Please Pray for Kayleigh!

Kayleigh and her family need our prayers now more than ever. Please visit their blog and lift this family up to the Lord.

An Update..

So if you saw the comment from Tiff yesterday you know that my Uncle passed away. It's been an extremely emotional time for my family on so many levels. I just ask that you continue to pray for strength and peace as we go through the funeral tomorrow.

Life..

Life is short. Sometimes it's extremely short. Sometimes it's 100 years. Sometimes a person dies as a teen. Others make it to middle age. Regardless it's never long enough. There's never enough time to do or say the things we all long for. It's never easy to be the survivor. Surviving can be horrible. It can also have moments of peace and joy. You never really know what grief will hold. Worse than the grief is the waiting, which is where our family is standing at this point. My Uncle is dying. Everything possible has been done and he's going to die. I've accepted it, but my Aunt is stuck. She can't accept that her husband won't be here much longer. She's dealing with the waiting. Awaiting the grieving process. It's a horrible place to be. She needs strength. She needs the peace that only He can provide. I write all of this to ask that you pray. Please pray for peace, strength and acceptance. She needs it, we all need it, more than I can express.

The Next Michael Phelps (without the bad habits)

So I'm convinced that my child's future involves several olympic gold medals! That's because he swam by himself yesterday!! After we had completed all of our little exercises during aqua babies class the instructor pulled me to the side and said that J.K. was ready to give swimming a try. I was a bit hesitant, but went for it and he took off like a little fish! He's such a natural and I'm so proud! It obviously makes me feel better considering the amount of time we spend around water. I wish I had a picture or video, but we were at the lessons by ourselves. So I don't have evidence, but trust me, this kid is the next Michael Phelps, minus that whole pot thing (hopefully)!! :)

A Game of Catch Up

I guess blogging is what happens when you wake up way too early on a Sunday morning! The one morning that I can sleep late, I'm wide awake. So why not catch up on some much-needed blog time? Life around the Avery house has been full of action and fun the past few days. Last weekend J.K. and I enjoyed a couple of days at the lake with my parents and the cousins. We spent our time blowing bubbles, reading books and running around the yard. We even went to a rodeo Saturday evening, yes like a bronco buckin', bull ridin' rodeo, and it was so very entertaining. I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would want to hang on to bucking bull for 8 seconds, but we had fun at their expense.

This weekend has been fantastic as well. Saturday morning we went to our third Aqua Babies class at the Y. My child LOVES the water. Thank God we're in swim classes because I think the child would just jump in and go for it if I gave him the chance. We've mastered kicking and going under water. It won't surprise me if J.K. is swimming on his own by the end of the summer.

After swim class we all bundled up in the bed for a nap and then it was off to Karie Mitchell's photography studio for some family picture time. If you haven't seen Karie's work you must visit her site. If you live in the Birmingham area and are looking for an awesome photographer with competitive rates, then Karie is your girl. She spent two hours with the three of us and my parents and got some amazing shots. I know he's my little guy, but he was so photogenic yesterday. I can't wait to post the pictures to the blog.

So now, it's almost 7 a.m. on Sunday and I'm on my second cup of coffee. We'll head off to church later and just enjoy another great day.

On another note, my heart has been very heavy lately. I know of way too many people going through job loss, sickness and even death. My heart hurts so much for so many of these families. If you wouldn't mind I just ask that you keep the following people in your prayers:

Baby Cooper who is fighting cancer. Hospice is now with him and his family is dealing with the reality of this horrible disease.

Baby Stellan, who as many of you know, is fighting SVT, a serious heart condition, which nearly caused his death in utero.

The family of Sweet Little Tuesday as they continue to grieve the loss of their precious angel.

Baby Madison a miracle micro-preemie who came into this world weighing only 14 oz. She was born March 4th and continues to fight for her life.

My Uncle Jon who is fighting a failing liver. He's currently in the hospital and has been for two weeks. He needs a liver transplant and it wouldn't surprise me if he stayed in the hospital until that day comes.

Footprints Ministry, for strength to be the people God wants us to be. To know what to say to these families who need God's peace now more than ever.

For the Avery's, yeah that would be us. As we approach the coming months life will have a bit of a sting. May 29th would be Olivia's 3rd birthday. I have a difficult time believing that she would be 3 and sometimes it's even more difficult dealing with the reality of having only one living child. Please just pray for peace for me, Ben and our family as this difficult time approaches. My prayer is that we can find joy and celebrate her life in every possible way.

And so many more..

I'll close with my new favorite quote, which hangs on our wall among a collage of family photos:
Just when the caterpillar thought life was over, it turned into a butterfly.

And a few pictures for the road..

The three amigos, J.K., Big Cousins E & A show off their fishing hats at the lake house.


Kick, kick, kick, kick!!! Aqua Babies Class is so much fun!


J.K. playing in Pawpaw Ray and Nonna Debbie's tulip garden. Aren't the flowers gorgeous?


One of my favorites.

Until next time, which hopefully won't be too long.

~Lu

Work, work, work..

I need a vacation. Desperately. Just ask my blog! It hasn't seen me since it snowed, which was weeks ago. It's now in the high 70's and everything is blooming. I've been holed up in my office for weeks. I'm glad to have a job, but do I ever need a break! That is why we are in middle of planning a getaway sooner rather than later. The prospective destinations are currently between somewhere in Mexico (drug cartells don't scare me), Antigua, Costa Rica, Turks and Caicos, US Virgin Islands, etc. So basically the break will include crystal blue waters, sand, sun, food and fruity drinks..LOTS of fruity drinks!! If any of you guys have any suggestions for FABULOUS all-inclusives in the Caribbean I'd love to hear them. We have a budget, but we're hoping to make the best of the budget.

I've missed my blog, but my brain is tired. So that's all I have for now. I just didn't want you guys to think I'd fallen off the face of the earth.

Oh, and just a reminder..I'm still raising money for March of Dimes and every dime counts!! :)

What's This White Stuff??

First, I'm sorry for the lack in posts lately. To say that life has been busy would be the world's greatest understatement.

However, we saw snow for the first time in over a year this past weekend, which of course warrants a blog post! J.K. was sorta okay with the snow. I'm afraid he's going to be a beach bum like him Mommy. We enjoyed a nice little walk in the snow to the local park.

We would have played in our yard, but we were the only house without a winter wonderland. This is because we are in the middle of a major landscape/driveway project. We have a great new driveway, but no grass. You can't really call it a yard, it's a mud hole. It's a work in progress and will be beautiful once completed.


Daddy and J.K. enjoying the snow.


This was the best picture I got of the kid.


I just thought this was pretty.




And, last but not least, our lovely yard/mud hole. Work in progress people..work in progress!