Lily's Birth Day!

So Andy and I went to bed the night before Lily was born with our heads swimming. We were so excited to meet her and a little scared about becomeing parents.

We woke up at 5:30 since we had to be at the hospital by 6:30. We both took showers and finished getting a few things together before we headed out the door one last time knowing that when we returned that we would be parents.

We arrived at the hospital and Andy dropped me off at the door and he went to park the car. I walked through the hospital towards labor and delivery and rang the bell to get into the L & D wing. I spoke to a nurse and she showed me to my room. Words cannot describe how surreal it was walking into the room where we were going to become parents. Andy found his way to the room and we just sat there for a little while not really knowing what to do.

The nurse came back in and told me to change into my hospital gown and started my IV and the medicine that would induce my labor. We got started at about 7:30 with the IV and meds. I was still only 2 cm dialated (and had been for 2 weeks) so we called our parents and told them that it would be sometime and that they could come on over once they got ready.

Around 9:30 my doctor arrived and checked me. I was at 3-4 cm and she decided to break my water. Once they did that they put a few monitors on me to check the baby's heartrate and monitor the strength of my contractions. My doctor told me that she would be back later to check on me. She asked one more time if I was going to get an epidural and I told her that Andy and I had discussed it and that since I was induced and I knew that my contractions would come fast and very strong that I would probably end up getting one. She was totally supportive.

Once everyone left the room Andy and I just hung out. As the contractions came they were much stronger since my water had been broken and they were coming pretty quickly. By about 10:00 am my contractions were about a minute and a half apart and they were strong. Since I was hooked up to all sorts of monitors around my stomach I was having a difficult time doing my breathing and I could not really change positions to get more comfortable. Andy just looked at me and said, "you know, they are only going to get worse." I agreed and we talked for a minute and then I called the nurse's station and requested an epidural.

The woman who came to administer the epidural was wonderful. She listened to all of my concerns and questions and told me that she was going to make a few adjustments to make sure that the epidural was succesful. Let me just tell you that getting and epidural is one of the most difficult things to sit still for. Not only do you need to stay perfectly still but you are still having contractions. It was not fun but I was so glad that I got it.

We were finished with the epidural and our parents came back into the room by about 11:00 am. We all hung out for about an hour and since it did not look like anything was going to happen anytime soon so everyone except my mom decided to head to lunch about 11:45. My epidural was amazing. I could still move my legs and feel all of my contractions they just didn't hurt. Andy was so funny. He kept poking my legs and asking if i could feel it, which I could.

Dr. Evitt arrived back to my room at about 12:30. She checked me and to my surprise I was at 9-9.5 cm. I was so shocked and texted Andy immediately and said, "I am at 9. You may want to come back to the hospital." He was with his mom at lunch and said we need to get back to the hospital, Cameron is at 9. His mom was like, no way, you are kidding right. Nope we were not kidding. Dr. Evitt said that she was going to come back in about a half and hour and check me again.

Andy was pretty close to the hospital so he arrived quickly and by that time Dr. Evitt was back to check on me. I was at 10 and ready to go but she said that she was going to let me labor a little longer because her other patient was also ready to go in the room next door. The nurses that came in were joking about who was going to have their baby first. Well the other woman won. Apparently in 4 pushes she had a baby. I later found out that it was her second baby and not a fair fight.

Dr. Evitt came back in about 1:30 and we were ready to go. We got my mom, Andy's mom and Emily in the room and I started to push. Andy was great. He has always said that he wanted to be up by my head, so he sandwiched himself between my bed and a cabnet to keep himself from passing out. He was so reassuring and sweet through all of it. I felt like I pushed for hours but it was really only about an hour. I had my mom holding one leg and Emily holding the other. I was so glad though when they started to break down my bed because I knew that she was going to arrive soon. A few more pushes later Lillian Hayes Broome was here. She was placed on my chest and started screaming immedately. It was the sweetest cry I have ever heard. It was so amazing and just like that Andy and I became parents to the sweetest little girl. She is the cutest baby I have ever seen.

I cannot say enough about my doctor, Dr. Evitt. Andy says that she is my favorite person in the world. I agree that I am in awe of her. She was amazing thoughout my entire pregnancy and so supportive. I felt so comfortable and at ease in the delivery room. She was so positive and encouraging throughout the delivery. I still feel so lucky and blessed to have had her as my doctor. It is amazing to me that I basically picked her out of the phone book and had never met her or known anyone that was a patient of hers. I now know a ton of people that go to her and they all speak just as highly of her as I do.

I delivered Lillian Hayes Broome at 2:34pm. She weighed 8lbs and was 19 3/4 in long. She was perfect in every way and Andy and I feel so lucky to be her parents.

love always,

Lillian Hayes Broome

I wanted to sit down and write Lillian's birth story while it is still fresh in my mind. She is an amazing baby and I fall more in love with her each day. I know that people have said it before but my heart just explodes with love for her. She is the most amazing person on the planet. Here is the story on how she arrived.

My birth plan had always been that I wanted to go into labor on my own and that I wanted to have a natural birth, meaning I didn't want to have any pain medication. I had a couple of reasons, one I knew that it was safer for the baby and two because I had back surgery 9 years ago and was concerned with how the epidural would work. I discussed all of my concerns with my doctor and she was great. She told me that I should not worry about the epidural but was completely supportive of me wanting a natural childbirth.

About 2 weeks before my due date Lily was still sitting really high and had not dropped yet. This was a little concerning so Andy and I decided that we (well me really) were going to try walking every night to see if we could get her to drop. When we went back to the doctor the following week not only had she dropped I had started to dilate. It was such a dramatic change that my doctor thought that I might not make it to my due date or my next doctor's visit.

Andy and I left the appointment and started to get everything ready. We made sure that our bags were packed and started to time contractions every time that I felt them. The contractions would come and go. They were anything from 7 - 30 min apart. I about drove myself crazy. I was tired of being pregnant and the unknown factor of when she was going to come was so exciting and scary at the same time. My doctor's prediction was not correct and we made it to the next doctor's appointment that was the day before my due date. We had a very frank conversation about how she didn't really want me to go longer than 41 weeks. That would be the day after Thanksgiving. I really wanted to make sure that she was going to make it to my delivery and with the holiday the following week I was concerned that she would not be able to make it. After talking about what our options were we decided that if she did not come by the following Monday that we would be induced on that day.

I left the appointment praying that Lily would come over the weekend so that we would not have to worry about being induced. We also decided to go about our weekend like we normally would and even went to the last football game of the season! Yes at 40+ weeks pregnant I went to the UT vs. Vandy football game. Lucky for us my office gave us a parking pass just outside of the stadium so I didn't have to walk far and if I did go into labor we could get out pretty quickly. I made it through the whole game and even the overtime. It was so much fun and I am really glad that Andy and I got to go to the game together. Our last game as non-parents!!! On Sunday it did not look like the little one was going to make her appearance so we took the day to rest and get ready for our induction the following day. We were so sad that we missed our family Thanksgiving in the mountains but we wanted to be close to home just in case as well as get some rest before our lives were going to completely change the following day.

We ate our "last meal" because I was not going to be allowed to eat after 12pm and we had no idea what time she would arrive the following day. We were nervous, excited and a little scared about what was going to happen the following day.

I will finish the birth story in the next post since this one has been a novel!!!

love always,

being pregnant

Today I am going to be thankful for being pregnant. I have had it pretty easy once we go past the terrible morning sickness (6 weeks to 14 weeks) that was pure misery. I have tried my best to stay active and all that jazz and have really had fun being pregnant. I think about a week or so ago I finally "felt pregnant" and for those of you that have been pregnant you know what I am talking about. It is the time where the baby squishes everything and you cannot get comfortable no matter how hard you try. Sleeping is pretty non-existant (I hear that is just prep for after the baby arrives!) and all you really want to do IS sleep. Luckily for me it has not lasted that long and before we know it our little one is going to be here and I will get to snuggle and kiss all over her face. I am so excited to see what she looks like. It is like the worlds greatest Christmas present and in less than a few days we will get to see her!! I wonder who she will look like, who she will act like and I cannot wait to see her with Andy for the fist time. It is going to be awesome! I will make sure to let you know as soon as she gets here!!!

love always,

Emerson Jane

Today I am thankful for Emerson! Emerson made me an Aunt on September 28, 2011. She is so sweet, so snugglely (sp?) and I love her so much. She is really a doll baby. The day she was born I was not able to go and see her at the hospital and I cried. So sad I know. I wanted to be there, but I was trapped at work and then I had a soccer game. I got to go and visit her the next day it was wonderful. I walked into the room and Danielle handed her to me. When I looked down at her she smiled and I melted right there. This kid is amazing and I love her so, so much. I can't wait for Baby Lily to get her so she can hang out with such a cool kid.

love always,

ugh

It is so hard when you don't feel well to feel thankful. I wish that I could have a better attitude today but I just feel yucky. I think I came down with a cold and I feel so pregnant and the two just don't go together. So for today, I am thankful that I get to go home tonight and rest. I can't wait to sit down on the couch and rest. I guess I am really thankful that I have a warm house to go home to with a couch that I can rest on and a coffee table that I can put my feet on. That is what I am thankful for today.

love always,

Fall

photo found here

Today I am thankful for Fall. Normally I dread this time of year. I know that it is getting colder and I just think about how I am not sure I am going to make it through another winter. I am a summer girl through and through. I am trying to like Fall and today I am going to be thankful that I live in an area that has all 4 seasons. I love football time and going to tailgates and UT football games. I love that I get to see my best friend from college on TV because basketball season has started. I love the smells and the beautiful trees. I am going to focus on the great things about this season and not wish that we could just get through it and on to Spring.

love always,

BHS Soccer Team

Ugh, day two and I have already missed a day. I have a good reason. I was down in Chattanooga with the BHS Girls Soccer Team. We made it to the State Tournament and our first game was yesterday. Unfortunately we did not win so our season is over but the girls had a great year and I am so proud of them.

Mostly, I am THANKFUL for those girls. I feel so lucky to get the opportunity to coach at Bearden. The girls teach me so much each year. I know I make them mad, heck, sometimes they make me mad :), but I would not trade it for the world. More often they make me laugh. They are all so silly and have great hearts. I am sad that this season is over, but I think that their season was amazing. We did not have the most skilled players in each position and yet we managed to play with enough heart to make it all the was to the State Tournament. I am so, so proud and thankful for them. Thanks girls and especially the seniors for a wonderful year. I am going to miss you guys!

love always,

A Month of Thanksgiving

I am going to dust off the old blog today and start a November tradition on here. I hope that I will be able to do this everyday, but since Baby Lily will be here sometime this month I may miss a few days. *grin* I am going to do my best to post each day about something that I am thankful for. So for today here we go...

Today I am thankful for these sweet girls. Andy and I are so lucky to have 2 of the sweetest dogs on the planet. I caught them lying down together the other day (without being bribed) and I snapped this picture to send to Andy (sorry for the quality, my camera phone is terrible). Laney and Addie are just wonderful and I can't imagine my life without them. I know that their world is about to be turned upside-down but I hope they know how much we do love them.

love always,

10 years ago.

Why hello there. I know it has been a long time. I have been super busy with work, soccer, being a wife and growing a HUMAN! Haha that is what I say to Andy when I want to get out of doing something these days.
As the days have ticked by I did not want the day to pass when I looked back at where I was 10 years ago. It is hard to turn on the TV without finding one channel or many channels dedicated to something about what happened on September 11, 2001. The day that our whole world changed. I can think of various generations and the dates that they have engraved in their minds on where were you when such-and-such happened. September 11, 2001 is that date for my generation.
Where was I. I remember it was a Tuesday and I just walked out of one of my Political Science classes and was on my way down the hall to my Western Civ. class. I remember hearing someone say something about a plane flying into the World Trade Center, but beyond that I didn't think much about it. Like maybe some small plane made a wrong turn or something totally accidental happened. That was about as much thought as I gave it until I left my class. I remember walking down the hall towards the entrance to the building and there was one TV in the lobby. Everyone was standing around it in shock as all eyes were on New York City. I immediately went home and turned on the TV there and sat for hours watching as the towers were on engulfed in flames and then as they fell. It was shocking, the whole day was shocking. I called a friend of mine that was going to school in Washington DC when I found out that a plane had flown into the Pentagon. She told me that the city was a mess but that she was fine. She had been on her way back from morning soccer practice and luckily was not near where everything happened. I was so relieved to hear her voice and know that she was safe.
I remember later that day, walking into soccer practice at the UT fields and just knowing that things were different. Knowing that life as we knew it would change. In the days following I remember the strangeness of silence outside as all planes across the country were grounded. I also remember hearing the a plane flying overhead for the first time after the attacks and being nervous. Was it going to come crashing down?
As the years have passes it is easy to move one. To accept the new security changes that have become part of our lives. The one thing that I hope to never move on from is how I felt that day. I don't want to forget all of the innocent people that were on their way to work for another ordinary day when the whole world changed at their expense. I don't want to forget all of the people who on that day not only risked their lives, but gave their life to help others. I don't want to forget how as a community and as a country we came together. I just don't want to forget...

love always,

The storm

So last week Andy and I headed to the beach for a little R & R. I was planning on coming home on Wednesday and Andy was going to stay the full week and come home on Saturday. We heard that Knoxville was hit with a pretty bad thunder storm on Tuesday and we were both pretty happy that I was going to be coming home the following day to check on our sweet little pups that we left behind.

I got home late Wednesday evening and the dogs were so happy to see me. They were wired and ready to play. I was pretty tired from the drive home but glad to see that they were doing well. I went to bed that night and I don't think that either dog slept for more than 30 min at a time. When I woke up on Thursday morning I think I was more tired than when I went to bed the night before. I went off to work and told myself that when I got home that I could relax and get a good night sleep.

When I got home I fixed dinner and prepared to sit on the couch and did just that when I got home. The dogs had calmed down and we were enjoying our evening. I headed to bed at about 11:30 and immediately fell asleep. I woke up to my phone ringing at about 1:15am. It was my mom so I was immediately worried. When I answered she said that there was a tornado headed for us and that I needed to get the dogs and get in my bathtub. Once I realized she was serious and I was awake I went to the living room, got some pillows, my blanket and the dog bed and headed to the bathroom. I decided to check the weather on my phone and sure enough there was severe weather in the area. Since I still had power I decided to turn on the TV to listen to the news. I found out that my area was pretty safe from the worst of it so I sat on the couch and watched the news and would call my mom (who had not had power since Tuesday's storm) and update her on what was going on. A few minutes later I heard it start to rain really hard and the wind picked up. I peeked outside the window and was just in time to hear a loud crack and watch a huge limb fall down directly on Andy's truck sitting in the driveway. I was in shock and that was when I started to get really scared. Finally around 3am the rain stopped enough to where I felt safe going outside to check the damage. This is what I found.

Andy did not get good reception on his phone at the beach so I frantically emailed him hoping to get through at such a early hour. He was finally able to call me back and I told him what happened to his truck. Then I promptly started crying. Andy told me not to worry, that it was just a truck and everything was going to be okay. When I hung up with Andy I realized that I needed to get everything out of his truck. Luckily for me he had removed most everything from his truck knowing he would be out of town and it would just be sitting in our driveway. It took me a little while to get everything out and a little longer to calm down and get ready for bed.

This is what the truck looked like the next morning.

This next picture will show you how close it came to hitting my car. I was so glad that one limb did not take out both of our cars. Unfortunately, however, the limb did trap my car in the driveway and a co-worker had to come and pick me up for work on Friday.As you can see the limb crumpled the cab of the truck and shattered out the back window. My car barely made it out alive.The limb was huge. This shows you how far from Andy's truck it came into the yard.

Friday afternoon our dear friend and Andy's business partner came over and hauled the whole thing down to the street. I did not know that he was coming and I had left the house to go to the grocery store. I was shocked that in the short amount of time that I was gone that he was able to cut it to pieces. It was so nice and I was so thankful that the tree was gone. The best part was that Andy did not have to worry about it when he got home from his trip.

The funny part of the story is that when Andy and I were driving to the beach just days before this happened, we were discussing if he should get a new truck. I think that I pretty much had him convinced that he did not need a new truck and that the few things that were wrong with this truck we could just fix. Well, I guess God had other plans and he made the decision for us. Thankfully we were still in the talking phase and had not put any more money into the truck. I will say that Andy has had some fun picking out a new truck. I will let you know what he gets!!!

love always,

Baby Broome

So I figured I would update you guys on how thing are going with the sweet little one that we are expecting in November, November 18th to be exact. I guess I will start off on how we found out we were pregnant.

Last year Andy and I decided that we were ready to start trying to have a baby. I went off of my medicine and we just waited to see what would happen. In February I went in for a routine physical and blood work. They noticed that I had a mild issue going on with my Thyroid so they started me on some medicine.

Fast forward 2 weeks. On a whim I decided to pick up a pregnancy test at lunch. We had taken a few over the last few months and I just assumed that this one would be negative like all of the other ones. I got home at lunch and took the test and left it in the bathroom. I went about my regular lunchtime routine of letting the dogs out and fixing myself something to eat. When I remembered about the test I went back to check it out. When I saw that it said PREGNANT, I think I went into shock. I just stood there and then started laughing. I really didn't quite believe what I was seeing.

I figured that this is not the kind of news that you tell someone over the phone and since Andy was still at work I decided to wait until we were both home that night to tell him. Do you know how hard that was. I had to go back to my office and pretend like everything was normal when the news I just found out at lunch was so exciting and going to change my life. I made it to the end of the day and quickly ran to Target to get some onesies and then to Hobby Lobby to get an iron on print that I had seen there a few weeks before. I rushed home and got them ironed on the onsies and then took another test to make sure that I had not dreamed the first one!

Andy was outside so I put both tests and the two onesies in the bag and went to find him. I handed him the bag and he pulled out the onesies and the tests and said, "What is this?" I said, "Surprise, we are pregnant!" He was so funny, since I put both tests in there and there were two onesies (Andy loves all things pirate, so one said, Pirate in Training, and the other said Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of milk) and two pregnancy test the first thing he said is, "Are there 2 babies!" I laughed and said no, well that I was not sure and then we panicked. I went the following Friday to the doctor who confirmed that we were indeed pregnant. We told our families that night by giving them a bag with a pacifier in it and they were all really excited.

By the time we got to the baby doctor we told her that we wanted to find out how far along we were and that there was only one baby! She was able to tell us that we were 7 weeks along and that yes, there was only one baby. We were both so excited and it was so neat to get the chance to see our little blob for the first time.

I was so sick from about 6 weeks to almost 14 weeks. It was terrible and I remember thinking at one point that I did not know how I was going to make it from 6 weeks all the way to 12 weeks when they told me I would start feeling better. I did eventually start to feel better and it has been such a blessing.

Andy and I are super excited and totally overwhelmed at the same time. It is crazy to think that we are going to be responsible for another person. I think that in the next few weeks we will get to find out of the little one is a boy or a girl. We are currently 16 weeks along and everything has been going well so far. I will be sure to keep you updated on what we are having in the next few weeks and let you know how we are preparing for our little one!!

At the top are some pictures from one of our ultrasounds. In the last one you can even see the baby's sweet little foot!!

love always,

Name Changes!

I have been waiting for what seems like forever to write this blog post. I have some SUPER EXCITING news to share.

Andy and I are going to become and Uncle and and Aunt! We are so excited and cannot wait to meet the little GIRL!!! Yep, that is right, Danielle and Jeff (really more Danielle than Jeff) are going to have a baby girl and they are due at the end of September! I have always wanted to be an Aunt and considering I don't have brothers or sisters I have to rely on Andy's siblings to make my dreams come true! Here is a cute little picture of Danielle and her little girl. That bump is just so cute!!!

The second exciting news that I want to share is that Andy and I are going to have to change our names twice. First we will become Uncle and Aunt and then we will become DAD and MOM!

That is right people ANDY AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!!!! We are over the moon excited. Currently we are about 14 weeks along and I am feeling much better. I will do and entirely separate post on my first trimester, but I just wanted to put it out there that we are pregnant. Unlike Jeff and Danielle we do not know what we are having yet. Danielle is about 7 weeks ahead of me so that puts her at about 21 weeks. Our due date is November 18, 2011.

It has been so much fun sharing this experience with Danielle. I know that it is going to be some much more fun in the next few months as we both continue walk this path together and I stop being so sick!
I wanted to show a picture of the two of us together with our little ones! We are so cute, aren't we! haha, I sprung this picture on Danielle last time we were at the Broome's house. Neither of us were picture ready but Danielle always looks cute. Me I just look a mess!

So there we have it folks. Two little ones on the way and they will both be here before the end of the year. Yay for babies!!!

love always,

the storm

Sorry I have been away for so long. I have so many stories to update you on but we will start with the night that Andy, Jeff, Emily and I almost died. It was crazy.

Some of you know that Andy, Jeff and Emily ran in the Louisville Marathon and I ran the MINI Marathon (half marathon) on April 30th. (I will save the details for another post!) Well as usual the week before your race you are tapering where you are running less and less and not quite as fast. This is to let your legs rest and be ready for your big race. Well the Monday before the race we decided to meet at the Boulevard and run a slow 3 miles. We decided when we got there that we were all going to run together and thank goodness we did.

On a side note, as Andy and I were pulling into the parking lot we heard on the radio that there was a storm coming but it was in the Greenback community. We even talked about for a minute that we are pretty far away from Greenback and were not worried at all. When we got out of the car we could see dark clouds across the river, but were still not worried. I have run on the Blvd plenty of times where it was raining and storming across the river and it would not rain where I was.

So the 4 of us started our run. We were running slow and chatting the whole time. One of the really great features of the Blvd is that they have every .25 mile marked. As the run progressed we made it to the .75 mile marker and it started to sprinkle, but it was huge rain drops. We kind of laughed to each other that we were going to get wet. We did pass a ton of people at this point that were running the other direction telling us that they decided to turn around, but we continued running. As we made it to the 1 mile marker the lightning across the river was getting really bad and it started pouring, and yet we kept running.

We did not even make it to the 1.25 mile marker when we realized we were in trouble. We ran to this one place on the trail that has some trees that create a canopy. Just about that time a huge bolt of lighting struck and it sounded like it was on top of us. I yelled (because it was raining so hard) at Andy and Emily to not stop under a tree! We decided to keep running away from our cars towards the baseball fields because the fields were closer to where we were and we figured that we could stay in on of the dugouts until the storm passed.

The next .25 miles were pretty scary. As we ran as fast as we could, as the wind pushed up to run faster, with trees and branches cracking and breaking all around us. We had to run from one side of the street to the other away from as many large trees as we could because we were afraid that they would fall on top of us. At one point I looked over at some huge trees and their branches were bent so far over that the top of the tree was almost touching the ground. There were small branches falling all around us and the streets were just one big puddle. As we turned into the baseball field parking lot it started to hail. Luckily for us it was just the size of marbles and not the baseball size stuff that we would see a few days later.

All four of us made it to the dugout that was made of concrete and wood so we felt pretty safe even though the entire field was surrounded by a chain link fence. With the lightning and thunder crashing all around us and the rain coming down in sheets the four of us were at a loss for words. We stayed in the dugout for about 20 minutes or so until the rain stopped and the sun came out.

When we walked towards the parking lot of the baseball fields it was then that we first saw the destruction. Two huge trees crashed down on one of the fences that separated the parking lot and the home next door. We looked over the fence and saw a few more huge trees down in the backyard. When we made it up to the street we were all in shock. One tree had pulled down the power lines and other trees covered driveways. It seemed like none of the trees that fell were small. It seemed like they were all huge 100+ year old trees, blown down like they were toothpicks. As we started back to our cars we got to the canopy where Andy and Emily had stopped and one of those trees had fallen across the path. I was so glad we decided to go on to the dugout.

When we made it to the 1 mile marker we saw one of the largest trees I have even seen on its side blocking the road. Andy walked over to the roots and it was probably about 2 feet taller than he is. It was another massive tree just toppled over.

We made it back to our cars, soaking wet and covered in leaves, but we were safe. We all talked about how lucky we were that none of us were hit by anything. Not one little branch hit a single one of us. Even the hail was not that bad. We were so lucky and were able to get in out cars and drive home with an amazing story to tell. It was a run that I don't think that any of us will ever forget!

love always,

we will always remember

Our dear sweet Meme passed away on Monday. Our family is heartbroken but know that she is in Heaven and watching over all of us. We will forever miss our loving Meme. There are so many memories and stories that I could tell you about this amazing woman, but I don't know where to begin. Andy and I loved her more than words can ever express and we deeply miss her.

A celebration of life for Mrs. Jane Yancey will be held this Saturday, April 23rd, 2011 at Erin Presbyterian Church. The receiving of friends will be from 1pm to 3pm and the service will be held at 3:30.

Meme, we will forever love you and cherish the time we had with you.

love always,

Please Pray!

I am so sorry that it has been such a long time. Thing have been all over the place these last few weeks. I am asking a HUGE favor from all of you who read this blog. I am asking you to pray for our sweet Meme. As I mentioned here that our sweet Meme (Jane) fell last August and broke her hip (and arm). The above picture was taken while she was recovering from that hip surgery. Well in early January she was not feeling well and became dizzy and fell again. This time breaking her other hip. This time things did not go as smoothly for her. There were some complications with blood work and they just left her not feeling well. She was able to have the surgery and transfer to a rehab facility and began to regain her strength. Last Monday she was released from the rehab facility to come home. This is where things seemed to fall apart. Without getting to into what is currently going on with her I will say that by Friday she was readmitted to the hospital. The doctors are uncertain about what is going on with her, but we are all in a state of shock and would really appreciate your prayers. Meme celebrated her 83rd birthday last Tuesday (the day after she came home.)
So, if you could, please pray for Meme to regain her strength and for her doctors to figure out what exactly is going on with her. We would love to have our Meme back at home soon.

Thank you all so much and Meme, we love you more than you will ever know.

love always,

Famous Mom!

That's right, my mom is famous!


She is in the West Side Shopper-News today talking about what a GREAT job she has done over the years as the Greenway Coordinator for the City of Knoxville! I am so proud of my mom. She is so passionate about her work and has really done some amazing projects that have benefited the city. The city is going to lose a wonderful person when she retires later this fall. I love you mom and could not be more proud! You are amazing!!!

To read the article please go here.

love always,

a concert

So back in December Jeff, Andy, Emily and myself took off on a Tuesday afternoon and headed on over to Nashville for a concert. Andy and I were both pretty exhausted and the long drive over for the concert and the long drive home did not sound like a great time. We were totally wrong. We had a great time on both the drive there and on the way home, but the concert was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!
This is where we were headed to the Bridgestone Arena. Please note Emily is on the phone WORKING!!!!! and please ignore that I look like a giant. Not really fair that Emily is a shorty!

Andy and I waiting for his sister outside the arena.

The whole crew in the arena. We did not have the best seats but really it did not matter because...

when this guy came out the whole thing changed. GARTH BROOKS!!! He was unbelievable. He did about a million concerts in like 9 days or something and we were going to one of the last ones and it was the first of two he was performing that day. We all agreed that we were not expecting much, but we were blown away. Garth knows how to put on a show and how to make everyone in the arena feel important. He sang a ton of his old songs and Emily, Jeff and I sang our little hearts out right along with him. (Andy does not sing.)

Here he is again. Sweating up a storm.

Then this little lady came on out to sing with Mr. Brooks aka her husband.

She was equally impressive and while Garth was playing the guitar for one of her songs she walked passed him and gave him a little love pat on the tush. It was so sweet. These two were so great!

I really cannot explain how awesome this concert was. I am so glad that I was able to witness it. I hope that once his children are older that he goes back on the road because everyone needs to see him live. There is just nothing like it. He was also able to raise a ton of money for the Nashville flood victims.

All in all it was a great trip and I am so glad I did not pass it up!

love always

Hippy

This lovely little lady fell a couple of months ago and broke her hip and her arm. The following pictures were taken while she was recovering at a local rehab facility (that we L.O.V.E.D) when the whole family went to visit her for a family dinner. The good news is that she made a great recovery and was able to be home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Shortly after the entire family was in town for Christmas she got pneumonia and then fell again. When she fell she broke her other hip and has been in the hospital since the fall. She has had some complecations but we hope that they have things figured out and she is on the mend. We would really appreciate prayers for her. She is one tough lady but this will be a long recovery.

We love you so much Meme and are so happy that you are doing better. We can't wait to see you back on your feet!!

love always,