We have Paint!

Well - the past month has been full of disheaval in our house. Matt was DETERMINED to finish the paint in the soon to be nursery this month because he had a couple of weekends off. We decided a while ago that we thought it would be fun to do stripes. We didn't necessarily agree on what they would look like - but we finally got to a compromise. We started by painting the entire nursery cream color (candle wax by Behr to be exact). Here are a few shots of that process...

This is a before shot showing our original paint color and the white ceilings which I'm thrilled are now cream!

Per Matt - every painter needs beer!

I'm documenting my help here which was only the tape! Matt didn't let me in on the cream color painting, by the time we got to the stripes I was a participant!

Elle is not sure about this...she thought the tan paint was fine! She is not a fan of change...uh oh...

I love this color!

By the end of the night - the painter had enough to drink!!!!

Here's a shots of my new cream room! Oh - and we got a fan. I was not "for" this but Matt talked me into it b/c this room gets so warm in the summer time. I'm a fan of the fan now!

Ok, now for the fun part...I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves...this wasn't a fun process at first - but after we figured out the best way to tape off our sections it moved pretty quickly.

Elle is still not sure this is a good idea!

I told Matt that if every painter needs a beer...and he's recruiting me...then he had to get me some non-alcoholic! :) It wasn't a good as the real thing but its worth it for baby girl!

So we were both VERY nervous to take the first piece of tape off...

But overall pretty happy w/ the outcome! Let me know what you think!

Was it a Full Moon?

WOW! What an awesome weekend! We welcomed two new friends to this world!

Baby # 1 -

Ethan Walker Smith was born Sunday morning at 8:30 ish to Kate and Donnie Smith. I don't have any pictures of Ethan yet b/c he's in training camp right now in the NICU. He's just got to get his breathing a little more regulated then he'll be coming home to Kate and Donnie. He was a little early (abt 3 weeks) so this was a nice surprise this weekend!

We got to spend some time w/ the Smith's last night - it was a lot of fun to hear the story about them watching football then all of a sudden..."um, Donnie...we need to go to the hospital!" So funny...anyway, we'll post some pics of Ethan as soon as we get to!

Baby #2 -



Allan Jefferson McDonald, the um...maybe 4th?? Not sure...

was born at 4:04 AM on Sunday as well! Here are some pics of baby, friends, and mom - Kerry. Congrats to Kerry and Jeff - they had a long night of labor but got through it beautifully and Allan is doing very well. He was also a few weeks early so this was another very fun surprise this weekend! I can't wait to watch these young men grow up in the Lord - congrats to everyone!!!!

beautiful mom and baby!

Jenny and Allan

Oh, and baby Spann is offically a GIRL now - no guessing anymore! Thank goodness she cooperated this morning!

Utter Confusion...

So...isn't it typical that I would put a count down on my blog and tell everyone that Sept 16th we'd know what baby Spann is...then on THE day the baby does not cooperate!!!!

I was NOT expecting this! Fortunately, we can say with "somewhat certainty" that it is a

GIRL!

We reserve the right to change the sex of our child when I go back to on Monday for ultrasound #3. That's right...#3...so, yesterday was fun, but somewhat frustrating because baby girl Spann was sound asleep! She was totally folded in a pretzel and snoozing like her daddy. I walked around, went to the bathroom, rolled over on my side...even took a break after 45 minutes to go to my DR apt and came back...nothing. And yes, this was after downing a Mr. Pibb before going in.

We did get a pretty good shot between the legs, but it wasn't the perfect shot...so we are saying, "maybe a girl" until Monday. I am hopeful that she will cooperate then!

Good news is that the heartbeat sounded great, what measurements she got looked perfect, and we had about 45 minutes of watching our child sleep! Oh, and I get to go back Monday - that is good too.

Here's a picture from our visit...Matt is going to kill me b/c he doesn't even know that I took this picture...guess he'll find out if he looks at the blog!!!! He was catching a snooze himself before we were called back...

Maybe I should have known what was lying ahead for me...this was foreshadowing!

Elle Needs Some Help...

So far she has wanted a baby brother every time we've played this game but tonight I think she got confused...can you help her?

Vote in the poll to the right until Sept 16!

OMG this makes me laugh

I just love my sister...can't wait to see you this weekend!

Back to words...and a lot of them...

My words on this blog have been absent as of late but there are so many unspoken/unwritten words in my head. Life has been so unpredictable lately. Fortunately, I still have a job and with some added responsibility it is proving to be a busy and hectic job...but like I said...fortunately. Matt's been loving the rotation he just switched to so its been really nice to see him enjoy surgery and what he does every day.

Here's an email that I have been wanting to send out but I just can't and its because my words can't do this situation justice...so I'm just going to post it and hope someone reads it and hope lives are changed like mine has been....I wrote this last weekend (Aug 20ish).




Hi friends -

This email is almost a week overdue as I really hoped to get it out on Wednesday morning after my return from Nashville. The last two weeks were extremely hard and just kind of confusing regarding Josiah's death. Josiah Berger was in a car accident on Tuesday night August 11th on the way to meet some friends at Sonic before moving into UT the next day. His jeep flipped and hit a tree and he was quickly taken to Vanderbilt's neuro ICU unit where he would spend the next three days.


The next day Vanderbilt was so flooded with visitors for the Berger family that they had to usher everyone to a conference room where most of our church (TN church) assembled to pray, worship, and beg the Lord to spare Josiah's life. People all over the world were petitioning the Lord for a miracle because the doctors ruled him as medically dead. On Friday August 14th (his 19th birthday) Josiah went to be with the Lord forever and immediately was a miracle for five lives who were waiting for organ donations. The Bergers were told that these people were about to die also and Josiah was their miracle. His body was also given to 77 other patients and aided in their recovery in the hospital.

On Tuesday August 18th there was a memorial service to celebrate Josiah's life at Grace Chapel in Leipers Fork, TN. There were over 2,000 people gathered to celebrate his life in the auditorium at church, another 1,000 in the fellowship hall, and there were said to be over 4,500 logged in online to watch the service. Two of Josiah's friends spoke about their friendship with Josiah and what he was like as a teenager, then his youth minister spoke and then his parents.


His best friend Will talked about how he had moved to Nashville in middle school and didn't know anyone. Josiah became his best friend and they had so many memories together. He laughed and cried and shared memories of his friend. His greatest memory was Josiah's life lived for Christ.


His father Steve spoke about his life and about how much we had prayed for a miracle. "We prayed for the healing of Josiah to be our miracle but instead we were required to be the miracle for other families." It was unbelievable to hear Steve talk about his son and talk to the hundreds of high school students who came to honor Josiah plus the youth group. "I am not a preacher right now, I'm a Dad...and I want you to know that Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life." I believe his mother said it best, "Don't let Josiah's death be in vain - GO and LIVE for Christ as he did."

This experience has taught me to pray in times of need for everyone who asks you - pray expecting a miracle and know that the miracle GOD intends will happen - not necessarily the one I intend. This is also a reminder to live every life with JESUS as your source for everything, not things or people on this Earth. Josiah's life was an amazingly well led life and so many have benefited from it - I don't know why we don't get to enjoy him here on earth a little longer but I know 5 families who get to enjoy their family members because of Josiah. Thanks for reading ~ Ashley


Here's a great article and video in the Tennessean that is a quick read and a great video!


http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090821/COUNTY090101/908210320/Faith+is+father+s+refuge+when+death+takes+his+son


There's a few words for ya!

Wordless Wednesday (I'll have words again soon)