I'm so foolish to believe that I can escape Your love. For my feet were close to slipping, You spoke to my heart in time. You have promised, so I do believe. You won't forget this wandering child.
-So Close by Bethany Dillon

filling out our homestudy application! Oh, we got our contracts for AGCI in the mail today with our orientation packet. Now, to make friends with a notary. :)

Krankie's for a staff meeting?? That's awesome!

I am excited about the new shirts we're getting ready to have printed up! They're fun colors too!

Dan Thai Jazz Bistro

So, we had such a fun time on our anniversary date tonight! We went to High Point to hear live jazz and eat Thai food at the SAME place! They even pointed us out and had everyone tell us Happy Anniversary! Anyway, you gotta go check this place out. The food is fantastic and the music is crazy good! Tonight we heard the Joe Robinson quartet. I of course had to take pictures to share! Oh, here's the website if you decide to go. It's really easy to get to and it's on Eastchester Drive. http://www.danthaijazzbistro.com/





Can you tell we're excited to go to dinner without a preschooler?


Oooh, my jasmine tea.


Yummy vegetable spring rolls!

Brian's Chicken Thai Fried Rice

My Yellow Curry with Chicken


Look at our cute desert! Those are fried bananas on the sides by the way.


The Joe Robinson Quarter



Happy Anniversary to us!

Our 6th Anniversary

I seriously can't believe that today 6 years ago right around this time (3pm) we were getting married! It feels like we've been married a long time...probably because we've known each other a long time. :) In case you didn't know we met in 7th grade and became great friends. All through high school and college we loved spending time together. Little did we know that God was planning for us to spend the rest of our lives together! We started dating right after we graduated college in 2003, he proposed to me at a Youth Specialties conference in Charlotte in late October of the same year, and then we got married the very next March! Some people said we'd never get it all together by then. We didn't care. We just wanted to be married. And it did come together and we had a beautiful wedding with our family and friends.

Brian is the most perfect person for me. Not only did he meet my preliminary "list" of traits a guy was supposed to have that I probably created when I was 13: He's funny, plays the guitar, is a follower of Jesus, and loves people, but he also exceeds my "list" in so many ways. He is the most forgiving person I have met. He loves so unconditionally. He makes me laugh so much and brings joy to my day. He even does crazy things for me that I totally don't deserve! He lets me use a heating blanket (on my side) and turns the ceiling fan off even though he's practically sweating! He is taking me to eat Thai food for dinner even though he has had a couple bad experiences at Thai restaurants. He always does the dishes because he knows that I hate doing them. He NEVER complains when I leave my shoes scattered in the floor. He listens to Spanish music and tries REALLY hard to understand and learn when I speak in Spanish to him. Oh my, I really could go on but I'd rather go spend time with him. :)

It's a week away!!

The 2nd Rummage Sale is a week away everybody! Even if you don't live close to the Davidson Cty/Forsyth Cty. border in Arcadia you can post about our sale to people that do! Please tell them we are having a huge sale with lots of furniture, toys, baby items, etc. from 8-2pm @ The River Church on March 13th!http://ping.fm/tjchC

At the adoption expo this morning I got to talk to someone about social media. He said, "you need to use ping.fm!" So I'm trying it out to combine all my updating!

Okay, today I may have found the answer to my social networking problems!

All I need

All I need is You Lord,
is you Lord,
All I need is You.

All I need is You. Nothing else satisfies, suffices, comes through, pursues, and loves me like You.
I didn't get to go to church this morning because Isabel is sick. Poor baby has a fever of 101.1. She's a trooper though but finally admitted that she needed to rest. Well Brian went this morning and told me they sang "All I need is You" by Hillsong United. I've loved that song for a while but I had forgotten about it till he mentioned it again. Now I can't get it out of my head and I'm glad. :)

I miss Ellie

So sometimes I really miss our sweet little pomeranian, Ellie. We had to give her away to another family shortly after Isabel was born. Ellie, like most pomeranians apparently, did not like babies. She would intentionally use the bathroom in Isabel's floor next to her crib and she would not walk outside if Isabel was with me (which was all of the time). We knew she needed a family without young kids but sometimes I see a little pomeranian or a picture of one and it makes me miss her sweet little face. :) The picture here isn't Ellie but it looks just like her! I didn't have any pics of her on this computer. Her new family has a nice yard and wanted a new sweet dog to love after their dog had passed away. So, I know she has a good home....but Brian says that when we retire we can get another one! hehe :)

Our baby is growing up!

Glasses!

So, the doctor' appointment went well today. She was calm for the doctor...not so calm or the ladies afterwards but she was also tired by then. Anyway, the doctor checked her eyes and said they are very healthy but he noticed exotropia (when one or both eyes turn the wrong way). Praise God that her's is due to a pretty strong case of farsightedness. He said that all children have slight farsightedness but they compensate for it and it's no big deal. However, her's is 4 times that of a child her age and that explains why her eye is trying so hard to compensate and why it is turning inward. If it weren't because of farsightedness it would have indicated a problem with the actual alignment of her eye and she would have needed eye muscle surgery. So, we are so thankful that was not the diagnosis! The doctor said that she will always need glasses to correct her vision. So, she picked out a little red pair today and we ordered them! The funny thing is that while we were there Brian started telling the doctor about how he had to wear a patch when he was really little. The doctor asked him to switch seats w/ Isabel and he looked and said, "yep, you're farsighted too but you're getting older now and your eyes aren't going to be able to keep on compensating at the same rate. You should probably get glasses soon!" Haha. So, looks like all of us will have glasses now!

Pediatric Opthamologist Visit

Today we are taking Isabel to the pediatric opthamologist in Greensboro. For a few months now we have noticed that her left eye seems to turn in just a little bit. When she is tired we notice it more. So we took her to her pediatrician and she said that it appears that her left eye muscle is not as developed as the right. She recommended that we take her to a specialist and that is where we are headed today. So, I wanna ask you to pray for Isabel and her visit. She is very nervous about seeing a new doctor. She loves Dr. Hoyle (her pediatrician) sooo much and does not like to see anyone but her! So, we told her that Dr. Hoyle knows this new doctor and even our friend Meredith knows him too and they both said he is very nice. Even last night though she was coming up with reasons not to go. We also don't want her to be self-conscious or feel weird about her eye so would you pray that too?

Alright, thanks guys! We'll let you know how it goes!

Quoteable Quotes from Isabel

"We don't eat chickens from the farm because they are animals but we can eat chickens from the store."

"The grocery store has two lobsters. One is red. One is brown because he is dirty."

"This place doesn't have lobsters but Lowes does."

"I hope you dream about bunny rabbits... and steak" (to her daddy)

Again to her daddy: "Your burp smelled like a sock."

"Mommy, I love you. You're very talented."

"Mommy, you are talented at making an egg."

"Daddy, you're talented at jumping."

The Battle for the Crock Pot

Alright y'all...so I went out and bought a crock pot. I was so excited. It was quite a battle though. I'm pretty sure Satan did not want me buying that thing...I know you might think that sounds crazy but I know it's true because we are doing this to save money and pay off debt. We are doing it to be healthier and intentional about what we eat and where our money is going. So let me tell you how Battle for the Crock Pot went down.

Last week I saw that this crock pot was on sale for a great price at Target. It was one of those digital ones that you can set to stay on for a certain number of hours. It was normally like $40 something but it was on sale for $29.99. Well, I waited till pay day and was close to the Target by the Grande movie theater so we stopped there. Apparently, everyone else wanted that crockpot too. It was gone.

Later that day I headed out to our Target to get said crock pot. I found it with several others right under 2 big SALE signs. Isabel and I hauled the thing up to the counter. It rang up as $47.99! I was like, "whoa there...that's on sale." So, the lady tried to get several people to help her check the price. No one would. Finally, she gets someone and they say, "well, it doesn't ring up as on sale...sorry." So, I said, "Alright, I'm taking it back over there and finding something else." Off we went back to the kitchen section. As I started looking more carefully past the giant sale sign I realized that all of the sale crock pots were actually sold out and people had placed other ones in the wrong section. Anyways, I picked out a perfectly good $24.99 non digital crock pot and headed back to the counter. At this point, Isabel was quickly losing interest so we paid and headed home.

Well, I was excited and had picked out a recipe to make that my friend Charity had sent me! I opened up the box which was a chore and pulled the thing out. I noticed that inside the pot there seemed to be burned spots. I thought, "well, maybe that's just what the metal looks like...it is $24.99." Then I pulled the lid and cardboard stuff off the actual pot. There was food y'all. Dried up food and/or rust on the side of the pot. It was disgusting. Orange crusty chili-esque food. So, I shoved that puppy back in the box and yep, headed back to Target the next day. Don't worry I didn't make Isabel go back the same day.

So, Target the next day all three of us headed to the exchange counter. The lady was like, "that's disgusting...go get yourself another pot." We went back to the Kitchen Aisle and found two more boxes like the one I had bought. One was almost completely crushed on one side. Decided against that one. The other one still had pieces of wrapping paper taped to the top. For real. I was like, "Brian I don't even care. I am getting a crock pot today!" So, we took it to the counter and they let us open it up and examine it. Perfectly clean. We brought it home.

Tomorrow I am making that dish in it. I'm hoping it doesn't explode in my kitchen. :)