I hold it all...

...when I hold you.


I've been thinking for weeks about what I wanted to post on our 5 year anniversary. (I'm having to type this ahead of time and set it to post-date since we'll be celebrating my sister's wedding on our anniversary.)


Anyways, I've been pondering for weeks what to write. God has walked us through many highs and lows in our first five years of marriage. God has been gracious and merciful and we have learned much in these five short years about ourselves and who we are as a couple. I'm grateful for all of these experiences because I know that we wouldn't be who we are without them and that we are stronger because of them.


I think there are three things that I wanted to say about my husband and they are all tied to a song. So here goes:
The first being a snippet from Train's Marry Me.


"Marry Me
Today and Everyday..." 


Everyday we have the choice to get up and choose who we love. I'm grateful that everyday Andy chooses to love me. I'm grateful that everyday I have the opportunity to love him. Does that mean that every day is easy...no, most certainly not but even on the hard days I'd choose him.


The next is the chorus from Dave Barnes' song "God Gave Me You"
"God gave me you for the ups and downs 
God gave me you for the days of doubt 
For when I think I've lost my way 
There are no words here left to say, it's true 
God gave me you"

I'm forever grateful that the Lord saw fit to give me Andy. I can't fathom experiencing everything we have experienced these last five years with anyone else. We've had our ups and downs because that is how life is. We've had moments where one of us was lost and the beauty of marriage is that the other one gets to help you find your way back. And sometimes there are no words and that's okay too.

The last song is a song that Andy introduced me to when we were dating. I fell in love with it immediately because everything about it reminded me of our relationship. 


Anberlin's "Time and Confusion"
Woah oh! Yeah eah! Woah oh yeah eah woah oh!
Woah oh! Yeah eah! Woah oh yeah eah woah oh!

Live for today, we'll dream tomorrow
We've got big plans in sight
We'll take this city, and by nightfall
the bright lights are calling
Everything is going our way
Everything is just as we planned
This is our future for what we've heard,
and i've still got your hand

And it feels like, we could last forever
And I'm not doing this alone

When memories fade, we've got each other
When time and confusion collide
singing, "I hold it all when I hold you."
When friends walk other ways, we've got each other
I hold it all when I hold, I hold it all when I hold you

Woah oh! Yeah eah!
Woah oh Yeah eah woah oh!

We fell on hard times
This isn't the ideal
We're miles from home, doing the best that we can (the best that we can)
I wont do this without you (do this without you)
Wont do this without you so take heart
'Cause you know that you have mine

And it feels like, we could last forever
And I'm not doin' this alone.

When memories fade, we've got each other
When time and confusion collide
singing, "I hold it all when I hold you."
When friends walk other ways, we've got each other
I hold it all when I hold, I hold it all when I hold..

It's not about the money we make
It's about the passions that we ache for
What makes your heart beat faster
Tell me now, what does your body long after
I don't care now where we live
It's not where, or what, or who we were with.
I just need you in my life, so promise me again!

When memories fade, we've got each other
When time and confusion collide
singing "I hold it all when I hold you."
When friends walk other ways, we've got each other
I hold it all when I hold, I hold it all when I hold you

Woah oh! Yeah eah!
Woah oh Yeah eah woah oh!


I hold it all when I hold you, Andy, and as long as I have you it doesn't matter how much money we make, where we live, what we do, etc. As long as I have you, Andy, I know we can make it through whatever ups and downs may come our way. Thanks for holding my hand on this adventure we call life. I really do hold it all when I hold you. 

Short on words...

Don't know when I'll post again...there is a massive storm racing toward us after the one that we already suffered this morning. We faired well this morning but our beloved Berry didn't and if I think about the images that I've seen today I may start to cry. The reports on the news don't begin to touch the scope of the actual damage at our alma mater. Today I was reminded about the magnitude of our God's infinite powers and reminded of his grace and mercy as no one at Berry was hurt.

I'm a ball of emotions and contractions.

Praying without ceasing. Psalm 121.

AG's on the mend and we are grateful. Off to gather the last of our supplies...pray for us.

Thankful...

...for my husband and my child's health.

AG has been out of sorts the last two days and earlier today I commented to Andy that something didn't seem right. Well, tonight AG and I ran to pick up dinner while Andy cut the grass. (In preparation for our next round of inclement weather tomorrow.) We got home from picking up dinner and AG started acting weird when I pulled him out of the car. We made it inside the door before he threw up everywhere. Thankfully, I was able to yell for Andy and he came running to help me. We got AG in the tub and then Andy graciously went and cleaned everything up for me. Normally, I'd clean everything up but I couldn't do it tonight...my super sensitive nose couldn't take it and I was instantly nauseated.

So, tonight I'm grateful for a husband who doesn't mind cleaning up throw up and helping pick up my slack while I'm pregnant. I don't know what I'd do without him. Lastly, as I bathed AG tonight I thanked the Lord that he is not sick often. I'm very grateful for all that the Lord has done and continues to do.

Hoping AG feels better in the morning and that we all get a good nights sleep since we didn't last night. My original plan for tonight was to get the blog and FB caught up on pictures. Clearly, that didn't happen. :) Maybe tomorrow...we'll see...the weather is suppose to be bad again. I'm hoping we don't lose power for the third time in less than a month due to the weather.

Playing at The Ted...

My cousin, Will, had the chance again this year to play one of his high school baseball games at Turner Field. We couldn't pass up a chance to take AG to The Ted and he is obsessed with baseball these days. We finished the evening with a stop at The Varsity. AG had a blast running around...heaven help us next time we go to The Ted because there will be a lot more people and AG won't be able to play the way he did tonight. 

He wouldn't let us wipe off what was left of his Oreo cookie...he looks like he has a gotee!

He had to bring his glove and ball with us to the game.

Having fun watching Will with Daddy.

Enjoying the view from the top of the dugout.

A cooking marathon...

...happened here today.

I took pics and have lots to share but for now I'll leave you with what all I created...I'm off to put my swollen feet/achy body in the sack. Despite the aches and pains I feel accomplished as we get closer to the arrival of our sweet girl. Next up sauces and dishes featuring beef...just waiting on a good sale.

Chicken Pastina x3
Poppyseed Chicken x1
Chicken Crescents Casserole x1
Saucy Mexican Chicken x1
Chicken Lasagna Roll-ups x2
Chicken Noodle Soup x2
Individual Chicken Pot Pies x6
Homemade chicken stock x4 (I already had to use two today because I needed more than what I had saved for cooking)

For the grill:
Chicken breasts in a honey teriyaki marinade x2
Chicken breasts in a steakhouse marinade x2
Porkchops (the other white meat! Ha.) in honey teriyaki marinade x2
Porkchops in a steakhouse marinade x2


In addition to what we already had stocked:
Ribollita-soup x3
Red sauce with pancetta x1
Individual chicken pot pies x2
Fajita Chicken x2
Chili x1
Creamy Red Sauce with Chicken and Broccoli x1
Stouffer's Mac-and-Cheese x2 (on sale recently at Kroger)
Purvis' BBQ x4 (This is our FAVORITE BBQ and we get it every time we go to the farm. This last trip Andy got extras so we could have enough for several meals on hand...thus, making his very pregnant wife very happy!)

In addition to all of this I've also started stockpiling other items around the house as they go on sale. Last go around I hadn't gotten into couponing. A few months after AG was born I got into couponing/stockpiling and have since kept up with it for the last two years. This year I have begun to experiment with freezer cooking in bulk and while I don't like to rely on it for every night of the week it has been super nice on nights when I can't/don't want to cook. And I know it will be really nice to have a stocked freezer/pantry when we become a family of four in a few weeks. Details on my adventure to come...

Straight Line Winds...

I had never heard of straight line winds until Saturday when it was determined that a tornado was not the cause of the damage on our side of town. Just winds blowing straight at 80 mph! For you weather gurus that puts the winds whipping around Rome equivalent to what you would find with Category 1 Hurricane. This was our third storm of the month and the second time we lost power for an extended period. We ended up leaving the house to grab dinner at Waffle House on the other side of town since EVERYTHING on our side of town didn't have power. Including half of Turner McCall. Here are some pictures from this latest round:

Pea sized hail was everywhere.

Our house is covered in leaves due to the winds.

Our neighbor's tree fell and it took out our power. It also made traveling down Terrace impossible.

A sale on chicken...

...means time to restock the freezer. So, I set up several pots on the stove and got to work. Add some bone-in chicken breasts, onions-halved, celery with leafy tops, carrots, and whole cloves of garlic. Throw in your favorite seasoning...I use Montreal Chicken seasoning by McCormick. Simmer on low until done. Since all of my pots were a different size the cooking time varied for each. Let cool and debone. I saved the cooking liquid and strained it. I then threw it back in the largest pot along with the bones and skin and simmered it for several hours to make my own chicken stock. Let it cool and then strain it again. Let it chill over night in the fridge and skim off the fat in the morning. Afterwards, I froze half of it and then saved the rest for my marathon cooking day when I plan to use up all the chicken that I cooked. Since this is the first time I've made my own stock we'll count this as a new recipe and I'm also going to count poaching chicken as a recipe since I've recently taken that up this year. So, we'll count this as recipes 23 and 24. And when I did my marathon cooking earlier in the year I meant to post about poaching the chicken I just forgot to take pictures.