Bailey

If you haven't already done so, check out Bailey's blog. She has seen me at the computer one too many times and decided that she also needed a blog. She is home today with pink eye so I let her compose a new post. I don't edit what she types and it's pretty interesting what she comes up with! http://www.baileywithatwist.blogspot.com/

No news on the house yet. We have been told it might take a little while because it has to go through GMAC relocation people. Lots of red tape!

We are expecting Olivia's grave marker to arrive and be set sometime this week. Mixed emotions with that. Glad that it will be here before we move. Tough to see your baby's name on a gravestone. It's just not right.

Yikes!

Greg and I have decided to put a contract on a house in Florida.

Do you want to hear the crazy part? I've never even been to Jacksonville, Florida!

I think I might throw up.

Baby Got Book (OFFICIAL)

I was adding some music to my playlist and thought of this song. So funny! Enjoy

Mr. Clean, WHERE ARE YOU?

The realtors are coming! The realtors are coming! Yikes!

I have been so mad at myself the past several weeks. I do not understand why I have not made my house the way I wanted it to be while I was actually going to be here. Why do we wait to paint, landscape, declutter, when it is only going to benefit others? I vow not to live this way when we get to Florida. No more waiting around to get stuff done. Remind me that I said that once we are there!

I told Greg this morning that we may have to move to LA instead of Florida because I am sure HGTV will want to feature me in a show due to my handywoman/house staging abilities! I have to say that our closet has never looked so good.

Here's my problem: how do we live here and keep it this clean?

I'm thinking we may have to move into a hotel for a while.

I'm not joking!

True Friends!

Who would you let see what was behind your refrigerator? Behind your washer and dryer? Underneath your THREE toilet bowls?

Only your truest friends! Thank you Jason and John (and Amy and Stephanie for sharing them!)

My other helpers! (Yes, Beckham runs around in his diapers all the time...what can I say? We're country folk!)

Much better!

Also, Lindsey Eason-I need to enter your private blog world!! (gsbbking@sbcglobal.net)

Holly-I totally remember you from that Spring Break! I'm so glad to hear from you! Send me pictures of your family!!! I have some funny pictures to post of all of us from that trip but they are packed up. I'll post them as soon as they are unpacked.

I love this family!

I know that many of you have already been following the story of Nate, Tricia and little Gwyneth Rose. But for those of you who haven't been...Tricia has cystic fibrosis and has just gotten a double lung transplant. Their baby is now up to almost 3 lbs. after having been born at 24 weeks. This family has become part of my daily blog reading and part of my daily prayers.

Check out their story at http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/. It will be well worth your time!

We serve a mighty God!

My two reasons to get up every morning...

Bailey

Beckham (with his trademark bit of fuzz on his lip!)

Why?

I've felt very sad about leaving Little Rock. Sad for many, many reasons. At the top of the list is that we are leaving Olivia here. I just finished another Beth Moore study (A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place). The last week's study included this thought from a mother who had been told not to visit the grave of her child. This was her response:

I knew he wasn't there anymore. I knew that better than anyone. I also know that his little soul and spirit are not in that grave. I know that! But the body that came from my own, that I held and kissed, the hair I washed and brushed, the face I cherished, and the frame I rocked were in there. And I loved him!

I guess that's why I needed to get a tattoo. It's not my first one. It's actually my third(my poor parents!). With my other two tattoos I was careful to get them in places that would never show. This tattoo was different. I needed to be able to see it. I wanted the words facing me, not outward for others to easily read. When I put my hand on my chest, Olivia's name is on my heart. I needed her traced into my skin. Forever a part of me.

Some of you may have followed the story of Boothe Farley. Her husband got a tattoo of their daughter's name. In Boothe's blog she wrote something that I just really loved and haven't been able to forget about. She said that "the last moment that he spends connected to that tattoo will be the first moment that he spends with Copeland (their daughter who died from Trisomy 18)."

Could I have chosen another way to memorialize her? Of course. But this tattoo symbolizes my personal journey. It symbolizes bravery, pain, sadness, joy, and the permanent place that Olivia will always have in my soul. Does it look ghetto? Probably. But it has given me a sense of peace that I cannot explain.

My Latest Tattoo

How fun to have mom come with me to the tattoo parlor! This is the before picture.


Me, Jud and Jud's wife. I don't think it's any coincidence that their daughter's name is Olivia. Now we all have matching tattoos only mine is smaller by about 10 inches and it's not on my neck!


The finished product! Still a little red...


Outside 7th Street Tattoo with Amy and Vera


Mom and Amy celebrate my new ink with some chocolate and Diet Coke!

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep - NBC's Today Show - 2008-03-05

This is a clip about the organization we used for Olivia. Without it, so many of the precious details of our time with Olivia would have faded. I thought it was interesting that one of the babies they talked about was named Olivia and the photographer's son was born and passed away on the same day as Olivia (5 years earlier). :)

Amy Bell www.studiobellaphotos.com and Christy Hollinghead www.christyhollingsheadphotography are some of the most brave and compassionate people that I have ever met. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being with us that day.

Coming soon...a tribute to Olivia...more details on that later.