Lindy's first smiles

I love my girls so very much! To me there isn't anything like those first baby smiles and toothless grins. I was so grateful to get these on film before we went to church yesterday morning. Lindy wakes up every morning grinning and happy and smiling. She's starting to coo a bit, too. I just know her first words are going to be "Mommy I love you!" Actually to me there isn't much that is more precious in the world than hearing Laura say that to me each day. Each day I pray for the grace to remember that the challenging moments are just moments, and to enjoy them because I will miss them some day. What a blessing it is to be allowed to have this family....a husband I cherish and adore, and two children to nurture in the love of Jesus. Happy Monday!

About Freedom......

Happy Independence Day! I won't go on and on about the Fourth of July like I would like to......Let me just say that I have had the privilege of spending two Independce Day holidays outside the United States in places that wanted freedom desperately. I always have been a proud American, but those experiences gave me tremendous gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy! I am grateful today for the fact that our freedom as Americans is protected by so many volunteers all over the world, and as I write this there are many thousands who are putting themselves in harm's way to give me the opportunity to thank them. I'll bet those rag tag rebels who gathered together to sign and send the Declaration of Independence 232 years ago had no conception of how they would affect the rest of world history.

Freedom is not free.....I am also grateful today for the Savior who gave His precious life to allow me to be free from sin and death, and free to live in His grace every moment of every day. As I am free, I am also reminded that I am bought and paid for with a price. Praise God for His tender mercies which are new every morning.

Okay, enough preaching. Our July 4th dawned with a gray sky and thunderstorms, which are very welcome here. We are having another very dry summer. We are looking forward to a fun day filled with family and food and hopefully some fireworks! Dabby and Grammy, aka Dad and Karen Stokes, will be here some time this afternoon, and Grandpa and Grandma, aka Mom and Dad Capps are coming over for the afternoon and a cookout. We're excited about having a fun day together!

Now about the photos.....last night we took the girls to the park for the community celebration in Hendersonville. We walked around lots of people and had a good time together. Laura and Mommy got to Bungy jump together. Too bad Kevin was giving the baby a bottle and couldn't document Mommy harnessed and flying through the air. :) I did that on my 31st birthday at Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco. My mom got it on film and I looked pretty dorky. But, nonetheless, I decided that 39 wasn't too old to Bungy jump just one more time. I can still flip both directions, although I think that will be the last time. Laura did great and had a fun time jumping. She wasn't ready to flip yet although she tried. We were not going to stay for the fireworks because Laura doesn't like the booms and we were afraid the noise would send Lindy Grace into orbit. But we wound up staying longer and caught the fireworks on the way out. I covered Lindy's ears to keep her from the full blast of the booms, and she cried anyway. So I took my hand off her ear for a moment and she quit crying and went to sleep! And as you can see, Laura thoroughly enjoyed the fireworks display. So we're going to try the fireworks in Gallatin tonight. I'll let you know how it goes! Enjoy a happy day with family and friends on this day celebrating our precious freedom!

Save the Lightning Bugs

In this photo you see some of Laura's latest "new best friends". This was actually taken in Hazel Green, AL at the home of our brother and sister-in-law, Steven and Barbara Capps. They were willing to lend us their "bug box" for Laura's evening ritual of catching the lightning bugs.

You'll notice the sand....she is sure that sand makes a REALLY nice bed for the bugs. Unfortunately for the bugs, Laura likes to shake them up a bit, and I'm sure they sustained at least minor abrasions!



I've been meaning to write this post for two weeks now, but I'm actually glad I've given Laura time to truly hone (sp?) the craft of catching lightning bugs! Here you see her actually holding the death chamber, I mean bug box in the process of providing the sand.

Laura has gotten so good at catching these things that she can get several in each fist before she puts them in captivity. I must refer you to the post about whose child this is because again, those who know me at all, and certainly know me well will know that catching bugs of any variety has never, ever been on my agenda. And certainly not something I would consider fun. But, I found out about the things a mother will do for her child during this visit to Alabama. One of the victims, I mean lightning bugs, was a little too high for Laura to catch, so she said, "You catch it for me, Mama!" Okay, what mother would refuse that request. So, ignoring every pore of my being telling me NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I reached up and very gently, with the least amount of contact possible (for the bugs, of course) caught her little friend. I even put it in the box for her. Then I shuddered for five minutes recalling the feeling of that thing in my hand. Eeewww. Yes, I'm a prissy girl. I'm really okay with me, so I'm okay with admitting it. But I'm proud of my girl who likes bugs and mud, too, because it must be good for you somehow to like those things. As I type this, there are about seven or eight lightning bugs flying hopelessly around a homemade bug box in my living room. I titled this post Save the Lightning Bugs because I think that some activist group would want me to prohibit Laura's catching of these bugs. And were it not for the fact that she would be horribly disappointed, I'd go release them into the wild to do whatever it is that they do every day. She keeps asking me what they eat, but somehow I'm not eager to find out because I don't want our house to become a sanctuary for lost and forlorn lightning bugs.

On another note, everyone at our house is well now. Lindy was MUCH better by Sunday morning, which was quite a relief. She goes for her two month visit and shots in the morning. Poor little thing. She's an angel. I look at her and I still wonder if she's real. Then she spits up all the milk she just drank all over my clothes. Yep. She's real. :) Have a happy, blessed day!

What a week!

So much for the frequent updates on my blog! I had big plans for a new post about Laura's new favorite thing to do: catch fireflies. I'll probably do that soon, but I thought I'd put an update on how our little ones are doing. You probably can tell that the photo is a hospital bracelet for Lindy Grace. It has been a busy week taking care of sick children in our family life. We were so blessed to get to go to Knoxville just for the night Sunday night to be part of an anniversary celebration for our dear friends, Rosemary and Bill Pryor. They have been married 45 years, and their children had a surprise party for them with people from our Laurel church family. It was so wonderful to get to be with the precious people whom we love so much! Anyway, we woke up Monday morning to go and play with Will and Sam Taylor and I could tell that Laura was a little "off" and not quite herself. She felt a little warm to me, but I wasn't too worried about her. By the time we got over to the Taylors' house, she was very clingy and acting tired and complaining of a tummy ache. So we didn't stay too long (I'm sure Cindy is grateful!) and Cindy sent us home with an old towel in case Laura threw up in the car on the long ride home. Bless her heart, I could really tell she didn't feel at all well because she cried a lot of the way and kept complaining of a tummy ache. We even stopped once to let her throw up, but she didn't. She told me she wanted to wait until she got to Grandma's house. I have to say that was the LONGEST ride from Knoxville to Nashville I think I've ever driven. I had visions of a full blown stomach virus overtaking Laura, and you can imagine what a mess I really didn't want to deal with. Let alone a very sick little girl who I couldn't help since I was driving. Thankfully we got home safely and soundly, and she was running a temp. of 101. Tuesday I called the pediatrician to see if she should be seen and they told me yes since we have a newborn in the house so they could treat whatever Laura had. By the time we got to the doctor, her temp. was 102.5! The doctor said she just had a childhood virus and really there wasn't anything to do for it but help her be comfortable with Tylenol and ibuprofen. Meanwhile, Tuesday night I noticed that Lindy Grace was becoming more fussy and harder to settle. Oh, and all this time Kevin was traveling through Mississippi (that is really fun to type) and Illinois. We were staying with his parents, which was a marvelous help. Wednesday the girls and I came up to our house to play and to get some things done. Unfortunately Lindy was VERY fussy and I couldn't put her down, so we really didn't clean much, but at least Laura got to play. Kevin's mom noticed that she was having a hard time consoling her when she was upset. By Thursday morning, after a long night Wednesday, Lindy was still acting very fussy and I was really concerned. I brought her in to the doctor, who said to watch her and that we might have to go to Vanderbilt Children's if she didn't calm down. When we got home from the doctor Lindy started throwing up and having diarrhea (sp?), and was still very unsettled. Poor little thing, she couldn't even move without wimpering because she felt so bad. By 9:00 last night the doctor called my cell phone to check on her and told us to go ahead and bring her in so that they could just make sure it wasn't anything more than a stomach virus that was making her feel bad and fussy. Kevin came in from his travels at 7:30 last night completely exhausted, only to make a trip to the ER at 9:30. They were fabulous at the ER. They took blood and urine to run tests on, and they even checked her eyes for corneal abrasions, which apparently babies can get from their own tiny fingernails. Sure enough, Lindy has a scratch on her left cornea. Thankfully all her labs came back normal and she wasn't running a fever (very alarming in a baby that small) and she was able to keep down a little Pedialyte. She was a little dehydrated, but we didn't have to do IV fluids since she was able to drink the Pedialyte. We were dismissed with some ointment for her little eye at 3:00 am. Kevin was so tired that I sent him to the van to sleep a bit while we waited for the ER people to do their thing. So he got a little sleep anyway. We got back to his parents' house at about 3:30 am, exhausted but grateful that they didn't have to keep Lindy. She is MUCH better today, and able to keep more down, and she is more quiet and not so fussy. We went in for a follow up with the pediatrician this morning and he said that she should be a lot better by the end of the weekend. I asked them if they have a frequent flyer program there. You know, after two visits the third one is free? Or if they have stock options since we seem to be there so often.

As I sat there last night, all I could do was thank God for His care for us. I am so grateful that we have such magnificent medical care available to us, and that we are able to afford it, and that we have such good insurance. I was also grateful that, although both children had been very ill, they had illnesses that will get better. I am sure that in that same hospital there are children who are dying of cancer and other serious health conditions. I am thankful that at this point in our lives we are not facing anything like that, and that we have two basically healthy, beautiful children. I am praying now, though, that Laura will not pick up the stomach virus that Lindy has so that we don't have her sick again. She really just got better yesterday, even though she had been free of fever for a day and a half.

We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home since Kevin has been out of town so much lately. We're also looking forward to July 4th when my dad and stepmother will be here to share the holiday with us. We have some serious clutter control to do before they come! I've heard it said that cleaning house while children are growing is like shoveling snow while it is still snowing. And with that thought I will start my cleaning, counting our many, many blessings. And I'd also like to congratulate my grandparents, Wayne and Annile Hemingway, on their 66th wedding anniversary, which was yesterday, June 26. They are about my favorite people on the planet, save Kevin and our girls, and I am unspeakably thankful for the many ways they have influenced our lives. Happy anniversary, Mamama and Dadada. Thank you for all you do, and for the love you share with our family!

Making "Pupcakes" with Laura

Laura has been asking to make "pup"cakes for the longest time, so finally I gave in and we had a mother/daughter cooking time making pupcakes. I had intended to put these pictures up in chronological order, but it didn't work. Anyway, I let Laura basically be in charge of the whole operation as it was her idea. We had a ball. She chose white cake and pink frosting with sprinkles. I had to keep myself in check because I was wanting to tell her exactly how to do it, or to do things for her. But the only way for her to learn is to do things by herself. She and I were both very proud of the pupcakes, and they were delicious. We shared them with our next door neighbors and Grandma and Grandpa. The ironic thing is that Laura doesn't like the cake part of the pupcakes, she only likes the icing! This was a loud process because I had to let Lindy Grace sit in her papasan chair while Laura and I worked on the pupcakes. Lindy Grace didn't appreciate that at all and she let us know it. I picked her up when I was doing something I could do with one hand, but I really wanted to do this with just Laura. I am learning to treasure moments like this because the day is coming when she won't want to do things with me, and her sweet hugs and kisses will be few and far between. I wish I could put the smell of these pupcakes baking on this blog because they smelled WONDERFUL and really tasted good, too. Laura made sure to sample what we were making all along the way and she was pretty impressed with herself. So without saying much more, I'll let you look at the pictures. We love the sprinkles!
The fun part was licking the sprinkles off the plate.


Sprinkles anyone?
Here she is with her finished pupcakes.

This is actually the first picture as we got started.
Who doesn't like licking the beaters? Raw eggs? Oh well!
Laura filled these up all by herself

and I finished them when she was done.

Getting the pupcakes ready to bake.....
We mixed red food coloring with white icing to make pink.

It was really fun for me to watch her enjoy

making a different color.



Stay tuned for the next post......Laura and the lightning bugs!

Whose Child is This?

The beautiful Christmas carol says, "What child is this?", but for anyone who knows me well, you may wonder whose child this is, because Laura is playing happily with mud! I hate mud. I don't like it on my hands, I don't like it on my shoes, and I especially hate it on my feet. I mean, I don't like to walk barefoot through wet grass in case I might get mud on my feet. Yes, I know, therapy might help.....Anyway, yesterday Laura decided to make some gormet entree out of mud. She took my muffin tin, two old spoons (I also don't want my good spoons in the mud, even if they will wash) and a big pitcher. She sat down and was in heaven pouring the water in the dirt, making mud, and filling up the muffin tins. Lindy was happily asleep in the papasan chair and missed the whole event. Thanks, Cindy for that chair, it is a lifesaver! Anyway, I just couldn't let an opportunity go by to give my friends some relief that this child is a normal child and does enjoy outside activities, unlike her mother who liked being inside with a book or watching the news. I considered reading under a tree an outside activity. Actually, I still do! The only exception for me would be the pool. But that water is clear and clean and you can see all the way to the bottom. Just don't make me walk barefooted across grass to get to or from the pool. I did use a shovel once, when I was 31 and helping my friend who had broken her back plant petunias, I think....yet I digress.......

And, on a side note, I did find an old digital camera that we had when we lived in Knoxville, so it will do until I can get the good one fixed. How we got it is a long story and too much information, but I'm grateful for it nonetheless!

Here is what Lindy Grace thinks of mud and cooking.....

Thank You, Mimi

I just wanted to take time to put up a post thanking my mom, or Mimi as she is better known in these parts, for all the time she spent with us during this time of transition adding Lindy to our family.


She took four weeks out of her busy schedule to come to Middle Tennessee and help us out. I can not adequately thank her for the meals she cooked, the laundry she did, the nights she kept Lindy with her until I needed to nurse so I could rest, the comfort she gave all four of us, her bright and happy attitude, and many other things. We all miss her so much, and not just because she is a good nanny, but for her encouragement and laughter and advice and love for all of us. She spends all of her time serving others, and she has I'd say all of her adult life. We are so grateful to be recipients of her love and service. She is a wonderful model for us, and I hope one day to be able to be like her. The best advice she ever gave me, which I still have to work on, is "Don't take yourself too seriously!" So now Kevin and I are taking care of our two children on our own like the rest of our friends who have children. I went to Walmart by myself with them both yesterday and there was only minimal crying and one temper tantrum. Laura had to remind me how to act in the store and in public.

On another note, when Mimi left last week, she took her digital camera with her, and as it was the only functional one in the house, my posts will probably not have as many photos as they have had recently. It looks like I'm going to have to send our new camera to Illinois to be fixed and it will take several weeks. I do have a wonderful 35mm film camera that works beautifully, but it isn't instant. So when there are pictures, they'll be from the old fashioned picture taking method.

And I also wanted to ask prayers for Lindy because we found out over the weekend that she is suffering from acid reflux and it causes her great pain. We got some antacid medication for her and it seems to be helping, but she still has periods every day where she is almost shreiking in her cries because her tummy hurts so much. And all we can do is hold her close and try to comfort her. The doctor said this is common, especially in babies born a bit early, and it clears up within the first year. I know this isn't cancer or anything like that, but I just hate to know she's hurting and not be able to make it go away for her. She is a sweet baby and I still can't quit looking at her. Well, except at night when I need to be sleeping. I can quit looking then because I'm just so tired. Yeah, she's a second child, isn't she? :) The reflux has been what has kept me away from the computer this week. It is hard to put up a post when the baby is writing in pain. And she's squirming and ready to get out of her papasan chairright now, so we'll go outside for some fresh air. Have a happy Wednesday!