Thursday, June 25, 2009

A Bunny named Maxi

Oh, the joys of living with Susannah and Jason. Here is just a little slice of life at their house.

"A Bunny named Maxi"
Once upon a time, there was a baby named Lizzie.  Her sister, Lils, thought Lizzie's life would be enhanced greatly if she were a bunny instead of a baby sister (maybe her motives were less pure, but we'll leave the inner workings of the 3 year old psyche for a another story).

With her new bunny ears, we felt it appropriate to name her Maxi. 
Maxi loved playing with Lils. Who wouldn't love having a big sister who could change babies into bunnies? Maxi felt so proud to have such a creative big sister.

Maxi was very content on staying a bunny as it gave her the ability to do beyond what a 1 year old human could do.

She was now proficient at playing the piano.

And she could read.

But still, her very favorite thing was to be held by Mommy.

She was a happy little bunny, but soon wished to become a little girl again.  She looked and looked for her sister to change her back, but Lils was nowhere to be found.  
However, she had the good fortune of crossing paths with a hobbit named Taylorina who also had the gift of changing bunnies back into little girls.

With a magic kiss, Taylorina caused her bunny ears to disappear right off her head, and instantly she was Baby Lizzie once more.

She was very thankful for that cute little hobbit.

And she went off on her merry way.

The End

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Bringing you up to speed


We're loving being back in Houston especially seeing that big Texas sky, living with Susannah, Jason and the girls, sharing meals with our families, seeing old friends, and eating Tex-Mex (this list is not in any sort of order because if it was,  you know Tex-Mex would be first)!

Before we got here and since we got here a lot as happened: I had surgery, Taylor graduated from seminary, I had surgery (yes, again!), I missed the last week of school to go to Houston to see more doctors, Taylor and Matt went on a 50 mile bike ride in the mountains, Taylor visited Shelley and Ben in Lexington, Taylor preached in South Carolina, we moved to Houston, the girls had a joint birthday party, Taylor preached in Houston, we landscaped, we found a possible flat, and we met with a possible future employer for while we're in Scotland - whew!

This is why I have been neglecting the blog.  

As far as my health is concerned, most of you probably already know the details, but if not, I'll spare you.  Bottom line is things are looking back to normal, but I will have an X-Ray in July to make sure, so please pray that it will show that I have healed properly and can put this all behind me.  Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for me! Other prayer requests: we would love you to pray for Taylor's job in Houston, Taylor's Hebrew translation, our visa applications - we can't do this until Taylor finishes this Hebrew translation, and this possible job opportunity in Scotland (will give more details later).

Here are some photos of what we've been up to:

Lizzie (aka Gooster) at her 1st birthday party

Mia and Gooster

Shelley, Ben, Evan, and Taylor in Lexington
Matt and Taylor after the ride
Jason, Susannah, Nathanael, me, Taylor, Mia, and Pops at graduation  
Yes, I regret wearing those shoes!
Taylor, Dr. Kelly, and Matt
We made it - Praise the Lord!

Monday, June 22, 2009

"With a garden there is hope."

Wow, I haven't been able to blog in a really long time because we have been in the process of moving. I have that selective memory thing going that deleted any remembrance of how painful and involved moving is so that I would actually go through with it again.  Otherwise, we would have set up shop in Charlotte...for life. 

It has taken a ridiculous amount of time and energy, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel; however, that light is shining on the city of Edinburgh which means more moving. Ahhhhh! At least our flat will be the size of a shoe box and won't require us to bring anything, but clothes and books. And maybe Merriweather.  

She hasn't taken to moving very well, so I may just leave her here.  We have a love/hate relationship and right now I am not so fond of her.  I'll spare you the nasty details, but it has to do with needing to administer Pepcid AC on a regular basis. Can we say high maintenance? Actually, my saint of a mother-in-law is taking care of her for me, so I guess I can't complain too much.
For Fathers' Day/Mothers' Day, Taylor and I helped my fam landscape their yard.  My dad is chomping at the bit to see the pictures, so I don't have time to think through a clever blog post. I had this grand plan of writing a tribute to each of the fathers in my life (Taylor, Dad, Pops, Grandpa Bob, Papa, and Paw Paw), but that is a lot of dads, and our family is ready to kill us if we don't get our stuff out of their usable living spaces, so I mustn't tarry. These photos and captions are to explain what we did to the yard for my dad, so don't expect anything riveting unless gardening is your thing.


We finished the stone walkway and planted Mexican Heather on either side of the tree. It's hard to see because of the lighting.  Taylor says it will grow up to about 18 inches.  This was Mom and Kaitlyn's favorite plant.
In the main beds, we planted vincas, and on the far right are the agapanthus which will get bigger and bloom though I know not when. We lined the back of the monkey  grass with stones which will help some with drainage and should take the brunt of the rain from the roofline. The edge of the roofline falls right over the monkey grass, so the flowers should be safe.
In this planter, Kaitlyn planted a foxtail fern, vincas, and some potato ivy which will get huge and spill over the sides.
It's hard to see in this photo, but there are foxtail ferns in the two planters by the benches as well as the inside of both of the front beds.

Hope you like it Dad!  We missed seeing you on Fathers' Day. Love you!