Happy Birthday Boo!

Boo Bear-
It's your birthday weekend! You love birthdays...you are much like mommy in that way. Today is your party and right now I am watching you play Candy Land with all 4 pieces all by yourself. You blow my mind. You crack yourself up with silly phrases and knock-knock jokes and I think you grow 2 inches each night! Yesterday you had another hit off the pitcher at Tee-Ball and you were so thrilled with yourself. Your timing is getting better and I am so proud of you. You didn't realize this, but another little boy on your team was there with his Pepa and he was calling out his name while waiting to bat...it reminded me that your Pepa would probably be so proud of you too...he's probably got a front row seat from Heaven.
This is an exciting year for you, as you are getting a little brother in about 2 1/2 months. You keep asking me when he's going to get here, but most days you just want to feel him kicking in my belly. You tell me how much help you are going to be when baby comes. You say you want to dress and feed him and that you will rock him in the rocking chair...I love your willingness and attitude about it. :)
You love preschool and your teachers love you. You are very smart and doing things well beyond your age already. Daddy and I are impressed. You are enjoying playing outside in our backyard with all your sports balls, particularly while Daddy cooks on the grill and you are absolutely in love with the new umbrella that sits on your picnic table! It's awesome. Most days you just want to eat outside now...which cracks us up.
Last weekend you and Grandma planted flowers together and you have been diligent about watering them each day. You enjoy getting the mail and you totally love Tuesdays, because that's when the garbage man comes. You are strong enough to carry the recycle bin down to the street and you enjoy your "chore" of taking the cans and plastics to the bin. You are an enormous help to me.
I can't even begin to explain what a joy you are to me. You are strong-willed and want your way most days, so I stay on my toes for new ways to keep you grounded and engaged. Your food choices are getting better and with a little coaxing still you have pretty much learned I ain't the short order cook. The other night after dinner you and I sat at the breakfast nook and just talked...I have asked the Lord to write that memory on my heart forever. It was a joy.
I love you more than I will even begin to comprehend or write down! But always know there is someone who loves you more and deeper than Daddy or I ever can and that's the Lord! You know this fact already, becuase we talk about it often and I hope that one day when the Lord knocks on your heart you will be ready to accept Him.
I love you!

--Mommy

March 2008

I have been meaning to post these, and I thought since we are leaving for vacation tomorrow, I would clean my camera disk off...so here goes...

Here is grandma and Boo in his new TENT! That would be the one his Aunt She-She MADE him! Cool huh???

Here are Boo and Daddy and the Chick-Fil-A COW! We were at the Easter Egg Hunt at our church and the cow was nice enough to come too. :)

Here is Boo on Easter Sunday...playing with the eggs, which is the norm...he made Grandma and I hide the eggs about 8 times and even Grandma got to help find them! :)

And here we are at church on Sunday...Last year with just three of us!!!
Enjoy!

Off to the beach for a little R&R!

--Karen

Completely His?

Has anyone out there read Shannon Etheridge's Completely His? I purchased it a while back and while I was sick a few weeks back I decided to pick it up. I gotta be honest...I couldn't get through the first chapter!!! Her words were jumping off the page at me, but I couldn't swallow them at all. I think, at first, it shocked me...if you have read the first chapter then you will know what I am talking about. It brought me to recognize more fully my "burning bush" experience, but in my heart and mind this is what I was thinking...
God, normally when you lead me to something you are (obviously) teaching me something through it, and honestly, (as if I couldn't be more honest with HIM!), I am not ready for what you want to teach me through this.
Have you ever thought that? Have you ever said that - I am not ready for what you have to teach me through this??? I explained it to my husband, because I was really shaken up by the things my mind was trying to wrap around. Here's what I said to my husband...
As a mom, and like most parents, I am in a protection mode when it comes to our son. "Don't run toward the street!" (a car could hit him), "NO, you can't go into the boy's bathroom, because mommy can't go in there and you have to go into the girl's bathroom, even though you desperately want to prove to me how big you are" (there could be someone waiting in there to snatch him and well, let's just stop our minds there!). I KNOW! I KNOW!
If you are one of my best girl friends reading this, or even remotely know me, you are saying exactly what I have already said to myself...I am OFTEN motivated by, dare I say it, FEAR! It's the fear of the unknown, like what or who might be lurking in that bathroom (but gracious alive, he's not even 4 yet!), and then it's the instinct to want to protect your child.
I can reason it in my mind like the best of them, okay. I can argue with the Lord all I want, but ultimately my protection won't be enough. God, the ultimate protector, will prevail. And gracious, if you just stumbled on me and my life, you will know that I know that sometimes things, not so great things, happen to very good people - friends and family - people we love and care about. THIS IS NOT A NEW CONCEPT TO ME! I guess, right now, I am learning to turn over even more of myself. My control freak grip gets tighter and tighter and my mind spins in circles and yet I hear the Lord's comforting words and I have to be intentional about accepting them. It's about turning off Satan's words in my head too...the constant bad thoughts that something could happen, and going back to the book, would I be like that family and trust and forgive so easily. I want to be that person, that family, but then I say..."Don't test me on it, Lord!"
If anyone out there has read the book, I would be interested in knowing your thoughts.

More Baseball Fun

To appease the family...
Can you resist this cutie face? I think not!!!!!!!!

Here he is showing off his new bat and stance...

Here he shows me how he swings hard...

At the plate...

He has his first real game this week, so he is so excited. He got his uniform - shirt, hat and socks - and is thrilled about wearing them! Grandma is coming up to see him play!! YIPPIE! It's going to be a busy spring.

Baseball Practice

Here is Boo enjoying one of his first practices as a Rookie Brave:

Nice stance.

Here is Coach Eric helping Boo

Here he is on 1st Base:

And here is on 3rd base! That would be the corner of Jeremy to the left and that would be Boo waving and yelling, what? Oh yeah, he was yelling, HI MOM!!!!! (The whole Bill Cosby syndrome - the dads teach them all they know about the sport and the first chance the boy gets when he scores or does something great, he says "Hey Mom!")

Snow Day #2

Finally getting around to downloading my pictures - all 100 plus of them! Some are from preschool, but most are from Snow Day and Baseball! So the next few posts will be full of fun pictures.

Snow Day #2 happened the day after we moved into our house!!! I don't know how we were so lucky, but honestly, it was tons of fun!

Enjoy! This is Boo excited about the SNOW! :)

As you can see...it's enough to make some snowballs!

Here is Boo getting ready to get a big one and throw it at me!

Here is what our neighborhood looked like from our driveway! Beautiful!

God is Here

What an incredible day of worship...

There is a sweet anointing in this sanctuary
there is a stillness in the atmosphere;
come and lay down the burdens you have carried
for in the sanctuary, God is here.

He is here
He is here to break the yoke and lift the heavy burden.
He is here
He is here to heal the hopeless heart and bless the broken.

Oh come and lay down the burdens you have carried
for in this sanctuary, God is here.

Speak to me Lord, speak to me Lord.
Speak to me Lord, speak to me Lord.

Speak Lord, speak Lord.
Speak Lord, speak Lord.
Music by Martha Munizzi

After hearing our choir worship the Lord, you can't deny that fact that God is Here! He was and continues to be in that sanctuary, despite the differences and circumstances that can occur in any church. The pastor summed up the worship time with a lesson on Unity...could it get any better? I didn't think so. I was having a moment this morning too...so having fantastic worship and a great sermon, well, there just wasn't anything I needed more.
Hope you had a worship-filled Sunday!

--Karen

First year gone by...

It seems like so much time has passed and then at the same time it seems like it was yesterday that I received the phone call from my Dad. "He's gone, Karen." This day a year ago was a sad day for our family. My grandfather's battle with cancer ended and in the same second he was present with our Almighty God. I ponder what that moment was like for him, knowing I won't know fully till I arrive there myself. It was sad telling my little man, who was just shy of 3 then...it was still sad praying and talking with him tonight as we both cried and remembered how much Pepaw loved him. Oh, boy, was I ever grateful for those trips that we took to see him...Boo...his only great grandson. Pepaw certainly loved that little man. I asked Boo if he would tell his little brother about his Pepaw...he agreed he would.
The pain isn't there any longer, but the memories and the loss still grow. From experience I know the loss will get less difficult as the years pass and I pray the memories grow by leaps and bounds.
God proved Himself faithful through those days leading up to his memorial service. It was a beautiful ceremony, with family and baseball friends speaking about what kind of man and baseball player he was. The video tribute was incredible! I just watched it and I still love all the pictures that were chosen for it.
It's probably a hard day for my family still, so at this time I pray for God's all-surpassing peace to overwhelm them all. God's perfect plan is still in order and effect and we need to continue to turn to Him during the rough patches that still lie ahead.

If you would like to read my tribute to him, please read My Grandfather.
Love,
Karen

Internet Connection - Check, Check

HELLO!!!!
We finally got our Internet connection hooked up at the new house...whew...I was going through some withdrawl!
We are settled in the house and loving every minute of it...even the bills that come with it. When you have waited as long as I have to own a home, at this point, you revel and thank God for everything! :)
Boo is loving his room and his bonus room - notice I said it was his bonus room! My mom made us some drapes for the dining room, and they are cuteness. The kitchen looks great and most nights I feel like Rachel Ray in my gourmet kitchen! It's a dream come true. The nursery is the only room really uncompleted, with items and furniture in no order and the walls haven't been painted yet...but we do know what color they will be painted.....drum roll please...

BLUE! We are having another boy and we are excited. Boo was thrilled and said that was what he always wanted...and God heard his prayer. Isn't that sweet? Yeah, at that moment I felt horrible that I had been calling it "she" for the last 6 weeks. My blood pressure is staying down and the specialist is thrilled with that. I even got a 3-D sonogram and it was pretty cool too...they said the 20 week appointment will be so much more clear. Can't wait!

I hope everyone is doing well and I hope to get around to visit you all soon...I miss my bloggy friends!

Love,
Karen

It's True--It's Snowed!

I can hardly believe it myself! It really did snow north of Atlanta yesterday afternoon/evening and this morning it is just a memory that has melted away thanks to the rain...ahh, however it was nice while it lasted.

Do you see the "ooo-ing" in his face? He was very excited!

On to other news, the first of my two sisters-in-law had their ultrasound yesterday, so we are getting a new....NEPHEW! This makes the 3 Greer kids five for five in the boy department...I tell you somebody has got to get a girl! My other sister-in-law has her ultrasoud in a few weeks and then me...we will see what happens.

Enjoy the winter weather, wherever you are!