Falling forward

Oh my goodness, I can't believe how much time has passed since my last blog. So many, many changes have taken place in our lives. Definitely signs of God's faithfulness to us! So, since my last post:

• Tyler received a promotion and is now manager of surgery and same day surgery at the same little hospital where he was working as a nurse.
• I accepted a position in an inpatient rehab unit at a hospital in Fort Smith
• My parents moved to Fort Smith & that has been a HUGE change for us
• Jackson is now 7.5 months old!

We definitely have had a change of pace in our lives the past 2 weeks or so. Tyler began working full time again August 30, and August 31 was my last day at River Valley. What a bittersweet week that was! I began my new job last week, working 2 days a week in inpatient rehab in Ft. Smith. God was so faithful to provide me with a job where I could make just as much money, but only work 2 days a week! Now, I drive to Ft. Smith Monday morning, work all day, spend the night, work Tuesday, and drive home. Jackson gets to stay with my momma; she gets her grandbaby fix; Tyler was able to take the promotion; I make enough money to cover the rest of the bills; Tyler gets one night a week of quiet to work on homework; EVERYONE wins! It has been a great transition for us. God is certainly, always, unchangeably, immutably faithful. What a wonderful God we serve.

As we head into fall, Jackson is gearing up to help us lose weight as we chase him: he can certainly get around as fast as he wants to by crawling, and is trying so hard to start taking steps away from the furniture on which he has pulled up! What an independent and strong-willed child Tyler and I have produced. Some days I want to pull my hair out - but he is so much fun and I enjoy getting to stay home with him more SO much!

Here are some recent pics:

Us with Tyler's family at his grandparents' a few weekends ago
My sweet, sweet baby boy
First time at the beach in Florida - not a fan of the sand or the water!
My precious child, watching a cat outside
Bathtime! :)

It's summer time.....

Monday, I took Jackson to his 4-month well child visit. Everything about him looked great! He's now 15 lb 9 oz, and 24 inches long. That puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. They told us that he could bump up from just rice cereal to eating vegetables, too, and to feed him veggies twice a day. So, this week he's gotten to try green beans and squash! He is a piggy and eats them up! Here are some pics of the first time he tried green beans:

Mom, have you taken ENOUGH pictures yet?

These are good, but I'm tired of your camera in my face.

He has also mastered sitting up, and can sit up for long periods of time without falling over. He gets tired eventually and slumps over, but he has been really good about not flopping backwards this week! Here are some pics from this morning:

Hey Momma!

Daisy is just so funny!

Check me out, sitting up and all!

This has been a pretty laid back week, with just work and not much else. Tyler brought Jackson to see me at work on Friday, and Tyler's parents stopped by Friday evening for a little while. Today, Tyler went golfing and Jackson and I got to hang out with one of my sweet friends, DeiDre. We went with her to Cracker Barrel for brunch, and then came home to work on some housework and outside chores. Tomorrow, we're gonna go to the middle service at church and then have some friends over for lunch. After that... we're just looking forward to some down time together as a family.

Great is Thy faithfulness.

The song, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" was played at both of my great-grandparents' funerals when I was sixteen years old. At that time, it was a song filled with comfort and peace, knowing that the Lord would be there even when others cannot. When Tyler and I got married, I felt that it was a great song to include because of the hope and constancy it conveys, and had it played during the seating of the grandparents and parents. In different seasons of my life, this song has spoken different things to my spirit. Tonight at church, we sang "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" again. It really caught my attention because it seems to reflect where I am in my walk with the Lord right now. There are a lot of things up in the air in my life and most nights I go to bed wanting to pull the covers over my head and have a good cry. A lot of things going on right now don't seem to make sense in my human brain. There are deaths and illnesses and major life changes and financial problems. I can't see the next page of God's plan and, uber planner that I am, this stresses me out. There are so many unknowns and not nearly enough knowns for my type A personality.

I believe that every one of us relates to God in a certain way, or that a specific characteristic of God really reflects how we view the Lord. For me, the Lord's faithfulness has always been something that drew me to Him. No matter the circumstances, no matter how many times I have failed, no matter how many times I have turned my back on Him or how many times I have prayed this week or any other decision I make, He is FAITHFUL. My favorite Bible verses are those that promise His faithfulness. One passage of Scripture that I hid in my heart at a young age is Psalm 18, which includes verse 25 -

'To the faithful, You show Yourself faithful...'.

If you only knew how many times I have prayed, sobbed, whispered, or boldly declared that verse in my life. During a particularly stressful time in college, I wrote "TTFYSYF" on the top of my study notes. I still have one from a statistics class that says - "4.0 GPA - TTFYSYF" written in large bold letters across the top. God WAS faithful - I made a 4.0 that semester.

As I face the unknown, I praise the Lord that He is faithful. He never wavers, never changes, and never stops loving me. And I love that about Him.

4 months old!!!

Time is just flying by so quickly! It's been a hectic couple of weeks. Tyler is now officially the caretaker for Jackson Tues-Fri. He is enjoying getting to spend so much time with Jackson, I'm enjoying knowing that my baby is safe with his daddy and the fact that the house stays pretty much clean without me having to do much, and Jackson is enjoying the fact that he gets to sleep in a little bit longer in the mornings! Here's my sweet boys:
Last weekend we went to El Dorado Sunday & Monday for Tyler's brother, Dustin's, graduation from El Dorado High School. We got to see a lot of Tyler's extended family that we don't see often, and Jackson got to meet many of them for the first time.

This weekend, we had several things scheduled, but most of them did not happen and we got to enjoy a semi-relaxing weekend at home together. Unfortunately, we found what appears to be a leaking pipe in our foundation. Water is leaking out of the brick in the backyard. We aren't quite sure what that will entail, but we'll see... tomorrow we might know something more.

Today we had the Ashworths and the Morgans over for an early dinner cookout. It was raining when we started grilling, but had cleared up enough to just be HUMID by the time we ate. Love just chilling with friends! Holiday weekends are the best.

Jackson will be 4 months old on Wednesday, and I can't believe it has already been that long. He is growing up SOOOO quickly! He is trying so hard to crawl, and if you sit him up, he's almost to where he can hold it by himself. He just requires one finger's worth of help to help him balance. He's been eating up some rice cereal... getting much better at eating it rather than wearing it. He's loving playing in his Exersaucer and has started "talking" to his toys, especially the teddy bear that plays sounds and a monkey that hangs from his car seat. He does NOT like to ride somewhere in the car unless he is full and clean diapered and ready for a nap. He's starting to want to sleep un-swaddled now. This boy loves music, too! He loves to have anyone sing to him or even just have music playing in the background. Maybe the music genes will skip a generation and he will get some of the talent my brothers inherited from my dad.

A rare moment of peace in the carseat last night

Laughing at Uncle Brennan and Uncle Mills and Grandpa Chris playing guitars

Home Sweet Home

One year ago today, Tyler and I signed papers on our house and along with the help of both our families, got all of our stuff moved from our 600 sq-ft apartment to our new home! I think it's important to stop and remember the things that God has done and ways He has provided in our lives, so... here are a few pictures. :)

Packing madness at our old apartment

Showing off our new fireplace :)

It's finally ours! :)

A year later, we still love our home and feel that it has been a great investment for our family. The Lord has blessed us so much!

Catching up

Well, like I said a couple days ago, I can't believe it's been a month since I have blogged. Life gets crazy.

I've been working, Tues-Fri, every week. Tyler has been working some CRAZY hours, hitting overtime by Wednesday a lot of weeks. This has made for some very long nights alone with Jackson and one very stressed out, exhausted Mama. Thankfully, that time is coming to a close and he will be staying home with Jackson from now on, only working Mondays and possibly an occasional weekend. So ready for this change!

So, let's go back in time. I had a wonderful first Mothers' Day this past weekend.

It lasted the entire weekend! Saturday, Shirley and David came up to keep Jackson while Tyler and I went to a co-worker's wedding. Tyler and I enjoyed our first outing alone in a while!
After the wedding, we came back to the house and hung out with Tyler's brothers Joey and Dustin for a bit until church Saturday night. Tyler's parents & brothers, my parents, brothers, and grandparents, and Tyler, Jackson, and I went to church together Saturday night and all sat together. I thought that was pretty awesome. Then, Sunday morning, my in-laws and sweet husband let me sleep in a little later than usual and I got coffee and a card in bed! :) My in-laws went back to El Dorado and Tyler, Jacks and I got to spend the whole day as a family together, just watching movies and hanging out (since the weather was not so great). Then we had dinner with my family at my parents'.
Jackson with his Poppy


The weekend before that, we found out that our best friends Charity and Jonathan Ashworth are building a house three lots down from ours! Charity and I have known each other since we were kids back in Alma. We reconnected in college and got married around the same time. Jonathan and Tyler are buddies now, too. We are too excited to have them so close and can't wait for all the cookouts, movie nights, and yes, golf days that will ensue! :)

Jackson is really growing so quickly lately! It really does go too fast! He is now a lot more social, and smiles at everyone! He loves to play peekaboo, and recognizes his bottle as his "food". He can sit up with support from his Bumbo or pillows around him.


He laughs and coos at you all the time. He's been eating rice cereal occasionally and getting better with that. We go back to the doctor the first week of June for a check up, and I can't wait to see how much he's gained! He is such a blessing in our lives. We can't imagine or remember our life without him!

So, that's what's been up... really not too much... just day to day life :)

Crazy Eights

My goodness, has it been a month since I've blogged? Guess time gets away from you when you have a three month old....

Anyways, I want to update soon and put up all my newest pics, but for tonight I will simply play this crazy eights game - thanks Shanna! Like you, I like the 8-8-08... I graduated that day!

The Rules:

1]. Go to your photos files and select the 8th photo folder.

2]. Select the 8th photo in that folder/album.

3]. Post that photo along with the story behind it.

4]. Then challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same.


This is me with Ashlen Batson (soon to be Thomason, as in this week!) at an Arkansas Travelers game in June 2008. I was on my last week of clinicals at Butterfly Learning Center, and had bought my car the day before! Tyler and I met up with Dustin Thomason (her fiance) and Ashlen because it was Arkansas Children's Hospital night at the Travelers, and Tyler was working for ACH and got free tickets. We went to Famous Dave's BBQ to eat beforehand, and it was incredibly humid! This was about a month before Ashlen won Miss Arkansas! So, just for kicks, here's the pic with her and her parents from the night she won:


And also just for kicks, here's some pics of us about this time last year at ANOTHER Travelers game, voting for Kris Allen (it was the night he sang Falling Slowly...):


Dustin and Ashlen voting frantically
Ashlen & me again... it was super cold that night!

And it just so happens that Dustin and Ashlen came to our house tonight to see Jackson and hang out before they get married next Monday (in FLORIDA! SO JEALOUS!!)! So, bravo, Shanna... this game was a winner! And, I only have two followers.... Shanna and Chrissy, so Chrissy, tag you're it! :)