Halloween 2010

So a couple of months ago, Carley said she knew what she wanted to be for Halloween and she wanted me to guess. She said, "I want to be the princess that I am the most like". I thought she meant Cinderella. Nope. :) She said Tiana because we are both smart and can jump high. And thus began the Halloweeen of Princess and the Frog. Carley thinks she looks just like Tiana and when she is her costume and she is sure that people do not know the difference. I love the sweet mind of a 4 year old. So here is my smart, sweet, high - jumping duo.

The Wonder Years

So there is a new station on our ATT UVerse that just appeared called the Hub. I found it because it has My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcakes daily which Carley likes. But the reason I like it because it has The Wonder Years reruns on it. I loved this show when I was a kid, but watching it as an adult, I have a new appreciation. It is HILARIOUS and really touching looking back at what those years were like. Anyway, if you get the Hub, you should record a couple of the reruns and see if you find the sentiments of the show even more true.

Here is Kevin Arnold's final voice over and I think it sums up why I like these reruns.
"Things never turn out exactly the way you planned. Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next you're gone, but the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a house like a lot of houses, a yard like a lot of yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years I still look back in wonder."

Make A Difference Concert

Cody and I went on a date to the Make a Difference Concert last night. If this concert is coming to your area, you need to go. It was a WONDERFUL night of worship. Max Lucado spoke. Toby Mac, Third Day, and Michael W. Smith performed. It was really wonderful and encouraging. Here were some of my favorite parts.

- Toby Mac used to be in DC Talk so he sang a couple of old school DC Talk songs. It was so funny and brought back lots of memories of their concerts. Jesus Freak!
- Cody's favorite band is Third Day and he loves Mac Powell. He has always wanted to see them in concert and he finally got to do that. It was so powerful to hear those songs live.
- Michael W. Smith did some really cool stuff. He started off with some old songs that made me tear up. He literally opened with Friends Are Friends forever. All the times I made fun of that song went away and it really was so cool. He also sang My Place In This World. I remember listening to that song almost every day of my Senior Year of High School. It was so neat to get perspective on that sitting with my husband, thinking of our kids, and reflecting on how God has cared for me over those 15 or so years. Then he led in an amazing time of worship. I forget how many of my favorite worship songs were written by him. (Mighty to Save, Alleluia, Above All)
- Max spoke about God's love for us and the help he gives us and it was such a wonderful reminder.

I am so thankful for the concert and that my parents kept the kids. It was my first night to leave Corey and also my first night in 13 1/2 months to sleep past 6:00!

Update on Brittany

So many firefighter and Frenship people are asking, so this is what we know as of a conversation with her mother-in-law today.
- Brittany will be having MRI's every day for comparisons.
- There are 4 teams of doctors caring for her (infectious disease, neurologist, etc). They are diligently working to find out what is going on.
- She has a very big bleed on the top of her brain. They seem hopeful that it is not getting bigger, but they are concerned it is not absorbing back into the body.
- She has 2 fairly large blood clots on the back of her brain. They are concerned that these clots have blocked blood to tissue in the brain and what damage this might have caused. They are unable to give her blood thinners to help with the clot because they do not want the bleed to spread on the top of the head. It is a very delicate situation.
- She still is not having movement on the left side of her body. They are not sure that this is permanent, but they need the swelling in her brain to go down before they can tell for sure.
- They have done an sonogram of her heart and do not see any holes. They have also checked her legs for more blood clots and have not found any.
- Yesterday they brought her out of sedation a little and were able to get from her that her headaches were a little better. They are not sure if this is true or her perception because of the medicine, but her headaches do seem better.
- The breathing and feeding tubes are aggravating her and she wants them out! She is pulling at them and they make her uncomfortable. This is causing her blood pressure to rise. So they are going to try and take out the breathing tube this weekend to see if this will make her less agitated and therefore decrease her blood pressure.
- She is now completely sedated and they do not want her to have any stimulation at all. Cayton can't even touch her or talk to her. This is very hard on him, as you can imagine. When she responds her blood pressure sky rockets so they have to take out all stimulation.
- They are doing an EEG to check the swelling in her brain and to see if it is any better.
- Laykin is doing much better on formula. He still has the bad reflux and everything, but he is doing much better now that he is eating.
- This is not going to be a quick journey. With the brain stuff aside and only looking at recovering from the viral meningitis, the doctors are thinking it could be 6 months before Brittany is back on her feet and able to care for Laykin alone. The doctors really still do not have a clue of what is really going on inside of her. They are working very hard to figure it out. The family is also going to be making decisions about what these 6 months might look like for them and for Laykin. Please keep this process in your prayers too.

Please pray for Brittany

Brittany taught at my school for a few years before staying home with her sweet baby who is 2 months old. Her husband is a fireman on the LFD with Cody. He is also the worship pastor at a local church. The live their lives in service to the Most High King.

She has not been feeling good lately and went to the doctor. She was diagnosed with viral meningitis. They did a scan of her brain and found abnormalities. It could be a brain tumor, bleeding of the brain, or a few other things. The doctors have put her into a medicine induced coma while they are doing tests. This has been a hard couple of days for her family. Please pray for Brittany, her husband Cayton, and their two month old son Laithan.

Dancing into a new year

We had Carley's first dance class observation this week. She looks older to me this year. This is also the first year she has complained a little about dance and gymnastics. The skills she is learning are getting harder. I am so proud of her hard work this year already. She is so proud of herself for the things she has worked on.

Born to be a Wildcat

ACU gives away free things to Alumni babies in order to do a little early recruiting. :) At birth they get an ACU onesie to wear for their debut in the ACU Today magazine. At 5 they get a backpack, at 10 they get a pillowcase, and at 16 they get a keychain. Here is Corey's magazine picture. At the bottom is the one I sent in for Carley. We is 13 months in his and she is 11 months in hers. Man, time does fly!

Caught Reading

I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Some of you have asked what it is about and here is a little synopsis. I did not necessarily think it would be my kind of books, but they were really interesting once I got into them. If you read them, let me know what you think.

Here are my kids in the bath. They are getting bitten by the reading bug too. :)

10 years!

This weekend was my 10 year reunion from ACU. We had a WONDERFUL weekend. Cody, the kids, and I left Friday morning and really enjoyed the time with family and friend. What a special, special place with people who are the salt of the earth.

The weekend kicked off with some time at the Homecoming Queen's tea. It was great to visit with some of my sweet girl friends over cookies and punch like the old days. No kids, no husbands, just lots of laughing. Then my family went to the bookstore where we spent a ridiculous amount of money. Carley saw lots of purple and white that she needed. After that we went to the carnival. It was SO great. I bet there were 8 bounce houses, face painting, petting zoo, pony rides, bean bag tosses, games, prizes, and lots of cute families running around. After that we hit Bueno with some friends then turned in for the night.

Saturday morning began bright and early with Siggie breakfast. It was so fun to see so many from our pledge class and sing the songs that we sang one million times in college. It was pure joy. After breakfast we went to the parade where Carley got too much candy and a really cool highlighter that she loves. That was followed by chapel with some of my most special friends. I promise that singing The Lord Bless You and Keep You in Moody still can bring a tear to my eyes. It was especially neat to share this moment with Cody, Carley, and Corey.

After that we did lunch in the Bean, which is MUCH cooler than it was when we were there. We got to see lots of other classmates there and catch up. We went back to the hotel and took much needed naps. That evening Melody took Carley and Charlie to Chuck E Cheese while the rest of us when to our reunion dinner. Carley said Chuck E Cheese with Charlie and Melody was the best night of her life. The reunion dinner was great and filled more hugs from friends. After the dinner, Amy and I broke away for a little date at Chilis while Cody and Andy put the kids down.

Sunday morning we met Mark, Tara, Jaxon, Clay, and Jessica Rich for breakfast. Why did I not have my camera? Love these sweet families and really enjoyed IHOP with friends. After that the Nelsons headed home.

There was so much more I wanted to do, so much more I wanted to see, and so many places to see, but it was a wonderful weekend. I am so thankful for my 4 1/2 years in Abilene and pray that no matter what my kids decide to do for school, they are blessed by as many Christian friends.

A couple of things were on my mind a lot this weekend. Cody could not have been more kind, gracious, selfless, and wonderful. He let me float around and talk to everyone and kept the kids going. I also thought a lot of Jenny Ross Bizallion and the fact that her reunion with us is in Heaven. Saying good bye to my friends felt a little different this time because the world has taught us that you never really know what lies ahead for tomorrow. I also thought my my sweet friend whose families include children with special needs. Some were able to be there and let us see their sweet miracle babies like Corbin Mock and Ella Carder. Other blessings like Brooklyn Beaver, Ryleigh Cox, and Bennett Speck were on my mind and I can't wait to see them and their mommies soon.

Here are some shots from the weekend.

The Queen's Tea

Brooke, Kendra, me, Sarah Jane, Amy, and Katie

Meeting Sarah Jane Bowman at the carnival

Some of our pledge class

Ann in from Thailand!

Old roomie Lindsay

Kendra and Brooke

Loved Siggie Breakfast

Carley and Charlie were a riot all weekend. They were the best of friends.

Carley and Corey at the parade

Amy and I replicating a picture of us holding our first kids with us holding our second

Andy Bowman, Ken Murray, Corey in Ken's lap, and Cody

Shanta, me, Amy


Cody and I before the dinner

Pepper Rally Day

Carley's school had a "pepper rally" for the TTU /UT game. We tried to tell Carley it was a pep rally, but she was sure it was pepper.

She and Corey looked super cute in their TTU shirts. She insisted I wear one too in case my school had a pepper rally. I assured her that we wouldn't but once again, she is hard to argue with so I put on my shirt too.

All week leading up to this she kept walking around cheering for the red raiders, she taught Corey how to get his guns up, and started saying, "Down with the longhorns". She really started to say mean stuff about the Longhorns until we had this conversation:


Carley: Longhorns are bad. Bad people go to jail or hell so the longhorns are going to jail or hell.

Me: That is not true. There are lots of great longhorns out there and people are not bad because of the team they like. Do you know who LOVES the longhorns?

Carley: The Devil??

Me: No, Papa. (my dad) He loves them and only cheers for them

Carley: Does Papa know they are bad?

Me: Papa thinks they are good and Papa is right a lot of the time.

So Carley called Papa and decided to cheer for both teams that nights. She loves her Papa too much to let sports get in the way. :)

A Letter to Chase - September 30, 2009

Several of you followed along last year in the journey for our friends, the Jacobs family. God has done amazing things through their horrible situation. He has turned mourning into dancing. He has turned this into a festival of praise. He has reclaimed this situation that was meant for tragic, raw, pain, and turned it into His refined glory.

Mark and Chelsea, thank you for sharing this and letting your story bless so many of us. We love you.