A great day after all.

Today started out like any other day...shower, run to work (a little late as usual)

worked all day

thought about the million things I need to do like:

catch up on my bible reading...

actually work out (I always feel the need-yet never seem to actually make the time for it!)...

purchase our train tickets for our European trip...

find the time to wait around on hold a million years so I can speak with a Bally's agent who will

h o p e f u l l y

f i n a l l y

a c t u a l l y

cancel my contract (since I thought I did three months ago and yet they just keep taking money from my account each month)...

get some pictures from Mary Faith and post all about my weekend trip to Charleston SC with my baby sister Mare Mare...

when...

wait for it...

here is where it gets good...

things started looking up.

On the way home from work this evening...

I picked up the new Imogen Heap cd at Target...

Bryers ice cream was on sale at Kroger for $2.27 each...

and I saw a rainbow when I was almost home.

I sure do love my life!

A link to a giveaway!

So I just got a link to a blog that is having a great giveaway for some adorable items!! I get an extra entry if I post about it so I had to do a little post to be sure that I get every entry that I could because I want to win!! (The prizes are great!! Yes...I said prizes as in more than one!!) So please click on the link and take a look (you might want to try for a chance at winning too!)

Traveling Shoes

I love leaving my toes
f r e e
to
w i g g l e
and get plenty of air in flip flops.

In college I was known to wear my flip flops year round even. This is GA so it isn't like it gets super cold-but we were in the North Georgia mountains so we could sometimes get snow!! I end up wearing these wonderful, even if germ filled, shoes all the time!! -I just read a disgusting article about how full of germs these things can get-oh well, I've survived this long wearing them!!- I don't know why I love them so much, but I do!

However, for our upcoming European trip (Germany, Austria & Italy-I think we have finally decided on a basic schedule!!) I knew I would need something with a bit more support since we are l i t e r a l l y backpacking and need to be able to fit everything we will need into one backpack!!

(Which I then have to carry-therefore I will be packing extremely light!!)

Meanwhile I still want some airflow since it should still be quite warm in Italy, but we will be doing some hiking in Germany & Austria as well and need to be sure that our feet get all the support and protection needed. (I have a pair of Chaco's that I absolutely adore that my sister gave me last year, but I needed something that covered by toes since I read that is mandatory for entry into the churches in Europe!!)

In the search for the perfect pair of travel shoes I researched several different types/brands that were suggested online. I couldn't believe how expensive everything is!! I buy things on the C H E A P-these prices where out-of-this-world expensive sounding to me!! We did shopping over several evenings last week & afternoons on the weekend and finally found a shoe that fit the bill for us. It was still the

m o s t $ $ $ m o n e y
I have
e v e r
spent on a pair of shoes

(sandals really) but I am extremely excited about them and I think the will be perfect for the job-and I will still be able to use them in the future since they are really quite cute I think! (In fact, we will be wearing them in some before we leave...our Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip-with river rafting hopefully in the plans-sounds like a perfect time to see what they can handle!!) Kevin and I both ended up with Keen's and I already wore mine to work one day to start the wearing in process! I still love them so far!!

(Also, here are a few pictures I found on my camera from our family day a couple weekends ago-I guess I had more pictures on my camera then I thought!!)

Dreams

Dreams....This word contains so much, so many meanings...our sleep thoughts...our hopes for the future...such a HUGE word when it comes to all that it encompasses.

I am a big dreamer, I always have been. I remember as a little girl drifting off to dreamland using my imagination to dream up wonderful things for my future. I have always loved weddings, travel, decorating, sewing & crafting, so many things. So I would dream up these a d v e n t u r e o u s, world covering trips, design an amazing room, or create a breathtaking wedding dress as I fell asleep each night. (Now that I am older, I am normally too exhausted to dream up anything as I am falling to sleep. Within a few moments of my head hitting my pillow I am already heading toward the dreamworld of sleep!)

Whenever I remember my dreams (from the dreamworld of sleep) they are normally extremely weird, however, sometimes I will have a wonderful dream. The dream feels so real in the moment and is beautiful in every way...that is until I wake up and realize it was all just a dream. I had a wonderful dream a few nights ago that

I
was
pregnant.

When the doctor told me I didn't believe him due to the fact that Aunt Flo had just been here for a visit, so it was impossible (funny how real it feels, so reality came right into the dreamworld) but the doctor said I was truly pregnant and I was so excited. But, alas

I
woke
up

and realized that it was all a dream.

I feel like God has really given me a TON of strength and patience in this area. Of coarse I hope and dream that it could happen each month, but I realize that my body doesn't work properly and it would truly take a miracle. I am also very content with having Kevin and me time and me time right now. We are taking advantage of every opportunity to get away, travel, and do all sorts of fun things that are not nearly as easy once you have kids. But still, it was wonderful to have the dream. I know why I had it...it seems like EVERYONE I know has recently had a baby or are pregnant right now.

I am truly happy for my friends and I rejoice with them as they find out they are pregnant and about to welcome a new life into the world. I would

NEVER
EVER

want any of them to go through what I am, but it is still harder than I like to admit to myself to see it everywhere around me. All the joy and excitement, the overflowing love & nerves as they are starting out on this journey-whether it be their first child or not-each moment is so precious and miraculous.

I recently read an article that said that being pregnant and having lots of children is a "trend" right now. What? How can having babies be a trend? Having babies is one of those beautiful miracles of everyday life. Like how our bodies function, when working properly, to make our daily existance possible. For example: my brain is telling my fingers what to do to make typing this blog second nature. It just happens naturally (well, the typing knowledge comes as second nature because my dad insisited we know how to type at an early age

asdf jkl;
asdf jkl;

the joys of learing typing!!) but the ability to learn that comes from this amazing body and brain that God created.

So why is it that sometimes our bodies don't work properly? Why is it that my sister has to take insulin and why must she suffer from blackouts and seizures. Why doesn't my reproductive system work like it should. Why do some of us have to deal with skin that is prone to acne? (Even passed those horrible teen and preteen years when you think you are going to die-it doesn't really get easier when you are an adult and still have that mini Mount Everest appear on your face or body!) (I know that can seem like such a miniscule thing in the scheme of life-there are so many worse problems out there-but acne can really change the way you feel about yourself and the way the world looks at you-which whether you want to admit it our not-can really have a huge effect on your view of yourself as well!)

I don't think I will ever understand why these things happen, but I hope that I am always able to see that no matter happens, whatever we are going through, God loves us and cares for us. Our daily lives are important to Him. He knows what we are going through and feels it with us, and is there to comfort us and give us strength along the way. So whether we are in a time of mourning or celebration, suffering or rejoicing, crying or laughing, God is always there and gives us hope for each moment and each step along the way as we strive to make it to our dreams. I think God gives us the ability to dream so that there is always something more to look forward to.

What a great God we have!

So in the end, no matter what we are going through right now, we are able to dream about something more-whatever that dream may be-and look forward to what the future may hold for us...or if we are living that dream at this moment, we are able to appreciate it because of all that we went through along the way to get to that dream!

Family Night

Mom and Dad

Kelsey, Emilee, Bethany & Mary Faith
(aka: Kels, me, Betsy & Mare Mare)

(Canaan and Zion decided to take me for a spin in their wagon!)

The entire family was in town this weekend so Mom put together a dinner and Welcome Home party for Andy on Sunday for the family. Dane & Ellen (Andy's parents) and Micki, Barbara & Larry (Kevin's parents and Grandma) were also able to come. It was nice to spend the evening visiting with everyone. We got some family pictures (but my camera was only used for some fun shots-not the full family photo-so that is what you get to see!!) and ended the night with a game of Quelf. Kevin and I had never played it before, and it was soooo much fun. What a crazy game!! Kevin won, so I am sure he won't mind playing again sometime! (Plus, I think he really enjoyed it-I don't think he would want to play it with someone he didn't really know very well, but with family it was a blast!!)

Playing Quelf-at this point mom is a scuba diver & Kevin can't use his hands-and yet he still wins!! Too bad I didn't have the camera out for Kelsey's air drums (with kitchen utencils) and all the hand holding going on for awhile-this really is a CRAZY game!!

I have been stressing for the past few weeks while I try to make a decision on what to do on our trip to Europe this Fall. Whenever a lot of money is involved I get stressed! I think we have finally decided on concentrating our time seeing family in Germany and then doing the whole "touristy" trip around Italy. Kev and I both would love to see Greece, but I just don't think that this would fit into the schedule this time. (Actually I REALLY want to see EVERYTHING, (Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, etc. etc.) but I don't want to overwhelm our schedule-this is our vacation afterall-so I want to be able to relax!!) I am sure it will be wonderful whatever we decide! (I mean it is a trip to EUROPE-it will be awesome!!!)

steaming, sewing, sunning and stressing

Busy little me finally found some time to sew last week and I have some pictures to show that it actually did happen!! (This is the quilt-a-long nine patch I startedFOREVER ago. I didn't do as many squares because I made mine a baby size quilt, but I love how it turned out! Now we will see if I ever get around to quilting it!!)Thursday night I borrowed a steamer from a co-worker and fixed the new curtains in our bedroom. I had purchased new brown curtains and some new curtain rods and set them up a couple weeks ago, but you aren't supossed to iron them, so I wasn't too pleased with all the fold lines in them! Thankfully, Deshei let me borrow her steamer and they look so much better, as you can see! (The quilt on my bed is from my dad's side of the family and I am trying to decide if I want to figure out a way to hang it as a "headboard" in our room since we don't have a king size headboard. I don't really know how to do that, but I am sure I could find a way online to safely get that hung that wouldn't harm the quilt and would let it be on display! It is so beautiful!)Saturday I got to meet little Landon Thomas Hughes...he is sooooo adorable!! I got to hold him and he was so good! I was up at the pool in my friend Amanda's neighborhood (because another friend of mine lives there as well and we had decided to work on getting a little color on our scary white skin!!) and so I did a horrible thing and called Amanda while I was there to see if we could stop by...so rude, but I couldn't help it since I am hardly ever in the area and I was dying to see the new little addition to the Hughes family! Amanda is such a doll-of course she said we could stop by and interrupt there Saturday afternoon with an improptu visit! I love that adorable little family!!

Sunday I didn't really get ANYTHING done because I was distracted by the fact that mom called me around 10:45 to say the Betsy was at the ER! She had a seizure (grand mal) and so they kept her there what seemed like all day as we waited to hear what the Dr. said. (Turns out all they did for now was up her meds and tell her to see her Neurologist. The first appt. they had available was in two weeks, so ABC&Z are up here in N. GA again visiting with family since Andy is home from Afghanistan!!) I was strong for mom, but I couldn't get anything done all day, so I was more affected than I thought!! Having your big sister in the ER is VERY distracting!! I am so glad that she is up here and can't wait to see her...which reminds me...when am I going to see you B? What are you doing tonight?

My back has been hurting all week and I don't know if it is just a combination of all the sewing I did over the weekend, the stress from Betsy being in the ER and the hiking I did or what but I have had to even resort to taking some Tylenol two days in a row just so I could function! (I HATE taking drugs and ALWAYS try everything else first!!) Kevin has been such a dear and has given me a massage every night to help me try to sleep! I hope this isn't from the new bed because this is it, we already did our one trade in!!