Mike and Meredith

Hey y'all! I have some great news. Remember a few posts back when I asked for prayer for my friend who was in the coma??? Well, today he talked!!! It is such a miracle. Just last week he took several steps back and things were looking so bleak, but then today he spoke!!! Praise the Lord!!!! Now he is officially out of the coma!!! Here is the message from Meredith regarding todays events.....

REJOICE WITH ME ALL YOU PEOPLE FOR GOD HAS HAD MERCY ON ME
Mike actually spoke words today!! Out of the blue he was just speaking in a faint voice with a few broken words. He said "Mike". "Meredith", "Mom", "Hey", "What's up", and when asked his age he said "30" (I said no your just 29). This means that he is officially out of a coma. Praise God!! Praise God!! Praise God!! Praise God!! Praise God!! Of course this is a huge step for Mike, but please remember that we still have a long way to go. Mike is going to be extended here at Shepherd so that he can participate in the Rehab part of the program. Praise God!! Praise God!! Praise God!! Praise God!! Praise God!!
From "Elijah"
Elijah: "Praise God woman!!"
Woman: "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits to me?"
Elijah: "Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might."

Isn't this just so exciting!!! Only God, Only God!!!

Please continue to pray with us for Mike and Meredith as they continue on this journey!

He is Risen!!!

He is risen indeed!!! Praise God!! What a wonderful day. We hope that you are all having a great Easter and have taken time to truly understand the meaning of this glorious day!!

John 20:1-20
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Isn't it just wonderful that we have a living God who walked this earth, paid the ultimate penalty on the cross for our sins and then conquered death so that we can live with him for eternity in Heaven!!!

He's my Rock

Translation:

He's my rock, my sword, shield. He's my hub in the middle of the wheel. He's the lilly of the valley. My bright and morning star. I don't care what the people say, I'm going to get on my knees and pray; and I'm going to wait, wait right here, 'til Jesus comes.

Around the home front

This week has been a fun week. Sunday we went to church, lunch, and then raced home to watch the ACC Championship game because Clemson was in it. It was the first time since 1962 and I wasn't going to miss it for the world. Well, unfortunately for us, Clemson didn't bring their A game that they had when the beat Duke the night before. They played well, but they definitely didn't play up to their potential and we fell short of victory by 5 little points. I can't even tell you how close we were...just a few more free throws or a few more threes made and we would have had that one in the books. Oh well, hopefully we will bring in the NCAA!! GO TIGERS!!!

On Monday, JP and I took Shelby to school and then came home for a little bit before we went back to get her. Since I have really been craving Moe's lately I called up Leslie and her girls to see if they wanted to meet us there and we had a nice little lunch together. All the kids behaved so well. Everyone was nice, well, for the most part. Shelby had a few moments of not so niceness, but all in all I would say that it was very fun! We just spent the rest of the day around the house.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are always busy days for us, but they are great days. Everyday is a great day, don't you agree? There is always something that we can praise God about each day, even when Shelby doesn't want to get dressed or eat that or do this and JP can't get food into his mouth fast enough.

After nap time on Tuesday I took Shelby and JP for a bike ride. It was so much fun. Last time I attempted to take them for a bike ride by myself JP ended up biting Shelby and they both cried the whole time. This time they got along great and we had an enjoyable time out with God's creation. When Pratt got home he asked Shelby how her day was and what she did at school that day. This question is always a mystery to us as she never tells us what she did, well, that all changed as her reply to Pratt's question was, "I did paper work." What!!! Paper work!!! Does she even know what that is in adult world? We got a great kick out of that!!

JP has taken a liking to carrying everything in his mouth. It is so funny and he looks like a little bull dog. In this instance he came around the corner with on of Shelby's rain boots in his mouth. Thankfully I had my camera on hand and got a picture of it.

Shelby's new thing this week is to take every single toy out and put it in her bed while she is supposed to be napping. I have had to take her books away from her for a few days as she has been ripping them and I guess in protest she has taken to destroying her room. I think that she truly is starting to drop her nap. The time between days that she does nap is getting longer and longer. Oh well, atleast she will stay in her room for a couple of hours for "rest" time.

This is what Shelby's bed looked like when I got her up on Tuesday and this is what her toy bin looked like. I had to laugh to myself. There is never any guessing what goes on those tiny little heads!!

Today after CBS we headed over to Sheila's house for our first Easter egg hunt this year. It was so much fun. All the kids sat around and ate lunch, well, sort of and then they begged and begged for us to let them find the eggs; so we gave in and let them. What a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun running around. It was amazing how great they were with each other. As far as I know, there was no fighting over eggs and Neely gets the sharer of the day award as she graciously and without having to be asked shared her eggs with Avery. It was such a sweet sight.

Shelby, Emily, Eliza, Neely and Avery...I can't even believe that we got them all lined up and somewhat smiling for a picture. They were all a million miles a minute running all around.

JP had a great time too. He really wasn't into the egg thing at all, but you would think that he had been in a cage his whole life the way he was running from here to there and wandering all over the place. I could hardly keep my eye on him. He literally ran and ran and ran. What a big boy!!!

Palm Sunday

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday! Can you believe that Holy week is already here? I know that I sure can't, but what a blessed week!! This year we decided to start a new tradition at church and have the children help us usher in this wonderful week. All the children got to wave palms as they walked through the church during the first few songs of worship. It was such a wonderful idea and so I signed Shelby up. I thought that with all of her best buds participating and if I walked with her that she might do it, well, once again, Shelby proved to me that she was going to do what she wanted to do and so we just sat and watched. It was the sweetest sight to see all these sweet children that we have known since birth walking around the church. My eyes welled up with tears as I thought about the love that Jesus has for them and that they are being taught about Jesus at such a young age. Here is a picture of some of the kids at the front of the church.



Shelby did enjoy watching everyone march around waving their palms, but was very much content to just sit in my lap. What a sweet time for me to cuddle with my baby girl who is growing so fast and not be distracted with the demands of other things. She was so well behaved that we let her stay with us until the special children's story and children's church. I asked her if she wanted to go to the front to hear the special children's story and didn't expect to get a yes since she didn't want to do the other, but to my surprise she said yes and we walked...she walked by herself holding my hand....up to the front. I was shocked first off that she wanted to go up front, then doubly shocked that she didn't make me carry her. It is a small glimpse into our near future of her.

After church we went to none other than Hampton Lake. I really do just love going there. What a wonderful family atmosphere and the food is really good too! This week we met Papa and Grammie for a little lunch. They will be out of town for Easter and wanted to give the kids their Easter baskets. It was great to be able to see them and chat as they are always so busy and Grammie had been under the weather. Shelby loved her Easter Basket and is still decorating it with the stickers. JP really loved his Snoopy and spent most of the lunch "talking" it up with him. It was so cute. He would hold Snoopy right in front of his face, say a bunch of baby jibber-jabber and then take a huge bit out of Snoopy's nose. I couldn't help but look on with great love and joy over that sweet baby boy!!! This picture I got as we were leaving. I was really quite surprised that Shelby turned around and actually smiled for the camera while looking at it. Most pictures you catch the side of her face as she is turning away or she gives you this look of dread, but well, this picture just speaks for itself....

Hampton Lake and Pink Pancakes

Last week went by so fast! I can't believe that it is already Sunday night and we "celebrated" daylight savings time. Shelby was so confused tonight when we put her to bed. She kept saying over and over, "But Mom, Mom, it is still light out." I tried to explain to her about daylight savings time, but she didn't understand. One day she will look forward to this event with the rest of us as it means warm weather and more time to play outside.

Thursday was such a beautiful day!! Since Pratt had the day off we took the kids for a little picnic boat ride at Hampton Lake. It was a great time to just be a family. Shelby and JP were so excited that they hardly sat the whole time. We just puttered around on the water and ate a little packed lunch. Shelby loved to honk the horn at the birds and hop like a bunny back and forth on the boat; while JP loved running from one end to the other and peaking over the edge at the water below. He also liked getting behind the wheel and revving up the engine which would send us all flying off balance.

One of JP's new found loves is his daddy's hats. He loves to take the hats off of Pratt's head and put them on his. It is so cute and I think that he looks adorable in those oversized hats.

Saturday mornings are typically our pancake mornings. Shelby loves to sit on the counter and help make whatever we happen to be cooking whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Usually the only thing that finds its way into the pancakes are chocolate chips, but this day Pratt decided to make pretty pink pancakes. Shelby was so excited. After we got all the pancakes made, we settled JP and Shelby into their seats while we were making up plates. All the sudden Shelby pipes in and says, "Y'all gonna have pink pancakes too?" Pratt looked at me and said, "Did she just say y'all.?" And I said, "I think she did." She is on her way to being quite the southern bell!!! It was so funny.

Today, Clemson had a great win over Virginia Tech. It was fun to watch at times, but also in true Clemson athletic form, it was very painful to watch at times. The game came down to the wire and we actually won in the final seconds from our free throw shooting. Now, for most teams that would be a given, but with Clemson's history of dismal (and that is putting it kindly) foul shot percentage it is one of the greatest miracles of the season! I tell you that because JP woke up from his nap in the middle of the second half. For quite a bit of that he didn't really care what was going on, but toward the end he sat in his super cool new Clemson rocking chair (thanks grandmother!!!) and would put his fist in the air like he was doing the Clemson cheer. It was so cute. I know that if his vocabulary was better that he would have been shouting the cheer right along with me. Although, on that front, he has added a new word....when he sits in the rocking chair he rocks back and forth and goes "ro, ro, ro, ro"...it sounds a little bit like he is saying, "rock, rock, rock, rock."

PICTURES!!!!

Yeah!!! It took me a while, but I finally got things working again with my pictures. If I had time right now I would love to take a "fun" computer class where you learn all the fun things about computers. So, here are the pictures from this past week. There are a few and I thought about doing a slide show, but I wanted to put little bits of information about each one so I decided to do it the old fashion way.....

Here are the great armadillo hunters with their catch. This is something that has been going on for at least a year with these boys. They even have created a drink called Armadillo Juice that they usually make to have while they are on guard (it is quite tasty if I do say so myself).

This a JP first caught on camera. His first shake-n-bake. We have the hippest, coolest son around don't you think?

Shelby really loves to color and JP is following in her steps. This is a picture of the two of them on Saturday morning having a little creativity time. They had a great time coloring together and sharing crayons. Shelby was such a great big sister and gave JP whatever color he wanted. Well, she just would give him a crayon everytime he would point since he really can't say what he wants yet.

Check out my little man sporting his Clemson colors on Sunday! Thank you so much Erin for the super cool Clemson button down (anything orange is considered Clemson in our house). We were supporting our basketball team that day as they had a huge game against Maryland that night. Last basketball season Clemson had a huge game against Maryland because at that point they had an undefeated season on the line; well, they lost and I think it is because Pratt made us leave Wild Wings where we were watching the game to go have a baby. JP wasn't born until after 10:00 that night, there was plenty of time to finish watching the game. Oh well, the good news is that they won this year by a 3-pointer made in the final seconds of the game!!!! GO TIGERS!!!!

Uncle Patricio, this picture is for you. JP has commandeered Shelby's little tennis racquet. He carries it with him all over the house. Thankfully he hasn't mastered swinging it just yet, but he is definitely working on getting the feel of the racquet in his hands. I hope that you are ready to give some lessons to JP.

This picture was taken earlier today of JP. I just couldn't resist. One because he looks so cute in his little overalls; you can't really tell, but his shirt has little blue whales all over it; and two because it was so funny watching him try to carry the diaper bag around. Right before I took this picture he had the strap up on his shoulder and was pulling with all his might to walk with the bag....the bag won and he fell. It was so funny. Anyway, he hopped right up and tried again.