Get your coffee. This one's a long one.

PART 1

I can't believe I'm about to type this . . . Brian has retired from playing professional baseball. I still haven't wrapped my brain around this reality. There were still so many things I was looking forward to, like our children watching Brian play baseball. Like seeing his childhood dream of pitching in the major leagues come true, etc. However, at the age of 33 he's made the difficult decision to "hang it up" and pursue another career. We both know that this will be somewhat of a grieving process. It's the end of a chapter, the only job Brian has ever known, and the only lifestyle we've known as a married couple. I loved so many things about it: the people we met, the friends we made, and the places we got to see. But most of all I treasure the valuable lessons God taught us on the journey. I'll remember those lessons for the rest of my life because they taught me about my God and drew me into a closer relationship with Him. And that made our time in professional baseball so sweet, so worth it.

It's almost spring, and subconsciously I keep thinking we'll be taking off soon to go to spring training. On one hand I'm sad that we're not, but on the other hand I'm happy. The stability of being at home with family, friends, our church and community will be nice to have (as well as a steady, reliable pay check!!).

But I'll miss the game.

I'll miss going to a game almost EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT of the summer.

I'll miss having the privilege of watching Brian do his job.

I'll miss the crazy fans, and the normal ones :)

I'll miss seeing the precious faces of kids wanting autographs after the games.

I'll miss the letters from people saying they looked up the Bible verse that Brian wrote under his autograph, and how encouraged they were to read it.

I'll miss being in the special sisterhood of baseball wives. No one understands the joys and challenges you face in baseball the way your fellow wives do.

While I'll miss many, many things about life in professional baseball, I am more than confident that Brian and I are going to be incredibly blessed and amazed by they ways the Lord will use us in the next phase of life. In fact, I'm really, really looking forward to it!

But something tells me that every year when spring rolls around, I'll get the itch to be in the world of baseball again. For a split second my heart will sink because I'll miss it all over again, like a long lost friend. What a fun ride it was. What a good God we serve. What an adventure this life is. Here's to the next stage of it . . .

If I had a Quarter . . .

for every time I have to stop while Sage and I are in the grocery store for people to interact with her and tell me how cute she is, then well, I'd have some serious dough. That's not a complaint. Heck, I couldn't agree more! The girl is cute! And there's no way I'm biased :)

Thursday Brain Dump

It's been a while since I wrote a brain dump. So here's what's on my mind . . .

1.) It started with me, then Sage, and now Brian. I'm not even sure we all have the same thing, but we're definitely all sick. Thankfully, I started feeling better when Sage started feeling bad. But now that Brian is sick we're just going to make a whole week out of this madness!!!

2.) I'm so pumped about getting my new window shade up! This house has always needed punches of color and the kitchen is about to get it. Pics to follow once I get it just right.

3.) Sage will turn one year old in a little over a month. That is CRAZY!!!! I guess I need to start planning a party.

4.) Speaking of Miss Independent, she is almost walking on her own. She still wants to hold a hand for balance most of the time, but at other times she completely turns loose to go after something. It's only a matter of time . . .

5.) It is just so hard for me to get out of "sweets mode" after the holidays! Seriously, I want dessert, like, all the time. This habit is hard to break. Really, really hard.

6.) Our life group from church rocks and I'm ready for us to start meeting again. There's been a brief hiatus, so Feb 6th needs to get here soon!

7.) The other day Brian told someone I wasn't "career driven." This bothered me for a multitude of reasons. I probably need some time to analyze before I can expound. For now, however, I think I should defend Brian and clarify that he wasn't saying, "she has no ambition." So I guess I just wish he would have worded it differently. Something like, "She's passionate about many things. Unfortunately, none of them make us any money." :)

8.) I really like Steven Tyler so far on American Idol. He's quite the compassionate judge yet honest too, the perfect combo. Randy just cracks me up. J. Lo ain't bad either. I think I'm going to enjoy this season. I just hope someone can give constructive criticism when it gets down to the really talented folks.

Speaking of Snow . . .

I sang this song at church right after Christmas. I just adore it. Read the lyrics about the humble birth of our Lord, they just move me . . .

You could have come like a mighty storm,

with all the strength of a hurricane.

You could have come like a forest fire,

with the power of heaven in your flame.

But you came like a winter snow;

quiet, and soft and slow,

falling from the sky, in the night,

to the earth below.

You could have swept in like a tidal wave,

or in an ocean to ravish our hearts.

You could have come through like a roaring flood,

to wipe away the things we've scarred.

Oh, but you came like a winter snow;

quiet, and soft and slow,

falling from the sky, in the night,

to the earth below.

Your voice wasn't in a bush burning.

No. Your voice wasn't in a rushing wind.

It was still.

It was small.

It was hidden.

You came, like a winter snow;

quiet, and soft and slow.

Falling from the sky,

in the night, to the earth below.

Snow Days

It is so hard to believe that Sage has already experienced TWO snow storms in her short life (especially considering we live in the south)! After the 3rd day of school being cancelled, the snow finally melted. But during the first 2 days we had a grand time. I've officially decided that we WILL be purchasing a sled before next winter. Cardboard boxes just don't cut it. We went over to Darren and Wava's to play and thankfully, they had some great sleds!



Your eyes do not deceive. I let Sage do a little sledding. Who are we kidding, I was never going to win "Mom of the Year" anyway. The hill wasn't big, and her very responsible and loving older cousins were there to protect her :) Admittedly, I was still a little nervous, but I figure I'll be singing that tune the rest of my life. I've joined the parenthood club and worrying about every little thing concerning our children is what we do, right?




And finally, a picture from her very first snow, with Daddy and cousin Tucker, the day after Christmas . . .

The Girl's Got Rhythm

While Sage isn't quite as dramatic in this video as she has been at times, it will give you a good idea of the way she likes to groove when she hears a familiar tune. Gotta love it.

8 Years

Today Brian and I celebrate 8 years of marriage! A few pictures of us on our wedding day (sorry if these are the same ones I posted a few years ago) . . .






I am so fortunate to have 8 wonderful years with Brian. Here's to many, many more!

The Rush

We had a wonderful Christmas. I'm always a little sad when it's all done, but it is kind of nice when "the rush" is over . . . no more last minute shopping, no more long car rides, and you're back in your own, cozy bed.

Our decorations have been taken down and safely stored away, and it feels good to have that done too. However, our den now looks like a daycare center with all of the toys Sage received for Christmas! (I'll be organizing that craziness soon, because I'd really like to have my house back). She's one blessed little lady to be given so much.

There are so many things I could blog about, I'm not even sure where to start. This picture pretty much sums up Sage's Christmas.

I promise she's not cross-eyed. She's just at that age where eating the wrapping paper is more appealing than playing with the presents themselves :) More evidence you say? Well, here ya go . . .

More to come later. Hopefully. When I find the time :)

Photo Wall - Check!

Another project completed! Yay! This is a big deal when you're lucky to get the essential things done during the day, like eating, much less a whole project! Thank you to those of you who put your 2 cents in when I couldn't decide what kind of arrangement to do. I absolutely love it! (Sorry about the lamp glare in the picture. I took it at night.) The frames are huge (25x25) and I got them from Pottery Barn, my fav store!

On a side note, Brian is home, and I'm so thankful to have him back. I'm also really glad he gets to experience the Christmas season in the States this year! Sage was so happy to see her Daddy, and she hasn't stopped smiling at him since. His fear that she would not remember him was quickly put to rest :)

Funny Girl

What Mom? You mean you can't change my diaper like this?

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you wanted me to empty the diaper bag.

But Mom, it's only fun if I can get messy.

I don't particularly like being strapped into this thing, but from this standpoint, it's quite fascinating.

Christmas Time!!!!

Please forgive me . . . I wrote this post 2 weeks ago and forgot to post it!

After having Sage, every little thing in life is faaaaaaar more exciting than it ever was. Like holiday decorating. I've always been a stickler for waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas decorations, but not this year. The other day Sage and I turned on a little Christmas music, dug through the attic and got started! I just couldn't WAIT for her to see all the lights and colors. This year all she could do was watch (and whine for me to pick her up), but one day she'll help me, and I'm betting she'll love it!

Speaking of holiday decor . . . I was on the hunt for the perfect stockings. My problem is that I like too many. I like the traditional, the cutesy, and the casual (not so much the fancy ones). My ridiculous habit of being unable to make decisions finally got on my nerves so much that I just picked some and went with it. We'll probably have to buy different ones anyway when/if we have more kids, if we want them all to match. So cutesy won out this year:

Merry early Christmas everyone!

Come on Home Babe!

My friends are so sick of hearing me say it, but I'm just beyond ready for this man to come home to me.



So I'm saying it again. I am ready to see my hubs!!!!!! December 13th can't get here soon enough.

Mom is 60!

I'm sure my mother will be pleased that I'm announcing her age to the entire blogging world. But it's a milestone, and it was celebrated well, so I thought I would share . . .

Dad and I wanted to do something special for Mom, you know, because she is so special. Besides, you only turn 60 once. So we set up a weekend in the mountains with our entire family as a surprise. Dad rented a huge 7 bedroom house in Black Mountain, made reservations at a great lil restaurant called Que Sera, and I made the birthday cake. Mom's nickname within the family is "Cat" (because her full name is Cathy), so this is the butter pecan cake with cream cheese icing I made:

(I also made a Southern Sweet Chocolate Cake because we all know that celebrations are not complete without chocolate.)

I found the cat cake on the Betty Crocker website, but my good friend, Sage, introduced me to a great site that has a lot of super cool "do it yourself" cakes. It's www.familyfun.go.com if you're interested in getting creative! Although, I highly recommend baking and decorating a cake after your kid goes to bed. I might have learned that lesson the hard way.

Anyway, back to Mom . . . Happy Birthday Mom! We love you and are so glad we got to celebrate your birthday together. You make 60 look good!

Bye-Bye

I have not been good about writing things down in any sort of baby book for Sage to look back on one day. Therefore, I figure maybe this blog can be a good substitute for a "memory book." With that said, Sage did something for the first time yesterday. Just a few days after turning 8 months old Sage actually waved bye-bye to someone! In fact, it was to the nurse who gave her the flu shot! Guess it's good to know she didn't hold a grudge :) I did what any proud, first time mom would do. I freaked out (in joy) and told the nurse, "That's the first time she's ever done that!!!" We've worked on it a few times, but I certainly did not realize she would catch on so fast. This is what genius looks like:

Ouch.

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why he allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world when he could do something about it . . . but I'm afraid he might ask me the same question" - Anonymous


I read this quote today and it knocked me between the eyes. Hard.

Reunion

Fun fun fun! That was the name of the game from Oct. 15-Oct. 24! We started out in Atlanta for my sweet friend, Melissa's wedding. Some of my best girlfriends from college and I were bridesmaids, and we had some major laughs over the weekend. Like when I ran into the middle of the highway to grab a rather large portion of Shannon's dress that got ripped off by a tire because it was hanging out of our car on our way to the reception! Can you imagine seeing a woman in a purple strapless dress and heels running in the middle of the road? I'm sure it was quite a sight. But I was glad to do it for my precious, and pregnant friend. Ain't no shame in my game.

I also LOVED watching Melissa and her new hubby dance at the reception. You have never, in your life, seen a couple get down and live it up the way those two did. It was truly inspiring. And dramatic. They are two peas in a pod. It was such a privilege and incredibly entertaining to see them enjoying each other and their reception, no holds bar.






Dad played the piano for the wedding too. It was great to have him accompany me. I can honestly say this was the first wedding I sang in where I wasn't extremely nervous. I have no idea why, but I'm thankful.




So after the wedding our friends rented a house near Clemson for the week and it too was sooooooooooo fun . . . a college reunion of sorts. It was so refreshing to spend some quality time with these folks that I love so dearly, but rarely get to see. On Saturday we all went to the Clemson/GA Tech game, where our Tigers made us proud and gave those jackets a good old fashioned butt whoopin'! Seeing these precious friends brought back some really great memories, and to find out where some of them are now, what their doing with their lives, what God has taught them, etc. was priceless. And of course the laughs flowed freely too :) We've all vowed that we MUST do this every year!

To top it all off, I had the joy of singing "Lead Me to the Cross" by Hillsong on Sunday, which is one of my favorite songs. As I began to sing my eyes were closed, but during the middle of the song I opened them to find our entire congregation whole-heartedly, and some very emotionally, laying their financial commitments to the church at the foot of this huge cross. Literally, there was this enormous cross center stage. It was moving. Such a privilege. So humbling.

Just Peachy :)

Since we were having a little trouble with Sage showing interest in baby food, the doc suggested we let her try to feed herself. Oh, and that it might get a little messy.







It was definitely the trick! Over half of the peaches ended up in her lap, and clean up took forever, but she really enjoyed it. In fact, she's been eating baby food much better over the past 2 weeks since we started letting her play a stronger role in feeding herself! I let her hold the spoon and help guide it to her mouth. She thinks she's such big stuff.

She's Done It Again!

My sweet friend, Heather Knowles, aka "The Best Photographer EVER" took some pictures of our family before Brian went to Mexico. I cannot wait to see all of them, but for now, here is a sneak peak from our session. Thank you so much Heather. It means the world to me to have these images, and you seriously are the best!

To see these pictures bigger, or more of Heather's work, just visit her blog here.

The No Good, Very Bad Day

Remember that book, "Alexander and the No Good Very Bad Day"? (I think that was the title.)

Anyway, with Brian flying to Mexico today, (hence the a hole in my heart, and generally sad overall feeling) I keep thinking this is just a "no good, very bad day." We'll get through it. After all, every day can't be your best day. Some days just stink, and it's one of those days . . .

but God.

I love it when the phrase "but God" appears in scripture. Stories throughout the Bible are filled with defeat, despair, or frustration and then those two beautiful words appear, "but God" and suddenly there's hope. God is involved, and He's about to do His thing. He's about to turn the situation around, or teach 'em a little something, rescue, or revive, or refresh etc. etc. whatever the case may be. God changes EVERYTHING. He's a game changer.

This separation as a family is no walk in the park. But God has His purpose and plan for us. So while it's difficult, I am truly excited to see what He does through it.

Up to 3 months without my hubs and Sage's sweet daddy is unimaginable and depressing. I've cried my fair share of tears today, but God . . .

Birthday Boy

We celebrated Brian's 33rd birthday last week. Jerry and Marilyn drove up and we all went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Darren, Wava, Brayden, and Oliver. It was a great time, but somehow I never pick the right thing and whatever I order ends up being rather bland. Brian's food was tasty though! And the red velvet cheesecake was delicious!!

Brian and I also had the opportunity to go to the Clemson game this past Saturday thanks to my parents who gave us tickets and free babysitting as Brian's birthday present! It was the first game we've been to in a loooonnnng time. We were majorly over due for some TIGER TIME! I just adore Clemson, and have so many wonderful memories from that place. I always wish we had more time to walk around campus, reminisce, and see what changes have taken place over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, our Tigers lost to Miami, but it was still a fun day.

We caught up with B's sister, Lori, at half time:

Happy 33rd to the most wonderful hubs and Daddy in the world! We love you!!