Well...

So it has been a long time since I (Adam) have written on this here blog, so bare with me as I try to hash out some of the past events in our lives and then try to update you as to where and what we are going to for now.

For those of you who don't know, Hillary is pregnant again!! She is due sometime the first part of February with our third child. We go back and forth about finding out what the sex of the child is... as of today we think we will find out what it is (ask one of us tomorrow and see if that has changed).

Hillary cut her leg open pretty good and had to get 7 stitches. Now I was told that I had to come up with some really cool story about how she did it, like she was mountains climbing or she got in a fight with 10 of the most vicious ninjas in the world (and lived to tell about it) or that she went swimming with sharks... but to tell you all the truth she was dusting. You heard me... dusting. Like every normal human, we react to circumstances. Hillary was dusting and picked up a really expensive glass bird from Italy and the thing simply broke in two. One piece in her hand and the other fell, so Hillary tried to trap the falling piece with her leg against the table and it cut her wide open. For those of you who know Hillary, you know that she just wiped off the blood and put a piece of duct tape over the wound and just kept working. OK, not really, she started yelling for her mother to come help her, then they both panicked and went to a non-emergency clinic to get it sown up. It gets better. THERE WAS NO ONE THERE TO SOW HER UP!! The first place bandaged her up and sent her somewhere else to get sown up. Quite the long day for her.

Next on the list. Where and what are we going to do in the next few years? For the past couple of years Hillary and I have prayed through and considered moving to (a place I am not supposed to name on the internet... ???) and become M's... (which means foreign field workers), that is not going to happen. We are going to stay here in Memphis where we are very happy and just continue to work at the shop and raise our family here. We loved it here, have some family here, have great friends here, and have a great job that I enjoy doing. So... Memphis it is!

As I mentioned earlier we are expecting our third child. The only problem with that was we did not have a vehicle that could hold 3 car seats. All of that has changed now. Yesterday we went to a local Toyota dealership (http://www.wolfchasetoyota.com/) and got a minivan. We bought a 2005 Toyota Sienna, silver and roomy. Hillary can't stop grinning about it and Evelyn loves her new "ride".

Speaking of Evelyn, she turns 3 Wednesday the 9th. She keeps saying "Daddy, I have a birthday coming over!" instead of a birthday coming up. Levi turns 2 in a month... where has the time gone? They are both healthy and happy and loud. What more could we ask for, right?

I guess that is a wrap for one posting, I hope you enjoyed!

Boston!!!

Last Friday, Adam's parents kept our kids and we headed to Boston for the weekend! Our friend Matt went with us and we had a great time. I have to confess that we did quite a bit of extra walking due to my lack of planning... but hey- I never once made the claim that when we get there I would know what to do next. I just got us to the airport and got our hotel and tickets online. We took the subway from the airport to the hotel. I will say that I knew we would at least be doing that b/c it was much less expensive than a taxi and the internet said it wouldn't take that long. I just didn't pay attention or look hard enough to find out where we got off on the subway. Our hotel was Holiday Inn Brookline. There were 2 different Brookline stops on the subway so I figured that that would be in the area or on the same street. Well, when we got off we looked around a little bit and I finally asked a police officer who instructed me that it was about a 15-20 minute walk in a different direction. We only had backpacks and we were excited to be in the city, so we didn't mind the walk. But then about halfway it started raining! We finally found the hotel and got to our room. It was early, but we decided to go ahead and start making our way to Fenway Park and stop and eat lunch on the way. It was supposed to clear up that night and be pretty weather, but when we left it was still yucky outside so we decided NOT to bring our new camera to the game. (what were we thinking?!!) Actually, we thought that the next day that we would take a tour of the park and we could take pictures then. Stupid. We didn't make it back in time the next day and so we have NO pictures of the ball game- the main reason we went to Boston, to see the Red Sox play!! Matt took a few pictures of us at the game to prove we were there with his camera, but still- I wished for my camera. It turned out to be perfect weather! We were about 2 seats away from crying over not being able to see the field. We sat in the infield grandstand about 5 rows up from a huge supporting beam. It ALMOST blocked our view of the batter and pitcher, but thankfully we could see what was happening. Sox won 3-1. Saturday we figured out where we were and got on the subway and did the walking tour of the Freedom Trail and saw a lot of the historical part of Boston. It is such an awesome and pretty city. I loved it. If I had to live in a big city, Boston would for sure be it.

river weekend

Hannah, Evelyn and Adam

Hannah, Adam, Levi and Evelyn on the screamer

Levi and Papa

Last weekend we went camping at the TN river. This was the 3rd year in a row we've done this with my family. We usually do it on Memorial Day weekend but everyone was busy that weekend, so- we made our own long weekend last week. It was a lot of fun. The first day was cloudy and cool. I'm glad that I randomly packed a jacket for myself. We sat around the campfire with coffee most of the day. The next day it was sunny and hot, good swimming weather. Levi and Evelyn did not want to get in the water! They rode the screamer a couple of times and Evelyn sat on a raft w/ Adam once, but other than that- you'd think we were tourturing them if we got them close to the water. Evelyn actually fell SOUND asleep on one screamer ride. It was pretty funny. Evelyn slept in the tent with me and Adam and Levi slept in the trailer with Mimi and Papa but I think that if there hadn't been so much going on, he would have been fine in the tent. I'm excited that they've made it to a fine camping age.

swole

all moved in

Well, we finally made it into our new apartment. We closed on our house last Friday and moved over the holiday weekend. My sister, Heather, and her family were EXTREMELY helpful and kept Evelyn and Levi from Friday to Monday so that Adam and I were able to move and get everything put in its place. It took us 1 month to sell our house, which is definately a blessing from the Lord. We really like it here so far. I do miss my ginormaus bathroom, but I'll get used to this one. I'd say that it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make... but this apartment is very nice and not much of a sacrifice!

We are off to the river later today. We are meeting my parents and my sister's family there for a long weekend of skiing, swimming, and grilling out!

busted

I thought it was a little too quiet this morning. Sure enough, Evelyn had squeezed out about half of a tube of diaper rash cream and rubbed on her face and started to paint Levi's face with it. I had to try hard not to laugh...ok so I took pictures, but I hid my laugh!

the river

The Mermaid Marina is close to where their spot is on the river

When Adam was out of town a couple of weeks ago, me and the kids went with my mom to the river. I was a little nervous about taking Evelyn and Levi. I knew they would have fun, but I was nervous that the whole time I would be keeping Levi away from the stairs going down to the river, or tumbling down the steep rock embankment going down to the river, or the floating dock on the river... but it was actually very relaxing and a lot of fun! They played so well together those 2 days and I have no scary river stories to report.

there was a playground there that they liked to play on



their neighbor had a golf cart that they let us take for a ride

we got to eat all our meals outside

the gospel for a toddler

On our way to church on Sunday Evelyn asked a question that led into a million other "why?" questions. I can't remember the initial question but it all led into the gospel. Why do we go to church? Why do we want to glorify God? Why do we love God? Why does God love us? Why did Jesus come? Why did he die on a cross? Why why why why, and so on. I'm pretty sure that she would have acted just as interested and asked as many questions if I was explaining the process of making chicken and dumplings. But, hey you know. It was still a car ride of talking about the gospel. Wouldn't it be great if all adults were that 'sincerely' interested in the gospel and prompted us with hundreds of whys? These hundreds of little "why" questions from her are a great way to make myself think about the gospel, the simplicity of it, the beauty of it, the power of it...and how to explain it. So, if you are a Christian I encourage you to find a toddler to share the gospel with!

h-h-hike

Saturday I took Evelyn and Levi over to my mom and dad's. When we pulled into the driveway we saw ducks in the pond. "DUCKS!!!" Evelyn yelled and then Levi started yelling because Evelyn was. We went inside got some crackers and walked down to feed them but they had made their way over to their neighbor's pond. We started walking that way carefully walking next to a couple of ponds that Levi was way to interested in. We almost got close enough to throw them crackers when Evelyn again screamed "DUCKS!!!" They of course quacked and flew away. So... we went on a "hike" to find them hoping they would make their way back to my parents pond. We walked through the woods up to the street and I told Evelyn we were going to go on hike. A minute later she asked where the kite was? I said "what?....no, we are going on a hike, h h hike." She asked what that was and I told her just walking through the woods or on a trail. "oh...where's the kite?" "No, Evelyn we are going on a H-ike, not a kite" What's that? .....again I explain. Again, Where's the kite? By this time we had walked to the end of the cove and back to my parents pond and I had many times explained hiking and that we didn't have a kite. The ducks were back but we had eaten all the crackers on our h-hike. So they enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and I think I may need to purchase a kite sometime soon!

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday we drove down to Mississippi to spend the night with my sister Heather. The kids had a great time playing outside and chasing the chickens. We went to church with them on Sunday morning, it was a great service. How great and mighty is our God!!! My parents came down after their church service and we all had lunch together. A couple of other families in Heather's church came too. We had a great afternoon.

Beautiful weekend

It was such beautiful weekend that we spent most of it outside. We got a new camera last week and so I actuall took a lot of pictures trying to figure out some of the bells and whistles.

Levi at the playground

Evelyn on her "ride"

Ready!

Go!

Evelyn and her daddy

Ahhhhh!



just kidding, Daddy's right there

Levi making little boy noises

most of the time they play very nicely w/ each other

We ate dinner outside

all done!


So sad the weekend is ending

Evelyn and Levi

sweet

Evelyn, not so nicely trying to get Levi to stand still for the picture

Here are some pictures of Evelyn and Levi with his new haircut

Hill's first post

OK, this is my (Hillary's) first post on our blog. I have to admit, I've been very intimidated by this. Possibly due to the fact that half the time I forget how to even sign on to where I actually post something. I've had great intentions but I keep putting it off until I have something grand to write about or a perfect picture or something like that. Well, here I go.... OK, so I still don't have anything grand or perfect to publish, but I thought that getting this first post over with I'd not be so intimidated. We'll see if it works.

I've been meaning to put pictures of Levi on here. We shaved his head last week! I actually really like it. A friend asked how we got him to sit still while we did it and I told her that it was that short b/c he didn't sit still! We just had to keep going shorter and shorter. He looks like a little boy now and not my little baby. We bought a new camera yesterday... so it may be a while before I figure out how to get those pictures on here.

Good-bye old friend!

Hopefully for the next few weeks I will be able to post a little bit more than I have been. This term is finally over and I can slow down a bit. School has been going well and I am thoroughly enjoying it, but I was definitely ready for a break.

Now to the title... good-bye old friend. Today we said good-bye to Cody. For those of you who do not know Cody, she has been our black lab for the last 4 years. She was part of the family to say the least for her. Hillary and I got her when we lived in Louisville, KY 4 years ago... she was the best. NO--- she didn't die, we just found a new home for her. A couple in our church have been kind enough to take her for us. We have finally put our house on the market and whenever we move, she would not have been able to go to Seminary housing with us. So we went ahead and let her go, so that we could get the carpet cleaned and so on.

Cody... you will be missed. Evelyn is already asking us where she is. I had to take her by myself today... Hillary didn't have the huevos to do it.

So Sorry!

To those of you who do look at this blog, I am personally so sorry for not posting anything for a few weeks.

Just to fill everyone in, I (Adam) have started school back up and am going full time as well as working full time. (I don't know what I was thinking!) But it is good though, I have one night class and two online classes, Old Testament 4, New testament 3, and History of Christianity 2.

Hillary is doing great just staying at home with the babies. I think she is more busy than I am! She takes the kids to "Mother-day-out" every Wednesday and gets a little her time. Which, by the way, she really enjoys.

The kids are doing well also. Evelyn has a growing vocabulary and personality, and Levi is just growing. They both are amazing and bring us great joy all the time.