Bedtime Prayers

Ed and I have always bragged about how well Mary Addison goes to bed. Be it naps or bedtime, we simply put her in the bed, turn off the lights, turn on the sound machine, and close the door. On Friday of last week, however, something snapped. She was petrified to go to bed, didn't want the lights out, didn't want us to leave, etc. She has been having really bad dreams for about 6 months, but she has always just gone right back to sleep. We don't know if that is what is causing her to be fearful, or what. The past two nights she has slept with a lamp (a very bright lamp)on. Tonight, I started the bedtime process at 7:30. At 8:15 she was still awake. I had left the room with her in tears and waited for about 15 minutes while she cried a river. I went back in and read her some books, leaving the room again with her crying. I shut the door and started down the stairs when I just felt the need to pray for her to calm down and find peace and comfort in her room. I had not been praying for 15 seconds when the crying stopped. I continued to pray for about 5 minutes, never again hearing a whimper. It's been 15 minutes and I have yet to hear a sound. Thank you, Lord, for answering prayers so quickly, and in such a tangible way. If only we would ask more often and expect Him to answer!

Faith Like a Child

My kids are sick...again. As we sat at the supper table and asked God to bless our food, I also asked for God to help make Mary Addison feel better. When we said, "Amen", Mary Addison voiced her confusion, "I still sick Mommy!" She expected God to heal her immediately. Oh that we would have that kind of faith. I realize more and more lately how much I put God in a box; I don't expect Him to do things as miraculously as He can. God is challenging me to have faith like a child...and He's doing it through my 2 year old.

I loved you before I knew you

I was looking at pictures of the twins that my brother and sister-in-law have been trying to adopt for 3 years this morning...and my heart ached. How ironic that my heart can ache for two little boys that I have only spent a few hours with. It's pretty cool that God can place in our hearts a love so strong for people we don't even know. I loved both of my girls long before they were born. I can't wait to get my hands on all of the babies that are soon to be born in our playgroup. I long for guidance and direction from my mother-in-law, though she died long before Ed and I even knew one another. I can't wait to meet my aunt, who died when she was a mere 8 months old. It just serves as a reminder that people and relationships matter...and that is where we need to spend our time and energy.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Yesterday, Mary Addison was playing with a coaster she had made for her Daddy for Father's Day. This hodge podge of colors is one of her proudest momentos at this point in her life. Yesterday, she presented it to me and said, "Look Mommy, it's like the Aurora Borealis!". She had learned about this phenomenon on Little Einsteins, but the fact that she made such a connection "WOWED" me! It was a proud moment!

Our 4th of July Adventures

Based off Ed's work schedule, our summer vacations are usually around the 4th of July, which has put us celebrating the holiday in some pretty neat places. Some of our adventures have included: Lake Wylie (on a boat filled with friends), a ballfield in New Hampshire, a missionary "compound" in Peru, and San Diego Harbor. That being the case, I have it in my head that we have to travel for this holiday. When this 4th was growing closer and we had no plans, Ed and I started contemplating a good trip that wasn't miserably far nor miserably expensive.

We ended up traveling to Cleveland, Tennessee, where Ed's cousin lives. Though the drive was a lot longer than anticipated (4 1/2 hours while potty training a 2 year old turns into a 6 hour trip), we finally arrived Friday around 2. We had a great weekend eating out, hanging out at the pool, and catching up. On Saturday morning, Ed and I left the girls with his cousin and went on a whitewater rafting adventure down the Ocoee River. We had a blast; I love dates that don't involve dinner and a movie! We headed to Chattanooga that evening, where we ate grilled oysters (yummy) and watched an incredible fireworks show over the Tennessee River. Both Raylie and Mary Addison did great with the fireworks. I kept trying to cover Raylie's ears while she tried to pull away; Mary Addison wouldn't watch them UNLESS her ears were covered. Oh the irony!

We arrived home last night around 6, and though we are all pooped from all the driving, we had a fun weekend. I can't wait to see where we find ourselves on our future 4th of July adventures.

Raylie Roo Roo

I've always heard that you can't spend as much time with your second child as you did your first; I am finding that this is true. I do, however, make an attempt to spend as much one-on-one with Raylie as possible..and take as many solo pictures as I can make time for. Today was one of those days. While Mary Addison took naps, we set up photo shop; I was pretty pleased with the results.

Raylie Roo Roo or Raylie Beth, as we have deemed her, is a joy. The first 6 weeks...not so much, but she has turned into an easy going, laid back baby. Her grins and giggles bring us such delight. I walked by her today and she gave me this precious smile from her bouncy seat. I couldn't help but pick up my little munchkin and love on her, regardless of the fact that she was content where she was. God has blessed us beyond belief. I look forward to all of the precious moments He has in store for our little girl.

Blesssings

Where does a month go? Let me think...between diapers, sleepless nights, and trying to "protect" Raylie from her big sister, blogging has been the last thing on my mind. Things at our house are great! I am totally enamored with my girls and more in love with my husband than ever. I keep waiting for the post-delivery hormones to kick in, but so far we are in the clear; Ed is beyond grateful! Mary Addison is infatuated with Raylie, to a fault. She thinks that Raylie is her "baby doll" and tries to pick her up, pull her off the couch, etc. We have come to an agreement that it is in the best interest of Raylie if we do not leave her ANYWHERE in reach of Mary Addison; a 23 month old does not quite understand the word "gentle". Raylie turns 6 weeks old this Wednesday and Mary Addison will be 2 next Sunday; my how time flys! Through all of the chaos and adjustment of the past five weeks, I have been reminded over and over again at how blessed I truly am, and how gracious Our Father is. To think back of where I was 10 years ago, and where He has brought me today, I am humbled and grateful! "What is man that you are mindful of him?"

Raylie is here!

 

 

 

 

Raylie Elizabeth Edwards made her grand appearance at 3:18pm on Wednesday, March 04. I went to the doctor to get my blood levels checked,and they told me I was 6 cm dialated. They sent me to labor and delivery and we waited on Ed to arrive. At 2:05 they broke my water. At 3:18 she arrived after one push (God is good!). The video tape is quite entertaining; it lasts an entire 4 minutes. Raylie weighed 6lbs 3oz and is 19.75 inches long. She has dark hair and blue eyes. Mary Addison laughed all over herself when she met her little sister! We are currently waiting to be discharged from the hosptial. Thank you for your prayers.

February Update

February has been super busy and seems to have flown by. Ed's hand is healing well, though he still gets frustrated with his inability to move it and the pain that is associated with having a screw put in your wrist. Valentine's was fun! Mary Addison and I took doughnuts to her Daddy at work, complete with heart "decorations" that she had made during craft time with Mommy. Ed and I went to an incredible "adult only" party that evening and had a great night out. We are trying to get everything ready for the new baby, who seems to be coming a lot earlier than her due date. Mary Addison has enjoyed helping with the remodeling. I was moving clothes from the nursery to Mary Addison's "big-girl" room the other day, while Mary Addison decided to play dress-up with her clothes. Bedroom slippers, a tobogan, and sunglasses...the next fashion diva!

Boo-Boo update

Just a little update on Ed. He is slowly on the mend...thank God for pain killers. He is back at work but by the time he gets home, he is DONE! The doctor took Ed's cast off today, but the stitches have to stay in for a few more days. We are looking at about 9 more weeks before a full recovery. Meanwhile, he has been acting like the pregnant one around the house. He woke up at 3 am the other morning asking for a milkshake; that seems to be his "feel good fix" lately. The picture above is him sharing a milkshake with Mary Addison one afternoon. This was a HUGE treat for her; I think she might dig her Daddy's "boo-boo" and the perks that come along with it!

Celebrations and Disappointments

We had a great weekend at Winterplace celebrating our birthdays! The boys had a blast snowboarding and all the pregnant girls enjoyed two days of doing nothing. We talked, played games, and talked some more! On Saturday, Ed took a fall and came in early. His wrist was hurting pretty bad, but we thought it was just a sprain. By Monday morning, we knew we had to go to an orthopedist. It turns out that his scaffoid bone in his right wrist is broken. There are two options for fixing this problem:

1) He can wear a full arm cast (past the elbow) for over a month and then a shorter cast for 2 more months. There would still be a possiblity that he would have to have surgery after the 3 months in a cast.

2) He can have surgery (on Thursday) and be in a splint for 3 to 5 weeks.

Though Ed is "anti-surgery", we weighed our options and decided on surgery. He decided against the cast when he realized that he wouldn't be able to pick up the new baby once she gets here; that just isn't an option for Super Dad! He also knew that interaction with Mary Addison would be extremely limited if he were in a cast for 3 months. Please keep us in your prayers. I have realized in the past 48 hours just how much I depend on him around the house. And with me being so far along in the pregnancy, there are some things that are getting hard to do (like give Mary Addison a bath) that he is not going to be able to help with. Also pray for a quick, precise, and thorough surgery as well as a quick and complete recovery!

Do you feel older?

Today I am 30 years old...and the age old question is sure to be, "Do you feel any older?". I was awakened this morning with severe indigestion. I waddled to the bathroom to find that I can't see my toes over my belly, my right leg is completley purple in vericose veins, my hips ache, and I have an incompetent bladder...then I remembered that those symptoms came with pregnancy, not turning 30!

I actually woke up this morning feeling very blessed, not old. The past 10 years have brought trials and heartaches, but they have also brought the most precious blessings....my husband and my two beautiful girls (the baby is beautiful in her ultrasounds)! I have learned more about life in the past 10 years than I have in all 30 years combined and I find myself realizing that life just gets sweeter as it goes! Thank you for being a part of that life and those memories!

The Perfect Woman

It was a crazy week at our house and by Sunday, I really started to feel sorry for myself. I was sick of cleaning up throw-up, poop, holding Mary Addison 24/7, disinfecting the house, and washing every article of clothing/linen in my house (at least once). My selfishness, coupled with my raging hormones and lack of sleep, led to a not so healthy "disagreement" between Ed and I as we headed to church on Sunday morning. We dropped Ed off for practice and ran some errands before heading back for service. As I was about to get out of the car, I took a moment to pray for God to touch my hard and selfish heart; I had no idea what I was praying. The sermon this week was about women and their role as a godly wife. The things preached in the sermon were things that I have never heard preached before, and something that every woman needs to hear. Women, if you get some time, listen to this sermon. Click on the link http://www.gracechurchsc.org/resources/teaching/and go to the sermon called, "The Perfect Woman".

On a side note, we got to see the baby in 3D today. She weighs 3.4 pounds and seems to be healthy! 9 weeks to go! If only we could decide on a name!

Mary Addison and her sister!

Mary Addison is fascinated with my belly. We were taking shots to compare how big I am with this little girl vs. Mary Addison when Ed took these shots. I thought they were too cute not to share!

Hubby/Daddy of the Year

Ed brought in his birthday in a way like none other this year. From 5pm last night until he left for work at 6:15 this morning, he was cleaning up throw-up and diarrhea. Mary Addison is so sick, and since Ed knew I would be taking care of her all day today and wanted to expose me(and the baby) as little as possible, he slept on the couch with Mary Addison and cleaned up about 10 rounds of throw up and about 20 atrocious diapers. I was downstairs off and on throughout the night and at 4 am, muttered, "Happy Birthday, Honey!". Needless to say our plans for surprising him for lunch and taking him out for supper will be postponed. Thankfully we celebrate "Birthday Week" at our house, so we will have a few days to recover from this "yuck" and honor him in a worthy manner!

Praising God

Praise God for a roof over our heads--I am not sure what the weather is like where you live, but here, the wind is howling like a tornado! At 4am, when we were awakened by the wind for the third time, Ed said, "Praise God for a roof over our heads!" His comment made me stop and think of all of those that are homeless..and it made me truly grateful for my home.

Praise God for the miracle of babies-- My friend Sara just gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Ella Elizabeth Altizer. She and her husband Greg suffered the loss of their son two years ago, when he was born at 6 months gestation. The same complications started occuring in this pregnancy, putting Sara on bedrest from 12 weeks on. Ella is now here and both Mommy and baby are doing well! Thank you for those of you who have been praying for their family.

Merry Christmas!

 

Christmas is over and I feel more exhausted now than before. Why is that?And exhausting as it may be, we have had a great time. Ed's last day at work before a week long vacation started on Friday afternoon. We spent the weekend in Dillon with Ed's family, Tuesday and Wednesday at my parent's house, Christmas Eve at home, Christmas morning with some new friends, Christmas afternoon at home, and Christmas night at my Nanny's with my mom's side of the family.
Mary Addison has been fun to watch with the presents, though overwhelmed by the amount of gifts she received. She had about 15 gifts in front of her at Mom and Dad's, but after opening the first gift, she was content to play with the first toy; we had to beg her to open the rest. Ed and I spent last night discussing how commercialized Christmas is. Though my entire extended family has cut down dramatically (drawing names, only buying for the kids, etc), we still feel as if we dropped the ball as parents this year in terms of teaching our child that Christmas is NOT about presents. I think next year we are going to stick to the idea of, "If 3 gifts were enough for Jesus, then 3 gifts is enough for you." We discussed all of the incredible truths that are NOT being taught based off the number of presents we are allowing her to receive. And if Christmas is supposed to be about giving, what are we teaching her to give...and to who? Who really needs gifts anyway?
Our conversation led me once more to the truth that Christian parenting is extremely overwhelming. I find myself praying for daily direction,strength, and wisdom as I journey through this phase in my life called parenting. I am humbled that God would choose me to complete such an overwhelming and immensely important task.
(We didn't send out many Christmas cards this year, but the above picture served as our card.)

Christmas with the Keevers

We had an incredible weekend with the Keever side of the family in Atlanta. We went down on Friday night and stayed with my cousins, Grant and Tori. Their girls, Lilly and Maggie are 2 and 4 mths, so Mary Addison had a great time playing with them. We spent Saturday with the entire Keever family. The house was FULL of kids; it was great to be in a house flooded with laughter. They all played really well together and were even good about sharing their toys. We spent Saturday night and then headed back yesterday afternoon; Mary Addison was very excited to see her crib.

On a side note, Mary Addison's new bedroom has been put on hold until after Christmas, due to the fact that the seamstress (my grandmother)doesn't have time to start on it until then. Ed was thrilled to have someone else telling me that, rather than hearing it only from him.

No Doubt

No doubt I am pregnant; one apparent sign being that it is 3am and I am up writing a blog. I am somehow already in that "sleepless" stage. I wake up at least 3 times every night to go to the bathroom and once to get up and eat. Let's just pray this little one sleeps through the night earlier than her sister did (Mary Addison was 11 months old)! Of course, if this baby is as easy as Mae has been, I can deal with 11 months of no sleep.

I am also showing...quite a bit. The belly is protruding and the vericose veins make my leg look like a 90 year old. My niece and nephew have both commented on how gross my leg looks, and Harper asked why my leg was "brown" the other day; purple would have been the more appropriate choice. Other than the vericose veins and the pain of blood thinner shots each day, this pregnancy is going really well. Baby Girl moves ALL the time. Ed can sit on the couch across the room and watch my belly move. She had the hiccups for the first time last night, and it was such a sweet memory of being pregnant with Mary Addison.

Mary Addison is starting to show some interest in the pregnancy, not that I think she gets it. She is obsessed with my belly button and wants to rub my belly. She will say, "Hey,Sissy!" but she doesn't have a clue what that means. Yesterday she walked up to me and layed her head on my belly and started rubbing it. I don't know if she understood what she was doing, but it was too sweet.

The nursery is basically done, only because this new little girl will be moving into her big sister's current bedroom. Mary Addison is getting a big girl room, but it lacks a LOT of work. The painting is basically done, but other but other than that, the room looks like a volcano. All of the guest bedroom furniture is moved to the middle of the room and there are boxes of stuff packed up outside the door. The initial idea was to have it finished by Christmas, but it isn't looking too promising. I am trying not to let my OCD take over, but it's hard. Several times I have found myself wandering how hard it would be to move solid oak furniture downstairs by myself, but have decided that it would probably not be in the best interest of the baby, my walls, or the furniture! I know it will eventually get done, but patience has never been my strong suit. I only have about a million things on Ed's "Honey-Do List".

December Adventures

Wow! Only 10 days into December and it has already flown by! We seem to be busier than ever this month…why is that? I guess there are just too many fun things going on and we don’t want to miss out on any of them. It really started Thanksgiving weekend. We spent the first part of the week in Dillon; Ed hunted, we visited with family, and Mary Addison entertained. The food was incredible; maybe because I have been craving a Thanksgiving meal since I found out I was pregnant. I had the best sweet potato casserole and pecan pie I have ever put in my mouth! It’s awesome being pregnant over the holidays.

After going to Dillon, we headed to Hendersonville where we celebrated with Mom, Dad, Kelly, and Harper Charis. Jeremy and Calahan bailed on us this year, due to the fact that they got free tickets to a UNC vs. Duke game. We had a great time getting the Christmas tree and Mary Addison loved following her favorite cousin, “Barper” around.
On Sunday night we put both the real and artificial tree up; so began the long process of decorating (there are still 3 ornaments waiting to go on the tree).

On Tuesday, we went to a Dickens of a Christmas in downtown Spartanburg. The whole town reverts to an old-time Christmas and everyone stands around to see the tree being lit. It’s pretty incredible! Bob, Amanda, and Ansley met us for dinner and then we headed downtown. We missed the lighting of the tree by minutes, but it was way too cold to stay outside for longer than 30 minutes. We still enjoyed the tree, just after it was lit!

This past Friday night, we took Calahan, Harper Charis, and Mary Addison to “Christmas Town USA”…aka McAdenville. It was so much fun! The kids were up way past their bedtime, which already had them wired, but seeing all the lights and seeing all of the people just pumped them up even more. We let the kids out of their carseats (we were driving about 4 miles per hour) and rolled down the windows so they could hear the music. They quickly joined in the tradition of yelling, “Merry Christmas” to people on the street, and Harper Charis decided to make up Christmas Carols to sing to them. Mary Addison yelled every time her big cousins did, and I could almost understand her pronunciation of “Merry Christmas!” We finally found a parking place and let them walk around downtown. They were precious! It was so fun to be captivated by their childlike wonder! We finished the night with free hot chocolate and cookies served by a local church. It was 10:45 before we got home, but the kids had a great time!

We have many more Christmas adventures planned, so I’ll try to do better at keeping things updated! I hope your holiday season is as fun-filled as ours!

Plumbers are underpaid

If you have hired a plumber recently, you are probably in shock at the title of my blog. Last night, however, affirmed that plumbers do not get paid enough. There is no money in the world that could make me do what a plumber does day in and day out. After a wonderful night of enjoying food and Christmas lights with friends, Ed and I arrived home to a clogged toilet. We thought it would be a simple fix with a plunger, but were not so lucky. Due to the fact that my husband is an engineer and doesn't believe in hiring people to do things (which saves us tons of money in the long run,but is somewhat annoying at the time being), he decided he would fix the problem himself. With his array of tools in hand, he got to work. As he worked, the smell grew atrocious, which was more than this pregnant nose could handle. After about one hour, I retired downstairs and fell asleep. When Ed came to wake me up (3 hours later),I was shocked at what he had found. One of the main culprits of the monstrous clog was my hair (surprise, surprise). But there were in my shower, remnants of toilet paper, excrement, hair, and all of life's nastiness you can think of. The only semi-comforting thought through all of this was that it was "our" waste. Can you imagine having to dig that stuff out at a total stranger? After finally breaking through the "clog", Ed got to work cleaning up. In a matter of moments, the house went from reeking of waste to Clorox; I've never before been so grateful for the smell of bleach! Ed hooked up fans, aired out the room, and cleaned everything like crazy. After a 45 minute shower, he finally made it to bed about 1 am. I slept downstairs on the couch, deciding it would be better for my nose and I (not to mention the baby) to not sleep in a room filled with bleach. This morning, all was back to normal. I woke up beyond grateful to a husband who can fix just about anything and is more than willing to work hard and DIRTY to take care of his plumbers. And I woke up grateful to plumbers, who do that kind of thing for total strangers. And if by chance I should ever be home alone or Ed can't fix a plumbing issue, I will be more than happy to fork over the much deserved money that all plumbers deserve!

Little Tiger

On Saturday, we got up and headed to Clemson for homecoming. Mary Addison was "sporting" her new jeans that Aunt Tammy bought, and I must say, she looked adorable. While we were waiting to find a parking place, we got rear-ended by a patrol car; his car was the only one damaged. We arrived at CU just in time to tailgate with some friends, walk onto Bowman (which was beyond muddy) to see the floats, and then head to the game. A friend had given us tickets, so we took Mary Addison in for the first half. It was freezing. The area where we were sitting was in the shade and the wind was howling. Mary Addison seemed content though, and loved to "pump her fist" with everyone else when they cheered, "C-L-E-M-S-O-N T-I-G-E-R-S"! We had a great time just enjoying one another's company!

Pity

"Pity" is a phrase that I picked up some years ago from my dear friend, Greta. It is used only to describe something that is extremely pitiful, and is usually used in reference to children. Well, "PITY" is the perfect description for my daughter today. I noticed yesterday that she wasn't eating anything, but thought it was due to the crazy schedule that Sunday's throw our way. What I didn't realize until last night, was that she had blisters covering her tongue, gums, and throat. Throughout today, it has moved to her hands and a little on her feet (Yes! She has Hand,Foot, and Mouth Virus). She doesn't want to eat, she doesn't want to sleep, she doesn't want to be put down. She is currently asleep on her Daddy's chest while we watch Dancing with the Stars; it's the first time she has slept today and the closest she has been to being out of our arms. Please pray for a quick recovery! She is truly PITY!

Making her debut...

Ok! So I have been promising to post pictures of our new Baby Girl; sorry it has taken so long. She has started moving like crazy and Ed got to feel her kick for the first time this morning. It's amazing that something that weighs only 10oz. can actually kick! Wow! We are so blessed and praising God for this little miracle! I included the picture of her "beautiful" toes..we know she got at least one of her mom's traits (and Mary Addison's as well). Poor girls!

Family Weekend

This weekend was great! After a fun filled Halloween, we slept in on Saturday and then headed out for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The leaves were incredible and the weather was perfect. Mary Addison was great in the car, and didn't fuss at all about our mini-stops of getting her in and out of the carseat to look at different sights. It had snowed earlier in the week, and we managed to find a shaded area where some snow remained. Mary Addison loved holding the snow; she loved her Daddy throwing snow balls on her even more. I've never seen a kid laugh so hard at getting snow balls thrown at her. I need to teach her how to "fight" back! We also let her play with some enormous icicles; she was more impressed with putting them in her mouth than anything. The best part of the day was when Ed was trying to pull an icicle off the side of the mountain for Mary Addison; he totally wound up standing on his head in ice, trying to keep from completely busting his butt. It was hilarious; if only I had been holding the camera when he fell! After our gorgeous drive, we dropped Mary Addison at Gammie and Gramps's house and went out to dinner...alone. We had some incredible Cajun food, then headed back to my parents to spend the night. Today was another relaxing day. Ed was able to take a long nap after church, while Mary Addison and I cleaned the car and enjoyed some outside playtime. We are now catching up on some computer time and hoping to get in the bed early! I love weekends like this!

Halloween Bash

It’s 2:32 am and I am up. I could blame it on the glasses of Sundrop I had tonight, knowing that I have been trying to stay away from a lot of caffeine while pregnant. I might also attribute this owl like state to the fact that I am overtired from getting up at 6 with Mary Addison, being at the grocery store by 7, getting her back in the bed for naps, running her to Ed’s work to show off her Halloween costume and have a picnic, getting her back for naps, cleaning the house, cooking, and having a Halloween party with 12 adults and 6 kids that started at 5:30..it was a busy day. Then of course there is the idea that the excitement of Halloween has just worn off on me. We had great time at our Halloween Bash, complete with Jack-o-Burgers, Sautéed Maggots, Witch’s Fingers, and Ghoulish Ghoul. Amanda provided Crusty Brains for dessert...scrumptious. All of our kids were dressed as animals: a chicken(Adri), a cow(Emily), a rabbit(Ansley), a dog (Harrison), a cat(Emma), and a ladybug(Mary Addison). After appetizers of Salty Bones and Pureed Frog Legs, we went on a great hayride around the neighborhood, with Ed pulling us on his trailer. We returned to the house for more food and fellowship. Our kids did great, despite the fact that they were completely off schedule and stayed up until 10ish. The girls had some great fellowship, and though I am not positive of what the boys’ conversation entailed, they sounded like they were having a great time. It was so much fun to take a tradition that started when I was tiny and share it with friends. I am amazed at the community of friends with which God has surrounded me. There are more pictures on our Picasa Web Album from tonight if you want to check them out! (For those of you who have been on me about posting, there is another post below this one; two in one night...whoo hoo!)

Doing the Best We Can

It is now 1:43 am, and perhaps I am still awake because I can't seem to get these thoughts out of my mind. Tonight (Halloween night), as we enjoyed the laughter of children, fought over who was going to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, and relished in each other’s company, God really laid something on my heart. When you are in a crowd, there is always someone who is just getting by, just doing the best they can. There are usually two faces in a crowd: one who is hurting and one who is rejoicing, usually over the same thing. While one group of girls giggle in excitement as they share in the joys of pregnancy and picking out names, another group will be aching over infertility, miscarriages, or the loss of children. As stories are shared about mothers who are overbearing, another person is filled with the heartache of a mother who has passed away. While one person shares their frustrations about a spouse who is driving them crazy, another person in the crowd aches for companionship, while loneliness closes in. As a frustrated voice shares his frustrations about work, another sits by longing for a job, having just been laid off.

Let me be the first to say that I don’t really know how to handle these situations. You try to be sensitive, watch your words, not bring the situation to light. But do you stop rejoicing with others over the blessings of life? I don’t think so, but I am not sure. I think we all just have to keep “doing the best we can”…as the one suffering and the one rejoicing. The sad truth is that we can’t take the pain away. We can’t make the loss any less. We must continue to rejoice in life, for when we don’t, we loose hope, and those around us who are suffering, loose hope as well. This revelation brings me no peace, but it does offer a little encouragement. I have been the joyless person in the crowd, the one hurting, the one aching…and I know I will be there again when life takes that downward roller-coaster of a hill. I just pray that I will remember to keep on “doing the best I can”. If that means tears in a crowd, being alone for a few days, or getting furious at the situation and screaming at the world …we just have to keep fighting. For when we fail to fight, we lose. Here’s to all those who are fighting right now to find that joy…we love you and want to remind you that there is joy on the other side! Just keep doing the best you can!

2 Princesses in the Castle!

We just found out today that we are having another girl! We are so excited! She seems to be a wakeboarder already, doing all kind of tricks, flips, manuevers to hide from the ultrsound tech. Everything looked great and she even did a little move with her hand that looked like she was blowing us a kiss. The only bad news....she has toes like her mommy's and big sister's (if you know me well, you know what kind of monkey toes I have). Mary Addison can already say "Sissy", though she has no clue what that means. We will post the ultrasound pictures later this week.

Slack Blogger

I woke up this morning to a “friendly” phone call and an email letting me know what a slacker I had been about keeping up with the blog lately. I must admit that my past few weeks on the computer have been spent looking for material for Mary Addison’s new bedroom. I also feel very “uninspired” to write. I read previous posts and am “wowed” by my ability to portray my thoughts. Where have those thoughts gone? I think they retired when I stopped working and entered “Mommyhood”. Now my thoughts are consumed with, “Who are we playing with today? What are we having for lunch? How many times have you fallen today? Where did that diaper rash come from?”. I am not convinced that everyone wants to read those awe-inspiring thoughts, so I haven’t been sharing.

Due to the urging of my friends and family, however, I am sharing some of our exciting adventures of the week: On Wednesday, we went to the park with playgroup. The slides were soaked, and so I ran to the car to get a towel, leaving my daughter under the supervision of the other playgroup moms. In the meantime, my daredevil daughter decided to climb up the playground by herself, fell off backwards, and bit her tongue. Blood was everywhere and I am convinced stitches would have been necessary had it been any worse. The only highlight was that she was hurt under someone else’s supervision; I was beginning to feel like she only got hurt with me.

On Thursday we went to pick out a pumpkin. The most exciting event of the “pumpkin picking” was when her Daddy met us there. You can see by the pictures that she is Daddy’s girl! I was so glad to finally “catch” her excitement on camera! Later that night, Ed decided that we needed to introduce her to Oreos (actually, only a ½ of one). She loved it, no doubt, and wanted to show me what a special treat she had in her mouth (as can be seen in the picture).

We have been surrounded by little babies during the past few weeks, and it has been exciting to see Mary Addison’s reaction. She has seen a newborn, a 2 month old, and 4 month old, all of which she wanted to hold, feed, touch, etc. She does not, however, like it when they cry. She gets this concerned look on her face, then wants to be held, then starts to cry. It will be interesting to see how she handles her new brother or sister….we find out on Thursday which it will be!

Fall Fun!

The past few weeks have been fun filled and exhausting, though Mary Addison seems to be no worse for the wear. Two weeks ago we took her to the Clemson vs. SC State game. We scored some free tickets, so we actually took her into the game. She did really well for about the first half, so we decided to go ahead and go back to the tailgate before naptime hit. We were also on the upper deck, which means that my red-haired, fair skinned child was getting baked! We spent the rest of the afternoon in the shade, tailgating with friends. Mary Addison was no doubt, the life of the party!

Last week we went to visit a friend in Charlotte who is on bedrest. Mary Addison couldn't have been better! I was able to chat with Sara for the entire day while Mary Addison entertained herself with toys. When it was time for naps, she slept for 3 hours on my lap (yes, I know how blessed I am!). Later in the week our play group met at Niven's Apple Farm, complete with hayride, apple trees, pumpkin patches, etc. The best part of the day was when Mary Addison and her buddy, Adri, grabbed hands and went running through the field; the pictures were priceless!

On Sunday, the three of us went to Lake Keowee for the day. The weather was great, but it made for an interesting trip since I had to drive the boat and hold Mary Addison while Ed was on the wakeboard. Ed convinced me to let him wakeboard while holding Mary Addison. Unfortunatley, we didn't get any pictures (I couldn't drive the boat and take pictures), but I was able to get a very bad video while holding Ed's Blackberry over my head and trying to record. Mary Addison did fine; she didn't fuss, but nor was she laughing in enthusiasm! Who knows, maybe she was just trying to savor her first wakeboarding experience. We may have a future pro on our hands!

Out of Control

I'm not sure how everyone else feel, but between the economic status of our country combined with the presidential candidates, I have been feeling pretty anxious about the state of our country. I am not in a "freaked out" state yet, but I find myself watching the news a lot more and wondering what country I would move to if our's took a turn for the worse. Tonight, while spending some time in the Word, I was reminded of a very important truth:

"-The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes." Daniel 4:32

Sometimes I let my mind wander and forget that God is still in control of this crazy, mixed-up world! I am thankful that I can put my trust in Him alone!

Inquiring minds want to know!

If there is one word I would use to describe Mary Addison at this stage, it would be "inquisitive". She wants to know how everything works (like her Daddy), what everyone is doing, and what is inside every nook and cranny in the house. She loves to look in the trash can and has started sucking on the edge of it when she peers inside. She is quickly learning the taste of antibacterial gel as chapstick!

She is so much fun at this stage! Her first and only sentence is, "That's a basketball!," which she says every time we see a basketball goal. She has also started repeating lots of random words that we say, my favorite being "amen!". She is obsessed with keys, closing doors, Ed's drums,and wearing shoes on her hands.

Mary Addison has also started singing a lot and she loves to dance. When we were outside today, a teenager went by the house with his stereo blaring; Mary Addison stood in the middle of the yard and "danced" until she could no longer hear the music. She loves being outside, and begs to go outside when she sees the big kids outside!

It's so much fun to watch her changing, growing, developing a personality, etc. With that growth, however, comes boundless energy that I just can't seem to stay on top of. Today alone, she managed to flip two drums on top of her, get her arm stuck in a toy, and get her foot stuck in the closet door. The best part of today, however, occurred when Mary Addison was "helping" Mommy clean. I had cleaned the guest bathroom and was starting on the sinks in our bathroom, when I realized she was messing in our toilet (which had not been cleaned). In a matter of 2 seconds, she stuck her toothbrush in the toilet and then IN HER MOUTH! UGH!It was all I could do not to throw up! After regaining composure I managed to pour SCOPE in her mouth and covered her lips with antibacterial gel. She is learning all kind of new ways to test my germaphobia! I really do watch my child...I promise! It just seems like every time I do turn my head, she is into something else!

Mary Addison's Wildlife Adventures

What a week!

1) We found out that we have been paying double what we needed to for my blood thinner. The stuff costs $5000 a month and insurance only covers 80%...you do the math. We also found out that last year we paid over $500 for alcohol wipes. You can imagine how well that sat with Ed.

2) My hematologist and insurance companies had miscommunication which resulted in me missing my blood thinner for 3 days.

3) The above issues resulted in Ed and I spending a collective 6 hours on the phone with the insurance company or doctor's office.

4) I finally got my blood thinner, but had already developed a clot in my leg. The doctor's office refused to call us back on the weekend, so we ended up in the ER, where they told us that the only thing they could do was keep doing what we were doing. They also told us that if our doctor had called us back, they could have saved us a trip.

5) I was on bed-rest for 3 days. We went to the hematologist when they opened on Tuesday and they assured me that I had some type of clot, they just didn't know how serious it was.

6) We were immediately sent to the hospital to have a Doppler ultrasound done of my leg. On the 1 mile drive over, we prayed for God's healing. The ultrasound tech did over 20 minutes of scanning and had another tech look at the x-rays as well----they could find nothing. Ed and I, of course, chalk this up to God. They also said that there were no signs of the previous clot that I had while pregnant with Mary Addison!

On a good note! We had a great time on the lake with Matt and Lindsey! I test drove a mini-van (which my husband is still trying to convince me on), and we got to hang out with my cousin who is in town from DC. The best part of the week was hearing the baby's heartbeat yesterday. I am right at 11 weeks and more than ready for this first trimester to be over!

It's Finally Friday!

It's finally Friday, and I couldn't be more excited! This has been an interesting week for the Edwards household, to say the least. This is a brief run-down of our adventurous week:

Saturday- Ed and Mary Addison went out on the lake with some friends. On the way home, she started throwing up. She threw up 7 times in 3 hours.

Sunday- Took care of Mary Addison, cleaned up a throw-up carseat, and packed Ed's stuff for San Diego

Sunday night- Ed arrives in San Diego and starts throwing up. On the other side of the country, I am at home in bed...and start throwing up.

Monday- Ed is left at an apartment in San Diego (still throwing up and having diarrhea) by himself with no Gatorade/ginger ale/etc, and no car. I am at home laying on the couch, trying to take care of Mary Addison, throwing up, and trying to find a way to get Ed medicine and fluid so he doesn't have to call a taxi and go to the hospital. One of Justin's colleagues randomly dropped by the apartment and came to Ed's rescue. My dad came down about 2pm and took care of Mary Addison for the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday- I decide to go to Hendersonville so my parents can help take care of Mary Addison and I when they get off work. When I pull in their driveway, Mary Addison has hives all over legs and they quickly spread to the rest of her body. We rush her to urgent care; we finally figured out it was just the end sign of her virus.

Wednesday- My mom backs into my car and does $2600 worth of damage.

Yesterday proved uneventful. Ed and Mary Addison feel 100% better! I am slowly getting there; I am still pretty weak and tired, but I think it's because of the pregnancy! Ed comes home tonight around 11pm and I cannot wait! Let's hope this next week proves to be a little more relaxed!

On a different note, we never found the source of our smell (from my last post), but it did finally disappear! That is something to celebrate!

Something Stinks!

At some point in your life, you usually get asked the question, "If you had to lose one of your senses, which would it be?". No doubt, I would gladly give up the sense of smell this week. Let me start by saying that I have been blessed with a hyper-sensitive "sniffer" my entire life. Now that I am pregnant, it is just plain annoying. Take these two facts coupled with the horrific odor that has invaded our house in the past week, and I am about to go insane. I have cleaned everything, looked under furniture, in closets, etc. Ed is going to check the attic for something dead tonight. Please pray that we find the culprit. Between the nauseating smell of food, Mary Addison's dirty diapers, and this "unkown" odor, I am about to be done with smelling!

Beach Bums

We just returned from an incredibly relaxing vacation at Kiawah Island. Ed, Mary Addison and I accompanied Gammie, Gramps, Kelly, Harper Charis, and Calahan. We left last Saturday and arrived shortly after lunch. The weather was beautiful, the water perfect, and the sand..sandy! We spent the days riding bikes, going to the pool, playing on the beach/in the ocean, reading, and taking naps. Mary Addison loved the beach! She is starting to become way too independent, and wanted to venture the waves without us! She took several face-plants into the water as she walked from one tidepool to the next. Calahan and Harper were tons of fun and entertained Mary Addison for most of the trip. Harper was constantly playing the "mother" to Mary Addison while Calahan would do just about anything to make her laugh.

The night before Daddy and Ed had to go home, Ed, Kelly, and I decided to go on a long bike ride. We wanted to wait until the kids were in bed to leave, so we got a late start. Our ride down the beach was great, but the return trip, on the road and in the complete dark, was an adventure to say the least. We about plowed into 4 or 5 other idiot bikers without lights. Kelly and I ended up just getting off the bikes and walking, while screaming at Ed to wait up. Not only was it pitch black, but we were on a trail in the woods...beyond scary. And for those of you who know me...I don't do scary! Kelly, however, was making me laugh so hard yelling, "Bikers! Pregnant woman on a bike! Please don't hit us!", that I forgot some of my fear. We finally made it back alive and in one piece. That was my last time on the bike for the week!

Daddy and Ed left Tuesday night and our trip continued to be one of relaxation and fun! Kelly and I had our noses in books for most of the weekend, which was nice since I didn't have much energy to do anything else during nap times. On Thursday afternoon, while enjoying some quiet time with my book, I heard a scream, and looked down to see a 12 year old boy with a compound fracture in his arm. He had run into a tree on his bike. "Tired Pregnant Mama" was able to do some pretty impressive sprinting as I sent Nurse Cheryl (my mom) down to the scene and I became the nurses assistant, calling EMS, getting cold rags, etc. Kelly was assisting from the deck, getting in touch with his parents, throwing down supplies, etc. EMS finally arrived, along with his parents, and they headed to MUSC for surgery! He was a trooper for sure!

Other than that, the trip went great. We took Calahan and Harper to a carnival one night, where they had rock-climibing walls, jump houses, face painting, etc. They had a blast. Kelly and I got to go to lunch without the kids one afternoon, which was a real treat.

One thing I learned...the beach is a great place to be a pregnant bum and not feel bad about it; where else can you sit around all day without being expected to do anything else?

Mary Addison Update

I've been pretty slack about keeping up with the blog lately. Every time Mary Addison goes to sleep, I want to go to sleep too; guess it comes with the pregnant territory. One of my friends (Greta) has been bugging me about not posting more often and not keeping her up-to-date on Mary Addison's latest adventures. So, let me see if I can update you on the world of a 15 month old.
Mae finally started walking about 3 weeks ago; she was taking steps before we left for California, but was really getting around when we came home. She talks a lot, but usually in a language we refer to as "Addisonese". She does say "Dada, Mama, Baby, Bath, Bird, Pu Pu(Puppy), Dee(Down), Dah(That), Uh-Oh, No, Mik(Milk), Do Do Do (Go! Go! Go!)." I am sure she has other words that I can't think of right now. She makes lots of animal sounds, can point to lots of body parts, etc. She loves playing "ah- booh" (peek-a-boo), chase, swimming, and pushing her baby around in the stroller. Mary Addison also has a fascination of taking things out and putting them back in; this includes the dishes in my cabinet, the mixing utensils in the drawer, and the contents of her diaper bag and my purse. I have made it a point to start washing everything I use to cook with before I use it now! The other day I found a plastic ball in the toilet; who knows where the mixing spoons have been?

Mary Addison loves spending time with other kids. I kept Greta's kids, Judson and Joyner, this weekend while they were out of town. Mary Addison had a ball! Today, her best friend, Adri, came over to play. I was able to catch quite a few shots of them "hugging" each other; they wound up on the floor after each hug. Neither of the girls have quite mastered the term "gentle".

Read all about it!

Mary Addison had some news she wanted to share!

California

Ed and I are now on the 6th day of our "Tour California" trip. We arrived in San Diego last Wednesday night and have been touring the town for the past 5 days. If you've never been to San Diego, you must make a trip; it's incredible. Ed's best friend lives there now, so we were able to spend time with him and he took us to some pretty incredible restaurants; I will never refer to East Coast Mexican as "good Mexican" again! The views are incredible, the towns look like they are out of movies, and the people are incredibly friendly. We spent the 4th of July on Coronado Island, where the whole island was in one constant celebratory state. Ed and I rode bikes around Coronado for most of the day, then walked in and out of the festivities, and hung out at the historic Hotel Del Coronado. We ended the evening by watching fireworks over the San Diego Bay. They were awesome; you could actually see two other identical shows occurring simultaneously at various points in and around the Bay area.

Yesterday we rented a convertible and are now driving the Pacific Coast Highway to San Fransisco. We are probably going to miss Big Sur, the most scenic part of the drive, due to the wild fires, but we have lots of other places we want to visit along the way. We will end up in San Fransisco on Wednesday and fly out on Thursday. We are having an incredible time.

On a different note, I am quite homesick for my daughter. I have missed her the whole time we have been gone, but it really hit hard yesterday. I know that she is having a great time with Gammie and Gramps, but I can't wait to put my arms around her and give her kisses. Ed and I are going to be fighting to see who can get to her first when we get home on Thursday. I am, however, glad that we decided to come, as Ed and I are having a ball and getting some much needed "us" time...I just have to keep myself busy, which we have been doing quite well! Speaking of, we are about to hit the road again, so I need to cut this short!

Summer Adventures

Summer has been great thus far! Mary Addison is experiencing lots of "firsts", including a first haircut and first time out on the boat this year. She is also starting to walk, though a little wobbly at the moment. It's been fun watching her change from day to day. She is starting to talk more as well, though we refer to her language as "Addsionese" due to the fact that most of her words can only be understood by her. We are starting to experiment with her feeding herself, which you can see can be somewhat disastorous, depending on the menu.

Two weekends ago we went to Charlotte to stay with Jeremy and Greta and had a great time on the lake. Joyner (age 2) was so much fun,wanting to get in the water every time we stopped the boat. Judson and Mary Addison (age 1) both got in the tube with their Daddies. Mary Addison loved it, but Judson was just as content sitting on the boat playing with all of the water bottles he could find. Joyner and Mary Addison were so comfortable on the boat, that they found time to take siestas. We had all been a little nervous as to how three kids under the age of 3 would handle a day on the lake, but they did great. We ended up staying out for 5 hours and never once had a crying child! I call that a success! Jeremy and Greta were great hosts and it was a good weekend to chill out, catch up, and enjoy good company.

This past weekend we were in Dillon for a wedding. Mary Addison loved spending time with her Grandaddy, JJ, Aunt Tammy, Uncle Jamie, and Jamison. We also introduced her to some new cousins for the first time. The picture of her in the bed was when Uncle Jamie was trying to get her to take a morning nap. It worked well until Jamison came in to play with his cousin; so much for naps. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was great, and Ed did a great job playing his saxophone. I never cease to be amazed at how talented my husband is!

P.E.

No, I am not referring to "physical education". The "P.E." we are celebrating in our family today stands for "Professional Engineer". Ed just found out today that he passed his professional engineering exam. To those of you who know nothing about engineering this is a VERY difficult exam to which a minimum of 300 hours worth of studying is suggested. A large amount of people do not pass it on the first go round, but Ed did (not that I am surprised). I am so proud of my husband! Let's pray our children get his brains!

On another note, Mary Addison seems to be rounding a corner. She has been a very sick little girl for a solid week, with a 103 temperature every day. She is finally feeling better and seems to be almost back to her normal, happy-go lucky self!

We are super excited about Father's Day weekend! We will be spending some time with friends on the lake, eating, and playing with the babies! Can it get any better?

Summer has arrived!

For Ed and I, summer officially starts during Memorial Day Weekend! For the past few years we have headed down to Calaway Gardens,GA for a wake-boarding and ski tournament(just to observe, not to participate!). We broke up the trip with a stop in Gainesville, where we were able to visit with my cousins and their little girl. Lilly and Mary Addison had so much fun playing that they both decided to stay up until 10:30 (much to our dismay). We woke up the next morning and headed the rest of the way to the tournament. We had a great time! The weather was wonderful, the skiing/wake-bording phenomenal, and the company incomparable! We stayed at a hotel in La Grange on Saturday night and went back to the tournament to watch the wakeboarding finals before heading home. Our trip had been just about perfect. Mary Addison was having a ball, despite the fact that she had been in a car most of the weekend, outside the rest of the weekend, and completely off her schedule. We should have known that the trip home was bound to have some hiccups. We made it right outside the SC line when we had two blow-outs, one on the car and one in Mary Addison's diaper. Ed went to work on the tire, while I attempted to change my daughter with no wipes (I had used the last one just an hour before). When Ed got the spare out, he realized that it was flat and also realized that while he had the blinkers on, the car battery died. Thankfully, "Mr. Prepared" had a power-pack which we used to pump up the tire and jump start the car (I strongly recommend everyone getting one). Mary Addison had two more blow-outs on the way home. She was quite furious when I soaked her down in the sink at the rest area. Thankfully, God gave us a sense of humor about the whole situation and we managed to laugh our way home. We spent yesterday recuperating and took our first visit to the neighborhood pool. We are so excited about the lake, pool, and beach visits this summer. It's so much fun to watch Mary Addison enjoying these experiences.

Mary Addison is ONE!

My baby turned one on Saturday; it's hard to believe! Mary Addison's birthday did not start out quite like we had planned. I decided that each year her room would be filled with balloons when she woke up; little did I know my child was terrified of balloons. The closer we got her to them, the harder she squeezed tight to my arm. She was also rather fussy for about the first 3 hours of the day due to the four teeth that are popping through.

After a short nap with "Dada," however, all was well. She woke up happy and ready to roll for her party. We kept it small, just inviting immediate family and the babies from her play group. They had a ball. A friend of the family made the cake, and not only did it look great, but tasted incredible as well. Mary Addison loved the cake as well...her first experience with sugar! Everyone had a great time and at the end of the day, Mary Addison was "partied" out!

Ed and I both spent the day sharing memories from the past year. It seems like yesterday that I was trying to convince Ed that I was in labor; he was certain I was just being anxious! This year has been filled with incredible memories as we have watched Mary Addison grow,change, and develop her precious little personality. She is a joy! We have been blessed with a happy, sweet, funny child. She is up for any adventure and always on the go, but will also snuggle up in your arms and let you love on her. She has her daddy's "daredevil" spirit, which is sure to result in some gray hairs along with trips to the emergency room for stitches and broken bones. She doesn't meet a stranger and the bigger the crowd the better. We thank God for our precious little angel and are ever grateful for the miracle He has shared with us!

FAVORITE TOY

Julie shot this video earlier today. I think you'll see a little bit of me in my little girl with this video.

Get Over It!

Get Over It---that's the "theme" of the Cooper River Bridge Run...and believe me, I kept reminding myself that as I ran up the incline of that bridge. Actually, Ed and I both ran the Bridge Run. For those of you who know Ed, that is quite comical. Ed does NOT run. In fact, he did not train at all. I, on the other hand, have been running 4 1/2 to 5 miles about 4 times a week for months. Yet in the end, Ed still finished about 2 minutes ahead of me. It drove him crazy that I wasn't interested in "beating" him. He told me that I had to have a goal, and I reminded him that my goal was to run the entire time without walking. Since I wouldn't play his "time race" game, he looked up his best friend's finish time from 2006 and made sure he beat that time. Both of us met our goals and enjoyed a great weekend in Charleston. Thanks to Ashley for letting us crash at her place. We were glad to get home to see Mary Addison, who had a great time with Aunt Kelly and Gammie, but was thrilled to see Mama and Dada as well.

Ed has now crossed a 10k off his list and swears he will never go running again. I, on the other hand, can't wait to take Mary Addison for our daily run tomorrow!

Rain

It's raining outside; actually, it's a downpour. Some couples we know are experiencing a downpour in their lives right now. One couple have a daughter that they just adopted from Guatemala a little over a year ago. She was diagnosed today with a very rare disease and has been given a few years, at best, to live. Another couple we know of have a newborn that was diagnosed with spinal muscular dystrophy today; she has been given a year, at best, to live. And the question "WHY GOD" resounds.
Yet God spoke truth to me tonight through these words in Numbers 11:23, "Is the Lord's arm too short?". Is it? It sounds ridiculous to even ask. I have seen my God reach out and heal more times than I can begin to count. I have seen Him perform countless miracles and intervene in innumerable ways. The Lord's arm is NOT too short. He is still in control, even when the rain is falling all around us. I don't know when the rain will stop, but I know it will. And I know who controls the rain; He is the same God who knows my name and has declared, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future."

A Little Perspective

So, today was a tough day. Mary Addison and I spent a total of 4 hours at the doctor’s office getting her tested for allergies and having blood work drawn. Mae Belle was a champ through the allergy testing, but when it came time to get her blood drawn, she was pitiful. The nurse and I had to hold her down so she wouldn’t move; it was almost more than I could bear to watch big alligator tears spill to the ground and hear her cries of pain. She was poked and prodded, missed her afternoon nap, and past due for a bottle by the time we got home.

Mary Addison tested positive to egg and peanut allergies, but on the drive home, all I felt was thankfulness. I looked in the back seat, watching my precious girl sleep, and was overwhelmed by God’s mercy. I am not “happy” that my daughter has food allergies and has to carry an Epi-pen around now, but I am so thankful that it wasn’t anything worse. Ed came home and prayed over Mary Addison, thanking God that this was the first time in almost a year that Mary Addison has had to have blood drawn. We have a healthy child, and for that, I am extremely grateful. We have spent the past few months watching several friends deal with terminally ill babies, children with undiagnosed diseases, miscarriages, etc. Watching these little ones and their parents suffer has broken my heart and given me a little perspective. If allergies is all we have had to deal with, then praise God for allergies!

Great Week!

This past week was busy, but great. Tuesday we got to keep Adri, and she and Mary Addison had a ball playing together, as usual. Wednesday we went to story hour at the library; it was so much fun to see all the kids hopping around the library sporting thier paper plate "bunny ears". Thursday was play group, which is always an adventure in and of itself. Adri proved to be the main source of entertainment this week, stuffing 5 whoppers in her mouth (unannounced to us) and then gagging as Natalie and I tried to fish them out of her mouth. Harrison decided that Adri was getting too much attention,so he flipped over the table with the whoppers, spilling candy and glass picture frames all over the place. Oh the entertainment that play group affords! Ed had Friday off, so we spent the afternoon at Clemson just walking around, playing on Bowman, and laughing at some college memories. Mary Addison was not as impressed with laying on the grass on Bowman as we were; in fact, she hated the way it felt on her legs.

Saturday we drove to Columbia for a wedding reception, and got to see some people we hadn't seen in a long time. Mary Addison proved to be the entertainment and they all fought over who was going to get to hold her "next"; that gave Ed and I a little time to chat and catch up with old friends. Sunday we went to an incredible Easter service and then had the family over to our house for Easter lunch. Harper Charis and Calahan embarked on an Easter egg hunt and had as much fun counting up the candy as they did searching for the eggs. The weather was gorgeous all weekend; it was a nice relaxing time spent remembering what our Savior has done for us and spending time with family and friends.

Tough Night

No, I do not dress my child like this. This picture speaks a thousand words and clues you in to what Mary Addison's night was like. Now, before I tell this story and incriminate myself, let me remind my dear readers that my daughter is almost 11 months old and STILL wakes up once in the middle of the night to get a bottle; I blame this incidence on being sleep deprived.
At 2 am Mary Addison woke up quite hungry and with a very wet diaper. I got the bottle, filled it with water, put the cap on, shook it up and headed to her bedroom. Ed and I have mastered keeping her semi-asleep by giving her the bottle while we are changing her diaper. This night was no different.
I put her on her changing table, took off the cap and proceeded to pour over half of a bottle ALL over my daughter's face; I had forgotten to put the nipple in the top of the bottle. My poor child was just staring at me like I had lost my mind, and I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Needless to say, we had to get towels, wash down, change clothes, etc. This resulted in one VERY awake little girl, who after two hours of playing ended up in the bed with Mama and Dada (this rarely happens).
At 5 am, I put her in her bed. When I went to get her at 7:30, this is what I found. I thought her look was all too appropriate for the night she had.

MARY ADDISON LEARNING TO CHILL

Julie is what we term a "busy body" in the South. She has to be doing something productive all the time. 5 hours of sleep is all she ever needs, and the word "nap" is not even in her vocabulary. Her idea of relaxation is running 5 miles, and mine is more in-line with the picture above. Well, my little girl loves kicking back with Daddy. This picture was taken by Gramps after a hike in the mountains last weekend. Now of course, Mary Addison rode on my back in a backpack carrier the whole time, but she was worn out and ready to kick back with me after the hike.

Keeping up with a crawler

I have been accused of not posting enough lately, so I'll try to do better. Things have been great around here...just trying to keep up with my daughter. Mary Addison is all over the place. We just put up gates to keep her off the stairs, but she still manages to find ways to scare the daylights out of me. I came in the playroom the other day and she was standing up, backwards, in her little rocking chair; I can't imagine what it is going to be like when she starts walking. She has discovered her voice...and we have discovered that it is quite loud. She makes all kinds of noises, but not many words. She can say "Mama and Dada", an occasional "baby" and "quack, quack, quack"...but she is only going to say it when she wants to..which is not very often.
She is so much fun and has about 18 million expressions. She has mastered poking her lip out when she is mad or sad. She understands, all too well, the word "No" and works the lip when Mama or Dada has to tell her that. She is still the happiest baby I have ever been around and giggles out loud from her head to her toes. We are loving parenthood!
Ed has been super busy with work and I have been training for the Cooper River Bridge Run in April. Ed is running it with me, but is not going to train at all; he will more than likely still beat me to the finish line. Other than that, we have just been doing life. We are continually amazed at how God blesses us on a daily basis!

Praising God

Hundreds of people have spent the past 20 weeks begging, pleading, and interceding on behalf of an unborn baby named Cohen. Cohen was born last night and God has answered so many of our prayers already. I just wanted to give God the praise and glory that He deserves. Our God is very near and hears our cries for help....

Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called to the LORD;I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice;my cry came before him, into his ears.

New and Improved Paper Shredder

Right before Mary Addison was born, our paper shredder died. Little did we know that God would provide one through our child. I am convinced that Mary Addison has some type of fiber deficiency and instinctively knows that eating paper will somehow help meet her dietary needs. All the experts, however, attribute this to teething; I suppose they have a valid point.

Even still, we have started referring to my daughter as "Our Little Billy Goat". Here are a few items that my child has ingested or at least chewed on in the past few weeks: wrapping paper (her favorite), the bottom of various shoes, cardboard diaper boxes, an empty Sweet and Low package, a warning sticker from her excersaucer, a piece of torn cloth, our dining room table, our kitchen table, the edge of the window seal...etc, etc, etc. All that said, if you are thinking of purchasing a paper shredder for identity protection, I would recommend a child instead; they are a lot more entertaining.

Living My Dream

I recently found out that I guy I used to sing with in high school is now "living it up" in New York City. He is singing in various opera houses across the world. I sent him a message in which I stated, "Looks like you are living your dream!". As I wrote those words, I was struck by a simple truth...I am living my dream as well. It might not come in the form of a successful career, new cars, or fancy clothes, but I am definitely living my greatest dream, my lifelong wish....and this is how my
dream-life plays itself out....

I wake up every morning in a warm bed, nestled closely beside the man of my dreams.

A warm cup of coffee is the start of each day, and I never have to worry about whether or not we can afford to buy that cup of coffee.

Each day I am entertained by the most beautiful composition of music ever heard by man..a child's laughter.

I experience new sights and adventures every day--they come through watching my daughter as she learns and discovers the world around her.

I drive around in a luxury car---it has all the luxuries I need...a car seat, some scattered Cheerios in the floorboard, a leftover Zaxby's cup from last night's supper..all remnants of the extravagant life I live and share with my family.

My voice-mail is maxed out with paramount messages from individuals of great affluence....my parents are coming to dinner on Thursday, my nephew won his basketball game, my neighbor received a good report from the doctor, and my girlfriend can make "movie night" on Saturday.

After a day of grocery shopping, scrubbing poop off clothes, fixing breakfast/snack/lunch/snack/supper/snack (and doing all the dishes that go with that) giving baths, reading bedtime stories, and getting everyone tucked into bed,I look at my family and realize that I got a lot accomplished that day...I cared for my family.

With all of that said, I hope you find yourself living your dream as well.

BABY DEDICATION

Our church has grown to such a size that church-wide baby dedications no longer hold that special, symbolic message that they were once designed to represent. With 70 babies born in 2007, there are just too many new babies to keep it personal and real. That being said, we organized our own, small and intimate baby dedication ceremony. Myself, along with the three other moms in my playgroup decided upon a date, January 12th, and asked Jeremy (my brother) to lead the ceremony. Ed put together an amazing slide show of the babies and Emily (one of the moms) printed out gorgeous programs. The ceremony was surreal. With a room filled with our closest friends and family, we felt the love and support of people who have committed to helping us raise our children according to God's truth. I was humbled as God spoke these truths to me....

Mary Addison, though legally mine, is not really my child; God is just loaning her to me. I have no idea how long I will be blessed to hold my precious child, but this I do know. God has entrusted me with the greatest gift that could ever be given...a life. He has called me to raise this child as He would raise her. It is Ed and I's job to show her what a marriage focused on God looks like, what parenting looks like, what love looks like, what friendship looks like, but most importantly, what following hard after God looks like. Because I know I cannot live up to those standards, I will continuously give my child over to God, for it is only by his strength, wisdom, love, and grace that I can even call myself a parent.

Joining Forces

So I was pretty excited about the idea of Ed and I joining our blogs…until we started the actual process. The only thing we have agreed upon thus far was the picture of the three of us.We can’t even decide on an address. There isn’t a more common last name than “Edwards”, so every address we came up with seems to be taken (edwardsamily, edwardsclan, edwardscrew). Not only that, but we can’t seem to come up with a title that we both agree upon either; we are keeping Ed’s former title while we conjure up something more profound.

That being said, we would love your suggestions…

DUCK HUNTING

My buddy Rob called midweek and said that he had a connection to go duck hunting this morning at the Clinton House Plantation and wanted to know if I was interested. I usually jump on any opportunity for duck hunting, so I immediately accepted his invitation.
This morning, the rest of the guys with whom I was sharing a blind were running a little late, so I walked on down to the water and sat in the blind to wait on them. Julie was already awake (as always), so I called her just a few minutes before sunrise to chat. About 15 minutes later, I called her back to let her know that I had already shot the daily limit of 4 mallard ducks, and I would be coming home soon. She obviously thought that I was kidding, but I was serious. The ducks were flying like nothing I have ever seen before. Within 25 minutes, we had 12 ducks in our blind between the 4 of us. Good times.
On another note, I had a hot date last night with my incredible wife. Mary Addison spent the night with Gammie and Gramps, so we had a nice dinner at High Cotton in Greenville. By the way, I had the roasted duck.

A LITTLE "VIDEO" FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

Mary Addison's dance

JULIE LEARNED HOW TO MAKE BOWS TODAY

I'm so sorry, Mary Addison.

KIDS WEEK ON JEOPARDY

This week is kids week on Jeopardy. I'm only watching it because it makes me feel really smart.

MARY ADDISON WANTS YOU TO VOTE FOR HER

Okay, I know it's kinda cheesy, but I submitted a photo of Mary Addison for a local photo contest. The winner gets a $230 photo package, and it would be just in time for her 6 month pictures. The winner is chosen strictly on the number of votes, so please take a few seconds and vote for her here.

NO FAN ZONE

We had a great time vacationing last week. The bugs were out in full force, but we managed to have a great time anyway. I kayaked everyday and we got to see a lot of cool things from the water. Julie's dad and I actually got to watch a dolphin and it's baby strand feed for about 30 minutes one morning from about 25 feet away. Strand feeding is where the dolphins chase smaller fish up on to sand bars and then beach themselves to grab a few of them. It was awesome.

The worst part about coming home from vacation was that it felt like my first day back at work after Mary Addison was born. I was used to hanging out with her and Julie all day long, and I missed them like crazy all day. I mean, almost more than I miss Justin when he's in Houston.

When we got home, our refrigerator was on the fritz again. I'm sure it was bad karma since I bragged in my last post about repairing it so cheaply, but it was the evaporator fan that was shot this time (insert prideful comment here --> It was a totally different issue for those of you that thought I just didn't fix it right the first time). But, what makes this a little weird was that I had to replace the fan on my heat pump just before we left. I thought that this must just be a month for fans to die. So I get home today, and Julie tells me that the computer keeps shutting down. I open it up to find that it's overheating from guess what... a burned out CPU fan. That's 3 fan motors in a month. I expect my ceiling fan to fall on me tonight while I'm sleeping.

Okay, enough boredom. Do you see why I don't blog as much now? Would you rather read about "poopsies" and "tinkle" diapers?

WAKEBOARDS, REFRIGERATORS, HEAT PUMPS

Byron, Mandi, and their two sons came to visit this weekend, and the usual good times were had by all. Despite the dreary weather Saturday morning, Byron and I were able to shoot over to Hartwell and meet Justin for a few sets of wakeboarding and wakeskating. Justin hopped on the wakeskate for the first time and showed off like he had been riding one for years. The water was super calm, and all of us seemed to ride pretty well.

This has been a month of appliance repair. First, our refrigerator caught the bug, and it spread to our heat pump. Luckily, I was able to fix both, and the fridge was repaired with an $8 part; the heat pump set us back $32. Something deep inside of me loves for things to break whenever I am able to fix them so cheaply. It's almost like beating the system when you know that it would have cost over $150 to have the fridge repaired and twice that for the heat pump. When it comes down to it, I still had to spend time and money on things that were broken.... nevermind, it's just complicated.

Next week is our vacation! I'm ready to get Mary Addison down to the beach. We'll be in Edisto riding bikes, kayaking, and kicking back all week.

I still want to get up to Jocassee for a weekend before Summer is over. It's a lot harder to do that with a 3 month old, so if any of you have a camper, I'll meet you there with the boat. Really.

Keep checking my web album and Julie's for more pictures!

FATHER'S DAY

I had a great first Father's Day. We went down to Falls Park in Greenville and had a picnic along the Reedy River with Jeremy, Kelly, Calahan, and Harper. Then we went back to Jeremy's house and grilled out for dinner with Julie's parents.Gammie kept Mary Addison on Saturday, and we spent the day on the lake with Melanie and Brian. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time. We finished the day with dinner in Clemson. This was Julie's first time out on the water this year, and it really made me realize how much more fun it is to have her there on the boat (no offense Justin). She's a little bummed out because the doctors will not allow her to wakeboard this year due to the blood clot in her leg, but each time the boat stopped we couldn't keep her out of the water. I'm ready for a weekend at Jocassee!

MARY ADDISON'S POOL DEBUT

PICTURES OF MY DAUGHTER!

I just uploaded some pictures to our web album. Click here to see it.
Keep checking it for updates too.

THERE'S A REASON I HAVEN'T POSTED MORE PICS

This post comes to you from the "comfort" of a hospital room too. I expected to be posting pictures from my high speed connection at home, but we aren't there yet. Julie and Mary Addison were discharged from the hospital Saturday afternoon, and we were all still on an adrenaline high. After an incredibly fast delivery with hardly no complications, we had a beautiful baby girl and were finally home as a family. Mary Addison took a nap in her new crib, Julie took a warm bath, and all seemed well. 4 hours after arriving at home, Julie was in extreme pain with extreme swelling to the point that she could not even use the bathroom. A quick call to the doctor yielded a response that they "were afraid this would happen," and Julie and her mom were on the way back to the hospital. Mary Addison and I stayed back to pack some bags in case this was another extended stay (which it turned out to be), and 20 minutes later we were on our way to join Mommy.

Saturday night was very tough for all of us. Julie was in the worst pain that I have EVER seen her in. She was in much worse pain than the delivery itself. The worst part of watching her in this pain was that there was no end for it in sight either. They immediately inserted a catheter and an IV with some pretty hefty drugs. At least during delivery, you know that it will all be over when the baby's out, but this was lots of pressure that wasn't subsiding. They gave her 2 bags of plasma to thicken the blood for surgery to take place the next morning. Julie started becoming very emotional about not being able to breastfeed Mary Addison (because of all the drugs she was being given), but the baby didn't hesitate to take the formula. I left out to feed her in another room each time I fed her that night so that mommy didn't have to see her with the bottle.

So, some of you are probably confused right now about what all this swelling and pressure was from. During the delivery, Julie "ripped." As most of you know, this is very common. The doctor sewed Julie back up, expected a little bit of swelling from the trauma, and it was a done deal... supposedly. What actually happened was that Julie's blood was too thin from the thinner that she has been on for the last several weeks, and her blood did not clot well enough in the wounded area. She simply bled way too long internally after she was sewn up, and after going home, climbing the stairs, taking a bath, and just being mobile, it was obvious that she was not healing internally.

Fast forward to Sunday morning... Julie had a very good attitude about the whole situation although she had an emotional breakdown the night before. As they were taking her into the OR, she looked up at me and said, "This is much better than them having to take my baby to the OR." The surgery consisted of the doctor opening Julie through a fresh incision and evacuating the wound of all clots, and "yuck." She came out without a hitch, and is doing much better now. In fact, her catheter was removed a few hours ago, and we expect to go home on Wednesday (hopefully Tuesday). She's been breastfeeding again since midnight last night, and Mary Addison hasn't had the first objection to it.

Saturday night was rock bottom for both of us. I'm not pretending that I was in just as much pain as Julie, but it's never fun to watch your wife get two bags of blood while you're playing mommy and daddy all night. Since Mary Addison had been discharged from the hospital earlier that day, the nurses legally could not take care of her. I was lucky enough to have the help of Julie's parents all night, but stubborn enough not to use it. I wanted to take care of my daughter by myself! Even though Julie was HEAVILY drugged all night, she was still coherent enough to be miserable because she wasn't getting to love on her daughter and feed and change her diapers.

Good news though. We're out of the woods. We back on the upswing. I have over 400 pictures of Mary Addison that I promise to be posting soon, but my connection to the internet is through my cell phone, and it simply can't handle too many pics. Maybe I'll at least upload a few tonight though. Keep checking back for a link.

Thanks for all of your prayers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY ADDISON!

Scratch the last post about Friday being the big day, because Mary Addison decided that today was the big day. We got to the hospital around 1:30PM, and Julie delivered a 6lb, 15oz, 20 inch long beautiful baby girl an hour and a half later. It was an incredible delivery. Julie did it without any drugs simply because it progressed so quickly there was no time to give her anything. Thank you all for your prayers. I'll post plenty of pictures once we get home from the hospital.

FRIDAY IS THE BIG DAY

Julie is being induced Friday morning at 6:00AM. That's less than 48 hours! She's being weaned off of the blood thinner over the next 24 hours to get ready for the delivery. I'm finding it hard to sleep, and that says a lot about my level of excitement because I can sleep anytime, anywhere.

In other news, I bought a Bobcat last week. Not an animal, but a piece of heavy machinery. I'm not real sure where I'm going to find the time to use it, but if you need any grading, land clearing, demolition, concrete removal, or if you're tired of that old pool in your backyard and you're ready to fill it in, I'm your man.

I'll have pictures of Mary Addison posted soon!

WOW, IT'S BEEN A WHILE

Do I really have to explain why I haven't posted in months? Since my last post, I have managed to refinish two pieces of furniture for Mary Addison's room, install shelves in her closet, hang a porch swing (to swing her), tile our kitchen and pantry floor (Ju just talked me into that in the middle of everything else), research all the cool things that she will need ( like baby monitors), and so on. Today I realized that it is 80 degrees outside, and I have yet to START on servicing my boat that I planned to do over the Winter. Hmmmm... something's coming before my boat?

I'm in love with a little girl that I haven't even seen yet! But, enough about her.

Tomorrow is our 4th anniversary. We are going to Atlanta for the weekend to celebrate our last childless anniversary. We're both taking a much needed day off of work, and making a long, fun weekend of Atlanta. We can't get much further away right now. I looked back at my blog posts for the last 2 anniversaries, and it's funny how quickly things change sometimes. My post in 2005 stated that one of our goals for the year was to have a baby, then last year's said that we would be celebrating our anniversary in Virgina with a visit to the fertility doctor. God is good.

Julie has continued to do very well with her pregnancy. She's felt much better than expected although she does stay very tired. For the first time in our relationship, I actually get out of bed before her now. For those of you that know Julie very well, you understand how big of a deal that is.

We had a baby shower two weeks ago, and it was a blast. I loved seeing everyone, and we got a ton of great gifts. We just had fun!

IT'S A GIRL!

We found out yesterday that it's a girl! Just before the ultrasound, the doctor asked me if I had a preference, and I told her that I really wanted a girl. 15 minutes later she said, "Congratulations! You've got yourself a girl!"

I'm too sick to type anymore right now though. Please continue praying for Mary Addison.

2ND AND 27

That's second trimester and 27 weeks to go. Julie's at the end of the first trimester. Some say that the sickness begins to fade and the grumpiness escalates now... I'll just have to keep you posted on that. In just 5 weeks we will find out the sex of the baby!

We kept our niece and nephew last weekend and it was a huge reminder of how the pace of life will change in 27 weeks. Can a brother just get 10 minutes to chill?

Ever have those times where God speaks to you by making your heart follow a path that you know your own desires would have never led you down? That's been the theme of my most recent weeks. God is good.

I'm pretty bummed that I'm not going on the church youth retreat this year. I posted about the retreat last year, and I know that it will be even better this year (except for the music of course). I think that I'll just call Ashley and let her know that she really should change her wedding date.

COOLING OFF

I love this time of year with the exception of one thing; lake days are just about over. In fact, with the way that the coming weekends are filling up, there may not be another outing this year. I did get a chance to do some good riding last weekend with Julie's cousin, Grant, on Lake Lanier. He and his wife are expecting their first baby next month, so Ju got to talk babies all weekend, and Grant and I got to wakeboard all weekend... good times. We love hanging out with them.
Each year when the weather starts cooling off, I start getting somewhat of a backpacking itch in the place of my lake itch. I've lost my usual backpacking partner this year, and she's finally got a good excuse not to go.

JULIE GIVES UP WAKEBOARDING FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER

Why? Because she's pregnant! We're having a baby!
When I came home from work on Tuesday, I found her wakeboard propped against the house door with a kid's life jacket on it and a sign posted at the top. I couldn't even open the door because I was so shocked. We have been trying diligently for over 2 years to have a child. There have been many tears shed and many sleepless nights during that time, but our God is still in the miracle making business! We are sharing this with everyone rather early for a few reasons:
1. Many of you have been praying for us to get pregnant, and we want you to know that your prayers have been answered.
2. We ask for your continued prayers because the chance of miscarriage increases about 50% for women with PCOS.
Here are a couple of important dates:
September 19th - We'll hear the heartbeat for the first time. This will be when we find out if there is only one baby, or if there is a litter.
Early May - Come meet Baby Edwards!

ABOUT ME

I stole this idea from Lee.

I couldn’t live without God
I love my wife
I love technology
I am a better person because of my wife
I am a jack of all trades, master of none
I can eat whatever I want and not gain an ounce
I love music
I am not a good teacher
I enjoy discussing personal finance
I still love technology
I am usually very content
I love hip hop music
I often experience analysis paralysis
I love the lake
I wish that I would have discovered the lake earlier
I am a problem solver
I do not love swimming
I am an entrepreneur
I do not follow sports
I am a deal finder
I love wakeboarding
I still love technology
I will if you say I can’t
I love to travel
I want to get my pilot’s license
I take very good care of my things
I am great at sharing some things, and horrible at sharing others
I am an initiator
I am a strict budgeter
I do not worry a lot
I prefer the mountains to the beach
I like hiking and backpacking
I used to love motorcycles, but I don’t desire to ride them much anymore
I think that I can read people well
I still love technology
I do not shy away from productive confrontation
I am continuously learning how to control my temper
I love my boat
I walk very fast
I suffer from tunnel vision
I love my wife’s cooking
I do not like to read
I am usually over-prepared
I love driving in the snow
I like pulling cars from ditches with my truck when it snows
I am competitive
I get emotional at baptismal services
I am much more empathetic than sympathetic
I am not creative
I can build it, but only if you draw it
I still love technology
I want five kids
I want to adopt at least one child
I am firm with my nephews, but melt with my niece.
I like animals
I like guns
I feel the need to explain decisions too much
I sang a song to my wife when I proposed
I recorded the proposal song and played it during our first dance
I am highly motivated by the approval of my wife
I have been to 29 states
I have been to 3 continents
I still love technology
I like thunderstorms
I have a lot of tools
I need more vacation time
I wish that my job were more flexible

WASP CONDO

I noticed a couple of wasps hovering around my mailbox last night, so I decided to look for a nest nearby. Imagine my surprise when I bent down and looked into the back of the paperbox underneath.

PERU DEBRIEF

I’ve been postponing this post because I don’t know where to begin. Let me start with some random thoughts about the trip.

The students were awesome. There was minimal conflict, and any conflict that did surface was handled in a mature fashion. You just don’t put 29 people in less than desirable living conditions with each other for 9 days and not have conflict.

I know even more (if that’s even possible) that Ju and I are called to be adoptive parents. Now the prayer is simply “when?” You all can help us with that prayer.

Americans (stereotype!) waste a lot. We leave food on our plates, have hotter water in our water heaters than we will use, and drive vehicles that use way too much gas just to name a few things. This wasn’t my first time in a non-US culture, but this time I realized that we stress out way too much to maintain a lifestyle of wastefulness. In other words, the Peruvians (stereotype again!) have a better grasp on the concept of want vs. need.

James challenges believers with concepts that are black and white. Not much room for interpretation there. I highly recommend reading this book soon if you are serious about getting your act together. We are all rich in the eyes of James, so thank God for this blessing, but make sure that your joy doesn’t lie in your possessions.

My wife is great at taking care of people. She administered her first shot to one of the students who became VERY ill Saturday night before arriving at the airport. It was weird walking into a pharmacy without a prescription and telling the pharmacist what you wanted, but we got the right stuff, and Julie bravely gave the student a shot to calm her sickness.

The bottom line is that I can't wait to go on another trip like this. I need a job with more vacation time!

HOME

Hey guys, I'm home. What an AMAZING trip! I've got too much to share, and other things to do since I just got back, but I wanted to let you know that I just posted my photos to the web. We took over 2000 photos as a group, so as soon as I get the DVD with everyone else's, I will add some more, but for now check these out.

HOLA!

Ju and I arrived safely in Peru. We spent Sunday and Monday playing with children at the orphanage and doing some construction as well. The construction involves digging a foundation in VERY rocky soil and I also practiced my brick laying with some of the Peruvian workers. The people here really know how to have a good time. I had such a fun time working with the locals despite the language barrier, and the language barrier wasn´t as bad as I thought it would be either. Each time we would use a tool, I would ask the Peruvians how to say it in Spanish, and then teach them how to say it in English. Our deal was that they had to use the English words each time they asked me to hand them something, and I could only use the Spanish words.
It is very dry here. I doesn´t rain at all... seriously. They get a mist that rolls in periodically, but no rain. The mountains look like pure sand.
We are studying the book of James this week. Lots of good stuff there. Pray that the students will digest it all and that God will speak to us through this awesome book!
Things are VERY cheap here too. For instance, I paid 30 cents USD to get 30 minutes of internet time in an internet cafe. Glass bottled Cokes are 30 cents too. Good stuff. That brings me to how I am posting this blog. Since it is the 4th of July, the locals threw a fiesta for us, and fiestas last all day long. They did not want us to work on our holiday, and I think they just wanted a good excuse to party as well. Part of our group has been here for the past 5 weeks on a 6 week mission, so this was especially nice for them. Those of us that just arrived still wanted to go play with the children at the ophanage, so a small group still went to see them. There is a small market with internet access about a mile from where we are staying, so I walked down to see what is going on there. Looks like North Korea went ahead with the missle launch...
The place that we are staying is much nicer than I anticipated. We can´t flush toilet tissue (must throw it in the trash can beside the toilet), drink the water, or eat a lot of the foods, but I was prepared for much worse lodging conditions.
I am not sure if we will be granted internet access again this week, but if so I will post another update. Thanks for the prayers for us while we are gone!

WEB ALBUM

Okay, forget yesterday's comment about joining the Flickr cult. I've found that I like Google's version much better. You can view photos here.

PERU BOUND

Ju and I are leaving Saturday morning for Peru. We will be working at an orphanage there with about 40 children that is at maximum capacity. The trip will involve construction (to create additional capacity) and (hopefully) lots of play time with the kids. I promise to post pictures as soon as we return.
Since the orphanage is at maximum capacity, why don't they just let us have one or two kids? Hmmmm, I'll see if I can work some magic.

Oh yeah, we've joined the Flickr cult. Here's a link to our pictures.

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS

Not only my wife, but also the weather at Lake Jocassee this weekend. We camped at the lake Friday and Saturday night along with Ju's parents, and the weather and water were perfect. Okay, the water could have been a little warmer, but with 90 degree air temperatures, I can deal with slightly cool water. While we were boarding on Saturday, a boat approached us with a photographer that was contracted by the state park. They asked if they could follow us around and catch some different shots for the recreational boating section of the website. They photographed Ju's mom slalom sking and me wakeboarding. It was pretty cool, but it's also weird to have a stranger so close to you in another boat taking pictures of you as you ride. Ju and her parents left Sunday morning, but I stayed and Justin came up to do a little wakeboarding. We stayed out on the water for about 5 hours, but somehow we only rode two sets. We just had fun hanging out in the boat (plus Justin had a wittle tummy ache). A thunderstorm popped up in the distance, so we headed back to the boat landing only to find it closed off with a couple of ambulances and the rescue squad there. After asking a couple of questions as to why all of the boat ramps were closed, I found out that someone had fallen off of the top of the big waterfall. If you've ever seen Laurel Fork Falls, you can imagine that whoever fell had to have been hurt pretty badly. It's about a 50-70 foot waterfall. The storm caught up to us, and we waited at the boat landing for about an hour while the rescue squad did its duty. I'm not sure what condition the guy is in that fell, but I hope for the best.

CANOE THE NEW

I and five other guys paddled 24 miles on the New River just above Jefferson, NC this weekend. We had a blast. Despite the rain and 42 degree weather that dampened our fun on Sunday morning, we still had a great trip overall. Paddling the last 8 miles in such conditions further proved the manhood that we posess in case anyone doubted it. The canoe camping trip is something that I strongly recommend.

Congrats to Jerri for becoming an attorney and Jason for becoming a doctor. Jerri has got to be the hottest lawyer that I'll ever know. Jason, you're pretty cute too.

I'm on a break from contractor classes right now for a couple of weeks. It's amazing how an extra 10 hours per week can be life changing.

What is up with gas prices? I mean, really. Donations to the Edwards' Boat Gas Foundation can be mailed directly to my home address.

GAS PRICES

There's an email going around about boycotting gas from Exxon and Mobil in an attempt to lower gas prices. It drives me nutty because this is how gas prices are actually set.

YES, I'M ALIVE

Okay, no post in a month, so here's what's been going on:

Julie's grandmother passed away last weekend. Before you get all sentimental on me, let me make sure that you understand that this was a happy event. Not because she was a wicked old lady, but because she has been suffering through the last stages of Alzheimer's for so long. Each time we've seen her in the last few years, we couldn't help but question why God allowed her to continue living. It was great to attend a funeral service where a lady was honored so well by her family and friends. It was also great to dust off my saxophone case and play a song for her.

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on Wednesday. Not a big celebration, but we are going to have a long weekend in Virginia/DC in two weeks. We plan to do some horseback riding and visit some friends.

I passed my Unlimited General Contractor state exam. What does that mean? Well, the license allows a person to build anything from a room addition on a house to skyscrapers. What am I going to do with the license? Good question. I want to get into commercial building and industrial contracting eventually, but until then I will be doing things on a smaller level (on the side) to get my feet wet.

Julie and I are going to Peru the first week of July. Please keep us in your prayers. We will be working in an orphanage and doing some construction. I am more excited about this than I have been about anything else for a long time.

I'm currently in first place in the Renfrow Nation NCAA bracket. I'm just stoked about beating out some of the biggest sports fanatics that I know. I hope that I hold onto the lead. If Moody had entered my bracket correctly in the SC Fellas group, I'd be busting ya'll up as well.

Justin has a girlfriend. That's gotta be worth posting.

WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND

You know those weekends that you wrap up with a smile on your face feeling refreshed for work on Monday morning?  If you’re like me, you have to think long and hard to relate with weekends like that, but I just had one.  The funny thing is that I didn’t do anything “fun.”  There was no ski resort, no beach house, no hunting club, not even a boat show involved.  In fact, I didn’t even leave my house all day on Saturday.  Don’t let me mislead you into thinking that this was just a crash and burn weekend of relaxation though, because it was far from that.  I simply feel refreshed this morning because I was able to cross a few things off of my personal “to do list” that have been hanging over my head for a while.  Saturday, I worked in my garage from about 9:30AM to 10:00PM installing a new stereo system in my boat.  It doesn’t sound like too much fun, but I was like a kid at Christmas when I finished things up Saturday night.  Thanks to a lot of help from Julie throughout the day, the whole project turned out GREAT!  Sunday involved hanging a couple of curtains and reading (yes, reading) to prepare for a theology class at Grace.  I finished up my reading with a short nap (no offense, but reading theology always prepares you for a good nap).  After our church service last night, I don’t think Ju or myself had the typical feeling of “Where has the weekend gone?” or “Do we really have to go back to work tomorrow morning?”  It wasn’t a typical 400 mile weekend for the Edwards (although that was the plan before we cancelled our trip to Dillon at the last minute on Friday), but it was a much needed “productive” weekend.  Although I think that my wife may argue that installing a stereo in a boat isn’t very productive.

I FAIL TO FIND THE HUMOR IN THIS

Yesterday afternoon I got my hair cut. I was a week or two overdue for a haircut, but I noticed that the lady cutting my hair wasn't cutting very much off. I kindly told her that she could take a little more off, and she hesitated as if she was trying to think of what to say. After a second or two, she responded by saying, "I'll go a little shorter on the sides." Now this lady has been cutting my hair for over a year now, and I could tell that something more was on her mind. After a few more seconds, she said, "It's just getting pretty thin on top, so I don't want to take too much off."
I apologize to all of my thinning and bald friends for making fun of them in the past.

AND THE WHEELS ON THE CAR GO...

We're leaving at lunch today to head back to UVA. Julie will be undergoing another series of tests tomorrow beginning at 8:00AM and lasting roughly a half day. I'm not looking forward to spending 16 of our next 36 hours driving, but I could also think of hundreds of things that would be worse. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to work with doctors to find answers.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

It's a sad day at work today because Andy (the child for whom I dressed up as Spiderman)passed away yesterday afternoon. The local newspaper had just printed an article about him on the same day. My company has really rallied around this family. My heart breaks for the parents.

Next thought. Some of my friends cannot commit to the simplest things. Whether it's poker night, a graduation party for Julie, a baby shower, or a ski trip, you'll never know if they are coming until the day of the event. Then it's time to scramble for more food, drinks, poker chips, chairs, tables or better yet throw a truckload of food away because nobody was there to eat it. Yes... this applies to many of you reading this. You have "opportunities for improvement" in this area.

Next thought. Maybe my project management mentality makes me much more anal about the last thought than I should be. I still love my friends.

Next thought. Daniel Bass got locked up this week. His bail was posted at $2500, and he needs help getting out. Before you get too excited, he was locked up for a fund raising event for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. You can help by clicking here.

Next thought. I really should be working right now. This short post gave me a nice break from yield strength calculations, but it's time to get back to what they pay me to do.

BABY GOT BOOK

The youth retreat was a blast this weekend. I picked this video up from the retreat, and I hope it helps get your SHORT WEEK (yey!) going this morning. I have a busy morning, so I'll give an update later.

NOT MY GOODIES

Thanksgiving from a turkey's perspective.

OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

It's Friday, 7:10AM, and I've had a really productive week. Not only productive in my job, but also outside of work. I received approval for the funds for 3 projects this week that have been going through the approval process for a few months, so busy times are just ahead. I had a test Wednesday night in my residential builder's class, and I feel like I did very well. Last night, I bowled with the guys in my small group from church, and I proudly say that I bowled a 184. Not bad for the first game in well over a year.
This afternoon I plan on sneaking into the woods after work to hunt. I haven't had a chance to go deer hunting this year yet, so I'm going to see if I can get to a stand in time after work today. Tomorrow morning, Ju and I will be going backpacking at Caesar's Head, and returning on Sunday. It looks like it will be perfect weather for a weekend spent outdoors. We were torn between going to the Clemson game or doing this, and I can't really justify not going to the homecoming game, but we are just going to get away for the weekend.

ANDY LOVES SPIDERMAN

About six months ago, one of my co-workers found out that his 5 year old son had a brain tumor. He has spent the last six months being drug through hell and back with this condition that doctors are saying will take his life soon. Our plant has rallied around this family in a phenomenal way.
Andy, the child, LOVES Spiderman. Our HR Manager caught wind of this fact and wanted to make sure that Spidey was here when Andy visited for Halloween. He and his little sister visited today at lunch to find the REAL Spiderman at our facility. He (in his Spiderman shirt and hat) asked as soon as he saw me if I was real, and although I forgot to take my watch off, the web shooting out from my wrist and tread on the bottom of my feet (treaded socks) convinced him that I was indeed the REAL DEAL. He thanked me several times for making his wish come true and told me that he loved me. Now that's a good day at work.

TRUNK OR TREAT 2005

Last night's Trunk or Treat at Grace was a success. Our theme was "Fishing for Candy." We had some bamboo poles with clothes pins attached to the end of the line for kids to fish into the boat for candy. Someone was lying in the boat attaching the candy to the lines. The kids had a blast! There were some awesome costumes.
I hope that we have a lot of trick or treaters tonight at our house. They might just find me in a Spiderman costume.

I CUT ITS HEART OUT WITH A SPOON

We carved our pumpkin last night. This has officially become a tradition at our house that was inherited from the Keever's. We decided to switch it up a bit this year and go with a little less of a jackolantern theme. The pic with no flash is my favorite.

STILL RETREAT

I'm super pumped about the youth retreat next month for the youth at Grace. This year's theme is being a "still retreat" to slow down life for a weekend; no cellphones, no email, no drama. It humors me to talk about teenagers "turning off their cellphones" to "get away."
I am humbled and excited to be a part of the retreat this year as I look around at the other leaders with whom I will be working. Some of the leaders are guys that relationships were initiated with in college such as Stuart Fuller and Rick Hawkinson, and others go a little deeper with family like Jeremy Keever.
I have been struggling so much while playing in the youth band because I've fooled myself into thinking that there is nothing there to be fed by. I mean, how can a high school kid help me grow in Christ? Lately, I've been continually realizing that the God of seventeen year olds is the same one for twenty somethings and senior citizens.
So, if you know any teenagers that would like to go to this retreat, send them my way.

HOSPITALS, DOCTORS, FUNERALS

Those aren't 3 words that I would attribute to an ideal week, but they have overwhelmed my week thus far. I'm sitting at my desk at 6:00AM this morning aching all over, and I know it's because my go go go has gone gone gone, and I'm waiting for Friday.
For those of you who aren't aware of the struggle that my wife has been dealing with for a few years, let me fill you in so that you will understand the update that I am posting below. Julie has been gaining weight excessively. She has gained 60 pounds in the past two years alone, and we have been very concerned with the health implications associated with this. Julie has seen 3 endocrinologists, and was finally referred to the leading endocrinolgy/neurology doctors in the country specializing on the pitutary gland. Below is a copy of the email that she sent out last night updating everyone. I'm posting it here because I'm sure we left some people off of the list!

Ed and I just returned from our trip to the Medical University of VA, and we are pooped! We calculated that between going back and forth to Charleston this weekend to MUSC to see family and friends in the cardiac unit, traveling back and forth to Greenville for my uncle's funeral, and driving to UVA and back, we have driven over 1600 miles since last Wednesday! The drive to UVA, however, was gorgeous!
The Medical University of VA was great. The doctors there were quite thorough and knowledgeable. They had no definite answers, but for the first time in three years, I have felt as if the doctors were the ones diagnosing me, instead of myself. They feel strongly that it is one of two things. The first that they are checking out is a pituitary tumor. There is a slight anomaly visible on my MRI's, but nothing that they would deem worthy of surgery just yet. They drew some more blood today and I will be doing 24-hour urine tests for the next three consecutive Sundays. It will be about two weeks after the last test before they get the results, and they will then make a decision as to whether or not they feel a pituitary tumor is present. If it is, they will go through the nasal canal and remove it. They will also be checking to see if this tumor has resulted in something called Cushing's syndrome. Either way, the removal of the tumor and a little bit of hormone therapy should fix everything.
If everything turns out normal with the above tests, then the doctors will take the route of investigating PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). Though I have had several symptoms of this since I was in high school, past endocrinologists have failed to throughly investigate this as a possibility. This is something that is not curable but can be held in check with a simple medicine.
The good news...neither of these is life threatening! And there is a possibility that by fixing either of these, I might find myself able to ovulate...which kind of helps when you are trying to have a baby. If not, Ed and I are excited about the possibility of adopting. In the meantime, keep praying for the following things:
* Ed's sanity- he's about to go crazy with my crying fits
* My depression- continually gaining weight is about to get to me; not to mention I can't afford any more wardrobes
* The tests- that the doctors will find exactly what is wrong and take the appropriate steps
Thanks again for all of your support! We couldn't make it without you guys!

Julie

HANGIN' WITH DJ COOPER

This post will only interest you Dillon peeps out there...
I ran into Cooper Bethea's parents at Daniel's wedding this weekend. We talked for a while and caught up on many of the surface details of our lives, but this morning I decided to do a websearch on Cooper to find his contact info and drop him a line. I found this article of interest. I also found a short bio about him on his website. Check them out!

HOW MUCH ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY FOR A CHILD?

Weird question, but it is one that you may be asked when you first meet with an adoption agency or attorney. We attended an adoption seminar last night, and it was very informative. We learned many of the differences between domestic and international adoptions. One thing that I have never pondered was the prenatal relationship between adopted parents and the birth mother. In most domestic adoption situations involving newborns, the adopted family is chosen by the birth mother through the use of portfolios, interviews, and homestudy information presented to the birth mother. Once the family is chosen, they sometimes attend medical appointments with the birth mother, and many adopted mothers are even in the delivery room with the birth mother. This concept blows my mind. What is the initial conversation like between a family looking to adopt and a mother looking for a family to adopt her child? "Hi. I'm Ed, and this is my wife Julie. We would love to take your baby and love on him for the rest of his life." Both parties will typically have a lot of differnences, but last night I realized one thing that they share in common. The birth mother and adopted family each care about the child. It would be much easier for a selfish mother to abort a baby instead of carrying it for 9 months if she didn't have some form of love for the child.
The whole concept of a child ending up in a family that is not biologically related reminds me of how big God is. Hearing stories from adopted families last night just put me in awe of how God can orchestrate our lives through small things that change the world forever. Imagine how much the life of a person is flipped upside down and inside out just because he left the hospital with a different family at birth. Wow.
Keep us in your prayers as we seek His will for the life of our child. How awesome is it to think that God is excited right now because of a crisis that he's going to turn into a celebration for some family.

HAS ANYONE SEEN MOODY LATELY?

As much as I hoped that it wouldn't happen, Chris Moody has fallen into an abyss. Could someone please post some pictures of my old buddy so that I can jog my memory of what he looks like?

MILLION DOLLAR CRYBABY

I rented Million Dollar Baby last night as part of a midweek date with my wife. It was recommended to me by a few people, but it ruined a good date night for me. I expected to watch a movie about a girl that was trained to box in the big leagues but what I got was one of the saddest movies I've ever seen. I got up and walked out of the room twice during the movie, and I even cried for about 10 minutes after the credits rolled. It really wasn't all that heavy, but it was tough for me to watch someone on a respirator gasping for air because that is how I saw my mom live the last 2 months of her life. My heart was crushed.
My verdict... two thumbs down.

RAIN RAIN AND MORE RAIN

Ju and I spent a wet weekend at Lake Jocassee with her parents, aunt, uncle, and their three kids. We planned on spending a lot of time on the water, but we ended up spending more time in the camper. The weekend wasn't a complete washout since we had a couple of hours on the lake Saturday morning and another hour or so that night. The highlight was teaching two of the kids to kneeboard, and pulling the oldest (17) on a wakeboard a few times. There's something about seeing a kids face when he or she does something for the first time that just thrills me like nothing else. Julie spent a little time in the water with the 8 year old and he got up on his first try. The 12 year old had a much harder time getting the hang of the kneeboard, but a lot of patience and a couple of breaks in between sessions led to a few really impressive runs.

RETIREMENT DILEMMA

According to the US Department of Commerce, American households save less than 1% of their income. That means the average household earning $30k per year saves less than $300 annually. Ouch.
Americans are too busy griping about social security benefits and how Bush is going to fix the problem to realize that they need to adjust some spending habits so that retirement isn't the government's responsibility. So what if social security won't be around in 20 years? That's what IRA's and other forms of retirement investments are for. My 2 cents is that your retirement years shouldn't consist of selling all that you have to afford food on the table.
It sounds like more Americans are relying on their children to support them when they are no longer able to work. Not a good plan if you ask me.

PARENTAL VISIT

Well, after 3 years my parents finally came and stayed for a weekend visit. This is their first overnight stay with us, and we had a great time. After touring the town and listening to my dad tell Julie stories of all of my high school girlfriends (all 2 of them by the way), we stopped in at Wild Wing Cafe' to grab a bite. Julie and Jerri (my stepmom) were amused at the sweat pouring off of the foreheads of my dad and me since we got into some China Syndrome and Red Dragon wings. After cooling our mouths off with some Brusters ice cream, we wrapped up our night on the town and came home to look at some vacation pictures. Sunday's lunch was provided by the best cook in town (Julie of course), and my parents left just before I faded into slumberland on the couch. Good times... Maybe I'll get them back up to visit before another 3 years pass.

JT's CRUSTACHE

Looks like Jason Grier wasn't the only one that got into the chocolate milk in high school...

ROAD TRIP DAY 14- HOME SWEET HOME

After a traffic jam just outside of D.C. that delayed us 4 hours, we finally made it home at 10:30 Thursday night. We found out that 3 tractor-trailers collided earlier that day and one was carrying hazardous chemicals, so all of I-95 was completely closed. Not fun. Sorry for the late post, but I wanted to collect some thoughts before posting my last one on our trip.

First of all, we had a blast. I wouldn’t go back and change anything if I could. We drove 3600 miles, and I have fallen in love with my wife all over again. I can’t believe how much care she takes of me. Now, I may have made a few wrong turns along the way when my navigator was sleeping on the job, but other than that, it was a seamless trip.

Our favorite part of the trip was Acadia. I’m not going to try to explain why because my vocabulary isn’t versed enough to find the words to describe how beautiful it is. The bed and breakfast our last night there was simply the icing on the cake.

I’m sure that you’ve been wondering about our observations/realizations that we have made during our vacation, so here it goes:

1. Yankees LOVE Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m not kidding. We saw more Dunkin’ Donuts in New England than Walmarts, McDonalds, Burger Kings, and car dealerships COMBINED!
2. Yankees’ road signs are so confusing that not even they understand them. I’ve got more concrete evidence to back this up than I have time to type. A couple of examples are the $115 parking ticket that I got in NY after TWO locals told me that it was okay to park there and the full size DOT signs everywhere in Maine that simply say BLIND PERSON of DEAF CHILD. What about a blind person or deaf child? We later learned that these signs are placed on either side of a house when a person with one of these disabilities lives in close proximity to a busy highway. When you read a hotel sign saying “Elevator to Meeting Rooms” wouldn’t you think that there was a separate elevator to the guest rooms? Ummmm, no. Also, I can’t tell you how many times we looked at a “Gas this Exit” sign on an interstate highway and exited off to get gas only to find the exit putting us on another highway that we had to go down 5 miles and exit again to actually get to the gas station. I think that gas stations and restaurants should not be included on those big blue signs unless they are less than a half mile from the exit. And forget street signs telling you what street you are on.
3. Be prepared to pay outrageous parking charges to include your car in your hotel stay. Yankees assume that only you need a place to stay and that your car will be out partying all night.
4. Upper echelon apartments in NYC are equivalent to slums in Spartanburg. I was amazed at the living conditions of a $4000/mo. apartment.
5. Once you leave the Carolinas you don’t find 70MPH speed limits anymore. The majority of the time the speed limit was 55 with occasional 60 and 65 signs. No worry though because the Yankees run 80-85 all of the time no matter what is posted.
6. Tolls are a way of life. It cost me $23 just to drive from D.C. to NYC (we found a different route on the way home). Don’t these people pay enough in taxes already?
7. Talk about small town mentality, I’ve got two great examples for you: (1) I stopped about 2 hours away from Acadia National Park at a gas station to make sure that I was going the best route. When I asked the attendant if this highway was the best way to Acadia, she responded with “What’s Acadia?” I can understand her not knowing the best way to get there from 2 hours away, but her not knowing what is was would be like a South Carolinian not knowing what Hilton Head is. (2) When we stayed in Northeast Harbor, I asked directions from a store owner on how to get to Bass Harbor so that we could see the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. She, who was driving a $40,000 car, proceeded to tell me that she had lived on the island for over 20 years but had never driven down to Bass Harbor because that was a “long drive.” After getting her map out and telling me what roads to follow, she told us that be better get started because we were going to be driving for a while. Long story short… Bass Harbor was 13 miles away.
8. Bugs are bigger and badder. Every convenience store within 10 miles of a campground has a whole wall of bug spray. I have to say that this really surprised me.
9. Everyone thinks that South Carolina is the most gorgeous state. Other than in Connecticut, the people that asked where we were from always responded with something along the lines of, “I’ve always wanted to go there. I hear that it is beautiful.”
10. Bags of ice are big enough to fill a big glass of tea. Maybe people in the North don’t need as much ice, but we would have to buy 10 bags of ice just to fill our little cooler.

I’m looking forward to showing you all a bunch of pictures and telling you about our trip!

ROAD TRIP DAY 13- WASHINGTON D.C.

Another driving day today.  We arrived in D.C around 6:00 and hopped on the Metro to meet Ju’s parents.  After looking at a ton of pictures with them we went down to DuPont Circle and found a neat restaurant for a late supper and finished that off with some Starbucks.  The folks kept us out pretty late, so we decided to crash with them in their hotel room.  We’re heading home tomorrow.

 

ROAD TRIP DAY 12- MONADNOCK, NH & WATERBURY, CT

We hiked Mount Monadnock today, and I must say that Acadia and Monadnock have changed our perception of hiking.  I’ve hiked my share of trails in Pisgah, and I’ve never been as fatigued as I was after the 4 hour loop to the summit today.  The weather was slightly foggy at the top, so our view of six New England states was more like a view of two, but it was still beautiful.  Hiking Monadnock was more like rock climbing much as I posted about the South Bubble Rock Trail in Acadia.  Justin, I know that you are asking yourself how this could be fun without involving a Jeep, but it was.  Anyway, we came, we saw, we conquered, and we moved on to Connecticut.  We are staying in Waterbury just outside of Hartford, and there doesn’t seem to be much going on here other than a ton of acupressure saunas in town.  Hartford is pretty cool though.

I think that we are going to skip Hershey and drive back down to D.C tomorrow to hang out with Ju’s parents and some of their friends.  We will either be coming home on Thursday or Friday.  We’re having a blast, but we also want to have a day or two to unpack and catch up on yardwork (I know that I have a jungle for a yard by now) before getting back to the daily routines.

 

ROAD TRIP DAY 11- SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Today was a day of driving taking us from Mount Desert Island, ME to Merrimack, NH.  Merrimack is near Concord and is very convenient to Mount Monadnock which we will be hiking tomorrow.  From the summit of Monadnock you can see all six New England states.

We arrived at the motel around 5:00 this afternoon and continued our search for a good fireworks show in the area.  A magazine detailing events in southern NH had an article about a Fourth of July celebration in Peterborough which was about 30 miles from Merrimack.  The article stated that the fireworks show was “the best in New England.”  We decided that it sounded good, so after supper we headed 30 miles west to the small town of Peterborough.  The show surpassed our expectations and would be very hard to beat.  During the show, Julie and I remembered last year’s fireworks show on Lake Wylie that we watched from the boat while Justin, Jason, and Moody were a few of the ones naming the fireworks names such as “snicklemingles” and “honoglobulators” as the people on boats around us were cracking up.  Good times…

I have several observations of differences in lifestyles that we have noticed, but I will be saving those until my last road trip post where I will recap all of my observations, so stay tuned.

Tomorrow’s plans include hiking Mount Monadnock and then heading down to Hartford, CT.  We are still trying to decide whether to head to Hershey, PA the next night, or meeting up with Ju’s parents in D.C. for an extra night there.  That’s the beauty of the road trip… you can go wherever you want!

I’ve uploaded a few of the pictures that we’ve taken so far, and here they are:

New York

Cape Cod

 

 

ROAD TRIP DAY 10 - NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME

We either slept through the 4:00 alarm this morning or set the alarm clock wrong, but either way we didn’t see the sunrise over Cadillac Mountain. We will be doing that tomorrow. We are spending our last night in Maine in a bed and breakfast down in Northeast Harbor. The inn was built in 1888 and is awesome. The late 1800’s décor throughout adds just the right touch to the bed and breakfast’s atmosphere. Our “quarters” include a kitchenette, bathroom, and bedroom with a fireplace. We have our own private porch overlooking a small garden area too. Props to mom and pop Keever for giving us the recommendation for this place.

After packing up camp this morning and driving to Northeast Harbor, we checked into the inn and then ventured back to Acadia to do a hike that I was dying to do. We had been forewarned by one of the park rangers that this was a strenuous hike, but little did we expect what we encountered. During approximately 40% of the three hour hike a slip would have led to at least a 50 foot, and sometimes 300 foot fall. There were iron rungs in the mountain to aid in our ascent, but my fear of heights was greatly challenged. There is no way that I would have decended the same way, and luckily the trail was a loop that had a much easier decent. In all, I would definitely do it again; however, I think that Julie has had her fill on hikes of this nature. She knelt and said a prayer of thanks once we reached the top. The view at the top was gorgemous.

After the hike, we came back to Northeast Harbor and toured the town by car. We then came back to our room and took showers to get ready for supper. Supper consisted of walking downtown to a nice local restaurant. On our walk back to the inn, a deer came out in front of us and panicked when it became disoriented. After several seconds it darted into the woods across the road. I took my camera out to take a picture of it, and when I did, the deer started approaching me as if she wanted her picture taken. She walked up to within about 20 feet of us and stood for several minutes before she went on her way. We walked on to the inn which is where I am right now. This post will be a little late, because I do not have internet access.

Tomorrow’s plans are to drive down to Mount Monadnock, NH. From the summit of this mountain you can see all 6 New England states. It’s about 320 miles from here. We are going to stay somewhere nearby that has a good fireworks show and then hike the mountain Tuesday.

ROAD TRIP DAY 9- ACADIA NATIONAL PARK 2

Wow… what an incredible day. Today is a day that wraps up what vacations are all about. I woke up at 4:15AM to a beautiful woman asking me to “spoon” her because she was cold. A little spooning action, and I was back asleep by 4:20. I did roll out of bed around 8:00, and found fantastic weather greeting me. By lunchtime, the weather was 75 degrees and sunny.

We kayaked Long Pond this morning for a few hours. It was the first time that either of us had paddled a tandem kayak without a rudder, and it took us an hour just to get our act together. I was getting frustrated, but the views along with lunch in the kayak were well worth the effort. After kayaking, we drove the park loop road and saw some amazing sites. We hiked up to the summit overlooking Jordan Pond and the ocean, and this hike was strenuous. There was actually more rock climbing involved than there was hiking. After the hike, we drove along the loop to see views of Bar Harbor, and we got out at Otter Cliffs to snap some beautimous pictures. In all, I took over 150 pictures today alone. The ocean crashes into the rocks of the cliffs and actually caught me off guard a few times with a heavy spray. Words cannot express how awesome the views of God’s creation are that we have experienced today.

We finished the night with a great dinner down at Southwest Harbor. Our table was right on the harbor, and the boats were incredible.

I have no cell phone reception, and I am only able to upload this post because I stumbled upon a wireless connection while I was downloading pictures at the harbor tonight. Make sure to check out the previous two days' posts as well since they are being uploaded at the same time as this one. Tomorrow’s plans include watching the sun rise at Cadillac Mountain, biking Schoodic Point, and hiking another trail in the park. We will be staying at a bed and breakfast in Northeast Harbor while trying to hash out our plans for the 4th.

ROAD TRIP DAY 8- ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

The weather here is 60 degrees and FOGGY.  I mean, really foggy.  We didn’t manage to see much today because of the fog, but we were able to get our bearings and plan the rest of our stay here. 

We arrived late last night, and despite one of the rangers telling me over the phone that it would be fine for us to drive up to Cadillac Mountain and catch a few winks in the car, the signs at the top of the mountain said otherwise.  We drove on to the campground arriving around 1:30AM, and slept until 4:15AM in the car.  We then raced back up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain following an eager family in a minivan, and as the sun began to rise we realized that this was a lost cause with the fog. 

We came back to our campsite, set up camp, and napped for a few hours.  There are no hot showers in the national park campground, so you must drive about half a mile to find hot showers that are $1.25 for 4 minutes.  After showering, we hiked the loop in the park around Jordan Pond.  Despite the fog, the hike was beautiful.  We finished the hike at the Jordan Pond House which has been modernized to a restaurant and gift shop.  We realized that we needed a little extra blanketing for the 40 degree night that was approaching, so we drove back off of the island to a Wal-Mart (about 40 miles) and picked up an extra fleece liner to keep us warm.  Thanks to a propane heater, I think we will manage tonight.

The fog should be rolling out tomorrow morning (Saturday), opening the rest of the weekend up to 75-80 degree weather.  Tomorrow’s plans include kayaking Long Pond and then driving the Park Loop Road.

 

ROAD TRIP DAY 7- OGUNQUIT/KENNEBUNKPORT

Well, Ed is finally driving and I am getting to blog about our trip, even though he is trying to dictate everything I write. Our last night in  Boston was spent at a Laundromat in Harvard, washing a few towels that were beyond filthy from camping. We then ate a delectable dinner from KFC and Taco Bell, then headed back to the hotel to pack up. We finally got to bed around 12 and woke up sore and tired this morning. After making several trips to the car, and repacking several times, we finally hit the road around 10:15.  Our first stop was in Ogunquit, Maine. Thanks to the recommendations of Jackie Renfrow, we were able to take in the key attractions of the town. We started our tour with walking The Marginal Way, a paved walking path that borders the rocky coast. The Cape Cod mansions situated on rocky cliffs were enough to take your breath away. About midway on the path, the infamous New England fog began to roll in. In a matter of minutes, we were surrounded by an incredibly dense fog. We continued to walk to a restaurant called Jackie’s Too, on Perkin’s Cove. Our outside seating, overlooking the rocky beaches, was like a scene from the movies.

After lunch, we took Main Street to get back to our car. On the way, we passed a German Shepherd, a Great Dane, and a St. Bernard, all weighing in at over 150 pounds.  Our last stop in Ogunquit was in a little post card store, where the display case housed not post cards, but a 25 pound cat, named Moose. I guess people in New England like big pets!

After making it to the car, we took a fifteen minute drive to Kennebunkport, Maine. Kennebunkport gives “mansion” a whole new definition. These houses make the ones I saw in Beverly Hills look small! We found a lifeguard who not only told us that the water was a mere 54 degrees, but also gave us directions to George Bush Senior’s summer home. Talk about big! There were three black Suburbans and about 6 other cars in the driveway. Bush and Bill Clinton had played golf at Kennebunkport the day before, so they were apparently still at the mansion. We left there and headed to The Changing Tides for dinner, where we were able to get yet another $25 meal for $4.  After leaving, we got a wild hair and decided to head on up to Acadia National Park.  It’s about 9:30pm and we about halfway there. Our plans are to get to Acadia and drive on up to Cadillac Mountain. We will nap in the car for a few hours and arise early enough to see the sunrise; this is the first place the sun rises in the US!  We’ll then set up camp, catch a quick nap, and hit the sites in Acadia.  Pray we don’t freeze…it’s supposed to be 34 degrees on top of the mountain in the morning.

ROAD TRIP DAY 6- BOSTON 2

My feet are numb.  We walked all over Boston today.  It was one of those things that the more you saw, the more you wanted to see, and walking seems to be the best method of transportation in the city. 

We started the day off with a few laps in the hotel pool, and then got ready to hit the city.  We walked the Freedom Trail that led us through the history of the city.  Points of interest on the trail included the state house, a few churches, the site of the Boston Massacre, the USS Constitution, and the graves of men such as Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin, and Samuel Adams.  All of the sites were open to tour; the Senate and House of Representatives rooms of the state house were incredible, and the USS Constitution was pretty cool too.  After walking the Freedom Walk, we decided to walk back to our hotel instead of catching the train so that we could see more of the city.  That decision caught up with us when we finished the 4 mile walk back from the harbor and crashed in our room.

My graceful wife took a plunge on some uneven concrete just as we were preparing to cross one of the crosswalks.  She left some skin from her knee and hands on the sidewalk while she also attracted a good bit of attention.  I came to her rescue with a first aid kit that was in my backpack (yes, a true boy scout is always prepared), and my trooper continued on without a single whisper of a complaint.

We didn’t make a game at Fenway Park while we were here, but that’s alright with us because (1) we’ve been to a few MLB games at different stadiums, (2) I’m not the sports buff that some of you are, and (3) the Red Sox lost last night anyway. 

We’re off to Ogunquit and Kennebunkport, ME tomorrow followed by a few nights in Acadia and the Bar Harbor area.  Cell phone reception might be a little sketchy, so if you don’t see an update for a few days, don’t lose faith in me.  I’ll keep them going, but they might be uploaded all at the same time once I venture back into civilazation.

 

ROAD TRIP DAY 5 - BOSTON

It rained on us all night last night, but did stop raining around 7:00AM.  This allowed us to pack up the tent and get on our way to Boston around 8:30.  Packing up a wet tent is no fun job, but we seemed to make pretty light work of it.  We arrived in Boston around lunch and checked into our hotel.  We are staying at the Hyatt Regency on the river just beside MIT, and we got a sweet deal with Priceline, or at least I thought we did until I found out that the hotel charges $25 per night for parking.  After getting a little frustrated at this, I learned that charging $25 for parking is customary here.  I guess we ignorant southerners are just stupid to expect parking to be included with our hotel stay. 

Anyway, we walked around Harvard’s campus for a few hours and saw a beautiful university.  There are a lot of students moving in and out right now, and we saw moving companies doing this for many of them.  I guess they need to get a jumpstart on their studying, so there’s no time to move their own things.  I saw one guy walking across campus with at least 8 books in his hands and a backpack on his back.  I tried to get a picture, but he was scrambling a little too fast. 

We then drove downtown and walked around a little.  We spent a while in the Boston Public Library and then ate at a great restaurant named Cosmopolitan.  In the 8 hours that we have been here, Julie has already managed to get a Boston library card.  Boston Common is a very nice retreat right in the heart of the city.  We passed Fenway Park on our way back to the hotel, and the Sox were playing a game as we passed.  We’re calling it an early night tonight, because the first 1300 miles are catching up with us.  This will be the first post that will actually go up the same day as it took place!

Plans for tomorrow include trekking all around Boston.  Tune in tomorrow to hear about the Freedom Walk.

 

ROAD TRIP DAY 4- CAPE COD 2

We started the day out in the small town of Chatham.  What a cool town!  We walked downtown throughout the shops for about 4 hours and then drove down to the Chatham lighthouse.  We had lunch at Harwich at a picnic area right on the water where about 35 fishing boats were moored.  I’ve got so many pictures that I am dying to share, but the internet connection through my cell phone is VERY slow.  After lunch, we drove down the coast to see more sights of the beach.  The fog was fairly heavy around the cape today, but it didn’t roll inland until just before dusk.  The weather is unbelievable; 75 degrees with a low of 62 at night.  Not too shabby for camping.  After driving the scenic route down to the south end of Cape Cod, we decided to drive up to Plymouth.  We really wanted to see a cranberry bog, but cranberries aren’t in season right now.  They typically harvest them in October.  We saw Plymouth Rock and a replica of the Mayflower.  The ocean is beautiful.  All of the boats moor a few hundred feet out and then tender over to the marinas and restaurants because the slope of the coast is very gradual (and there would be a traffic jam with all of the fishing boats).  After Plymouth we stopped at Penners Restaurant and murdered a lobster along with some shrimp.  Thanks to restaurant.com and a generous coupon, an enormous lobster, mashed potatoes, fries, cornbread, some jumbo shrimp, Caesar salad, and vegetables cost us under $20!  Yeah, market price for the lobster itself was $22/lb and mine was over a pound.  After dinner, we drove back to the campground and packed up for tomorrow (everything but the tent of course). 

It’s supposed to rain a little tonight, but hopefully it will move past before we get up tomorrow morning.  Our plans are to head towards Boston and find a place to go kayaking.  Plans can change quickly on a road trip, but we’ll see! 

ROAD TRIP DAY 3 - CAPE COD

Our drive from NYC to Cape Cod took us through some beautiful cities.  We passed through Fall River, Massachusetts, and we were astonished at the size of this waterfront city.  It was beautiful.  We arrived at the cape around 3:30, and we drove to our campground to setup camp before doing any sightseeing.  I was very pleased with our campsite as it is right on a small lake formed from a glacier (supposedly) in Nickerson State Park.  The water is very clear.  We setup camp as quickly as possible to get back out and have some fun. 

We drove Route 6 all the way to the end of the cape tonight.  We stopped to see a few lighthouses, and we saw one of the original U.S. Coast Guard houses as well.  This house was home to the original Life Savers and was decommissioned in 1958.  We ventured off of the beaten path to a wildlife viewing area at Fort Hill and saw some incredible marshes while walking a path not too far from the beach.  The water temperature is 54 degrees, so needless to say I will not be getting in it.  I’m sure the 80+ degree water in SC will be waiting for me when I get home.  I took pictures of several groups of surfers (all of which had on wetsuits of course) that seemed to be having a great time.

Our next stop included a bowl of lobster chowder for me and an ice cream cone for Ju.  After finishing that we headed on down to the end of Route 6, Province Town.  I had been forewarned that this was the homosexual capital of the east coast, but warning doesn’t always mean preparation.  There were “same sex” couples everywhere, but the town was awesome.  It reminded me a little of an overgrown Harbortown at Hilton Head.  I’m glad I got to see it before God destroys the city.

I got some great lighthouse pictures; hope to share them with you soon.  We will remain at Cape Cod tomorrow night as well, and then it is off to Boston.

ROAD TRIP DAY 2 - NEW YORK CITY

We arrived in NYC yesterday afternoon, and were greeted by future star Jonathan Dixon.  This was Ju’s third trip to the city, and my second, but there’s nothing like having a local showing you a few of the intricacies of the place you are visiting.  What’s even better is catching up with a friend that you haven’t seen in over a year.

We actually met Dixon at Grand Central Station, and my only requests were to see the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero since I somehow left last time without seeing Lady Liberty and my last trip here was before the towers were attacked.  We saw the highlights of the city: Radio City Music Hall, Ed Sullivan Theater (The Late Show with David Letterman), the Flat Iron Building (Spiderman’s Daily Bugle), New York Library, New York Stock Exchange, and much more.

Ground Zero was awesome.  Just looking at the footprint of the buildings blows my mind.  We took some great pictures, and I’ll upload them as soon as we get to Boston (Tuesday or Wednesday night) since I’ll have access to a good internet connection there.  Supper consisted of some brick oven pizza that was out of this world, and we found ourselves eating desert at Serendipity (the same restaurant as is in the movie Serendipity) at 1:00 AM.  We got back to Dixon’s place around 2:00, and I could go on for hours about how small this apartment is.  There are no common areas… only 1 bath and 3 bedrooms, each of which measures about 5’X8’ and has a loft above it.  You couldn’t lay a queen size mattress on the floor of an empty bedroom.  New Yorkers get all of this for a modest $4000/month rent.

Everyone was so hospitable and welcoming from the restaurant employee that told me where I was parking was fine to the NYPD officer that explained my $115.00 parking ticket when I returned to my car.  Love to visit the city, but I’m glad that we are on our way to Cape Cod right now.  We should be there in about 2 more hours.  We’re camping on the cape for the next two nights.    

 

 

ROAD TRIP: DAY 1-DELIVERANCE

This post is coming directly from the passenger’s seat, so for those of you who never visit my blog, now is your chance to read the rambles of Julie Edwards…Ed will of course be giving his input as well. It’s Day 1 of our 16 day adventure to New England. We finally left the house about 6pm and I have listened to Ed explain to me how combobulators and hydrocelators work for the past 4 hours. He decided to use this time that I am trapped in the car with him to torture me with engineering lingo. Our key to stop came when the little orange light saying “Gas is Empty” came on, and my bladder started screaming for a bathroom. And so began our journey…

           

My brilliant husband decided to skip the first exit we saw, claiming that the gas station was too far off the exit. And so we drove…and drove…and drove some more.  30 minutes passed and we saw no sign of civilization. The longer we drove the brighter that yellow light seemed to get! And then we saw it…EXXON  9 miles ahead! The town of DEWIDDIE, VA was to be our saving grace.

 

From what we could see, the town of Dewiddie resembled a scene straight out of Deliverance….one gas station, one Motel  6, and enough Pine Trees to stock Kinko’s. I prayed for safety as I ran inside to pay, quickly returned to the car, and headed back out of town. Our destination for tonight is Washington, DC. We should arrive about 1 AM and will be staying with our friends Jeremy and Greta. We head out tomorrow morning to visit Jonathan Dickson in New York City. We’ll fill you in then!

           

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

1. Traveling is awesome. Ju and I leave for a 16 day road trip on Friday. Our vacation will take us all throughout New England. Stops will be Cape Cod, Boston, Ogunquit, Kennebunkport, Acadia National Park, Mt. Monadnock, St. Jonesboro, Hartford, and a couple others.

2. When a police officer tells you to put your hands behind your back, do it. I'm not going to open a can of worms here, so don't ask in your comments. I will say that this thought has nothing to do with me though.

3. The church will never be what Christ intended it to be until the home is what He intended it to be. This really isn't my thought, it was Bobby Tyler's, but I agree.

4. Being the wife of Ed Edwards has to be the most grueling job in America. Julie runs around so much for me that I can't even explain this one. How does she have a full time job and earn her Master's too? The secret is never sleeping I guess.

5. Watersports are fun even if you're not good at them. Even if you can't ski, what's better than spending a beautiful day on the lake watching some of your friends?

6. I'm not compassionate. I've been informed lately by my wife and Ashley Anderson that I am only compassionate towards people that I don't know. I am not compassionate towards my friends. They can't explain how I'm not, but I guess that is something that I need to work on.

7. God's plan is always better than our plan. When you really understand and belive this simple truth, you'll wipe your brow with a "whew, that was close" expression each time your plans fail.

8. I have a good group of friends. I know I can count on my boys when I need them. Now don't confuse this statement with them being responsible. I never said that.

ANOTHER GOOD WEEKEND

We seemed to have dodged most of the rain this weekend while camping. It rained most of Friday night, but we were in our tent, and it really made for a peaceful slumber. While cooking breakfast Saturday morning, a shower popped up and caused us to scramble back into the tent, but it passed over in less than 30 minutes.

We got to hang out on the lake the rest of the day with Byron, Mandy, and their son Dickson. We saw some cool waterfalls up close and personal, and also found a great cove on the backside of the lake to do a little boarding.

LORD, FORGIVE HER

Long story short...
My amazing wife sang for some Alzheimer patients in a nursing home this morning. She's great... but as we were sitting around with some friends we had over for supper this evening, someone asked her what song she sang. Julie said, "Remember Me."

My wife sang "Remember Me" to a group of people with Alzheimers...

LONG TIME NO BLOG

The past two weeks have been very busy since my last post. Julie and I attended the Master's waterski/wakeboard tournament at Calloway Gardens last weekend. We had a fantastic time. I'll spare you the details and just let you read Julie's post about that.

I also closed on a house this week. I sold the home to a young couple, and we hit more roadblocks during the closing process than I could ever have imagined. The problems were never associated with differences between the buyer and myself; they were always due to circumstances beyond our control. The appraisal wasn't satisfactory to the underwriters, the suvey showed the home in a flood zone although there was no water for miles, yada yada. In the long run everything worked out and I'm ready to start on another property.

On another note, Ju and I are planning on camping/boating at Jocassee next weekend (6/11). We are just camping Friday night and coming back late Saturday night. If anyone would like to join us, we would love that. We will be at Devil's Fork State Park. These plans are assuming that the weather is good and the park isn't full because we have not yet reserved a site.

Kyle and Jackie's baby shower is this Saturday at our house. For those of you that think weddings are more important, shame on you.

FROM CLAY POT TO CHIA PET

What a weekend. Thanks to a lot of help on Saturday, our yard looks incredible. Friday after work, I rented a skid steer and began tilling and grading our lawn on the side of our lot. As you can tell from the picture, it was an eyesore for the entire neighborhood. I worked a little past dark, and resumed operations at 7:30AM Saturday morning. Thanks to Randy Birch (neighbor of the year), Julie, Jeremy, Stuart Fuller, my mother-in-law, and a few youth from church, we laid ten pallets of sod in record time. I use "we" very loosely, because I actually drove the skid steer most of the day on Saturday thanks to that great red clay found in the upstate.
After the sod was down, everyone left except for Julie's mom. The three of us managed to spend a few more hours cleaning up, seeding some other areas, and spreading wheat straw. I finally came inside at 11:00 Saturday night.
Julie and I struggled through church Sunday morning, and for the first time in six years, Julie took a 1.5 hour nap Sunday afternoon. I have NEVER seen Julie take a nap! As if we hadn't had enough fun for the weekend, we went back outside after nap time and finished the liner replacement in our garden pond. I'll post pictures of that later since I haven't taken any yet. As for now, here are the before and after pictures of the yard:

A MEN'S ROOM MONOLOGUE

This one is for the guys. Enjoy.

SUMMER IS HERE

I must echo Lee's post and say that Summer has officially begun. I didn't get to ride with the guys on Saturday, but Ju, Justin, and I hit Lake Hartwell yesterday to enjoy the first wakeboarding session of the year. Julie didn't get a chance to ride do to a minor burn on her hand from the night before (hot tea), but Justin and I rode just enough to realize that we aren't 18 anymore. I must admit that I am addicted to the lake. I can speak for Julie as well and say that she shares my passion. My addiction has grown in the past few months since moving away from Lake Wylie. I now live an hour from Hartwell, and I am beyond envious of guys like Lee that can just look out the window and decide to go out on the lake with minimal planning.

Be on the lookout for upcoming wakeboarding video from Tanner Studios entitled The Bad, the Worse, and the Ugly.

DEAR ED, I'M HAVING TROUBLE MEETING MY NEW NEIGHBORS.

Dear reader,
Thanks for writing in with such a concern. As I recall moving to my neighborhood, I knew no one living there. I not only moved to a new neighborhood, but a new city altogether. But last weekend, I got to meet several of my neighbors and bond with them. What's my secret? Just have a car wreck with your neighbor!

Well guys, my neighbor hit my truck on Sunday and did $2000 of damage to it. The bad thing is that I wasn't in my truck. No one was in my truck; it was parked. We had some friends from out of town staying with us last weekend, and our driveway was full, so I had my truck parked out by the curb of the road. Long story short, my neighbor hit it and hit it hard. Now I'm not a guy that is crazy about my vehicle. My truck is over 10 years old and I don't care about the way it looks much at all, so when my neighbor came over to tell me that she had just "hit my truck," I responded by saying, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure it will be fine." She looked at me and said, "I think you need to come look at it first." I walk outside to see the side of my truck crushed, but honestly I just felt so badly for my neighbor. How embarrassing! Everyone lives happily ever after though because she has great insurance and no claims, so her premium didn't go up, I got a rental car for the week, and she didn't even have to pay a deductible.
I really do love my new neighbors. They are incredible. It's great to have neighbors that you just laugh about stupid accidents like this with and not get frustrated about it.

PIMP MY STROLLER

Here's a little Monday morning humor for everyone. The video is a large file, so my apologies to those without a high speed connection.

PIMP MY STROLLER VIDEO

POP TART GRIPES

If by chance the packaging guru for Pop Tarts is reading this, I offer you a few suggestions:

1. Either put the flavor of the Pop Tart on the outside of the wrapper or make the wrapper transparent.
My wife is incredible. She packs my breakfast and lunch everyday. Often, my breakfast includes a pack of Pop Tarts. Many times I unwrap the foil wrapper expecting a chocolate Pop Tart to find two strawberry ones instead, or I expect strawberry and I open marshmellow. It frustrates me.

2. Scrap the foil wrapper.
Why in the world would you package something in aluminum foil that people like to microwave? What makes it even worse is that you stamp "DO NOT MICROWAVE IN THIS POUCH" on the wrapper. This means that you KNOW that people like to microwave them. Maybe I'm missing something here. Do UV rays harm Pop Tarts?

MORE PICTURES OF KATELYN GRACE

I stole some pictures from Kyle's camera last night. You can see them here.

MY TESTIMONY

I was asked to write my testimony as a new member at church, so why not post it here too?


It’s a great thing that my family had enough religion to pave my path to heaven. Why should I even begin to waste my time praying when my mom’s got me covered? The bad thing is that God sees everything, and mom and dad talk to God everyday, so I better keep my act together or they sure will find out. Not only will I keep mom and dad happy, but I’ll make it to heaven as long as I don’t do one of the three things that will keep me out (drink, smoke, or have sex)…

This may sound crazy now, but that’s exactly how I lived my life before trusting Jesus Christ. I was a good kid that was raised in a God-fearing household. Mom was the church secretary, and dad was the Sunday school superintendent. I asked Jesus into my heart at least three times a year (since I had backslidden each time in between), and of course I was in church three times a week. I looked down on friends at school that weren’t Christians (as a form of witnessing to convict them), and I knew the bible well enough to know where all of the lines between holiness and sin were. I knew what vocabulary was allowed as a Christian, how to say no to drugs, and how to stop kissing before it got carried away. I had my act together.

During my junior year of high school, my mother died. You might ask yourself, “Why would God punish such a great Christian family by taking the life of such a Godly person?” That’s exactly what I asked Him. How could He do this to her… to me? What did she do wrong? What happened to Romans 8:28, “in all things God works for the good of those that love Him”? I spent my senior year of high school asking more questions than any library could ever answer, and gradually found the answer to simply be to trust Christ.

I left for college after high school and was exposed to the world beyond the small town that I grew up in. For the first time I was able to attend different churches with the intent of finding a new church family. I wanted to make sure that the church that I began attending operated with a sound biblical doctrine. Here’s where the train of life jumped the tracks. Pastors were saying things that my pastor had never said, and they were backing up their words with scripture. What’s this “personal relationship”? I began to pray that God would show me, and wow what a prayer that turned out to be. Through the avenue of music, I was able to get plugged into the praise and worship team at church and at FCA, and what a great leadership team both groups had. I began to observe people living a relationship with Jesus. I was living a relationship as a result of one very simple prayer, “God show me what a personal relationship is all about.”

As my relationship grew I began to realize that I couldn’t leave God out of my life even if I tried. As much as God is love, God is life. It used to be so hard to talk about God to my friends in high school, but it began to be difficult to have conversations without Him being the reason for everything. Romans 8:28 began to make sense as well. Life became much greater as my relationship grew enough to realize that living a Christian life does not mean living as a Pharisee, but walking with God. My prayer life changed as I understood that I didn’t have to speak to God with proper English in order for Him to understand, and I realized that loving Christ made me want to please Him instead of “pleasing Him” because I knew what was right.

HELP WITH MY WEBSITE

I minored in business administration in college for fun. That's right, for fun. I would have done it if I didn't receive a single credit hour for doing it. Nerdy? Maybe. Weird? Somewhat. Dorky? Definitely.
Minoring in business administration was fun to me because that is part of what makes me tick. The financial world is a huge game to me. Calculated risk makes me smile, compounding interest makes me laugh. This brings me to share my latest endeavor with you.

Ever since my freshman year of college, real estate has been somewhat of an interest of mine. Julie would turn the television in college when she would see that I had been staring at the real estate channel for too long. This led me to buying my first house within 3 months of my college graduation. That's when the fun really began. I jumped into remodeling my first home by putting in hardwood floors, tile floors, painting like crazy, replacing light fixtures, yada yada. Of course all of this was done with help of Julie and several of my friends. After we finished most of the upgrades, I realized that I actually enjoyed doing stuff like that.

Let's fast forward to September 2004. I purchased a foreclosed home with plenty of "deferred maintenance." With the use of many subcontractors, I replaced the roof, kitchen cabinets, flooring throughout, plumbing, ceilings, heating and cooling system, and much more. Although there were many headaches involved, I just sold that house and enjoyed the "project" enough to begin rehabbing another in Spartanburg. My plan is to obtain my general contractor's license next year and open the door to possibly doing new construction as well. Finally the reason for my post. I have a rough website laid out and I want to get comments and suggestions for the site. Right now the site's purpose will be to market homes that I have rehabilitated. I'm not trying to grow a business because I do have a job that I love; this is actually more of a hobby for me that has small potential of turning into a growing business. The site is www.edwardscontracting.com. Check it out.

I WORK WITH A PROFESSIONAL LIAR

I'm convinced (from my extensive experience) that everyone has that one trouble making co-worker; the co-worker that thrives on farming descension. I'm definitely venting here, but I work with a guy that has an incredible attraction to others' business. He literally searches for something on his co-workers that he can "tattle" to human resources.
My very first week on the job, I had 3 co-workers approach me with the exact same advice, "Watch that guy. He will stab you in the back." Well, I can be a pretty cynical person at times, and lately I have made a conscious effort to give people more credit that I have in the past. I actually thought to myself, "He can't be that bad," and in the past 5 months I have proven myself to be correct... he's WORSE. I have been blessed to be in a position where I do not routinely interact with this guy, but that means that I get a good, 3rd person point of view of the way that he treats everyone around the office. This guy has to be one of the most deceitful people I have ever met (next to a girl I dated in high school).
So here's the meat of the post, please pray for me! I am clueless on how to deal with this guy. I struggle daily with wanting to get in this guy's face and lecture him on how evil of a person he is, but the fact of the matter is that sin is sin, and I might be the only person that will ever share God's love with him. I struggle just to look this guy in the eyes when I pass him in the office, so how can I LOVE him?

I LIVE FOR THE WEEKEND

My week revolves around the weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a lazy person, and I believe that is why I set my sights on the weekend every Monday morning. The weekend is a time for relaxation and recreation. It's a time for your own agenda. When I talk to people during the week, I usually ask, "What are you doing this weekend?"
Julie views the weekend from a slightly different perspective. She thinks that the weekend is for doing work. She plans her (and my) weekends in advance to get the house painted, landscape the yard, yada yada. I doubt her brother and sister-in-law will ever spend another weekend with us because the last time they visited, Kelly spent 30 hours unpacking boxes and cleaning up while Jeremy painted. We have nicknamed Julie the "House Nazi" because she has a passion for getting things done around the house on the weekend.
This past weekend was the normal routine. Julie's GRACIOUS parents came down to help us get some things done. Julie and her mother were going to spend the day inside the house hanging pictures, painting a bathroom, and other odds and ends while her father and I were going to work in the yard. I woke up around 7:30 Saturday morning to go get breakfast. The Keever family possesses an early bird gene that is second to none. Needless to say, at 7:30AM on a Saturday, I was the last one out of bed. I walked into my living room to find Julie's dad...well... very sick. When this man passes up breakfast, he is VERY sick. We got Donald settled, and Ju, her mom, and I went to eat breakfast. During breakfast, it occurred to me that I might be able to relax a little this weekend since my helper was sick. We finished breakfast, went home, and I sat down to watch TV. Around 11:00AM, I fell asleep and I slept for about 3 hours. I then got up and helped Julie and her mother finish up some things around the house.
That night, Julie made me feel SOOOOO guilty about not getting anything done that day. I "hadn't been productive" and I had "wasted the day." Once again... I live for the weekend. My wife was compassionate enough to help me finish up the organization of my office that night, but it really hit me how differently we view the weekend.
After church on Sunday, I finished cleaning my garden pond, plumbed in the filtration system, hooked the pump and fountain up, and filled the pond with water. HERE'S THE KEY... I WANTED to do this on Sunday. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I enjoyed working outside. I didn't do it because I felt like I had to. I did it because it was relaxing.
The theme of my post is that it is awesome to understand how perfectly you and your mate were created for each other. If Julie were just like me, we would have much fewer productive weekends, and if I were just like Julie, we would both be in mental institutions right now from lack of rest & relaxation.

KATELYN GRACE RENFROW

Here she is! Kyle and Jackie expect Katelyn to come home this weekend.

TODAY'S MY ANNIVERSARY!

Julie and I are celebrating our second anniversary today, so no phone calls tonight please. :-)
I can barely believe it's been 2 years! In one sense, it seems like yesterday that I was standing at my rehearsal dinner sharing memories of each of my groomsmen, but on the other hand, it's hard to remember life without Julie. I'm so rotten that I can barely go to bed at night without her!
So what are some of our plans for our second year of marriage?
1. ROAD TRIP! Hopefully to New England this Summer. I'm still in the initial planning stage of this, but current plans are to fly to Boston and then drive from there to Maine.
2. BABY!
3. RUN A 10K. This one's coming up in two weeks. Gosh I hope I don't die in the middle of the Cooper River Bridge.

Quick update on Kyle and Jackie:
The baby's name is Katelyn Grace Renfrow, and she is breathing on her own now. I apologize for not having picutres posted of her yet!

KYLE RENFROW IS OFFICIALLY A DADDY

Kyle and Jackie's baby girl was born last night at 7:45PM weighing in at 4lbs, 12ozs. The baby was 5 weeks early, but they delivered via cesarean because Jackie was having some complications (high blood pressure). The baby has no complications, and is currently nameless since the birth caught Kyle and Jackie as a surprise. I'll post some pictures this evening.

FUNNY DIALECTS

I'm not very well traveled, and I don't claim to be. This post is dedicated to the recent observations that I have made in dialect from a geographical difference of a mere 100 miles.
My wife and I lived in Charlotte from August '02 to January '05. Let me quickly say that we loved Charlotte. Recently moving to Spartanburg (which we are very happy with so far), I am beginning to rely on my Dillon roots to interpret some of the differences in dialect. For example:

Charlotte "Turn on the lights" "Press the button" "Can I talk to you?" "He has a high school education." "Side items" "Luxurious" "Temper Tantrum" "Their, his, yours"

Spartanburg "Cut on the lights" "Mash the button" "Can I talk at you?" "He has a high school edgycation." "Fixins" "High Falutin" "Hissy Fit" "Their'n, his'n, yurn"

Just thought I'd share.

WHEN BAD NEWS IS GOOD

It's no secret that Julie and I are trying to have a baby. Several weeks ago, our fertility doctor approached us concerning a fertility study that she was going to invite a couple of her patients to participate in. She told us that we were "perfect candidates." At first, I was very skeptical about participating in any kind of experiment, but as she explained everything and gave us paperwork outlining the details, we decided that it was definitely a win/win situation for everyone. The study involved receiving one of two drugs; both of which were already the doctor's top two preferred methods of treatment for us. The benefit for us was that we would have no costs associated with the treatment or doctor's visits, and our insurance does not cover fertility at all. (Obviously this is very expensive.) There was nothing sketchy about the experiment; it was simply a study of the comparison of these two methods of treatment... no other variables. After we made the decision to participate, we were excited...
Late last evening, Julie received a call from her doctor who regretted to inform us that we had been denied for participation in the study. It hit us like a ton of bricks. I didn't even know there was a chance... I thought things were lined up and ready for treatment to begin next week. The reason for this was because some blood tests revealed that Julie's hormone levels were too low. "What do you mean,'too low?'" I asked. Basically the only reason that I have procured is that our chances of getting pregnant right now are very low, and the conductors of the study would prefer to have someone participate that had a "reasonable" chance of getting pregnant.
Although this news was upsetting to us both, I have to praise God for answering prayer. Throughout the past month, my prayer has been for God to close the door to this study if it is not what is best for us. Who knows... we could have participated in this study and had six children because it wasn't the right timing. Or we could have participated in high hopes to only receive an apology from the doctors at the end. Whatever His reasons were, I'm thankful that His ways are above my ways. The great thing about a Christ centered marriage is that it's the tough times that really draw you closer.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

I was eating grapes at lunch today, and in the middle of a bag of 30+ green grapes, there was a purple one. I bet Tavaras feels like that grape sometimes...

WHO AM I?

I just finished reading the Nashville weekend updates from Jason and Justin, and something occurred to me; while these guys were out having a wonderful weekend, I was having a blast in a WHOLE different way. I spent part of my weekend working on my GARDEN POND! Okay, I've said it... I'm getting old or boring or something. I spent time this weekend getting all of the slime, mud, leaves, and who knows what else cleaned out of the garden pond at my new house. All day yesterday, all I could think about was getting the pond finished. I still have to clean the liner, install a pump and filtration system, and get some fish, but I can't wait to get it finished. My awesome father-in-law is going to help me with the landscaping around the pond because it is just a bunch of overgrown weeds right now. I hope to have a picture posted in a few weeks.

GRACE

Some of our great friends from Charlotte were dedicating their 9 month old son, Dickson, in church this morning. Julie and I wanted to attend the dedication ceremony, and we also found it to be a great reason to fellowship with Dickson's parents. We left Spartanburg early this morning to meet them at church, and let me interject the fact that I am not a "morning person" in the least bit. After scrambling around to get ready and rushing down the road, I found myself on I-85 with an obnoxious driver behind me. Mind you, my pet peave is drivers in the left lane who are not passing anyone; however, I am continuously passing a group of cars at a steady pace when I notice the obnoxious driver in my rearview mirror. Being the loving, caring, slow to anger person that I am, I respect the driver's time and put the pedal to the floor. I hold the pedal until I reach 90mph (while continuing to pass the tring of cars in the right lane) only to find this guy still on my bumper. I back down to a reasonable speed, and as soon as I find the right lane clear, I move over. My wife has been reading a book this whole time and is completely oblivious to what is going on and my frustration with this guy. As soon as I change lanes, the car whizzes past me and I make this comment, "Nothing would make me happier right now than for that guy to get a ticket." Julie stops reading and asks what I'm talking about, and before I can even explain to her how this guy was driving, I see a state trooper come from the median and throw his blue lights on. I was ecstatic. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to explode. I felt that at that moment in time, justice was served and the judge found favor with me.

I'm glad that Jesus isn't like me. How many times have I been the obnoxious driver? Not only in the literal sense, but also metaphorically speaking. If God had a state trooper watching me, my
license would have been revoked long ago. What's absolutely incredible to me is that as much as God longs for us to please Him, He pays the speeding tickets for us when we do things that aren't pleasing to Him.

FRIENDS... GOTTA LOVE 'EM

Gosh I love my friends. I mean for anyone reading this that didn't stumble here via a link from the blogs of Jason Grier or Justin Tanner, you are really missing out. Special props to my man Grier for some good blogging. He's off to a running start. One of these days when my comfort level grows with the readers of my blog, I'm going to let the cat out of the bag.

I'm digging the blog world. It gives me the false sense of maintaining stronger contact with my boys than I actually do. It gives me the chance to keep up with some of the most influential people in my life... yup that's right guys... you made me this way.

I love my friends. On my way home from work today, I had a long conversation with one of my close friends, and without going into any detail, it was one of those conversations that really meant something. This guy told me that he had been praying specifically for me every day for the past 3 weeks; he didn't share what he was praying for in particular, only that he had been praying for me. How awesome is that!? To me that's like "I love you" times 10!

MOVING SUCKS

Moving is not fun. I am very thankful for my reasons for moving (family, career, etc.), but despite the many blessings associated with a new house and new neighbors, the moving process downright sucks. We made it through most of the remaining boxes this week with the exception of our office. The office has become the room for all boxes and items that we haven't figured out a permanent location. I can't wait to get it setup for a space to do some work and play some music!

My goal for the week was to get the guest bathroom finished. I had to remove the vanity backsplash to paint the walls and recaulk the vanity. Wednesday night, I was using a razor blade to scrape the caulk from a piece of the backsplash when the blade slipped and cut my left middle finger very badly. I immediately screamed for my wife (because she makes everything better), who came to my rescue only to find a tremendous amount of blood all over the floor and even some on the walls of the bathroom. She changed clothes to take me to the hospital, but as it was late, and the cut was a clean one, I elected not to go get it stitched. Two days later, I realize that I made a poor decision since the butterfly bandages on my finger aren't quite doing the trick. Oh well, it gave me a story to tell.

The good news is that it is Friday night, and I can look around me with a sense of accomplishment. The guest bathroom is done, all of the empty boxes from moving are hauled off, and 80% of the move is complete. I have years to accomplish the other 20%! My next goal is to have the office/music room organized in a month.

We've packed a lot of boxes in the past weeks to prepare for our new home in Spartanburg. What have I packed in preparation for the Kingdom? Most of the boxes that we unpacked were packed by others, by movers that we didn't even know; people that Julie never even saw. Many times we unpacked boxes to find little surprises, things we'd forgotten we had or things that we had written off as lost. How awesome is it going to be to unpack those boxes in heaven? Boxes packed by others whose lives have been touched by God through us, many times through blessings we were unaware of giving.

I'd love to keep writing, but my finger is killing me!

I GUESS IT'S ABOUT TIME

I consider myself a computer savvy person. I don't let very many days go by without some good one-on-one time with my computer. I even carry a PocketPC. So why is it that I am blogging for my first time ever in 2005?

So what's up with me? Anyone reading this most likely already knows that I have an incredible wife, Julie, and next month we will celbrate our second anniversary. We are both baby crazy right now, and we are trusting God and hoping that it is His will for us to have one this year. In fact, it was an email that I sent to a select few last week that inspired me to begin this blog. I do apologize though, because posting that email would be a little too much information to begin this blog with.

Too much has happened recently for me to begin with today. Julie and I have just moved to Spartanburg, SC from Charlotte, NC. We wanted to be a little closer to family when we began having children, and I also found a great job here last October. I was working as a manufacturing engineer in the pharmaceutical industry while in Charlotte, and Julie was teaching eighth grade. God opened the door to a great job for me in Spartanburg, so I accepted and began spending a lot of nights with relatives here. Less than a month after beginning my new job, Julie began teaching seventh grade here making life a lot easier for me. We spent most afternoons with a real estate agent looking for a new home. We finally found a great house, and moved into it in January. Since January 14th, 2005, we have managed to paint the entire interior with the help of some very gracious in-laws, and we are slowly getting settled in.

Assuming that I maintain this blog spot, readers will most likely learn a lot about me. I hope to learn some things about myself as well. I'm already excited about reviewing what's been written a year from now.