A Surprise Blessing

This happened a few months ago, but I forgot to mention it! A few of you know that in 2003, I was in a pretty severe car accident. I was driving back to Gardner-Webb from home after Christmas vacation. I-26 was closed due to a chemical spill, so I decided to take the back road over to Asheville. I should mention that before I left, my car battery died and both my Aunt and my Momma's dear friend, Marlene, had a bad feeling about me driving back to GWU that night. It had started snowing and the roads were getting pretty slick. I was driving down the mountain going about 20 miles an hour. I remember turning off my cd player and praying, "God, please save me." About 20 mins later, I slid on ice and head on into the oncoming lane of traffic into a Pet Dairy truck. It happened so suddenly that I was certain that I had died. My first reaction was the jerk all of my limbs really hard to make sure I was still alive. As soon as I realized I wasn't dead, I heard voices yelling outside the car. The first was a male's voice asking me if I was okay and telling me to cover my face. He smashed in the passenger side window and got the door open. He climbed in the backseat and held my neck in his hands until the ambulance arrived. Then another woman, named Candy, crawled in the front seat and held my hand and prayed over me as the paramedics cut me out of the car. Once I was out, they took me to the hospital in Bakersville where I had xrays and found out that I hadn't broken any bones and had nothing but bruises and muscle damage. I also found out that the man that had held my neck still was named Kansas. He was a volunteer firefighter from Johnson City. He also followed the ambulance to the hospital so he could give the police a report of the accident. I was so very grateful for him and for Candy. After the accident, I tried to find both of them so I could thank them for their assistance and wonderful care. I couldn't find either of them. Candy was supposedly a volunteer EMS in Bakersville, but when I called no one had heard of her. So fast forward to October 2009. We are at church during the LifeAction services. After the end of one of the services, our Pastor, Reggie, called a man up to the front to commend him for his service in the military and some other things. His name was Kansas. Pastor Reggie made a comment about him being a volunteer firefighter as well. After the service, I stopped him and said, "You probably have no idea who I am..but do you remember a car accident up in Bakersville, NC about 6 years ago?" He smiled and said, "Yes, and I followed you to the hospital to give a police report." I said, "Yes, and that person in the accident was me! And I've wanted to thank you for 6 years and let you know that I so appreciate how you helped me." It was something very small, but I was so very thankful for God allowing me the opportunity to thank him in person...and for keeping me alive!

Jackson at 16 months

It is hard to believe that Jackson is 16 1/2 months old!!! How in the world did that happen? People warned me that time would fly once he was born. But I never realized it would go sooo fast! I feel like he has just become this big huge sponge, soaking up everything around him. So here are some updated facts about my sweet boy.

Words:

Momma

Dadda

Nana (for Granna)

MeMe

Poppa

Bmmbear (for Granbear)

nana (banana)

egg

chee (cheese)

juice (almost sounds like jews)

book

uh-oh

night night

He can point to his nose and is slowly understanding teeth. If I ask him to wash his hair, he'll rub his hands all over his head. He loves to run around the house with just a diaper on smacking his tummy!

Favorite Foods

Bananas (he could eat 5 a day!)

Grapes

Yogurt - any flavor - even veggie flavored

Toast

Cheerios/Puffs - any cereal the can feed himself

Kefir (its basically liquid yogurt. It's what he drinks instead of milk!)

Cereal bars

Snapea Crisps

Eggs

Cheese

Anything crunchy - pretzels, chips, Gerber cheese puffs, etc.

He likes sweets - cookies, ice cream, etc. but not in over abundance. He'll have a few bites occasionally.

Activities

Reading books! He LOVES reading books!

His favorites are: 9 Fruits Alive (about the Fruit of the Spirit)

Moo, Baa, La La La

7 Days of Creation

Building blocks

Tennis balls - he LOVES putting them back into the canister and throwing them

Playing with his play kitchen

Thomas the Train ride on toy

Jackson loves playing, singing, dancing, and making tons of noise! He is such an active baby. Anytime music starts playing, he stops and starts dancing.

He still loves to sleep! TONS! He averages 12-14 hrs a night and typically takes 2 naps a day still. But he has to have his blue lovie and soothie for every nap. Lately, if I tell him it is time for night night, he will walk towards his room and point to his crib. Then he'll snuggle up onto my shoulder before I put him in his crib.

He is such a blessing of a baby. I never knew that I could love a little person so much. There are days I am just overwhelmed with how much I love him and how natural this whole Mommy thing has become. God has truly blessed my life with him and I am eternally thankful for the blessing of my child!!

Savings and Provisions

Lately I have struggled a LOT with saving money and budgeting. I am TERRIBLE at it and I just did not know where to begin with creating a budget that I could realistically follow. As many of you know, having a baby has lots of other expenses... especially little boys ...and one who LOVES bananas like mine. I've been thinking about investing in a banana grove or tree. Since I think those are rather expensive, I just get to buy bananas a ton! Today I realized that I needed to buy milk, bananas, some veggies, and kefir for Jackson. So we went to Old Navy (so I could use some Christmas money - and found some really nice shirts for a good deal!!). Then we went to Kroger in hopes of finding kefir (and for a change of scenery). We went in and found bananas, avocados (ON SALE FOR $1 each!), kefir, as well as a few other things. When the cashier rang up our total, it was over $34, which was a little expensive, but I knew God would provide. Then the cashier asked for my Kroger value card. I handed it to her and she said the new total was $24.00!!! I saved $10 on my groceries tonight!! I was soooo excited!!!

Also, for Christmas, we were given some Wal-Mart gift cards. I was very thankful for them..but then I realized that I could use them for groceries, diapers, AND gas!!!! You have never seen any one more excited about Wal-Mart!

So yeah...that's my story for today! Thank You Lord for your provision and blessings!!

Safe

A lot of times, music speaks to my heart and soul so much more than any spoken word...especially if it is about the love of my Jesus or His Word!  This song is my Phil Wickham..who is one of my favorite artists and songwriters.  We in concert last Christmas with Shane & Shane.  When they introduced him, Shane Barnard said, "If you aren't saved, you will be after you hear Phil sing..."  It is true!  There is something about how he leads worship and writes about the love and amazing-ness of God!  So this is one of his new songs and I could listen to it like 100 times a day.  It is so encouraging to know that the One who created the world, the heavens, and the oceans, cares so much about me that He holds me in His arms.  In this season of my life, I am learning that all I need to do is lean into God's arms and He will keep me safe, uphold me, and give me strength, when as the song says, "when everything is falling apart..."  Click on this link and it will bring up a page with the words and the song should play!  http://www.onlylyrics.com/hits.php?grid=11&id=1037480

Love,

Amy 

To the one who's dreams are falling all apart 
And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart 
I can tell by your eyes you think your on your own 
but you're not all alone 

Have you heard of the One who can calm the raging seas 
Give sight to the blind, pull the lame up to their feet 
With a love so strong He'll never let you go 
oh you're not alone 

You will be safe in His arms 
You will be safe in His arms 
'Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart 
This is the promise He made 
He will be with You always 
When everything is falling apart 
You will be safe in His arms 
 
Did you know that the voice that brings the dead to life 
Is the very same voice that calls you to rise 
So hear Him now He's calling you home 
You will never be alone 
 
These are the hands that built the mountains 
the hands that calm the seas 
These are the arms that hold the heavens 
they are holding you and me 

These are hands that healed the leper 
Pulled the lame up to their feet 
These are the arms that were nailed to a cross 
to break our chains and set us free

Hallelujah! Glory be to our Great God!

I love this song and wanted to share it with you! My favorite version is sung by Fernando Ortega and Mac Powell. It talks about how unfailing His love is and how unending is His strength. I love the second verse the most...that if only God will rise, the Devil will flee! What a great great God we serve and love!!

Eternal God, unchanging
Mysterious and unknown
Your boundless love unfailing
In grace and mercy shown
Bright seraphim in ceaseless flight
Around your glorious throne
Their voices raised both day and night
In praise to you alone

Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God
Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!

Lord, we are weak and frail,
Helpless in the storm
Surround us with your angels
Hold us in your arms
Our cold and ruthless enemy
His pleasure is our harm
Rise up, oh Lord, and he will flee
Before our Sovereign God

Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!

Let every creature in the sea
And every flying bird
Let all the mountains, all the fields
And valleys of the earth
Let all the moons and all the stars
Throughout the universe
Sing praises to the Living God
Who rules them by His word

Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God
Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!

Thanksgiving and a Visit to MeMe & Poppa's!

We have had a very busy few weeks! I thought while I sit here and await the arrival of the Grubb's family I would update our blog!

Thanksgiving was very small and low key this year. We didn't even get out of our pj's! It was wonderful! I was so excited to see Jackson eat his first Thanksgiving dinner, but he decided to nap through dinner! So we'll take pictures next year and see how he enjoys it. Then we were incredibly surprised with about 2 inches of SNOW! We were sitting eating dinner and I saw a few snowflakes starting to fall and then it kept falling and falling! It looked like cotton balls falling out of the sky!

The next day, we travelled to Charlotte for a weekend of fun! We took Jackson to MeMe & Poppa Walker's house in Mooresville and visited with them for awhile. Then Momma, my cousin Nick, and Papa went to see the Charlotte Bobcats play the Cleveland Cavaliers! It was sooo much fun! We got to see Shaq, LeBron James AND Michael Jordan!! Nick was just overwhelmed with how big Shaq's feet are!! Then Momma and I spent the night at the Walker's. I just need to state that I have been incredibly blessed with wonderful in-laws!!! I love being around them and spending time with them. We spent Saturday with my sweet mother in law, Nora and went shopping. Jackson stayed at their house until Wednesday to have some time with his MeMe and Poppa. Apparently he is infatuated with his Poppa. He can say his name and would yell it anytime Bryon wasn't paying attention to him! They had a great time spending time together!

Yesterday, I picked Jackson up in Gaffney, SC where we were able to meet up with my best friend Ali and Logan!!! It was SO good to see them and let the boys play together. They are getting so big and growing up way too fast.

Tonight, my dear friends from Wake Forest, Stephen and Amanda Grubbs with their little boy Nathan, are driving to spend the evening with us! They are moving near Nashville to fill a youth ministry position. So I get the wonderful joy of spending tomorrow with them before they head across the state!

I will post pictures of our adventures soon - as soon as I find the cord to my camera!

Christmas Giveaway!

So I saw this on my friend Beth's facebook page and wanted to share it with everyone!  This is a great website with great tips about saving moolah and being frugal..two things I looove!  So enter the giveaway and see what happens!!  Giveaways are great during Christmas!!

http://www.fantabulouslyfrugal.com/2009/11/you-deserve-best-giveaway.html

Love,

Amy