Happily Henninger

Today You Would be 3...

2012-01-16T22:58:00.001-05:00

...and I went to have my legs waxed.

Its roughly 10PM and at this moment 3 years ago I became a mom. A woman who labored and pushed only to have a baby she could not keep. I think that each and every day I replay at least some part of the events that surrounded Hudson being born. I can handle that - bits and pieces. Its his birthday that the flood gate of memories come in full force.

I have remained pretty quiet today {and pretty quiet on my blog for a long time} because I didn't want to talk about Hudson today. I know that sounds odd, but not having him here for this milestone is on the brim of unbearable. Sounds surprising, right? Some of you are probably thinking that time has healed the deep, open, and bleeding gash which is Hudson and that I am still hanging in there.

Its the season of my life where everyone is expanding with growing families while I am a party of three screaming that its really a party of four. There are moments when I want to skip ahead twenty years and not worry about pregnancy announcements or fear that a pregnant friend is going to face what I did. Its fear that paralyzes my happiness for others the most. Maybe this is why I have been silent on my blog because of the unrest and nervousness that floats within my brain. Even though was have our sweet Heidi I am still nervous about expanding our family. We want to so badly, but there is so much more to pregnancy for my body than the average woman. Its definitely a lot of the green eyed monster that holds strongly onto my emotions when seeing other families grow without a hitch.

I can talk about Hudson anytime. When people ask about him it is easy...just not today. I am so thankful for the family and friends who remembered Hudson and wrote a message in some shape or form. It truly means the world. I am so thankful God has blessed me with such loving people - He knew what He was doing putting you each into my life.

One memory I have not shared about the days surrounding Hudson's birth is that a couple of days before we found out his heart stopped beating I started to wax my legs. You know, the home kit where you rub the strips vigorously between your hands to heat the wax, tear apart and then apply and rip? Well, I only got about 1/4 of the way finished because my belly was so huge {yes, all you that stay so tiny during pregnancy I am envious} I could not reach all the areas. I made an appointment to have the rest waxed, but I never made it to that appointment because I was too grief-stricken to do much of anything after the passing days. I remember being in the delivery room, already freaking out because of being exposed to everyone, but also because here I was with half waxed legs and people seeing them. The exposure of everything else seemed minimal compared to not having my legs smooth and neat. I usually have nightmares about such things.

So, that is why I did what I did today. I waxed my legs and chuckled to myself about a time when I was so embarrassed that it clouded my mind for a brief moment. That I was able to forget for an instant that I was doing the unbearable - in giving birth to my sweet baby boy. I am sure this is not the post you were expecting and maybe there was supposed to be something deeper on a day like today, but nope, this is what you get.

Happy birthday so my sweet son. To my sweet baby who has changed so many people with his existence. I am so proud to be your mom and to know that your story has brought others peace and closeness to God. I imagine you in Heaven today with Matt bouncing you on his knee and Katie doting on your cute chubby cheeks. I hear Mr. Lynn singing a sweet birthday song for you. I see your Great-Grandmother showing you how to ride a pony. It all sounds so glorious in my head and I cannot wait to be with you celebrating. We love you sweet Hudson.

Emily turns 9!

2011-12-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

Friday night we headed to April's fun place called Jump-n-Jacks for Emily's birthday party. It is such a fun place with bounce houses, slides, laser tag, arcade games, and even a place for the wee ones! We celebrated with cake and presents! Heidi had such a fun time in the bounce houses with her cousin Georgia.

In the afternoon we had our weekly "ladies who lunch" and celebrated Holly's birthday! I have never seen someone so excited about turning 30 in my life! She wanted to go to Waffle House for her special birthday lunch :)

Visitors and Christmas Tree!

2011-12-02T23:27:00.000-05:00

We had some visitors come over for a couple of days! Heidi's Nana and Paw-Paw came from Atlanta to hang out and see our growing little baby girl. They spoiled her with a trip to Toys-R-Us to pick out a Christmas present :) While John's parents were here we also got our Christmas tree and Heidi did such a great job helping to put it up! Too bad that a couple of days later the tree fell in the middle of the night and a few cherished ornaments broke :(

Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We have so much to be thankful for - God, salvation, family, friends....the list could go on and on. My side of the family was all here to celebrate so we went to my sister's house for the big feast. Also included during the weekend were shopping trips, the Christmas tree lighting and tons of family time! I also had a chance to visit with some friends and go to the Nutcracker.

Heidi enjoyed helping Mama make the Oreo creme pie!

Putting a puzzle together with cousin Olivia

Downtown for the Christmas tree lighting and dinner at Tubby's on River Street.

Fun time with mama's friends!

Tired from all the playing over the weekend!

The girls at Mellow Mushroom after the Nutcracker.

Heavy Heart

2011-11-29T21:28:00.001-05:00

I have so many unpublished posts and posts written in my head that need to be written. Between the dates of the posts we have been living life. Life that has not yet been documented on the blog, but life that we are living to the fullest. Right now all I can think about is the Behm family. One of the pediatricians that Heidi sees recently had a little boy named Thomas. Sweet Thomas was born with hypoplastic left heart. For two weeks he lived and underwent surgeries to heal his heart. Last night this little boy said goodbye to his earthly body and joined the other precious babies who left this earth too soon.

I am filled with so much sadness and reliving my own loss again. Time after time I have made a vow to stop reading all of the blogs and sad stories of children dying, kidnapped, abused - anything sad about children. I can't handle reliving my own grief each time I read the story of another mother suffering. It takes too much out of me mentally and leaves me emotionally exhausted. Then this happens and I am once again surrounded by the familiar sting of tears and heartache. Dr. Behm is Heidi's pediatrician, we go to the same church and have many mutual friends.

Last night when I saw the news my heart dropped and the tears fell down my cheeks. Not only did I relive my own heartache, but I felt the grief of this family. To have their sweet boy live for 2 weeks and then to die. Its still so hard to understand why children have to die or why we, as parents, have to endure such grief.

Sometimes I just want to shake my fists and scream why. I want to beat something or pound something. Then the moments flees my heart and I am filled with a peace from God. I am filled with the promise of a new day when this pain will leave my heart.

Today on my way home I started going through my schedule for the next month and realized that Heidi has a check-up in a few weeks. I wondered if she would be seeing Dr. Behm or Dr. Stone. I began to tear up thinking about seeing her face. It will be as if looking into a mirror. I am not sure if I am ready to face that mirror. I still have so much to learn in my own journey - how can I possibly be strong enough for this woman? Will I cry? Will I tell her about our sweet Hudson? A part of me wants to meet with her, but another part of me is scared to death. I keep repeating to myself this verse to myself:

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

2 Corinthians 1:4

For now, please pray for this family that they will be wrapped up in the God's arms. They have been so faithful and strong during this time - we all need to be faithful and strong backing them up.

Heidi - 17 Months

2011-11-16T22:36:00.000-05:00

Heidi - you are now 17 months!
*photos by Molly Elizabeth Morris Photography*

You say "please" when you want something and "thank you" after we give you something, or really after just about everything :) "Thank you" is your new favorite phrase.

You love to help out in anyway that you can - closing doors, feeding Hunter, taking your things to your room, taking my shoes to the closet. Sometimes its like free slave labor - ha!

You fold your hands right before dinner so that we can say the blessing. In fact we were someplace where the people we were with did not say the blessing and you looked at me with your hands folded with a strange look on your face.

I think you are starting to show interest in the potty - not necessarily you going potty, but with the toilet.

You take items to the trash when they are "all done".

Your favorite theme song is from A.N.T Farm - doooo-do do

You love to talk on the phone to whoever mama or daddy has on the other line. You really just want to hold the phone and laugh.

You had such a fun time trick-or-treating!

Things you are taking an interest in: counting, ABC's, all your animal sounds

You love to be involved in everything we are doing.

Comments

2011-11-08T21:33:00.003-05:00

So, I feel like I should know how to do this, but apparently I do not??? How can I reply to comments with e-mail directly from a comment? I never seem to be able to reply to comments because I have no idea how to do it from my e-mail....any help??

Thanks!!

Weekend Recap

2011-11-07T20:56:00.000-05:00

I had a huge weekend - a very busy Saturday - planned out, but it failed. The shocker? I am okay with that :) I guess the falling out started on Thursday when I was driving home from dance class.

**sidenote**I could not find my regular CD's for class so I had to bust out the old ones. I mean OLD, well, not that old because they are from like 10 years ago. I was looking through the case of CDs and seriously, I have the strangest collection of music. To name a few - Broadway Favorites, NSYNC, Backstreet, Britney, The Kelly Family {bet you have no idea..}, DC Talk, Bon Jovi, Missy Elliot, a few random CDs I burned...yeah it was an interesting class to say the least.

On the way home from class {as I was jamming out to my CDs - where I learned I still know every word to every song on Jagged Little Pill} I started thinking about my schedule for Saturday. I had signed up to run in the Rock-n-Roll marathon for the half. I did this months ago and I never got to train. I kept thinking I would, but I never got to with the way our schedules worked. So, I was definitely not prepared. Not only that, but I had a wedding to be at that started at 5 PM which was about 3 hours away. When I got home I told John and he kind of agreed with me to maybe not run.

Friday I packed Heidi and Hunter's things up to go to my parents - thinking I might still run. Friday afternoon I went to pick up my packet and holy moly - it was crazy! People were everywhere and it took me hours to get to a place that normal took 20 minutes. I guess when 27,000 people are running in one race it will get crowded! That was kind of my tipping point to leaning towards not going. I knew that with the shuttle situation that I would not be able to make it in time to the wedding. So, I decided to enjoy my night off as mom {Heidi and Hunter stayed at my parents} and sleep in :) My cousin and his wife did come over that night to stay because they were running the race. I was tempted to give Alicia my chip to "run for me".

Saturday I woke up thinking I needed to let Hunter out. Wow. The house was so quiet. Not a fan at all of the quietness. I did hang out by myself for a bit and then I got ready to leave for the wedding in Douglas. I jammed out the whole way screaming Hanson and a few other favorites. The wedding was for one of my sweet sorority sisters Katherine. Its actually quite funny - a few years ago we had our ADPi 50th celebration and Katherine had brought Jess with her. I think she had only known him for a couple of months and she wasn't even sure why she brought him. I guess it went up from there! They really are such a sweet couple and I am so excited for them! Here are some pictures from the night!

The sweet couple

Jemina, Emily, Katherine, and me

Me, Em, and Jem

ADPi Diamond

ADPi Ladies

So I love when people that I may or may not know tell me they read my blog {its so cool!!} and in the picture is a friend's wife that I met at the wedding. Parks {my friend - John's fraternity brother} posted his wife's blog on facebook one day so I started reading it. Its funny - she sat next to me at the church and I said "Hi, I'm Kimberly - I read your blog." You should check out Ashley at Splash of Ashley.

Now I am home and taking care of a poor sick little one - oh, and myself and husband as well. We all have a little cold :( I hate being sick, but I really hate for Heidi to be sick - such a helpless feeling.

VLOG - Still Life With Circles

2011-11-02T22:23:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am here - I still exist :) Taking part in Angie's blog - still life with circles - and posting a VLOG (video blog?) where we are to read a post from a time in the past. I picked a post from July 2009 when I was participating in a weekly devotional type of blog.

A few sidebars:
- The camera does not like me.
- I have no make-up on and I look scary. I may rethink the strike against make-up.
- I make strange faces when talking to a camera and my mouth makes weird shapes.
- My shirt is too small so I will definitely be getting a larger one on Friday before I run in the Rock-n-Roll marathon....

Part 1

Part 2 (because I was videoing from my phone and my husband called and I had already done about a billion takes and I didn't want to start over again!!) HA!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:16:00.000-04:00

We had such a wonderful time taking Heidi trick-or-treating. Heidi loved it as well. Before going out we went to my sister's house for dinner and then we headed out to a neighborhood. At first Heidi was shy, but she loved picking out a little treat at the houses where they left a bowl outside and then she had fun letting people put candy in her basket. Heidi loved holding her cousins Emily and Georgia's hands as they walked up to the houses and got candy. Before we went out we worked on saying trick or treat, but Heidi did not say it. She's a little shy with strangers. She did muster out "thank you" and tons of smiles. A couple of houses said Heidi could have the whole bowl :) We rode around in the back of Hubert's truck for most of the night and Heidi just loved every minute of the night. Of course towards the end she got tired, but she loved everything about the night. Ya know, I really wonder what kids think of when we dress them in silly costumes and make them beg for candy from strangers....

Seafood Festival

2011-10-16T22:14:00.000-04:00

This weekend we headed to Richmond Hill for the Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival! We rode the merry-go-round, bought some bows, ate seafood, walked forever, and had a funnel cake!!

Heidi - 16 Months {in pictures}

2011-10-16T21:47:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Dane!

2011-10-13T22:38:00.000-04:00

Tonight we celebrated Dane's 2nd birthday! It was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme! Heidi had such a good time and really enjoyed Dane's playroom. When we were walking up to the door I had such an amazing feeling. Probably a mix between proud and pure joy. The sight of Heidi walking up to a birthday party - she looked like such a big girl and I wanted to capture that moment and how it made me feel forever.

Birthday boy blowing out his candles with daddy's help.

Heidi enjoying her cake!

Being sweet friends

Making music!

Taking a break - she loved his chair :)

The fam! Baby Dillon who turned a week old!

Oh Birthday...

2011-10-10T23:09:00.001-04:00

A couple of days ago it was my birthday. Usually, like every other birthday in my life, I would be so excited. Countdowns in place. EVERYONE would know my birthday was approaching. This year is different. I turned 30 and its a number I have been dreading. As usual I have put such high expectations on myself and what I should have accomplished by this dreadful age. Everyone in their 30s say that "its the best age yet" and of course they have to say that - they are in their 30s and want to feel better about being that age - ha! I have pretty much always had a "plan" or direction for my life; what I wanted to do or accomplish in life. I really never pictured a life at 30. For some reason all my major life accomplishments and events were to all happen in my 20s.

Anyways, I was pretty much a big pile of doom all day. Heidi spent the night before at my parents' house because I taught dance that night {which, the girls celebrated my birthday after class - they were so sweet!} and John had to close. So, I woke up alone in my house because John had to open the morning of my birthday. I went to work and worked {nice, right?} and I had intended on waking up early to visit 2 friends that had babies and were in the hospital, but I woke up too late to do that.

I got to work - and almost got hit by a truck. Yeah, nice, right? I was walking and the truck almost backed me over. I wanted to try and get out by 3, but other plans happened. I needed to pick Heidi up and somehow still make it to the hospital and then make it to the birthday dinner by 6. Well, I ended up not leaving until 4:30ish and decided that my parents would bring Heidi to the dinner {which did not suit well for my boobs because Heidi had not nursed in over 36 hours} so that I could stop and see at least one of my friends at the hospital. Visited her and then headed to Bonefish for dinner.

Dinner was great - friends and family - lots of laughter and fun! There was also, probably my most favorite moment, of the whole night. Heidi is always so cuddly and loving and we were able to capture some sweet moments with her and her cousins. Every since this night I have seen her interact like so sweetly with other children as well. I love it!

Cupcakes from GiGi's Cupcakes :) Ginormous!

Heidi loving on her cousin Emily

Shopping Weekend

2011-10-08T20:40:00.000-04:00

Heidi and I went to check out some of the sales for Columbus Day! Such a great trooper this little tike is! We went into Gymboree and there was a great little section for kids to watch T.V. Heidi loved going to the chairs to watch T.V. and then another little girl came and sat next to her. I just love the way that Heidi interacts with other children now. It is absolutely the sweetest thing ever! Sometimes I just stop and stare at her and the way that she interacts with other kids. After our shopping spree we dined outside enjoying the nice weather we are having!

Vacation - Inlet Beach, FL {9.26 - 10.2}

2011-10-05T12:17:00.000-04:00

MONDAY: I just slept - the whole night through. Seriously. We are never leaving this place! Okay, so at some point we will have to leave, but for right now - in this moment - I am going to enjoy all the sleep I had last night. Today was a boat day. First, before heading out in the boat, we met up with my mom and Aunt Babs to drop Heidi off for the day. The boat was fantastic. The water was crystal clear. It was amazing. The only unpleasant part were all of the manowar jellyfish floating around in the water. We threw anchor at Crab Island and just hung out and then went to docked at a restaurant where I had the most amazing peel-n-eat shrimp. After the boat we picked Heidi up and went out to the beach for a little to enjoy the sunset. We had delicious tacos for dinner and then Heidi went to bed - only waking once during the night!

TUESDAY: Beach day for Heidi, Kara, and myself! It was the best beach day ever! Heidi had so much fun and I had a workout holding her in the waves. This girl {Heidi} has no fear. The waves were so rough and she was having a blast! I couldn't keep her out of the water. John and Colin went to play golf during the day.

WEDNESDAY: John, Heidi, and I headed to the outlets to do a little shopping. We needed to get a few pair of shoes for Heidi because her foot has grown 2 sizes in a week. Crazy! It turned out to be such a rainy day that I was glad we went shopping. I was also glad the weather was nasty because that meant we did not waste a beach day. We ate lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. At night we went to Pier Park and had dinner at Back Porch. After dinner we just walked around. Did I mention it was Thunder Beach during the week we were there? Bikes - EVERYWHERE! It was entertaining to watch. We also stopped by the Candy Store where a friend/family member works and Heidi loaded Colin up with goodies :)

THURSDAY: Beach day!! We all went to beach and played, built sandcastles, chase birds, and got in the water. We had fish that Kara fixed for all of us for dinner! Yum!

FRIDAY: Beach day and then we dropped Heidi off with my mom and Aunt Babs and cousin Max to spend the night at their house. The four of us headed to Ebro to the poker room and played cards!

SATURDAY: First thing the morning we went to pick Heidi up and then we just hung out in the condo. Kara and Colin left in the morning, but we were staying one more night. It was a little chilly during the day so we opted not to go to the beach. Later Brad, Rebekah, Gavin, and Grace came and stopped by because they were taking a long weekend trip to Destin. We all headed to Pier Park for dinner at Reggie J's Bar and Grill and then walked around the park. Once again it was a great people watching time with all the biker groups around.

Vacation - Travel Day

2011-09-25T23:30:00.000-04:00

Today we were off for a nice week long trip to Inlet Beach, Florida - where we will be bunking with the Conways. Originally we were going to leave sort of early and get to our destination without too many stops, but we heard news that my Great-Uncle Gene was not doing too well, so we planned to make a quick run to Bainbridge on our way. My mom rode with John, Heidi, and I so that she could enjoy a nice week long visit with our family in Panama City. It also works out having her nearby so that John and I can have one "adult night" with Kara and Colin :)

The night before, I gathered up all our ~~crap~~ important things and tried to get everything ready for John to load into the car. Once John got off work we realized we would be leaving things like the jogging stroller and Heidi's mattress behind. No worries for either one. Morning came and Heidi decided she would also get up at 6AM to get ready for our trip. I had definitely counted on her sleeping so that I could get myself ready, but oh well! We left our house around 8AM and headed towards my parent's house to drop off Hunter so that he could hang out with my dad for the week and pick up my mom. We loaded my mom's stuff ~~tied her to the roof~~ and she fit nicely in the backseat with Heidi.

Our next stop was in Valdosta (sorry V-town friends it was just a quick bite to eat at McDonald's) where we ate lunch and Heidi got her milkshake on. I always feel sort of loyal to the McDonald's in Valdosta due to my past marketing history with them. The one we ate at was the one I was working on opening back up after the reconstruction when we had to move away. We got back on the road and the next stop was my Great-Aunt Wilkin's house in Bainbridge. My Grannymom's sisters all live in three little houses all in a row in Bainbridge. Grannymom died 13 years ago, but it is so nice to have these ladies in my life as surrogate grandmothers. We arrived to our destination and met up at Aunt Wilkin's with Aunt Babs, Great-Aunt Sara, and many cousins. Visited there for a bit and then John, Heidi, and I headed up to the hospital (mom stayed and rode back with Aunt Babs since that was who she would be staying with) to visit with Great-Aunt Jeanne and Great-Uncle Gene. I had spoken with my cousin Kathryn and she told me that it would most likely be anytime and there was really nothing that could be done - that everyone was basically trying to make him feel comfortable. After we visited at the hospital we left and tried to stop at my cousin's B&B that she owns - The Commodore, but she was not there at the time.

John and I tried to let Heidi nap in the car, but she really had no part of that. I think she slept for about 45 minutes total for the day. We finally made it to our beach house and Kara and Colin had made it in a few hours ahead of us. We unloaded the car and got a little settled and then we headed out to eat for dinner. It was a sports bar and grill place just down the road. Heidi was all out of sorts but when her food arrived (fried shrimp!!) she sat right down and focused on her food. Right before dinner I talked with my mom and found out my Great-Uncle Gene passed away just a couple of hours after we had left. I was so thankful we were able to go to Bainbridge and visit with everyone. After dinner we headed home, put Heidi in her pjs and then got her to bed - around 8:30. I went downstairs and visited with everyone and then hit the sack myself. It had been such a long day and I had to wake up early the next morning to meet up with my mom. The plan was for us to go boating with Kara's parents and their friends and I thought it would be good for Heidi to stay with my mom for the day.

Beach Vacation!!

2011-09-23T19:27:00.000-04:00

We're going to Inlet Beach in a couple of days and these are things I am looking forward to:

Beach people - you know the native beach person by their tattooed tan and leathery skin, usually long unkempt hair and never wearing a shirt. In fact, I would say 99% of "beach people" are men.
Crystal clear waters. The Panama City area is my second home. We have family that live there and I remember spending so much time there as a child. I think I went to that beach more than Tybee where I live! I guess I am kind of spoiled to the white sands and clear water.
FRESH seafood. I know I can get it in Savannah, but I love it here too!
Taking a shower and not being able to wash the smell of the water and sunscreen off. Weird? Maybe...
The softness of my skin after the sand and saltwater has exfoliated it.
Spending some much needed family relaxation time!
Spending time with the Conways who we have not gotten to hang out with in forever.
Maybe starting an annual trip! I am always wanting to start traditions....
Watching Heidi play on the sand and in the water. She is going to love it!
Maybe scratching something off my bucket list.
Eating a PBJ that has been in a cooler while laying on the beach.
Pretty sunrises and sunsets.
Ocean breeze.
The beach smells...
Pictures galore!

Last Night

2011-09-22T14:39:00.000-04:00

Usually I remain quiet when it comes to politics and things that are controversial. I am not a very aggressive person and I have a hard time having to defend why I feel certain ways. Call me a coward or a chicken - or even ignorant. Sometimes we believe things because of what we know is right or wrong. Last night I was furious at the comments on facebook. For those of you that are not from Savannah you might not be aware of the execution that was held last night.

In 1989 a police officer, Mark MacPhail, was murdered while intervening an assault that was going on near his work. Troy Davis was arrested for the murder and in 1991 he was sentenced to death. For 20 years so much has been going on with witnesses recounting statements, appeals, etc - all the while Davis has held onto his plea of not guilty. Regardless of the details we may or may not know the sentence remained the same and last night around 11PM Troy Davis became the 52nd person to be executed in the state of Georgia. Over a million people signed a petition for the GA Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant Davis clemency - and it was denied.

So - for those of you who did not know the story - there is a brief summary of the events.

Last night so many were on pins and needles as to whether the execution was going to be held and rants of FREE Troy Davis (you may even remember "Pants on the Ground" man wearing a button during his AI tryout) were either applauded or met with snarky remarks. At some point I think people lost what they were trying to fight for and it became a fight about something else. It no longer became a fight to free a man whom some believed to be innocent, but it turned into the age old issue we seem to have in the south. It became about race. Never can there be an argument when a black and white are involved together that it does not turn into an argument about race. It is sad - really sad. Here we are in 2011 and still we have not evolved in our thinking or evolved in seeing people for more than a skin color.

I won't go into detail about how I feel about the race issue at this point because it probably would not offend people, but I know how words can be used against me and I do not want to be backed into a corner having to defend the way I feel. What I will say is this: the change starts with each one of us. I know there is a mentality of an older generation that will be there until they die. When they die why not let the ignorance of color and race die with them? Why continue to let the cycle bring us down. It can stop with us if we let it and we can win the battle of all equality over mankind. If we keep having the attitude of "it will never change" then you are right, things will never change and we should all be given a swift kick in the gut for letting our attitude get the best of us.

Another piece that set me off in this whole ordeal was the misquoting and misuse of scripture. That and the fact that some of those were in favor of freeing Davis were throwing the "I thought you were Christians" comments at those wanting Davis to be executed. First I would like to comment about the last sentence I wrote. Being a Christian does not make you free from sin nor does it mean you make the right choices. It is about your relationship with Christ and your desire to follow Him. Yes, you are to desire to be like Christ in all ways - through actions, words, and thoughts - and the more you grow in your relationship with Christ the more you change as a person. To be a Christian means to follow Christ, to desire Him, to fellowship with Him, to be indwelt by Him, and to bring glory to Him in your life.

Secondly, so many claim to be Christians when their lives show nothing about Christianity. Sometimes those people can be the most dangerous of all. These people know a verse here and there and try to use them when it fits their need. Last night so many people were reciting verses from the Old Testament to validate their "religion of Christianity" and validate the reason why it was okay to execute Troy Davis. What I believe is that Jesus Christ took the place of the Old Testament laws. HE died for our sins and according to chapter 5 in the book of Matthew we are to turn the other cheek when wrong is done to us. So, those using the "eye for an eye" verses to validate your reasoning should do some more research. When trying to interpret a verse you cannot just read one verse and try to apply it, you must read the verses before and after - and even cross reference - in order to fully understand what a verse means.

I have mixed emotions about the death penalty and sometimes I do not know if I believe in it or not. I do not know how it is decided that one person who murders dies and another person who murders is allowed to live. I do not know if Troy Davis committed murder - none of us know for sure except those that were there. God knows and in reality that is all that matters.

Update

2011-09-21T22:30:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to give a quite update from this post on the status of my cousin. He will have another treatment in about a week and currently he is still trying to gain strength from his first treatment. For awhile he had no appetite, but just today he finally requested a meal - yay! Please continue to keep him in your prayers - thank you for the past and future prayers.

Brother

2011-09-21T22:23:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to ask for prayers for my brother and the team he is with in Honduras! They are already there and doing tremendous work! Tres and Tina went last year and it was such a wonderful trip for them. Tres was able to go back and I know he was excited to get back. Please click for their blog - Hillside UMC.

Easy Canvas

2011-09-20T21:56:00.001-04:00

For months I have been talking about about purchasing a large canvas for Heidi's first year portrait. Heidi had two sessions within a month (one with our photographer Patti Todd Photography and one with my sister's Betty at Serendipity Photography) because we had her 1 year session and a family (entire) session. It was so hard to choose with picture, but we ended up choosing one from the family session - this session you purchase a CD rather than prints.

A week or so after our photo sessions I was approached by Easy Canvas to blog-review their canvas - what a coincidence, right? It was a perfect opportunity! So, I went to their website to check out the canvases that they had to offer. I had browsed a few other canvas sites, but I really liked how this one had the option for a custom size print as well as a couch that you could "see" your canvas size over the couch for a true comparison on how the end result should appear. I decided upon a 16 x 24 size. In this same section there is also an option for how thick you would like your canvas wrapped - standard or gallery. I chose for the standard. Next you upload your image. You then have three options on how you would like the canvas to be wrapped - your image, a mirror, or a border. I chose to have the image continue on the wrap. Next you have the options for retouching or color retouching - I left mine as is because our photographer already had everything set for us. Then you checkout and you are done! Simple as pie! Check out their site to turn your canvas into pictures!

We have a few other pictures we are adding on the sides, but in true new Kimberly form we have not decided on what we want to do yet. We as in John and myself - not two Kimberlys :)

Show Us Your Life - Scrapbooks

2011-09-20T12:13:00.000-04:00

Well, I am about 2 weeks behind in blog reading, but that is okay and I am okay with being behind. I did want to take part in Kelly's "Show Us Your Life" entry for a couple of weeks ago because this is something I have currently been working on. I am a scrapbooker, but unfortunately I am a perfectionist and "my work" is never good enough. It can be expensive to purchase all the little trinckets and things to make your pages flashy and to be honest I have other things I would rather spend my money on. Time is another issue and having a toddle full of fun energy is another reason I have changed my ways in scrapbooking.

I started using Mixbook.com as a digital scrapbook that I will have printed into a book. I am almost finished with Heidi's 1st year {and I am thankful that I blog her monthly things so that I could go back and look at them with writing in her book!} and once I print it out I will let you know how it turned out in print. I am current and up to date with this year, its just a process of working on a past year. I was so inspired with how the scrapbook was looking {and the one I am going to show up is still a work in progress} that I have begun to go back to other years and redo a few things digitally. I have scanned old wedding invitations, part invites - you sent it I have saved it and now scanned it. Now I can add all the little momentos into a digital scrapbook! When I finish this year I will show you that one as well. Its a work in progress and I only allow myself an hour or two a week to work on it, but once I am caught up it will be so easy to stay on top of!

On a side note - another reason I am excited about the digital scrapbooks is because if there is ever something that happens to a book I will always have a digital copy and I can reorder anytime!

Example of the rough draft/currently in progress book for Heidi's 1st year:

| Learn About Mixbook Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Heidi - 15 Months

2011-09-16T23:12:00.000-04:00

Heidi - today you are 15 months!

Things of note for this month:

You fold your hands when its time to say the blessing before our meal.

You demand to use a fork and to have a napkin. You love to wipe your face!

Each morning you wake up and demand the "mone" and "mote" - phone & remote.

You love to dance!

You are wearing a size 4 diaper and 12-18 months clothes.

We have put you into your semi-big girl bed and you are very good at crawling in and out. Now if we could just get you to sleep in it :)

We can ask you questions and give you choices and you will answer us. Simple questions of course like: "are you done with your bath?" "milk or water?"

Puzzles are such a favorite. You are so good at them and even though getting the piece to actually fully fit in its place you can put each puzzle piece where it belongs.

Recently you hate for your diaper to be changed.

You love being outdoors.

You are like a little collector finding new things to pick up and inspect.

We are still nursing - mainly anytime I am with you, but during the day while I am at work you have 1% milk.

It sometimes takes you a little while to warm up to people you haven't met or haven't been around in awhile. You become so shy and my usually talkative girl becomes mute. For now I will call it good manners :)

You absolutely LOVE watermelon - you are still such a wonderful eater. You also really enjoy bell peppers!

I think you are accustomed to these photo shoots each month because when I pulled out the sticker you grabbed it and tried to put it on your belly. When I sat you in your chair you started saying bear over and over. Then you needed to add a new character to the group - glowworm.

ADPi

2011-09-11T10:27:00.003-04:00

Lately I have been singing all of my old sorority songs to help Heidi go to sleep. Either she likes them and they lull her to sleep or she sleeps so that she does not have to hear me sing anymore. Regardless its a win-win situation! One of my sorority sisters sent me this cute shirt and Heidi looks adorable in it! I really hope that Heidi wants to join a sorority, even better if its ADPi. It would be so special...

Sophomore year - Bid Day Fall 2001

Freshman year - Parents Weekend Spring 2001

Heidi - 2011