Finished Projects

Here are a few snapshots of my two recent projects around the house. I'm thrilled with how well both of them turned out. I've already started making a list of other projects that I'd like to do this fall. Some things include: building a frame  to put over the mantle in the living room, refinishing the coat rack Andy's grandfather made, and a photo display out of some old shutters I found in the cellar. I'll be sure to post photos of our new projects but for now...

The finished headboard in the guest bedroom

The crackle up close.

Chalkboards finished and on the walls. Our students wasted no time putting them to good use.

Love You More above the door to the front hall from the kitchen.

Looking Ahead. The rest of our year...

Hard to believe but the rest of our year is filling in quickly. Here are a few of the highlights that we have penciled in...

September

~Cow Sale Labor Day Weekend at the Farm- Every year we head to the farm to help put on the Smith Family Cow Sale (this is Andy's Mom's family). This year should be even more fun because AG will be running around with everyone.

October

~Mountain Day Weekend- For those who don't know what Mountain Day is it is a weekend that Berry students, faculty, and alumni join together to celebrate Martha Berry's birthday every year. We are excited about celebrating Andy's five year reunion this year...and mine will be next year! Crazy, how quickly time flies. There will be a full house at the Edwards household with family and friends.

My senior Olympics...Caro came to visit and celebrate.

Caro's senior Olympics with Dave and Shaun.

~Williamsburg- For our next Edwards Family Vacation we are packing up and heading back to Williamsburg. The last time we were all back there as a family was October 2006. This go round we'll have AG and Ronnie in tow. We'll be spending a week bouncing back and forth between Colonial Williamsburg and Busch Gardens. In the photo below you can see Castle O'Sullivan in the background. One of the surprises we've planned for Ronnie and AG is lunch with Elmo and Friends at Castle O'Sullivan. AG is going to be thrilled...we can't wait to see his face. In my planning I've had to pull up the Busch Gardens website and he always crawls in to my lap to see the pictures of Elmo. We look at all the pictures and he squeals, "Elmo! Elmo! Elmo!" at each photo. There is just something about Williamsburg in the fall...it's breathtaking. The leaves will be turning and Busch Gardens will be decked out in pumpkins. I can't wait for us to head up there in a little over a month.

The George Wythe House Summer 2009. One of my favorite buildings in Williamsburg.

~Halloween-We are still trying to decide what AG should be this year...I saw a Snoopy costume last week and it made me think about this  picture from last year...

November

~Thanksgiving- We'll do our annual Thanksgiving feast with our college family before they leave for break and we celebrate with our family. Here's our crew from last year...

AG enjoying some turkey last year in the mountains.

~Disney World- We had so much fun at Disneyland this past spring when we went to Cali that we decided to plan a trip to Disney World. We are leaving the Sunday after Thanksgiving and heading down with cousin Ronnie, Aunt Caroline, and Uncle Tommy. Caroline and I are eagerly planning every detail. Should be a fabulous week and pretty magical. We've been told that there is nothing like Disney at Christmas. I'm hoping to capture more photos like this while we are there...

December

~Christmas- A month full of holiday outings, moments, and celebrations. I'm planning to get the house decorated before we leave for Disney so that when we return it's all done. We'll be  spending some quality time with our college family before they leave for a month. I've already got several fun outings planned for AG this year. And who could forget this priceless snapshot from last Christmas with Emma...

Christmas night in front of cousin Ronnie's tree.

Love You More...

Love You More.

So we finished the old kitchen cabinet doors to hang on the walls of the kitchen. Andy was some what skeptical about the smallest door that I wanted to refinish. I insisted and he told me that it was my project. So we set to work sanding, priming, painting, painting, painting, crackling, painting, and sealing. I LOVE how they turned out. I'm ready for Andy to get home so that we can mount them on the wall this weekend. They are going to be a lot of fun Tuesday night for our first family dinner of the school year with our college kids. 


Speaking of them I am ecstatic that the freshman moved in today and the rest move back Friday. Hallelujah! With our students we are not shy when it comes to showering them with love, affection, praise, and encouragement. College is such pivotal point in their lives. It lays a foundation for who they become as adults. This chapter in their lives is not without it's own challenges, obstacles, discoveries, joys, and sorrows. I think it is one of things that I enjoy the most about investing in them...we get to cheer them on and help them lay this foundation. We get to love them unconditionally. Around here one of our favorite phrases is "Love You More" and we use it often. Growing up we heard this phrase a lot at my parents house and it has since carried over to our house. I felt this phrase would be a perfect first choice to grace the small door as we welcome our students home for another year.

AG happened to be wearing his shirt that his Aunt Mis made him when I took these photos. I didn't even realize it till I was looking thru my viewfinder. 

Sick little man...

I had really gotten on a roll with my blogging and then AG got sick, I had jury duty, Andy switched jobs, AG got sick again, we had a few days off, AG got sick this past weekend while we were out of town, Andy left yesterday morning for week long training in Cali, and I was awoken this morning to the sound of my child sick again while it monsooned outside. The last two weeks have been a blur.

My child is tired of throwing up and we are tired of cleaning it up. As I went in to get him this morning I was saddened by how pitiful and smart he's become thru all of this. I walked in this morning and he was on  his hands in knees in a corner of his crib covered in throw up but away from his blankie and pillow...so he wouldn't throw up on them. :( As my mother would say, "bess his heart." Bess his heart is right.

Yesterday we went to the doctor since he was sick over the weekend. She felt like it was a lingering virus and to keep him on a very strict/bland diet. So that's what we did yesterday. Clearly, that didn't help because he was sick again this morning. So back to the doctor we went this morning. Since the weekend I had begun to wonder if we were dealing with a food allergy or celiac disease. (One of my sisters was diagnosed with celiac several years ago.) After talking with the doctor I requested that we do blood work and begin to rule out both allergies and celiac. Bess his heart again because they couldn't get the blood from his arm in the office...I had to go next door to the hospital to get it done. AG only has one arm that they can pull blood from due to his hemangioma on his left arm. He whimpered when they put the needle in both times but didn't cry. As his G-Daddy said, "he's a stud." Yes, yes he is. All of this blood work will take a week to get back to us. Till then I've decided we are going to go gluten free with AG and see if we can tell a difference. I'm praying for a full nights sleep.

Now I'm not one to go buy my child random toys/gifts but after all he's dealt with the last two weeks plus giving lots of blood without crying I opted to take a trip to Toys R Us. AG is now the proud owner of his first Thomas the Tank Engine set. He spent the evening pushing trains around and around the track. Pictures to come. In the last few weeks he's really gotten in to trains. My parents gave him a train whistle as a get well present last week...he carries it around and makes it whistle much to Samson's frustration. Ha.

Anyways, that's the long and short of it. I'm flying solo this week and wiped from a long day. I'm sorry for typos and  if my train of thoughts are incoherent. I'm too tired to care. More updates to come as we get them. Pray for rest for all of us. Pray that we find out what is causing AG to be sick. Pray that Andy makes it home safely Thursday. In all of this God is still in control and providing. And for that I'm grateful.

A change is gonna come...

Life and change. These two things go hand in hand. When you experience one the other follows. Over the last two weeks we have been trying to decide what to do about Andy's job situation. For those who don't know Andy's company is relocating to Kennesaw in a week. From our house this is about a 45 minute drive. We've known that this would be a possibility for about two years so when they announced it we were not surprised. However, as we've prayed about what to do these last few months we knew two things. One, that Andy would stay with his job. He's done really well for himself there the last six years. And at the time we didn't see anything else coming along. Two, we don't feel like our time in Rome is up. Meaning that we very much believe that we have lots of work still to do here. (Funny, because when I graduated from college I thought we'd be here two years. Max. The longer we stay the more we never want to leave.) We've established roots here and because of that we opted for Andy to commute rather than relocate our family. For months we had been content with the fact that God was going to continue to provide for us and that there must be a reason for all of this.

A few weeks ago Andy was informed that one of his company's competitors was looking to establish an office here in Rome. And they were looking to do it ASAP. Wow. Well this was a curve ball we didn't expect or see coming. Andy inquired and was given more information. He summed it up like this, "I'm not unhappy with my current company BUT there are things about this new company that are very intriguing to me." He was asked to interview with one of the vice presidents last weekend. It went well. Very well. They extended an offer and Andy accepted it on Tuesday afternoon. The whole thing was a whirlwind. 

So what does this mean for us. Well, it means Andy doesn't have to commute every day to work. He'll now have to travel some but I'd rather have some travel as opposed to a daily commute. He actually can telecommute which brings lots of new opportunities and possibilities. It means Andy has the opportunity to flex some different "muscles" when it comes to his job. New opportunities to grow. And thankfully this change also allows us to stay in Rome. There is something about Rome. We love it. It's an amazing place to raise a family and that's one reason why the longer we stay the more we never want to leave. We are excited. We are grateful. The Lord continues to provide and continues to show us how his timing is perfect. 

Bits and Pieces:

We've said good-bye to several of our graduating seniors but it doesn't really hit that they are gone till the upcoming school year is upon you. This year is no different. But with a new year comes new students and that is exciting. We are excited to see our returning "college family" and we are excited to add some more faces to the mix. I can't believe that they'll all be here in two weeks. I'm ready. However, my art project for the kitchen is not. Andy and I are working hard to get it done before they arrive.

My art project for the kitchen is being created with our students in mind. All last year I wanted to have something in our kitchen to showcase them. Why the kitchen? Because whenever they are over here it usually involves food. :) When we have family dinners they all come early and hang out in the kitchen while I cook. It's where they gather. Also, we take lots of pictures when they are here. I have TONS of photos of them but needed a place where they could be rotated in and out. I'm  looking forward to having this project completed and being able to put it to use right away! So far we've got the doors sanded and prepped. Next comes the painting...which will be involved due to the multiple applications for the chalkboard and then having to paint the area around the chalkboard. After that all we'll have to do is hang them. I better get cracking!

In other projects I painted the guest bedroom headboard earlier today with a crackle glaze and top coat of paint. I'm thrilled with how well it turned out. I've got to let it cure for three days at least before I put the clear coat on top to protect it. I can't wait to get it all together and in the guest bedroom. It makes me want to "crackle" something else. Ha. Pictures to come, I promise.

Lastly, in the midst of all of this, plus AG being sick, I had jury duty this week. And I was actually selected to serve. First time for both. Quite interesting. I feel like I might need to do a post on this by itself. 

So that's us. It's been a wild week. I feel like there is something I'm leaving out but at the moment my brain is fried. When I remember I'm sure I'll post it...

AG takes a sick day...

This is what you look like after puking your guts up all night long in almost every room in the house. (I'm not even joking.) I'll spare y'all the very descriptive details. AG woke us up in the middle of the night/early Tuesday morning not feeling well. The next two hours were not fun. However, we all managed to survive and I made it to Jury Duty on time and some what awake. AG finally crashed a little before seven on the couch with Andy. We took it easy the rest of the day. AG was a trooper and managed to take a four hour nap that afternoon to help him recover. I snapped this photo after he woke up while I put dinner on the table. On top of all of this he's also cutting his lower incisors. Thank heavens days like this happen few and far between. I'm still trying to dig myself out from underneath the mountain of laundry that has taken over my laundry room.