Guess Who's Back??!!!

Oh yeah - Jack's back. It was last year at about this time that I was a pathetic loser and watched seasons 1-5 of "24"...that's 120 hours (hours, people) of Jack Bauer...and the REAL pathetic part is that I accomplished this amazing feat in a matter of about 1.5 months.

So SUPER EXCITED for the start of a new season tonight - especially after waiting, oh so patiently, for an entire YEAR for this return. And I think they wrote the new season for me - Africa, refugee camps, civil war, fighting international injustice???? Yeah, Jack's back and I'm excited.

In other news, Jason's parents came down for the weekend to see Lincoln and watch some Panther basketball. It was fun having them visit and Jason's mother gave us great gift of sleep last night!! She stayed up with Lincoln and we slept a whole entire 6 hours STRAIGHT. SOOO exciting! Especially since I had to get up super early to sing in church. What a blessing!!!!

Lincoln's doing good. He has been having a real gassy tummy lately...I think it's because we've been introducing a bottle a day...maybe?? I think it's getting better though cause he is sleeping right now for (what seems like at least) the first time since Thursday. :)

My Husband...part 2

So last night was the start of Panther Basketball 2008-2009...so naturally it brought back memories of last year which literally was a Cinderella story and such an amazing accomplishment. To back up, for those of you who don't know, the Panther's were State Champs and definitely the underdogs who had NUMEROUS upsets throughout the season! I give lots of credit to the amazing head coach and his coaching staff. Hey - I can do that cause I write this blog - not Jason :) Jason and that brain of his seriously AMAZED me last season. The guy's brilliant when it comes to basketball...seriously. Again, I know I'm his wife, but a state championship in your second year as head coach doesn't lie!!
So here we go, starting a new season, losing a chunk of last year's team - and last night we played Springdale which has some pretty good talent!! Throughout the game they were beating us, sometimes as much as 15 points. We didn't have the lead until the last couple of minutes, and were truly out-talented - but not out-coached. :) So here comes the brains of my brilliant husband, shuffling his cards around, and low and behold we freaking WON the game. I don't know how the hell he does it to be honest!!!!! I've stopped trying to figure it out and just enjoy the fact that I'm married to one hell of a coach!!!
In all seriousness, God has truly blessed Jason as a coach - it's unbelievable how hard that guy works and I know God recognizes that and honors him for it. I really am excited to see what God has in store for Jason's career...I love just sitting back and watching him utilize his gifts of communication, of leadership, of connecting with young kids and creating passion within them - as I've said before, Jason definitely doesn't lack in the passion arena. :)

Here are some press pics from last year's championship....what an amazing time! And we had just found out we were pregnant the week before the state finals...crazy times!!!

Visit to Nana's (Lincoln's Great G-Ma)

Just some pictures of our visit yesterday...and some other ones cause he's just so stinking cute.

Papi's Home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cannot even express how crazy excited we are!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in Ft. Smith visiting my grandmother tonight and I got a call from a man saying he thinks he found my dog...turns out, Papi had wandered into an empty swimming pool at a house that was for sale and had no one living in it...he got stuck in the pool and couldn't get out!! The neighbors (the man who called) heard something moaning next door and went over to check it out and found Papi in the pool. The man said he was terrified and wouldn't come to him, but we told him his name and when the man said "Papi"...he came right to him. That's when I knew we really had found the little guy!! The man said that when he found the dog, he remembered a flyer he had gotten in his mailbox Sunday and called the number...the flyers worked!! The miracle about it is that we only put flyers on malboxes in one small neighborhood for some reason (and it wasn't even our own neighborhood!). We prayed over the flyers before we passed them out Sunday and God answered our prayers - they landed in the right hands!

We're not sure if he has been stuck in this pool for the whole week, but he is very tired and has lost weight, and REAL skiddish - but he's home and were gonna be okay. :)

Thanks to allwho have looked and prayed for our little guy!!!

Quick Update

We're just going to do this in outline form :)



1. Lincoln is 3 weeks old TODAY!!! Went for a weight check and he is a pound heavier than when he was born.



2. Lincoln's getting more into a routine (sort of) with his feeding and sleeping. He's doing quite well at it, too!!



3. He was awake for his first basketball game last night...we had fun hanging out w/ Jason while he ran the tournament last night.



4. Papi is still missing. An add was run in the paper today and we decided to offer a $100 cash reward for him - yeah, so not joking either. We both agreed it would come out of our Christmas money for each other b/c there's no present either of us would rather have than out Mr. Papi back.



5. I'm about to go to Ft. Smith w/ mom and Amy to let my grandma meet her new great grandson...she's excited and so are we!



6. I started pumping today (and not weights!)...yeah - this could get exhausting. But I'm excited that Jason gets to start giving him bottles sometimes!



7. I'm going to start exercising next week, I think...gonna try at least. I've got some firming up to do! I'm gonna start doing a strength class with Bethany but will have to wait a while to do that one...



8. I'm LOVING not working and DREADING going back...looking at part-time options after this fiscal year possibly



And I guess that's all for now :)

All Clean

Tonight we gave Lincoln his first "tub" bath since his little cord stump finally fell off. We also started him on somewhat of a schedule today...feeding every three hours, playtime, then nap time for about an hour and a half. It went so-so. :) Hopefully we can get better!! His bath went great - he was so precious (see pictures below) and didn't cry at all! As I'm writing this, though, he's screaming his head off in his crib. This whole "cry it out" thing gets tough :( But it works...he does eventually fall asleep (well, he did this morning, but I'm kind of doubting it right now!).

Today Jason and I spent the day putting flyers all over Siloam for Papi. We've prayed a lot for him today and really put forth a crazy effort to try and find the little guy. I know some of you might think it's trivial, but we really have been distraught that he's missing. Jason said finding him would actually produce better feelings than winning state last year even - gosh we just love that little man. Thanks to everyone that has been helping us find him!!!!

This weekend was Vicki Dee's women's conference...it was such a blessing and I truly enjoyed hearing what god as laid on this amazing woman's heart!!! Those who don't already, you should read her blog. Her link is on my page. One of the points was on praying for your children and it really touched my heart. I plan on writing more about that later.

Another point was about how God is in ultimate control of literally everything. Obviously us Christians know that but how often do we truly believe and practice that?? I know I struggle with this. And again, though this may sound trite, it reminded me (and I was able to share with Jason) that God is in ultimate control of Papi's situation right now and has a greater plan.

I also loved the emphasis on how our children are lent to us from God...they are not our own. Anyway, it was a great conference and like I said, I plan on talking about it more later.

Well, off to hang out with Lincoln. :) He's been a trooper today!

1440 Minutes...and Counting

That's how many minutes I've had to agonize through wondering where precious Papi is. :( About 1/10th of those minutes have been spent in tears, and about 1/3rd have been sent driving around this city aimlessly - to some parts I never even knew existed. The worst part is that you spend that many minutes thinking and imagining the absolute worst. So instead - while I anxiously await a call from the pound saying they have him, or hear feet puttering up to the front door, I thought I'd focus on the things I love about Mr. Papi and what makes him so special to us (this is more for my own therapy and sanity right now so feel free to check out of this post at any time):

1. We love all our dogs, but Papi could possibly be our favorite because of his sweet spirit. We joke that Papi actually has a heart and soul b/c he is overly caring and sweet

2. He's seemingly all tough and is our "warning bell" when someone's here who's not suppose to be, BUT:

3. He's TERRIFIED of vacuum cleaners, tape measures, lawn mowers, and most of Lincoln's toys

4. He loves to snuggle...up tight and close. He jumps in the bed every morning when the alarm goes off and gets right up under your neck

5. He loves to play and his new best friend is Bruce Wayne

6. I have to drag him out of bed on Saturdays, sometimes as late as 2:00pm!!!!

7. His favorite foods are grapes and watermelon

8. He's an AMAZING catcher...he's also our athletic one

9. He's extremely loyal - way more than any other dog I've ever owned

10. He loves to sit in the kitchen with me when I cook

We miss you Papi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!