WE HAVE A DATE!

Yes, baby girl now has a destination date! January 18th looks like the day that baby girl will bless us with her presence, unless she decides to come earlier. I am really feeling at peace about my c-section, but I reserve the right to have anxiety later.

Tonight we are attempting Parker's first night in his big boy bed. So far, so good. I will let you know in the morning how it goes!

Daddy's Shoes

I just couldn't resist posting these pictures. Last night Stacey was working on a home project and I was his assistant. Parker was not amused that his assistance wasn't needed at the moment. So, I sent him on a treasure hunt, asking him to find Daddy's shoes. This is what I found next! I left my 'post' (Stacey was in the attic) to run get my camera. Then my son, the character that he is, started posing. All I have to do now is get my camera and he says, "cheese!" I get this really cute face with it too.

Now I know why camera men use it.

Thanksgiving 2005

I love Paris! I don't think I can say it enough. I would move there in heart beat. A lot of my family lives there, and some of my cousins have recently moved back to make the town feel like home. Stacey sometimes gets offended when I refer to Paris as home. He thinks Keller is my home. I have to remind him that I live in Keller, but my home is Paris.

This year was the first Thanksgiving without Nanny Betty, but her presence was definitely there. I love the story of how her daughters have asked her for years how she made the turkey and dressing and she wouldn't tell them, they asked her to write it down...and she would just laugh. Gay (her daughter) was getting ready to fix the turkey, when she opened up the roaster instruction manual only to find a typed and laminated recipe 'how to' card dated from 1996! You know that old lady was laughing in heaven. Lunch was wonderful. Parker loved playing with his cousins and seeing La La. He met cousin Braxton for the first time all the way from Iowa, they are 6 months apart. Lyneil and I are also expecting again this time, this time 4 months difference. Parker LOVED jumping on the trampoline with Braxton and feeding the fish with cousin Franklin. Cousin Missy and her family weren't there because she is too close to her due date. They were missed. Buddy and her family weren't able to come due to her health, I missed Marianne's hug. I look forward to it every year! I love my family.

Some other highlights from the trip...Taco Delight (it is a Paris eatery), driving around looking at Christmas lights, Stacey hunting with cousins, Gay's hug, running into high school friends, spending time with Dad and Sid, seeing Wyatt and Lauren (brother and sister), needlepointing, shopping the downtown square, eating Texas Turtles (a candy that was out of this world), and spending time with Stacey without a 'to do' list.

I can't write and upload pictures without mentioning 'only in Paris.' Where else can you...well, you will see!

Thanksgiving 2004

Last year was a year to be THANKFUL for. Not that this year isn't, so let me explain. About this time last year I went for an all night scrapping thing with my fellow scrapper Kelli. When we returned home around 12:30 am I was met at the door by my sweet husband. I knew something was wrong, not that he doesn't usually meet me at the door, but at 12:30 he should be asleep. He took me and sat me down and told me that he had to call 911. WHAT!? He put Parker to bed (like he does every night, so sweet) to have Parker begin to scream a scream he hadn't heard before. He rushed into his room to find Parker stiff as a board and his eyes rolled. Stacey's brother suffered with seizures, and this is what Stacey was looking at when he looked at Parker, so he called 911. The fire department is just down the street and were here in a matter of minutes. Stacey said they were wonderful. The firemen checked Parker out and then cancelled the ambulance which was in route. They agreed that Parker had probably had some sort of seizure, but Parker was sound asleep by the time they left and Stacey wanted to discuss what we should do when I got home. He had tried to call my cell, but it was too loud in the store and I didn't hear it ring. He didn't know the name of the store where we were, so he couldn't call the store to get me. I hugged Stacey and was so sorry that he had to go through that alone, knowing he had lost his brother the year before to brain cancer, then had to see Parker have something similar. Then I went to Parker's room and picked up my baby and held him so tight. He was exhausted. All of this happened on Friday before Thanksgiving. The weekend was full of phone calls and going to Cook's to see what was going on with sweet Parker. Cook's wasn't sure that he had had a seizure, they weren't real sure what he had. We didn't like our answer. We called Parker's doctor on Monday morning (Parker and I were in Paris by this point) and they wanted to see us right away. We drove in to Plano for that doctor to be concerned. He schedule a brain scan thing and we needed to come back on Wednesday. So we drove back to Paris, and then back on Wednesday. It was the saddest thing ever. Parker had all these wires attached to his head, then wrapped in gauze. I would attach pictures, but they make me sad. Parker didn't really mind them though. He didn't try to pull on them when he was awake. We were suppose to make him sleep, but all of the excitement of the hospital and wires being attached, that really wasn't going to happen. The lab tech kind of gave us a hint that there was nothing to worry about, which set our hearts at ease knowing that another doctor would have to look at the results and let us know after the holidays what the test showed. 2 WEEKS LATER we received the results that everything looked fine. To this day Parker hasn't had any thing like what Stacey experienced that November night, thank God. So, I am thankful for Parker's health.

Last year was also our last thanksgiving with my Aunt Betty. She was really my great aunt, but I thought of her as my grandmother. Our Thanksgivings have been held at her house since I was in middle or high school, I really can't remember. I do remember all the fun we had at her house. I remember when we raked the back yard instead of the front to have a pile of leaves to jump into. Then we moved to the front yard to have the tree to climb and jump from. I remember the Dallas Morning News reported being stuck at her house because of the ice storm. This year will be different at the Cagle thanksgiving, but I know it will be wonderful to be around all of my cousins who I see 1-2 a year. I will miss cousin Julie, who has to work as a TV anchor in Waco this year due to ratings. I am so thankful for family. Have safe travels.

Captivating!

If you know me, you know I don't like to read(except Junie B. Jones). Reading puts me to sleep. However, I know that I need to read, since I was a reading teacher and so I bought a book back in September. The title is CAPTIVATING,Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge. I bought the book while we were in Colorado at Focus on the Family. I knew my Stacey had read Wild at Heart and loved it, so I thought it was a pretty safe bet. I haven't spent the time to really read the book, a little here and a little there, I love the book...and then there was this morning. Parker is sleeping a little later due to his medication, so I took the opportunity to read a little before I needed to start getting ready, and can't wait to share what I learned. Hang with me, I may jump around.

The part I read this morning is called A SPECIAL HATRED. It is about the assault on Femininity and that it cannot be understood apart from the spiritual forces of evil we are warned against in scripture. The mean old Prince of Darkness. Who did Satan go after...EVE!

In Ezek. 28:12-14,
"you were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you:
ruby, topaz and emerald,
chrysolite, onyx and jasper,
sapphire, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones."

Lucifer was gorgeous, and it was his ruin. Pride entered his heart. He craved the worship that was being given to God for himself.
"Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor." Ezek 28:17.
Satan fell because of his beauty. Now his heart for revenge is to assault beauty. He destroys it in the natural world wherever he can. Strip mines, oil spills, fires, Chernobyl. He wreaks destruction on the glory of God in the earth like a psychopath committed to destroying great works of art.
But most especially he hates Eve.
Because she is captivating, uniquely glorious, and he cannot be. She is the incarnation of the Beauty of God. More than anything else in all creation, she embodies the glory of God.

The Evil One also hates Eve because she gives life. Women give birth, not men. Women nourish life. And they also bring life in to the world soulfully, relationally, spiritually- in everything they touch. Satan was a murderer from the beginning (john 8:44). He brings death. His is a kingdom of death. Ritual sacrifices, denocide, the Holocaust, abortion- those are his ideas. And thus Eve is his greatest human threat, for she brings life. She is a lifesaver anda life giver. Eve means "life" or "Life Producer."

Okay WOW! I haven't ever heard this part! The part that touched me the most is about Eve being the "LIFE PRODUCER" and that he singled her out, not Adam, but Eve. He destroys all things beautiful. In our bible study, we have been talking about being intentional. Satan is intentional. I can't wait to share more as I make time to read (I know this doesn't sound like me) and hear more about what the Eldredges' have to say about the woman's soul. As women, we need to pray for our hearts, and our beauty. Satan is attacking us daily, he is seeking us out. He uses men to break our beauty, oh, that was another part of the chapter. You guys should really read the book! Don't wait on me to give you a summary!

We had a great Thanksgiving Feast tonight at church. I love my church family and am very thankful for my friends there!

Lions and Tigers and Strep THROAT!

I have this problem. I always think my son just has a allergies, or is cutting teeth when he ever has a runny nose. There was once when my son reached 103 temperature and we ended up in the ER to find out he had double ear infections and I thought he was cutting teeth. Parker ended up getting tubes in his ears for his birthday last year after having 8 ear infections in 4 months! He has been doing great. He does have pretty severe allergies and we have been referred to an allergist. He takes a prescription every day, but the past 2 weeks he has been battling a runny nose. I called his doctor to be told he had allergies and try one of the antihistimines that we have been prescribed before and if it doesn't get better to come in. We still have a runny nose, and today he had a cough so I called and got an appointment. He has strep throat. I used to consider Parker as a pretty healthy child, but now that I have had to call his friends and playmates to tell them he probably has infected them, for the inteenth time, I am thinking I need to change my thinking.

Last night HONEY AND BUDDY (Stacey's parents) took us the Shrine circus along with Parker's cousins. He had a grand time riding the neigh (horse) and the elephant. Buddy bought him a glow in the dark flashy stick thingy, which is a huge hit even today. He liked the lions and tigers, but could care less about the clowns and barely clothes girls that hung from the ceiling by ropes. We did have a first, Parker and I shared his first sucker ever! It was a great caramel apple sucker, and he loved it. So, after Parker was diagnosed with Strep his doctor told me to contact my OB! Sounds like I just have a few days before I go down. My OB's office closes at noon on Fridays and I called at 1:00 so I am out of luck over the weekend. I am drinking lots of orange juice to combat the sickness I will gladly share with my son. Check out the picture.

Parker's Prayer

When we all sit down to eat at the table, Parker extends his arms across his high chair to grasp our hands and then bows his head for prayer. It is the cutest thing. When we have said our prayer Parker applauds, or he doesn't. If he doesn't, that means we must try again, our first prayer wasn't good enough. This has gone on before 3-4 prayers long before we get some claps. Now Parker says AMEN at the end, which is so cute. Last night I was putting the dinner on serving dishes and hear Parker talking in his high chair. I look over and he has his head bowed and is mumbling up a storm, then announces AMEN. He said a little prayer all by himself. When Stacey and I sat down, he reached for our hands and Stacey began to pray, only to have Parker say his prayer again while Stacey was still talking. Parker was just talking away, and then announced AMEN. Stacey thinks we may have a preacher on our hands. Watch out Joel!

My little POOPER!

I know that I shouldn't really be posting this...but I just can't resist ( but you really aren't surprised because I have posted about this before). Parker went POOP in the potty for the 2nd time! He goes teetee almost every night in his potty before bath time, but this morning we were playing farm and blocks in the living room when he grabbed his diaper and said SHEWWEEE! His code word for poop, since poo poo seems to mean tee tee for him. I asked him if he wanted to go in his potty and his response, no surprise to anyone who knows him, was NOOOOOO, which means yes! So we took off to the bathroom, I stripped him down and he sat down on his seat. Seconds later, we have tee tee (or poo poo), then he stood up ready to streak through the house. I sat him back down and began to sing our favorite song about a bus and wheels and babies. He stood back up clutching my knees, which meant something was fixing to happen. I sat him back down and SHEWWEEEE! I better stop the story right there, because things got messy. Really messy. All of our excitement (Stacey was working from home this morning and came into the bathroom to join in the festivities) caused Parker to be frightened and loose bodily control and we won't even talk about what happened to mommy. Let's just say showers and a load of laundry later he finally has his poop reward of a carbonated beverage, COKE! YEAH PARKER! YOU ARE GETTING SO BIG!

The picture below is one of the ones I tried to post last night.

Bath Time and other random thoughts

Here is a picture we took tonight of Parker's bath. (COULDN'T GET PICTURES TO UPLOAD...SORRY!) He loves his bath with his MELMO bubbles. He really loves to help, and right now he likes to help wash his hair and rub in lotion. I love some of his new words as he approaches 21 months. I love how he says "SHERRIOOOOS" translation Cherrios. Milk is still MULK. I love how he tells everything BYE BYE. Even the moon is, bye bye moon, bye bye choo choo, bye bye car, bye bye church, bye bye! He loves to tell me bye bye and hide in the closet, which I thought would be frightening for him since it is in the dark, but he seems to be fine with it. He loves to knock on doors and say KNOCK KNOCK as he knocks. When I put stuff in my hair, like mousse, he wants some too. Daddy doesn't like it so much that I give him some, but it can't hurt! I love how he holds my hand when we cross the street or when we are watching Barney. Parker doesn't feel great right now. His allergies have been eating him up since we returned from Waxahachie. His little nose is raw. I turned the picture into black and white so you can't tell how bad it is.

Baby girl is getting uncomfortable in her home. She is moving so much it hurts. I am out of breath walking to the kitchen, and wake up about every night around 2:00 with HEART BURN! I am not sure what she is trying to tell me, except that she is going to be different from her brother. Parker was such an easy pregnancy. Delivery, different story.

Saturday night we went to the Jeremy Camp concert with some friends. We had a great time, although not all of his music is up my alley. Stacey loved it and joined in with David and JENNY in the mosh pit, however Scott and Kelli were pretty calm. The entire church became the mosh pit during the next to last song and the entire room began to shake. I became alarmed for my safety! Jenny is suffering this morning from all of her yelling and head banging. I was very surprised by my friend's energy. She seems like such a nice girl! All kidding aside, her love for the LORD was definitely expressed through her jumping up and down. Another highlight of the evening was seeing 2 of my former students from Coppell.

Major Savings!

Today began Albertson's Super Double coupon days! For those of you who are not on the in...that means Albertson's will double any coupon up to $2.00! I also love Triple coupon days, where they triple all the way to .75. Parker and I had a play date this morning and then off to shop. I had collected my coupons and made my list. I began on the opposite side of the grocery than I usually do, the pharmacy/dry goods side, which could have been my problem. Parker began screaming then, and didn't stop until reached the entire other side of the store where he then could turn and reach the .99 lb seedless purple grapes that was now on top of all of my other loot. I got some major bargains. Their pork tenderloin was buy one get one! That was a 10 dollar savings! 12 packs of Cokes, 3 for $8.88. Diapers that were already on sale, I got another 4.00 off. Some of my purchases we to stock up, like tooth paste and hair products. I normally would never buy these item from the grocery store, but with $2 off, I am buying things for 1.00 or less. I love the check out process. I love to watch my total grow and grow. The cashier asking me if I have a preferred card, and my answer is yes, but I don't give it to her. I let her sweat. I want to wait until the very end. I see my total. Lump in throat. Hand over card. Hand over coupons. SEE $51.40 in SAVINGS!! Now that is savings. Let me know about your savings this weekend. I know many of you are playing!

Such Fun!

I have spent the past 2 days with Stacey's grandmother and aunt preparing for baby girl's arrival. Mammy (Stacey's grandmother) is a seamstress. She has a gift with fabric and machine. She made Parker's bedding and as I left Waxahachie today, baby girl's bedding is almost finished. I am not sure I was much help, I cut fabric to the dimensions she requested and tried to keep Parker from pushing the sewing machine pedal. It is becoming so real...so fast. Probably a little over 2 months and she will be here. There is still so much to do to prepare. Finish the utility room, pick a name, move in all my craft stuff, pick a name, paint nursery, put up Parker's big boy bed, set up nursery, pick a name, celebrate Thanksging, and Christmas, and New Year's! Where has all of my time gone?

On another note, those of you who were praying, yesterday was successful. Thank you for your prayers.

Thanks Friends!

God is good.

He is my rock.

The Joy of the Lord, is my strength.

Please pray for tomorrow.

Thanks friends for all of your prayers.

Hurting Heart

You know when your heart just hurts? Things happen in your world that you have no control over, but you know God does. That is where I am. I don't understand it. I am trying not to. I am praying for the situation, and I am praying for me. Does that sound selfish? I find myself all to often praying for others, and forgetting to pray for myself. How can God use me in this situation, or don't let Satan work on my heart, or how will this mold us in the future, these are some of the prayers I am praying. I am kind of tired of being clay, but know the mature way to think of it is that it is who I am. I am being worked on by the Master. I just don't like my heart to hurt.

Pooped from the ZOO

This morning we were invited to visit the ZOO with Parker's friend Jackson, which he kindly refers to as Jack. Jack has a season pass that he bought just for when a friend wants to tag along, and today Parker was that friend. We had perfect parking and perfect weather. The boys had so much fun. Parker loved the elephant and the monkey, but was mostly impressed by all the "wa wa," translated: Water. Yes, my son was most impressed by the water! The lion was asleep or I think he would still be roaring. Another great thing we did was feed the birds. I am a little uneasy entering the bird tent thing since I was once attacked by many birds in Downtown Fort Worth about 6 years ago, but that is a blog for another day! I know that Anne is laughing now! Back to the zoo. We paid our $1 for the popsicle stick with bird feed on the end and entered the tent with a very unhappy door monitor, it seems one of her birds had gotten out. Holding our stick out to attract the birds, Parker was taking it all in, until a bird landed on our stick! Parker got so scared! I don't think I have ever seen him quite make that face and shake his entire body like he did. I must say that when 2 birds attacked our stick, I even let out a yelp. We had a great time at the zoo, and thank you Jackson for inviting us.