In the Kitchen

We had a Christmas party with some friends at our house Saturday evening, and Emma wanted to help me in the kitchen last week...like all good cooks, we had to do a taste test! : ) I let her lick the spatula after making fudge, and she was after the bowl, the spatula and the pan of fudge! She really is a big eater, so when I'm in the kitchen, she likes to pull up on me looking for tastes constantly! Saturday was quite a busy day, and I didn't think to get any pictures at our party, but we had lots of fun celebrating and fellowshipping with our friends! After our busy week of trying to get ready for that party and the Boyd Hill party, I was looking forward to crashing and having a big all about Emma day (she was such a trooper last week in all my dragging her around trying to get it all done, and I felt guilty for not paying her more attention)...unfortunately, crash plans were interrupted by our first virus...UGH!!! Emma started vomiting Monday every 15 min. or so...I'll spare the long story and details. To sum it up, we ended up in the ER about 10:30 that evening, she got a shot to try to subdue the nausea, and we've had a long few days. It's been several hours since she got sick this morning, and I am hoping we are finished with the vomit. It breaks my heart to see and hear her in all that pain and fear! She is none too happy today as I am still not letting her nurse much and won't give her any food...she has not lost her appetite in any of this! Apparently ,we let her try some light foods too soon yesterday evening, and we had a minor setback last night. She's doing a lot whining and sleeping today, and I am praying w/o ceasing that the Lord takes this from her sweet little body! The Lord continues to teach us through our parenthood journey! I hope to write a little more later, but I just wanted to catch up on the happenings of our lives for now. It's back to yet more laundry and praying for my little girl for now. Oh~speaking of firsts, she stood up on her own several times Monday (before the virus hit) and took an official first step! I was on the floor playing with her, she slowly stood up without holding on to me, and took a step to the coffe table!! We were so excited and proud and had to call Daddy! I'm afraid she's probably been set back a bit by the virus, but we'll see how well she bounces back.

More Partying!

We had our annual Boyd Hill Christmas Party with the youth Sunday. I am terrible with this picture thing and deleted some, but you get the idea. We bring in kids from a local government housing project area to celebrate Christmas with our youth. Our kids have been bringing money that I used to buy gifts for each child we brought. We had pizza, games, crafts,music, a Christmas story with the gospel attached, and gave out gifts. It is always so much fun for all involved! I don't know if you can tell it in the picture of Ben and Emma, but she was clapping along with everyone to the music. It was so precious!! She LOVES music and dancing and has pretty good rhythm already too!

Party

We went down to Blythewood a couple of week-ends ago for my sister's Christmas party. It was great to see and meet some of her neighbors and friends as well as lots of family. I didn't take any pictures until the action died because I was way overwhelmed by the neighborhood kids having so much fun! : ) Emma was pretty excited to see so many kids, though! I had to be sure to include some pictures of her in the Christmas outfit my grandparents gave her as well as wearing a bow. Bows are hard...she really likes to take them out! One of my sister's neighbors was saying something about Karo syrup to keep bows in babies' hair, but that is a bit much for me. We'll wear bows more when Emma and her hair are ready for them!

Clonbarken

The week-end Ben's grandmother passed away, we had a youth trip that we had helped plan for several months, and we felt like we should go ahead as planned. There wasn't anything we would be able to do in Georgia until Sunday, and we were supposed to be in all the skits, help lead games and help with all the little details for the youth trip. It was a little different trip because we weren't able to attend our denomination's retreat because of conflict, so it was just our group. The leaders were in charge of everything except speaking. We made the decision to go an hour before departure time, so packing was misery (esp. considering how we hate that duty when we're not pressed for time)! We loaded ourselves and Emma in the Tahoe, had it packed to the limit for 4 days and headed up to Bonclarken in Flat Rock, NC for the week-end and then down to Macon, Ga through Monday. The retreat was wonderful, and we were so thankful we were able to spend that time with the kids. Anyone who's worked with youth knows how valuable that time away from the norm is. We were blessed with good fellowship and great talks with the kids while there! The week-end included lots of games, skits, paintball, shopping in Hendersonville, talks, music, and small groups. One of the leaders, Meg, and all the kids were sooooo helpful with Emma and her buddy Jonathan! I'm so glad Emma and Jonathan are easy going and love the teenagers so much! They never want to miss a minute when the teenagers are around!! Guess the Lord knew we needed babies like that to stay in this ministry! Anyway, it was an exhausting few days even more so after the emotionally wearing preceding week but well worth it. We had plenty of time in the car to Georgia and home and really enjoyed sharing our experiences from the week-end...we talked about how much more it felt like service to the Lord to be so spent and to have to balance a baby in the midst of the craziness too! We are thankful and humbled that He gives us these opportunities to serve in that capacity; we love those kids and sharing in their lives!

In Loving Memory

We went to see Ben's MiMi for her birthday November 16th. Emma, of course, loved her beads and leis! MiMi was very hard to understand that day, bust she was so clear when she talked about Emma. A week after our visit, MiMi started to decline a health. She had Parkinson's for years, and it had begun to affect her ability to swallow, which meant she quit taking medicine, food, and drink. She left us to be with Lord November 30th after a hard week of watching her slowly leave this earth. It seems to be such a blessing to get closure with our loved ones, but it is so hard to say goodbye and actually "let go". I never knew her not "sick", but even in her sickness, she was always such the prayer warrior and encourager. She was always happy to have us visit even though our busyness kept our visits less frequent than we would have liked. She made sure to catch up on our lives and let us know she was praying for us and loved us each time we were able to visit. I know she will be greatly missed, but we are very thankful she lived a good, long life!

Tradition

It is our tradition to go pick out a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and decorate that week-end. We enjoyed taking Emma to pick out her first tree, and she loved helping hang ornaments and watching us move furniture around. She was especially intrigued by the fire her Daddy built us! What a wonderful several days of being with family and making our home look a "lot like Christmas"...the most wonderful time of the year!!

Thanksgiving Dinners

After walking in the woods at Pa's, we headed over to my grandparent's house to share a Thanksgiving dinner with the extended family and wish my Granddaddy a happy 85th. The food was wonderful, as always, and afterward, we enjoyed being outside talking, laughing, playing football, chasing kids, and watching Will and Emma act like siblings (of just kids, I guess). I think the two pictures of them with footballs are priceless of the "mine" mentality! Emma was sporting her Baby's first Thanksgiving outfit from Ben's mom while wishing someone would let her in on the football action. Ben and I had to have a picture taken of just the two of us because recently I could only find one picture of the two of us without Emma since her birth. We don't want to lose "us" in this new phase of family life! Next, we headed down the road for another wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Howell's. Emma loved playing with PapPap! She also enjoyed sharing real food with us at both dinners!! It was a great day, and we are so thankful to have our families close enough that we can share all the holidays with both sides...even if we do get worn out traveling all day!