I love a good egg.

Anybody else ready for 1/1/11?

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas from my family to yours...

my Nana...

Those of you who are also my facebook friends have probably seen my recent posts about my sweet Nana being sick. For those of you who do NOT follow me on FB, I want to update you on her and ask that you pray for her.

Nana is 84 years old, and has always had the mind and body of someone much younger. I've never really even known her to be sick (other than an occasional cold!). We've pretty much always lived in the same town, so I've always been extra close to her.

On December 9, she underwent surgery, and we all just thought she would have surgery, spend a couple of days in the hospital, come home, recover, and be back to "Nana"! Unfortunately, that was not the case.

After her surgery, it was quite apparent that her body was not responding well at all. (I'm no doctor, so don't expect me to get into specifics here!). Her kidneys weren't functioning properly, and there were complications with her procedure. She was placed in ICU where she stayed for at least a week. Doctors informed my family that there was a leak in her colon, and explained to my family that if things continued the way they were, she wouldn't make it much longer. We were completely devastated at this point (about a week and a half ago). The fantastic surgeon who operated on Nana told us (specifically my dad and his brother, Bobby) that they also had the option of allowing them to operate on sweet Nana AGAIN to correct the problem with her colon, but she gave us about a 20% chance that Nana would actually make it through surgery. Her body had already endured so much and the doctor just wasn't sure she was strong enough to handle it. After much prayer, my dad and uncle mutually agreed that they wanted to make sure they did everything they could to allow their sweet mother to live a little longer, so they gave the doctor permission to perform surgery on her. There was no time to waste, so the surgery was done immediately. My family spent that entire afternoon (quite possibly one of the worst days of my life!) just waiting for the surgery to end and for the doctor to come tell us whether or not Nana had even survived! After what seemed like years, the doctor came in the waiting room and told us that indeed, Nana had made it, but that obviously things were going to be critical for a while. (My dad now refers to this amazing doctor as his "hero"). This was about 10 days ago and she's obviously still in ICU and was immediately placed on the ventilator. Since then, there has been a slight improvement in her kidney funtion, but she's also developed pneumonia which has been a major set back in her recovery process. She's been sedated since immediately after her surgery, so it's been about a week and half since I've seen those pretty blue eyes of hers. At this point, she's still in critical condition and we understand that she's most definitely not out of the woods, but we are still hopeful that she's going to pull through this. She is most definitely one of the strongest and most amazing women I've ever known, and I KNOW that those of you who know her would agree with me! Christmas was so different without her there this year, but my family was so glad that we had each other!

I'm so glad to be able to visit her daily and I'm looking forward to the day when I walk in her hospital room to find her wide-eyed and ready to talk!

Please add my Nana and my family to your prayer list. Please pray for peace and comfort to Nana. The last thing I want is for her to be in any kind of pain. If God is ready for her to be with Him soon, please pray that our family will find comfort in knowing that this woman has lived an amazing life and that she's going to live happily ever in heaven with my Dada!

If you know Nana, I would LOVE for you to share something you love about her, a memory you have of her, etc. It would make her day for me to read these comments to her one day!

I hope you and your families had the merriest Christmas this year! PLEASE allow me to encourage you not to take advantage of your loved ones. Just a month ago, Nana was going to Bible study, shopping, attending Henry's birthday party, etc. and now she's in ICU on life support. Things can change in the blink of an eye.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

LT

Merry Christmas!!!!

birthday girl!

My dear friend Mandy turns the big 3-0 today!!

I thought it was only appropriate for me to post this picture today, because it gives me a chance to not only give her a birthday shout out, but also to brag on her a little bit.

See--she's the theatre director at Starkville High School (and she's DANG GOOD AT IT), and was recently named top director at a recent high school festival competition. She's one of my most talented friends. Love this girl.Happy birthday dear sweet friend of mine!

pure perfection.

Wordless Wednesday (featuring Jones Skaggs...)

The meaning of Christmas!

Isn't this the perfect little reminder?

You must also notice that cute little Linus lets go of his blanket when he says "Fear not!" I love that!

cowboy hats, fireplaces, and feathers.

I had one of those weekends that I just wanted to freeze. I wanted time to stand still, and I didn't want it to end.

Claire and I flew down to Alpine, TX to see sweet Meredith (for the first time in a YEAR!) and to meet baby Madeleine for the first time. The trip was entirely too quick, but our time together was absolutely perfect.

I'll spare sharing every single detail of our glorious trip, but I do want to share several of the pictures from the weekend.

We flew into Midland, TX, which is a couple of hours away from Mere's house. We rented a car and took complete advantage of the 80 mph speed limit (not even kidding!). Here's what our entire drive looked like:

I spent the ride as the chauffeur:

...while Claire took control of the country radio stations and snacked on an entire bag of these: (sick)

When we finally got there, we got to see this adorable little face...

...(who just so happens to be the proud owner of these adorable things):

Meredith had to go back to work for a couple of hours, so Claire and I decided to nap (we'd been awake since 4 am for heaven's sake!).

When Meredith got home, we all pretty much decided to stay in, order pizza, and relax by the fire. Now, go ahead and stop assuming that it took a man to build a fire for us.

No way.

Meredith's dear husband was out of town, so it was up to the 3 of us to build a fire. And we did just that. I even took pictures to document our masterpiece! Go ahead and grab a pen and paper in case you'd like to learn how to build your very own fire! ;)

1. First, you're going to need a fireplace.2. Next grab some firewood...

and: 3. Place the firewood strategically in the fireplace and use a starter block or 2...

4. Next, light a match, toss it into the fire...5. and VIOLA!

Isn't it a beauty? We were so proud.

We went to a fabulous Christmas party Saturday night. It was so fun to meet some of Meredith's friends! We had a blast.

Here are some pictures from our fun night: (And no...Madeleine did not go with us! Some of these were taken before we left!)

Now, do you sorta, kinda, understand why we didn't want to come back?

today is the birthday of a very special woman!!

Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet and absolutely ADORABLE Nana! Unfortunately, she's spending her birthday in the ICU at the hospital today. We're hoping that she'll get to move to a regular room today, as it seems like she's making progress after a surgical procedure she had last week. Please pray for this sweet lady as she continues to recover!

I'm hoping to have a real birthday celebration with her SOON!

Thomas Brodie Simmonds

My dear friend Heather is a mommy!

Thomas Brodie Simmonds

December 10, 2010

3:50 pm

6 lbs 7oz

19"

I'm in love already!!

4 years?! REALLY?

Happy birthday to the ol' blog! Missed the first 4 years? Click here to start from the beginning (but know that it's going to take a long time to get caught up!). I'd also love to know if you're reading and following! Leave a comment and/or become one of my "followers" by clicking the "follow" button on the right!

Oh, happy day!