An Amazing Sunday!

This past Sunday, I along with my whole family got to experience somethign that I never would have believed would happen had you told me 10 years ago it would.

Most of you know that while growing up, my daddy did not attend church with us except for the occassional holiday. In the past 5 years though that has changed, he started going to Fairfield Church of Christ and has become a very faithful member.

Over the past few years, he began waiting on the Lord's table and then he's led a few prayers but this past Sunday blew me away because he PREACHED!!!!

I am so proud of him and the changes he's made in his life and he is an inspiration to us all.

Daddy, if you happen to read this, I love you!

Amy

In Memory of Chase Allen Jacobs

As most of my friends know, we have been praying for my childhood friend, Chelsea and her family as they grieve the loss of their baby boy Chase Allen.

We were not able to participate in the releasing of balloons on Saturday Oct 5, 2009 but still wanted to send up our love and prayers for their precious baby, so yesterday on the 1 week anniversary, my kids and I decided that since God had blessed us with beautiful weather after almost a week of rain, that it was time to release our balloons.

We started out with 12 balloons, 4 red, 4 blue and 4 yellow.... and the kids were dressed to match (Conner in red, Carleigh in blue and then Aiden was in red,blue,yellow and white stripes). I know I know... a little much I'm sure but while they are young enough for me to dress them I'm going to use it to my advantage. I too was dressed in red but there were no pictures of me (thankfully) because if there had of been it would have probably been of my feet or the side of my head.. you know all those lovely shots a 5 year old can take while moving around.

Anyway, there were 12 balloons when I purchased them. As soon as I walked in, I made it to the hall where I thought I could turn them lose and still be able to reach them and POP.. And then there were 11....

During the tying of the tags on the individual balloons one slipped out of our hands and up to the living room ceiling it went.... and then there were 10

We got all the tags tied on to the remaing 10 balloons and they read:

IN MEMORY OF

CHASE ALLEN JACOBS

9/30/09

If you find this balloon, we ask that you say

a prayer for the Jacobs family as they grieve

the loss of their stillborn baby boy.

If you can, please send us a note to the address

on the back and let us know where you found

the balloon.

By doing this, I am hoping that the balloons reach other states and that there will be even more prayers going up for Chase and the Jacobs family and I thought it might be nice too, if we receive any feedback to send it to the girls so that they will know just how far the good Lord carried their balloons for Chase.

Once outside, the sun was so bright (which has been rare these past few days) and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful blue sky. We opted to go to the empty lot behind our house so that there wouldn't be as many power lines to deal with. Once back there, we lost yet another balloon..not sure why but we were down to 9.

The kids patiently waited while we untangled the strings and for me to say go to release them. They were so excited to send balloons up for Chase. Carleigh, my oldest had the most questions and that was to be expected being as she is 5 and understands a little bit better than the boys and she prays for baby Chase and his mommy & daddy and sisters every night when she does her prayers.

Below are the pictures from our balloon release for Chase and for the most part, they speak for themselves.

Patiently waiting for Mommy to get the balloons untangled so they can release them.

Up Up and Away

to heaven for baby Chase

We couldn't have asked for a prettier background for

Chase's balloons!

Almost out of sight

She watched for so long, she almost toppled

over backwards.

Aiden wasn't quite sure what was going on

after we released the balloons so as we all

looked up, he thought he'd go exploring in this

yard he's only seen through the fence.

Little did he know, Mommy was

watching him try to escape into the road

and ended his adventure.

I thought it might be good to try and get a picture of all 3 of the kids together after our balloon release. Not sure what I was thinking.... After many failed attempts to get the boys to sit still and smile at the same time, I was able to get this picture. Conner has a new smile and refused to smile any other way, so you take what you can get....lol

Carleigh, Aiden & Conner

Richard and I are truly blessed!

Dear Chelsea, Mark, Kendyll, Carlie, and Abby Kate:

I have searched for what I felt were the right words to send to you and you know, there just aren't any to express how sorry we are for your loss, but I do want you to know that we are praying for you all. Thank you for allowing us to be part of this journey and for allowing the Lord to keep you strong. Your faith and strength during your loss has truly inspired me to be a better christian and I know in my heart the Lord has great things in store for all of you. Chase has already touched so many lives and I am sure his story will continue to do so.

I realize that it's been years since we've seen each other and that we are hundreds of miles away but if you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

In Christian Love,

Amy

As I close this blog, I continue to ask for all of you to pray for Chelsea, Mark, Kendyll, Carlie & Abby Kate, as well as all of their family that love them dearly and are suffering right along with them.

May God bless you all,

Amy

Long overdue.....

Long overdue..... yes, it's been since March since I last blogged and it's not that I haven't had anything to say it's just that I have not had the time to say it.

Life has changed so much for us since March and it's hard to know where to begin. That being said, I think I'll start with Carleigh, our oldest and only daughter (at this time)....

Carleigh Elizabeth

Carleigh turned 5 on June 16th.... where oh where has time gone, it seems like it was only yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and now she has started school...

Kindergarten.... oh what a hard decision that was to make... do we send or do we keep her out one more year. Some say send her, she's ready, others say, she's really too young, her birthday is in June... June I thought was in the middle of the year and wouldn't be considered a late birthday when the cutoff is September 30th but apparently everyone has their opinion on this.. After many talks and praying about it and talking to other kindergarten teachers that are friends of ours, we made the decision to send her own and if we need to (which I don't think we will) we will hold her back a year.

I have decided though that there needs to be some type of little manual.. "Parents starting Kindergarten Again" that gives the parents that are just now sending their first born to school, an idea of what he/she is to know before they get there and just what they can expect the first year of school. It seems as if the schools forget that not all kids starting kindergarten have older siblings and that some of the parents haven't been inside a school since they graduated. I'm hoping through the PTA, I will be able to develop some sort of manual to provide to kindergarten parents in the future.

Carleigh's First Day of School

I just knew that when I took her to school for her first full day that I would cry when I left her and I knew that she would also be sad for having to leave mommy... HA! As you can see from the picture, she went in and started working as soon as she got there and didn't even know I left.... and strangely enough, I didn't cry either... I didn't cry the first time I put her on the bus but then 3 weeks later when we missed the bus and I took her to school and had to drop her off at the door, the tears came a flooding.. I guess they had been building up for 3 weeks and when I watched my little girl be all grown up and walk into school by herself, i just lost it. I don't think the boys knew what was going on. LOL..

Carleigh is loving school and I'm so thankful for the decision we made of sending her because I truly feel now that she would have been bored with another year of pre-school.

Speaking of Pre-school, let me move on to the boys.....

Conner Alexander Liddell

aka Buzz Lightyear (at least for today)

Conner is 3 1/2 years old and is finally starting to potty train. I've always heard that boys are harder and I definitely would agree to that. Hopefully by Halloween, he will be fully potty trained.. praying and crossing my fingers..

He is in Mrs. Teresa's class in pre-school and he loves it and there is such a difference in the way he interacts with the others this year compared to last year. He did have a bit of a hard time when Carleigh first started to school because they are really close but he has adjusted really well now.

Conner's big thing right now is his multiple identies... as of right now, he is currently Buzz Lightyear but that can change in a blink of a eye and he may be spiderman or xman and he's decided that his Auntie Chairty is going to be who ever he is with the exception he adds Girl to the end of it. so she is currently Buzz Lightyear Girl.

I don't have many pictures to share because he's hard to catch on camera and if I do catch him, 9 times out of 10, he's running away or has his head turned but as we go on I hope that I can get some more and update you with how his looks are changing as he's getting older.. It's hard to believe he'll be 4 in January. He is finally outgrowing 24 month clothes!!! I was beginning to think that Aiden (aka Bug) was going to catch up and pass him in size.

Aiden Walker Liddell

Here's Aiden.. he too is a hard one to catch on camera, it must be a boy thing!

Aiden has a had a year of firsts...

His first teeth, his first hair cut, his first trip to the beach

His first birthday!! Oh what fun that was. Being as there are so many birthdays in June, we had a combined birthday swimming party at the park and pool.

He loved his first cake!!!

He also learned to take his first steps and had his first day of school, which I think he loves more than being at home being as he smiles at us and then runs the other way when we go to pick him up.

As you can see the summer was really busy and the fall is beginning to be just as busy if not busier.

Life in the Liddell household will be busy for a long time to come, especially now that we've learned that we have baby #4 on the way!!! Carleigh and Conner are at odds as to whether they are getting a brother or sister and Carleigh just informed me that if it's another boy, she's moving to Meme's house!!!

She already has plans on what they are going to do together and what SHE'S going to name her (she just doesn't listen when I tell her she's not going to name her Gloria..haha) and it's so funny because anytime she mentions she's getting a sister and Conner is within range of her saying it, he is quick to correct her that NO she is not, he's getting a brother!

People have teased they will both get their way but unless a baby is hiding, the ultrasound only showed 1 baby!!! Plus, that would throw off my even number of kids plan, but if that's what God has in store for us, the more the merrier!!!

In closing, I am going to ask for your prayers for several things and I'll update more often, I promise.

I am asking you to pray for:

* Pray for this baby that I am carrying that he or she will be healthy and that I will have a healthy pregnancy.

* Pray for my family that they will all remain healthy and safe.

* Pray for my Nana, she hasn't been feeling well lately so please pray that she gets to feeling better and remains healthy!

*Pray for my friend Chairty as she struggles with her weight and the health problems that she has just learned she has. Pray that God gives her the strength to get through this and makes her healthy.

*Pray for the Jacobs/Teague family as they grieve the loss of their son Chase Allen Jacobs.

* Pray for the Davis family as they grieve the loss of their son Evan Davis. Pray for Shelby George as she grieves the loss of her boyfriend Evan.

*Pray for all our troops that are overseas fighting for our freedom. Please bring them all home safe and sound.

* Pray for me as I fight my depression without meds in order to keep my baby safe. Pray that God will walk me through it and that no one gets hurt in the process.

May God be with you all and keep you all healthy and safe.

Love,

Amy

New Kids on the Block

The year is 1990 and I have just experienced my first true love..... Joey McIntyre of the New Kids on the Block (aka NKOTB).... I just thought he was awesome when I was 12, 13, etc... somewhere around there.

It's January and NKOTB is coming to Nashville in February... oh I want to go so bad.... Y107 the radio station in Nashville was giving tickets away and I was always listening to the radio, trying my hardest to be that 7th caller to win my tickets to the concert! It was a Wednesday night and off to church we went.... me with a bag of smarties to share with class and a little disappointed that I couldn't stay home and listen to the radio to try and win... Into Ms. Joy's 7th/8th grade class I went with my smarties and there is this girl there that I sent down next too and we strike up a conversation, first about the smarties and then the talk turns to my true love...... Joey... and her true love Jordan and from that point on we have been unseperatable...... Her name is Shelia and she is my best friend.........

I don't know if you'd really call what Shelia and I had for the boys of NKOTB love or just pure obsession like a lot of the other 12, 13, 14 year old girls in the world at that time but Shelia and I had everything they possibly made with the guys of NKOTB on it...... not until recent with Hannah Montana have I seen any other artist(s) have so much stuff out with their name or image on it...

I had the sheets, the sleeping bag, tons of t-shirts and posters, the hats, the buttons, both big and small, the dolls, the poseable figures, the tapes (yes I said tapes) and then eventually the cds, cups, books, numerous video tapes and the list could just go on and on and on......

Now my parents wouldn't let me plaster my walls with the posters, only allowing a few, but Shelia's parents let her basically wallpaper her walls with I think every poster they ever came out with...

It was awesome, we were in love for the first time (thankfully we did didn't love the same boy) and dreamed of going to the concert together....... but the concerts would sell out before we could even get tickets so then we would spend hours reading the classifieds looking for some reasonably priced tickets and praying our parents would get us the tickets and let us go.

Well we didn't find aany reasonably priced tickets to buy so unfortunately we didnt' get to go to the February concert... but just a few short months later... they announced they were coming back to Nashville... WHOO HOO we were getting a 2nd chance to go.... We were so excited!!!

Once again though we didn't get to get tickets from ticketmaster because they sold out so quickly..... so the search began again...but this time it had a different outcome...

My daddy was able to get 2 tickets for me to go to the concert... only 1 problem.... I was 13 and she was 14 and they were not going to let us go together.... no matter how much begging pleading, fussing we did... it just wasn't happening (you that was back in a time where parents didn't just drop their kids off at that age to run around unsupervised)...

So my Aunt Gigi took me to the concert at Starwood and it was GREAT!!! And we assumed that they'd be back and the next time Shelia and I would get to go together....

But would you believe that it took 19 years for that to happen? Yes it's true, it took 19 years for us to be able to go together and we went (thanks to Shelia) this past Monday, March 16, 2009 and it was AWESOME!!! Way better than the first concert!!!! I had not heard a lot of the songs in a long time but the words came back to me just like it was yesterday... The audience was full of women around my age and when they started performing we all morphed back into 12, 13, 14 year old girls screaming for our first love!! Joey, Jordan, Donnie, Danny and Jon..

They put on an awesome concert for over 2 hours and it was well worth the wait... Now we just need to get some more tickets and a road trip needs to be planned!!!!

here are some pictures that I snagged from another friend that had even better seats than we did.

where to begin

HELLO!!!! When i decided to start blogging, i had the great idea that I would write something daily just as I would in a journal.............. and then real life happened....

Winter viruses and our household don't mix well... if it's out there, we will get it. Right after I posted my first blog, the family (minus the hubby who has the best immune system) got sick. Oh and the Liddell family can't just get one bug... oh no, we've all got to have something different.. In two weeks time, someone at some point had the following: Flu, Bronchilitis, Strep throat, ear infections and sinus infections.... After a couple of trips to the dr. and even a trip the ER for Carleigh with 105 temp, we finally got well!!!

BRING ON SPRING!!!!!

Spring time is one of my favorite times of years. I love flowers.... and I love when everything starts blooming and turning green. It truly is a reminder of how wonderful God is! Now that I work from home, I've had the pleasures to go outside and spend time with the kids while they are playing.. even tried to get some pictures, but with 3 kids.. it's almost impossible to get them to all 3 look at you and smile at the same time, but we do our best.

This past week, St. Patty's day to be exact, they all were wearing green and we went outside to play and take pictures.. I sat Aiden down in front of the yellow bells and got the best picture, big ole grin, he had on green in front of the yellow... just looked great..... I was so excited and then..... as luck would have it... the stupid camera wouldn't let me take anymore pictures and required that I reformat my card.... I did what it required and thought.. no problem, Aiden is always smiling and happy... I'll get another one possibly even better than the first one.....
This is what I got!

Ok, so obviously he wasn't liking the grass the second time around.... I figured he's probably hungry too so I made him a bottle, fed him, played with him and he was happy again.... so this time I'm thinking, I need a picture of all 3 of them together... Oh my kids love their mommy and will listen to everything I tell them to do because they know how important a good shot of the 3 of them is.... well here you go.....

After deciding that I had had enough and so had they I told them to go play... about 10 minutes later, daddy came home and helped me and they were so happy to see daddy that they finally smiled for the camera (that or they just think he's goofy looking when trying to get them to smile)....

Here are just a few pics that I was able to get... I took tons but figure you don't want to see all of them. lol...

Today the sun is shining again so I'm hoping to have even more pictures to share... They all grow up so fast, I'm thankful we have cameras to catch all the different stages in their lives/our lives.

I hope each of you are well and are enjoying the spring time just as much as we are.

Until next time....

Amy

The world of blogging......

Thanks to Ashley, I've decided to set up my on blogspot... I've been blogging for some time on my myspace page but thought that this might be easier for those that don't want to set up a myspace page, so here I am.

Can i just say that life is great!!!! It's been a long time since I've been able to say that but it truely is great!

Both Richard and I are happy. We have great jobs and our kids are wonderful!

Now for an update on everyone....

Richard...

Richard is currently working as a credit manager in Franklin for a company called Heights Finance. I really thought he would forever stay with Bestway but the job change has been a blessing. Heights Finance seems to be a great place to work and it's the first job he has had since we've been together where they really appreciate him and tell him how much they enjoy working with him and that he does a great job and I'm so glad that he has finally found a job that is good to him and that he likes.. I just wish it was here in Columbia but hey, as long as he's happy that's all that matters.. well that and as long as gas prices stay down..lol

Now on to me...

Let's see, I currently am working 2 jobs. I still work part time, two days a week at tucker and tucker in Brentwood and I'm working full time from home as a controller for a company called Pet Care Specialists, LLC. We have pet grooming salons inside WalMarts in Franklin, TN, Crossville, TN, Aurora, IL and Zion, IL. We also have a website http://www.pethealthcentersplus.com/ that sells pet products. I love working for them!

Carleigh..

Carleigh is 4 1/2... man it doesn't seem possible that she is almost 5 years old and will start school this fall. Where does time go. My sweet baby girl has already grown into a very independent little girl. She's my artsy child. Loves all kinds of art and wants to dance and act and sing and dreams of being a cheerleader, but could care less about learning her ABCs... She is so funny, she's out numbered by her 2 brothers and is already making plans to have a sister... She's a planner like her mommy. Heck she has her name picked out, Gloria, (don't ask, cause I don't know where it came from) and she plans on her and Gloria sharing a room and riding in my car with me and the boys riding in Richard's car, that she has deemed the boys car... lol..

Conner is 3 and ALL boy.. oh my, he loves to run and play and beat on everything, not to mention he loves to draw on my walls. He just told me that he's going to play baseball so we'll see. He's so small, I guess baseball would be a good choice for him. Either that or horse jockey. Right now he's really into the Disney Cars and calls the Car Car.. he has so many strange words for things that probably no one else can understand him.

Now on to Aiden and then I'd better get back to work.

Aiden will be 8 months old this week.. 8 months old already, it just doesn't seem possible. He got his first tooth this week and is crawling everywhere. He's even doing some bear crawls so I assume he'll be walking before long and boy Conner better watch out then.. teeth and mobile.. a deadly combination considering he's got a lot of paying back to do to Conner. lol.

Today it sounds like he said Da Da and Mama a couple of times when he was fussing. It's great and sad all in the same. My babies should not be growing up so fast, but I'm sure all mothers out there feel the same way.

Well that about does it for the updates tonight. I hope it makes sense since I'm trying hard not to go to sleep while writing this.

Take care and God Bless!

Love ya.

xoxo

p.s.. please bare with me while I learn how to use this thing! thx!