Friends Like This.....

...are hard to come by! This post is a shout-out, tribute, thank-you, whatever you want to call it, to one of the dearest, most wonderful friends a girl could ever ask for! Judy Mitchell is an amazing friend! And me, being the terrific friend that I am (enter large doses of sarcasm here), missed her birthday last week! The day after her big day, I freaked and called with a ridiculously long and stupid apology. The point is, I missed it! So, in honor of J's b'day and her being the best friend I could ever ask God for, I have thought of 34 things that I absolutely love about her. (and of course, I had to add pics from over the last couple of years...Judy, you better be glad that I don't have any saved on my computer from Johnson days!:):) hehe)

Here goes (in no certain order):

1. She makes me laugh hysterically!
2. Her phone messages are long and random.
3. She always calls me on long car trips.
4. Even if I go weeks without talking to her, we always pick up as if we had had lunch together the day before.
5. She towers (long-legged thing) over me but I never feel smaller than her...ever!
6. She loves the unloveable.
7. Her husband is also one of my favorite people. (awww...I love you Big B!)
8. I have never, ever, ever felt judged by her and let me tell you...this girl KNOWS my junk!
9. She is honest!
10. I can tell her ANYTHING and trust completely that it will never leave her mouth.
11. Other people can tell her ANYTHING and she would never, ever share it with me.
12. She honors and respects her husband.
13. She teaches me about soccer...b/c I am a soccer dummy.
14. Her passion for loving on the people of Honduras fills my heart with joy and brings tears to my eyes b/c I know she is fulfilling Christ's commands with a truly glad heart!
15. Her "Mum Karen" is awesome.
16. She is Canadian...HELLO! (I could probably stop there:)
17. She still spells things as if she is STILL living in Canada...get over it J...we ain't French!:)
18. She will drive hours to show up for anything involving one of her friends and I do mean hours!
19. She is a straight-up hot mess in a bathing suit! (you are loving this huh, J?:)
20. She loves on my babies as if they were her own.
21. Her dedication to school and her dreams is so honorable.
22. If she tells you she'll do it, she does it!
23. She rarely wears pink! (she's no girly-girl)...love it!
24. Bless her...she listened to my colicky baby cry his eyes out and loved him anyway.
25. Occassionally, she brings me goodies from Canada. (did you get me Wonderbars this time around?)
26. Everyday that she goes to work, she has to physically, mentally, and emotionally love on people that are hard to love, but she does it anyway b/c it is her passion.
27. She is always on time.
28. She always remembers important dates and makes you feel super special.
29. She is THAT friend that will always tell you the truth when you need to hear it...even when she doesn't want to and even if it hurts a bit...
30. I respect her immensely!!!!
31. She is my sister in Christ and I will be able to worship at His feet with her for eternity!!!
32. She thinks I am funny (and Derek too for that matter:).
33. She can kick some serious butt in Spades without even trying! (including her hubby's;)
34. She is in love with her Lord and it resonates in every aspect of her life!

Judy...you are a blessing to me and so many others!!! I love you, love you, love you dear friend! Because of all of these things and much much more, you are a blessing to everyone who knows you and I consider your friendship a true gift!! Happy Late Birthday!!

(oh and by the way...don't expect a list like this when we are 90!)

Mesmerized by the Camera!

This video was taken right after Timothy smiled for the first time. I had others but they were too long to upload. Unfortunately he was completely uninterested in laughing for me anymore or even smiling much for that matter. He was completely in awe of the camera. He wouldn't even turn for my voice...little stinker!

THIS KID...

does not look like he needs to go to a neurologist...ya think??!! And hopefully he won't have to!

Just wanted to update quickly and let everyone know that our appt. at Vanderbilt that was set for tomorrow was rescheduled to Dec. 4th. At first I was a little bummed, but then quickly thought about how grateful I was to have access to such amazing healthcare for my child....Really, is 2 weeks that big of a deal?! Also, the more I thought about it, I began to think that maybe the Lord was giving us an extra 2 weeks for the tremors to fully stop!

That's right they have decreased!!!!! ALOT! And while some may say Timothy just grew out of it, I fully believe that the prayers of so many of you all were heard by God. It could just be a newborn quirk, but whatever the case, I believe that God is answering prayer and they are beginning to lessen dramatically! I can't really express our gratitude for all of your prayers, but THANK YOU!!!

(Oh, and Timothy laughed for the first time a couple of days ago...:):)

HAPPY HAPPY BOY!!!!

Hilarious!

So who knew that Flava Flay lived down the street from us???

Oh my goodness we got such a good laugh out of this. The funniest part was how totally in character he was! Of course, we asked where his main squeeze, Brigette, was. The thing about our neighor....he is normally so quiet and reserved. We never would have picked him to dress up and play the part as he did! In the words of Rebekah, "Good times, good times!"

Oh How They've Grown...

Thanks to my hubby for a great idea! These pics have been taken over the last 3 years. I so hope that we can continue to do this until their teen years and completely embarass them before they go out with their friends...haha!

2006-From L to R: Caleb, Caeden, Emma, Noah, Emily

2007-From L to R: Noah, Austin, Caeden, Emma, Caleb, Emily, Hannah

2008-From L to R: Sarah Beth, Austin, Noah, Emma, Emily, Timothy, Caleb, Caeden

It sure is fun to see the number of kiddos on the couch grow. Maybe next year, there will be some new additions:)...and good heavens, I am not pregant again!

Elmo and the Orange-shirt Costume

Emily as Elmo and Timothy....ummm...an orange shirt!:) Both were equally adorable. When Emily talked about being Elmo, I thought it was a bit played out, but she was (in my humble opinion:) the cutest Elmo I have ever seen. Trick-or-treating was lots of fun. It was even more fun b/c we were with lots of our friends and of course "Untel Sean." Emily has driven us nutso asking for candy and I can't wait til it's gone...it might be making a premature exit:0...I know I'm cruel! But we all enjoyed ourselves and the special treats and most of all loved having D's brother here with us. The time always goes by so quickly, but we made great memories! I got a couple of cute pics on our camera too and may post some of those later, but at this current moment have been unable to locate our camera. Hope you all had a fun night!

Starting early!...Emily and sweet Caleb! What a cute little match!

Uncle Sean giving Ems a ride

I love this picture...the fact that the Elmo nose is so huge, you can't see Em's face and D and his bro are handsome guys...Timothy is bound to be a cutie-pie...just a little biased!

What more can be said?...He is soooo sweet! His smile keeps getting wider and wider each day!

Emily is annoyed because we are MAKING her eat PIZZA before we go trick-or-treating. She wanted to get straight to the candy!

Year #3...all of the kiddos together again!
Doesn't Timothy look totally thrilled to be part of the festivities?

Sharing with Daddy...so sweet!

Is it possible?...

...could he be any sweeter?