There's a spirit can ne'er be told.

It's the spirit of Aggieland. 

I don't claim to be the proudest member of the Aggie Alum. (Even though we are supposed to say that when we give our year. And it looks that way at our wedding.)  I mean, I DO love the Aggies. What kind of Aggie grad would I be if I didn't love them? But there are a lot of other things in my life that are just far more important.

But I will say that there's something about this time of year that makes me love the Aggies a little more than I do the rest of the year. I think there's something about living in a college town that gets you a little fired up when football season starts. There's something in the air.

A newness.

A hope.

A chance that maybe this will finally be the year. The restaurants and local businesses fly their flags. People start whooping in churches instead of saying Amen. There's just something different.

Today is the first game. We've already hit up the tent sales...twice...to get some new duds for the season. I'm excited about my cute grey and pink girly Aggie shirt. I have enough maroon to last a lifetime so I thought it was time for a change. See, I'm not the proudest member. Some people out there think its a crime to wear anything but maroon to a game.

So at 6pm tonight we'll be on the 3rd row of the Zone. In an armchair seat. I halfway think this could be the reason I'm excited about the game. An armchair seat. No one squeezing me out of my seat. And it has a back. I don't think I'll ever be able to go to a game and be content sitting anywhere else. I think it will be hard not to get into the action when you're that close. When the Ags score we'll be able to high five them...if only they'd come over there. Our pastor's son, Garrett, is on the opposing team (SFA) today. I told him that he was allowed to score a touchdown, do a dance, and find us and say it was for me.

I hope that if we lived in a different town where the world didn't revolve around my alma mater that I'd still have excitement when the season started. Even if you don't like football, you can't help but love your team. When I see my grandfather and his undying love for the Gators, I see Matt in 50 years. That will be him. Decked out in his A&M wind suit. Willing to talk about his team 24/7 year round. Sometimes more than others want to hear. But with a deep rooted love that only Christ and his family can beat out.

Does anyone else get a little excited as football season starts? My enthusiasm usually fades about mid season when things aren't turning out the way we all anticipated at the beginning of the season. But maybe this year will be different. Just maybe...

*Please note that although I love the start of the season, I do NOT like the enormous amounts of traffic, the long lines at restaurants, and the inability to live like a normal person in my town. No shopping. No eating out. No going ANYWHERE on game day except to the game. And you're lucky if you make it there alive and find somewhere to park without being towed. Its crazy how your opinions of these things change when you are out of college. As a student, its just part of life. As an adult, its just a nuisance.

August Lake Trip

The weekend of Matt's birthday we planned a lake trip with my parents and Matt's parents. Its so great that our parents all get along so well. It allows us to do fun little trips with both sets of parents and allow them all to get to experience fun things in their grandchildren's lives. 

So, on that Friday, Matt's parents squeezed in with us into our loaded down Expedition and made the 3 hour trip to the lakehouse. My parents had gotten there earlier and had all our rooms ready for us. We stayed Thursday night through Sunday and had a great time playing in the water, tubing and wakeboarding and getting way too much sun. 

Brody closes his eyes to block the wind when the boat goes fast. He closed them so long that he fell asleep at the wheel! 

Carson trying to decide if this mud thing is going to work out. 

Not pictured: The mud was a hit. He was covered in it!

Brody giving Papa a mud bath.

This boy LOVES the lake. We had to drag him on to the boat to head back to the house.

Daddy and Carson

Learning how to pull in the anchor

The boat ride back to the house at the end of day 2. 

Sweet boy was worn out after 2 days playing in the sun. 

The last morning the guys (minus Carson and Brody) went out and caught a bunch of little yellow bass. 

Brody is keeping an eye on them while we take a picture.

And when one jumped, he WAS NOT happy about it.

Thanks mom and dad for being such great hosts! We had a great time! Can't wait to come back!

I have a secret...

Really. I do. A little secret that when Matt reads this he'll say "Why don't you tell me these things?"

I don't tell anyone these little quirks about me because..well..I don't really know. Maybe I feel like its dorky? That others will judge me or make fun of me. But how ridiculous does that sound?

So here goes....

I have a secret love of writing. See, its dorky.

I express myself better that way. Far better than speaking. Its hard for me to talk about feelings or thoughts but give me some paper or a computer, and I can write it out for you easily. I think that's why I enjoy having a blog. Not because I want the whole world to know my deepest inner thoughts. They aren't really that deep or important. But because its a way for me to get things out.

When I was in kindergarten or first grade, my best friend and I would write books. I would write and she would illustrate. We always said that one day we'd write a book together. In college, I majored in journalism and she majored in graphic design. So see, those kids out there that say you want to be an astronaut when you are 5, you may still have that desire when you grow up! So Laura, one day, this book will happen!

Sometimes I still do have a desire to write a book. I have no idea what it would be about. Probably fiction because I'm not smart enough about anything non-fiction. Or maybe some children's books. I do have a few ideas of those in my head.

So, my dorky confession is out. I love to write. Just sit down and let my thoughts and ideas flow. Sometimes about life, my family and how great God is. Sometimes about absolutely nothing. I used to journal a lot. Maybe I should start again. In a real, paper journal where the world wide web can't see. But also, I feel like blogging is good for me. Since I'm not good at sharing things about myself with my friends, its a way to let you in. Let you see the real me and my thoughts.

So if you now think I'm a dork and are judging me, you might want to unsubscribe from my blog because I might just start writing on here more. :)

To All the College Students....

6 Years ago, I was one of you. My first Sunday. Walking through those doors for the first time. I was probably greeted by someone. My first observation was not one that I'm proud of. "Wow, there are some pretty people here. Very stylish." That was my first impression. I walked in the sanctuary with my best friend. The music was ROCKIN'! LOVED IT! And then this guy got up on the stage and began to preach. I don't remember what the sermon was about, but I remember thinking that this guy was intense. But I liked it.

That was my first Sunday at Living Hope. Yesterday, a couple hundred college students strolled back in the doors after being gone for the summer. Some of you for the first time. I thought about you all through the service. What was your impression today. I pray that it was deeper than my shallow observation six years ago. (However, I'm not even kidding, I had never seen so many pretty guys and girls at a church before. It definitely seemed like the "cool" church to be at.) What was God stirring in your heart. Would you ever be back. I prayed that you would. I prayed that you would fall in love with Jesus here and get plugged in and let us get to know you. Because I didn't do that as a college student.

I started going to LH with my best friend when I was a junior. I liked it. It was, like I said, cool. The music was powerful. The sermons were powerful and I knew that Butch was speaking truth. But they sure had a lot of requirements of their members. They even expected us "super busy" college students to go to this small group thing once a week. You know, get a free meal, get to know people, talk about the Lord, make some of the best friends you could ever have. I just didn't have time for that. I remember even talking about how it was ridiculous that they would expect that from us. And that they couldn't MAKE me go. So I went through my junior year just "going to church." Even though the leadership was very clear that just going to church at Living Hope wasn't allowed. I started dating Matt that year. We got engaged that following summer. We even took Purpose Driven Life that summer. And I don't think we even finished reading the book. We were both just doing enough to get by.

We got married the spring of 2006, the spring of my senior year. Matt was on a softball team with some guys from church. I remember one night after a game, this one guy named Charlie asked Matt if we were going to a hope group. (those small groups I was talking about).

Ashamedly, Matt stammered "No."

"Well we would love to have you visit ours," Charlie said.

I am so glad Charlie invited us. I'm sure we would have "gotten around to it" eventually. But this hope group started to mold and change us. We became close with our group. We began to realize the need for community. We began to serve and get plugged in. And this Charlie guy and his family, well, you can't help but love them. We loved them so much we had to move next door. We eventually had to move on to a new hope group, and they eventually went to a new church, New Life, but this family still has a special place in our hearts.

We plugged in to a new hope group and stayed there for 2 years. And now this family is like a second family to us. They love our children and oh how my kids love Mr. Don and Mrs. Kelli. And this is where we met these people that we love so much.

And now its time for us to start a new hope group. With a new family and new faces. I'm excited to grow close to a new group of people. We aren't replacing the old relationships, just adding to our community.

This wasn't supposed to be about hope group. But about how much of a blessing it is to serve and get plugged in. We are serving willingly in ministries. And excited about the new semester now that all of you college students are back. A few years ago, not so much.

So this is my plea to you.

Get plugged in. Once you know that this is where the Lord is calling you, jump in full steam. You'll be so blessed it will knock your socks off. Do I think that Living Hope is the only church in town where you can get saved and grow closer to the Lord? Absolutely not! But I know that I love that place. The people. The gospel that is preached. This church isn't about hope groups or ministries or taking classes. Its about the gospel of Jesus Christ. About Salvation. These other things are just wonderful things that God uses to speak to us and use us to further his kingdom.

I know that half of you that showed up yesterday won't be back. Butch knows that and even said it in the service. But I am ready to meet and get to know the other half of you that plan on sticking around!

My "House Showing" Routine

As you know, our house is on the market. Frankly, its been on the market a little longer than we expected or planned on. But we're being patient. Maybe God is holding our house for the right family. Or he's waiting until the right house for our family is on the market. Who knows. But whatever the reason, we're waiting patiently.

When we first put it on the market, I kept hearing "You have to keep your house spotless at all times." I thought "No problem. I'll be motivated bc I want it to sell." Well, by day 3 when we had no calls, that thought went right out the window. I realized that we still had to live in our home. My children had to be able to play with their toys. And we had to be able to wear clothes and wash them. We couldn't keep the same clothes on for days just to prevent laundry from piling up. And cooking was a necessity as well. We can't afford to eat out every night.

So, a new plan had to be devised. And that plan is called "When a realtor calls, just go into panic mode and clean as fast as possible." Fortunately, I've never had to actually act on my plan. Every single call has been well in advance. Usually for the next morning. Or they call in the morning to see it in the evening. So it left me plenty of time to get things picked up. Until today.

Today I get to put the plan into action. I got the call at 2pm to show the house at 5pm. Panic set in fast. Its not like we live like slobs. But today of all days, the boys and I had rearranged the living room furniture to make a big fort. And last night was the night that I chose to just rinse the dishes after dinner and leave them all in the sink to wash today. So while the boys are sleeping, I'm cleaning like a crazy person. My Bird of Paradise Circle E Candle is lit and will remain so until we leave at 4:45 so that it smells yummy when they come in. There are piles forming by the boys' bedroom doors of things that need to be put away in there once they wake up.

Its been 40 minutes and I'm kind of at a standstill. I've cleaned all I can clean until they wake up. I need the broom and mop from Carson's room. Puzzles and books just happened to throw up all over Brody's room, thanks to little brother. I'm sure the boys will choose today to sleep til 4:30 and leave me no time to finish everything up.

I have a special feeling about this showing. I think this could be the one. Its not a word from the Lord. Just a gut feeling. Maybe bc I'm working last minute to get it all ready. But, I've had gut feelings before that didn't pan out. So maybe I'm wrong. Guess we'll have to see.

Who could resist buying a house that smells as good as mine does right now?

A Journey Begins

I don't know how to condense this all in to one post. But I'm going to try. I hope I don't ramble. I hope it all makes sense. Yesterday's events almost seem like a blur bc of the abundance of information that was poured in to our brains over a 5 hour period. There were emotional highs and lows. Moments of "I have no idea what this means." But all morning I felt extreme comfort and peace. It was so obvious that you all had been praying for us that morning.

So, our journey began Wednesday night as we checked in to our hotel room in Temple. We had to be at our first appointment at 7:45am and thought it would be best to stay close to the hospital so we didn't have to leave at 6am. We wanted Brody to be as rested as possible that morning. Brody boy slept in a big boy Queen bed all by himself..and took up the whole bed. We prayed over our sweet boy, for healing, that he would be cooperative and for the doctors.

Our first appointment was with Dr. Blazo, a doctor in Genetics.

At 7:45am we were sitting in the biggest exam room I had ever seen. It had a small round table for us to sit and talk with the doctors. It had books, a toy box, and coloring pages to keep Brody entertained. They knew exactly what these little kids needed. Brody was in heaven. We filled out some paper work and were told the doctor would be in by 8. Dr. Blazo, along with a resident and a visiting student, walked in right on time. From 8am until 10:40am we talked to them about Brody's history, how we knew something was wrong, and on and on. Dr. Blazo examined him and then we sat and talked some more. Based on his condition and his history, we talked about 3 different types of muscular dystrophies he could possibly have. (I'm not putting the names on here partly bc I don't actually remember what everything stands for, and partly bc I don't want anyone googling them and coming up with all these scary results.) Actually 2 were types of muscular dystrophy and the 3rd was more of a neurological/nervous system problem. During her exam, she couldn't find any reflexes in his legs. Something that was also discovered at his appointments at Texas Children's a few months back. I need to point out here that the muscular dystrophies we discussed ARE NOT the typical MD that you see with Jerry's Kids. That is an extreme case of Douchenne's MD. Based on blood work he did a couple of months ago, its pretty conclusive that he does not have that. They are re-doing that test though just to double confirm.

We spent time talking about these 3 diseases, but never went in to much detail about their progression and how they affect the patient's life. It wasn't time for that. We didn't even know if he had these things. We talked more about how they could be passed down genetically and how they were going to test it all in his blood tests. I know that I'm probably forgetting something important that was discussed in this first appointment, but I think this was the gist of the appointments.

At 11:00 we met with Dr. Ritch, the neurologist. The appointment started out like the other, talking about history and his symptoms. And then she examined him. And discovered the same thing. He has no reflexes in his legs. After more discussion, she felt it looked more like a nerve problem and not a muscle problem at all. She wanted to test for a neuropathy, as well as the same nerve problem that Dr. Blazo had talked to us about.

This next part is probably one of my favorite parts of the whole day. She told us that she wanted to talk to Dr. Blazo so they could collaborate on what exactly to test for. She didn't want to say we weren't testing for the muscle diseases if Dr. Blazo still felt we needed them. We went back to the waiting room for about 30 minutes while they talked and when we were brought back again, BOTH doctors came in to talk to us. It was just a great feeling to see both of them working together, determined to find out what was wrong with our baby. They both agreed whole heartedly on what he should be tested for, and concluded that our first step is to test for the neuropathy, and the other nerve/neurological problem.

A nurse came in to take Brody's blood. She asked if we'd need someone to help hold him down. We said maybe. So with 2 nurses plus Matt and I, Brody laid on a table to have lots of blood drawn from his arm. And let me tell you, that little 2 year old boy was braver than some grown men. He just watched them stick the needle in his arm and never made a peep. He even told the lady "thank you" in the middle of it for saying he was so handsome. He got 2 prizes from them for being so brave. They said he was the best patient they'd ever had.

We left with a few conclusions:
1)The bloodwork could come back saying he has neither of these disorders. And if that's the case, we'll continue to test for all of the other things we talked about.
2)None of the options we talked about affect the brain. Brody's mind and amazing personality will not be affected by whatever it is.
3)And, obviously, the most reassuring thing was hearing that none of these diseases shorten life expectancy. Depending on the results, they may affect way of life and may require lots of therapy, but we can handle that. And the Lord can heal him.

So today we are thanking the Lord for answering prayer so far. He gave us peace yesterday. Brody was more cooperative than we could have ever asked for, especially for a 5 hour appointment. The doctors were knowledgable and compassionate and so determined to find an answer. We'll be seeing them a lot over coming months and I'm so glad to know that they are in it for the long haul. And the biggest praise, is hearing that everything seems to be pointing to something that should not shorten his life or affect his mind. God has been so faithful through all of this. And we know that no matter the results of tests, He will continue to be faithful. We need Him through this journey. We want this situation to bring Him glory.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. We still need them. We honestly don't know what we want the results to say. If they come back negative, it means more testing. It means he could still have something that could be even more serious. But we would also rather hear that he has none of these problems. We are still praying for complete healing. But also praying that if God chooses not to take this away, that its a mild case or a disorder that is manageable, would not cause Brody pain and would not greatly alter his life. But, we know that God is ultimately in control and can completely heal him at any point in his life.

I know that I'm leaving things out. I'm sure as soon as I hit "Publish" I'll remember something else. And Matt will probably remind me of something else. And I'm sorry this is so long.

A Day in the Life. Volume 2.

I did this a while back and thought it was about time for another volume of "A Day in the Life." Not a post about anything specific but just some pics of what my daily life with 2 boys looks like. Our life has slowed down a lot lately and I'm loving it. I'm able to really soak up my boys' creativity and participate in (and put a stop to) their adventures. 

These guys have showed up at our house. Thanks to the $1 section at Target. How do little boys just naturally know to say "POW POW" when they have an army man? 

Even the little guy couldn't resist them. 

You see this mess? Its everything in the storage cart in the bottom of our pantry.

There's the suspect trying to escape in the background. He's a quick one. 

I seem to be finding more and more of these messes around my house. I can't take my eyes off of him for a second!

But who could resist this face? And those little chunky thighs. 

Carson got a tool bench for his birthday and it was a huge hit! Both boys play with it a couple of hours a day.

*The tool pictures were taken on a different day than the rest of the pictures, yet they both are wearing the same clothes as in the top pictures. Interesting. Guess I don't change things up much.