Update on Hector!

Lauren has now heard from Hector twice. The first time was a 30 second phone call that consisted of I am okay, I love you, and get international put on my phone. A couple days later...Saturday night he called and was able to talk to her for 13 minutes! I feel so much more involved because I do have family over there. Also before she had heard from him so saw him on T.V for a quick second. Here is the site where you can go. He is passing boxes of supplies down a line and he is smiling of course! Its at 46 seconds.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#34911184

The 13 second phone call was on another persons phone that he had traded a can of ravioli. This is all through Lauren so some could have got lost in translation but pretty much he said that it was the poorest place he had ever seen. His feet were hurting him pretty bad and they finally got medication so he is taking pain killers for them. He has not taken off his clothes since he got there in fear that people will steal them when they go to bed. He smells really bad, and if you knew Hector you he is the cleanest person ever! Once they get a mailing address we are going to send some goodies his way. We love you Hector and pray for a safe return!

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

I am so tired of it raining in Georgia! If it is not raining, it is wet and windy. This makes for very long days for students indoors. This weekend has been awesome even if the weather is crappy. Saturday I was able to meet a friend from college that I don't get to see enough.We went to lunch and then did a little shopping. Saturday night we went to Matt's parents for dinner and our old neighbors that moved a couple of months ago joined us.

Today I went shopping with 2 of my sisters and my niece Nora Joy. We went to the mall and my sister showed me a store she is in love with, Anthropologie. It is a pretty neat store but very expensive...unless you find clearance. We also went to Macy's which you can always find great deals. I got a new duvet cover for my bedroom so that means a makeover! My body had issues with me trying to go all day. Today was the first day that I have had a consent pain in my lower back. To be on the safe side I think I am going to call the doctor to be sure its normal.

So off to my 25th week of pregnancy....

Matt and Milo

This was just too cute! Milo loves to lay on your neck or anywhere that is right on top of you.

Prayers for Haiti

There has been so much coverage on Haiti this past week or so and it has finally hit home for me. My brother-in-law, Hector, was deployed to Haiti Sunday night at midnight. He found out a couple days before that he needed to be ready at anytime, and so it happened. My sister had just gotten back to North Carolina and then she found that out. So Lauren is coming back to Georgia, probably for good. The Army told the families that it would be 2-5 months. So your prayers would be greatly appreciated not just for him but for everyone affected by this tragedy. Right now Lauren does not know if she will hear from him at all so if we get any updates on how everything is going I will be sure to write about it. This is a picture of their adorable family.

24 Week Check Up

Matt and I went to our 24 week appointment on Friday. 24 weeks is actually on Monday so we were a couple of days early. This could be the last ultrasound that we get depending on how everything goes. The appointment went really well and we are so excited that it is getting closer.

Thankful for My Family

I would like to start off by saying that I have an amazing family. We have been through the good and bad together and have always stuck by one another.

This past Saturday night Matt and I were out with friends for dinner. I got a call from my sister saying that my mother had a grease accident at her second job as a chef. I immediately started making calls to people to figure out where to go from there. My uncle was on his way to the hospital with her and in trying not to scare her told me it was okay. Once he was able to talk to my sisters without my mom around he said it was pretty bad and we needed to get to the hospital as soon as we could.

Let me back track really quick to Friday night with a special on 20/20. A girl had sulfuric acid splashed on her face and therefore lost "her" face. This is the image I had in my mind.

So I cried all the way to the hospital and once I got there I was able to see her. She was able to talk to me and seemed to be okay. If you know my mother she could be in the worst pain possible and act like it is no big deal. She had a towel over her face so I was unable to see any of the burns. My other sister went back soon after and saw the burns and realized that it was much better than we thought.

Because the burns were pretty severe, at the time not sure if they were 3rd degree or not, they sent her to a hospital 5that had a burn unit. There they determined that 15% of her body was covered in 2nd degree burns....which is great. this means that none of her under layer of her skin died and it should all be able to heal without surgery.

They sent her home on Sunday and my sister has pretty much been keeping up with her wrappings and medication. On Monday morning she woke up and had trouble breathing so she went back to the hospital. Everything checked out okay and she went home soon after.

I went to work on Monday but realized that I was worrying about her the entire time. So I decided to take off Tuesday and Wednesday to with her. She kept telling me she did not need me to be there all day with her. I realize that but knew for my own sake I wanted to be with her.

My entire family was at the hospital on Saturday night and she has had so many visitors. Not only has family come by to see her but also so many friends. We are blessed to has such a close family that cares so much for one another. I do not know what I would do without them as a support group. I also do not know what I would do without my mother....she is the most amazing woman I know. For all of you moms out there, thank you for all you do.

Snow Day!!!

Well we are in the big GA and we have snow people! This is our cute little house with a light snow dust. We had some friends over last night for the National Championship game and someone made a snowman on the chair. This is actually the 3rd year in a row that we have gotten snow. As you can see in the pictures its not a lot but of course enough to close down most school systems. I am just glad that it happened on a Friday so we are off and not on a Saturday. Love the 3 day work week!!!

Always a Countdown

So I confess that I already have a countdown in my head of the next break. Today was nice going in and getting a lot of things done that tend to go on the back burner when things get busy. I started jotting down things that are coming up and realized that we have 6 weeks until the next break.Looking at each week I realized that the first 4 weeks I have a 4 day weeks. So I have 2 full weeks of school!!

Easing Into the New Year

I have had a couple of low keys days after a very busy holiday and I have really enjoyed it. On Thursday night for New Year's Eve Matt and I went to my cousins house to celebrate. We played poker and just hung out, it was really nice.

Friday we went to my mom's house to have the traditional lunch of collards and black eyed peas. There was a lot more food and after that I could not think about food for days.

This weekend Matt and I have really just been getting things done around the house and not had any plans. Tomorrow I have a teacher workday and then Tuesday is back to the real world. I hope everyone has a had great start to a new year!