Today is Christopher's 4th birthday. I can't believe that he is four years old!!!! Geez!!!! We are going to see Brandon's sister today and then tomorrow all the cousins are going to the Georgia Aquarium. We are all very excited! I wish I could write more, but we still have to get ready to go. I'll do it later!

We woke up this morning to the wood chipper outside our house. The kids have been camped out on the back of the couch watching the "worker mans" (as Christopher calls them)every move and giving me constant updates. They knocked on our door to ask if it was ok that they cut down a few of our trees. I didn't care b/c one is a huge bush that I can't trim the top of and is a pain to cut the "grass" underneath it, so I told them to have at it. They also asked if we could move Brandon's car b/c they wanted to chop down the tree that hung over it. I told him the battery was dead and that was why it was sitting there. I figured out how to get it into neutral and they pushed me way up the hill. Only problem was, the steering wheel locked on me so I could only go straight. There was a skinny little tree that we had to pass and I was so scared it would scratch along the car, but it didn't. I told the guys that when I got out and they thought that I was just trying to see how close I could get to that tree without hitting it. I smiled on the inside b/c they thought I was daring! I'm not the least bit daring! Well, Sophie is trying to climb up in my lap now, as she always does when I sit at this computer and once she succeeds, I can no longer type, so I'm going to go!

I never thought I would write anything on my blog about this, but I just needed to share something with all of you. I tell everyone all the time that I'm an open book and will talk about anything and everything with anyone and everyone. I try to be really careful on here b/c I don't want to be a "Debbie Downer," but I really wanted you guys to read this article someone wrote.

18 years ago my family lost my older brother in a tragic accident. I find it a little ironic b/c I now live in the area where the accident happened and swore I never would live at the beach! God has bigger and better plans than we do though. I have made amazing friends here, found an amazing church and have found beauty in a place I never thought I would again. My sister just emailed me an article that the Montgomery Advertiser wrote about the affect my brother's death is still having on the community. It's amazing! Please read it. I never thought that God would use my brother's death to do so much. I'm proud! I miss him all the time and wonder what it would be like to have him here. I really don't understand it, but I truly felt like God was preparing me for that part of my life b/c for some reason I could never picture my brother grown up and with a family or where he'd go to college. I can't explain it other than maybe it was b/c he was known as being a class clown and never talked about girls. He kept everything to himself. He was very humble.

My brother Jason was an amazingly gifted athlete, artist, musician, comic, dancer (my family never saw his moves, but they were famous among his friends!) and friend to everyone he met. He was quiet, spoke volumes in his actions. Some of the stories I never heard until after he died. He would do things for people when they weren't able without thinking twice about it. It brings tears to my eyes when I look at my own son's hands. They have the same finger nails. Funny thought, I know! I can't wait to see him in Heaven one day. I know he's the one running circles around everyone up there wondering when the next race is. He's got everyone doubled over laughing with his crazy sense of humor. I miss him and can't wait to hear about all that he's been up to when I see him again.

Somehow it has snuck up on us. It came out in the night and sprinkled it's evil dust everywhere. It hid it so you wouldn't see it right away, but you would quickly feel it's choking and itching and swelling powers. My friends, it's back. Pollen. I loathe pollen. I love what it does for the world, but I loathe what it does to me. A couple weeks ago I thought that the kids' colds were finally getting to me. I started taking my Zyrtec b/c I thought I saw something yellow along the road one day. Turns out what I thought was a cold was pure evil.... allergies.

My throat feels like it has a softball in it. Every time I swallow I feel like it's pouring acid in an open wound. Ok, maybe that's a little dramatic, but it's extremely painful to swallow and I really do feel like I have a softball in my throat. But what I want to know is how in the world did pollen become part of our problem with this cold weather we've been having? Maybe my theory was right all along. That it sleeps all winter, wakes up too early and then spends the rest of it's days just waiting for the temperature to randomly hit 60 degrees one afternoon and BANG! it makes it's attack. Doesn't matter that the temps will drop back into the 30s and 40s the next day. They have been given a go sign and there is no looking back.

I used to love spring and everything about it. Now I have a very strong love/hate relationship with it. Here's to surviving the wrath of spring's beauty! (And thank God for allergy medicine!)

Brandon got home around 12:30 Saturday and we were all so excited. We played and then it was time for naps. He put both kids down, they didn't want anyone but him. (Of course!) It was great b/c we got to watch a movie together, something that very rarely happens. After naps we played some more and then headed to the Donut Hole for supper with the Ramages.

This morning Christopher came and got in the bed with us when he woke up and I didn't realize it. Next thing I know, the kids and Brandon come walking into the room with breakfast in bed for me. It was so sweet! Everybody was carrying something different. We did puzzles and played a game before heading off to church. It's beautiful outside and so when we got home, Christopher didn't even go inside, he just went straight to the backyard. Matt and William came over and everyone is playing and having popcorn. Tonight we are going to the Ramages to help them try out a new chili recipe and I'm going to bring some chocolate chip cookies.

I would say it has been a really, really good weekend!

I've been meaning to write something on here about just how much I love my husband, but wasn't exactly sure how to put it into words. See, I'm not very good with them. Words that is. He on the other hand is very good with them. He has talked, since before we met, about writing a book. His family is full of very good writers. He loves to think really deep and discuss what he's been thinking about. I'm not very good at this unless you want to analyze what someone wore to a red carpet event or the latest episode of Project Runway (which is funny b/c people don't come to ask me about fashion!). But I'm getting side tracked.

I knew after my first date (October 24th) with my husband that I was going to marry him. And that says something b/c I rarely went on multiple dates, or wanted to, with anyone I went out with. But I always knew that I would "just know" and if I dated someone for 6 months that he would have to be "the one". Before Brandon my longest relationships lasted 2-4 months at the most. But there was just something about him that stood out to me. He was funny and charming and handsome and I felt nervous and comfortable with him. He even asked me if I wanted to go to a wedding with him in a few weeks.... in California. I think we were both kind of kidding about it, but part of us thought it would really fun. I didn't go, but he wrote me a letter every day he was gone. This was 2 weeks after our first date.

About a month after we started dating my mom asked me if he'd want to go skiing with our family in December. My brother was bringing his girlfriend, my sister was bringing her boyfriend, I guess my mom didn't want me to feel left out. I think she just knew that Brandon was going to be around for a while. So, less than two months after dating, we were off skiing with my family. It was a great trip and funny b/c my siblings and I all ended up marrying the person we were dating then! (My brother got engaged on the trip!)

Christmas and birthdays came and went. We spent every day together that we could. We changed jobs, he went back to school part time and we had more fun hanging out than I ever thought possible. He was the first guy that I ever said I love you to. I wanted to save those words for the man I married and I was glad I did. You would have thought we had just gotten engaged when we finally said it! But we kind of had. We had agreed to never say that until we knew we meant it and that we would end up together.

13 months after our first date we got engaged. I thought the day would never come. I would have married him months earlier. We were on a cruise with his parents and grandmother (and a bunch of her retired friends) and after dinner one night we went to the back of the boat to talk and wait until a show started. He had a gift for me and this wasn't much of a surprise b/c he was always surprising me with little things. But as soon as I took the paper off the box and turned it over, I knew what it was. See, I had prayed over 10 years ago that God would do a little something for me. I only told a few people what I'd been praying for. That the guy I was to marry would give me a Bible with my married name on it. Part of me thought it was a little wrong to challenge God in this way, but I was more afraid of marrying the wrong guy. As I opened the lid of the box, Brandon slid to his knee. I saw my married name on the Bible and looked up to see him holding a ring and he asked me to marry him. My first words were, "Who told you about this?" He laughed and said nobody. I told him yes, we jumped up and down and kissed and off to the side there were two adorable black children that had been spying on us and they started screaming "congrat-ulations!!!!" over and over. (I tell you they were black b/c it drove Brandon crazy that I would point out every, single little black boy I saw when I was with him and squeal over how cute they are. There's just something about them that makes me want to pick them up and squish them they are so cute!!!! Plus you just have to imagine how this little boy and girl were saying Congratulations-- it was hilarious!!!)

Six months later we were married and had the most perfect wedding the two of us could have ever asked for. Thanks to his parents we had the most fun rehearsal dinner at the new minor league baseball stadium that opened up and we got to throw out the first pitch. The wedding day was fun and relaxing- for me, not my mom, I didn't know why until later. I didn't even have anyone to do my hair until a few hours before the wedding and I didn't care. Thankfully my cousin and aunt are pros and were more than happy to help me out. We danced and ate and visited and on our way to Atlanta our wedding party called to tell us to come back and go out with them. We were 2 seconds away from doing it, but had a very early flight in the morning we didn't wan to miss. Our honeymoon was great! We got more sleep than anyone should ever need and relaxed and ate more. It was great!

Two months after we got married we started medical school. It was hard. He was gone 6 days a week studying and going to class. We saw each other for 2 hours a day for dinner and the longest time we would have together was when we went to church together on Sunday morning. I missed him, but supported him. God blessed me with a job and friends to spend my time with so I wouldn't go crazy with all my alone time. I knew that it would be worth it in the end. I loved him after all and knew what an incredible doctor he would make one day.

Now here we are almost 6 years later and halfway through residency and I could not be more proud of him. He has worked incredibly hard, dealt with more frustrating people than I can count, been at the bottom when he thought he'd be anywhere but there by now and lost a lot of sleep. But he keeps going b/c that's what he does. He doesn't give up. He works at something until it's right.

God has given him a compassion that I wish others had a fraction of. He loves our kids beyond words. He loves me even more. He makes us laugh. He takes us on adventures. He loves to travel and wants us to see the world the way he was able to growing up. He loves to get dirty playing with the kids. He cooks. He's much better at cleaning than I am. He is so patient with me. He loves to serve others. He has a huge passion for missions. He wants our family to be strong and never give up. He challenges me constantly, for the better. He encourages me constantly. He is exactly who God picked just for me. God knew what I would need and He created that in Brandon. Tonight I got an email from Brandon about something he has written. It was about medicine and marriage. It is so incredibly beautiful and made me love him even more than I did the 5 minutes before I got it. He is a gifted man.

I love him so much and look forward to growing old with him. I pray that we have many, many years of fun and laughter together. That we only grow closer over time. I can't wait to see what is in store for us and our family. I pray that I have many more days where I look back on what we have and only see the good times we have shared. I love you, Brandon!!! You mean more to me than you will ever know!