Sweet Saturday (late post)

I don't know if this is legal in the blogging world but here is a post that I had intended to post before Christmas but didn't make it because I was having difficulty uploading some of the pictures. (They still aren't on there.) I have noticed over the last couple of days that it has officially been a month since our last post. Oops! I would really like to make it a more daily or at least every other day thing...but one new habit at a time. Right now I am working on 6 a.m. mornings.

We have had the joy of having Tory home all weekend. (He usually has a shift on Saturday that he works and then occasionally picks one up one Sunday if the opportunity presents itself.) Well, today and yesterday he has been ours! Though we have not gone anywhere exciting we have had such a good time here at the house just hanging out. Yesterday was non-stop College Bowl games, baking, and wrestling with Daddy...well Abigail and Nathan did the wrestling with Daddy, Luke and I are trying to refrain from any unnecessary roughness. (Yes, we found out last week IT'S A BOY, and his name is currently "Luke".) Had to show some shots of Nathan's first discovery of baking left-overs.

"Okay Big Sis, why are you just now telling me about this?"

Date with Daddy

Tory took Abigail to see the Nutcracker ballet yesterday. I had little doubt she would be disappointed with the show--seeing as she has just fallen in love with her dance class this semester. And what could be better than watching REAL ballerinas except for watching real ballerinas with her very favorite dance partner. Well, she absolutely LOVED it. Tory said that she stared so intently at the stage and dancers that when the lights came on she looked at him and said, "Daddy, my tears are falling".

The Princess shows us how her dress spins.

A new prize for the tree.

I say lets all water our trees this year...

Tree Hunting

We had the joy of joining the Marshman family this year for our Christmas tree hunt. Rachel had told me about a month ago about the adventure of driving out to Huber Farm where they "basically drive you out to a field of trees with nothing but a hack saw for you to retrieve your chosen tree". Well, I couldn't have described it better myself. The second picture was Abigail when she found out the only option for a bathroom at the moment was a nearby tree. Needless to say, she held it.

The girls thought running through the trees together was the funnest thing ever. But anytime they are together they think it is the funnest thing ever. In fact, there were rare moments that we did not find them hand in hand.


So the hunting began and I have to say that finding the perfect tree is quite difficult. You must decide what kind you want, how tall you want it, and whether or not it is better than the Marshman's. I think Abigail and I did a great job choosing our tree and Tory impressed his girls with his tough manliness.

Nate was determined to get in on the action.

We had such a fantastic time and could not have been blessed with more perfect weather. Thanks Marshman's for a great evening. You can go to their blog to read more stories on the night and see some more professional camera work (Jeff's a photographer...a very good photographer). See that camera...


I must not forget... along with tree hunting comes decorating. Abigail was so excited and I have to say such a big help. We pulled out ornaments one by one and she would say, "Mom, where do I put this one?" each time. Wanting her to explore her imagination and not feel bound by her mother's somewhat controlling nature, I would reply, "Wherever you want to, Abigail." As things progressed I began to wonder how she was doing only to notice she was putting all of hers together in the lower right hand corner of the tree. I love this girl!

Happy Thanksgiving...

...from Abigail, Nathan, and Henrietta.

We decided this week that we would stay home for Thanksgiving and spend some much enjoyed time with Daddy. This, for me, meant my second attempt at "the meal". I have to admit I did dread it somewhat. When I tried this two years ago I don't remember pure celebration from the whole experience. (It could have been that I was in my first trimester with Nathan...note the similarities to my current status.) Anyway, what a great day today was!

1. I only had to call my mom twice, and my grandma once.
2. I felt great and full of energy.

3. The only ingredient I left out was 1 of the 2 boiled eggs from the giblet gravy. (Can you believe it Mom?)

4. I found the giblets in the turkey.

5. The turkey was done.

6. The turkey was done by 10:30.

7. ...allowing for the entire meal to be done by 11:00.

8. The kids were fantastic while I cooked and enjoyed the morning.

9. Tory got to sleep in.

10. AND I made two extra dishes that I had not planned on.

I could probably go on and on about how great our day was but I will stop at 10. Besides a wonderful Thanksgiving I have many things here on this earth and in this life to be thankful for. But am filled with the utmost gratitude for the eternal hope that has been given to me through Christ and his death on the cross. There are many who are suffering with illness, loss of loved ones, and fear of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. But if we have Christ, we can find joy in and long for the day of His return when there will be no more pain, no more death, and as Paul proclaims in Philippians, we will find our gain and complete joy. And so, as we prepare for this Christmas season we remember the price that was paid for us and rejoice in the Hope that it brings. I pray that your day was fabulous and that this time of year finds you full of hope.

Catching up

I have been a little behind on many things lately and one of them is blog-life. I thought I would take a minute to update a few happenings over the past month or so.

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About mid-October Tory's parents came into town to see us. We were treated to a very relaxing trip to Gatlinburg (I don't know what happen to these pictures) and some fishing. Below is Papa and Abigail with her new "Princess" fishing pole. No fish but we did feed ducks, play with worms, and get lots of stickers from the sticker patch...OUCH!

The next week we had the joy of spending time with some old friends from home who are now serving in East Asia. So great to catch up and learn what God is doing in the Sully family. Precious people!And of course we pulled off some last minute Halloween costumes for a party at a friends house. Abigail was not only a ballerina but a ballerina with makeup. So exciting for her. The kids got to play carnival games at the party and I think she carried her prize candy around for a week. Very responsible at waiting for permission to eat it but it was never far from her. Nathan on the other hand, was a fly. Yes, this is a little strange but I searched online for homemade costumes for kids and this is what we had the most materials for. The reason you may have a hard time seeing the costume is because flies are fast and hard to see. Who knew?!

My parents were also able to visit this week and we had a fabulous time. I have yet to get the pics up but hope to soon. So good to see you guys! Much love!

Happy 28th Daddy!!

Yesterday we celebrated my groom's birthday. It was a great day for us all! Abigail likes to make a big deal out of birthdays. To her, a birthday is not a birthday unless there is a theme and a cake. So what did we do the night before? Make a cake and blow up balloons. Daddy had a "balloon birthday". Nathan did his part in helping with the celebration by letting us take him to the doc for some medicine...we finally got a good night sleep last night. (He has had fever/cough/runny nose for the past 3 days.)


Thanks Daddy for being so great and for all your hard work that you have put in to provide for us! We are so thankful for you! You show us an amazing example of love, grace, strength, and so so much more. We love you!!

Kedra, Abigail, and Nathan

Another Giddens'

That's right...there is about to be a third set of little feet running around the Giddens' home. Abigail is so excited to be a big helper to a little sister. Yep, we are not sure she will have it any other way. We keep asking her what she is going to do if it's a boy and she replies, "We don't need another boy we already have one." Now friends, though this may seem harsh, let me share a little story from about 4 or 5 months ago. One evening during family worship time we talked about praying for God to give us another little brother or sister. She sadly looked up at her Daddy and said, "But I like this one." Thats right, she is madly in love with Little Nate and would not trade him for the world. Precious moments!

So, the baby you may ask, is expected to arrive June 2 according to yesterday's ultrasound. My little "gummie bear", as the sono-tech labeled him/her, has a strong heart beat and wiggled nicely for the camera. Thank you for sharing this joy with us!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Mommy is 27, and she is beautiful. We love you!

**There should be a slideshow below. It works in Mozilla and Google Chrome, but not IE 7.

Loving these guys.

It has been so fun to watch how much Abigail and Nathan are enjoying one another more and more everyday. They love to wrestle (Abigail is still winning that game for right now), play chase, climb anything and everything together, "cook" with Mommy's pot and pans, read together, and today Abigail informed me they were playing babies and that she was the Mommy and Nathan was the Daddy. Biblical Manhood and Womanhood? Check.

Tory was able to catch them during a priceless moment last week and got some great shots. We just love these guys!

Watch Out!

Thanks to Amy Wright inspiring me to change our blog style, you may see the screen change frequently right before your eyes. While I am wanting to make it a little more appealing to the eye, my husband is sitting in the chair next to me with his laptop making sure it stays somewhat "manly". hehehe. Fun times! Sorry for the confusion and headache we may be causing. Looking forward to the end result!!

Azinger's 13th Man Brings U.S. the Ryder Cup

Before the Ryder Cup in Louisville this week, Paul Azinger the captain of team USA made it expressly clear that he wanted the crowds to play a major factor in the outcome of the tournament:

"I want to treat them like they're going to be our 13th man," Azinger said.

It comes as no surprise then that a large amount of the post-tournament analysis has centered around the impact the crowds made on the match up. Paul Mahoney of Golf.com and contributor to Golf Magazine writes:

They'll never get credit in the history books, but it was Paul Azinger's 13th Man, all 40,000 of them, who won the 37th Ryder Cup for the United States. Captain America's two-year plan to fire up his players and the Kentucky crowd worked.

So when Golf.com was looking for a picture from Sunday's final round at Valhalla that summed up the contribution of the 13th man, they needed something that was really representative of the crowds intensity. So where did they turn? Well look at the picture in the upper left hand corner closely, where you will find my dad perfectly executing a back handed, off balance high five to 22 year old phenom Anthony Kim.

When I interviewed my dad for this piece, he humbly refused, simply saying that he was just glad to be pretty much the most integral part of the U.S. victory. Yesterday, he was a retired football coach. Today, he's the poster boy for Azinger's 13th Man.

Access the entire story here, complete with above picture heading the article. Look really close and you can see my hand barely creeping into the right side of the picture.

We're Back!

We are very happy to say that as of 9:30 yesterday morning WE HAVE LIGHT!!!...and everything else that comes with electricity. What an exciting time this was for all of us. Tory and I did actually say to each other that we were kinda bummed to have it back because of how fun it was to "ruff it" and be forced to get creative. Although I do have to say, we really weren't "ruffing it" that much. Our very generous neighbor let us plug our refrigerator into his generator. We had cold food, a grill, and running hot water. Not bad. And the Lord has blessed us with some amazing weather. There were even mornings that we needed jackets. Praise Him!! Abigail and Nathan were troopers. They didn't seem phased really at all by the whole dilemma. They were able to take a bath with only light from a flashlight and Abigail was reunited with her princess flashlight (if you will remember the one she earned during her potty training days) that she was able to sleep with. Though we only spent 48 hours of the expected minimum of five days without electricity we are happy to be back in session and hope that the next time we "ruff it" is on a planned trip to the campgrounds.

Please be in prayer for others here including close friends of ours who have yet to receive their power back. Ice is melting and nowhere to be found, gas is running out and expensive, and a few with electric water heaters are now without hot water. We have seen the body of Christ work in amazing ways to help its people and minister to the lost. Pray for more of these opportunities. The seminary has cancelled classes for the week because of it's loss of power until yesterday as well, but have have been very generous in offering free meals multiple times this week. You can go here to read Dr. Mohler's brief thoughts on "our electric lives".

A Friend's Birthday!

One of Abigail's good friends, Matt, celebrates his 3rd birthday this week and we were invited to partake in the water festivities today. Brett and Lindsey are some very dear friends of ours from Texas and they have two handsome boys Matt and Seth. We had a great time and wanted to share some of the pics. As you will notice, Nate is ready to move in with them. They have every push toy and car you can think of. (Note to Nathan's grandparents.) Abigail was fired up about smashing the pinata with a bat and then getting to keep tons of candy. I think she would have slept with her red bag of candy if I would have let her. Thanks Hoyle's for a great party!!

This was classic...

Craft time!!

Unfortunately for Nathan, he was born into a family in which his mother and his sister LOVE "craft time". Well, today Nathan participated in his first craft and I just had to post a picture. (Don't tell his Daddy about this.) Nate was obviously confused by the plate and high chair yet "do not eat".

Below is a picture of the final results and as you might notice, Abigail has advanced to the paint stamps of which she is very proud.

Welcome to Huber Farm

We treated ourselves today to a taste of the country life. Anyone in the area is no doubt familiar with Huber Farms, a place where even the most urban of individuals can pretend for a moment that he's actually rural. Feed the chickens, goats and horses, eat a family style country meal, roll around in some hay, ride a tractor, sack up some fresh fruits and vegetables--pretty much anything but shovel horse poo. It's a good time.

One quick story before posting the pictures... Abigail absolutely loved the 40 foot slide that extended from the hay loft to the ground. To get to the slide, she had to climb a fairly steep latter inside of the barn. Kedra and I watched as Abigail went up and down and up and down and up and down.... Until... We looked up only to see her walking around the outside of the barn, crying, limping towards us. To this moment, we still do not know what exactly happened, just that she some how fell down the stairs. Evidently, the fall was quite significant given the blood dripping from her nose, the foot long strawberry on her back and the baseball sized bruise underneath it. Nasty. She has had the worst two falls of her life the last two days (Yesterday's was a bicycle wreck). Listen, if this was Nathan, I'd a patted him on the bottom and told him to rub some goat poop on it... but little girls just aren't suppose to fall like that. Kedra thinks I'm a little too soft on her. Maybe...