Hayes is Six Months Old!

I can hardly believe that my baby is 6 months old already! It seems like just yesterday we were rushing to the hospital after my amniocentesis sent me into labor five weeks early. With each child, I seem to lament the onset of each stage and the absence of the last more and more; and as exciting as it is to see them grow and develop, I can't help but somewhat miss their sole dependence upon me. Maybe I feel it more with Hayes, because I don't know for sure if he will be our last; but whatever the case may be, I definitely am not in a hurry for him to grow up on me!

When we went to the doctor, we were pleased to see that he is growing and progressing just fine. Weighing in at 17 lbs., Hayes is right on target in the 50 percentile; and one would never know that he is quite the picky eater! It's not so much WHAT he eats as it is from whom he eats it! Developmentally, he is a little behind, but that is to be expected. Absolutely detesting "tummy-time," Hayes only began rolling over from front to back in the last month and has yet to go from back to front. I'm sure he's looking at me like, "If I hate being on my tummy so much, then why prey tell would I WANT to roll onto my TUMMY?!"

Above: First, we have Hayes sitting in the Bumbo, practicing sitting up like a big boy!

Second, we have Cade playing the favorite game of "peekaboo." Hayes thinks he's absolutely hysterical, and Cade loves that Hayes finally thinks he's funny! (being funny is HIGHLY important to Cade!)

Above: First, Hayes is learning how to eat his fruits and veggies, obviously LOVING them!

Second, Hayes with his Santa jammies (yes, I know...it's a little early) and Xander with his patch and pirate jammies. Xander has to wear a patch for two hours every day, because he needs to strengthen his left "weak" eye.

Our precious boys

The Extraordinary Women Conference; Lynchburg, VA

This past weekend, I joined three of my friends~Dawn, Angie, and Charlene~ on a trip to Lynchburg, VA, for the EWomen Conference. Having attended once before, we knew that we were in for an unbelievable journey. The theme for the conference was "Discovering God's Dream," and we were ready for whatever God had in store for us. Therefore, after several "glitches" in the plan and the issue of gas prices spiking, we set off determined that nothing was going to stop us from receiving a blessing this weekend!

Arriving at the Vines Center in time to claim our seats (excellent seats, I might add!), we settled back (after a few hikes back to the car for forgotten tickets and cameras...all MY fault, of course!) for the conference. The hilarious Chonda Pierce started us off laughing and blessed us with her outrageous humor and witty testimony.

Read on to hear about the rest of the conference...

Karen Kingsbury

Meeting Karen Kingsbury was by far the highlight of the conference! I have read almost ALL of her books and have LOVED every single one of them! We were just about the last people to leave on Friday night; therefore, we were able to talk with her and have her sign our books without much of a wait at all. I was thrilled to find her just as personable and down-to-earth as I had hoped she would be! Taking her time, she chatted easily and joked with the brothers who were helping her take pictures for her website.

To my surprise, I found out that she also writes children's books, which of course I bought, so we had her sign those to our children as well. On Saturday, she spoke in one of the sessions and actually read one of the children's books, Let Me Hold You Longer, to us leaving not a dry eye in the place! Feeling a little like a "groupie," I actually bought a few more books and stood in line once again to get her autograph on those as well. However, we ended up getting another picture taken for her website because she said she was having a "better-hair day"! :) I loved that! See? Even famous authors worry about their hair! Anyway, the whole experience was amazing, and I will never forget it!

Random Girl with Great Hair...

So...this is just some girl we didn't know. Angie has been wanting to get her hair cut, but she hasn't been able to find the right style! Well, as we were walking around the Vines Center, Angie grabs me and says that we have GOT to get her picture! Since I had my camera with me, I went up to this girl (whose name I still don't know) and asked her if my "crazy" friend could get a picture of her hair! I stood next to her so she didn't feel too stupid, but I'm sure she probably thought we were a bunch of lunatics!!! Oh, well, Angie got her picture; and it really IS cute hair, don't you think? :)

Richie McDonald

Country music fans may recognize Richie McDonald by face (a pretty nice-looking one too! :), if not by name...he is the former lead singer for Lonestar. We were not aware that he was going to be giving a concert Friday night of the conference, but were pleasantly surprised by it! He sang many of the songs that he made famous with Lonestar along with many of his new solo songs. Because he wanted to spend more time with his family, he left Lonestar and began his own solo Christian career. I bought his CD titled "Faith & Family" and absolutely LOVE it! The song in the video below is on the CD along with many others.

As you can see, we were all pretty excited to get our picture with him...and yes, he had his arms around us!!! :) Something I'm sure we'll never forget!

I'm sorry if the camera shook in places...

This song by Richie McDonald was written for his wife when she turned forty. I'm sure you will all agree that it is the sweetest song you will ever hear! Although I actually have video of most of the songs he sang, it took too long to upload these few videos that I have; therefore, I just displayed a song from each person.

Charles Billingsley

Charles Billingsley led the "Praise and Worship" time and did a fantastic job! He had tons of energy and certainly wasn't "hard to look at"! :)

Mandisa at the EWomen't Conference; Lynchburg, VA

For those of you who are American Idol fans, you probably already know who Mandisa is. She was the contestant who "forgave Simon" on National television for some cutting remarks he made about her weight. In her concert Saturday, she talked about her experience on American Idol and how she overcame her fear of Simon to compete on the show. She was extremely impressive both in speech and in talent. We really enjoyed her!

Because of her status, Mandisa was surrounded by body guards and behind a table autographing CDs and pictures. This was as close as I could get to take her picture.

On the way home Saturday afternoon, we stopped at Texas Roadhouse for lunch and to reflect on the weekend and all we learned. Although completely exhausted, we all agreed that it was a perfect trip! God had taught us all so many things and had blessed our hearts until they were overflowing! We can hardly wait until our next journey!