Happy Anniversary # 7

So, we've made it through 7 years of marriage. We've debated at our house if the "seven year itch" applies to the 7th year, or the year after your 7th anniversary (which would really be the 8th year of marriage.) Anyway, we decided that it applies to the 7th year, and we made it! Whew! :-) It's all downhill from here, right?

We've had an anniversary trip planned for a few months and despite everything that's gone on the last couple of weeks, we decided to go ahead and go. We had a wonderful time, and it was really nice to be away, just the two of us, for a few days. Here are the pictures of our trip and the fun things we got to do. Sadly, most of it revolves around food! And the rest revolves around football...yes, football.

Our hotel, Omni, was awesome and upgraded our room for free. It was super nice and luxurious!

Here was our view of downtown:

Some friends of ours had flowers delivered to our room. They were absolutely beautiful!

Jackson Square:
We ate here the first day for lunch, and Chris got jambalaya. He definitely got his fill of Cajun food while we were there:
This is one of Emeril's restaurants. We ate here on Saturday night:

We ate at the Melting Pot on Sunday night:
We passed up robbing this truck...
...in order to eat at Cafe Du Monde on Monday.


And the reason for our trip (besides celebrating our anniversary) was to see the Panthers vs. Saints football game. I'll write more later about why I'm a Panther's fan, but it was such a fun game to go to! My sweet hubby got me a Delhomme jersey, too. Now I can be an official fan.

Merry Christmas

Sarah and I started this post in the New Orleans International Airport waiting for our flight back to Dallas. We were in NO for the past couple of days celebrating our 7th anniversary, which happens to be today, and had a wonderful time. We'll probably put up several posts from our trip in the next week or so, but we thought we'd kill time by putting up pictures from Christmas.

Christmas morning began rather unexpectedly when Noelle burst into tears and refused to look at the Christmas tree, presents, or any family member except us. She demanded to eat breakfast first before she opened any presents. Then, it took us bribing her with a candy cane to get her to start opening them. She really enjoyed all her gifts and playing with her new toys once we got her to open them.

This is the third year we've gone to look at Christmas lights with Noelle, but the first time she got to eat a lollipop while we did it:

She insisted on wearing this hat that I found in a drawer:

We had a "slumber party" and watched The Grinch movie. To Noelle, a slumber party is when she gets to stay up a little late, watch a movie in her PJs and eat cookies:

Playing in her sand table with Uncle Dave. (The sunglasses always make me laugh):

She's showing off her Advent Calendar that was almost done:

Each year, we give Noelle a pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve:

Here we are consoling Noelle. Apparently, presents are pretty stressful for her:

What a mess!

Merry Christmas!

Noelle

Noelle has brought us so much joy this week. You can't help but smile when you're around her. Many people have asked about her, so I wanted to write a few things so you can be praying. Noelle has taken the news very well and seems to understand as much as a two year old can. We've told her that Baby Jeffrey is in heaven, but at this point that's about all we've explained. To her, everything is just "fact" and there isn't a lot of sadness attached. But the last two days we've noticed her being extra clingy around us, and she has meltdowns about things that aren't usually a big deal. I think this is just her way of expressing her grief and her noticing that things have been different around the house.

She had her first candy cane recently, and here are pictures of the sticky mess. I hope they make you smile!

Update # 2

Since our blog is the easiest place to update most of you, we wanted to let you guys know how we're doing. Although we are still so sad about what has happened, we have seen God's grace and mercy and experienced His peace like never before.

I know that many of you were praying for us yesterday as we honored Jeffrey at his memorial service. A lot of it is a blur, but something that stuck with me from Kevin's message to us is that God doesn't just give us peace in these situations...he gives us His peace.

Today was also really special for us because it was our first time back to church. I must admit that it was hard for me to go, especially knowing that it was going to be the Christmas service. But we were so so blessed by our friends there. Many of you read this blog, and so I just want to tell you how much we were encouraged by your hugs and love. God has been so faithful to us through this whole experience, and even though church wasn't "fun" today, it was so meaningful for us to be there worshiping Him.

Many of you have asked how you can help or if there is anything you can do. Right now the best thing you can do is pray for us. We have also deeply appreciated the emails and cards we have received. I know in the past I've been in the position when I didn't know if sending something would make someone feel better or worse...for us it has been so healing.

If you really want to have a good cry, I want to include the song that we played yesterday at Jeffrey's funeral. It's called "Glory Baby" by Watermark. (I don't know how to put the actual song on here, but it's worth finding on the internet...it's beautiful.) I've always thought this song was so meaningful, but it spoke directly to our hearts this week. In case you don't want to read the whole thing, our favorite line is "Heaven is your home, And it's all you'll ever know." What a comforting truth.

Glory Baby

Glory baby, you slipped away as fast as we could say baby…baby..
You were growing, what happened dear?
You disappeared on us baby…baby..
Heaven will hold you before we do
Heaven will keep you safe until we’re home with you…
Until we’re home with you…

Miss you everyday
Miss you in every way
But we know there’s a
day when we will hold you
We will hold you
You’ll kiss our tears away
When we’re home to stay
Can’t wait for the day when we will see you
We will see you
But baby let sweet Jesus hold you
‘till mom and dad can hold you…
You’ll just have heaven before we do
You’ll just have heaven before we do

Sweet little babies, it’s hard to
understand it ‘cause we’re hurting
We are hurting
But there is healing
And we know we’re stronger people through the growing
And in knowing-
That all things work together for our good
And God works His purposes just like He said He would…
Just like He said He would…

I can’t imagine heaven’s lullabies
and what they must sound like
But I will rest in knowing, heaven is your home
And it’s all you’ll ever know…all you’ll ever know…

Update

Again, we want to express our gratitude for all of you who have shown love to us in many ways this week. We are both doing well considering the circumstances. Physically, Sarah is doing very well. God has truly been gracious to her in this regard. We were both able to sleep well last night and will be able to continue to rest throughout the day today. Tomorrow afternoon we are having a graveside memorial service for family only. You can pray for both of us during that time. It will be a sad time, but it will also provide some healing and a way to honor our son's life. For those of you who live in town, we look forward to seeing you at church on Sunday.

If you were considering sending flowers for the service or to our house, we would ask that instead you make a donation to the Lia Grace Tyler Memorial Fund at South Side Baptist Church.

Thank You

We want to express our deepest thanks to all of you. You have made us feel so loved by your phone calls, emails, and prayers. We have been ministered to in so many ways and have felt God's peace through every step of the way.

We want you all to know that Sarah delivered a baby boy this morning a little before 5:30. She has been feeling very well considering the circumstances. Her delivery went very smoothly and she is not suffering any complications.

We have chosen to name our son Jeffrey. His name means "God's Peace." We have definitely felt a peace that can only come from God.

We love you all.

Please Pray

Many of you may already know this, but we weren't able to call everyone who we would want to know. Yesterday Sarah and I found out that we had a miscarriage. Since the baby was almost 18 weeks, Sarah will have to go through delivery. We go to the hospital this afternoon at 2:30, and the delivery should take place Thursday morning. I'm sure that we will post more in the weeks to come, but right now we both appreciate your prayers as we walk through this difficult time together. We have already had so many people call, email, or stop by to love on us. We can't express how much this has meant to us. Thank you.

Quotations by Noelle

Noelle said each of these this past week. Leave a comment and let us know which one is your favorite. We are having trouble deciding.

1. "Look! I put my feet together like a circus bear."

2. "Will you wipe my tears so I can be happy?"

3. "Mommy, can we pray for Santa so he won't scare me?"

4. "No! No! Mommy, Hannah is looking at me!!"

5. "Something is wrong with my bottom."

6. (As we're getting into the car) "Daddy, be careful so you don't bump into any cars."

Preggo Brain at its Best

I've had several of these moments in the last couple of weeks. I'll just share the worst.

On Monday, I couldn't find my keys anywhere. (This is a regular occurrence, though...not necessarily pregnancy related.) But since Chris has a second set, I used them instead and didn't worry about not knowing where they were. Well, my sweet husband set out on a mission to find them while I was gone that afternoon. He found them in my gym bag. Which was last used the Friday morning before. So I had lost keys for 4 days without even knowing it.

Today I got ready at the gym. After a shower and putting on my makeup, I was working on my hair. (Which, by the way, needs a ton of more work thanks to this pregnancy!) I was spraying on some spray gel, and then realized I had sprayed it with Body Splash, like 8 or 10 times. I refused to take another shower so if you are knocked out by the smell of Moonlight Path, I'm sorry. Hopefully it'll wash out tomorrow. :-) Needless to say, it ended up being a ponytail day.

In addition, I've forgotten about a billion things that Chris has said. And he laughs because I repeat myself...a lot.

Maybe I really have pregnancy induced Alzheimer's?
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In other news, Noelle started Mother's Day Out one day a week. She's been such a trooper, and has done great. The program she's in is from 8:30-2:30, so I was a little worried that it would be too much for her. Nope. She loves it! (And I love having a day to get things done.) I couldn't believe how quiet the house was when she was gone. But I do miss her tons when she's there and always look forward to picking her up. Here are some pictures of her first day of "school."

Why I like kids

I recently had the following conversation with a 4th grade boy:

4th grader: Wow! Is that a Super Bowl ring?

Chris: No, that's my Aggie ring. I went to Texas A&M.

4th grader: ...and they gave you a Super Bowl ring?

Another Blunt Comment by Noelle

Usually when I put lotion on Noelle, I give her a tiny amount to do herself. Sometimes she asks if she can put it on me, and today I let her. She was being so sweet and rubbing my cheeks and forehead. Then she noticed my birthmark, apparently for the first time. Here was our conversation:

Noelle: What's that?

Sarah: It's a birthmark, sweetie.

Noelle: Why?

Sarah: It's just how God made me, with a little spot on my cheek.

Noelle: No, Mama. That's a BIG spot.

The Many Faces of Noelle

Not sure what to say...

We had a great Thanksgiving in Waco with Chris' family and will post pictures soon. Until then, here's a conversation from this morning:

Sarah, Chris, and his mom (Gram) were talking in the den while Noelle was busy playing. In response to a commercial on TV, Gram said, "I wonder if they ask, 'Do you smoke?'"

Noelle immediately responded, "Yes! Yes, with my Daddy."

Noelle's take on discipline

As we were getting into the van after church today, Noelle began to throw a fit, and we had the following conversation:

Chris: Noelle, you need to stop throwing a fit.

Fit continues

Chris: Noelle, you will get a spanking if you keep throwing a fit. Do you want a spanking?

Noelle: No!

Chris: Do you like spankings?

Noelle: No, but I do like bacon.

________________________________________________________

After thinking about our conversation for a little while, the following thoughts/questions came to mind:

1. Why did I ask her if she likes spankings? Did I think she was going to say yes? Was her answer going to have any influence on what I did?
   
2. Why would she all of the sudden mention bacon? Was this just a ploy to distract me?
   
3. Why would she say that she likes bacon? She's never even had bacon before!
   

The Influence of Puggles

Our church's AWANA program for kids starts with 2 year olds...it's called Puggles. For the first part of the year, the kids learned the Bible verse, "God made everything, Genesis 1:1". It's been a blast to see Noelle learn! She's taken it a little far lately, though. The other day she walked into her bathroom and said:

"Look at this BEAUTIFUL potty God made!!!"

AWANA lock-in (AKA: really long post)

Friday night three other leaders and I had a lock-in for the 3rd - 6th grade boys in AWANA at our church. We had lots of fun staying up late, playing crazy games, saying Bible verses, and doing a mission project. Here are pictures from 3 of the games that we played.



In the first game, I asked for 3 people who thought they could beat Mr. Butz in a Sprite-chugging contest. I had the boys open their Sprite, but then right before they started to drink, I informed them of one more rule: they would be drinking their Sprite through their sock.

In the second game, Spam Roulette, the boys began by sitting in a circle and passing around a block (6 servings) of spam. Periodically I would say "stop" and whoever was holding the spam had to answer a multiple choice trivia question about spam. (Side note: it's amazing how much interesting, random information about spam can be found with the internet.) If the question was answered correctly, the boy then got to choose the boy on his right or his left to take a bite of the spam. If the question was answered incorrectly, he had to take a bite of the spam. Then the spam was passed around the circle again until I said stop.

For the last game I asked for 2 volunteers who thought they could pick up Cheerios really fast. After choosing my victims...eh, kids...I spread out Cheerios on a table in front of them. Then I explained that they would not be using their hands. They would be using their face -- and the peanut butter that was slathered all over it. They each had 1 minute to see how many Cheerios would stick to their face.

A big thanks to Brian G for taking all these great pictures!