Nightmares?

Shelby woke up last night sometime around 11:30. We think she must have had a bad dream because she was crying really hard, and took a while to calm down. I sat on the edge of the bed at one point (I was holding her) and that only got her more upset. She wanted to lie back down, only every time I tried to lie down in bed with her, she would say "No!" and cry harder. She wanted to lie down on the couch, not her bed, and not even in our bed. Finally she calmed down and I was able to get her to lie down in her bed, as long as I was holding her. I was in there with her all night and we did not sleep well at all. Please pray that the dreams don't return.

Update on Justin

A few of you have asked about Justin, and I apologize for not getting any information out sooner. Justin is back at the base in Colorado. He left home at the beginning of the month and met some buddies to attend the funeral of Sgt. Michael Martinez in California. He has been gone since then, because he was to report to the base soon after the funeral. We do not know for certain what will happen next. He has recovered very well and is due for a reevaluation in the new few weeks. At that point it will be determined if he is to return to Iraq and what his duties would be should he return. Please be praying about that. We certainly want Justin to have a good evaluation, but we also are fearful of what might be expected of him. Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

Old Fashioned Family Social

Sunday evening we went to the home of one of Downtown's shepherds for an old fashioned family social. Shelby had a blast! She and two other little girls about her age got to jump in the moon bounce all by themselves! She had a lot of trouble staying on her feet, but seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Hanging Out with Uncle John

Saturday morning, my brother-in-law brought a back hoe from work to their house do some work in the backyard. When he was done, Shelby got up in it with Uncle John. She loved it and didn't want to get out!

Harding Swing

Shelby loves the swings at Harding. Once she sees them, she doesn't want to be anywhere else!

HU Photo Shoot Post #2

By the time we took this one, Morgan and Shelby both were ready to go home.

Aren't they cute?

HU Photo Shoot Post #1

One of our first stops on Thursday was the lily pool.

Morgan is so much fun! There's never a dull moment.

Shelby loves getting her feet wet in the fountains on campus.

A Couple of Random Thoughts

• Check out the "Friends Who Blog" section for some additions and changes. Maybe you'll see a familiar face or two!
• We are curious to know who reads our blog. Please leave a comment this time so we'll know you're reading. Hopefully we'll have more comments than normal for this post!

Week with Morgan...Post #2

So we had a great week with Morgan. He and Shelby got along really well, for the most part. We hope he'll want to come back and visit again.

I attempted to watch Night at the Museum twice while Morgan was here. No luck. I fell asleep each time. Morgan was very disappointed. I also ended up falling asleep on the couch nearly every afternoon for at least 30 minutes each time. He didn't seem to mind. I'm glad he had his PSP to keep him occupied during my lazy spells.

Morgan and I went bowling Wednesday afternoon. We played three games and I won all three, but that really isn't saying much. My scores were 112, 104, and 106. Not too good. And we even had the rails up to block the gutters. I should have done better than that.

We played quite a bit of Jenga throughout the week. Channing had taped questions on each piece to use in therapy sessions, so we got to know each other a bit more than we already did. We also played Skip-bo, Rack-o, and Clue. I loved it and hope he did as well.

After supper on Thursday, we went over to Harding's campus and took some pictures. Unfortunately, Shelby was not very cooperative so the photo shoot wasn't as spectacular as we were hoping. The camera is in the room with my sleeping husband right now, so I'll have to post them later.

We took Morgan home on Friday and then the three of us came back after breakfast on Saturday. The house is a lot quieter now. We miss the kid's face and look forward to another visit.

Week with Morgan

My nephew Morgan has been here with us this week. We are having a great time with him! Shelby is crazy about him, and is loving having "Mo-Mo" here. So far we've gone on a few walks, gone to the park, played Skip-bo and Clue, and watched a movie. Monday night Channing and Morgan went to see Ratatouille. They said it was a good movie. Channing has cooked supper on the grill all three nights this week, but tonight I'm making lasagna. Morgan and I are hopefully going bowling one night this week.

We are so glad that my sister and her husband have let Morgan come stay the week with us. We are really enjoying our time with this kid!

Tyson Rhodes Orbison

Lauren had baby Ty on Friday. I spent a couple of hours at the hospital on Friday morning, but wasn't able to meet Ty until Sunday evening when we got back in town. Shelby had been calling Lauren "Big Lauren"...hopefully she'll stop calling Lauren that now!



Click on the link for the Orbison Family if you'd like to see more pictures of Ty!

Channing's New Toy

Channing got a new toy last week. He sold his Minolta 35 mm camera and bought a Nikon D40. He loves it and has had a lot of fun taking pictures on it. My parents got us a smaller digital camera for Christmas that we have been very thankful to have. I will continue to use that one, but I think Channing will be sticking to this new one.
All but one of the pictures I've posted today were taken with the D40.

Aunt Pat's Backyard

While we were at Aunt Pat's house on Saturday, Channing took advantage of her wonderful backyard and got some great pictures of Shelby. Here are a couple.

Swimming Pool

Deidre's sister got a swimming pool at the beginning of the month. While we were in town this past weekend, we spent a few hours with Nunda, John, and Morgan. Deidre's parents joined us for pizza and ice cream, but we couldn't get them in the pool. Maybe next time we'll have to throw them in.

Nunda got Shelby a super-cute new swimsuit.

Shelby had a lot of fun in this boat.

Morgan, Shelby, Nunda, John, and Deidre

Deidre and Morgan

Visiting Extended Family

This past weekend we were in Tennessee and Mississippi visiting extended family. Deidre's aunt and uncle from Colorado were in town for a visit. We really enjoyed getting to see Uncle Ron and Aunt Sharon as well as other family members!

Here we are with Aunt Pat, who is Deidre's dad's sister.

Deidre's cousin Mike and his wife Denise, and Deidre's twin uncles Don and Ron.

Shelby really had fun with Uncle Ron and Aunt Sharon!
Too bad they live so far away!

Aunt Sharon had a bracelet that Shelby was really fascinated with.

Shelby loves to read!

Just thinking about reading makes her excited!

Downtown gives all babies born at White County Hospital this Bible. It's one of Shelby's favorite books. Channing and I have it memorized. Shelby has most of it memorized, too!

Shelby's Nona found this great book that comes with a hand puppet.

"Daddy, aren't you done taking my picture?!"

S'mores with Lauren and Silas

Silas and Lauren had the three of us over last Sunday night (July 15). They built a fire and made s'mores for us. Shelby wasn't crazy about the marshmallows, but loved the chocolate.

Shelby loves "Big" Lauren!

Shelby watched the fire with Silas.

"I love chocolate!"

Prayer Request

Our hearts are heavy as we've recently heard some troubling news about some friends of ours. Many of you know Adam and Rebekka (Brazzle) Mathews. They are expecting their first child in about four months, and have received some bad news about their unborn son. Pray today for little Josiah David. We know that we serve a mighty God who can heal this precious baby. Please join us in praying for Josiah, his parents, and their families.

By the way, the name Josiah means God will save (Hebrew). This name was chosen before they received the news from the doctor.

National Ice Cream Day

According to My Yahoo!, today is National Ice Cream Day. I love ice cream. As you can see from these photos, so does Shelby!

Tonight we are hosting our home Bible study and I'm so excited about the dessert I've fixed. (Thanks to Lauren for the recipe!) I just thought I'd share...
Using a 9x13 baking dish, make a bottom layer of ice cream sandwiches. Then, for the second layer, use any of your favorite ice cream syrups. (I used chocolate fudge and caramel.) Third, spread Cool-Whip on top. Then make another layer of ice cream sandwiches. Finally top with your favorite candy topping. (Some have used broken pieces of Heath or Butterfinger. Lauren and I both have used the Hershey's topping with sprinkles and little bitty chocolate chips.) Freeze until ready to eat. You will need 24 ice cream sandwiches to make this yummy treat, although you might have 1 or 2 left over.

What is your favorite ice cream treat?
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Just the Two of Us

Channing and I spent this past weekend in Nashville, TN. We left Searcy on Thursday and made it back home yesterday afternoon. Much of our time was spent at a marriage seminar. We met some really wonderful people with whom we hope to remain in contact. God really blessed our weekend. We needed this time alone together, especially considering the last time we went away together was in March of 2005.

Shelby did really well, considering this was the first time she's been away from both of us. She stayed Thursday through Saturday with a family from church. Sean and Sarah kept her at our house the rest of the time. We really appreciate friends who are willing to take care of our little girl for us. It was a blessing to be so far away, for several days, and not have to worry about Shelby.

How did we do away from Shelby for the first time? We did fine. Like I said, it helped that we left her with people we knew would take good care of her. Also, we were really busy with the seminar. It lasted all three days, and we had assignments to complete each evening.

Chan and I have agreed that we WILL NOT let another two years pass before we get away. It was so needed. We had a blast!

Channing's Birthday Party

I threw a birthday party for Channing last week. The Moshers and the Tappes came and celebrated with us. We had lasagna, salad, bread, and of course cake and ice cream. After dinner, I surprised Channing with the slide show seen on a previous post. That was fun and an obvious treat for him. We had a great time being with friends.

Chan's favorite, chocolate cake with chocolate icing

This was recreated. Doesn't his face look funny?!

Shelby loves cake and ice cream!

Here we are with Michael and Allison Mosher.

And here we are again with Sean and Sarah Tappe.

Thanks to Sarah for helping me decorate before the party. Thanks also to Sarah and Allison for bringing the salad and bread. Sean helped me out with the slide show. He had a cable to hook the laptop up to the t.v., so we were able to watch the slide show on the t.v.

Little Mommy

Shelby really had fun last Tuesday at Channing's birthday party! She watched Allison take care of little Elisha and started mimicking everything Allison did. Here is Shelby, nursing her doll, and using a burp cloth to clean baby Kacey up.

Chan's Birthday Slide Show

Happy Birthday, Channing!

My sweet husband is celebrating the big 3-2 today!!












I seriously knew within a week of dating Channing that he was the one I wanted to spend my life with. I loved how he put God first in his life, and how he wanted to share the love of Jesus with everyone he came in contact with. I was so impressed with his desire to have God as the center of our relationship.

Channing is a wonderful husband with a strong desire to be the man God has called him to be. Channing is also an amazing daddy to our sweet Shelby. He has a way of interacting with her that makes my heart melt over and over. I am so thankful for a husband who loves the Lord and his family with all his heart. Channing works hard so that I can do what I've always wanted to do, which is be a stay-at-home-mommy. I really appreciate that my staying home with Shelby is just as important to him as it is to me.

I love you, Chan! May you be blessed today.

A Song's Been on My Heart...

A lot has happened in our life in the last month or so. A song keeps running through my head over and over again. I love it how God will put something like this on my heart when I need it the most. Here are the words. I bet a lot of you know this one.

Praise You in This Storm
words by Mark Hall

I was sure by now, God, that You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say, "Amen,"
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

Update on Justin's Buddies

You have heard of the horrible attack on Thursday in Iraq, perhaps in greater detail on television or on the Internet. Five U.S. soldiers were killed and seven were injured when an IED exploded near their Humvee. We have learned that all 12 of these soldiers were in Justin's unit. These were guys that he went on patrols with while he was over there.

It has been a rough weekend for many. Families are mourning their loved ones. Other families are where we were a month ago, worried sick about their injured. And there are the soldiers who are left behind, missing their comrades. My family realizes that, more than likely, Justin would have been hurt (more than he already is) or killed in this explosion, had he not been hurt in the attack on Memorial Day. We are hurting with Justin and the other families who have been affected by this tragedy.