Love Never Fails

I remember walking down the boardwalk holding my daddy's arm and knowing my world was about to change. I've never felt so many emotions running through me at once. But, as a crested the top of the steps, and I saw you waiting in the sand, the only thing I felt was love. And, it filled my heart.

During the ceremony, a passage from 1 Corinthians 13 was read. It says, "4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails."

That's the love we share. I couldn't ask for more! You are everything I ever imagined in a husband and everything I never knew I wanted or needed. I'm blessed beyond measure and I thank God for you every day! I look forward to growing old with you. The best is yet to come!

Happy Anniversary, Matt!

AML, AML!

Whatta Weekend!

We had a weekend that was just chock full of fun and family!

PaPa and Matt spent the weekend tearing down our old deck and rebuilding a new, bigger deck. They did an awesome job despite the evil load of wood that jumped out of the truck in the middle of a busy intersection requiring my father to sit with half the wood on the side of the road while the other half was taken to be unloaded (I bet that was a sight to be seen...it seems we are dipping our toes into the redneck waters just a bit these days) and the smoking 90 degree heat. We now have the completed floor of a new deck. The rails will be up soon!! I am so grateful for hard working men. I can't wait to relax on the new deck with my family!

Since Mema and PaPa were here this weekend, instead of us travelling there, they brought the cousins with them. On Saturday, Josh came to play and then on Sunday, Wooten and Christian were here. Of course, not to be outdone, the girl cousins came with Mema and PaPa to Jacob's ball game last night! It was awesome for Jacob to have some playtime. Eli tried to keep up, too! Here's a picture of my hot and sweaty boys together.

Then, on Monday night we had a ball game. Jacob is really shining behind the plate. He works super hard back there and after the game on Monday night, he was singled him out for some words of praise. It was great to hear the coach giving Jake accolades for working hard whether the team is winning or losing. He's always out there giving his best! Way to go, buddy!

Friday Fun Night!

Jacob had an event at school last night and we all piled up the rental minivan to go. After grabbing some good old Wendy's burgers (yes, I fed Eli a cheeseburger...yes, he LOVED it!), we were on our way!

We arrived and headed straight for the media center. Jacob's artwork was being displayed there as part of an art fair. They had framed all the artwork and made it look like an art gallery. Jacob was sooooo excited about showing off his work and he did a great job. Of course, we fell for their sneaky ploy, adored his framed art, and forked over the $32 to proudly carry it home.

With lighter pockets, we headed down to the cafeteria for some BINGO fun. The prizes were some awesome baskets full of donated goodies. I really wanted the "spa-scape" basket with the hour massage, mani/pedi, loofah, moisturizer, and seaweed mask. Matt and I took turns walking the halls with our energizer bunny, aka Eli, while the other hung out with Jacob and tried to figure out how to improve the odds of winning a "spa-scape."

Alas, it was not in the cards for us to win, but we had a wonderful time as a family and our home is newly decorated with Jacob's mosaic entitled, "Jack, the ballet bunny."

Easily distracted

This past weekend, I looked at Matt and told him that we should fire our maid, which is exactly what we would do if we actually had a maid!

Somehow since Eli has begun walking and the weather has gotten beautiful, housework has taken a backseat. So, in an effort to correct this situation, I did what all good teachers do and made a worksheet. It looks like this...

I found something similar on another website and tweaked it to fit my needs. It has a place for the date, the scripture I'm memorizing that week, my water intake and whether I took a walk (I'm trying to be healthier and this makes me accountable). Then there's my top 3 to dos (which I should have labeled "must dos"), other to dos, and miscellaneous reminders. There are daily to dos such as unloading the dishwasher, wiping down counters, etc. that are not on this worksheet.

So on Monday, with my daily docket in hand and knowing my top 3 to dos were cleaning the master bath, mopping the kitchen floor, and vacuuming, I got busy. Shortly into the day, I realized what my problem might be.

During Eli's morning nap, I set to work. I stopped in Matt's office to say hey and get a kiss. Since we had yet to move other furniture to make room for it, I'm ashamed to say that our beloved, new filing cabinet was still sitting in the middle of his office. Well, I was so distracted by it, that I decided to move things and get it into place. Or course, that required finding a spot for the furniture I moved out of the office. So, up to Jacob's room with that shelf I went. When I got there, I was distracted by how messy his toy shelves were, so I organized them. Then I headed downstairs to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher. About a third of the way into it, I realized I hadn't started our dinner, so I grabbed the roast and a can of crushed tomatoes and threw them in the crock pot. About that time, Matt came into the kitchen looking for a snack. Since I was distracted, I offered to make him a sandwich and then realized a Coke Zero on ice would be really good. After I fixed that for myself, I headed back to the still-open dishwasher. I put away a few things and was distracted by my bare feet on the dirty floor, so I grabbed the broom and swept. About that time, the baby monitor died, so I grabbed the laundry baskets from the laundry room and headed upstairs to retrieve the monitor base. When I got to our room, I was distracted by the unmade bed and so I pulled the covers up and tucked and smoothed before grabbing the base. Finally, I headed back downstairs to finish unloading the dishwasher.

Well, no wonder I don't feel like I get anything done. It took me an hour to unload the dishwasher!!

Anyone else have this same disorder, besides my Mama? I checked the DSM-IV and it's not a documented mental disorder, so I guess it's just a family trait!! :)

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On a completely different note, take some time to ready MckMama's post about prayer. It's worth your time!!

Reunited and it feels so good!

Late last night, my USB cord and I were reunited. Much to my chagrin, there was no thief and instead, there was a hubby trying to help keep things tidy. I opened the front hallway closet door to begin searching, all the while knowing I did not put the USB cord in that closet, but it was a great excuse to do some organizing. I glanced at the top shelf and saw the camcorder box. Couldn't hurt to look inside...YES!!!! Matt had inadvertently put the camera USB cord in the camcorder box. Gotta love a man who helps his wife--even if it wasn't the correct spot, it's the effort that counts!!!! So, this afternoon following the marathon opening game of the baseball season, I sat down and uploaded lots of photos. Here are a few! Enjoy catching up!

In which we catch up without the benefit of photography

So, the USB cord and I are not yet reunited, so I'll just have to tell you about our busy, busy spring break and Easter.

Poor Jacob had a makeup day on Monday due to our snow days earlier this year. But, bless his heart, he survived the horror that is fourth grade for yet another day! Can you tell our boy doesn't really have my love for all things education?

On Tuesday, we bailed him out to visit some out-of-town family (Hey, Bowmans!) that was in-town. More than 20 of us gathered together, including 10 children ages thirteen and under. We took over Parker's Barbecue for lunch, because all good southerners know that you can't have a family get-together without some fried chicken, barbecue (which for you northerners is pulled pork in a vinegar base, not the red saucy stuff), and syrupy sweet tea! After lunch, we headed back to Mama and Daddy's house for some catching up. Matt escaped to the back room volunteered to rock Eli to sleep while us ladies hunkered down for a chit-chat marathon! It was GREAT!!

The rest of the week was just as fun with some board games, baseball, birthday party, and playing at the park (you just don't know how much I wanted the whole list to begin with "b"...I just love me some alliteration).

Easter weekend was fabulous. We worshipped on Saturday night and then headed off to dinner with our great neighbors, Adam and Janice. Here's a shameless plug for Adam, a certified master dog trainer, simply because he mentioned us on the website for his new business, Defined Obedience. Did I just do that? Oh, I did? Well if that's the case I guess this couldn't hurt: If you are with Sharpie, Coke Zero, or Burt's Bees, and want to send me your free products, I'd be glad to plug them since they are all my FAVORITE things!

Ok, sorry, where was I? Oh, dinner with Adam and Janice. We had some lovely Mexican food. Just out of curiosity...is it the norm for the Mexican restaurant to bring out saltines and cherries for the baby in place of chips and salsa. I'm not knocking it, cause Eli scarfed it down, but is that what all the Mexican restaurants do?

Anyway. I seem to be having trouble staying on topic tonight. For all three of you still reading, please accept my sincere apologies! I'll try to do better.

On Sunday we headed back to the big Wide-Awake Wilson for some ham, a hunt, and a haircut (and there's that alliteration I love). The egg hunt was the hit of the afternoon. The men hid 95 eggs filled with quarters and the kids had a blast finding them! After the hunt, Eli got his second haircut and we actually cut the length and curls. He looks more like a big boy, but I can't keep him a baby forever! We'll just have to have another baby to make up for it!

Speaking of babies, Jacob is a now big brother times two. His mom had a baby boy on Monday morning, so Jacob will be twice as busy with the entertaining of small children.

Overall, it was a great break, filled with fun times. If only there were pictures here to remember it by. Sigh!

Missing

Dear Thief-of-all-small-things-in-my-home,
I don't know who you are or how you do it, but please return them all. Sure, I should have a "home" for everything and return it there as soon as I've finished with it, but there's just not enough drawers and cabinets here--nor is there adequate time, what with the energizer bunny 13-month old I chase around play with all day. I wish I could blame it on the baby or the nine-year old, but that wouldn't be right so I'm choosing to blame it on YOU!

I could really use the camera to computer USB cord right now to get these awesome Spring Break/Easter pictures off my camera for all my blog readers to see, so if you don't mind, could you just bring that back to me just as soon as you can, that would be great! You can just leave it in the camera bag if you want to. I'm sure it was there when you swiped it anyway.

Thanks so much for you help with all this!
Jennifer

PS...If you also have the match to my favorite pair of socks, or the lip gloss I'm missing, you can leave those on my vanity!

Hope

I hope you not only have a wonderful time gathering with family and friends for dinner and catching up, but I pray you also experience the hope of Easter today!

If you don't know about the hope of Easter through Jesus, click here to learn more.

Autism Awareness Month

We've been so busy during the first part of April, I haven't posted about Autism Awareness Month yet! So, here goes:

Did you know that 1 out of 150 children in U.S. is affected by an autism spectrum disorder? Or that 1 out of 90 boys are affected? Were you aware that the lifetime cost of caring for a child with autism is $3.5 to $5 million and that the current annual cost to the U.S. is $35 billion? Did you realize that 1.5 million Americans are affected by autism? And, have you been told how vital early diagnosis and intervention are for children affected by an autism spectrum disorder?

Some signs and symptoms of autism are:
*having trouble relating to others or not having interest in others at all
*avoiding eye contact and wanting to be alone
*preferring not to be held or cuddled
*appearing to be unaware when other people talk, but responding to other sounds
*having trouble expressing needs using typical words or motions
*laughing, crying, or showing distress for no apparent reason

If your child shows these symptoms, talk to your doctor about autism screening.

For more information, go to the Autism Society of NC website or the Autism Speaks website

For some stories from a family living with autism, check out my friend Nicole's blog. She's devoted this month to chronicling their life with autism.

Autism is not a tragedy...ignorance is the tragedy. Happy Autism Awareness Month!

Oh, deer!

Yes, I see that the title appears to be misspelled. It should read "dear" shouldn't it? Well, not really!

Saturday night we were heading home from Daddy's birthday party. It was past Eli's bedtime and so I was hunkered down in the back with him trying to lull him to sleep while Matt drove. Everything was going according to plan, then I felt Matt hit the brakes. HARD. I looked up to see something flash in front of the van, then I felt the impact.

After a quick evaluation to be sure we were all okay, and saying "Thank you, Jesus" more than a few times, we began to gather our wits about us.

A kind gentleman came out of his farmhouse and let us "drive" the van onto his farmland to await the highway patrol, my daddy and my brother! Drive is in quotations, because it involved all manner of scrubbing, and hissing, and dragging of things to get it off the road.

(Let me pause in the storytelling to give a big thanks to my daddy, my brother, my sister-in-law, and all the others who helped us get home Saturday night. You guys are the best!)

The kind gentleman brought his flashlight out and proceeded to escort Matt over to where the poor deer lay in the field. Now, although I had my camera with me, it was of no good in the darkness. But thanks to my parents, who went back to the scene the following morning, I have a picture of what they saw as they headed that way!



Yes.

That's a deer crossing sign.

With a dead deer laying beside it.

Isn't it ironic...

Don't you think?

Even if my beloved van is in the shop (inconvenient) and I'm going to have to drive a rental (so, inconvenient) I'll have that picture to keep me laughing for a few days!

Special Place

John Sinor once said, "It is admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping." When I saw that quote, I was reminded of the shopping trip to purchase my senior prom dress. Mama wasn't able to take me, so Daddy volunteered. I hesitantly agreed. I didn't think it would be the same without Mama. But, I wanted to get a dress and I wanted it today!!! So, Daddy and I got in the car and headed off to a formal dress store about an hour from home. When we arrived, I was a little nervous about having him there as my advisor. Now, I know that daddies are good at lots of things, but judging the fit and flatter of a senior prom dress isn't usually in the job description. I tried on a few and Daddy said they were "nice" but there was something missing in his voice. Then I tried on a beautiful white, halter gown. When I came out of the dressing room, Daddy's reaction let me know that this was the one.

Almost 10 years later, he went with Mama and me to pick out my wedding gown. And I wasn't nervous at all!

So, today I want to wish my Daddy and formal occasion fashion advisor a very, very Happy 60th Birthday! I love you, Daddy!