My Little Old Lady

She loved the rocking chair at Mimi's and the walker at the nursing home when we went to visit last week for an early Thanksgiving! 

Despite the buckets of drool and having a block in her mouth the whole time, still we have no teeth.

Don't forget to check out Shutterfly for your Christmas Cards.  Read my Previous Post for more information!

Giving Shutterfly a Try

Only out of pure peer pressure did I decide to send Christmas Cards this year.  In my circle of family and friends,   Baby = Christmas Card with picture of Baby. 

I'm  not dreading it too bad, because honestly, I LOVE getting Christmas cards.  I put each and every one I recieve on display; normally, sticky-tacked around the door frame in my kitchen.  If you think that's tacky, keep it to yourself :-)  The cards make me happy and add to my festive decor.

When I heard about Shutterfly's offer of 50 free cards just for blogging about their great products, I couldn't resist.  I went to  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards to look through the options.  Here are my favorites:

Clearly, I'm planning on using just one picture.  I like to keep it simple. Plus, I figure with a (soon to be) 9 month old, I'll get one good picture when we attempt a Christmas Card photo shoot.  But, there are so many cards that use 2,3, or more of your favorite pictures.  I would probably opt for a design with more pictures if I had more children or had too many great pictures to choose from.

I'm looking forward to using Shutterfly for the first time.  I'm sure I'll be back to their site for Langley's first birthday invites.  Just click here for some super cute invitation ideas!

Also, if you are in need of birth announcements or (if you are in a different season of life) graduation announcements or "save the dates,"  browse around here to find something perfect for your special announcements.

Because I'm one of those people who refuse to put out Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving, I've got a lot to do today.   I'm taking bets on how long it will take my daughter to attempt to climb one of the Christmas trees!  Yay for Christmas season!

Gracias, Merci, Grazie

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 

2 Cor. 9:15

Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For

1.  Salvation, Forgiveness, Mercy, and Grace of my Heavenly Father
2.  My husband - he's the best
3.  Langley - seriously, she is more awesome than I could have ever imagined
4.  Our family and friends - who love us, support us, and brighten our days
5.  Laughter - and the many people and circumstances that cause me to laugh
6.  That Henry is healing and will survive the brown recluse bite of 2010
7.  Health
8.  Jobs - the ability to pay our bills, have food and shelter, and that gives us Thanksgiving Break!
9.  Sweet memories
10.  Our church

Standing Tall

I went to get Langley out of bed after her nap and she was standing up.  Oh my!  Since then, she's pulled up to standing several times today.

Early in the week, everything had been " da da," then we had a few days of "ya ya."  I'm convinced "ya ya" was her version of Momma!  But, since Saturday, everything has be "ba ba."  She's too funny. 

Langley is babbling a lot and spitting a lot.  It just cracks me up!

She made up a new game where she will choose a toy at random in her bedroom and then spends 20 minutes throwing it and chasing it around the room.  It's like she's playing fetch with herself.  Hilarious.  Sometimes whatever she's throwing will only go 2 inches, sometimes behind her, and sometimes across the room.  I'd love to know what's going on in her head!

Henry is healing well!  He has a big scab that he constantly wants to lick, so the "cone of shame" is still on.  He's almost done with his 2nd antibiotic and I put neosporin on his wound twice a day.  I think within a week, he'll be good as new - just with a huge scar!  Oh, how I'm ready to be past this drama!

It's Good to be Home

Mustangs are now 3-4. 


On a sad note, last night our senior starting point guard suffered a career ending injury.

 His junior season, Daron tore his achilles.  He redshirted, added a minor to his degree plan, had surgery, and rehabbed for a year.  Daron went through a lot and worked hard and was SO PUMPED for this season.  He is a leader on the team.

Last night, he knew exactly what had happened immediately.  He was down and crying, "it's over!"  I knew immediately.  The achilles.  Our trainer who is a PT (he did Daron's rehab) got him to the locker room.  By this point, I was crying and several other people in the stands.  We knew.  He wasn't crying because of the pain (which I'm sure was intense,) he was crying because his college basketball career was over. 

His dad got to the game a little late.  He walked toward the stands and I went to get him before he sat down.  "Mr. Hall?"  I said to get his attention.  "Is he hurt?"  was the first thing out of his mouth.  I couldn't talk, just took him to the locker room.  Ya'll it was so sad.

Since the moment he went down, there has been a since of mourning.  I think Daron, and many others will have to go through a grief process.  Grieving the death of your college basketball career sounds so trivial, but nonetheless, it's grief.  It could be so much worse.  We know God will use this for his glory.  We know there is a purpose for this.  We just don't know why. 

Keep Daron in your prayers.  That he will heal, that he will trust, that he will have peace.

The trainer told us this was very very uncommon.  The doctor said the only crazier thing he'd seen was a player who tore both achilles at the same time.  The odds of tearing both of your achilles tendon in your lifetime are something like .2%.  That's POINT TWO.

When Your Team is Shooting 50% from the FREE THROW Line

The CBC Mustangs are 1-4 after last night.  Not a good way to start.  It hurts my pride to even type that record.  I expected us to be at least 2-3 at this point in the schedule.  But, things happen.

It's hard being a coach's wife.  I've heard that the hardest jobs are being a pastor(or minister's) wife and a coach's wife.  When you're winning life is great.  When you're losing, you can lose touch with reality very quickly and feel like everything is going wrong.

The baby and the dog slept great last night.  The adults, not so much.  Anger, frustration, confusion, bewilderment crowd your mind leaving you unable to relax.  As the wife, I really do feel the same emotions as Josh -- in times of victory and defeat. 

The team is like our family.  Josh spends the majority of his time with them.  Coaching, teaching, encouraging, correcting, and being a Christ like example.  I know so much about each player.  More than I care to in some cases.  I don't really feel motherly to them -- I'm not old enough for that-- but I do feel very protective.  I cheer them on, feed them, and pray for them. 

This morning, when the alarm went off, I was stilled pissed.  I mean, our free throw shooting has been bad this season, but last night was awful.  Ya'll we had a player AIR BALL a FREE THROW.  That is unacceptable.  Unacceptable.  This is college.

I try not to blame officials.  We lost the game, not them.  But, I would like to point out that we had 5 players foul out.  That is not normal.

Ok, back to this morning.  I was mad at the players, not knowing what to say or how to approach Josh, and my mind was going 100 miles an hour.  Here are some of my thoughts:

Not everyone can win.  Please teach your children this.  We live in a "everyone's a winner" society, but in fact, everyone will experience defeat at some point in their life.  Teach children to be gracious winners and losers, they will in turn be more prepared for the real world. 

Think about it, we have all lost.  Maybe you never won a relay, didn't make the cheer squad, lost a crush to your best friend, were the last out, missed a big shot, didn't land your dream job, or even lost your job.  You can't win them all.

Losing doesn't make you a loser.  Just because you can't always win doesn't mean you should settle for losing or enjoy it in any way.  I believe you should always strive for excellence.  How you lose is more important than why you lose.  What do you learn from those experiences?  How do you improve?

People's choices make them losers, their attitudes, not coming in second place.  Wanting and loving to win is good.  Working and trying to be on top is what we should do in every aspect of life.  We should always work on and improve our relationship with God, not settling for just saying a prayer and being baptized.  Our work ethic will reflect a winner or loser, not the scoreboard.


Mental and physical toughness.  Succeeding on the basketball court requires physical and mental abilities.  Free throws are mental. No one is guarding you, no one blocking your shot or in your way, except your mind.  If our team was mentally tough last night, we would have avoided overtime all together.  One mustang missed 9 free throws, he alone could have won the game.  How do you teach mental toughness?  Can you?

We still give Him glory.  Josh prays with the team before and after every practice and game.  He is teaching them that God is still in control and is still worthy of praise even when we lose.  I tell God that before and after every game.  I pray for wins.  But, I give God praise and ask that His name be glorified whether we when or lose.

This should apply to everyone's life.  God, I'm still going to praise you if things don't turn out how I planned, when I'm hurting, when I feel lonely, when I feel attacked -- You, Lord are in control.  Sometimes, it is just a game.  Maybe there is a spiritual victory that we can't see that happened instead.  Perhaps a lesson learned the hard way.


Goodness gracious I've rambled.  You may disagree with something I've said, or think I'm crazy.  I am a little crazy.  It's basketball season.  But, this should give you a little glimpse into what a coach's wife struggles with, especially a Christian woman who is very competitive.  I'm ready to post about our next WIN!  Let it be soon, Lord!

The Quest for a Cute/Normal Picture

Me:  Langley, you look so cute!  Let me take your picture.

Langley:  Seriously, mom?  You know it's naptime.

Langley:  I'd rather just look at my toes.

Me:  Langley!  Look at Momma!  Smile for Momma!

Langley:  Ok, I'll give you a silly face.  Remember my dimple?   

Langley:   Is this better than the weird face I made yesterday when you wanted a picture of my John Deere outfit?

Me:  Naptime!

The weekend so far....

This was Friday before Langley and I ran errands. 

Also Friday, Langley was helping me fold her laundry.



BTW, I have no idea what is wrong with her nose in the picture.  Sometimes the red-eye corrector messes up other parts of the face, I think that is what happened.



This morning before Breakfast.  Josh was getting ready to go.  This girl loves her daddy.

We are staying in our PJ's today and hopefully getting a handle on all the chores I neglected to do this week.  We still find time for playing, though!

The Mustangs play John Brown at 3:00.  I'll be watching online!

Langley's Christmas List

I know the family likes to have Christmas lists, so, here are some ideas for the girl:

Something like the table that could entertain her sitting or standing.

I thought this mat was cute and it might pad some of her falls on our hard floors.



There are a couple of different versions of this toy.  I think she would like any of them.



She's obsessed with the phone, remote, and computer, so anything that can replace the real thing (yeah right) might be fun.

This just looked fun and like something that would make Henry crazy.

educational + basketball = Good

Cute.



She loves books and we read to her every day.  It's really mom and dad that are ready for new books every couple of months.

Puzzles with minimal pieces.

And considering how much she likes outside, a wagon would be good.



I think Santa is bringing her this swing.



Hope this helps!  I'd be happy to do one for Josh and I too :-)

Getting You Caught Up

I don't know if it's a combination of the time change and the 80 degree November temperatures that have me feeling like 20 kinds of crud or what, but I just have not been able to find time to blog lately.  A lot has been going on, so I'll try to get you all caught up.

Langley has been spending her time crawling everywhere and clapping and talking and spitting. 

She has been a trooper at all the ballgames!

And, she got to spend her first weekend away from Mom and Dad!  This was much needed!  I had not ever spent the night away from her.  Josh and I were able to just go stay at the Peabody for 2 nights, eat yummy food, and sleep whenever we wanted!  We had a good time and Langley did good with Mimi here at the house.

Basketball season is in full force.  We are currently 1-2, having played Williams Baptist, Lyon College, and John Brown University all in Conway. We definitley should have beaten Lyon (we were totally absent mentally) and we played John Brown tough!  John Brown is legit -- they are ranked 18th in the nation and we held them to 64 points.  We play all these teams again on the road.  You can watch live stats during each game and get more info here and here.


Finally, Henry got a spider bite.  The vet has only seen this type of wound 1 other time, which leads him to believe that it was a brown recluse.  It's nasty.  This wound is going to bankrupt us :-)  The dog has been wearing a onesie for the past week to keep him from licking.  I have pictures of the spider bite.  It's gross, so don't scroll down if you are squeamish.  You've been warned.





















This was the first day.  I discovered he had a problem late one afternoon when I noticed Henry had not been laying on the couch (his normal spot) and would not jump up on anything.  When Josh got home we bathed him and poured peroxide on the wound.  He went to the vet the next day and came home with two more medicines (he was still on antibiotics from his teeth cleaning.) 

All the red area above has been and will eventually all die, remove itself, and hopefully heal.  Yes, it's very near his man-land.

This picture was yesterday.  Scabbing has begun, but there is a puss pocket in the middle.  A few things can happen with that, but knowing how our life works, we are looking at a little surgery to drain it and promote healing.  I still don't know if I'd rather that pop itself and drain out somewhere in my house, probably on my furniture, or if  I want to pay a couple hundred more dollars.  Either way would be awesome.

This is today.  I'm ready for it to get better.  He finishes his steroids and the first round of antibiotics and goes back to the vet on Monday.  If you feel so inclined, pray this heals, without bankrupting us :-)

I hate this happened, but if a brown recluse had to bite someone in our household, I'm glad it was the dog.  Josh would want to burn the house down if it had been Langley (for the record I've never seen a brown recluse in our house, but we have sprayed inside and out.)  Josh HATES spiders.  I kill most of the spiders we encounter.  My phobia is snakes, so we just handle these things for each other.