incredible husband and father. Campbell and I are truly blessed. LOVE YOU!!

Praying for Haiti

2010-01-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

I have been so overwhelmed with the conditions in Haiti. Overwhelmed to the point where I am even having trouble in knowing how to pray. It is so hard for my mind and heart to even process the pain these sweet people are experiencing from the sudden loss of loved ones. Because I can hardly process their heartache, I can barely even begin to grasp the reality of the conditions they are living in – no shelter, no food, no water, utter chaos, etc. I find myself at a loss of even knowing where or how to begin my prayers to our Father. I still pray, but I know that some of these prayers have been consumed with fear, confusion and a frantic and worrisome heart. My heart is so broken for the Haitians, and I realize that their reality has caused fears of losing my loved ones, fears that I already deeply struggle with, to enhance. What is so convicting is that I know this all comes down to trust. Trust in the One who knew us in our mother’s womb. Trust in the One who knows the number of hairs on our head. Trust in the One who created us and loves us unconditionally with a love that we will never truly understand the depths of. I know that God is still God. And in the midst of such tragedy I know that I must approach His throne with prayers of confidence and trust, knowing that the love and faithfulness of our Maker never has, and never will, alter or change. And I pray that this unfathomable tragedy the Haitians are walking through will cause them to bow down to the One who can truly save them. I pray that His name will be glorified.

Is it already January 8th??

2010-01-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

For real this time, I am going to do better at updating this at least weekly. Time has just passed exceedingly fast since Christmas.

Anyway……

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! I can not believe it is 2010. 2009 was such a busy and exciting year for Blue and I, it just seems that it passed in the blink of an eye! As I think about this past year and how much the Lord has blessed us, I am just in awe. I think about the wretchedness that I know I deserve and then look around me at all the blessings and grace He has poured into my life and it is just overwhelming. With the Lord’s strength and discipline, I commit to embrace and pass through 2010 with a continued heart of gratitude and praise to our Father and to do whatever I can to bring Him glory. I confess that there have been so many times that I know I have taken His blessings for granted and I have not given enough of my time to Him. So convicting. I so desire to change that.

I gotta say, I had such a great New Years weekend!!! My second family came to visit! We all had such a great time together, just laughing and hanging out. It is always SO GREAT when we all get together, until of course I get incredibly bummed when they all have to leave. I have told them all to move to Greenville, SC – they just won’t listen! It has sort of become a tradition to get together on New Years, except of course last year due to the fact that Rebecca and Ashley have been in Africa for the past 2 years. Can you believe they didn’t make a trip over for New Year’s??? They just don’t care. :) Anyway, it was a great reunion and fun times had by all and I already can’t wait to see them again!

Campbell Brooke Bryan

2009-12-31T07:27:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of her newborn pictures that I never posted.......

I just wanted to take a minute to write about my little girl. I love her so much it is ridiculous. Blue and I both are completely obsessed with her. It is so much fun to see her grow and watch her learn and experience new things. She has been trying so hard lately to roll back over from her stomach to her back. She has constantly been automatically flipping over to her stomach whenever we lay her down and then once she gets there she either goes to sleep or after a minute goes into a freak out mode. She can’t figure out how she got there or what she needs to do to roll back over on her back. But yesterday she rolled back over for the first time!! YAY!! We are so proud of her. Sadly, neither one of us actually saw her do it – we just know that she had rolled back over on her back. I think she is going to be sitting up on her own really soon – at least in a tri-pod stance. You can tell she is so determined to do it. She has moments where she just wants to be so independent – she just wants us to put her on her play mat or in her swing and let her be. But then a moment later she just wants to be held and cuddled by one of us – which makes me more than happy: ). She definitely knows what she wants. When she smiles it completely melts my heart. Blue and I will give her anything she wants when she looks at us with that big sweet smile. Hopefully we will get a little stronger in that area :). She has been laughing a lot lately. Blue and I will get so excited when we find something that makes her laugh and then when we do it again she looks at us like she is saying, “I’m over it. Seriously, find something new to do.” It is amazing how ridiculous you will act, even in public, to get your infant to laugh. Totally worth it though. She loves to make noises with her mouth, suck on her fingers and try her hardest to fit her entire hand in her mouth. She has definitely discovered her hands and her feet and will sit and play with them all day. She loves to sit and hold on to little toys and play with them until they eventually end up in her mouth – along with everything else in arms reach. She loves things that light up and make noises – especially this glow worm that her Nana and Poppy got her for Christmas. She fell asleep hugging it the other night and started to whine when I took it away. I feel guilty saying this, but one of my favorite faces she makes is when she is about to cry and she pooches out her bottom lip. It is so cute it is completely ridiculous. I know I should not like it because she is apparently sad or frustrated when she makes it but if you saw it you would totally agree.
Anyway, I know this post is somewhat random, but I was just sitting here thinking about this sweet and amazing blessing in my life and wanted to write a little about her life right now. I have always heard that you will not be aware of the true capacity you have to love another until you have a child. It is so true. The Lord has blessed me beyond reason. Words can not describe the love I have for her. I just pray that He will continue to mold and make me into the mother that she deserves.

I love Christmas!!

2009-12-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

So Christmas is just awesome…….that is all there is to it. First and foremost, we are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Secondly, it is a celebration that enables us to take a time-out from the craziness of life and enjoy the loved ones He has blessed us with. I just love it.

Blue and I were especially excited about this Christmas because it was our first one with our little bundle of joy. She obviously had absolutely no idea what was going on – she just wanted to eat the bows and paper that the presents were wrapped in. We started our own family traditions this year though, ones that I know will probably evolve with new traditions as our family grows. While we still want to do the whole Santa thing, we really want to raise our children to truly know what Christmas is about, and to not only know it but to be excited about that. I deeply desire them to be more excited about celebrating Jesus’ birth than about seeing what Santa left them – which I realize when they are little can be a bit of a challenge. We are going to do the birthday party for Jesus (birthday hats and all – I want to make it as fun as humanly possible) and read the Christmas story with them. If you have any ideas of more creative ways to make Christmas morning a fun celebration of Christ’s birth please share! I would also love to incorporate a way for us to go out in the community and love on others. This year was sort of a practice round since Campbell was pretty unaware of what was going on, but next year she should be more into it.
We had such a special time as a family though! It was so nice to just relax with each other. We got to spend some time with Blue’s dad and then went over to my sisters on the afternoon of Christmas day to hang out with my side of the family. Then it was off to Atlanta that night to see Blue’s mom’s side of the family. Very fun times had by all. :)
Why does Christmas have to go by so fast??????

Back in the swing of things......

2009-12-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

What a long couple of weeks it has been!! My poor little girl got sick a couple of weeks ago and was absolutely pitiful. When we took her to the doctor they did not run any test or anything, they just examined her and told us that whatever she had was viral and just had to run its course. I was super bummed about that because I wanted her to be able to have some medication so she could feel better as soon as possible. Anyway, she started feeling better by the beginning of the next week - about the time that Blue and I started to feel like doo-doo. We ended up catching what she had and after our visit to the doctor found out that "something" was the hands, foot, mouth virus. No good. I ended up being out of work all week and Blue the better half of the week. I guess being able to get some quality time together can come in some crazy shapes :)

So I temporarily stepped out of the blogging world.................but I'm back :) However, all I did was lay on the couch or take care of Campbell so I have absolutely nothing exciting to share. All I have to offer are some fun pictures...................

4 month check-up and a sick baby

2009-12-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

Wow......I can not for the life of me figure out how the past 4 months have gone by so fast. It is hard to believe our little girl is already 4 months old. We had her 4 month-check up yesterday and she got a gold star :) She is up to 14 lbs. and 3.5 oz. and has grown 3 1/2 in. in the past 2 months! She is in the 95% for her height, 60% for her weight and 55% for her head. What everyone said is true......they really do grow so fast.

It worked out well that her check-up was yesterday - she has a pitiful cold. The poor little thing can't sleep well because she can't breathe and when she finally does fall asleep she wakes her self up coughing. It is so sad. I wish I could just crawl in her little body and blow her nose for her! She has been pretty bad for the past few days, but I think she is starting to feel a little bit better today, so hopefully she is on the downhill slope.

What a great weekend.....

2009-12-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

What a special weekend our family had!! Sunday morning at church we dedicated our beloved baby girl to our Lord and Savior. We were able to stand before our church, along with friends of ours (Kelly and Joey Hall) to dedicate our baby girl, Campbell, and their baby boy, Liam. It was such a sweet time and such a moment marked for accountability. Dr. Barry Jimmerson (who is not only our pastor but someone we hold most dear) did such a beautiful job with the service. Blue and I have committed to raise our children in a way that honors and glorifies our Lord, to strive to model a life that reflects a deep relationship with Him and to lead our little ones to have the same. It is such a blessing to know that our church body and our family are also there to hold us accountable to that. The entire morning was such a special time for us and it meant so much to be able to share it with our family and church body.

The fun did not stop there.........we had the youth Christmas party at our home on Sunday night. It was great to have some time to just hang out with the youth. We just love those guys so much! They are so much fun. Seriously, they crack me up - I loved just sitting back and watching them COMPLETELY be themselves :) They really are great. We played a little white elephant Christmas and grilled out some hamburgers.

What a great weekend :)

I'm officially a blogger!!!

2009-12-01T13:03:00.000-08:00

I have to say, I never thought this day would come.........the day I entered the world of blogging. But I guess what they say is true...."never say never." I broke down and decided to embrace the blogging world, and if I am honest, I am really excited about it! I sit on my computer all the time and read the blogs of friends and family and seriously do enjoy it. I love the idea of being able to journal memories and experiences with my family and be able to give the responsibility of keeping up with it to the cyber world. I would love to be one of those women who are great at time management and can put together this incredibly beautiful scrapbook full of pictures and memories, but let's face it..........that's just not me. That is something I will always plan to do and just never ever get around to. So that brings me back to my appreciation for blogging. I will log in, blog some thoughts/memories/pictures/etc. and let the cyber world keep it pretty :) And now all of our precious family that we never get to see can be more in touch with our day to day life. And more importantly, they will get to see up-to-date pictures of our sweet baby girl, Campbell. Because if we are all honest they are going to skim over everything else until they get to the important stuff, which is anything about her. I don't blame them one bit :)
Anyway, I am happy to finally be a part of this wonderful world of blogging!