Standing Firm

Via

 Yesterday I was reading Acts 5 and was very encouraged by the actions of the apostles in this chapter of Acts. To give you some background, Acts documents the start of the church after Christ's death and resurrection. The apostles were sharing the truth about this miracle and what it means for believers, and the number of believers were growing by the thousands all the time. Acts includes many miraculous events and encouraging reformations (including Saul's conversion to Paul...who wrote most of the New Testament!). In chapter 5, the apostles are sharing the Gospel in the temple courts and the Sanhedrin (sort of the legal body of elders in Israel) were outraged. They did not want this movement of Christianity to continue growing because it undermined their authority and implied that they were responsible for the death of the Christ. They essentially call the apostles in for a trial and demand that they stop spreading this teaching in Israel.

Let's think about this from our perspective. This would be like if practicing Christianity were illegal in the United States (as it actually is in several countries of the world!). It would be like us being hauled into jail and going to court over talking to someone about Jesus. It would be like me being arrested for even writing this post and sharing it online. How would you react? How would I react? It's easy to just assume that I would stand firm in my faith, but when faced with the consequences of that decision, I'm just not sure it would be that easy.

How did the apostle respond? First they said, “We must obey God rather than human beings! ³⁰ The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5: 29-32)
  
So, they basically said, you're not the boss of me--God is! (so I'm going to do what he says, not you!) Which, by the way, he raised from the grave the man that YOU killed. (a reminder that God is more powerful than they are). God made Jesus a savior to allow all of us forgiveness of our sins (stating the Gospel), and we witnessed this (this is how we KNOW it's true) and so did the Holy Spirit, which God gave to us (we have HIS power living IN us!). 

Wow! Talk about sticking it to the man!! Can you imagine confronting authority like this? But it wasn't just defiant, it rang with truth. They emphasized the reasons why they were going to defy the law and emphasized the importance of their message. They could have stopped at the first line, but they went on to explain how God raised Jesus as a Savior for Israel. They literally shared the Gospel with the Sanhedrin--the very reason they were brought to trial! Talk about taking a risk! 

What was the result? "They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.⁴¹ The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. ⁴² Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah." (Acts 5: 40-42)

Well, they were beaten. I mean, not just a slap on the wrist...flogged. That's severely whipped and beaten. And then were told not to speak of Jesus again. Eek! Again, how would you or I react? It would be so easy to feel confused or abandoned. Why would God allow me to be punished for doing the right thing? But here's the thing--this world is broken and lost. It hates God. That's just a fact. And if we're not being persecuted, if we're not being met with opposition, if there aren't at least some awkward/uncomfortable/painful consequences for sharing His love with a fallen world, then we probably aren't doing enough. The apostles rejoiced in being considered worthy enough to suffer for Jesus! Can you imagine? But if you really think about it, that beating was a sign they were on the right track. It didn't stop them; it fueled them! They never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah! 

How encouraging is that?? 

God, I pray that you would show me opportunities to share your love and truth with this broken world. I pray that you would give me courage and faith in the face of opposition, no matter the consequences. When I face a set-back or negative reactions, I pray for JOY in knowing that I am obeying and serving the one true God who is loving, powerful, forgiving, and just! I don't want to share the Gospel or worship you only when it's convenient, polite, or politically correct. I want to worship you ALWAYS and in EVERYTHING! Holy Spirit, you witnessed God's great miracle. You were THERE. Fuel me with the faith of someone who witnessed that miracle for themselves. Give me the determination to stand firm in that knowledge and that unwavering faith. 

Amen. 

 

Another Big Year

Via

 I guess we're just in that stage of life where things seem constantly in transition. We're settling into our careers, finding that perfect fit, testing out soil for the best place to dig deep and plant our roots, growing our family, and finding out what this stage of adulthood really looks like. Arguably every year of my life has been a big one, full of its own changes, blossoming maturity, and soul searching. But the past few years have felt bigger and on a slightly faster track.

My so-called resolutions for 2012 were: graduate with my masters degree, buy a house, and get pregnant. We bought our first house in September 2012 and I graduated with my M.Ed in December 2012. We started trying for a baby that November, but didn't actually get pregnant until January 2013. Even so, 2012 was clearly a big year.

2013 felt even bigger. We got pregnant, I carried Grayson for a full 40 weeks, and had him in October 2013. I got my first "big girl job" as an academic advisor at Georgia Southern in June 2013. Everything got serious fast! Suddenly I was no longer a student, I had a full-time career, was a homeowner, and a MOMMY!

2014 did not have as many huge life milestones, but it was an important year of finding ownership in all the recent changes of the past two years. It was a year of striking a balance between work-Christy, wife-Christy, mommy-Christy, and just plain Christy. I added a few more responsibilities to my work life, including teaching an orientation class in the Fall 2014 semester. Grayson turned 1 and I marveled at my ability to see him through his entire first year of life. It both crawled and flew by at the same time. 

Now, twenty days into the year 2015 and I can already feel the weight and anticipation of another big year. We aren't moving yet, but we're talking more seriously about it. We're dreaming up new cities and new Universities--closer to family but still our own. I'm coming to terms with saying goodbye to this place that has become my true home. I will have lived in Statesboro, GA for 11 years this August. 11 years! I have no other place that I call home anymore. This is it. Georgia Southern is my home. Connection Church is my home. This is the town where I fell in love with Scott, fell in love with Jesus, and fell in love with Grayson and being a mom. I have so many friends here. It's comfortable. And this year I'm starting the early stages of weaning myself from it--gearing up for something new. It won't happen this year, but I can feel it coming. Which means this year will be one of cherishing all that I love about Statesboro, while also practicing the idea of letting it go.

We have big goals for this year--mostly financial. We're setting up new savings plans, looking seriously into investment options, and thinking to the future in all that we do. We've added life insurance policies and will soon be drafting a will. If that's not adulthood, I don't know what is! We're working on paying off our existing car and buying a second one -- a minivan. We need something to support our growing family, which brings me to my next point. We are ready to grow our family again! There is no set date yet, but we know we want to start trying for baby #2 this year. Granted, there is no guarantee that it will happen right away or that everything will go as planned, but the fact that we're trying again is a big step in that direction!

This is year of new traditions, new priorities, and really focusing on our own little family. Grayson will turn two this year, and as we near that date, we'll work on weaning from the paci, sleeping more at night, and weaning from breastfeeding. He'll get more teeth and say more words and do more things. It's more important than ever that we're modeling Godly behavior and values to him. It's more important than ever that the decisions we make are made prayerfully and intentionally.

Also this year Scott will be wrapping up his second bachelors degree in Spanish and teaching his first section of FYE 1220 (the orientation class at Southern). Connection Church will be moving into our new building, which will mean big transitions and potential growth for the Konnection Kids band (which Scott leads), and maybe new opportunities for me to serve. My brother will hopefully have enough saved to buy a car and be able to move out on his own (though we'll miss seeing him so often!). We're welcoming a new brother-in-law into our family as Scott's sister gets married. And all in all, it just feels BIG!

So maybe it's not as huge as buying our first home or starting my first big job or having our first baby, but there is a lot on the horizon and it's a time of newness and everything about it just feels overwhelmingly good! I can't wait to see how it all plays out!

How is your 2015 going so far?

Tales of a Parent Tuesday! v.I

As a parent, I have all these great stories of ridiculous things my kid does and all my ultimate parenting fails. It's story-telling gold, my friend! But do I just throw a story into a regular update post? Somehow work them into my "You Know You're a Parent When..." posts? Arbitrarily devote an entire post to a really good story? Well, my solution to this debacle is Tales of a Parent Tuesday where I devote a Tuesday post to a random story about Grayson and me attempting to parent him. ;)

Today's story involves poop. Which I think is pretty fitting considering most good kid stories involve some sort of bodily function. But if poop isn't your thing (b/c it's totally MY thing...), you may want to skip this one!

A Crappy Deal

I'm in the backseat of a Honda Odyssey minivan, alternating my attention between scanning the interior of the car, listening for concerning squeaks and bangs, making silly faces at Grayson to keep him calm, and vaguely hearing the salesman in the passenger seat schmoozing Scott. We are test-driving this minivan in Savannah, Georgia, about 45 minutes away from home. Grayson at only 5 months old is still at the age where he could demand milk at any moment. I hope he stays content, despite being strapped into his carseat for so long, and does not require me to whip my boob out in front of this stranger who desperately wants to sell us a car. We continue along nearby streets while he unsuccessfully tries to convince Scott that our budget is flexible. At one point I even hear him ask if Scott is an accountant. Ha! The search for cars and the talk of budgets bores me and leaves me all glazy-eyed and craving a nap. After making a mental note of my likes and dislikes of the car's interior, I shift my full attention to Grayson. I talk to him, play with his hands and rub his tummy. I'm eager to return to the dealership so I can scoop him out of his carseat. I never like for him to spend too much time strapped into something. 

The test-drive finally ends just as Grayson is starting to get cranky. We pull into the parking lot, on the opposite end of where we parked. We aren't going to buy this van. I know it. Scott's knows it. Grayson probably even knows it, but this salesman is relentless. I pick Grayson up, hold him against my chest, facing outward, and bounce him lightly. Scott and I are having this awkward moment where we both want the other to say the official "no" on the car. Then, during this never-ending game of passive-aggressive decline, I catch a whiff of something tart and vinegary. I am very familiar with this strangely sweet yet acrid fragrance. I turn my eyes down to take a peek in Grayson's diaper, to confirm what I already know to be true. Too late! No need to peek. It's one of his infamous blowouts and poop is seeping out of all sides of the diaper, including up his back and across my stomach where I had been bouncing him! 

At that moment I no longer care how badly this man wants to sell a car or what intriguing offer he may suggest, I'm on a full-fledged mommy mission! I quickly tell Scott I need to get to the car to take care of this issue. I abandon him there, to deal with this incessant salesman, while I awkwardly carry my poop-covered baby in one arm and struggle to push the stroller forward with my other. After finagling the stroller over several curbs and forging my way across the large lot, I make it to the car! Sanctuary! 

Hastily, I pull out the diaper bag, lay the changing pad on the backseat of the car, and gently place my foul smelling babe on top. Never mind that poop is getting everywhere; I'll have to deal with that later! One thing at a time! Now, where to start? Wipes, of course! I pop open the handy wipe dispenser on the exterior of our diaper bag--one of my favorite features. I reach in and pull out...one wipe. The last wipe! And, much to my dismay, it is completely dried out! NO! Now what? Grayson is crying, annoyed with this whole ordeal. We're both covered in poop. I'm trying to hold him still so he doesn't roll his poop-body over the edge of the car seat and into the floor board. I hold him with one hand and dig through my purse for my phone with the other. I type out the quickest text message I could: "Need u now!" 

Moments later, Scott appears, visibly annoyed and clutching a business card. "That guy would not let me leave! I kept telling him I had to go and he kept trying to sell me that car! I told him I had to talk it over with you first. He tried to tell me that you were on board and I had to make the decision. What a jerk! Finally I said, 'I have got to go take care of my family. I'll call you if we're interested.' Jeez!" 

Yeah, yeah, it's a crappy car and he's a crappy guy, but I've got some real crap to deal with here!

"Babe! Poop! We're covered in poop! And we need wipes! Can you get me some paper towels from the bathroom or something? What are we gonna do?" I spurt at him. 

Ever the problem-solver, Scott derives a solution in seconds! "What about that lady we met in the waiting room with the baby? I bet she can give us some wipes!" Scott suggests.

"Yeah, if she's even still here..."

"She is! I can see her over there! Be right back!" 

Scott returns with a handful of wipes. Hallelujah! Thank the good Lord for fellow parents! We work together as efficiently as possible, wiping poop from every smeared surface and chunking used wipes in a disposable bag. I strip Grayson of his adorable outfit, given to him by his Auntie Erin, and tie it up tightly in a separate disposable bag. Thankfully we always have a spare outfit in his diaper bag, which I dress him in after he's been thoroughly scrubbed. Of course, he cries through all of this, we're pouring sweat and losing our patience, but we handle it like a pro-team. 

What about me? I remember in horror that I recently removed my spare shirt from the diaper bag and never replaced it. I look down at my poop smeared top and conclude there is no salvaging it, other than a run through the wash. 

Scott comes to the rescue again and removes his own t-shirt and offers it to me. Fortunately he's wearing an undershirt so he has one to spare. I make the walk of shame through the dealership to the bathrooms so I can change shirts and scrub my hands for a good minute or so, meticulously cleaning under each fingernail and rubbing vigorously. Leaving the bathroom, I fidget and search over all my exposed skin and all my clothing for any last remnants of poop that might give me away to passerby as the poor, frazzled parent that I am. Poop and all. 

We strap Grayson back into his carseat and bundle up all the bags of used wipes and the dirty diaper. I toss it into a nearby trash can, and we drive away as quickly as possible! We're so stressed, and Grayson is crying again. There is no way we can drive 45 minutes right now! We need somewhere to decompress and let Grayson settle down with some milk. Thankfully, we have some friends who live in Pooler and we decide to pay them a little visit. 

Only after finally returning home do we realize that in our haste, we also threw away the bag with the adorable, poop-covered outfit! It's a frustrating cherry on top of the poop-covered sundae, but all things considered, it was a minor casualty to the whole ordeal.

picture taken at our friends' house...this is the spare outfit! Much less cute and now in our attic, rather than in some landfill covered in poo.

It was not our first blowout, nor was it our last, but it has certainly been one of the more memorable ones to date! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What about you? Any good bodily function stories to share? I'm sure you're just EXPLODING with them! (Pun intended!)

Yowzers...that's a lot of pictures!

I literally have 3-4 update posts floating around in my head and every time I think I have a minute to type one out...I suddenly don't! And at this point it's getting pretty ridiculous that I still haven't talked about our trip to Gatlinburg that we took for my birthday the first week of December and it's even a little embarrassing that I haven't talked about Christmas! And what about my resolutions!?!? Don't worry - I'm not really planning to talk about that. But the rest, well, I'm going to do through pictures. Way.too.many.pictures. Get ready! GO!


Instead of presents for my birthday and Christmas for each other this year, we decided to take a vacation instead. We went to Gatlinburg, TN and stayed in a cabin. This is actually the second time we have stayed in this cabin. We went the first time when I was just 10 weeks pregnant! It was really sweet going back there with Grayson now a very active toddler! All three of us had a blast!

family photo shoot on the back porch of our cabin

hiking in the mountains!

It's best to grip both ears tightly for extra support!

He loved walking by himself, though sometimes he wanted to stray from the path a bit!

This kid. Kills me.

On the Gatlinburg strip at the Ole Smoky Holler - no we did not drink any moonshine (b/c the line was too long...)

fun in the cabin :)

We went to an awesome interactive museum called WonderWorks in Pigeon Forge. I highly recommend it for good family fun! It's pricey, but there is so much to do it's well worth the cost! Here we are doing a great job at riding this virtual bike..so easy to do with a toddler on your lap!

That's me on the 360 bikes! Yes, you pedal yourself in circles and if your feet slip off the pedals (like mine did many times!), you will hang upside down until you keep pedaling. Exhilarating! Seriously!

Grayson LOVES balls. And you would have thought we pinched him or stole him from his real parents the way he freaked out when we finally pulled him away from this game!

See the pure joy and excitement on his little face!

We ate dinner one night at Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory in Gatlinburg and it was super fun and delicious! Grayson appreciated the fries. -_-

While the trip itself was the gift, Scott did surprise me with TSwift's 1989 album on the car ride! (I also surprised him with new PJ bottoms once we got to the cabin!) Anyway, I just think Taylor Swift is amazingly talented and so awesome. The first listen of this CD was strange to me b/c it's SO different from her older material! I've been listening to Swifty since her song "Tim McGraw" which was like 8 years ago! This one is very different. But then I realized she was purposefully writing and producing songs with the styles of the 1980's as her inspiration. And then I realized she's kind of a genius. :) Now Scott and I both love this CD b/c it reminds us of our magical trip to the mountains. <3 br="">

We had an event at work where we wore our "most spirited holiday attire" (there was discussion from the planning committee that the term "tacky sweater" might offend someone who wears those things for real). Me, Scott, and several of my coworkers got together in advance to make some homemade outfits! Scott's shirt says COBA (College of Business Administration) and mine says CLASS (College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences). Those are the colleges we each work in at Georgia Southern. And guess what? Scott won the most spirited contest with his "COBA Elf" outfit! Whoop!

Christmas time! We spent Christmas at my mom's house near Tampa, FL. She actually just moved into a new house only 4 days before we came down! Not stressful for them at all! ha! But we loved spending time with them and the new house was just perfect for good family fun, complete with lots of deer walking around outside. :) We spent several days at my mom's and then shot down to the more southern regions of Florida and popped by each of Scott's grandparents' houses and one of his cousins. This was the first time any of these family members had met Grayson. Needless to say, everyone was completely enamored with him. Duh. All in all, we had a wonderful vacation and holiday! And Grayson traveled like a dream on both this trip and the Gatlinburg one. How did I get such an awesome kid, y'all?

Good morning and Merry Christmas! :)

he got this cool plane from Granna!

We went to the park one day...my mom just loved spending so much time with Grayson.

this kid has more Elmo stuff than you can believe!! PS - My mom paid for me to get my hair done! It's much shorter and darker! I love it!

Grayson with his Great Nana...and Elmo!

And then when we got home from our trip, we surprised him with our big gift -- the classic Cozy Coupe!

Ready to go! So serious!

For New Years Eve, we just stayed home and hung out with my brother and his girlfriend. My brother bought some really cheap, crappy fireworks and we lit them before Grayson went to bed. He loved it and kept clapping and saying "IGHTS" (lights). We played a lot of Taboo and sang some really bad karaoke. Grayson didn't wake up until 3 AM, meaning he slept through some rather loud, off-key singing. I was impressed! All in all, it was a great time. I managed to stay awake until 12:20 AM, so that's a pretty big success in my book! :) Didn't really take any pictures, though. So there's really no proof!!

So, that's what's new with the Curley Crew! Sorry for such a long update!

Christmas Confessions

I haven't blogged in weeks -- mostly because my household has been fighting off cold after cold this month, we went on vacation, and little boy is getting his molars, nursing like a newborn, and waking up 4-5 times a night. As I sit here blowing my chaffed nose and sucking on a cough drop, I thought I might write a little blog post. I admit, I have nothing profound to say today, so it's time for some confessions...and to keep with the festive season...let's make them Christmas themed! :)

This photo has nothing to do with the post; I just wanted to share! :) We had a "most spirited holiday attire" contest at a work event and Scott and I went all out! We decorated tacky shirts, mine said CLASS (College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences) and Scott's said COBA (College of Business Administration). Those are the colleges we each work for. Scott won the contest...I think b/c he went all out with a homemade elf hat, green pants (though it's hard to see that in this picture), and he even shaped his beard into something a little more elf-like (again, hard to see in this picture).

 I wrote a similar post back in 2011 where I shared some confessions as well as traditions, if you want to read more!

+ I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life.

I'll let that sink in for a minute.

We DID buy it this year for only $7 

and I WILL be watching it this weekend!!

+ I can quote large portions of Christmas Vacation.

You can see what kind of family I was brought up in. ;)

+ I've never been to church on Christmas day. 

I have been on Christmas Eve a handful of times,

but only at Scott's parents' Catholic church.

I'm not Catholic, so it hardly even counts for me!

I didn't go to church growing up, and we've always been traveling

for the holidays, so we aren't home for the services at our church.

This year I'm super excited that we're doing our annual service day

on the Sunday before Christmas. It's not our official Christmas service, but it's

a time where we go out and deliver food and gifts to those in the community who otherwise wouldn't have anything. I've never been able to participate due to travel plans, so I'm thrilled to do it this year with my husband and son by my side. :)

+ My Christmas lists look almost identical every year. 

In fact, I almost get a little annoyed that people still request one from me.

With the exception of a few specific things each year, I basically just ask for gift cards, candles, makeup, and PJs. Scott wants guitar strings and PJs. Every.single.year. 

+ I'm still torn on the whole topic of Santa. 

Grayson is still little enough that we haven't had to make a firm decision how we will handle it. 

I do know that we want to forge new traditions, probably starting next year, where we have Christmas at home, do some community service, read Luke 2, and strive to keep it fun, yet simple. I like the fun traditions of Santa, but not so much what he represents nor the idea of lying to our kids. I personally felt pretty embarrassed and deceived when I finally discovered my parents had gone to such lengths to fabricate the whole thing for so many years. I think we'll probably still do Santa, but just make it clear that he's make-believe. A tradition, something that's fun to pretend, but make it clear from the start that the Jesus part of the holiday is REAL and the Santa part is NOT. But again, we're not fully decided on this!

+ I've barely given any thought at all to Christmas gifts this year. Our entire Christmas shopping experience happened in about 1 hour and 2 stores. We are scaling WAY back and only doing one small gift for each set of parents and a couple small things for Grayson. We're done going into debt trying to buy something for everyone in our families...especially when we can never afford really nice gifts anyway. We're keeping it sentimental and keeping the importance of love and family central in our gift-giving. We opted out of buying gifts for each other this year and went on a vacation to Gatlinburg, TN instead. It's all very different for us, but I LOVE it!!

+ I'm not going to do Elf on the Shelf. Like, ever. Not because I'm morally against it. It's just the very thought of it makes me tired. 

+ I don't like Love, Actually.

I watched it for the first time last year and I thought it was incredibly boring.

I sort of feel like it's one of those things that people don't really like, but they like to talk about how they like it because they think it's cool to like it. Am I wrong? Sorry if you loved the movie. I just don't see the appeal!

+ "Baby, It's Cold Outside" may not be the most fitting song for the Christmas holiday, but I actually get pretty annoyed when people call it the "date rape song." They're reading way more into it than was intended! "Hey, what's in this drink?" is not implying that he was drugging her! The girl is clearly being coy throughout the song and she's using the alcohol in the drink as an excuse for her not-so-lady-like behavior that will clearly be happening that night. I get it, she's saying "no" and the guy is being persistent and no means no and we need to stop sending the message that girls just need a little convincing (and maybe some alcohol). But I think it's pretty clear in the song that they are flirting and her excuses are half-hearted attempted to say "she tried" but still ultimately end up staying the night. Okay, rant over. Y'all find something new to complain about! :)

I think that's it for now, folks! Hope you're all gearing up for a great Christmas! :) What are some of YOUR confessions?

Our First Date

Scott and I had our first real post-baby date last week. Sure, we have lunch together every day at work and sometimes go out for those. And yes, we've had TONS of at-home dates. And there was one "date" to a work banquet, which probably counts but also doesn't because we were surrounded by coworkers just like we are every other work day. But last Wednesday, it was legit and way past due!

It was a bit of a hectic day and the promise of our date seemed to be hanging just out of reach for most of it. We helped my sister in law move, which involved some extensive cleaning projects and some actual moving of boxes and furniture. Earlier in the day, I stayed at my in-laws house with Grayson. We took a fabulous 2-hour nap which hasn't happened in a long time. Then, after lunch, we left Grayson with Scott's mom and I helped with the moving. During lunch, we decided to pre-order our tickets to the movie so that we would HAVE to go! Otherwise we feared we would get caught up in things and then it would be too late or we would be too tired to go out. We bought tickets for 6:40 and decided we needed to head back to the house by 5 to get ready. Well, we didn't end up back at the house until closer to 5:30. I decided I didn't need another shower and could get by with changing clothes, straightening my hair, and putting on some makeup. Fortunately, it did the trick and I still felt nice enough to make it worth it. We were only going to the movies so I toyed with the idea of just going as I was, but I knew I had to put a tad more effort into getting ready for this particular date!

My mother-in-law watched Grayson, and Scott and I went to a place in Marietta called The Movie Tavern. We sat in huge, cushy recliners and had dinner, Sam Adams Winter Lager, and a big bucket of popcorn delivered right to us! We laid back and watched Mockingjay on a gigantic projection screen. We have a dinner theater type place in Statesboro, but it's not nearly as nice as this! I was super impressed with the whole thing! I wish I could have gotten pictures of our giant beer and nachos, or my feet propped up on the recliner, but it was too dark! I did manage a really grainy and dark selfie! You're welcome.

After our epic movie experience (okay, I hadn't been to the movies since I was 39 weeks pregnant so it was a little more exciting than maybe it would be to others!), we decided to go in search of a nice coffee shop or cafe to have some coffee and dessert. Things got a little stressful at this time. Why are there not adorable and cozy coffee shops readily available wherever I am?? We aren't super familiar with that area so we started driving aimlessly while I consulted with my old pal Google. Every place we found seemed to no longer exist! I finally found a place that had good reviews and looked like a good option for us. I tried to use the navigation on my phone but it was taking forever. I plugged in our old Garmin GPS and it could not find the location. -_- I went back to my phone and waited for it to load (meanwhile we're driving in circles and Scott is getting stressed about the gas money and putting miles on the car {yes, really}). Finally, it loaded! And the place was only a few short minutes away! Hooray!

It was supposedly located in Downtown Woodstock which is a really cute and trendy little area. I was excited to try something out down there! We drove through the area where the GPS took us, but we didn't see the place. We decided to walk and find the actual address that way. It was a little chilly and misting lightly, but it was still nice to walk in the little downtown area and look at the Christmas lights. We came upon the address and--what do you know?--it was a BANK! I guess that place also no longer exists! Sheesh! What does a girl have to do to get a good cup of coffee?!?!

At this point we just laughed about everything and went to the first place we came across and walked in and asked if they had a dessert menu. It was a cool restaurant called Freight and had an antiquated train station theme. Unfortunately the dessert and coffee were way more expensive than we were hoping for and it wasn't really tasty at all. Of course when the waiter came by and asked if he was right about the brownies, we just smiled and said, "Oh, yeah! It was good!" Nope. Not really. But it was fun just randomly going somewhere and spending time together. Maybe next time we'll plan in advance a little more, but part of the fun (despite the stress!) was the adventure of finding something to do.

Another really dark picture...the not-so-tasty decaf coffee!

We got back to the house to find out that Grayson woke up and had been up for an hour! Eek! A little milk and snuggles and he was back to sleep in minutes, but I did feel bad that we were gone while he was struggling to sleep. Oh, well. It has to happen sometime!

All in all, we had a great time on our first *real* date outside of the house since Grayson was born! We'll have to do it again sometime! But first--family trip to Gatlinburg, just the three of us! Wish us luck!! :)

Lately...

Praying for:

+ I'm doing a prayer challenge, which I discussed here. Basically, I have planned out a person, issue, or situation that I want to extensively pray over each day. Some days I'm better about it than others, but overall it has been a good experience and I've enjoyed setting aside more time to talk to God each day.

+ Healthy pregnancies for a few more friends I found out about recently! :) Hooray for more babies!

Working on:

+ Christmas shopping. We are doing things differently this year and are not buying as many presents. It's a great feeling! Not because we're being stingy. I love giving gifts, but I think scaling back to just a few meaningful gifts for those closest to us is the best way to steward the money we've been blessed with. Scott & I have also decided to go on a trip instead of buying presents for each other.  And we made sure to spend as much money on those in need as we did on Grayson by participating in the holiday helper program at our church. We were able to bless a mom with a gas card and a 1 year old with some toys. :) 

+ Preparing for our trip to Gatlinburg later this week! Yes, traveling two weeks in a row. Eek!

+ Posting things on my new FB page: Bellies, Boobies, and Babies! "Like" the page to follow along with articles, videos, and encouragement that I post for families!

Hoping for:

+ A smooth ride to and from Gatlinburg. I'm nervous about the 6-hour car ride with Grayson during waking hours! We'll be as prepared as we can be with toys, books, snacks, and the DVD player. Any other pro tips are welcomed! 

+ A fun time in Gatlinburg! :)

+ Miraculous healing for a sweet baby who is still in the womb and will likely need extensive heart surgeries after he is born. 

Recently:

+ visited family for Thanksgiving. We drove up to Scott's parents' on Tuesday night, helped his sister move on Wednesday, had an awesome date on Wednesday night (more on that later!), stuffed our faces on Thanksgiving, visited my great-grandmother on Friday, went to my dad's house that night and stayed through Sunday, and had a big lunch with family at my grandpa's house on Sunday before heading home. Whew!

Unfortunately these crappy iPhone pics are the only ones we took on Thanksgiving! For shame!!

Reading (not many updates here!):

+ A Passage to India - yes, still! But I'm more than halfway through it now. I really enjoy the writing style but it's just not a page turner, which means it takes me an eternity to read it since life tends to get crazy! 

+ The Power of Habit - yes, still! But our office book club only meets twice a month now instead of every week, and we had a few off-weeks due to other events, so it's taking us a while to get through this one. 

+ The Bible - currently alternating between 1 Kings and Mark

Watching:

+ Divergent - I wish I had read the books first, but I never got around to it so I went ahead and watched the movie! I loved it! Definitely want to get caught up on the books before seeing the next one!

+ 22 Jump Street - eh, it's about as good as you would expect

+ LOTS of Sesame Street and Elmo's World!

+ Season 2 of Nashville -- obsessed!!!

 + I can't even follow current shows right now b/c I'm too involved with Nashville! haha!

Listening to:

+ Christmas music...just a little!

+ Pandora...mainly 90's Alternative, Taylor Swift, and Maroon 5 stations

+ Grayson talking my ear off! :)

Laughing about:

+ everything! Scott and Grayson keep me laughing all the time! :)