"Updated Pictures"

Elijah Brooks - 21 months!


Lovin' that wheat thin!






Proudly sitting on "his" new stool to help mommy in the kitchen




I cannot bear to trim those sweet curls off the back of his hair - it only curls when he is hot!

"Anniversary Get-Away"

For those of you who have been keeping up with the string of posts about summer illnesses, summer mission trips, over-extended pastor/husband/daddy, and exhausted mommy, this post might make alittle more sense to you than those of you who are just tuning in. To be honest, I am very careful about what I write on this blog in terms of my own feelings and emotions about various things. I think there is a fine line between vulnerability and authenticity, and writing in the heat of an emotional moment. I am quite calculated about my own words most of the time - but especially on a public blog. This blog is primarily a scrapbook of sorts of our family, and is not meant to be my public journal of thoughts. I have 16 journals of "thoughts" that I started in middle school and I continued up until the birth of Elijah Brooks. When he was born, my time to sit down and write was limited for obvious reasons. However, I still like to "journal" about some things on my blog.

I am continuing to learn the fine art of silence; the fine art of thinking before you speak, and taking time to "find the coolest spot in the heat" when feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. There always are "cool spots" to be found, but you have to look for them. Our lives are not perfect by any means and our child is not always smiling, contrary to most of the pictures I post. We do not always have those "warm and fuzzy" feelings towards each other and we are not always even nice to each other. We are simply 3 sinful people living under one roof, relying on the grace of Jesus to love each other as Christ loves us. I am also learning that when the pressures of life threaten to overwhelm and undo us, at the end of the day we still have our family and we still have each other's unconditional love and grace. We pray daily for God's protection of this beautiful life that we live. Satan would love nothing more than to destroy a pastor's family - I believe that with all of my heart. After the wild summer we have had, it was becoming more and more clear to me and Jay, that somehow we were getting pushed to the side (maybe even the back), as we were so busy "doing ministry". We have both been involved in so many wonderful things this summer, but it has been an all consuming summer for sure. We were in dire need of some down time. We needed to just be "Erin and Jay" for a few days and nothing else. We needed to talk - I mean, really talk. We needed to communicate and to be communicated to. We just needed to exist in the same place, at the same time, and to breathe each other's air for a few days. We have missed each other so much, and our weekend away made us realize that even more.

Thanks to my AMAZING sister and her awesome hubby, Jay and I were sent away for the weekend to New Orleans to celebrate:

1. His graduation from Seminary

2. Our 8 year anniversary

3. A weekend to simply exist together for a few days with no schedule and no agenda

I think those are 3 pretty awesome things to celebrate!

Like the rest of our summer, our trip started out alittle uncertain and stressful. Jay had already driven 30 hours with one of his best friends out to Utah to help his friend and his family get settled in their new place of ministry...., ministering to the Mormon community in Salt Lake City. His friend is an Assistant Pastor at a PCA church there and will be trying to reach the Mormons with the Gospel. Jay had a flight scheduled on Wednesday (after 30 hours of driving mind you). Upon arriving at the airport already exhausted, he found out that his flight had been delayed by about 7 hours meaning he was obviously going to miss his connecting flights to get back home. We were scheduled to drive together to New Orleans Thursday morning. After praying all afternoon that he could get on another flight, it became apparent that the furthest he was going to get for the night was Dallas. Obviously, TX is a long way from AL. I could already see our wonderful weekend was probably not going to happen afterall and he wouldn't have another break in his schedule until the beginning of next year! I really did begin to think that Satan was surely at work, trying to destroy what we so desperately needed. Jay called me at 10:00 Wednesday night from Dallas and said that he could get a flight out the next morning straight to New Orleans, but it would mean that I would have to drive to a strange state, in a strange city, and pick him up at a strange airport...., ALONE! Not to mention, I would need to pack my bag, his bag, and EB's bags that night before bed. Needless to say, I was alittle overwhelmed and quite unsure about the whole thing. But when you haven't seen your husband in a really long time, desperate times call for desperate measures. So, I stayed up WAY late packing and was on road by 7:30am the next morning after having dropped Elijah Brooks off at my parents house. This was also the first time we have left him for more than a day, so I was extremely anxious about that too. However, I needed a weekend to just be "Erin, Jay's wife", and I knew I did. After driving about 5 hours, 3 of which was in complete silence (which was incredibly therapeutic), I arrived safely at the New Orleans Airport . I still say it was worth every bit of stress just to see Jay's face beaming when I pulled up. He was beaming with pride that I had done it - without having a panic attack! I have driven on so many interstates alone since college, but this was uncharted territory for me. I was quite proud of myself though. I am just so thankful that I didn't let my fear, insecurity, or stress deter me from our special weekend. Jay was utterly exhausted by the time I arrived, having driven 30 hours in the past 3 days and then being stranded in an airport for 7+ hours, arriving at a hotel at midnight, and waking up at 5:30am to catch an early morning flight, then waiting in an airport again for 4 hours while his wife drove to pick him up. As soon as we arrived to our hotel, we both crashed and took a nap! After an hour "power nap", we were ready to hit the city. As I said earlier, we had absolutely no agenda and no schedule for 2 whole days and it was amazing. We slept until 9:30 each morning (I know, I know, you are drooling), but most of you probably get to sleep until at least 6:30 each morning. Not us - our child is an early riser at the lovely hour of 5:00... 5:30 if we are lucky, each morning. So, I think we were due for alittle "sleep in". We enjoyed a leisurely brunch each morning around 10:30, complete with live jazz music everywhere we ate. We walked around the French Quarter window shopping each day, took a carriage tour of the city, saw a great IMAX film on Hurricane Katrina, ate WAAAAY to much delicious food, enjoyed more live jazz each evening after dinner, ate beignets and drank cafe au lait's at the famous, "Cafe Du Monde", found ourselves on Bourbon Street (quite by accident), got caught in the biggest downpour we have ever been in on foot and walked back to our hotel barefoot and soaking wet (laughing the whole way), enjoyed listening to the street musicians on every corner, and observed some of the most interesting people we have ever seen!

It was a MUCH NEEDED get-away for us, and we both feel recharged. We missed our sweet boy more than words can say and thought about him at every hour of the day and wondered what he was doing. But, the word on the street is that he did not miss us at all! That makes me very happy - no mommy wants to think that her baby is miserable.

A huge THANK YOU to Elliot and Chris, who made this possible for us, and another huge THANK YOU to Bebe and E-Daddy who loved on our boy for 2 1/2 days. I think you two need a vacation now!

And of course, another huge THANK YOU to my amazing husband of 8 years. The stresses of the day can only threaten to overtake us - they CANNOT win. I love you with all that is in me.

Eating a leisurely brunch at the "Court of Two Sisters" restaurant (courtyard)

This jazz trio was literally right in front of our table. I didn't want to leave! 

Street musicians - authentic New Orleans style jazz at it's best. This was a family, and the children were dancing all around them. I guess the kids just hang out with their parents all day long while they try to make some money. 

BOURBON STREET!  If you go to New Orleans, you at least have to say you walked down Bourbon Street. We walked down it once, and that was enough! Probably should have walked with our eyes closed. 

Another local favorite, and a must see if you go to New Orleans.  The famous, "Cafe Du Monde", open 24 hours aday for Beignets and cafe au laits. 

A very relaxed Erin! Just hanging out - nowhere to be! 

Jay hanging out in the French Market 

Our hotel - the Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria.  So beautiful. Classy and elegant. 

Jay enjoying his beignets and WATER!  Come on Jay - at least try the coffee! 

Some nice guy at the table next to us offered to take our picture together. That's the one bad thing about not having anyone else with you to take pictures. 

And here we are, soaking wet...., from head to toe.  We set the camera on a timer to get this picture. We had been out to a wonderful dinner, eaten ourselves sick, hung out at Cafe Du Monde, and were on our way back to hear some live jazz before going back to our hotel. All of a sudden out of nowhere, it started pouring rain. I was sure that we were about to get struck dead by lightening. I have never had it be so close to me before. Everyone on the street just started running and screaming - seriously like a scene from a movie. The drunks and druggies were even taking cover. We "hid out" in a hotel lobby for a few minutes, but were already soaking wet so we decided to just make a run for it (well, a walk for it)!   I couldn't run anyway and Jay kept slipping in his shoes because they didn't have much tread on them. Since we were already soaking wet, we just took off our shoes and walked a few more blocks to our hotel in the storm. We were laughing by the time we got back to the hotel and people were laughing at us as we walked into our very elegant hotel looking like drowned rats with no shoes on!  Good memory though! 

"How you know that you are getting......"

OLD????

When you go to the orthopedist for recurring knee pain (2 surgeries in 5 years), and the diagnosis is....., ARTHRITIS of the knee at age 32 that will not get any better.

That's how.

I am thanking God this day that I do not have cancer or some other life-threatening illness at age 32, because many people do. So today in all of my frustration, I am choosing joy. Joy is a choice you know. While circumstances may never change, your heart can change in the midst of circumstances. I hope that you too, choose joy today no matter what you are facing. Over the past several months, I have been more and more aware that our bodies are simply "shells" that more often than not, cracked and broken, sometimes beyond repair. I have seen, and even experienced, so much physical pain around me lately - both within my own body and the bodies of my family members. It has given me a much needed "jolt" out of the all too comfortable world that I reside. God knows when I get too comfortable, and He is always gracious (and I truly do believe that it is HIS grace to even allow me to see suffering), to bring me back to a right perspective in Him. As a believer, I know that this is not my home. This is not all there is, and that brings me much joy, hope, and comfort in the midst of suffering. I was given the privilege of singing at a funeral this past week, and was yet again reminded of the brevity of this life and also the eternity of the next life. I am watching my own grandmother's body grow weaker and more frail almost daily it seems, and that too brings me back to a Heavenly perspective. How defeated we would be if we did not have hope beyond this life - that there truly is a place where there are no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering? I cling to that hope, the promise that is mine as a believer, that I will see Jesus one day and will be free to worship Him as He intended....., free from SIN, and free from the effects of sin which brings so much pain!

This post went a different direction than I intended, but I feel more hopeful than when I initially started writing. I hope you do too.

Blessings for a great day - maybe not a pain free day, but a great day!