The Weekend Wrapup...full circle

Well, lets see what we did this weekend. Pack, pack, and more pack! It really hasn't been too bad since we never unpacked that much this year anyway. At Kim's for 6 mos. we only unpacked the 'necessities' and at the rental home we are in now, we were able to spread out a little more but still did not unpack the 'decorative' stuff or pictures, extras, etc. I guess I'm thankful for that now. Packing up has not been as overwhelming as in years past. It's really sad when you have moving boxes that have marks through them with so and so 06, then below it reads so and so 07, and then below that it now reads so and so 08. I'm hoping these boxes stay in the attic for a few years. I was trying to round up my favorite pictures from the weekend, so here they are. Walker's new PJ's read 'Dad's Team.' Never more true than right now huh? They are toooo cute. He really does look like a mini-baseball player.
On Friday, we celebrated a friend's 1st birthday party at the Y's outdoor pool. It was so fun, too bad Dad had the camera. We'd never been to this pool and they had water fountains coming up from the ground so Walker spent at least 30 minutes trying to grab the water. Too cute. I can tell he was more 'acclimated' to the water. Thanks swimming lessons (ha). On Friday, Dad traded in our maroon Camry for a maroon Tahoe. Can you believe our payments are going to be way less but way more room? For those of you who were around a few years ago, we had a maroon Tahoe a few years back and traded it in for the maroon Camry because the payments were too high. But now that people are freaking out over gas prices, you can get them for a steal of a deal. First full circle moment, see below for the next one. Our Sunday School class had a going away party for us tonight at a nearby park. It was great to see everyone, some for the last time for awhile. If it seems like we've all done this before, it's because we have...2 years ago...CLICK HERE for that post. I'm surprised at how numb I am in all of this. Usually I'm an emotional ball of tears, but I guess I'm unfortunately/ fortunately getting used to this moving stuff. But have no fear, I know the tears will come once down in MS (for good). Thank you FBCW family. There are not enough words to describe how we feel about you. For now, just know we love you dearly. Thanks for making us feel so loved. Here are a few pics from the night. This one is hilarious of Walker pressing his face against a dish. Here's a group shot. See how loved we are? What an amazing group of brothers and sisters in Christ. We are/were honored to 'do life' with you these 5 years. As today was our last Sunday at church, I did get emotional off and on when we sang the worship songs. I know that God is big and the same God that was with me today at FBCW will be with me/ us down on the coast of MS. It's so amazing to know that we all serve the same good God just in different parts of the country and of the world. We also said goodbye to a few 'favorite' nursery teachers that are angels and just love Walker. They are special ladies and we will miss the TLC we get from them week to week. (See collage below)I'll leave you with a 'full circle' moment that I found while browsing through old blog posts. Click here to read about the 'full circle' moment of when I went to Bay St. Louis (our soon to be home) to do Katrina relief work back in 2006 before moving to Alabama. Whoa! Little did I know at that time that I was helping my future hometown. And get this, out of the entire MS coast line of towns and places, guess where our 'relief headquarters were?' You are not going to believe this...Forrest's new high school and the sister school!! Coincidence?

I don't believe in them, I believe in God's sovereign plan. Until next time, the countdown is on for days left as Wacoans...9. :(

Ergo anyone?

I'm thinking that in a few, short months I'm going to need something to carry Walker in to Dad's football games. I don't mind holding him, but not for 3 hours+. He's too heavy for the Baby Bjorn, and it's only a front carrier. I have done some research and heard good things about the Ergo carrier. Do any of ya'll have one? Please let me know what you think. They say you can use them for toddlers up to 40 lbs. They are not cheap ($92) but I'm not sure how else I'm going to contain and hold little man for 3 hours every Friday night otherwise. And from the picture on the website...you can take them beach walking (yay), a hopefully new family fun activity.

Disclaimer: No that is not my husband, nor baby, nor MS beach.

Felt led to share...Child Safety 101

Earlier this week, my 4 year old niece was getting ready for bed and was getting her pajamas out of her dresser. However, she was exploring in her drawers and pulled the bottom drawer out to stand/ climb on and before my sister-n-law could turn around she heard a horrific crash. Praise our Lord, Abby jumped out of the way and was not hurt. My sister-n-law went on to say that she was home alone with her 2 children and if it would have fallen on Abby that it was so heavy she's afraid she wouldn't have been able to even lift it off of her. I shudder to think...'what if.' If you have children (any age) please take this as a wake up call to put a latch on at least your bottom drawers of any furniture that could fall over. Go a step further and get the straps that you can install in the walls to hold the furniture against the wall. Even at 8mos. old, I know that Walker could pull a drawer out, crawl into the drawer and stand up. It's never too early to baby proof. Here's an article and blog that I recommend you put as a favorite on your websites or on your Google reader. They did an article on this very topic back in April. Please take time to read it, it could save your child or a child you know and love.

Look what I get to do...

Well, I'm very excited to tell you that my friend booked us 2 seats to THIS in November!

How cool is that? I can hardly wait. I read the LPM blog and saw where this was going to take place and kinda skimmed over it, but my friend thought hmmm EJ will be living 45 mins. from New Orleans very soon...so lets do this! It's only $30.00 can you believe it? To sit in 11 Bible Study sessions with Beth Moore in an intimate setting (Monday-Friday nights) and a Saturday morning. Beth is re-taping her 'Breaking Free' series since it's a little outdated I suppose...so she chose to do it in New Orleans.

Now, onto one small detail I need to figure out is who is going to watch precious Walker during these nights while Dad is still coaching football? We will travel back and forth after each night since it's only 45 minutes away. Hmmm...hopefully I'll make some good friends between now and then. (Ha)...wish you could all join us. Can't wait to share all about it. But don't worry I'm sure this is a worthy reason to get my hair cut and nails done right? I mean it's going to be a taping that who knows how many women/ people will see over the years, and I'm sure I have a good shot at being on the tapes since they always show the women who are deep in thought, crying, or worshipping like crazy. Sign me up...oh wait...I am :) Thanks KS...it's going to be quite special I'm sure. Love me some Beth! By a wild shot in the dark, let me know if you will be going too!

A little time in MS...(last weekend)

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite pictures from our time in Mississippi this past weekend. We left Texas about 5:00pm on Thursday after work and arrived at his parents in MS about 4:00AM (whew)...now do you see why we are moving 4 hours away from them? Walker did A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Slept right on with his schedule. I know if I were a baby I would not have been that content and nice about a 10+ hour car ride. Poor thing...we made his bottles out of the boiling hot water from the coffee machine area (only 1oz. or so don't worry) at gas stations and then the remainder of the bottle with room temperature bottled water. *Just our tip on how to make one good bottle on the road while traveling. The bathroom faucet water I would say is a not so good idea. :( We changed his diapers and into his PJ's on the trunk of our car...much cleaner we thought than a yucko gas station or fast food changing table. Another :( Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip. Although I do not have video proof yet, Walker is pulling up on anything he can get his hands on....chairs, doors, moving boxes, even Bella! Now that takes talent and good balance. As I stated in my previous post, we took Walker to visit the campus of MSU for the first time. It was such a joy to have him there with us, although quite surreal to take him places that we used to be-bop around as college co-eds, ahh and now we are 'responsible adult parents.' The last pictures are from campus of Forrest's new school where he'll be coaching. Told ya'll it was 'on the water and beach.' They even have their own pier.

Enjoy the snapshots!

PS- This is a photo Forrest took that I obviously did not know he was taking. I had Walker in my lap and we were watching the people on the beach splash around in the bay. The broken bronze statue in the right side of the picture was of Jesus but Hurricane Katrina knocked it down 3 years ago. The principal said they were raising money to build another, and it should be up and in place this fall. The principal's quote was 'We need Jesus out there.'

Moving (yes, AGAIN) back to Mississippi...

Well, I guess it's hard to beat any bigger news than this right now...or anything more blog worthy right? You read right. We are moving to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. I too am still numb to it all. I guess it'll sink in once we are there for good. It's been almost exactly a year from when we moved BACK to Waco from Alabama...and now we are up and packing AGAIN. Man do I love my husband or what? :) Well, we both feel God's peace in this decision, and are excited yet scared for this new adventure. At least this summer I'm not 5-6 mos. pregnant trying to move across the country right? My husband was offered and accepted a Head Football Coaching position at a 4A high school down on the Gulf Coast of MS. It will enable me to stay home with Walker boy (yay) at least part-time. I may do little things here and there, like private cheerleading lessons/ camps, painting, and helping his high school cheerleaders...but mainly I'll get to raise and be with our precious son. Thank You Lord. I'm apprehensive about this since it's been a long time since maternity leave when he was 6 weeks old, and I know it's the hardest job I'll ever have...but I think I'm ready for the challenge and have lots of 'SAHM' friends that will help me along the way. :) We will be a lot closer to our families (always a goal for us) and get to see them more than 2-3 times a year. We'll also get to visit MSU and take Walker hopefully quite a bit throughout the year. We took him for his very first time on Saturday when we drove over for the interview. Too cute of him riding Bully!

This of course leads us to the inevitable, a new blog! :) We have decided to make the new one private since with Forrest's position in a small town, our lives will probably be public enough. So...please let me know in the comments if you'd like to be added to our private list to view the blog regularly. I think you have to have a gmail email account. So leave that for me too along with your first and last name...I know lots of Jennifers and Kellys and Lauras, etc. I almost forgot...the most important thing...a request to name our new blog. If you are creative, please leave a suggestion as a comment and we'll see what you all come up with. Who knows we may get no responses...and that's ok too. Just wanted to pick your brains! Remember to keep it generic because we hopefully will have more than one child and we'd like to keep this blog for a long time. We've learned our lesson...no childs name or town names in the title. Thanks all.

Oh, a few details you may be wondering. Forrest and Bella will probably make trek from TX to MS the second week of July. Walker and I will take our sweet time and probably drive across during the 3rd week of July making pit stops along the way to visit friends and family.

Please pray for us during this transition. I know 1 person on the coast from MSU, and for that I'm thankful. Please pray we find a home church quickly to get plugged into, since we have found that most of our best friends have come from church relationships. Please pray we find a house to move into and therefore have a place for the moving truck to unload 'our haul.' That's all I can think of for now. Last but certaintly not least...a shoutout to our 'Waco Family.' You know who you are. We love you and will miss you greatly. Who knew we'd have to say goodbye to ya'll AGAIN so soon. You are a BIG part of us. We are so grateful to our God for placing each of you in our lives...and for what a special year we had with you here this past year with the birth of Walker. We are thankful he's a Texan. :) More to come I'm sure...we'll let you know when we get the new blog up and running...probably the end of July? Did I mention I HATE packing boxes?

The Introduction to Tradition

This weekend afforded us the opportunity to visit our parents. It was a VERY LONG 10 hour drive from Texas, but Walker is Superbaby and did amazing! (More on that later) We took Walker to Starkville/ MSU for the very first time on Saturday and got him a little present. Too bad I don't have the VERY FIRST time he had one in his hand at 'The Depot Bookstore' but from his first instinct is why we got it for him. Too cute. Go Dawgs...Class of 2029! [Seems like it's forever away, but I know it will be here sooner than we want] More pictures of our weekend coming soon, until tomorrow...here's a sneak peek! [Be sure to pause my music playlist] :)

S is for Swimming & Summer

Here are 2 digi scrap pages of our time this summer (thus far) in the 'big pools' and at swim lessons. It was dad day yesterday when Forrest got to take Walker to swim lessons. I stayed dry and took some cute pictures. Enjoy the new digi pages...[remember to click on the images to enlarge to read journaling, i've got to fix the quality of the pics though...not too good right, not sure why since we have a new, high pixel camera (hmmm)]. On another note...we leave early evening today for our LONG trek to Mississippi. If you think of us tonight and all day Sunday, please pray for safe traveling, we'll be driving through the night in order to hopefully not get Walker's days and nights mixed up. In the meantime, get your splash on and have a great weekend...and be sure to leave a comment for 'the GREAT WHITE SHARK'! (HAHA...love you Daddy Forrest).

Give me a C...

Well, I dusted off the old pom poms last week and taught a private cheer camp for Forrest's high school's cheerleading squad. Me and 2 of my former Baylor cheerleaders did a 'private camp' for 4 days last week from 6-8pm after I got off work. Talk about long days and missing my precious Walker time during the night...but Dad was a sport and pitched in to help hold down the fort. But, I did enjoy it and it made me miss my former job and days at BU. They were a great group of girls to work with, and I look forward to helping them hopefully once a week during football season (if time allows) :) GO CADETS! If anyone else knows of anyone needing private, individual lessons, or private camps for their JH or HS...you know where to find me. :) I'm sure for a majority of you this brings back 'fond' memories of the good 'ole days of high school huh?

The Face...

Ok, so Forrest, Kim, Brenner, Stephanie, and I might be the only ones that think this face is funny, but we thought we'd let you be the judge. I couldn't decide which 'cut' was better, so I downloaded both for you. :) Not sure where he learned it, but he does it when we ask him to. Hilarious we think!

Walker's Swim Lesson: Day #1

Well, here we are after Day #1 of swim 'lessons.' As Jennifer stated in her blog...I will use the word 'lesson' loosely. I guess I just set my expectations way too high after talking to our friend Katie and seeing how much her son learned at his swimming 'lessons.' I'm taking off work an hour early for these next two weeks to take Walker to swim lessons...thinking he'll/ we'll learn some neat ideas and techniques to get him to enjoy the water more, etc. We get there and there's no one directing us this way or that way...I guess they just hoped we'd find the right pool out of the 3 they have. It all just seemed disorganized to say the least. And there are/were way more babies than I had imagined, and they are all quite a bit older than Walker and Mason. It was fun, please don't get me wrong and, I did get a few ideas for future alone pool time, but as I stated earlier, and I hate to be a pessimist but it just did not meet my expectations...I apologize Jennifer for getting your/our hopes up. :( Hopefully, the rest of the days will be better. If it's the same stuff each day, then I'm asking for my money back! Here are some cute pics of the boys and a video (too bad blogger formats the quality so low...it's pretty blurry after the download). Mason's dad got in the water today, while Jennifer was our photographer. :) Thanks Jennifer! Guess it's all an experience huh? Gotta try or you'll never know right? Kristy...I hope you all can join us tomorrow...don't worry you didn't miss much, I'm sure you guys can catch right up with us. (ha)

Here are a few ques that made me ask the instructor...Are we in the right class?

Instructor: Ok, now put your baby's face in the water and let them blow bubbles?

EJ thinking: Are you serious? If my 8mos. old does that he'll suck in water and choke or worse yet.

Instructor: Now put your child on the ledge and let them jump to you in the water.

EJ thinking: Do you realize our 8mos. olds don't even know how to stand up by themselves yet?

PS- Jennifer, Michael, Forrest, and I took childbirth classes together last summer since the boys were due on the same week...and this summer we are taking swimming lessons together. Too fun! My how things change in one short/LONG year. :)

That's it from the shallow end of the pool...until tomorrow...

Tagged: My Bird's Eye View from the 29 Year Old Tree...

Jenny tagged me a LONG time ago...and just now having time to join in on the fun. So here's an insight to me from the 29 year old tree. You'll have to click on the jpeg image in order to read it. Enjoy...

200th Post---HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Well, Father's Day is very special for us this year...since it's Forrest's 1st with Walker here. We had a really laid back day (that's what dad wanted). We went to SS and church and then went with two other families to lunch, came home and tried to get Walker down but he was fighting it...so we did what I like to call the 'all afternoon nap.' Where we go back and forth to his room from him standing up and crying and fighting to sleep but you can tell he's worn out...so I finally give in because his cry sounds painful in all regards. So Walker and I fell asleep on the 'foof' FINALLY (more on that later) and Dad was in the bed for a glorious 1.5 hours. We all got up, I cooked dinner (yes, can you believe it), took a family walk and then it was 'the usual bedtime routine' for little guy. We got Daddy Forrest this and this for Father's Day.

We love you...Your #1 Fans & Teammates,

Elizabeth & Walker

PS- Happy Father's Day to our dads...they are both wonderful men of God and certainly the best grandads we could ask for! :)

Puppy Play Time...

He's got an agenda of his own...

Here's a SHORT Bella & Walker video (I cut it off once I knew Walker was disinterested in Bella and headed for the trash bags box). This is proof for some of you out there that it is possible to have a 95lb. inside/outside dog and baby live in the same house and 'play together'...just be sure to take them (the dog) to obedience school while you are pregnant. :) I'm sure one day these two will be the best of buddies. Walker just smiles from ear to ear when he sees her. O if Pam at House of Paws in Athens, Alabama could see her...she'd be so proud at how well behaved our puppy is. [As always, be sure to pause my playlist when watching the video]

Where...

Yes, that's what I'm thinking. WHERE should I start on our 'Mommy & Me' trip to Memphis. Walker and I flew out Wednesday morning and returned Monday afternoon. Everything was pretty good on the 'going' part, but DEFINITELY NOT on the 'coming back' part of the trip. We did have a 'rude' stewardess on the Waco to Dallas flight. She thought my HUGE diaper bag + purse was in the aisle but it was not. And she had to get an attitude about it. Come on! Be nice to us lady! Then from Dallas to Memphis, Walker and I had the entire 3 seat row to ourselves (fabulous!). Shout out to Natalie J. for giving Walker this cute 'Go Dawgs' polo onesie. It's a 12mos. but he fits into it at barely 8 mos. Love my chunky monkey. (Which reminds me...evidently people are comfortable saying whatever is on their mind these days). I had one lady in the airport say..."Wow, look at that CHUNK!" Lady...some tact please???

Little did I know what was in store for our return trip. I'll jump ahead to that now. We hit the road at 5:00AM to catch our 6:45AM flight, sprinting with the jogging stroller through security and to the gate only to find out it's delayed (hallelujah right?) Semi-wrong! Walker, I, and about 200 lovely people all paced the Memphis terminal for 2.5 hours (YES, you read right...150 LONG minutes) of strolling back and forth and back and forth and hold and bounce and hold and bounce! (Ahhh) Next, I get to the plane door and no one is there to help me fold my jogging stroller that usually requires two hands. So I balance Walker the best I can on my hip, and do a quick release and fold. I look up and see all 3 flight attendants just looking at me. I then get so ticked, I kind of throw down the jogger and say (under my breath) don't worry I got it. Guess he heard me, because when I board the plane he says, sorry we aren't allowed to get off the plane. (Yeah, I'm sure you'll get fired for helping a young mom fold her stroller). Grrrr American Airlines! Little did I know the worst was about to come when we then boarded the plane, only to sit at the gate for another 30 minutes in an UNAIRCONDITIONED PLANE!! It gets better...we were the window seat, and 2 business men next to us. I was already sweating because I had an inch of wiggle room for an 8 mos. fidgety baby, now I have to deal with no AC and a tired, fussy, sweaty baby pulling my hair out of a ponytail and all over my face (hot and miserable at this point and closest to a nervous breakdown than I've ever been). I proceed to strip off Walker's pajama shirt and was very close to taking his pants off but did not. I then pushed the call button to get a wet paper towel...only to be announced over the speakers (turn off the call button unless it's an emergency) ok--maybe in my book it was at that moment. So later, ALL of the flight attendants come bay and bring me versions of 'a wet paper towel' (a blown up latex glove full of water and ice, and a washcloth immersed in ice cubes and water)...ok people --listen carefully next time...I said 'wet paper towel.' Like I'm really going to put ice on my baby? Anyway...then we made it to DFW Airport for another 2 hours of delay time...thank you Lord they had a 'children's area' for us to go to and crawl around (rubberized, carpeted floors and rubberized things to climb on) Heaven for a new crawler and puller-upper! How can I get one of these in our house? Then, I was thinking when we got off the plane and Walker is shirtless with pajama pants...are we country or what? Of course...unsolicited advice came our way when a lady saw him and said, you need to cover him up it's COLD in here. I was thinking, "Lady...if you only knew what we have been through today...now shut-it!" We FINALLY made it home, but I hopefully won't have to travel alone again with a baby any time soon. I will say that my son is such a trooper. He was smiling practically the entire time of traveling through 3 airports and on the road with different car seats and cribs. He's my hero! I could learn a lot from him and his flexibility and good attitude no matter what.

So enough about the traveling drama...lets see what we got into. Wednesday, Forrest's sister and her 2 kids (Caitlin & Patrick) drove from Kentucky to see us and spend the night with us at my parents farm. Thanks for coming to see us Harveys! I love these pictures on my parent's front porch and of Caitlin reading to Walker. It's in the Williams family to read (all the time). His entire family loves to read and now so do the kids. I love this picture of Cousn Caitlin reading to Walker, 'How Much Do I Love You?'

The next day, Forrest's parents came down from Mississippi to hang out and spend the night with us. If Walker was only 2.5 hours away, they were there. We had a nice visit with them. [See pictures below]. Enjoying a nice morning on the porch (isn't it beautiful?) and Gramma Sylvia but of course ...what else...reading to Walker! Thank you for coming to see us Granny & Gramma. Don't you love his belly in this picture?

The next day was Abby's 4th Birthday ...and we had a big family party in celebration of Abby turning 4 and Logan (her brother recently turning the big O-N-E). We love you Cousin Abby and Logan. The boys hopefully will be close buds since they are only about 5 mos. apart. Thanks for letting us come to your big birthday party, it made us very excited for Walker's in October. Me and the boys...was I lifting some serious weight or what? And here are the cousins being goofy...or at least us just trying to see if we could get them all to smile at the camera at the same time for the grandparents (yeah right). This is our best attempt. Two of Walker's great grandmas came to town to see him. It's hard for them to get around these days, but since we don't come that often they toughed it out and came. Abby loves her cousin, Walker, and thinks he is the cutest baby...well besides her little brother, Logan, of course. :)

Here we are in the cool playground in the airport. Thank you DFW! You were a sanity-saver for this rookie mom! Well, I guess that's our trip in journaling and pictures. Thank you Lord for keeping us safe in our going and coming back! It was a nice trip and so great to see our families, but so much going on and squeezed in...I wouldn't really call it a 'vacation.' :)

Gotta shut this puppy down and hit they hay. Another long day of work and 'after work' tomorrow. I'm teaching a private cheerleading camp to Forrest's high school cheerleading squads, along with 2 of my former BU cheerleaders. It's Monday-Thursday from 6-8pm, so I head straight from my real job to this 'after hours' job for some GOOD extra income for the month. But I sure have missed Walker during our night time bonding. Thankfully, Daddy Forrest has stepped up and picked up Walker after work, played with, and put him to bed this week. Thanks Honey.

Til next time...thanks for reading my incredibly long post. :)

Happy 8 Mos. (early) Walker!!

I know, I know...I should be packing and finishing my last minute trip things but I needed a break since I haven't done a page in what seems like forever. Since Walker and I are flying out in the morning to see my family in Tennessee...I thought I'd post his 8 mos. birthday digi page (3 days early) since on Friday we will be at my parents and they have a dial-up connection...boooo and soooo slow. (No offense Mom & Dad). Just not patient enough for that these days.

We love you Walker! We couldn't love you any more than we already do. :)

[You know what to do, click on the image to read the journaling]

Weekend Wrap-Up

Well, it was a great weekend...and now that I think back on it, we did A LOT! We had several friends over to swim and play and to walk/stroll around the neighborhood. Friday night was graduation for dad's high school so Walker man and I stayed put. Dad then chaperoned "Project Graduation" and didn't get home until 4:30AM only to turnaround to do a 'required work day' starting at 8AM on a SATURDAY!! Don't you think working all night long and into the wee hours of the morning counted as a 'work day/night?' Goodness Gracious! He's nicer about it than I might be. Here are some friends from church that came over. Aren't G's and Walker's bright blue eyes so cute? Aiden do you have blue eyes too? Saturday morning...dad was at work...and I went to a 3 hour choir rehearsal. It was pretty relaxing, I kept thinking this is kinda nice. I can't remember the last time I just sat still and sung praises to the Lord for 3 entire hours! Walker enjoyed his time in childcare at the church with the other few babies. The drama started soon after that during our break for lunch when I let another woman hold Walker and next thing I know I look over and he has a bit of a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth...."Hello!!!!!!!!!!! His mother has severe food allergies and he's only into baby food right now!" I ran over 'did the finger swipe' and she says to me 'well he didn't like it and spit it out...i guess I should have asked you first...' YOU THINK!!!??? YOU GUESS??? I was FREAKING out that it might have been a peanut butter cookie (which I am deathly allergic to and won't know if Walker is as well until he's older and gets tested) PRAISE THE LORD--it wasn't. Uhhh--I guess my job has officially begun as being an over-protectant and paranoid mom about what food he's near and how people may be careless and not think.

Well, then within the same hour we are home and resting when I see that Bella has jumped over the fence in the SHORT time I have allowed her to use the 'facilities' and gone to check on Walker, napping in his car seat (don't worry--doors open and in the garage). I'll just leave it at this and say...she's probably pregnant now with our neighbor's golden retriever. No one was happy about this, but none more than Forrest. He was ready to shoot Bella (no exaggeration).

We later had some more friends stop by to play and go walk with us. We went to MSU with his mom and dad and now they both work at Baylor. We all used to work together in a round about way before I left BU. Parallel lives I tell you! Their son was born a month before Walker, and Walker was born on his due date. :) Thanks for coming over Syler! We love hanging out with them because they are really laid back people and parents just like we are. It's nice to be around people like that. Make sure you note that the boys are playing on a MSU blanket. :) We did that since they have that special connection between the two...and who knows as Kristen mentioned "maybe they'll be roommates at State together." Wouldn't that be something? Born in Texas, in the same town, in the same hospital, within a month of each other...and college roommates at their parents' Alma Mater...it could happen! Later that night, we went to one of my FAVORITE RESTAURANTS with some of our best friends.

Sunday was special too. We had the privilege to go serve lunch as a Sunday School Class to Church Under the Bridge. For those of you who've never been to Waco, I encourage you to check out their website. Basically, in a nutshell, there are many people living in poverty in Waco, surprisingly enough. It's amazing to think that such a prestigious, private university (Baylor) is in a rock's throw of this poverty stricken area and bridge. I'm sure the tuition for a single year of learning at BU would be more than some of these folks will ever make in their entire life. Their motto statement reads, 'black, white, brown, poor or rich, educated in the streets and in the university, all worshipping the living God who makes us one.' Wow! Is that cool or what? I experienced this first hand on Sunday morning with some of my friends. We served lunch to many homeless folks. What broke my heart was to see a little boy with his dad waiting in line for food. Uhhh. I had one guy (mentally challenged) come up to me and start a conversation and then busted out in prayer. I thought that was neat and hey ...quite alright! :) Later, Walker and I chilled next door at our neighbor's pool, who graciously let us swim whenever we want to. We purchased a new raft (thanks to Katie) and he LOVED it. (This is not the exact one, but you get the idea). We got ours at HEB. (And if you are not in Texas, then you probably aren't close to an HEB or for that matter ever heard of such). We stayed IN the pool for over an hour. I also got Walker a 'rashguard' swim shirt, since it's the cool thing to have as a baby these days... so I here and very good against UV protection! Several of his buddies had one, so I figured...what a good idea since his skin is like his dad's and sooooo fair. Do you like his mohawk? Preciousness personified!
So that's our weekend wrap-up. This is a short week for us. Walker and I fly out on Wednesday for a little vacation to visit my family in Tennessee. We are so excited. Most of them have not seen Walker since Christmas!! He looked wayyyyyyy different then. We can hardly wait, but sad to leave dad behind to start teaching summer school. :( I'm a little nervous to fly alone with a baby, but several friends have reassured me that it's not too hard. We shall see! We would appreciate your prayers for traveling mercies and a great time with our family. Bless you too!