It seems like we get so caught up in the mundane, day-to-day business that sometimes we forget about what's truly important in life: Faith, family, friends. Frustration about bills, lack of decent winter clothes, annoyances at rude drivers, red lights that last too long. It can all start to really get me worked up. And then something snaps me out of it, and I come back to the basics of what I really should focus on in my life.
This week, I have shared in the news of a high school friend's recent pregnancy, and one day later, been saddened to hear of a friend's sister-in-law give birth to a stillborn baby. I have rejoiced in Abby's good doctor's report this morning, and later felt the sadness of hearing about a girl who graduated a year behind me pass away from leukemia. And then tonight, I, along with all other members of our church, receive the devestating news that our pastor's cancer has spread to parts of her brain, and she has decided not to prolong her suffering any longer, and go home to be with the Lord. This was enough to knock the wind out of me. Rude drivers? Long red lights? Clothes? Money? Is that what's really important in life?
Overwhelmed with emotion, I hugged Abby hard tonight, a true reflection of what really matters in my life. I kissed Matt and told him I loved him. Why does it always seem to take a roller coaster of emotion, good and bad news, to make us stop in our tracks and remind us of what we should be focusing on in our lives?
So, this Thanksgiving, I urge you to join me in really looking at your life and give Thanks and Praise to God for the things that bring you joy in your life. As we know all too well, what we value most can be taken away at any moment, and we should be thankful for the blessings that we have.
Call your parents just to say hi. Take a deep breath when your child does something that frustrates you. Write your grandparent a note and mail it to her--it will absolutely make her day. Let go of the grudge you've been holding against your friend. Put a note in your spouse's lunch reminding him how much you love him. Kiss your child.
I have to live my life knowing that God has a plan. If I didn't believe that, I honestly couldn't get through life. Tonight, say a prayer for those in your life who need it most, those who are hurting. And yet don't forget to thank God for all of the wonderful blessings He has bestowed upon you.
A Message
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Many Faces of Abby Mae
I took some pics of Abby yesterday. SHOCKING, I know! Ha! :) Anyway, here are some of her "head shots," and The Many Faces of Miss Abby Mae!!
Goofy DADDY and Goofy Abby
Cheesin' Abby
Laughin' Abby
Beautiful Abby...or Up-To-Something Abby. You decide!
And my personal favorite, Too-Cute-For-Words Abby
Oh, and here's Abby before Mother's Day Out yesterday. She LOVES MDO now. When I drop her off, it's like "Hello class! Mom Who?!" :(
Happy ALMOST Friday, people!
18 Months
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Miss Abby Mae is 18 months old today. I can't believe it!
Here she is just a few hours old...
...at six months...
...at one year...
Here are 18 reasons why I love my little 18-month-old:
1. You are truly compassionate. If we fake cry, you immediately go over to us and give us a kiss!
2. You have started to say more words. Among your newest are: boo-boo, ball (bah), bus (buh), bow (as of today!), Mommy (although when asked my name directly, you still say “Dada.”), and Pooh (once for the bear, twice for the stinky kind! Impressive!)
3. You love to stack anything on everything!
4. You also love to dip your food—waffles in yogurt, cereal in jelly—it doesn’t matter the combo. You’re dippin’!
5. You are obsessed with shoes and love to put them on and run around the house. You have been known to wear only a diaper and shoes. Classy.
6. You no longer want to be rocked before bed. You are a Big Girl now and much prefer Mom and Dad to leave you be in your crib to fall asleep on your own, thank-you-very-much! It makes me sad to know my baby is a baby no longer.
7. You love to play Peek-A-Boo. Whether it’s your hand over your eye, blanket over your face, or you hiding behind the clothes in the closet, one uttering of “Where’s Abby?” is all it takes to get you excited!
8. You love baths and get mad when we pull the plug.
9. You love the park. When we turn the corner past the bridge and you see the swings, you stretch out your arms and grunt!
10. You are a girl who loves to snack! I have found you at the pantry door many times, banging on it, in need of a cracker…or eight!
11. When music comes on TV, you stop what you’re doing and you start to dance. You have some awesome moves, Roo!
12. You love The Wonder Pets, and most nights we gather and watch it right before your bathtime.
13. You can’t stand to have anything on your hands. A dog hair, a crumb, if it’s on there, you run to us, hand outstretched for us to wipe it clean.
14. You freak out when you see an airplane, a big truck, or a bus. At Hobby Lobby yesterday, a school bus pulled up right in front of us, and I thought you were going to explode from excitement!
15. You love going through our bathroom drawers and “re-arranging” them.
16. You make the absolute best lion roar!
17. You detest long car rides and would much rather be “out and about.” Thank goodness for Baby Einstein DVDs! (Thanks, Cappettas!)
18. You absolutely are head over heels in love with your family. You see pictures of your grandparents, aunt, uncles, parents, and you get so excited. You point to them, kiss their pictures, you just love them to death. And when you see them in person? Well, you love giving out hugs and kisses.
Obviously, that list could go on and on, but I think you get the idea! Matt and I feel so blessed to have had this little girl a part of our lives for the past 18 months, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Happy 18 months, Roo! We love you!!
Checking In
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Let me start with a pic of Abbster I snapped earlier tonight on her rocking horse. Words cannot express how appreciative we are of Cheryl for making this for Abby with her own two hands!
So, not too much has been going on around here. Uncle Chris came in town for a visit this weekend, and he and Abby had the BEST time playing together! Abby has been blessed with the best aunt and uncles!
Here they are doing what they do best: goofing around!
And yes, I DO exist! A rare picture of me and Abby. :)
So, for those of you who know Abby, you know she is quite the entertainer. This girl is go-go-go all day, and she absolutely loves an audience! Lately, I've noticed she has turned to some interesting forms of entertainment. Here are just a few:
1. Stacking on her sippy.
Her Happy Meal toy was this talking giraffe (which she absolutely LOVES), but better yet, she loved stacking it on her sippy. When she was successful, she would squeal with delight and clap her hands, as she is doing in this picture. Note the McNugget on the sippy too. Two items. Very impressive. :)
2. Inserting straw in juice.
Side note: She says juice like this: "jhoooooooooooooosh." It takes a full 5 seconds for the entire word to come out. It's hilarious.
Here's the play-by-play:
Eye on the straw. She's about to pull it out.
The straw is out. Now, she's got to put it back in. This takes lots and lots of concentration, folks.
Will she do it??
Can she get the straw back in??
I know you're on pins and needles....
Yippeeee!! Success! The straw is back in its juicebox!
She is SO proud of herself. Can you tell?!
Sweet girl
3. Anything and everything is a shoe.
How is it that things like old wipes cases are one of her favorite items? Roo is absolutely obsessed with putting things on her feet (mainly our shoes), but here she is with the wipes case as footwear.
It's as though she's thinking, "Dada, get this thing off me NOW!" She'd better get used to that pain. As a woman, don't most cute shoes feel like that?!
Abby will be 18 months on Tuesday. Where has the time gone?! Here is Abby one year ago this week.
And here she is now, ALL GIRL. Where has my baby gone?! Miss Abbster loves to "text" on her "cell phone" that her Papa gave her. (Don't worry--it's fake. Although around here, I'm pretty sure some kids her age probably have their own Blackberrys!) 
I've heard that they grow up way too fast, but boy, I never really got it until Abby was born. I'll write more about her life as an 18-month-old in a couple of days. In the meantime, I hope life treats all of y'all well! :)
Feliz Cumpleanos!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. Technically, she is my brother-in-law's wife, but I've never considered her that. To me, Emily really is like a sister. She is my Sister Tenner.
I met Emily when she started teaching at Pearce, where I was already teaching. She taught senior English, and I was teaching sophomores and juniors, and by her second year of teaching, we were teaching the same grade level, so we spent our Sunday nights at our dining room table, surrounded by pizza, calendars, literature books, and highlighters. Beginning with those looooooong Sunday nights of planning, Matt and I got to know Emily more and more, as she began to hang out with us more and more.
Over the next year or so, Emily became one of my absolutely best friends, and little did Matt and I realize that she would eventually become our sister-in-law! I have been SO very fortunate. I can honestly say that Emily isn't just like family to me; she actually is family to me. How great is that? I get to share the most important moments of my life with someone who is so special to me. I don't have to call her and tell her how my Thanksgiving was; she's there sharing it with me. When we told the family that we were pregnant with Abby, I didn't have to call her later and tell her the big news. She was there to share in the delight with everyone else. I feel blessed beyond belief. To think that that curly-haired, "shy," goofy gal down the school hall would eventually become my "sister" is beyond words.
Emily and I have both lucked out falling into the Tenner family. Honestly, we could not have asked for better parents-in-law.
So, here's to you, Baxter. You have made my life, along with Jason and the rest of the Tenner clan, more complete. :)
Over the past three years, I have been lucky enough to share in many of Emily's most important moments, and she in mine:
An engagement. (I thought that ring would NEVER come!!)
Bridal showers (I absolutely LOVED being the scribe!)
The bachelorette party. Emily, you really should wear boas more often! :)
The BIG day, October 6, 2007. What a beautiful bride!
Abby's birth. Emily was there, newly engaged by the way, waiting and waiting with the rest of the family. Here is her first picture with Abby.
Abby's baptism. One of the most special moments of my entire life.
Football games.
And now their pregnancy! I am so lucky to get to watch Emily grow not only in belly size (ha!) but in her love for their little baby boy!
Five things you may not know about Emily:
1. She can speak Spanish. Sometimes, at a mexican restaurant, she'll order her food in Spanish just to impress us. I'm so jealous.
2. She is a Heck of a domino player. Although she claims to be a Domino Virgin, she kicked our butts so badly that we began to think she was Miss Metroplex Domino 1997. I'm fairly certain people who haven't played dominoes before don't say things like, "Oh, is there 15 on the board? Then tee up the blank." Seriously.
3. She (and myself included) can do a DEAD-ON impression of Tituba from The Crucible and Daisy from The Great Gatsby. I'm not kidding. If you heard her Tituba impression, you would swear there was a large Barbados slave standing before you. Simply Oscar-worthy. :)
4. She has a heart of gold. Emily is one of those people who actually listens to what you have to say. She always asks how you are doing. She would much rather ask about someone else's well-being than talk about herself. Very selfless. That's hard to find nowadays.
5. She is head over heels in love with my brother-in-law. In the 10 years I have known Jason, I have never seen him happier than he is with Emily. He lights up like a Christmas tree when she's around. The two of them can make each other laugh, and their marriage is built on love for one another, laughter, and the love of all things Murder She Wrote. :)
Deep Down, Emily is...
...a rock star at heart......
..a Guitar Hero freak
...the only person in the world who could have this much fun at Halloween dressing up with Jason as White Trash. :)
...the Queen of Funny Faces.
...and the best aunt for Abby that I could have asked for. 
Jas, you picked a good one.
Personally, Emily, I think we are both two lucky gals!! 
Happy birthday to you, Emily! Here's to many, many more!!! :)
Tidbits
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Well, there's not too much to report on our end, so I thought I'd post a few pics.
Yesterday, Abby made her third (yes, third!) trip to the doctor in the past three weeks. She has this virus that she just can't seem to shake. I swear her nose has been running off and on for over a month now, and she's developed a nasty cough along with it too. After her double ear infection, we went to see Dr. G. because she had developed pink eye, causing her to miss Mother's Day Out last week and her class picture. No fun! Luckily, that cleared up in time for Halloween, and she was able to make up her individual picture but not her class picture. Oh well. I guess we'll just have to Photoshop her in. :)
Well, the eye infection had returned yesterday. Argh! Luckily, a couple of eyedrops and some teaspoons of Triaminic later, Abbster is back up in running. I'm trying to keep her away from kids for a couple of days until she is fully recovered. Rick and Evelyn (Matt's parents) are coming in this weekend, so here's hoping Abby is back to 100% by then!
Things Abby does pretty much on a daily basis:
This morning, at Kohl's, she waved to almost every single person she saw. In the past, I encouraged her to wave, but she has started to do it on her own now. Especially at cars. If we're in the front yard playing, and a car drives by, she stops what she's doing and waves at it. Too cute.
She asks "What's that?!" about 100 times a day. No joke. She points to EVERYTHING and asks "What's that?!" Here is our routine at breakfast: She points to spoon. What's that?! I respond, It's a spoon. She points to yogurt. What's that?! I respond, It's yogurt. She points to the baby on the yogurt. What's that?! I respond, It's a baby. Say 'baby.' Abby says, Bah-bah. Good, I say. She points to waffle. What's that?! I respond, It's a waffle. She points to spoon. What's that?! I respond, It's a spoon. You get the idea. It's a vicious cycle!
She can spot airplanes like nobody's business. As soon as she sees one, she freaks out! She points to the sky. What's that?! It's a plane. What's that?! It's a plane. What's that?! It's still a plane. Ha!
She can now roar like a lion. Impressive. (A huge Shout Out to BFF Ellie who originated the Lion Roar!)
I've taught her how to point to her tray or to herself when she wants something--mainly food. I hated when she'd get all "grabby" and fuss, so now she points at her tummy or her tray. It's pretty funny because when she sees something she wants, she jams her finger into her tummy over and over and over, like she is SO excited to eat a Nilla Wafer she can't stand the thought of waiting any longer for it!
She can recognize so many objects in her Picture book. Duck. Moon. Clouds. Fish. Ball. Bear. Baby. Spoon. I'm still completely in awe of how quickly children pick up on things.
I know there's more, but I'm tired of typing, and I need to post some pics. :)
Abby is totally into painting at the moment. Here she is, Future Picasso.
Actually, her favorite thing to do is dip the brush in the water. The brush makes a "ding" when it hits the side of the glass, and she just thinks that's the funniest thing ever! So, she just taps her brush in the water over and over again!
Just a happy shot of Miss Abby. Notice the Crazy Hair on her left. It's ALWAYS been like that!
Case in point: Abby at one month, one day old. While she obviously doesn't have as much hair as she does now, you can see that even at a very young age, her hair on the left side was quite unmanageable!
She LOVES to dance on the water line cover in the front yard. She is one groovin' gal!!
Those gorgeous Tenner eyes that I, again, can take absolutely NO credit for!
Happy girl at lunch
I just love pigtails and jumpers. Thanks, Nana, for this weiner dog jumper!!
Ready for church
Oh, and last but not least, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Tech's huge win over Texas this past weekend. Even though Abby's monogram is ATM, I have a feeling she (along with our money) will be going far, far, far away to Tech for college. At least if Matt has a say in it! :) Here is Matt with Little Red Raider Roo. She had the best time cheering on Tech. Too bad she missed the second half--what a game it was. I was actually rooting for Tech. (Things are much happier in our household if Tech wins!) We'll see how they do against OSU Saturday. It's a big game!
