Thankful For Our Thanksgiving Break!!

As I sit here on Sunday afternoon while Garrett is watching Titans game, tears are just flowing. I have always been an emotional person and I am so surprised the few times I have cried since being pregnant. I can't really put my finger on why tears are flowing right now, I am just experiencing a whirlwind of emotions mostly good, some bittersweet!

To update you on the latest progress I am going to go back a couple weeks..... My pregnancy has been out of this world amazing with no problems at all!!! Praise God!!! It has allowed me to continue working full time hours, for those of you that know I only get paid when I work, no paid time off for the position I am in. I have been able to travel, enjoy all of our showers, giving showers, visiting family, cleaning, really do anything I wanted to. So at my 35 week appt. a couple weeks ago I was told I was dilated to 1 and 20% effaced. He said I was good to go back home that weekend to give a shower for a friend. I went and felt pretty good. I could tell the car ride about got me on the way home as my spine and hips ached pretty bad. We were going to be faced with the decision to go to Birmingham with Garrett's family for Thanksgiving the following week. I was supposed to go to see Dr.Presley the Tuesday before and he said we would discuss it then. My mom just happened to be in town and went to my appt. Tuesday with me for no particular reason and my pressure just happened to be elevated. Everything else in his office checked out great and no progress had been made, but he wanted to send me over to Labor and Delivery Triage to be monitored for a couple hours and for lab work. So thankful God placed Mom there that morning, we just hung out as I was monitored, which allowed Garrett to just hang tight at school unless something occured that caused him to come to the hospital. By the time I was admitted and hooked up my pressure was already down, I kinda had the "why am I here and how much is this costing?" feeling. All was fine! At this point I am probably having some Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing painful and she hadn't dropped much. The bottom line of that visit was no trip to Birmingham and no work for that week!

So Tuesday night started Garrett's Thankgiving break after a win over FRA. It was a bittersweet feeling, we wanted to see family and be with family, but to know I did not have the car ride ahead of me was wonderful. Everyone was so understanding of course putting Lacey's health a top priority. We just got in the mindset that we were really going to enjoy these 5 days of no agenda and remember our life is fixing to change, for the better of course!! But in a way that we will never have this feeling of "just the two of us" again. It has been wonderful....sleeping late, cooking breakfast, watching movies, hanging things, washing Lacey's clothes, putting together gadgets, organizing drawers, napping, early suppers, late night snacks, sleeping on the couch til 1 or 2am, then crawling in the bed to do it all over again the next day. Oh how I love my husband!!! And oh how God has blessed these last 4 1/2 years of our marriage!!! It is so bittersweet as I laid there last night thinking about today being our last day of break and school starts back for him Monday, memories played over and over in my mind and how much we cherish our "couch time"! I know that greater days are ahead!!! But choosing to be very transparent I can say I cannot phathom this love that people speak of that is just going to take over our lives, and probably safe to say he can't either. Saying all that to say that is where the whirlwind of emotions are because I would love to meet her tonight!!! We are so excited and so blessed that God chose to give this life to us so quickly, knowing so many people struggle to conceive and not understanding why. I also am filled with the conviction of knowing how days go by and I let time pass not taking the moment to realize how amazing the work of God's hands is!! I pray so hard to be a spirtual godly example to my daughter and to be that godly wife I desire to be on a daily basis!!! You can get so overwhelmed with thinking about tomorrow and the future and the obstacles and the what ifs, but I have to remember God is with me every step of the way as much as I allow Him to be!! I am thankful for this outlet to empty my thoughts and would appreciate any readers out there to pray as we make this transition into a family. As of today I still am not feeling much different, a little more pain in the groin area/spine..but not much action occuring. Trusting Gods timing is perfect and praying for patience and peace as I wait! Going back to the doctor Tuesday, will try to update our progress!!!

BabyShowers

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We Are Back!!! See Slideshow Above!!

Well alot has been going on and life is crazy!!! I am trying to get back in the swing of things now that our computer is in its permanent place and our precious arrival is coming soon! I do hope to use this as a journal for our life and hope our family and close friends enjoy it. Some days I hope to use to write about what God might have layed on my heart our taught me and other days I hope to share pics of some of our happenings. Hopefully I will be able to keep up and not wait 8 months to post again. I have been playing around on shutterfly and think I have figured out an easy way to post pics, slideshows, videos etc. This is a test below of some of my showers with some precious friends and the start of the nursery. Hope to update more soon! Thanks for stopping by and all your prayers will be appreciated in the coming months!!!

GUESS WHAT THE EASTER BUNNY BROUGHT!!!

After months of praying and conversations with Garrett we decided in February to start NOT preventing pregnancy. Being a women and so aware of the many issues I have reminded Garrett of the unknown fertility and any other issue that could arise. I wanted to make sure he was aware it wasn't like we start trying and BAM we are expecting!! Garrett was at a basketball game and I was just running around by myself. I had made stops and Barnes and Noble, Lifeway, and Books-a-Million. I was looking for a Christian based book written for couples who were at the point in their life where they thought it was time to start a family. I found parenting books, step parenting, adoption, infertility, multiples, pregnancy, every thing you could think of but a little Christian insight on making the decision. I know God's Word is the ultimate form of wisdom, but I believe He uses His Christian authors to assist in guiding His children through some decision making. So on Monday April 6th I went a common blog I read Kelly Stamps, she is doing a giveway on this book below!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I just sat there at the computer tears streaming, being so aware of God's presence in our situation. My mind was saying I am going to register to win 1 of the 5 books, however if I don't win it I will just go by it. I was so anxious to see if it would just fall into my lap. She was going to draw Friday April 10th, so I just waited till Friday afternoon. We were back in Milan-our home town- and I signed on Friday and out of 264 entries my name was drawn as one of the five!!!!!! I couldn't believe this!!! Not that I won a contest but how I felt God was providing that desire right in my lap!!!

So on this Friday night I new it was a possibility I could be pregnant. Since we were home for Easter I was anxious to take a test because we had all the family in person!!! I had already decided especially for our first experience we would probably tell immediately. I am the type that is very close to my family and friends and don't think I could hold it in. If things were great we would have lots of excitement and if things were bad we would have lots of prayer and support!! I took a test and the positive line was so faint, it was hilarious, Garrett and I were getting the instruction paper out and seeing if it said anything about a faint line. It didn't, so we just decided I would retest Saturday morning. So I just went to bed wondering is this the time???? I tested again Saturday morning at 6am and it was another faint line! AAAAAAAHHHH!!! I ran to Walmart and got a digital, took it and it said the word PREGNANT!!

Garrett was still asleep, I ran and said you have to open your eyes and look at this!!! He was excited as he could be waking up from a dead sleep. I knew I wanted to tell our parents that afternoon. So I got easter eggs and put pacifers in them. See pictures below!!! My mom is not in the picture because she had that mother instinct and guessed it before I even could give her an egg!! Everyone had tears and laughed and were so supportive!! So I guess this is the beginning of an exciting journey!! Please pray for us and the health of our baby!!! Our first appointment is April 30th! Easter weekend we celebrated two wonderful miracles: Our Risen Lord! and the News of our coming baby!!!

Garrett and I on Easter

My Family on Easter

Anthony and Missy on Easter

God has been doing some amazing things in my life, I can't wait to share with my readers some of the things He has brought to my attention and taught me. However it has been busy the last month so I am trying to get all my thoughts together on paper first!! Todays my 25th birthday and my mom is here, so we are going to enjoy the day! Hope to post more this weekend!!

Time is Still Flying By!!

Whew, Praise the Lord for a job and continuing to provide. I have been working alot, at the time when I know the next day is overtime, I would prefer to be on call; however, I am very thankful when the check comes. Trying to recap all that has gone on over the last month.

My mom came for a night and the next day we went and kept Aden and Allie. Is this not so precious!!! Aden is so much fun and at such a good age to play with. He and I did not stop that day.

This is Kortney and I in Flordia last summer. We had a nice time to catch up a few weeks ago she was coming through Nashville and we met for lunch. The more time passes the busier we get and the harder it is to get together. We needed this I was very thankful the timing worked out.

Then I got to keep Hudson by myself one day while his mommy had to run errand. He is so precious and growing and smiling more everytime I see him. For those of you who read often, be praying for Lauren she has to start back to work next week and is really seeking God's direction on making some decisions.

Thats about all that has happened over the past 4 weeks. Maybe I will do better this next month keeping up!!!

Just FYI, you will see in the next post at Garrett's Birthday party I was trying to grow out my hair, Oh well, not happening. I have an appointment today to get it cut, first time since October. At least I know I tried but I cannot handle it!!

Happy Birthday to The Love of My Life!!!

After much planning and anticipation our surprise party happened!!! Garrett's family and I have been planning to surprise him and bring all of them here this past weekend. He was shocked all he could say was Wow! Wow! He had come home from school Friday afternoon and decided before we went to eat he was gonna shower and shave, to make a long story short when he got out of shower I had laid a shirt and shorts there and told him make sure to dress because Lauren had come in. When I heard him drying off I said "Come in here I want you to see something" and all his grandparents, parents, brother, brother's friend, cousin, and myself said Surprise!!!! He honestly had no idea. Our wonderful weekend started there. I had Pizza Hut bringing pizza, pasta, and wings and I had made some cupcakes. We just hung out and played some games with the fam.

Garrett and his Dad enjoying pizza

Anthony and Missy, first time for her to meet all the fam

Saturday came and I took the grandmothers and Teresa, Garrett's mom, to Cheesecake Factory and several little shops at GreenHills. They loved it, we could have eaten alot more, but we were trying to save room for our grill out planned for Saturday night.

Teresa and I

Grandmother Edith and Grandmother Shirley

Dinner Saturday was so fun!! I loved being hostess and having everything prepared. We had a salad and potato bar, fried okra, four cheese rice, rolls, 5 NY strips, and 4 Ribeyes. It was great!!! Even went all out and had paper plates and bowls!!! LOL! They were so precious and complimentary. I can't wait to have all of them again. This was the night we were going to celebrate Garrett's Birthday.

I loved his ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.

Anthony and Shirley grabbed a cone.

Garrett hugging his momma after opening presents.

Us with all the grandparents

Garrett's fam before me!!

Then after all of the family left for the night our friends "The Johnston Family" came over for leftovers and I popped in a rotisseree chicken to add to them. They cleaned their plates I was so glad the came we had so much leftover. We just hung out played cards, Garrett and Lacy had a dance off, Joe and I were scraping wallpaper in the kitchen at 2am. Man fun times!!!

We are so thankful God allowed everything to fall into place. In the past when we have had some family time it has seemed like something has always gotten in the way such as health issues, car wrecks, scheduleing, etc. We cherished this weekend so much and hope we are allowed much more time all together.

Happy Valentines Day

We had planned for Valentines to go to Morton's Steakhouse and to the Predator's Hockey game with 2 other couples from our neighborhood. We had a great time and did some good eating. Garrett had planned a night a Music City Sheraton and a breakfast buffet as a surprise. We had a great weekend!!! I couldn't ask to be anymore in love or to be given anyone who loves me anymore. I am so thankful for our marriage and look forward to the plans God has for us in the future!!!

Us waiting for dinner!

Garrett's Porterhouse!

Paul's Lobster!

I LOVE FAMILY TIME!!!!!

Well Allie was born on Thursday and my parents and brother were going to stay until Sunday. We didn't have any definite plans. We knew alot of eating and maybe some shopping.

Thursday afternoon, mom got to go to Lauren's and meet and hold her precious baby Hudson. My he is growing so much!! Then we met a friend of mine Stephanie for dinner at Fulin's Asian Cuisine.

Friday I had to work and then that night Garrett had a basketball game. When I got off my parents, brother, and I went to eat at Demo's Italian Restuarant it was great as always!! On the way home we went a back way and mom and I saw several stores we wanted to hit on Saturday. I was on the prowl for two rugs, two side tables, two lamps, and whatever else might jump out at me. She was on the search for a ring guard to fit her three stone wedding band. Well Saturday morning came and we headed out to Gallatin Pike which is where we saw the stores Friday Night.

Our first stop was Trees and Trends. There I found a rug for my dining room. Then my mom suggested getting them to make an arragement around the rug. So I gave in, and I am so glad I did. It feels so good to have a room for the most part complete. I still have more wishes like a china cabinet and drapes, but money only goes so far.

Then we stopped at this estate jeweler and mom found her ring guard!! She got a deal and it is gorgeous!! Sorry no pick of that.

Then we passed a place that had all of this furniture sitting outside, she told me to wheel in there. I found the two tables at each side of the couch and the four metal wall plaques, I was very thankful the seller was willing to wheel and deal!!

Home Goods is where I found my living room rug. It was probably what I wanted most, because when you walk into empty hardwood floors in there I just felt it wasn't welcoming at all. I also got that tree back in the left corner above just for a filler.

I have had so many dustbunnies in this room, a friend recommended a Shark floor vacumn, found it at Kohl's and LOVE IT!! It works on hardwood and carpet, makes cleaning so much easier!!

Our last stop was Hobby Lobby where I found the two lamps 50% off. I had already bought the mirror there for 50% off a few weeks ago. That is the place for bargains. I don't ever buy full price stuff there because you know it will go on sell one week out of the month.

Garrett got the TV he wanted back in January, so now that we have this room complete this is where we spend most of our time!!! It feels so wonderful to have a room complete and put together. However, in the midst of all this buying and how I am so thankful for the bargains and finds, I do realize these were all just wants not needs at all!!! Even though it seems as if I didn't pass up much, I promise I left alot at the store I could have brought home. My mother had a ball that day, she would pick out and I would pull out the checkbook. It used to be the other way around. Thanks mom for the time and the fun!!!! I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else!! You give me so much energy!!! Come around more often!!!

That night we went to TGIF's to celebrate Micah's 22nd birthday, I am so sad I didn't take any pictures. Guess I was too tired from the shopping. Then we played the fun game of UNO ATTACK!! I think I have them hooked!!!

I worked Sunday and then we got to see Garrett's parents afterwards for dinner at Longhorn. They were in town for a conference and took us to dinner with his brother. Then they came over for a few minutes to see what we had done to the house, they hadn't been here since before Christmas.

Man I love Family!!! I am so thankful for all the times I have had with them and look forward to the many more God has planned for us!!!!!

ALLIE LYNNE MOORE

Last time I posted I was getting ready to head to the hospital for the arrival of Allie Lynne Moore. She arrived that morning perfect and healthy. She weighed 6lbs 15oz and was 19.5in long, which just happenend to be exactly what her big brother was when he was born 4 years ago. It was so precious to watch this family as they welcomed her into the world. I was so honored and blessed to be able to be there that morning.

How precious is this!! Her daddy Jim and big brother Aden just crazy over her!!

He wants to hold her all by himself daddy!!!

Then this past Monday I made the drive to Springhill and spent the afternoon with Jill and Allie. She is such a sweet baby I didn't want to put her down. I can't wait to watch her grow and watch Aden interact with her. Her she is 11days old!!

Whew Time Flies!!!!

Well, January has flown!! As you can see below we had a new arrival!!!! Other things occured I either didn't get pics of or I am just late posting.

Heres a quick run down:

First PRAISE GOD FOR A HEALTHY HARPER!!!

If you read my blog, mid January I put a request out for Kelley and Family, well Harper is going home today, you can read more from their story on the link above.

January 10th my best friend from 5th grade came to Nashville and I got the joy to help her pick out her wedding dress. She found one!!!! Kristin is so special to me, I can still remember the day we walked into that 5th grade classroom where our friendship first began. We have been through so much together!!! I don't know what I would have done without her. I am so thankful we have done so well keeping in touch over the years! Her wedding date is August 22nd, she is marrying a precious guy name David. They are both so special to me and I pray so many blessings for their marriage. I don't have a pic from the day on my computer yet but here is a pick from this last fall.

Then that night our friends Drew and Allison came in for the Preds game so we got to meet them for dinner!! It is always so enjoyable to visit with friends you can't see often. No pics from the night but here are some pics from our summer vacation!!

My dad and brother came into town the next weekend on Sunday. Lacy from a previous post was able to join us before she headed back to Samford. We had so much fun, eating as always, playing cards, etc. I love them so much and am always anxious for the next time they come visit.
A couple times this month I got to visit with my mom and her parents. They had to come for a doctors appt. for my papa, Praise God for a healthy Heart!!!!!

The next weekend our friends Amanda and Mitch, who got married in May, came up!! We had a blast!! Below are pics of us playing dance dance revolutions. They are so special to us also. I am so glad we were spontaneously able to work out a weekend for them to come up. I can't wait to experience some more live with them!!!!

I was suppossed to get my hair cut and colored by a great friend Stephanie who is my hair stylist, but thanks to a great favor from her earlier in the month I didn't really need anything done to it. So during that scheduled time we got to visit and eat lunch at Panera. That was special since we don't get to be just the two of us often.

This past weekend Garrett was at school all day Saturday! After cleaning my house, I had a much needed outing with my friend and mentor Teresa! Heres a pic of us a Women's Luncheon in November. Thank Jesus for her so much!!!! It is amazing how I see another reason each time together that God has placed us in each others life.

WELL its Super Bowl Time. Last weekend Garrett broke down and spent money on a TV for our front living room. He has been wanting one since the apartment but we always said we would wait until we get a house. Well now we have one and he knew exactly what he wanted. The Johnstons, a family I have shared about a couple times previously came to eat and watch game with us.

Well I think I am all caught up, today as I leave we are waiting on the arrival of a baby girl Ms. Allie Lynne Moore. My first cousin and his wife are expecting their second today at 0900. They already have a precious son Aden. See pics below.

Will update on this little miracle later!!

I am so excited due to several happenings both of our parents and my brother are coming into town this weekend!!! I miss them so much and look forward to our time together. My brother Micah is turning 22!!! Will post pics next week!!

Preparing For and The Arrival of HUDSON ROBERT TUNNEY!!

Back in February 2008 at work a pharmacy student who was there doing her clinicals asked me a questions about my shoes. I thank God daily for my Dansko Shoes!!! What a small world it was, that day we learned she and her husband were from around Jackson (really close to my home town), we knew many of the same people, decided to exchanged numbers so maybe we could become "work out" buddies at the gym, and one of the most important things I learned even in our first conversation was how important her church was to her and the desire she had to be in God's will. There was something about that conversation that I thought God might have answered a prayer. I have met some amazing people since we have lived here, it just hasn't seemed to be someone who we have clicked immediately, been in the same phase of life and around the same age, our husbands have things in common, both were in the medical field, and our desire to know God more always increases when you have someone with the same desire. I had been praying for most of these things over those past 2 years. Well one year later I consider this precious girl to be one of my closest and dearest friends, Lauren Tunney. Well so much for the workout partner 2 months from our meeting she finds out her and Jeff are expecting their first child, but that didn't stop us from creating a relationship and being there for one another. Over the last 10months we bought a house in there neighborhood and have shared many hours talking, walking, eating, crying, laughing, praying for the trials we have stumbled upon etc. As we all got anxious for the arrival of this precious baby boy the Lord had created, some girls in the neighborhood gave a baby shower. Thought I would share some picture below.

THE FOOD!!!

Me and the MOM TO BE!!!!

MOM TO BE with all the hostesses!



HUDSON ARRIVED JANUARY 16th 6:30ish pm!!!

7lbs 8oz 20.5in

Just getting to go into his mommy's arms!!

His Lulu(Lauren's Mom) and Granddaddy

Me and the precious boy!!!

AT HOME SAFE AND SOUND!!!

It is so exciting, I actually have gotten to spend the afternoon with Lauren and Hudson it was such a joy!! He is adorable and his parents are doing so well transitioning. Sorry no pics of mommy, but there will be some in near future :)!