Hey... Here's a video Mike made from his first few days at Watermark. They showed it to the high school students in Sunday. Braun is the director of student ministry and most of the people in the video are on staff. Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
First Days.....
It seems like this week there were many first steps for us. Mike started his first day at Watermark on Monday. He had a great first week. He's staying in a family's pool house. They are really making him feel welcome and I know he's enjoying getting to know people. Their son who is a senior in high school at Highland Park High which is a very elite public school in Dallas. He's an awesome cross-country/track runner who is going to be running in college somewhere. Mike and the family were able to instantly connect over this subject since I made him follow the sport for so many of my college years. The boy is actually going to Duke tomorrow for a recruiting trip. Mike was able to tell them a little about Duke since we just moved from Raleigh. Anyways, I think Mike is doing great and really enjoying getting to work with a team. He has his first retreat next weekend. I know that will be a great opportunity for him to get to know the students and leaders better.
Ellie took a big first step today in learning to use the potty. I figured since we have time at my parents house we might as well work on it. She has been showing lots of signs of interest so I thought we would progress slowly. She picked out a "Diego" potty and it came with stickers etc... I knew Ellie would not be into the all day training thing and she would need a little more time. So after most meals I sit her on it while she watches something on PBS Kids. I don't know how to train her to just sit on it yet without something to distract her. At first, she wanted nothing to do with it besides just playing with it. However, she started sitting on it yesterday without her diaper. Today, she went a couple of times. She'd stand up afterward and say "all done". I've learned you have to catch her before she empties the potty on the carpet. She then gets a sticker which I think is her whole motivation! Anyways, it is a step and I think we have a while to go, but we are one step closer to only have one child in diapers.
Anna's first things this week is that she is crawling everywhere. She started crawling shortly after she turned 6 months. I remind you that Ellie did not crawl until almost 12 months. I think I have a very determined second child. She's so cute though cause she is tiny like Ellie and you wouldn't think she would be strong enough to crawl. She has also done so much better being in one place for awhile.
My big thing today was that I went to the dentist. I have gone regularly, but have not been able to have x-rays for awhile because I have either been pregnant, nursing, or had braces since 2004. I've known for awhile that I needed my wisdom teeth out. There are only three and it looks like only one is kind of bad. I have not looked forward to the whole wisdom teeth procedure. I've said many times that having a baby does not scare me near as bad as getting these teeth removed! I went to my mom's dentist and she's a really sweet young girl. She made me feel so much better and said her husband does all of their wisdom teeth extractions. She said they do it all in their clinic and that they just give you a pill that makes you very sleepy and you won't remember much! I will find out next week exactly how many they will take out and I should be able to get them out sometime before Christmas. I always dread the dentist, but today it was not to bad!
We are excited to see Mike and miss him so much. Ellie is praying for him every night and misses her crazy daddy. God has been so good to us and His mercies are truly new every morning. Have a great weekend!
Ellie took a big first step today in learning to use the potty. I figured since we have time at my parents house we might as well work on it. She has been showing lots of signs of interest so I thought we would progress slowly. She picked out a "Diego" potty and it came with stickers etc... I knew Ellie would not be into the all day training thing and she would need a little more time. So after most meals I sit her on it while she watches something on PBS Kids. I don't know how to train her to just sit on it yet without something to distract her. At first, she wanted nothing to do with it besides just playing with it. However, she started sitting on it yesterday without her diaper. Today, she went a couple of times. She'd stand up afterward and say "all done". I've learned you have to catch her before she empties the potty on the carpet. She then gets a sticker which I think is her whole motivation! Anyways, it is a step and I think we have a while to go, but we are one step closer to only have one child in diapers.
Anna's first things this week is that she is crawling everywhere. She started crawling shortly after she turned 6 months. I remind you that Ellie did not crawl until almost 12 months. I think I have a very determined second child. She's so cute though cause she is tiny like Ellie and you wouldn't think she would be strong enough to crawl. She has also done so much better being in one place for awhile.
My big thing today was that I went to the dentist. I have gone regularly, but have not been able to have x-rays for awhile because I have either been pregnant, nursing, or had braces since 2004. I've known for awhile that I needed my wisdom teeth out. There are only three and it looks like only one is kind of bad. I have not looked forward to the whole wisdom teeth procedure. I've said many times that having a baby does not scare me near as bad as getting these teeth removed! I went to my mom's dentist and she's a really sweet young girl. She made me feel so much better and said her husband does all of their wisdom teeth extractions. She said they do it all in their clinic and that they just give you a pill that makes you very sleepy and you won't remember much! I will find out next week exactly how many they will take out and I should be able to get them out sometime before Christmas. I always dread the dentist, but today it was not to bad!
We are excited to see Mike and miss him so much. Ellie is praying for him every night and misses her crazy daddy. God has been so good to us and His mercies are truly new every morning. Have a great weekend!
Monday, September 10, 2007
A Crazy Month....
Well, I have been wanting to sit down and blog with pictures of what we have been up to in the past month. However, Mike has our laptop and I can't download any of the pictures. I will try and post some soon! I hope you are all doing awesome. I know this time of year for many of you is very exciting with the start of a new school year. Even though I am not in school and just stay at home. I feel like we are somewhat getting back to a normal schedule! I have realized lately how my little Anna loves her schedule. When she gets off of it she is a different baby for sure. Well, I will try and remember all that has happened in the past month and include many of the funny "shelton" moments. Mike and I drove to GA a few weeks ago and dropped the girls off with Nana and Papa so we could fly to Dallas to try and find a house. We found many on-line and thought it was going to be really easy. Well, all of the ones we found on-line we realized once we got there were in not so good areas. We basically started our search over and probably drove our realtor crazy! It was so different in Texas than the East Coast that it was very difficult for us to get used to buying a house built in the 1960's. We saw so many with the original carpet and lovely brown paneling. I really don't have the energy or desire to remodel a house that I kept thinking there has to be one that has been updated? We looked and saw some with potential, but none that felt like home. The last night before we were to leave I went back and looked on-line. I saw one that I really liked and asked Mike if they had already looked at it. He thought so, but was not sure. The next morning our agent called and said I think we need to look at the house on St. Luke's street(cool street name huh?)! I was so excited cause I could tell from their pictures that I was going to like the inside, but the main concern would be where it was located. We got to the house and knew instantly it was the house for us! It always works out that way that it is the last house you look at huh? I think it was good that we looked at all the bad ones and were able to see how great the house would be for us!
I will not change one thing and love it so much. A young family had renovated the entire house and she had great taste! The nursery was already painted with stripes on the bottom below the chair rail and the girls bathroom has the original vintage pink tile, tub and toilet. It is in a unique neighborhood that backs up to a creek. Mike is already so excited about taking Ellie to the creek. The family that owned the house were Christians and have been so easy to work with through our agent.
We will close on the house on the 17th and move in sometime around the 24th. Our last day in Dallas, Mike had lunch with Braun the director of student ministries and they were talking about is there anyway Mike could get there earlier than the 24th to start work. I thought it was a great idea except we had to pack all of our stuff, move it, etc....
We fly back to GA on a Monday and drive back to Raleigh late on Tuesday. We decided it would be best if we could be out of our house by September 1st so we could avoid paying rent, utilities, etc..We start packing on Wednesday and Mike calls a company that has moved us before to see if they could just come and load everything onto our trailer. They say yes, but they can only do it the next day!
I was a wreck cause we had not packed anyting yet and still had to throw away so much stuff. We also would have to take care of Ellie and Anna. It was insane! Mike and I stay up really late on Wednesday and get most of it done. The movers came the next morning and loaded everything onto the trailer which was such a big help. I don't think we could have gotten it all done without them. We finish everything except the cleaning by Thursday afternoon. We clean on Friday and the moving company takes our trailer to be stored until the 24th. They will then drive our trailer to TX. It was way cheaper than a company coming to pack, load, and drive it across the country.
We had a week until Mike was supposed to start work so we decided to take one last trip to the beach. We went to Myrtle for 5 days with the girls. We had so mcuh fun. It was awesome to see Ellie enjoy the beach for the first time. Anna loves the water and just riding in her baby backpack everywhere. There are lots of pictures I will post soon from our trip. The crazy thing was we both had to drive to Myrtle cause we were going from there to GA so I can stay with my parents for a few weeks until our house closes. Mike is staying in someone's guesthouse and we didn't think it would work out to well with the kids there. Mike then left this past Friday night at 10 P.M. from Georgia with the idea he would drive a few hours then spend the night somewhere. He decided to keep going and ended up driving the whole way so he got there on Saturday morning. I am so glad I did not have to make that trip through the night. Anyways, I can't believe all this has happened in just a few short weeks and we all survived all the changes. Ellie and Anna are very thankful to be on a normal schedule! I am so thankful to God for what He is doing in our lives. We are really excited for this opportunity at Watermark and have sensed His complete control so many times in the past month. I will post pictures soon if I can figure out how to do it here. Sorry this is so long and random. Have a great day!
I will not change one thing and love it so much. A young family had renovated the entire house and she had great taste! The nursery was already painted with stripes on the bottom below the chair rail and the girls bathroom has the original vintage pink tile, tub and toilet. It is in a unique neighborhood that backs up to a creek. Mike is already so excited about taking Ellie to the creek. The family that owned the house were Christians and have been so easy to work with through our agent.
We will close on the house on the 17th and move in sometime around the 24th. Our last day in Dallas, Mike had lunch with Braun the director of student ministries and they were talking about is there anyway Mike could get there earlier than the 24th to start work. I thought it was a great idea except we had to pack all of our stuff, move it, etc....
We fly back to GA on a Monday and drive back to Raleigh late on Tuesday. We decided it would be best if we could be out of our house by September 1st so we could avoid paying rent, utilities, etc..We start packing on Wednesday and Mike calls a company that has moved us before to see if they could just come and load everything onto our trailer. They say yes, but they can only do it the next day!
I was a wreck cause we had not packed anyting yet and still had to throw away so much stuff. We also would have to take care of Ellie and Anna. It was insane! Mike and I stay up really late on Wednesday and get most of it done. The movers came the next morning and loaded everything onto the trailer which was such a big help. I don't think we could have gotten it all done without them. We finish everything except the cleaning by Thursday afternoon. We clean on Friday and the moving company takes our trailer to be stored until the 24th. They will then drive our trailer to TX. It was way cheaper than a company coming to pack, load, and drive it across the country.
We had a week until Mike was supposed to start work so we decided to take one last trip to the beach. We went to Myrtle for 5 days with the girls. We had so mcuh fun. It was awesome to see Ellie enjoy the beach for the first time. Anna loves the water and just riding in her baby backpack everywhere. There are lots of pictures I will post soon from our trip. The crazy thing was we both had to drive to Myrtle cause we were going from there to GA so I can stay with my parents for a few weeks until our house closes. Mike is staying in someone's guesthouse and we didn't think it would work out to well with the kids there. Mike then left this past Friday night at 10 P.M. from Georgia with the idea he would drive a few hours then spend the night somewhere. He decided to keep going and ended up driving the whole way so he got there on Saturday morning. I am so glad I did not have to make that trip through the night. Anyways, I can't believe all this has happened in just a few short weeks and we all survived all the changes. Ellie and Anna are very thankful to be on a normal schedule! I am so thankful to God for what He is doing in our lives. We are really excited for this opportunity at Watermark and have sensed His complete control so many times in the past month. I will post pictures soon if I can figure out how to do it here. Sorry this is so long and random. Have a great day!
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Jabez....
I know I haven't posted lately and I have so much to write. I will do this sometime soon with pictures of our new house and an update on our move! Today, we decided that we were not going to be able to take care of our dog Jabez. Mike is going to be gone on a lot of youth trips and it is becoming to much work figure out how to move him all the way to Texas. We dropped Jabez off at a local humane society that has a "no kill" policy so that made Mike feel so much better. I also promised him that in time we could adopt a nice golden retriever. Jabez was a sweet dog that Ellie was beginning to love. We know that he will go to a nice family who actually has time to spend with him. Please, pray for Mike as he grieves. Ha! I'm sure that as soon as he starts work he'll be glad he doesn't have to take care of Jabez. I'll write more soon!
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