Lots of pictures to get you caught up!

Keep in mind that none of these pictures were staged! I hope you enjoy them.

Ethan LOVES to watch the movie Cars (the first twenty minutes at least), and he has picked up this blanket habit from me.

Now you know why you are not suppose to put tacos in the toaster oven! We do own a new toaster oven now, so that is cool.

My son likes to use quesadillas to eat sour cream!

A long time ago Ethan had stuck one of his shoes through the cat door. He has since rediscovered that little trick! We might want to think about hanging our keys elsewhere.

Believe me, if he could fit, he would have come through himself!We recently brought him to our old hang out: Walker Springs Park.
He loved going down the slide...

and swinging on the swing.
Ethan woke up one day last week with "crazy hair".


My son has no waist as evidenced by these "low rise" pants.


When my parents (Mimi and PawPaw) were in last week we took a trip to the Fruit and Berry Patch to pick pumpkins. Ethan tried to pick up every pumpkin in the place.

Eventually we did find one his size and I have since painted it orange.
After he "decorates" it tomorrow I'll post more pictures.

Blaise and Laura were with us, but I don't have any pictures of them, or the other adults on the trip for that matter.

Hmm... I guess some things you just don't have to teach:
I have no pictures of my parents from their trip, but Philip and I did get to go away for a few days and here are pictures us at Bays Mountain.














If anyone has photoshop and can put us together in one picture that would be great!

...and Found!

So, Philip and I don't argue very often and when we do argue we are not yellers or screamers. Our arguments usually look more like debates. We sit on opposite couches and have times of point, counter point, discussion, and rebuttal. All of this is very logical mind you. We are scientist at heart after all!

So tonight there we were in one of the more heated arguments we have had in a while. We had moved and now were sitting across from each other on our love seat that has a center console. Well at the conclusion of one of my counter points Philip looks up and says, "Well I know something that will make you really happy." "What?" I ask. Then he pulled out my watch! It had slipped between the cushion of the love seat and the wall of the center console. We almost never sit there (it was about a month since I had sat there last) and so I never really inspected it that closely.

In my search for this watch I have torn the house apart, cleaned my car and searched my office at work. I had even found a picture of myself wearing it on Sunday, September 7th and then analyzed my calendar for all the places I had been since then. I even called my pediatrician to ask if anyone had turned a watch in there. But when did God allow me to find my watch? In the middle of a heated argument with my husband. At a time that I needed my heart to be softened. To gain some perspective. After celebrating having my watch back again (making Philip ask me what time it is repeatedly) we finished our "discussion" in a more light hearted manner and agreed to take the matter up at a later time.

Yeah! I'm so glad I found my watch and I'm grateful for God's timing even if it was not my own!

New Videos of Ethan

So this first video shows all of the body parts that Ethan knows.


This second one is something funny that I noticed about Ethan the other day. For our dogs he has a standard "uff, uff, uff", but for our neighbors dog Sawyer he makes a high pitched dog sound which is so cute. Sawyer is a "Toto" dog who does have a higher pitched bark, but I think it is so cute that Ethan has picked up on it. It is also cool that he knows that Emma, Dante, and Sawyer are all dogs and that Yoda is a cat. You can also tell that my teacher training has made me a positive reinforcer!

Lost...

So my number one pet peeve is losing things. I know normally you wouldn't call that a pet peeve but it really drives me nuts. In the last couple of months I have lost a Pampered Chef rubber scraper, Ethan's very first blanket from the NICU and my watch. I have already replaced the scraper, but the last two are nearly irreplaceable. The blanket was a "scent" blanket that Ethan got at the NICU and that I wore next to my body the first night we were separated. Then we kept it under him while he was in the NICU so that he could be close to my smell even when I wasn't there. I was using it as a softee for a couple of weeks and I may have even brought it to Louisiana with me this summer, but alas now it is lost. I've checked at all the Churches that Ethan regularly attends and searched the house. Still no blanket.

Here it is under Ethan on a trip to LA when he was a few months old.

Now my watch is an issue of monetary replacement more than emotional attachment. When I first bought it Philip thought I was spending too much money on just a watch, but I figured it would be the last watch I ever bought. It was an Eco-citizen and it was run with a solar panel face. Really cool! The problem is I usually take it off to type on the laptop or computer because it hits the desk as I type. Somewhere along the way I have misplaced it or Ethan has picked it up and hidden it somewhere. It is even a possibility that Ethan put it in the trash can and it got tossed out. I do have a picture of me wearing it early September but I do not know when it got lost between here and there.

I guess the real reason losing things bugs me is that I know the item is somewhere. Science teaches us two major laws that are at work in our everyday lives, the conservation of mass and the conservation of energy. In this case I have expended a lot of energy looking for things of relatively small mass!

On Thursday at MOPS I did get to put things into perspective a little bit. Our lesson was on contentment. Being discontent in life is a very dangerous place to be. It was discontentment that first drove Eve to pick and eat the forbidden fruit. In the lesson the speaker went over the following verse that has given me some peace:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

1Timothy 6:6-10

We come into this world with nothing, and we can take nothing out of it. Even if I do find Ethan's first little blanket he will not be able to take it to eternity with him. He probably won't want to take it anywhere in a few years anyway! My watch can be replaced, and really the frustration of losing it does no one any good especially not me. I have food in my belly and clothes on my back so I do count myself blessed. I just need to remember to be content with what I have, not constantly frustrated about what I have lost!

Oh well....

So I guess our "great" government has gone against what we all wanted (or didn't want) and done what they thought was best. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. As Dave says, "If you are waiting on Washington to change something, you've got a very long wait!" At least I know that God is in control of all things including the economy.

Now on to Snookums. We have a had a few really funny conversations lately.

Last Monday night:
Ethan: "Dada?"
Me: "Dada is at Bible Study."
Ethan: "Baba?"
Me: "No, he's not at the Baba's, he is at Bible Study."
*Wait two minutes and repeat.*

Saturday morning:
Me: "Hey Ethan, what do you want for Christmas?"
Ethan: "oo-kie?"
(Maybe he thought I said breakfast.)

Dave Ramsey's Common Sense Plan

Do you think it is right for our government to spend our tax dollars to bail out bankers who made bad decisions? I don't! They knew what they were doing when they made these loans and we should not be the ones to save them from their consequences with our hard earned money. I am not an economist, but I do know that there has to be other ways to fix this "crisis". We are a Dave Ramsey family and recently Dave has spoken about his Common Sense Fix on air. I have posted it below for your convenience. There are three things that we can do to get this fix in place instead of the one that will cost you and me 700+billion dollars.

1. Pray for our leaders. They are operating under a spirit of fear at this time and we know that fear is not a fruit of the Spirit!
2. Send the plan below to your representatives and congressman.
3. Tell others to do the same!
   

The Common Sense Fix
Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three step Common Sense Plan.
I. INSURANCE
a. Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance. Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.
b. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two things:
1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage.
a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into the balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep their homes.
b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower—again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.
2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive team members as long as the company holds these government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming executives from being paid when they don’t do their jobs.
c. This backstop will cost less than $50 billion—a small fraction of the current proposal.
II. MARK TO MARKET
a. Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only subprime Tier III bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being forced to artificially mark down bonds/mortgages below the value of the underlying mortgages and real estate.
b. This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate stabilizing effect on failing and ailing banks—and it costs the taxpayer nothing.
III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX
a. Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating tremendous—and immediate—liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the taxpayer nothing.
b. This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down.

This is not a time for envy, and it’s not a time for politics. It’s time for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.

30 Day Challenge: Just Do It!

Last Sunday my Pastor challenged us all to read the Bible for 15 minutes a day for 30 days. The idea is to take a snap shot of where your life is now and after 30 days see how/if your priorities, outlook, or life in general has changed. I don't know about anyone else, but I easily get caught up in reading lots of studies or books about God and I forget to actually read the WORD!

Would anyone like to join me? I plan on starting with the book of John and probably just continuing through Acts and Romans. If you don't have a bible you can read it online in any translation from this site. As the last couple of posts have shown, not having enough time can not be an excuse to pass this up. If I can find 15 minutes anyone can!

I am going to begin on October 1st and I'll post updates and excerpts here. If you want to join me please leave a comment here and I promise to contact you in the next month with words of encouragement.