Like father like daughter

Ever since Caroline was born, I have wanted to get the perfect picture of these two sleeping. Check out those open mouths!

Turns out she does have her Daddy in her too!

Busy Season

Well, it is that time of year again and I can hardly believe it! I love the holidays even though they are pretty hectic most of the time, they are also refreshing. Sorry, for the lack of blog attention, but here is a little summary since Thanksgiving.

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know we love to go places and have an excuse for a getaway just about any chance we can! About three weeks after Caroline was born I was reay to venture to Birmingham for a weekend and then when she was six weeks, we headed up to the lake for a few days. I love the lake in the winter about as much as I love it in the summer.

We had a wonderfully relaxing time: fire going, in PJs all day, little one sleeping on the couch, and reading = heaven on earth!

Oh, and we were able to see our friends, Andrew and Stacey while up at the lake. This is their youngest, Owen, who is six weeks older than Caroline. How cute are they? I think Owen is smitten over Caroline! :)
Since then, we celebrated Mark and Kristen with an ornament shower. I cannot believe they will be married in two months! I am SO excited!! Have I mentioned she lives here now too?? Yes, it is wonderful!

We went to the amazing annual Atlanta Youth Academy Art Auction. This is one of our favorite events of the year. Go HERE to see more about this amazing school on their website or go HERE to watch an awesome video. John and I love this place and believe in it whole heartedly!

We went to a party for the consulting firm John will start work with this summer. This was fun for us to meet many new people as well as their spouses. I love to put faces with names so I especially appreciated meeting people I have been hearing about.

Caroline went to see Santa Claus. She did great. This is one off our camera, but I will post some professional ones once we get them in the mail.

We fried a turkey with our small group and had a delicious Christmas meal! I wish I had a picture. It was fried in our driveway - yes, we looked like rednecks for the day. Have you ever had fried turkey though? It was a first for me and it was so yummy!

John and I had our annual Christmas date - dinner at Houston's and then Christmas shopping/people watching while sipping hot chocolate. We really do not like to go to the mall at all if we can avoid it at Christmas, but we love to go once for this date.

We celebrated our friends Anna and Caleb last weekend with a baby shower for baby Clark arriving in January! We cannot wait for this little one to arrive and find out if it is a bor or girl!

Oh, and last but certainly not least, John finished exams and is off school for a month! Only one more semester to go.

Whoa...Sorry to catch you up on so much at once! More Christmas parties and a wedding to celebrate this weekend! Yay for Christmas in just one week!

Turkey Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in Atlanta with John's family. John has a tradition of running the Atlanta 1/2 marathon every Thanksgiving morning. Caroline and I went bright and early to support him at mile 7. I am pretty sure John was more excited about getting a picture with Caroline during the race than he was the race itself. After the race, we headed to the Phelps' house. His mother makes the most amazing meal. She does it all herself and all homecooked from scratch!

At the race

A friend of John's from school joined us this year for lunch. Ruslan and his wife, Louisa do not have any family in the states. And they just had a baby boy born two weeks after Caroline. They Phelps always like to invite friends who may not have family nearby to join their Thanksgiving. I love that tradition!

Ruslan, Louisa, Altay, John, and the Phelps

The rest of the weekend was wonderful and relaxing minus some football games we were not very happy about! Christian and Linsey were in town for Thanksgiving with the Alison's. So, Mom came over for the weekend to see everyone too. We were thrilled to spend time with them!

Uncle Christian and Caroline matched for the Auburn game!

War Eagle anyway!

We also got our Christmas tree and are in the process of decorating! Will have to add some pictures soon! Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

Here to Stay

John has officially accepted a job in Atlanta after he graduates from his MBA program in May! We have not mentioned this on the blog, but he was offered a position with JnJ from his summer internship, but that job would have been in New Jersey. He has spent this fall interviewing at many companies. I am so proud of him as he was offered several jobs as a result of all the interviewing. This has been a very good season for us to really pray about the next step in our lives and for John's career. John will be working with a consulting firm here. He is so thrilled and very passionate to begin pursuing this upon graduation. Atlanta is where is the Lord has us right now and we are excited to continue investing in this wonderful city we call home!

Thankful

I love Thanksgiving. I am ashasmed to admit though the reasons I usually love Thanksgiving have to do with good food, cold weather and a warm fire, a day or two off from work, a low key day to rest before the hustle and bustle of Christmas, great football, etc. Growing up, my family would always share a couple things we were thankful for each year at Thanksgiving. And just as it says below, I immediately aslways jump to the good, to the Lord's provision and blessings. Granted, there have been numerous times looking back now I have seen how the difficult, the pain and hurt as well have molded me and shaped me for the better. But, those are not usually the pretty things I would think about at Thanksgiving.

However, this little devotion I read below gave me a different perspective this year.

Am I thankful?
Sure I am. As long as it’s convenient.
As long as the gift-giver is within ear’s reach of my thank you. And as long as what I’m thankful for is good, comfortable, pleasant and smells great.
I never thank anyone for rolling over my toe with their cart in the grocery store or thank someone for an unkind word. And I never thank God for struggles.
I mean, how stupid would I sound:
Thank you, God, for NO MONEY to pay the mortgage today.
Thank you that my seven-year-old has emotional outbursts every morning before school that reduce her to a pile of unbrushed auburn waves and tears on the bathroom floor.
Thanks for spilled apple juice, dried and sticky on the floor.
Thank you, God, for the rejection of friends and that crazy mean email last week. Thank you for the tears it cost.
Thank you for the argument I had with my husband last night. Thank you, God, that he doesn’t understand me.
No.
We are usually thankful for blessings.
Gifts. Encouragement. Provision.
We send thank-you notes to mothers and cousins for baby gifts and Christmas packages. We call our pastors and thank them for the sermon. We are grateful for warm beds and fireplaces that glow in our family rooms.
We are thankful because it’s easy and expected.
But the sweet times, the easy-flowing happy times are not what shape me. I am comfortable and will stay the same if everything always goes my way.
Discomfort is the only way I grow. And I am never grateful for sitting in the valley of hurt and pain. I’m never thankful when things don’t work out like I planned.
I stamp my feet instead and no-fair God. I tell Him He doesn’t know what its like to be me.
I’m not changed in the lots-of-money, kids-are-well, husband-adores-me days.
But I am changed in the I’m-fat, second-argument-this-week-with-my-mom, worried-about-my-kids days.
This is when I’m moved to trust. I have to because nothing else works.
These are the days when God comes in and under-girds my heart with His own, turns my head to refocus my attention and then asks me to trust.
And I should be grateful that He thinks enough of me to carefully craft difficulty to edge me toward beauty, kindness, and grace with pressure.
I don’t want to just be thankful for the easy. I want to be grateful for the hard. And that involves a choice...one I'm making today.

1 Month

Thursday was Caroline's 1 month birthday. The time has flown by and it is hard to remember what things were like before she came into the world. She is doing great and growing like a weed! She now weighs 9lbs 11oz and is 22 1/4 in long. Here are some more pictures over the last month.

Enjoying more and more awake time

First trip to B'ham!

Happy Halloween

Favorite pastime

First bath

Honoring Those Who Serve

My oldest brother, Matt, is a naval aviator (think Top Gun). He is stationed in Washington State and has a crazy busy schedule, but we were thrilled he came to visit this weekend and meet Caroline.

People have always said Matt and I look alike and now many family members and close friends believe Caroline looks like Matt too. Will have to post a pic of them together later.



Anyway, another reason Matt was in town for a few days was for a speaking engagement at the middle school where Mom teaches. With Veteran's Day coming up, her school has a "Living History Day" to honor those who serve and/or have served our country. Matt was asked to be the main speaker for this year. Matt is an incredible speaker. He has always had a gift for this and it is kind of ridiculous the speeches he can write and the profound things he can just say off the top of his head. Not only is he a good speaker, but Matt absolutely loves what he does everyday. I have never met someone who is more honored and proud to serve our country as much as Matt. It is truly a joy and passion for him. And I have to say it is a very admirable quality. And he does an awesome job at it too! So, below is a video clip from the Bham news of history day.

Ladies, he is single too- just sayin! :)