These past twelve months have been a whirlwind of emotions for me. I have been at my lowest point and my highest - peaks and valleys people, peaks and valleys. Here is a timeline of sorts...
October 2012 - We found out we were pregnant! Peak!
November 2012 - Told our families about our pregnancy - Peak!
- TJ goes to Egypt on a Mission Trip - Peak!
December 2012 - Told our Church Family and everyone else about our pregnancy - Peak!
- 3 days after Christmas while on a Youth retreat with our church, my precious Granny passes away (not entirely unexpected but unexpected...) - Valley.
January 2013 - Passion with the older high school kids and college students - Peak!
- First time in my life that I ever get the flu - I am not a "sick person", I'm never sick! I was pregnant and had the blasted flu and I couldn't take anything but tylenol! I was a mess... - Valley.
February 2013 - My amniotic fluid levels are low - so low that they thought something was wrong and I had to go to UAB for a "super special ultrasound" - Valley.
March 2013 - TJ is working on a house for church family and a tree falls on his truck and totals it - it was very close to the house and TJ was right where it would have fallen if it had just moved over a bit - Peak because TJ was perfectly fine - Valley because the truck had been paid off and we only had liability on it...
April 2013 - Out of left field my Granddaddy passes away... Valley.
May 2013 - Our house was broken into and trashed - Valley.
June 2013 - A great month! We were so thankful for that month! Peak!
July 2013 - LP makes her debut!!!!!!!!!!!! PEAK!!!!
- We did have a few nights with LP that I didn't think we'd make it to the next day... Anyone that has ever had a newborn for an extended period of time knows exactly what I mean! Tiny Valley.
August 2013 - Adjusting to LP and being a family of 3 and becoming a stay-at-home mom - Peak!
September 2013 - My best friend, my role model, my sweet and wonderful and beautiful Poppa passed away... Valley.
He was and is without a doubt the best man I know. I loved him so much and I know he is so joyful right now - he is in Heaven with Jesus. I know you can't "know" a person's salvation for sure but you can judge their fruit. And to judge his fruit you can see the evidence of his love and faithfulness to Christ. He exhibited every Fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patient, kindness, gentleness and self-control. He loved his Jesus, his wife, his kids, grandkids and great-grandkids fiercely. I never, ever, not once saw him lose his temper or patience with anyone.
I got to spend "special time" with him and Granny before I started school. I loved that time and will cherish it always. They kept me while Mom and Dad worked and Rikki was in school, so it was just me, Pop and Granny. Every morning he would meet us at the end of Antioch Road on Highway 82 in the blue car to pick me up on Mom's way to work and drop Rikki off for school. Every morning he'd ask me what I wanted for breakfast and it was always scrambled eggs with grape jelly and every morning that's exactly what I had. Pop taught me how to read by reading to me everyday and multiple times a day too - I learned by memorizing what he said and eventually matching up the words to what he was saying. He took me on four-wheeler rides to see the sandcastles on the dirt road and through the woods. I rode in a box attached to the front that he built for me - it was not the safest thing in the world but of well, we had the most fun. Poppa also let me "help" him cut grass. I helped him work in the garden, he always teased me that he needed a picture of me to put in the garden to scare away the crows (he was so silly - he called Granny "Old Woman", "Old Crow" and teased us so much - he would tell Morgan and Megan that the coyotes would come through the window and get them)! Granny and Pop had a beautiful collie named Sam that I loved playing with - I was there when Sam died and I helped Pop bury him. He always took me with him to visit friends and take Aunt Nettie Faye dinner and supper. After I started school I would get off the bus there and Rikki and I would watch "Darkwing Duck" and eat scrambled eggs for an after-school snack. You can't beat a good scrambled egg! When Antioch Baptist would have their VBS, Rikki and I would go and stay the whole week with Granny and Pop. It was the best - Rikki slept with Granny and I slept with Poppa. They had separate bedrooms, old-school... I loved playing in the closets at their house too. They had piles of clothes and stuff in them and I imagined they were mountains. I also have this vivid memory of the beach trip we took when I was about three years old - Mom, Dad, Rikki, Pop, Granny and I went to the Beach Club for a vacation. Granny and Poppa loved the beach! We were all walking out to the beach one day on the boardwalk and I fell and broke my leg skinned my knee and Poppa healed the broken leg with his handkerchief... It was magic y'all. I have a picture of me and Pop on the beach with that magical, healing handkerchief. When I get back to Lawley and find it I'll attach it to the post.
There are so many countless memories I have of Granny and Poppa and I'm so very thankful for each and every one. I know I am blessed to have had them in my life for 26 years; I know most people don't get that privilege of having grandparents for a long time. And I've known 3 great-grandparents and 5 grandparents and remember special moments with everyone of them. My heart still aches for the loss of my grandparents though; its a joyful ache but an ache nonetheless. Granny and Granddaddy knew LP was coming and Poppa got to meet and hold her several times. I am so thankful... so thankful. I hope LP gets the good traits from my grandparents - Granny's love for life and love for a good shopping day/dinner out to eat and devotion to Christ and her husband; Granddaddy's hard, honest work ethic and quiet, humble love for Christ; Poppa's gentle spirit and his love for his darling wife and children and egg-scrambling ability; Nana's love for making a home and working hard to keep it up and her amazing cooking skills and her ability to not care what people say or think about her - Christ's opinion is the only one that matters; and Clay's love for story-telling and laughter.
Jesus is my Rock and my Salvation. He is close to the broken-hearted and hears our prayers. He loves me unconditionally and without Him I would have been lost in all the valleys. I know "what-if" statements can be silly but
what if my hope had been in something/someone else during those valleys? Would LP have made it if I had put my faith in fallen man or silly idols? Maybe...
(And this is strictly all about my personal situation and not in anyway a reflection of any person who has had hard times and lost a baby or loved one or anything - God's will for our life is ultimate and supreme but also mysterious - I can not fathom His plans for His children. We just need to trust Him).
Again I will say that I am thankful, so very thankful for Christ and His guiding hand on my life. And I am thankful for my Poppa and his legacy - he was great but only because he chose to let Jesus live through him and be light and salt in this world.
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| This is my broken leg picture! :) |
We have a lovely, little Pumpkin Patch sponsored by the youth ministry each October and I love it! It's such a fun and festive way to celebrate my favorite season! And it's in our yard!! Sometimes that's a hassle because there are always people in the yard and this year we have a new struggle - nap time for LP. :) It's all good though, she is learning to sleep through the noise and that's a good thing for her (it's not too noise-y). Here are some cute pictures of my sweet girl - ENJOY!! :)
Hey, hey, hey guys! I'm not even going to let Mom write any kind of introduction - she writes too much! :) I've done soooooooooo much in my third month of life and I've loved every minute of it! I got to spend my first night away from my Mommy and Daddy on September 7 - it was a Saturday night so Daddy had to be at church the next day, all day and Mommy had to go with Andrew, Rebekah and Parker to take Parker's 6 month pictures (btw [that mean "by the way" - I love fun shortcuts!] can you believe my friend Parker will be 7 months old in just a few days! She's so old! :) ). Anyway, MiTessa thought instead of Mommy taking me with her for pictures that I should just stay with her. Mom and Dad reluctantly agreed - Mommy gave me lots of kisses and even cried a little when she left me that night but I did so good. I love staying at the Farm with Dabo and MiTessa. They let me "do what I want" and I like that. They have doggies, cows, horses, stars and lots of trees!
I also got to go to my first sporting event - HHS Volleyball to see Delaney and her friends play. I liked watching that ball go back and forth across the gym. I did get tired of watching it though and took a nap. Mommy said I could play volleyball if I wanted to but I couldn't wear those spandex 
Jesus is my Rock and my Salvation. He is close to the broken-hearted and hears our prayers. He loves me unconditionally and without Him I would have been lost in all the valleys. I know "what-if" statements can be silly but what if my hope had been in something/someone else during those valleys? Would LP have made it if I had put my faith in fallen man or silly idols? Maybe... (And this is strictly all about my personal situation and not in anyway a reflection of any person who has had hard times and lost a baby or loved one or anything - God's will for our life is ultimate and supreme but also mysterious - I can not fathom His plans for His children. We just need to trust Him). 
Again I will say that I am thankful, so very thankful for Christ and His guiding hand on my life. And I am thankful for my Poppa and his legacy - he was great but only because he chose to let Jesus live through him and be light and salt in this world. 
Lucy Paige has turned TWO MONTHS OLD!! You guys, where did
the time go? My sweet girl is growing up so fast and is seriously so smart and
strong and awesome and beautiful and, and, and... Everything – she is the best!
I never thought I could love someone so much who has nothing
to offer me – yes, she “loves” me but only because I nourish her, play with
her, love her and am her constant buddy
but her little brain hasn’t figured out how to love truly yet. I kind of feel
like I know a little how God feels about
us – how He loves us even when we have nothing to give, when we don’t fully
understand how to love, when we are sinners not covered in His grace. He loved
us first before we even knew Him and He loves us unconditionally. I loved her
fiercely before we even met, before I knew she was LP; I sacrificed my health
just to know that I wouldn’t take any medicine that could hurt her; I didn’t
freak out and breakdown when I really wanted to just give up because of all the
awful things that happened during my pregnancy (and just so you guys know – It
was totally Jesus guiding me, carrying me through those awful months; I could
not have done it on my on, I was ready to throw the towel in). I know I can’t
love her unconditionally like God loves us; I will fail her, I will mess up – I
already have. But I will strive my hardest to point her to the One who does
love her the best, who will love her unconditionally, who will never fail her,
who will always be there for her no matter what – Jesus. It’s really an awesome
thing, this kind of mirror reflecting God’s love for us in my love for my sweet
LP. I didn’t fully grasp the awesomeness of God’s love for His children until I
had LP and let me tell you guys if God loves us even a tenth of how much I love
Lucy then we are so blessed to have Him as out heavenly Father. And He loves us
way more than a tenth of my love for LP!
Hey, hey guys! LP here, taking over this thing Mom calls a
keyboard. So my second month here has been pretty awesome to say the least. I
really love being here and making Mom and Dad laugh. They are the silliest
people – they try so hard to make me laugh and smile. I hide it from them just
to make them earn their keep. J
But most of the time I do smile and talk to them, they love it. They think I’m
some kind of genius. When I talk to Mom all she does is squeak back to me – I’m
telling her the secrets of the universe and she thinks I’m squeaking at her!
She’s a little crazy… but all the good ones are! Some neat things I can do
already are hold my head up by myself, sit in my bumbo seat, sleep for at least
6 hours straight at night and ride in that blasted car seat without screaming my
head off. Oh, and another neat thing is every morning between 9am and 10am, I
poop! Dr. Irons is very impressed with my skills and I love impressing folks
with my skills! I’m hoping to be walking by the end of next month; it may be a
stretch but I’m going to try. 
I've done some pretty cool things in my second month of life - went to my cousin's bridal shower (I'll go to my first wedding when she gets married in October! I am so excited!), went to an engagement party for Mom and Dad's great friends Ryan and Kinsley, been to Lowe's and Target a lot, spent a week and a half at the Farm, met one of Mom's best friends in the whole world (Megan and Suman - they've done some pretty crazy things together; I can't wait to hear more from Megan and her sister, Melissa, about all the adventures they've had), met more of my very large extended family, and OUT-GREW my NEWBORN sleepers when I was officially 8 weeks old! For some reason Mom cried when she put me in the 0-3 month sleepers - she loves that I'm growing but wants time to slow down... She's silly - time waits for no one! I'm still in the newborn size for all my other outfits though! Another neat thing I've been told so much about and gotten to experience first hand is College Game Day on ESPN. Alabama played their first game of the season and won - it was boring towards the end but I like watching football - all the fun colors and noises. 
Here are a few things that I have loved about month 2: bath time, again number 1 on my list - it's a magical place; so warm and cozy and full of yummy smelling bubbles. I love smiling and talking - Mom and Dad say I have the cutest, prettiest smile. I love being outside on my porch in HYT or at the Farm - there are dogs, cows, and horses at the Farm! They make funny talking noises though... I still love to snuggle, especially with Mommy. I enjoy sitting up although I still need help, I love it so! I also enjoy my Bible stories Mom reads to me every morning - we are almost to the point where God steps in and does something amazing, at least that's what my stories and Mommy keep telling me. I can't wait to see what God does! 
Hey people! My parents decided to name me Lucy Paige - I would have much preferred something like Queen Elizabeth, the most high or Pluto, the ever-changing planet/dwarf or even Q but alas, Lucy Paige will have to do! I'm kidding - I love my name, Mom keeps going on and on about how I was named after her favorite character in one of her favorite books and since I'm her favorite daughter - it works! :) 
I was a month old on August 2 (6 Weeks Old today!) but I'm just now getting around to typing this up because I've been so busy hanging out with my Mom and Dad. They are so great - I love them and I know they love me so much. I gave them quite a surprise when I decided to come early on my birthday, but I like it that way - I like surprising people with my skills. I am already holding my head up by myself and working on this thing called "tummy time" - I call it "annoying and if I cry loud enough Mommy will get me time". My doctor is wonderful - I've been to see her for my one month check up and she said I was just perfect and so strong. I'm still small, less than 5% in my percentiles but that's just because I ran out of "womb" (like my joke, Daddy told me I'd get some laughs if I used it!) in Mommy's tummy and came early. Dr. Irons says I'll catch up in no time! Guess what - I'm the size of my friend Parker when she was born! :) Mommy likes that I'm still small - she says it's like she gets to have a snuggly newborn for longer. 
In my first month here on planet earth, I've traveled what seems like the world! I've been to Lawley, Hoover and Alabaster! I LOVE going to Lawley because that's where my MiTessa and Dabo live, I also get to see my Nana, Poppa, Aunts Rikki, Morgan and Megan and lots of other strange people my mom calls family. I've also met my only first cousin as of now, Lauraline. I can't wait to play with her. She is so much fun! Her Mommy is my Daddy's sister and I love her and can't wait to hear more stories about Daddy when he was little. 
