Life With Lucas

Where the rubber meets the road

2012-01-23T04:20:00.003-05:00

I'm not exactly sure what that saying means, and in fact my family often laughs at me for being "that MK" who either doesn't get a lot of those American sayings or mixes them up a bit. Either way, I think it fits right now. This is where the rubber meets the road, the true test for my joy in anticipation....will it wane with each passing day dilated at 5+ centimeters but still not birthing my child? will it wane with an evening of pointless cramping that doesn't turn into fruitful, productive contractions? Will it wane during my first sleepless night as precious moments of potential sleep pass me by? This computer tells me its currently 4:24 a.m and I've now been awake since sometime between 2 and 2:30, after getting up to go to the bathroom for the 4th time in 2 hours. Its a RARE night when I can't sleep. I love to sleep and it takes A LOT to keep me from sleeping, even during pregnancy. Until tonight. My mind swims with all kinds of random thoughts. Thoughts about our friends who were passing through on their way back to China and just left for the airport, thoughts about my friend and her family who today will make the little trek from Anderson to Cincinnati to finally meet the little boy from Africa who is now officially their son and meeting his new family for the first time in a few short hours, in the initial moments of me restless insomnia i stared through the darkness at the bassinet set up 3 ft. from my side of the bed and once again began to dream and wonder about the life growing inside me, I thought about my dad still in Peru going to meeting after meeting to sort through some recent church issues, I thought about my recent writings about Anticipation and how to guard my heart and keep the anticipation from turning to irritation, I thought about my sleeping 3 year old and how excited I am to see him interact with his little sibling, I thought about the whole chicken i forgot to get out of the freezer before going to bed, i thought about which organizational project i will tackle tomorrow since its looking like there still will be no baby yet...what haven't i thought about?! Its not the fact that I am slightly overdue that is hard for me to accept...its that I am already at least 5 cm dilated and so I built up an expectation in my head that in the next day or 2 I'd deliver. Cuz really, how long can one walk around 5 cm dilated without being able to complete the process and birth a child?!

I felt the waves of little body parts moving all across my belly and thought of that old school song that says
Waves of mercy, waves of grace
Everywhere I look I see your face,
Your love has captured me
Oh my God this love, how can it be?

So, even as I grow weary of waiting for this child I still have the choice. to choose to see His face, to see His love, to feel the waves of my God's mercy and grace in the little moments, even in the cramping and discomforts that seem to be leading me nowhere closer to true labor.

I thought about one of my favorite writers, Ann Voskamp, and her blog post on being a womb for God. Click the link for that must-read about comparing a physical womb, the dwelling place for my babe and the literal womb, my heart and life being a dwelling place for God.

I thought again about what I wrote about anticipation back on that December day when God planted a seed of inspiration in my heart that has turned out to be more significant for this joy and waiting journey than i could've imagined at the time.

ANTICIPATION
Peaceful Unhurried
Savoring, Beholding, Waiting
Eagerly Expect, Prayerfully Rejoice
Readiness

Do I continue to walk in a peaceful, unhurried frame of mind? Am i savoring and beholding the beauty of this period of waiting? Am I eagerly expecting and prayerfully rejoicing through each moment now matter what it holds? Am I living out this time in a way that will leave me dressed in readiness for my child's birth day and prepared to embrace what the future holds? Only by your help Jesus!

Soon enough our child will join us outside of my belly and each night will be filled with its own sleepless hours of nursing, burping, changing, consoling, etc. While I can I better hop back in bed and try a little harder to sleep!

Anticipation continues

2012-01-21T21:41:00.002-05:00

In an earlier post I talked about Anticipation....anticipating the birth of Jesus through the Advent season and also anticipating the birth of our second child. Christmas has come and gone and our baby's due date, today, has come and almost gone. Although there are signs of this one arriving soon, who knows when it will be! I was pleasantly surprised to find out the other day at my appointment that I am already 5 cm dilated and 90% effaced. The midwife told me that she was the one that would be on call starting that night and through this coming Monday and alluded to the fact that she could very well be the one to deliver our baby. Since that's halfway to being full dilated I thought for sure I would've delivered by now, and I was really hoping that I'd deliver before my grandpa headed on to Florida friday morning. But here we are continuing to wait, wonder, dream, anticipate..... I realize this isn't that big of a deal, especially since it seems more common for women to go past their due date than to actually deliver early. This is just quite a different scenario than what we experienced with Lucas. He was 9 days early, according to the due date the midwives gave me so the waiting game wasn't quite into full effect like we feel it is now. I also never got this uncomfortable with him, and never had near as much braxton hix contractions, never got the groin pain, never had trouble breathing when I lay down, etc. I know I'm 31 now and have had 3 more years of wear and tear on this body since Lucas but 31 isn't that old! Or could it be harder due to the fact that i was actually in shape before and during my pregnancy with Lucas but have only exercised maybe a total of 5 times since giving birth to him? Or maybe its simply that each pregnancy is different and this one just happens to be somewhat of a harder different. Despite the aches and pains and discomforts, especially of these last days, I do embrace these days of anticipation and use them to continue to pray for this little one, its adjustment to our family and each of our adjustments to having him/her join us. It has been a sweet time of excitement and wonder and gratitude as I contemplate what this one might look like, be like, whether it is a boy or girl, how Lucas will respond to him/her, etc.

My mom joined us (along with my grandpa for a few days) on Wednesday. She's already been such a huge help and Lucas is having tons of fun having her here. We are all ready for whenever this active baby decides to appear. We've washed some boy clothes and the few cute little girl things that I bought this summer at a garage sale, some snacks I think I might want during labor are ready, my bag is packed (and repacked) and actually already in the van, friends are lined up and "on call" to keep Lucas for us so mom can join us at the hospital, and our friend who is a labor and delivery nurse has people lined up to help with her kids too so she can join us in the delivery room.... Everything I can think of to do to get ready for this baby has been done. And every time I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night I wonder if this will be the time when my water breaks (like it did with Lucas), as if I've been promised that things will happen the same way!

Above all, I'm thankful that this time leading up to this birth has been a time of excitement and anticipation instead of fear. A time of preparation and nesting and even some good resting too. All we need now is a baby delivered!

Here's some due date pictures of the lazy day the 3 of us had while Derek was away for basketball and the intense storms kept us cooped up.

40 weeks!

we attempted to go to kohls (before realizing that wasn't the smartest idea due to the storms) and this is what Lucas insisted on wearing: his pijamas, hooded sweatshirt and his "hard hat" (a backwards yellow fireman hat he picked out at the dollar store yesterday!), with his new peruvian wallet too!

instead of shopping we pulled out the sofa bed and watched a horse movie

getting lots of good reading and playing time with this fun grandma while she's here for the birth

Pictures and news of our new baby coming soon hopefully!

Tomorrow??

Our sweet little 3 year old

2012-01-15T21:23:00.013-05:00

This week has been a fun week in our home celebrating the life of our little man. On Wednesday the 11th, Lucas turned 3!

I had 2 trivial wishes for this week: The first was that our baby wouldn't be born on the 11th, I want our kids to have their own special birthday and not to have to share the day with a sibling (although I realize that wouldn't be the end of the world if it were to happen). The second wish was that the baby would hold off coming until we could make it through Lucas's birthday party with his little friends tonight. My wishes came true. The 11th came and went and we were able to focus on Lucas, and our kids (at least these 2) won't be sharing a birthday, and his party just ended a few hours ago. Success. The house won't be getting cleaned tonight but at least we successfully made it to and through the party without having to reschedule due to labor and delivery. Derek has the day off tomorrow for MLK day and a friend from church is coming over for breakfast, hopefully he'll be able to overlook the crumbs smashed into our hardwoods and the piles of dishes in the kitchen awaiting attention!

Here's the week in pictures:
On Lucas's actual birthday we took a trip to the library, then to my appointment with my midwife where he loves "helping" to hear the baby's heartbeat and also insists that his be checked too. Then we headed to visit daddy at school.

Later that evening we headed out to watch daddy coach basketball and then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, a favorite of all 3 of us. Even though it was late when we got home we still made time for presents. A real saddle arrived in the mail from a special someone in Indiana. Lucas loves the gift...the only problem is he's wondering where the pony is and why he has to use a tub of baby clothes as a replacement

I make it a point to celebrate all the birthdays in our Thursday night community group so I of course had to make some cupcakes for everyone to celebrate Lucas. These were gluten and sugar free but definitely not flavor free! They were quite yummy and most importantly Lucas loved them! His party tonight was Curious George theme so I had some pictures of Curious George and a few of his friends to decorate the cupcakes.

Lucas is especially fond of "his Jill"

and "his Calvin"

Sometime before Christmas I started talking to Lucas about his upcoming birthday and asked him what kind of party he wanted to have. He couldn't really think of anything so I gave him some choices: a horse party, basketball, or Curious George. Horses and basketball are still his first loves but he has also recently become fond of Curious George and loves watching him on the PBS channel. And here he is ready and waiting for his friends to arrive to celebrate with him and Curious George!

Daddy giving the boys a pre-party pep talk to get 'em excited

rockin' out on the guitars while Kindergarten teacher Ryan Harry led the kids in some fun tunes

yes, there are 6 candles on this cake...a few extra just cuz my little guy loves to blow them out!
(the cake was actually a peanut butter pie with bananas, chocolate chips and coconut on top)

my sweet Atlanta friends: Mindy Pierce, Stephanie Harry, Sharon Koerber, Abby Norman, Jill Locklear....so blessed to have these ladies in my life

the guys enjoyed watching some football amidst all the birthday action

A fun time was had by all!

It was so great to be able to celebrate the life of our son with great friends.
Thank you to all of you who love our son so well and continue to support and encourage us along this journey called parenthood!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T23:43:00.008-05:00

With baby due in less than a month after Christmas, we opted to stay close to home this year, just like we did when I was pregnant with Lucas. Nick came down to spend the holiday with us and made it in time to go to our church's Christmas Eve service saturday night. Afterwards Lucas posed for yet another foto shoot by the tree while the guys made some Mexican food for dinner.

Christmas day was for the most part just what I wanted it to be...more about being together and celebrating/remembering Jesus than a presents frenzy. Refreshing. Keeping up with my dad's tradition of making the family breakfast on Christmas morning, Derek fixed us a big breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits with eggs and fried potatoes Then we skyped with mom and dad in Peru, and later the rest of the Hiatts in Indiana.

Grandpa and Grandma got to watch Lucas open the present they sent for him, a cajon drum the same as uncle Nick has. Nick brought his down with him so they had lots of fun playing together. I was too busy holding the webcam in the right direction so mom and dad could see him and didn't get any still shots of their concert. Another super special gift that Lucas got was a handmade nativity set from Grandpa and Grandma Strong. I've seen these at my aunts' house and envied them so grandma agreed to make one more set. I'm so glad she did and will forever appreciate the hours and hours of work that went into making each individual piece.

After the skype sessions we hooked up a projecter we are borrowing and watched The Nativity Story on the big side wall in our living room. Derek found the whole movie on YouTube and its captivating. It brought the Christmas story to life and will hopefully be part of our Christmas traditions for years to come.

We stayed in our pajamas most of the day, I think i finally took a shower and put on "real" clothes around 6! I figured since we were roasting a duck for dinner I wanted to look and feel a little more presentable for such a fancy feast! Derek wanted a traditional Christmas dinner consisting of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. In the end we opted for fresh duck and rabbit from my uncle's dressing plant in Rochester, IN, specially delivered by Nick.

We decided to just roast the duck and threw the rabbit in the freezer to bust out for a celebration when the baby comes in January! The guys thought it was a little overcooked, and maybe it was but it was tasty (with a honey maple glaze on top) and it looked exactly like the picture on the internet recipe. AND it was a pretty fun, unique experience to have duck in our own home for Christmas.
At 8 PM we finally sat down to this yumminess: roasted duck, spinach salad with herbed goat cheese (another specialty from my family's farmer's market in south bend, IN), mashed potatoes and green beans!

And since we hadn't already spent enough time in the kitchen, we then decided to cook some Ethiopian on Monday! Nick had discovered a restaurant in Louisville, KY that will sell all the authentic spices in bulk and supply the recipes so he stopped there on his way down. We had chicken, beef, and lamb dishes with the typical injera bread (bought at the international farmer's market here in atlanta), and a side salad of tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. Culinary perfection!

We tried to mimick a true Ethiopian experience by setting up a small table (tub of my winter clothes that will fit once i've had the baby) and all gathered around that eating with our fingers from the same plate.

3 special men in my life who share my love for ethnic food, yes, even the little one who is stuffing his face with that soggy pourous bread and spicy meat!

On Tuesday morning we ended our time with Nick by eating at the Flying Biscuit, our fav breakfast place in Atlanta, before he headed back north.

Looking forward to more years of Christmas memories, more years of Advent and focusing on the significance and presence of that special baby born in a manger...

Anticipation

2011-12-31T22:14:00.006-05:00

Each year when Christmas is over I think about how much I wish I had been more focused on preparing my heart throughout the Advent season instead of getting caught up in all the crazy hustle and bustle that Christmas has become. The parties are great, the gift giving is nice and thoughtful, being with family is the best but through it all I feel like every year my thoughts are anything but centered around Christ and how the significance of his birth and entrance into this world can truly, continually change my life. So this year, instead of simply wishing my heart were more focused on Jesus, I decided to actually do something about it. This sweet lady, Deitra, has become a dear friend of mine throughout the last year and a half since I met her and have had the privilege to be mentored and receive some much needed spiritual direction from her.

Almost every month she holds day-long retreats at her house, each centered around a different theme. In July I signed up for her Advent retreat scheduled for the first week of December and eagerly anticipated this day, knowing that it would be just the springboard my heart would need to cultivate the deeper focus I long for. The day came and went and I was NOT disappointed. Every time I go to her house, whether for one of her retreats or for one of her study groups I used to be a part of, I ALWAYS come away refreshed and feeling closer to the Lord. I knew that God would have something special in store for me during this Advent retreat. He did! At the beginning she passed around a basket of rocks, each with a word written on it. We were instructed to pick a rock without looking at the word. My word was Anticipation. How ironic....as i was attempting to focus more on anticipating the coming of Christ while also anticipating the arrival of our second child. She gave us a folder of materials, showed us a stash of Advent related books, and set us free to go into any room in her home for some solitude. The first chapter of the book I chose to look at "just happened" to be titled Anticipation. Hmmmm....must be a concept I really need to unpack and contemplate. So i did just that for the next 3 hours. It was a beautiful, peaceful time that set the tone for the weeks remaining leading up to Jesus' birth. One of the pieces of material she gave us in our folder encouraged us to write a Cinquain: a simple structured form of poetry which encourages you to get to the heart of what you are experiencing in just a few words. I am no literary genius and certainly not anything close to a poet so I wondered what I might possibly come up with but decided to give this cinquain thing a try. It was to be 5 lines and there were instructions about how many words or how to structure the phrase for each specific line. I sat with my word (Anticipation) for quite a while, contemplating it and its special significance in my life write now as I prayed and read through my Bible and some other materials. I came up with a long list of words or phrases that came to me when I thought of Anticipation, and then I narrowed it all down into my Cinquain:

ANTICIPATION:
Peaceful Unhurried
Savoring, Beholding, Waiting
Eagerly Expect, Prayerfully Rejoice
Readiness

To you it may just be a mumble jumble of words, and that's ok. To me its a picture, a reminder of what I wanted these weeks leading up to Christmas to be like, as well as the weeks leading up to the arrival of the little one growing inside me.

We enjoyed anticipating Christmas day with our almost 3 year old, and incorporating Advent candles and readings. Lucas's favorite part was probably the lighting and blowing out of the candles but it still is neat to see little concepts relating to Jesus start to take root in his mind as he hears us read the Word and discuss the Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love of the season. He always insisted on grabbing his picture Bible and opening it up to some random page, pretending to be following along with us, and his guitar was also a must have during the times we sang some Christmas songs together as a family. He remains somewhat clueless about who Santa Claus is and what his role in the Christmas season is. So Derek and I feel like we still have another year to figure out how we'll approach that subject with our kids...

Last year we were living with friends so we didn't put up a tree, and the year before that was just before Lucas's first birthday. So, this was the first year he could actually take an active and interested part in decorating the tree. He had fun! And so did we, watching his excitement as he put most of the ornaments at the 3 foot level on just a couple of branches!

I think the finished product turned out pretty nice!

And the little man is a pretty cute model in front of it. He felt pretty good looking in this outfit that he wore to a wedding, so it didn't take any coaxing at all to get him to stand in front of the tree and smile. This was the fastest photo shoot ever!

its time

2011-10-31T21:19:00.002-04:00

its ok to admit that you are suffering from the so called "pregnancy brain" when you make mistakes (although minor ones) ALL the day long at work and at the end of it all realize you have only put deoderant on under one arm. Time to clean up the kitchen and call it a night and hope for the best for the new day tomorrow! (Can I claim "pregnancy brain" even when i do dumb stuff AFTER the baby is born!?)

he no like this

2011-10-27T23:50:00.003-04:00

Still no card reader, still no new pictures downloaded to the computer....just more 2-year old funnies. One night this week Lucas wasn't a big fan of the dinner I made (thankfully that is a rare occasion) and after announcing that he "no like this", he then informed me that the baby should eat it. Clever son, and even pretty cute...but think again! He said something else pretty funny that also involved the baby but I didn't write it down and now it has completely slipped my mind. Those moments though I know were a gift because he was particularly challenging to me that night, and I was tired, and Derek was out for some much needed guy time with his friend Ryan, and I began feeling discouraged about the many challenging moments I've had with my sweet son this month. I'm humbled as a mom and continually asking God for wisdom and Derek and I have had more than one good conversation on the topic of parenting and shepherding our child's heart. What a big job this is! I'm so thankful for the responsiblity of parenting and thankful too for the many fun and happy moments we have even amidst the more frustrating ones.

27 weeks and counting

2011-10-20T17:49:00.002-04:00

I have TONS of pictures from September and October to post but forgot my camera case and card reader in Indiana a couple weeks ago. So, in the meantime, til i can get that back and get pictures organized and uploaded, I thought I'd share a few of Lucas's recent and funny baby-related comments.

We often talk about the baby and my growing belly is becoming harder for him to ignore. For some reason he likes to hit my belly (he has a bit of a hitting issue at times which we're trying to deal with...not always exactly sure just how to deal with that one!) and who knows how much he really understands about how much his life will drastically change in 3 months but he seems to be very aware that there is a baby growing inside me. He loves babies and children smaller than him so it was no surprise to me when he patted (gentler than hitting, thankfully!) my belly and asked to hold the baby. I smiled and tried not to laugh too noticeably and responded, "well, you can't hold the baby yet cuz it needs to stay in mommy's belly for a little longer." And his quick response was emphatic: "Get it out! I hold dat baby!" Hopefully in 3 months he'll be just as excited to hold the baby (and not hit).

A couple nights ago I was doing the dishes and he came up, patted my belly, and announced, "That's big!" "You think mommy's belly is big?" "Yea, that's a BIG belly!" He also announced that to me a couple times the next day. I wonder what he'll think by the time January rolls around...

something's a little different

2011-09-27T09:37:00.000-04:00

You know there's something just a little different about your family when...

...You hear yourself saying to your toddler, "You need to go whip your horse in the living room, please." (instead of in the middle of a small kitchen where I'm trying to making dinner for our small group). Explanation: Grandpa Hooley sent Lucas the package of his dreams with none other than some used barn necessities....a whip, 2 horse shoes, and a halter and lead rope (which he uses as reigns). This has brought hours of entertainment for Lucas and all who watch him in action pretending to be harness racing like his daddy!

...More than once you have said, "I am your mom, not your horse, please don't talk to me like that" (He gets so caught up in the excitement of bossing around his imaginary horses and sometimes just can't break out of it and transition back into talking sweetly!)

...You are patiently waiting in the store to checkout while your horse crazed son yells things to his horse (Jazzi Jo) that only you can understand, meanwhile more and more people are starting to stare. You kindly offer the explanation that he's excitedly yelling cuz his imaginary horse is on the outside coming down the home stretch and about to win the race. (Things that only make sense to a handful of people in a metropolitan area).

No one told me that raising a boy with the last name of Hooley would be this entertaining!

You know it when....

2011-08-23T14:49:00.003-04:00

You know it might be a napless afternoon for your toddler when you hear him jumping in his bed and chanting, "Mommy read da book! Mommy read da book!"....."Mommy, out" (he's still in a crib). So much for that list of things I was going to get done this afternoon....

Lucas-isms

2011-08-19T14:32:00.002-04:00

People talk about the "terrible twos" and we do have some interesting times here and there but for the most part I really love this age. I love how Lucas is constantly learning new things, saying new things, and loving the world around him! He's a huge help to me (most of the time) and gets unusually excited about helping me cook or do dishes. It usually slows down my process but I wouldn't trade that time with him for anything. He has a nice little fold-able stool that we keep in the bathroom for him to be able to wash his own hands and when he catches me in the kitchen he runs and gets his stool and sets it up right next to me. So cute!

He seems to be developing quite an imagination. The other day we were leaving Derek's school and as we walked out to the van Lucas randomly declared, "Oh, bampaw and Nate commin' inna night!!" Me: "Really, grandpa and Nate are comin' in the night?" Lucas: "yea!!" Nate is a young boy who often hangs out with and helps grandpa Hooley with the horses so Lucas got to know him a little better during his 2 weeks in Indiana in July. I was amused that he was certain bampaw and nate were commin' inna night. He even went down for a nap that day still talking about bampaw and nate.

A couple weeks ago he thought my phone was ringing, it was actually my alarm going off. He brought the phone to me saying, "here ya go, its Papa." That was completely out of the blue too and made me smile. Papa is his great-grandpa Hiatt.

On Sunday we were heading out the door to church and he said, "Oh Dadie comin' da church!" Me: "Really? Sadie's coming to church too today?" Lucas: "yea!! and Dole, Dameron, & Myles!!" Me: "Are you serious? Cole Cameron and Myles are comin' too? Wow!" Those are all his Knox cousins who live in North Carolina. He also got to spend a lot of time with them this summer and definitely has not forgotten them.

Just yesterday we went to my office for a little bit and my boss needed me to do a little bit of work on a promotional display. I used bright colored markers and while I worked on my project Lucas stood beside me on a chair, scribbling with lots of dry erase markers on the white board. And although I hadn't yet complimented his artwork yet, I try and affirm him in all areas as much as I can. Yesterday he decided to return the favor. He saw my finished project and exclaimed (in his best and longest sentence yet), "Oh wow Mommy, good job makin' that!!" It shocked me AND melted my heart at the same time!

"H" seems to be the predominant sound in his vocabulary. Lots of things that in reality don't really start with "h", for him they do. For example, he loves music and normally joins in when i sing or hum. One day I didn't realize it but I was singing and he interrupted me saying, "Mom, no hing hong." Me: "what? you don't want me to sing a song right now?" Irritated toddler: "No, no hing hong." Apparently he was not in the mood for mom to hing any hongs that particular day.

If you've been around us much or heard us talk about Lucas much, you know that he LOVES horses, can't get enough of them. When we first moved into this house we were busy unpacking and let him watch several horse videos. Makes him the happiest kid on the block. He then started requesting them as soon as he would wake up in the mornings. One particular morning, he called for us and wanted out of his crib. He immediately started asking for a horse movie and I said, "how about first just saying 'good morning mommy'?" Without hesitating, he got the biggest smile on his face and said, "Mornin' horse!"

His level of horse love and understanding was taken to a new level during his extra 2 week stay at the Hooley farm in July. Everyday he got to hear the words and noises his daddy and bampaw use when talking to the horses and getting them to do what they need to. He can mimic those horse commands with great precision and has tried using them on me a few times. The other day we were both in the small bathroom and apparently I was in his way. He said to me: "Get" (with the exact tone he's heard that word said to a horse). Assuming that since we've talked over and over again about talking nicely to your parents, he should remember what i've told him to say in situations like that so I said: "You may not talk to me like that. What's a nice way to say that?" And once again, without hesitation he looked at me and said: "Get, horsie!" That's a far cry from the "excuse me, mommy" that i was hoping he'd remember was appropriate to say in that moment!

What a crazy joy that boy is!

2011-08-19T13:30:00.018-04:00

I thought I'd now post just a few of the pictures that should've been posted in the 6 months between posts about grieving the loss of loved ones. Here you go...

FEBRUARY:

The pictures of Derek's team on the day they won the city championship are stuck on another computer but i did find this one of the champion coach, his proud wife, and of course the giant trophy!

MARCH:

Grandma and I made a cherry pie together

Lucas loved having Kenya chai with Grandma and Grandpa Strong!
APRIL:
The Strongs together on top of a hill overlooking the city of Cusco, Peru

on top of a playground at the school Nick and I went to in Bolivia

MAY:
Our new house on move in day and our mover friends taking a break to enjoy a nice lunch

Me and my big Derek and my little Derek on Mother's Day

JUNE:
Papa and a tractor ride!
comfy in his zoo shirt and ridin' a horse!

JULY:
Family fun at the airport!

cousin time in Atlanta....at the mysterious "sock museum"!
cousins and guitars are way too much fun!
(notice Lucas' preferred way of strumming his guitar)
family day at Stone Mountain

late night processing

2011-08-08T22:53:00.003-04:00

I'm restless tonight. After an extra long and busy (but good) day at work I'm keyed up and having trouble winding down, hard to think about heading to bed. This is not a normal problem for me. Lately I'm so tired I have to try and keep myself from crashing into bed "too" early and force myself to get something productive done. For now, I'm blaming it on the sweet new life growing inside me, zapping every last ounce of energy. But tonight my extra energy, coupled with my lack of motivation to do anything productive has landed me at the computer, reading up on blogs that i haven't checked in a long time. I know its been way too long since i last posted on my own blog but decided to check and see when exactly that last time was. And oh look at that....it was exactly 6 months ago today, February 8th. The 3 year anniversary of the death of my mother-in-law, when i blogged about wishing that the reality wasn't really the reality. I realize that part of the reason I continue to avoid blogging is because its hard to move past the blows of grief that have struck my own family now. Grieving the loss of my grandma, grieving for my mom and her siblings who have lost their mom, grieving for my grandpa who lost the love of his life of almost 55 years. At times, that grief seems crippling, seems too much to bear.

As much as this consumes me, you'd think this was the only thing that has happened in our lives since February. But that's not true. Since, February 8th, when i last blogged, many blog-worthy things (most of them good) have happened: Derek's basketball team won city championship. We moved from one temporary place to another one. Lucas and I travelled to Indiana for almost 2 weeks, visiting lots of family and enjoying what would be the last of our quality times with grandma Hiatt. Took a spring break family trip to Peru where we also met up with Nick, and Lucas & I also got to go to Bolivia with mom and dad. Became home-owners and moved once again (hopefully the last time for a while!). Found out our little family is growing and a new little one will arrive in January. Travelled to Indiana with my dad, arriving just in time to spend a good half hour with grandma, and tell her I was pregnant, before she started to head downhill and Jesus took her home. Got to hear lots of stories of how many lives grandma has impacted throughout her years. Spent some good family time down here in Atlanta before mom and dad headed back to Peru. Lucas and Derek headed back to Indiana while I stayed and worked. TONS to do to make this house a home, and its still a major work in progress. Life has not been slow or boring in the last 6 months!

I prepared myself though. I know myself well enough to know that if I'm mentally prepared for something then I can handle anything, or almost anything. So, when Lucas and I went to Indiana in February I prepared myself that this might be the last good pictures we take together with his GG, the last good quality time we have with her. Her prognosis didn't look good, and although its my own personal policy to not live life expecting the worst, I do want to live life being able to accept reality, or at least prepare for it. So, I naturally, and naively, began "preparing myself" for the inevitable. That probably sooner than later, apart from a miracle, the cancer would run its course and we would lose her and life as the Hiatt/Strong family knew it would be very different. And when it happened, I was so unprepared. All that mental preparation seemed to be in vain. Little did I know that its impossible to "prepare yourself" for the death of a loved one, someone who is such an integral part of your life. Indeed the sting of this type of death may not be as hard as losing someone instantly, such as in a car crash, (but then again, who really can be the judge of that?) but the reality remains the same. Death, whether slow or sudden, rips someone from your life and leaves your head spinning. At least it has left my head spinning.

After all that supposed mental preparation I still almost daily feel shocked that she's gone. I wonder how long I'll feel this way. I wonder how many more times I'll be driving home from work and think I'll call my grandma and see what she's doing, and then in the very next second feel crazy for having such a thought. Or on how many more trips back from Indiana will the phone ring and I'll think its grandma calling to check on how far we've gotten and if we're staying awake ok for the drive? What will i do when she doesn't call on my birthday later this month? How many more times will I think of calling grandma when I have a question about her recipe for her famous potato soup, chocolate cake, or pies? She's the only one who knows where my wedding dress is cuz she got it treated so that it wouldn't yellow in storage. Now how will I find it? Will grandpa come by himself this time when this new baby is born? Now what do I do with this huge hole in my heart that until now I've been blessed to not have to experience.

And what is she really doing right now? Yes, she's in heaven and yes its amazing and yes its far better than we here on this earth can even fathom....I believe all the completely and 100%. But right now, what is she doing? what is she experiencing? Has she seen my mother-in-law? Have they, being the prayer warriors they were here on earth, had a chance to intercede together in the heavenly realms? Has she spent time with her mother...who passed away almost 31 years ago? Knowing what she knows now and experiencing what she's experiencing now, what would she like to tell me? What things do i need to let go of here on earth in order to have a more eternal perspective, in order to press on towards what's in store and not get caught up in the nitty gritty sin and everyday life drama?

These are the questions, these are the emotions that make my head spin out of control. These are the things that linger and loom until I choose to Rest, and pack up all my unanswered questions and the emotions of grief that weigh so heavily....pack it all up at leave it with Jesus. Leaving it with Him, thanking Him that He meets me in my questions, He meets me in my anger, and my grief and all the exhausting emotions. And all He expects is Trust amidst it all and the acceptance of His presence which beautifully leads to peace, even when the grief is all-consuming. And underneath all the raw emotions and the times that I wish I could bring her back...the truth is, I'm happy for her, I'm jealous of her. She's experiencing true joy and glory and the simple presence of Her Maker, things that are far beyond my wildest imagination from this limited earthly perspective!

And so I'm challenged and encouraged, even amidst those crazy questions and emotions, to continue to look for His joy and His presence while I live out my days down here. As a wife, as a mom, as a whatever else...finding purpose and gratitude in the sweet memories, in where God has me, in what He has in store for me, in the things He's teaching me and in the gift of His presence moment by moment.

3

2011-02-08T00:34:00.001-05:00

Three years. Really? Has it really been that long? Or, as Derek says, sometimes it seems like its only been 6 months, the pain is still that real and raw. Three years...3 more grandchildren...3 more basketball seasons he wanted you to take part in...loads more memories.

I miss you. Three words that are a reality for me, and yet words that I feel hardly worthy of uttering in comparison to the significance that they hold for my husband, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and the countless others who knew you much longer than I did. As someone who treasures relationships and even the simplest of memories with loved ones, my storehouse of relational treasures holds many sweet ones of you even in just the short year and a half that our earthly journeys joined. You remember that day we all piled into the Knox van and headed to Stone Mountain, right? Abby, Cameron, Sadie, Myles, you, me, Derek, and Nick. You and I squished together in the backseat, you leaned over in a moment that seemed random to me and whispered, "I'm so glad you're in our family." My heart soared and I've returned to that memory many a times. I am the answer to your prayers for Derek and you were pleased with that answer. What an honor! And the time when you came wedding dress shopping with me when my own mom hadn't made it back to the states yet. You sat and watched me prance around in David's Bridal in dress after dress, patiently smiling and gently offering opinions to the woman crazy in love with your son. Your help with our rehearsal dinner and your newfound love for the custard ice cream from Payne's at the Gas City exit. Your perseverance as cancer robbed your body of normal everyday comforts that we all take for granted. Your eyes closed and hands raised in joyful adoration of your Father despite that dreaded disease. Your quiet leading by example, your steadfast prayers that have changed lives. Yes, my storehouse of memories is richer because of you.

You prayed Benji, Sarah, and I into your family probably even before your kids were old enough to date, and countless days prayed over your grandchildren, both born and yet to be born. Lucas is at the age now when you should be bringing your fun little suitcase of kid-treasures when you visit. The age that Cameron and Sadie were when you'd bring down to NC a load of crafts and exciting ways to spark the joy of learning and discovering. He's also at an age where i'd love to know how much you think he's turning out to be a carbon copy of his daddy. I look at my son and I'm pretty sure I'm raising your son, a clone! He loves horses so much he can hardly handle his own excitement over ANYTHING horse (the horse excitement for a 30 year old is a tab bit more tame than that of a 2 year old, but still, a mutual love for the animal!). He'd much rather be in sweats and a t-shirt any given day. He's quiet, maybe even somewhat shy but there's a secret addiction to making people laugh that in some settings can overtake the shyness, pushing him to the center of attention. A love for basketball is taking root and no doubt the competitiveness is close to follow. Some worry over Lucas and his limited vocabulary, but he is a man of few words like his dad, (who is often teased by Cory and Abby for "not ever talking when he was younger"). No, I know he can talk when he wants to and says what he wants to say. He might never be a chatterbox like I apparently was at a young age cuz he is all Hooley, all Deek. And I long to know....do you agree? Is he just like Derek was when he was Lucas' age? Do you think he's as much a "little Derek" as I do? Am I raising your son? And if so...what do I need to know!? How can I best encourage them? How can I best love them? What about when Lucas is in school, what might his learning style be? What if he cries and wants to drop out of preschool, how should I handle it?! How do I refrain from being a nagging wife and mom? How do I cultivate in my son, the same passion for the poor and the fatherless that has been cultivated in my husband and that I see deepening? How do I ensure that my son learns how to love and respect and cherish his wife the way your son learned it so well. Why didn't I think of these questions 3 or 4 years ago?

Thank you Jesus for your Spirit who promises to lead me and guide me in wisdom as you did for my mother-in-law, and as you do for anyone who seeks you. Thank you for the legacy of a woman who wholeheartedly sought you, whose life was a blessing because she gave it to you to be used as a vessel. Thank you for the gift of memories. Thank you for the gift of family. Thank you for sovereignly giving and taking away and for your patience and your comfort when we say, "Why?" Thank you. Be near. Grant us joy in the journey....

24 months

2011-01-10T22:03:00.005-05:00

The presents are wrapped (including 2 new horse books which will make my little man feel like he's king of the world!), the party hats and noise makers are here, the Feliz Cumpleaños puzzle from grandpa and grandma in Peru is ready to go, and even mama and dadda get to be home with the birthday boy for his big day. However what we might be lacking is the cake and candles! Thanks to this southern winter storm neither of us has to work tomorrow, but also thanks to Mr. Storm lots of other people aren't working either, including those at the Atlanta Cupcake Factory who are supposed to be making Lucas' cute and deliciously gourmet birthday cupcakes. We live with our friends Jonathan and Callie and Josiah (age 3) but Callie is stuck at work (Grady Hospital, downtown) so it looks like there will just be 5 of us wearing party hats, enjoying some Massamam curry, and anxiously awaiting this type of response as the gifts are unveiled...
I'm as excited about my son turning 2 as if it were my own birthday! There are no words for the love and thankfulness that wells up in my heart for this kid and for his 2 years of life. His excited gasps (that make him sound asthmatic) coupled with that bright eyed grin and a loud "mama!" make me just want to squeeze him tight and never let him go. I'm sincerely in awe that God would give me the privilege of being his mom, and the responsibility that comes with that privilege humbles me and continually brings me to my knees. I can't wait to celebrate his life tomorrow!

My brother and I have a tradition of calling each other at midnight on our birthdays....something tells me I shouldn't wake up my toddler at 12 tonight to inform him HIS day has arrived. 8 or 9 tomorrow morning will be just fine...!

(Josiah has already informed me a couple times today that its time for me to go out and get the birthday cake and candles....I hope I can come through for him as well as the birthday boy, its not looking promising though)

Summer Part 5: Centennial Park Photo Shoot

2010-10-24T20:37:00.006-04:00

On the morning mom and dad left to go back to Peru at the end of July, their bags were packed and actually checked in at the airport and we had time to spare before they had to board the plane. So, we headed to Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta for our last photo shoot together. Here's the result...

The good-byes were made "easier" with the comfort of knowing we'd be together again at Christmas in Peru. Much to our disappointment those plans have since fallen through, so we're hoping the reunion will take place over spring break. In the meantime, skype is a good connecting point and Lucas will instantly drop whatever he's doing anywhere in the house when he hears a skype call coming through on the computer. If we get cut off (which happens often for whatever reason) he says, "uh-oh" and looks up at me to fix the problem, as if he's saying: "where'd they go, make 'em come back." Its cute!

Summer Part 4: Savannah, GA

2010-10-23T21:14:00.009-04:00

Since we hadn't done enough travelling this summer, a few days after TN we loaded up and headed to Savannah to spend some time with Uncle Larry (dad's brother) and Ashley.

And besides family, Tybee Island and the Crab Shack were the main attractions for this trip

Lucas missed out on the Crab Shack experience but enjoyed some relaxation underneath this huge leaf beside our table

Mom and Dad had never experienced one of Larry's trolly tours so we did that too and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Savannah. Beautiful city!

Its nice to have a laid back kid who can skip naptime in his crib but sleep anywhere...Grandpa is so comfortable!

The weekend ended with the guys grilling some yummy shish-kabobs for us all

Summer Part 3: Tennessee

2010-10-23T18:26:00.008-04:00

About a week and a half after we got back from Indiana in July, we packed up again and head to Gatlinburg, TN where we met up with my parents, grandparents (Hiatt) and Nick. We stayed in a great cabin for 2 nights and savored moments together as the countdown began for mom and dad's departure to Peru.

Lucas was lovin' him some of grandpa Hiatt's homegrown sweet corn
(and so were the rest of us)!!

story time pile-up

Grandpa and Derek still smilin' even after our insanely long deliberation over what we were going to do for the day!

a trip to the aquarium made it into the agenda but there were no swimming horses or ponies so it wasn't as overly thrilling for Lucas as we had hoped

explorin' the mountain roads...

more waiting, more deliberating, still smilin'!

stealin' some kisses!

On our last night we ate at a beautiful restaurant (one where Kirk Talley works at) with a spectacular view of the Blueridge mountains

My baby can read......HOOF BEATS

2010-10-15T09:08:00.001-04:00

He reads them here....

He reads them there....

He reads those Hoof Beats everywhere!

Believe me, I am not so desperate for blog content that I pose my son with a horse magazine and hope he'll act interested. These are actual, unstaged photos of a boy who is obsessed with none other than horse magazines. The September issue of Hoof Beats is especially torn and tattered and only half the magazine it once was due to its mileage around this house. As I would get ready for work in the morning, Lucas would cart around his magazine from room to room and read it at my feet....turning the pages, and oooohhhing and aaahhhing over the "ho-dees". Whatever that word is, its closer to horse than it is to caballo....i'm a pitiful spanish teacher.

After observing that Lucas's 2 loves in life right now are sports and horses, I've come to the conclusion that our only hope that our son might learn to successfully write his name and understand that 2 + 2 = 4 is if I can find a school in which students and teachers alike ride around on horses while throwing basketballs or footballs at each other. When one or both of these 2 loves are involved his attention span miraculously multiplies. Maybe the new Bluff Neighborhood Montessori school will have such a program!

Here's a special thank you video for grandpa hooley for the new Hoof Beats....just a warning, he's somewhat subdued for some reason in this video and not showing any of his normal "ho-dee" excitement. Maybe he forgot what they look like brand new and is speechless at the site of such clean, crisp pages!

Summer Part 2: (more from Indiana in July)

2010-10-14T22:29:00.011-04:00

Catching up with Twana and Kaylynn during WGMs International Celebration of Missions. Where's a good MK down here when I need one??

Amidst all the family gatherings across northern Indiana we squeezed in a rare moment with the Mocks! Eve and I were roommates for 2 years at Bethel and its always fun to get to see her and her growing family!

Lucas managed to pause for a brief moment to check out Eden. She's a cutie, it's hard to believe she's turning one this weekend!

clownin' around with Myles til the races start. These boys could live at the track

Grandma Sutton!

practicing to be a big brother

2010-10-11T16:35:00.008-04:00

Now, before you all jump to conclusions after reading the title of this post....I just want to make it clear that this is not, I repeat....THIS IS NOT an announcement that Lucas is going to be a big brother. Its simply a cute picture portraying that SOMEDAY he'll be a really cute big brother.

I babysit 2 other kids 2 days a week. Harper joined our little childcare swap not too long after she was born at the end of June. And Lucas ADORES her! If she is in her little bouncy seat you can often find him sitting next to her (when he and Noah aren't running races all through the house and throwing balls up in the air!).

Lucas is enthralled with touching Harper's face...

And giving her kisses...

Apparently she doesn't mind the attention!

Our childcare swap has been a definite blessing. This allows me to put in 10 hours at the clinic each week while not having to give my paycheck straight to a daycare or babysitter...cuz its FREE! I take care of Noah and Harper Monday and Wednesday afternoon and evening. The flexibility is wonderful and its great for the boys to have that interaction together. I'm pretty sure Noah's vocabulary is close to being more extensive than mine while Lucas hasn't quite decided to jump into talking world yet, so i think its good for his brain to at least absorb Noah's constant chatter! Special thanks to Adam and Mindy Pierce for our wonderful childcare swap!

Summer Part 1: (yes, pictures from over 3 months ago!)

2010-10-09T00:52:00.010-04:00

I'm ashamed to admit that only a slacking blogger mom like myself would wait til October to begin posting pictures from the summer. But here I am, slacker self and all, with a sneak peak of the activities that summer held for us. Hopefully more to come as the weekend progresses...

The end of June found us making the familiar trek back up to Indiana. My camera was breaking and not cooperating so most of the pictures we have are from Abby's camera or my mom's.

We got to meet the newest addition to the Hooley family: Charis Kay Jeanette, born on May 16th to Cory and Sarah. She's adorable!

This is one of my favorite pictures of all 6 of the cousins...actually smiling for the camera...

...with the help of the crazy adults!

Grandma Sutton and her greats

Grandpa and Grandma Hooley

Lucas had the time of his life riding horses at the zoo this summer!

And when there's no pony to pull the cart, these kiddos can always con someone into being their pony. This time Auntie Bev got a turn!

mira como mueve...

2010-10-08T22:42:00.000-04:00

It was quite a while ago that we realized that Lucas loves music and loves to dance around whenever he hears a beat. Back in June was when he really decided to get his groove on as we had 2 Colombian ladies staying with us for almost 2 weeks. They enjoy getting him to dance and he sure LOVED the attention!

Dalida and Yadira were such blessings to our family. Yadira was in the States for treatment at the clinic I work at (her and her husband pastor a church in Spain) and Dalida was her long-time friend who came up from Florida to help her during her intense treatments. They stayed with us for 2 of the many weeks they were here. We enjoyed their company and hearing of their rich lives and experiences with the Lord, and we were especially spoiled with Dalida's amazing cooking. My brain worked overtime while they were here as they don't speak English and my sweet husband knows only a limited amount of Spanish. So i was constantly translating and that's tiring! But it flipped me back into the Spanish mode to where I was speaking Spanish to Lucas lots more, and without even realizing it! And Derek was starting to pick up words pretty quickly, somehow they were able to communicate with each other during the times I was at work and they were all at home hanging out!

breaking news

2010-08-09T09:52:00.002-04:00

THIS JUST IN:

An urban Atlanta mother reports that her toddler son has finally been released from 4 day captivity by none of other than the Teething Monster. Mama, daddy, and toddler are recovering well and happy to be reunited once again after the sudden and brutal attack of the Teething Monster. Doctors are refusing to comment, as they are ashamed to admit that they denied the possibility this bizarre behavior, inability to sleep through the night, and refusal to eat could have been caused by captivity from said monster. While toddler regains his appetite and joy for life, mom and dad pick up the pieces of what is left of their sanity and once again find joy in parenting. Each rest in new hope that too there soon will be relief from the deadly grip of the Toddler Tantrum Monster.

Stay tuned for more details...

high chair happenings continued....

2010-06-15T22:38:00.006-04:00

Mama's brown rice pasta with pesto sauce is good to the last bite!

high chair happenings

2010-06-01T21:10:00.003-04:00

When you get left in your high chair long after your food is gone (so mom and dad can finish eating), boredom sets in resulting in spastic motions and funny faces. But it sure is cute!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-01T19:36:00.012-04:00

Memorial Day Weekend was a pretty busy one for us. We drove back and forth between a reunion with some of my friends from Germany, a day at the lake with our church, and dinner with some MK friends who are about to head out to volunteer overseas for the summer. Lots of driving, few naps, short nights...but lots of good memories with lots of people we love!
I didn't come away from the weekend with any pictures of my Germany friends or our MK friends but did manage to capture Lucas' first boat ride and his first driving lessons...

we stopped for a few jumps off a big rock

our friends, Callie and Josiah

Lucas enjoyed pointing to all the other boats and making sure Esther saw them too

I had my first driving lesson at a pretty young age in Bolivia so we figured Lucas ought to get an early start too...

(before you watch the following video make sure you have an empty stomach....I think i was walking and trying to video at the same time which doesn't make for a very steady picture....watch at your own risk)

thanks to his friend Caleb for lending his wheels!

Happy Birthday to him, Happy Anniversary to us

2010-05-26T00:05:00.000-04:00

30 years of life and 3 years of marriage have produced this

Two continuing to grow in love for each other, one working his way into our hearts and lives more deeply than we could've imagined, three finding joy in the journey the Father is giving us. Thank you Jesus for your gifts of life and love...

Happy Birthday mi guapo, the love of my life, and the man who continues to steal my heart and amaze me day in and day out. Happy Anniversary, I am proud to be your wife and the mother of your son!

someone little lives here

2010-05-25T15:34:00.002-04:00

You know an active little toddler shares your home when you find a box of macaroni in your dryer, 12 rolls of toilet paper decorating your bathroom floor, and nearly every cookbook you own scattered in the kitchen! My Lucas makes me laugh!

Mimic the Father

2010-04-20T12:01:00.004-04:00

I love watching Lucas grow and develop and become more aware of the world around him everyday. He's always learning something new or discovering something new he never noticed before and his excitement is priceless! He has recently begun to mimic the actions of those around him and its pretty funny to see such a little guy attempt his own version of what he sees! On Sunday at church I witnessed the most precious mimicking moment that I pray I never forget. During the worship time we were standing and Derek was holding Lucas. Derek closed his eyes and raised his arm....I looked over just in time to see Lucas look at his dad, look as his dad's raised arm, and then his little arm shot up. I was immediately struck with emotion and have played that scene over and over in my head since then. As I watched the beauty of a little boy mimicking his father, I was struck with the reminder that as Lucas mimics us as his earthly parents, it is our responsibility (and privilege) to mimic our Heavenly Father so that the things that Lucas grows up mimicking in our lives are things that please his Father and Maker. May our lives be pleasing to Him so that when mimicked...He smiles...

best buds

2010-04-05T23:20:00.003-04:00

On Friday evening our church joined a local baptist church for a Good Friday service. Afterwards Lucas and his 'lil amigo Josiah were strolling around the parking lot together (Josiah is enjoying the fact that now Lucas is starting to keep up with him better since he has determined that walking is indeed better and faster than crawling). Anyhow click here so you don't miss out on the snapshots of these little guys and there is one more cute one too that Callie posted on my facebook page. Thanks Callie for having your camera on hand for these kodak moments!

Atlanta tourism

2010-03-26T23:33:00.013-04:00

My Mom and Grandma Hiatt visited a couple weeks ago. It was a busy week but we managed to squeeze in a little touristy trips including visits to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and the World of Coke Museum. I'm not sure how I've lived here almost 3 years and never made it to see the botanical gardens, its impressive! It was a beautiful sunny day and so fun to see the beauty of all the flowers and charming landscaping of their property. They even have a neat children's area. But we saved that area for when the Knox Family comes to visit again as Lucas was already 3 hours past his normal naptime and could barely hold himself together any longer.

Then on Friday it was off to the World of Coke Museum, and to meet and greet Mr. polar bear
posing on the American Idol couch that was used in one of the earlier seasons, who knows why or how Coke ended up with it...

an original coke vehicle used in Argentina back in the day

then off to meet daddy for dinner at Mary Mac's

and story time with GG to close out the evening

Smiles by Lucas

2010-03-26T22:48:00.004-04:00

Mr. Personality himself has recently decided its time he start smiling for pictures instead of staring off into space with a blank look on his face when we pull out the camera! We've gotten a lot of laughter out of his recent antics and we're sure the following cheesy grins, strange noises, and contagious laughter will put a smile on your face too!

As of a couple days ago, when asking Lucas to smile for the camera you're likely to see any one of these expressions...

I have no explanation for how he comes up with this stuff except for the simple acknowledgment that he is Derek Hooley's son. What can he say? He likes an audience, at 14 months he knows when people are laughing at him and he's addicted to it!

time to baby-proof?

2010-03-09T11:18:00.003-05:00

You know you are a negligent parent and its past time for baby-proofing when its impossible to complete such a simple task as taking a shower, because your curious, active son is obssessed with trying to drown his teething tablets in the toilet...and playing with the toilet brush ("hmmm...can i fit this in my mouth too??")...and unloading ALL contents of the bathroom cabinets onto the floor. Not for the purpose of playing with the cabinet contents but for the simple fun of just scattering things...EVERYWHERE! What goes on inside his head?!

Cory Hooley

2010-03-05T13:58:00.005-05:00

Please pray for my brother-in-law Cory. This past fall he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and started chemo treatments in December. He is over halfway through with his 6 months of chemo. This week he has encountered a major bump in the road and was hospitalized yesterday. The following is what his wife, Sarah, wrote on their CaringBridge website today:

"Oh how things can change in a few hours.

After Cory's low white blood count they prescribed 3 days of nupogen where previously he had only had 2. Thursday morning he woke up with excruciating pain in his lower back and chest. He took his pain meds and it didn't touch it. We called our oncologist and he told us to go to the ER immediately. Cory was in more pain than I've ever seen him in. I thought he was going to jump out of the car it was so bad. I also had the new experience of running several red lights in order to get to Parkview faster. For a rule follower, you know it had to be extreme for me to do that. Not something I want to repeat.

For some reason it was much more painful for him to sit and lying down was impossible. So he spent the first two hours in our ER room standing up and leaning on me. They took x-rays and did blood work to rule out issues with his heart. Everything came back clear so the ER doctor wanted to say it was a pinched nerve and send us home. Cory had to be really insistant and explain that the pain was different than a pinched nerve (which he's had before). They ordered a CT to see if it might be kidney stones. It also came back clear. Finally the nurse (whom we loved) convinced the doctor we should have an oncology consult. This was the best move of the day.

The oncologist thinks his pain is related to the nupogen shots he took to raise his white blood count. He also gave him an anti-inflamatory pain med which finally helped with the pain (after being in the ER for 7 hours). He admitted him to the oncology ward to manage his pain and keep an eye on any other problems. The plan was to release him today (Friday).

This morning Cory was doing great and it seemed like we would be out of here in no time. Then all of a sudden his temperature shot up to 102.2. His white blood count was cut from the 3000 he had yesterday to 1400. Not a great sign. They took blood cultures and a urine sample to check for infection and put him on antibiotics. They decided he needs to stay at least another night. So it looks like he won't be coaching at Sectionals tonight. ;)

It's so difficult to see his suffering and not know what's coming next or when he'll feel relief. I wish I could take it on myself. There have been some really hard moments but we're pressing on. Our God is so good and faithful. We prayed together last night and praised Him for the healing that has happened already and for what is to come. We're looking forward to seeing the scan results after Cory's next treatment.

Thanks again for your prayers as we journey through this. Charis has no idea what a stubborn, tenacious and crazy family that she's being born into. You can definitely be praying for her because she's going to need it! But as crazy as we are, I pray that she's a fighter with a gentle spirit, just like her dad. "
~~~~
Please pray for them. Sarah is pregnant with their first child (a girl!) due May 9th. God is equipping her with extraordinary strength to stand by Cory and selflessly support him and care for him while growing a baby inside her AND teaching full time! Click here if you would like to sign up to get notifications whenever they update their website. Click here to see some stunning pregnancy pictures of Sarah!

And here are a few pictures of when Cory and Aunt Bev Hooley came to visit last month...

Lately

2010-03-03T20:25:00.017-05:00

I've recently been asked to show some new pictures of Lucas. So, as a mother its only natural for me to assume that everyone else out there is also longing to see the latest in the life of my 13 month old! However, when downloading photos to my computer (which i haven't done in a long time) I realized I've done a terrible job of taking pictures lately. But here's some random ones to satisfy...

this young man loves to swing

sporting the Inman Eagles basketball shirt his Aunt Abby made him so he could better support his dad at basketball games

who's your daddy??

for the sake of those who live up north I'll refrain from complaining about the amount of snow we've had down here this winter (more than our fair southern share)...
but it does make a pretty backdrop for pictures!

eating his apples like a big boy

the stylish way to get the grocery shoppin' done

when you fail to realize just how long your son's arms really are, when he pulls a ceramic bowl off the table and you fail to clean up every single one of the shattered pieces off the floor, when you later go back in the kitchen and your son plays with random things on the floor, when you see a trail of blood behind him, when you start to freak out.....
this is what it all leads to...
...a very dramatic looking bandage for a small cut that is barely visible. Ya gotta do whatcha gotta do when the bleeding won't stop and the small (less dramatic looking) bandage keeps getting ripped off by the sweet, annoyed little boy!

who needs a play pen when you can climb in the stove drawer with your toys?!

who needs a recliner and a movie when you've got the infant carseat you've outgrown and a book?!

Don't hold your breath but maybe sometime before Lucas heads to kindergarten I'll actually post the pictures of his 1st birthday parties (that are currently sitting in a "draft post", waiting for the finishing touches)...and also pictures of the many visitors we've had lately...and pictures from Christmas...and...

A year ago - Part 2

2010-01-11T00:13:00.013-05:00

The rest of that story is (see this previous post)....we got ourselves a Scalini's baby...so, we got the t-shirt

(Lucas at 8 months)

and when Lucas was just 9 days old we redeemed the $25 gift certificateOne year ago today, at about 5 a.m. I woke up feeling yucky and sick to my stomach. I first thought that I was sick from the eggplant parmesean. But at 5:15 when my water broke, I knew this was more than just an upset stomach and most likely this would be the day I met my baby. Things picked up speed from there on out...

5:20 a.m. contractions started
5:30 called the midwife, she said "contractions sound too irregular, take a shower or walk around some to regulate things" I said "ok" but what I meant to say was "NO WAY! we're coming to the hospital now, this baby's coming faster than you think!"
6:15 contractions were already almost too severe to bare, I was terrified wondering how the heck I was going to manage pushing a child out of my body (meanwhile Derek tried to help me stay calm while simultaneously loading our things in the van)
6:30 our friend Callie (a labor and delivery nurse at a local hospital and our doula for the big day) arrived
6:35 testing out just how well our trusty Town n Country minivan performs under pressure as Derek fast and furiously drove his laboring wife and Callie to the hospital
6:45 still en route to the hospital, "Callie...I think I need to push"....as Derek accelerates to 115 mph knowing we are still 10-15 minutes away from the hospital
6:55 arrive to the hospital in record time, van smells like it might blow up, I can barely walk and am certainly not interested in talking to anyone
7:15 all set up in delivery room, 10 cm dialated (ahhh...that's why i could hardly walk or talk!), 100% effaced, ready to push this baby out!
8:49 a.m. Lucas Sutton Hooley, at 20 1/4 inches and 7 lbs. 12 ounces with lots of dark hair, joins our family
I have tears in my eyes even now as I remember the emotions of those first moments we met him and stared at him in astonishment. One cannot even describe when for the first time you meet this little human that has been growing inside you, kicking and hiccuping and pressing on your bladder and giving you heartburn. As a couple its indescribable to stare at this little one who will one day look like one or both of you (or at least someone in your family!), this little one that God created and is now our responsibility to be his earthly parents, to nurture and care for him, teaching him to know and love his heavenly Father....its all a flood of emotions that is unlike anything else in life. Its simply beautiful.

Not much compares to watching a proud dad holding his firstborn son while calling family members to spread the news

Lucas Sutton, 1 week old

And here we are one year later...that dark hair has turned to blonde, those 7+ pounds have multiplied to 26.5 pounds and those 20 1/4 inches have stretched to 30. (at this point is where I intended on posting his most recent pictures that we got taken at Portrait Innovations over the weekend but I'm missing a cable for my scanner so those will have to be uploaded later).

Sometimes I still can hardly believe that I am a mother....a mother to a boy who is already 1. When we found out I was pregnant it was somewhat shocking in the sense that we hadn't planned on having kids quite so soon (but yes, we do know how these things happen). Despite the initial shock, from the beginning I remember God specifically speaking to my heart and telling me that this child would open up more doors for us to build relationships and be a LIGHT to those around us than if we didn't have him. So, I began to be excited about how God would use our baby for His glory. Sure enough, the kids (6 out of the 8 of them) from a house across the street couldn't wait til our baby was born. We first got to know them last fall when we had them over to carve and paint pumpkins soon after we moved to this neighborhood.

Fast forward a little bit to January 09 when Lucas arrived, the kids were coming over nearly every day to see Lucas. Sometimes 6 of them, sometimes just Dallasia and the other 2 girls in tow as well. Since then Dallasia (now 11 years old) and I have spent countless afternoons together cooking and baking (she loves to pretend like she has her own cooking show on the Food Network!) and she has often been a huge help with Lucas. I'd love to blog about this young lady's story and some of the interesting talks we've had, but some things just shouldn't be broadcasted on the world wide web. Not only has Lucas and his loveable self opened doors to more relationship with these kids, but several others too. When you have a baby, suddenly random people anywhere and everywhere will stop and talk to you (well first they talk to the baby, then they eventually get around to saying something to the mom too!).

One of my favorite things about being a mom has been experiencing the joy that Lucas brings to Derek and I, but also to everyone who meets him. He is generally a very pleasant baby, eager to smile at you, and most recently also attempt to carry on a babbling conversation with you (despite the fact that you won't understand one bit of it). Yes, there have been sleepless nights...yes, there has been frustration in often feeling like i can't seem to keep the house clean or get dinner ready or do much of anything in addition to simply tending to his many needs...yes, there has been anxiety over not knowing what exactly he needs each time he cries...yes, mine and Derek's wants and needs have often taken a back burner but at the end of the day all of that pales in comparison to seeing Lucas smile or hearing that sweet baby laughter. And watching that joy spread to the faces of others around my son is a reward far greater than I ever imagined.

I pray that we only seek our Father's wisdom more and more as He continues to entrust us with this little boy. I pray that somehow, in spite of us that as Lucas grows and develops that he would have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and that he would know this love that surpasses knowledge, and be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCAS SUTTON HOOLEY. WE LOVE YOU!

A year ago - Part 1

2010-01-10T23:26:00.002-05:00

I like to reminisce about the past and for obvious reasons I've recently been thinking about what we were up to a year ago and how our lives drastically changed! A year ago today, was a pretty low-key day. Like any supportive wife I went to watch my husband coach middle school basketball. My belly was quite large so anywhere I went it was always the topic of conversation. This day (10 days before my due date) was no exception as players' moms asked the usual questions such as "how are you feeling?" "are you ready to have that baby?" "have you had any braxton hicks yet?" "Oh, what's Derek going to do if you go into labor during a basketball game or practice?" "did I tell you about all the details of each of my labors?" I won't lie, all the attention a pregnant belly brings is kinda fun! Most moms go into a nesting frenzy...I'm not sure what's wrong with me but I didn't. I ignorantly thought I'd have time to do all that stuff once the baby arrived (was I on heavy drugs??). No, as we approached my due date instead of nesting, I rested and relaxed and enjoyed 8+ hours of consecutive sleep at night and as many naps during the day while I still could. So, undoubtedly after that basketball game I went home and took a nap...cuz I could, cuz no one needed me to take care of him/her!

From a couple different people we had heard about a restaurant in Atlanta called Scalini's which has some kind of crazy eggplant parmesean dish that is known for causing women who are full term to go into labor. If you are 9 months pregnant and you want to go into labor, supposedly the best thing to do is go to Scalini's and eat their eggplant parmesean. If whatever they have in that dish does the trick and you deliver your baby within 48 hours then you get a t-shirt for your baby, a $25 gift certificate to return to Scalini's to stuff yourself with grease and carbs AND you get to put your baby's picture on their famous "baby wall". So, we laughed at the thought of such a random dish actually triggering a labor and delivery process but what did we have to lose? We might as well go eat there for the fun of it. What else is there to do on a Saturday night when you have no little person at home to take care of?! So we headed to Scalini's and this is what I ate

Doesn't that greasy goodness just make your mouth water?!

Well, my water didn't break as we were leaving the booth so we figured we just had a good meal and that was the end of that. We went to bed that night (a year ago) still waiting and wondering...."when will our baby come?" "is it a boy or a girl?" "will he/she be athletic?" "will we be good parents?" "will it have Derek's eyes?" "my long fingers and legs?"....

STAY TUNED FOR THE REST OF THAT STORY.....

first haircut

2010-01-10T19:30:00.013-05:00

Lucas has been in dire need of a haircut for quite some time now but we were holding out until our trip to Indiana. Derek wanted Lucas's first haircut to be from his barber and friend, Don Gerber.

"Mom, what's he going to do to me?"

I'm pretty sure this was the only smile Lucas cracked during this whole experience

... it didn't last long..but then again who can smile when a stranger is using a noisy machine on your head, your grandpa has you in a headlock, and your dad is holding your hands down!
every now and then its ok to bribe with crackers !

how 'bout them side burns!

Don did an amazing job with those clippers despite the constant squirms and squaks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2009-11-26T11:35:00.012-05:00

all things pumpkin

2009-11-26T11:24:00.000-05:00

Halloween has never really been that exciting to me but Fall is my absolute favorite season and pumpkins especially fascinate me for some reason.

Some of our neighbor kids have worked their way into our hearts and lives over the last year that we've lived here in the West End of Atlanta. Even though this one particular family has now moved to a different nearby neighborhood, Dallasia (on the left in the picture below) is at our house nearly every weekend. Sometimes her sisters are able to come too and they all LOVE Lucas and are always excited to come to church with us too. On halloween we decided to take them on a special trip to Stone Mountain for the pumpkin festival. We did LOTS that day including a scanvenger hunt which rewarded them with entirely too much candy, we enjoyed the various pumpkin decorations, watched a show and a pumpkin parade, watched a lady make a glass bowl and the glass blowing factory, and much more... All in all it was a fun day and satisfied my request to do something "Fall-ish" this season.

our sweet little friends Dallasia, D'Asia and Rodneca

Lucas manages to find something interesting to stare down at for most family pictures...

some of the pumpkin puppets waiting to be paraded around

Lucas was the most excited to see the pumpkin parade!

the girls got to "paint" pumpkins

and experience putt putt golf for the first time

No one seemed to get their fill of pumpkins so we came home and painted pumpkins...

and as if ALL of that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we all got dressed up and headed to our friends' house for a Halloween party...

as you can see, those were last minute "costumes" that we threw together from a bunch of random funky clothes we had tucked away in our closets, except for D'Asia's little indian outfit and Lucas of course dressed as a cowboy!

After none of us could handle any more excitement and activity and after everyone was tucked comfortably into bed, Derek and I agreed we're not ready for 4 children just yet. And we vowed to never complain of being tired to Abby and Benji....who have 4 children!

Howdy ya'll!!

2009-11-15T18:36:00.006-05:00

Derek is in the midst of basketball season now so some days he has to stay pretty late at school and doesn't get a whole lot of quality time with Lucas those days. As often as I can I try and take Lucas into school to see his daddy for a minute. He's certainly a star as the students and staff love to see Lucas and he certainly is learning to love the attention too. Of course we had to go in the day before Halloween to show of his costume (thanks to his Aunt Abby for sharing this cute cowboy outfit from her boys!)

Ms. Lee has been a special friend to Derek while they've taught together and she especially adores Lucas.

Fall in Indiana

2009-11-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

The only drawback to living in the south is that we are miles away from lots of family and friends. Therefore we frequently find ourselves travelling back up for family gatherings or different events (the family times aren't the drawback....the travelling is). A couple weekends ago we made our 4th trip this year up to Indiana (the 5th one coming at Christmastime). I'm thankful that Lucas is an amazing traveler since this time I drove with him by myself and we stopped for a few days in Louisville to visit Nick, then we met up with Derek in Marion on Friday night after he flew up. I guess I failed to take any pictures with Nick while we were with him in his new place but here's some shots from the rest of the weekend....

our smiley little guy sporting his Bolivian hat that was made in Peru!

Cameron and Cass give Lucas a tour of the horse farm while dad keeps watch on his trusty steed.

The last time Derek and I had been spotted riding in this little cart behind this little pony was on this particularly memorable 26th of May two and a half years ago!

The main reason we went up to Indiana was to attend the Janet Hooley Gospel Sing that is held at the Hooley farm every October. I didn't really get many pictures of the concert but managed to get several of Lucas enjoying some of his relatives inside.

Grandma Sutton enjoying time with great-grandchild #4
Aunt Julie
Aunt Bev Hiatt (and Lucas still intensely focused on gnawing at his fingers)
oh but somehow for this picture with GG he could afford to smile big while he gnawed!Aunt Bev Hooley had the special touch that day to put Lucas to sleep even out in that crazy cold!

It was Nick's 25th birthday!
Then Sunday afternoon it was off to the zoo for their Halloween extravanga. Lucas was less than thrilled with the cold Indiana weather, enduring his stroller ride around the zoo while we collected candy with his cousins.

brothers: Derek and Cory

kodak moments with the nikon

2009-10-26T21:44:00.003-04:00

When we were in Indiana the weekend of the 17th (more pictures from that weekend to come) Derek's sister Abby brought her amazing Nikon camera so we enjoyed a little photo shoot Sunday afternoon after church. Unfortunately Lucas was asleep so we weren't able to capture him and his 9-month cuteness this day but I'm sure there will be other times!

Myles Jackson Knox posing quite nicely

Abby and her 4 (Cole, Sadie, Cameron, and Myles)

a new ride

2009-10-23T10:13:00.003-04:00

Lucas loves the pony rides he gets almost every time we go visit Grandpa Hooley and Nellie....

But now he just might have found a bigger, better, faster ride...

(Uncle Larry's big bad Harley!!)

Its just me, a crawling baby, a running rat, a wasp and some mosquitos

2009-09-18T17:23:00.005-04:00

Each day Lucas discovers more and more just how fun and increasingly easy his new mode of transportation (crawling) is becoming. Today I left the room quick to go find a phone number and came back to find Lucas had crawled across the room in order to dump the snack baggie, surrounding himself with cheerios. He was so proud and excited! Just yesterday Lucas wasn't very good at grabbing the little cheerios and successfully getting them to his mouth, but today he is close to mastering the art. Its amazing how addicting such a small, tasteless treat can be!

This was a good distraction from the fact that Derek and I saw a rat dart across our kitchen floor this morning. Is he after the baby food that gets flung and not always cleaned up as well as it should be? Whatever his reason for showing his ugly self today, I shudder to think how long he has been lurking in our home and where he might pop up again.

Not long after that I was swatting at a giant wasp and mosquitos who just love that sweet smelling baby skin. Its been cool in the mornings here so we put a fan at the front door to suck the nice fresh air in. Our windows are painted or sealed shut and so the front is our only hope for getting fresh air, apart from going outside. However, we don't have a screen door its just a gate type of door with lots of places for our flying "friends" to sneak in. So much for sucking in the nice cool morning air, we need to go on more walks!

vintage dining

2009-09-16T21:15:00.001-04:00

When we were in Indiana this summer, this treasure was dug out of my grandma and grandpa's basement.
This is the high chair my dad got at a garage sale and refinished when I was a baby, so we know this has been around a long while! Who knows how old this piece of furniture actually is since it was bought used 28 plus years ago, but its free to us and still highly functional. Derek being the man he is who doesn't like spending any more money than he has to (that's not a bad quality) was especially excited to carefully pack this in and bring it back to Atlanta with us since we didn't have a high chair yet. One less baby gadget to have to buy. Nice. Lucas has no idea what a prized possession this is and how much handy work his grandpa put into years ago. There's something about feeding your son in a chair that you were fed in that just kinda gives ya the warm fuzzies. =) Old or new, borrowed or blue...doesn't matter to him as long as we keep him fed!

I've been making his baby food so far. Yes, it can be somewhat time consuming and yes, it IS cheaper. That is a major motivation, although not the only, for making his food. Included in his repetoir so far are sweet potatoes, yellow squash, carrotts, peas, green beans, avocadoes, bananas, apples, pears, and just today we introduced cheerios (i don't try to make those though). His favorites by far are avocadoes and sweet potatoes, and of course any of those sweet fruits. Here he is enjoying some of that yummy food on his 8-month birthday last Friday!

8 months and counting

2009-09-11T16:00:00.004-04:00

It doesn't seem that long ago that I posted Lucas' 6 month pictures on facebook...but that 6 month chunk o' love turned 8 months today. Time flies! We recently had to lower his crib mattress because he began sitting up in bed showing interest in climbing out, he's wearing 12 and sometimes 18 month clothes, he is days away from an entirely new level of mobility (crawling), he likes to babble and often mumbles "mama" "baba" or "dada" (its doubtful that he really knows who mama or dada are buts its still nice to hear those sounds), he has 6 teeth!, his poop has become more solid since he began eating baby food and not just exclusively breastfeeding, he shows he truly is a Hooley as he starts to bee-bop when he hears music (i however have not a rythmic bone in my body), he laughs hysterically when tickled by his dad (an addicting sound indeed) .... these signs and more remind me that he is growing up and life quickly passes us by, a reminder to continue to savor each moment I'm given. I often marvel at the gift of parenthood as I catch glimpes of how our Heavenly Father must feel towards us. What amazing love!

First time for everything

2009-07-24T21:32:00.001-04:00

Disclaimer: This post is kind of old. It has been sitting in the "drafts" section for about 3 weeks now and since I have many more things to post by now, I figured I should better get this finished and posted before all the other things that are back-logging...

In the past 6 weeks or so Lucas has experienced many "firsts" in his little life...

~His first teeth~ You have to look closely at this picture but it does show his 2 bottom teeth that came in around the end of May when he was about 4 1/2 months old. I guess he takes after his mom in that way...my first 2 teeth came in early like that as well, so i've been informed. And to answer the question that I'm sure has formed in your head by now....YES, I have been bitten already.

~His first (and only) baby dedication~
On May 31st Lucas was dedicated and my parents, Derek's dad Byron, and his Grandma Sutton were all able to be there for it. It was a special day. I continue to always pray for wisdom about how we are to raise Lucas, and how we can best teach him about Jesus. What an amazing privilege and responsibility!

~His first time to be away from mom and dad overnight~ While my mom and dad were here at the end of May and early part of June, Derek and I were able to go away for a night to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. I was a big girl, I didn't cry or call every 20 minutes to check on him! I did miss Lucas but I must say it was so wonderful to be with Derek and have time to just focus on each other. We went to a beautiful bed n breakfast just about 30 minutes south of Atlanta. It was a quiant and cozy place that was so peaceful and we had some neat times and talk reflecting on our last couple years as a married couple. What a gift to have to special time together while knowing that Lucas was in good hands, thanks mom and dad!

~His first pony ride~ If you know the Hooley's you know this is a big deal! His Grandpa Hooley, his mom and dad, Uncle Cory, and my cousin Krista were all there to witness this milestone event in his life. Unfortunately I forgot to bring his zoo pony ride t-shirt so we'll have to have another photo shoot with the ponies later this month.

~His first time to see his daddy race~ For those of you who don't know, Derek's family also races harness horses (sometimes referred to as sulky racing) at local county fairs and tracks in Anderson and Shelbyville, IN. So, the day before we came back Lucas got to see his daddy race down in Anderson...not win, but hopefully we'll see that later this month =)

~His first airplane ride~ We have no actual photo documentation of this "first" but it indeed did occur on AirTran airways June 13th, 2009. He was a trooper, if his ears bothered him he didn't complain about it. He just looked around with the same bright, wide-eyed stare that you'll often see on his face as he observes this big, crazy world I brought him into.

~His first time to roll over~ He had been on the verge of rolling over for several weeks and unfortuantely the first time that he finally did it, I didn't even get to see it. Mom was here when Derek was sick and hospitalized, so she was the one cheering Lucas on as he discovered the art of flipping onto his belly. Meanwhile Derek and I sat in the kitchen talking and processing his hospital stay and bout with meningitis.

~His first taste of anything besides mama's milk~ Just before Lucas turned 6 months old, I took the plunge and started him on rice cereal. There's no turning back now!

~His first time in a pool~ Yes, its a little kiddy pool, but he's gotta start somewhere right?!

When his feet started to look like this we figured he had had enough pool time for one day. What do you think?

Then and Now

2009-07-08T22:19:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately because of Derek's illness, we didn't do a whole lot for Father's Day and didn't even get a good picture of him and Lucas together on that particular day. I think its ok though since we have a million others of the 2 of them throughout the last 6 months. But I do have these great pictures of one special father/grandpa that I thought were certainly "blog-worthy".

2009-06-21T22:03:00.002-04:00

As I sit here today, Father's Day, I'm thankful that Lucas and I could celebrate with his daddy here at home instead of at the downtown hospital that Derek spent 2 days at (not to mention quite a bit of money too) this week. Viral Meningitis was the lovely culprit that changed the course of this week for us. A week ago Saturday Derek started getting headaches. I can't really remember the last time he had a headache but i didn't think much of it. Tylenol did the trick that day and the next and the next. However, Tuesday came, he still was complaining of headaches but i knew better than to suggest he go to the doctor cuz of course he'd be "better in the morning." Well, this time was different. Morning came and he wasn't better, in fact the headaches had only become more severe and constant and much to my shock and surprise he actually asked me to take him to the hospital when i finished feeding Lucas. Wednesday turned out to be one of the scariest days I've experienced in a long time. After examining Derek and listening to his complaints of his symptoms, the ER doctor became convinced that this was more than a headache that would go away with more tylenol. After watching them whisk him away into a CT scan and explain to us that they were suspicious of a possible bleeding aneurism I began to wonder what kind of pain (physical for Derek and emotional for me) the coming hours and days would hold. Each night as I put Lucas to bed I pray over him, often expressing my realization that although he is my son and he is such a gift, he is more God's than he is mine. Deep in my heart I know that the plans God has for our precious little boy are far more perfect than our plans or dreams for his life could ever be. Even if I had to let him go. So, as I sat in that hospital waiting for test results, watching Derek try to get some sleep, reading the Word and begging for peace, I had to wonder if God was going to ask me to give up my husband. Yes, that may sound dramatic but when you watch your husband's head twitch as he walks and leans to the left or when you sit by your husband's side and he can only muster up enough energy to ask for pain meds and answer the doctor's questions or moan about the pain, your mind starts to run away with you. When the ER doctors don't waste any time running tests on your husband and making sure the results are processed quickly and continue to mention possible bleeding on the brain...your mind starts to run away with you. Just like Lucas, Derek is a gift to me and yet he is more God's than he is mine. What if he has a tumor? What if he does have an aneurism that is slowly bleeding into his brain? I've not heard of anyone who has survived an aneurism. How am I supposed to be a single mom? What am I going to do if God takes my husband from me? See...my mind ran away with me. I didn't have answers to any of those questions, I had no idea what the rest of that day (or the next) would hold. I knew that I was asked to Trust. Even when the doctor told me they were no longer suspicious of blood on the brain but of possible bacterial meningitis (which he informed me usually takes your within 36 hours), I was again faced with the choice...to Trust or to freak out. I wanted with everything in me to have a perfect Trust but i'd be lying if i said that was easy...sometimes it was a twisted combination of the 2. After all was said and done, he ended up just having viral meningitis which is not usually fatal like bacterial meningitis can be. What a gift, thank you Jesus!

Derek is home from the hospital but still isn't feeling good enough to really leave the house or do much of anything so I went to church today with just my mom and brother, with Lucas in tow of course. One of the songs we sang was "All in All". Something about the words of that simple chorus (Jesus, Lamb of God, Worth is your name) prompted me to think. I hold pretty tightly to things here on earth, namely relationships. I adore my husband and son, I have countless family members that hold dear and special places in my heart, and i wish everyone could be blessed with the friends i have. Goodness...with all that its so easy for my focus to be on people here on earth and not on my Savior who has graciously chosen to bless me with these relationships. Oh Father, help me to put my trust more in You than in the people you bless me with, more in You than the health we possess, more in You than anything my mind could trick me into trusting more. May the trials that could come my way never have more power over a child-like faith in your unfailing sovereignty and goodness.

Thanks to Cory and Sarah and my mom and brother AND our dear Atlanta friends who were here during this time to be the hands and feet of Jesus. And thank God for praying family and friends around the world!

(the comical part of this whole ordeal is that Derek was put in "respitory isolation" and any visitors and nurses or doctors who came into his room had to wear masks. I wish i had a picture of that to post but i decided to not make derek endure such a photo shoot. i'd say "next time", but in this case i hope there is no next time.)

lately

2009-05-29T21:18:00.014-04:00

For some reason when i "published" this post the format turns out all funky and some of the pictures overlap or the wording doesn't show up with the right pictures. Hopefully this isn't too annoying for you, the reader, and maybe this is a lesson for me that i shouldn't go so long without posting when i have so many pictures to post...

Lots has been going on, so here's a picture review of the last couple weeks with the Hooley family.

Our neighbor (Faith) from the apartment we used to live in downtown got married. It was a beautiful, small outdoor wedding at a place called Chateau Elan. Faith and John got married on the lawn in front of the winery. Beautiful!

Lucas pretended to be asleep in order to avoid another strenuous family photo shoot (like the one on Mother's Day). So, mom and dad got a picture by themselves. I thought Lucas's dad was looking particularly handsome that day, sporting his shirt and tie that we got mighty cheap in a market in Bolivia. (random tidbit of info).

Wearing a dress and breastfeeding don't go well together. I thought it'd be slightly awkward to pull my dress up to my neck for Lucas's feeding so we opted for a bottle during the reception. This is the day he decided to hold the bottle by himself.

Handsome dude just like his daddy

we also recently took care of little friend Noah. The boys were so cute as they interacted together.

My mom and dad are down here for a visit and are getting lots of grandson time. They've outfitted him with some cute new clothes and are enjoying giving him baths, taking him on walks, etc.

Uncle Larry came to visit again too and the neighbor kids felt pretty cool hanging out on his harley. They also were pretty fond of the homemade ice cream dad made for Derek's birthday party.

And last but not least for this post...if these pictures of this little man don't make you smile then your smiler just might be broken. =)

reunited

2009-05-21T20:51:00.010-04:00

Yesterday Lucas took his first trip to the Atlanta airport to see some very special people. His grandpa and grandma just moved back from Peru and had a layover here in Atlanta so we went to see them! Like a good little boy he woke up just seconds before they came up the escalator to see us. Good timing, Lucas.

Contrary to what it might look like, Lucas is not wearing a John Deere outfit...its a shirt that his abuelitos brought from Peru when he was born. It says "Amo a Papi y a Mami pero mis Abuelitos son los mejores." (I love mom and dad but my grandparents are the best!). It could be true...the abuelitos were able to steal some smiles from Lucas despite him not having a long enough morning nap.

And something was particularly exciting

Grandma was nice enough to share and give grandpa some Lucas time.

Grandma's main concern right now is that her poor grandson is still wearing newborn socks that really don't fit his growing feet at all. What can I say....at least he's wearing the right size of diapers!

It was a good hour and a half of reacquainting and the beginning of a year of more frequent visits and surely some intense spoiling too!

I'm a good cow

2009-05-19T22:49:00.002-04:00

In an earlier post I mentioned that last week we took Lucas for his 4-month "well baby" pediatrician visit. I am excited to report that he is a hefty, healthy, and happy boy weighing in at 17 pounds! I knew he was packin' it on but didn't know he'd be that much! So, the pediatrician tells tells me "you're a good cow, mama." She has told me this ever since i first took lucas to her and I was concerned that I wasn't making enough milk and maybe he wasn't getting enough. She assured me that he was growing just fine and that I was a "good cow." That's not often a compliment that a woman just longs to hear hear but because i was concerned about my milk production, that was the nicest thing anybody said to me all week!

When you think about it, its just bizarre, well... miraculous is a better word. I eat, my body makes milk, in turn my son is healthy and growing just as he should be. Lucas takes about 45 minutes to an hour to eat at each feeding, which from what i can tell is an abnormally long time to eat. Now that he's sleeping through the night, he just feeds 5 times a day. But that is almost 5 hours of my day spent feeding him. That alone is a part time job! Due to the fact that everything I do revolves around when he'll need to eat next and where i might get stuck feeding him if I'm out and about, I must admit that sometimes I get a little impatient with this motherly duty. However, God quickly speaks into my heart and reminds me that it is a privilege to be able to offer this to my son. Not everyone is able to breastfeed their baby, and it truly is something to be thankful for. And I am thankful, every now and then i just need a little extra reminders to renew that thankfulness in my heart.

Translation please

2009-05-19T22:05:00.011-04:00

Well, Sadie has been back home in North Carolina since Friday but I had a few more things I wanted to post about her visit and some pictures to share too. When you are spending time with a 4 year old who thinks she's 17 there are many humorous moments but I would say that some of the funnier moments were when the neighbor kids were over playing. We live in a neighborhood that is predominantly African American, only about 2 or 3 other white people live on our street. So as you can imagine, the neighbor kids talk a little differently than what Sadie is used to. One afternoon about 4 of the kids were with us in the living room just talking away and I could tell by the look on Sadie's face she was having trouble understanding them. Then pretty soon she looked up at me with the funniest, most questioning look on her face and said, "Are they speakin' spanish??" I had to work real hard not to laugh, it was SO cute! I assured her they weren't and proceeded to tell her what they were saying. Then several more times throughout the afternoon she would look to me and say, "what'd they say??"

Here's Sadie and a few of her new Atlanta friends

The day before she went home,Ii promised her we could ride the train to Centennial Olympic Park to see the fun fountains and play at the park. I forgot that kids that age don't forget anything. I started to think that it'd actually just be easier to drive there and park at our old apartment but she kept asking me all kinds of questions about the train and when could we go on it and she kept telling people that's what we were going to do so I realized I was stuck. I had told her we were riding the train and so i had to follow through. And besides the escalators, which terrified her, it was a really fun experience for her and Lucas and I.

Here she is waiting at our neighborhood station(the West End) for the train

The first thing we did was go see the fountains.

But after getting drenched during the fountain/music show, Sadie decided the fountains weren't all that exciting afterall. So we headed to her favorite playground.

No, I didn't take her to a seafood restaurant afterwards but we did stop here for a quick water break and rest on the walk back to the train station. All that playing in the heat wore all 3 of us out!

And last but not least for this Sadie post, she finally got what she had been longing and begging for...her chance to feed Lucas a bottle. Now her life is complete. Between that and her pride in rocking Lucas to sleep once, she has now deemed herself ready and qualified to take care of her new baby brother when he arrives in July!

We miss you already Sadie, and we LOVED having you here. Thanks for coming and helping me with Lucas!

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-13T15:44:00.010-04:00

This past weekend we took Lucas on another road trip (this time to North Carolina) to see Derek's sister Abby and her family for Mother's Day. We left on Friday night, spent the night with some friends halfway, and then headed the rest of the way to surprise the Knox family at Cameron's soccer game. As always, we had a good time with them and I know it was especially good for Derek to be with someone from his family for this particular weekend. Here's some pictures that captured the weekend's activities...

Cameron is a pretty good little soccer player and we even got to see him score a goal. Way to go Cam! (he's the blondie on the left)

Either the heat zapped his energy or he was quite uninterested in the game, but Lucas just needed to rest some more. (check out those chubby cheeks and double chin!)

bonding with Aunt Abby

since Benji works nights at the hospital on the weekends and then has to sleep during the day, we didn't get to see much of him but he did a good job of getting Lucas to sleep when he got home one morning!

Cousin time

This is Super Mom and her cute pregnant self anxiously awaiting the arrival of #4 in July

Super Mom and her two oldest

We did manage to get a few family shots and some of our little guy on my first Mother's Day. Apparently he would rather pose for pictures by himself because he smiled in the shots of just him but after taking what seemed like hundreds of pictures of the 3 of us, we finally gave up on getting one with Lucas smiling in it. oh well...there's always next year when he'll be 16 months old and maybe a little more cooperative, right??!

And I could sit here for a while longer trying to upload the picture of Derek grilling a nice big meal for us on Mother's Day, and I could sit here waiting to upload the video of Derek and the kids (including Lucas) having races up and down the driveway BUT I'm pooped. You'll just have to imagine those things in your own head and that'll be good enough. Good Night....

Little Mama Sadie comes to Atlanta

2009-05-13T15:40:00.004-04:00

Since Sadie loves her cousin so much and since she's not in school yet, I thought it'd be fun for us to bring her back with us to Atlanta. And it truly has been fun so far. She's a really good girl, pretty low maintenance for the most part, well-mannered, loves helping with Lucas, etc. and we have been having fun together. But how is it that a 28 year old can end up more exhausted than a 4 year old? Where does all that childhood energy go between her age and mine? I really would like to know.

So far this week we have been to the pedietrician (for Lucas), the international farmer's market (Sadie loves the fresh peanut butter we get from there), McDonalds (but to her disappointment their playland was "broken"), and a long walk to the post offce, CVS, bank, AND the grocery store (she thought her legs would nearly fall off). She has also enjoyed playing with our neighbor kids and also the kids of the couples in our small group who came over for dinner tonight. Both her and Lucas get quite worn out during they day...they both slept until 8:15 this morning. Nice. Sadie insisted on sleeping in Lucas' room with him, which isn't a problem so she's got a cozy little futon matress on the floor close to his crib. Somehow Sadie's snoring doesn't bother Lucas, and his intense crying when he scoots around in his crib and gets his arm caught in between the rails doesn't wake her up either. They're a good pair!

In case I was in danger of forgetting my name recently, Sadie is here to keep that from becoming reality. I'm sure I hear my name at least a hundred times a day! Here are just a FEW examples:

"Angela, are we almost there?
Angela, can I feed Lucas a bottle?
Angela, can i have a snack now?
Angela, you missed it...he smiled at me!
Angela, can i burp Lucas?
Angela, can we go to McDonalds?"

and at some point, she transitioned into calling me Ang...

"Ang, am I being good?
Ang, can I watch cartoons while I eat my breakfast?
Ang, is Lucas ready for me to feed him a bottle yet?
Ang, Lucas likes me!
Ang, do I have to go home tomorrow?
Ang, I tell you the rules...you don't feed Lucas a bottle, i want to when i wake up from my nap.
Angela, can we play 'restaurant'?
Ang, I need more paints.
Angela, is it time for me to feed Lucas his bottle?
Ang, do i really have to try those vegetables?
Ang, when are we going to the park?"

And last but not least for this Sadie post....
You know your dad is a track coach when:
1. You lead the neighbor kids in not just a boring 'ole game of tag but in a mock track meet. "Alright, everybody in their own lane....now, SPRINT!!!!!"
2. You lead the neighbor kids in running laps around the back yard.

Oh yes, I'm sure she'll sleep good again tonight....

taste of thai

2009-04-30T23:13:00.002-04:00

So, both my boys (husband and son) went to bed early tonight and i suppose if I had a brain then I would jump on the opportunity to go to bed early as well. But since its been a pretty busy week, I decided to stay up tonight and catch up on blogging and e-mailing and a few other odds and ends. And i just have to take a moment to brag on my husband.
First of all....he woke up feeling sick this morning (sore throat, stuffy nose and head, and all the aches that come with that....I knew we should've gotten the swine flu vaccine!) but he still let me keep my massage appointment this evening and he took care of Lucas. After hauling around our chubby little guy day after day my muscles get pretty sore so it was nice to be pampered for an hour. Not only that but he also got dinner started while i was gone...which brings me to my next bragging point...
Secondly, he actually tries AND enjoys the crazy recipes that I find and cook for him. I love it that pretty much the only thing he won't eat is sauerkraut and maybe one other thing that i can't think of right now. I don't mind sauerkraut but its not exactly something that i'll go through the trouble of making at home, so that's not biggie. But I do love all kinds of ethnic foods and usually try and find recipes online of a dish that i tried and liked at a restaurant. I aboslutely LOVE massaman curry which is a thai dish and so finally i remembered to look for a recipe for it that seemed doable and then Lucas and I headed to Publix today to grab things like fish sauce and tamarind paste that for some reason i just didn't have on hand! I felt pretty proud of myself that i got Lucas fed and dinner on the table for Derek and I within an hour of getting home from my massage. If you knew how long it normally takes Lucas to eat you'd know that is no small feat! Anyhow, I am thankful for a husband who loves different kinds of things like that and appreciates my cooking.
(Callie, you would love this dish....it almost tastes like the restaurant, you and Jonathan have to come over soon and have it with us)
(and Nick...we're making this when you get home too...and heading to the farmer's market to find some other cool stuff to cook up!)

a change of scenery

2009-04-30T22:08:00.015-04:00

This past weekend we packed up again and headed up to Nashville to see our friends Liz and James Wessel. They went back up to the church they used to go to to have their daughter Anne Talbot baptized. So we joined them in the occasion. The last time we saw them was when they were passing through Atlanta a couple weeks before Lucas was born, so they of course hadn't met him yet and it was so fun to see them again. We enjoyed a relaxing Saturday with them and some of their other friends and family just hanging out at James' cousin's house. Their good friend Os Guinness who is an author/social critic/speaker also came for the baptism and to preach Sunday morning so Derek enjoyed talking with him (not that i didn't...i was just talking to liz and some of the other ladies a lot!). Liz and I met almost 7 years ago (can you believe its been that long ago liz?!) when we moved to Germany to work at Black Forest Academy. We became instant friends at staff training, ended up being able to work in the same dorm together, and have been good friends ever since. Its so crazy to think that now we're both married and have kids of our own. Even though we're in our late 20s we had fun getting ready together at the hotel Sunday morning, kinda like little middle school girls at a sleepover. Anyhow, here's some snapshots of the middle school girls and their families...

Lucas meeting his future wife (yes, arranged by the moms)

Pretty cute kids...Anne will be 1 next month and Lucas is 3 and a half months.

Another baby photo shoot

"Lucas, you've got something in your eye, let me help...!"

baby friends

2009-04-24T18:03:00.011-04:00

We are blessed because we know several couples down here who have a kid not too much older than Lucas or who are about to have a baby. He will surely not be in need of playmates! Our close friends Ryan and Steph have a boy, Christopher, who is exactly 5 months older than Lucas. We see them at least once a week and this week we actually saw them several times and the boys have been bonding. We took these great pictures and video the other night when they were over for dinner. Oh how I wish I knew what thoughts go through a baby's mind!
<

Eventually Lucas had had enough of the baby bonding, but it was cute while it lasted!

Then today Steph and I took the boys to Sweetwater Creek state park for a bit. It was a nice 85 degrees so kind of a hot day to be "wearing" our kids through the woods but it was beautiful and fun to get out and see something different. We thought we were going on a trail that was just 1 1/2 miles but somehow we ended up going about 3 miles cuz we were yacking too much and ended up missing a turn. That's for sure the most exercise i've gotten since WAY before I had Lucas so this old and out of shape body is tired, but it felt good!

Obviously, riding around in a baby carrier for 3 miles is simply exhausting!

The fourth month

2009-04-23T09:00:00.004-04:00

I'm not one to sit around and read tons of parenting or child growth and development books but i do have one called "What to Expect the First Year". I picked it up the other day to read a little bit and what I read about what might be happening in your baby's life at this month pretty much described Lucas exactly. Here's what it said in the intro to the chapter....

"Your infant is just entering what might be considered the golden age of babyhood--a period of several enchanted months when good humor reigns during the day, more sleep is happening at night, and independent mobility has yet to be achieved (which means your baby will continue to stay pretty much where you put him, limiting mischief and mayhem; enjoy that while it lasts). Sociable and interested, eager to strike up cooing conversation, to watch the world go by, and to charm anyone within a ten-foot radius, babies this age are an undeniable delight to be around."

That is exactly the stage we are at. We are indeed getting more sleep and Lucas is handing out smiles and coos constantly. And i must say it is nice to be able to put him in his little bouncy seat or even just on a blanket on the floor while i do dishes or cook dinner or even get a shower, and know that he's not going to go anywhere. I know the days are fast approaching when we'll be installing baby gates, toddler proofing the house, and getting ready for non-stop action all day long chasing around an active little boy. Yet I'm sure even that stage will bring just about as much joy and fun as this stage. I'm certain if i could just bottle up and sell the incredible joy he brings us, I'd never have to go back to work and we'd be a pretty rich family!

Below is a picture of Lucas discovering himself and me in the mirror. This is the smile I get to see so often these days, isn't he just irresistible??!

lucas has a mom

2009-04-19T19:32:00.005-04:00

Something happened to derek when his son was born...he suddenly liked being in pictures. sometimes its hard getting derek to smile nice for pictures and he kinda groans when i get my camera out. but having a kid changed that. he's always wanting his picture taken with lucas! so we have lots of pictures of him and lucas(so far i've just posted them on facebook but not on the blog yet). but since my parents left when lucas was 3 weeks old there has been little to no kodak moments of lucas and his mommy. but our friend alex helped change that when we went to her house for lunch on saturday while derek was at a football clinic. so, here's the latest of me and my boy

its still somewhat difficult to capture his smile on camera, but his tongue manages to show up in several pictures...and it sure is a long tongue for such a little guy!

happiness is....sleeping through the night

2009-04-16T14:40:00.000-04:00

i think we have turned a corner here in the hooley household: Lucas is sleeping through the night! For 3 nights this week he slept until 5:30 in the morning (no matter what time we put him to bed, which was usually between 9 and 11) and then last night he slept from about 9:30 to 6:15! Talk about a rested mamma! Then after i feed him at that time in the morning he usually goes back to sleep til 9 am. True bliss! Now that i have proclaimed my excitement to the world on this blog he'll probably prove me wrong and have a rough night tonight but lets hope not. He actually woke up at 1:30 last night crying but i thought for sure he didn't really need to eat since he had made it so long without eating the other 3 nights. So, i asked my sweet husband to just get up and check on him...he did, rocked Lucas a bit, and then put him back down. the crying continued for a few minutes then he fell back asleep. its not easy for me to just let him cry especially when i have no idea why he's crying but i'm realizing that now that he's past the 3 month mark, is gaining weight well and adjusting to the world, he no longer really needs to get up 2 or 3 times a night to eat. Wow, we've come a long way since january 11th!

Little Mama Sadie

2009-04-16T10:58:00.000-04:00

So, I looked at the date and today is exactly a month after i started this blog and this is my first post to it since then. Wow, i'm off to a great start aren't i?? I definitely have a lot of things to say and pictures to post about our recent trip to Indiana but that will have to wait a little bit longer. For now I wanted to post these videos of Derek's niece helping me take care of Lucas. Derek's sister Abby has been wanting to show these to her husband benji so i figured the blog was the easiest place to post them so Benji could see how great of a little helper his daughter is! I couldn't decide which video i liked better so i just decided to post them both. Little Myles liked adding his two cents in here and there as well...

Like i said, more to come soon. But as for right now Lucas is sitting on my lap and i'm pretty sure he's about to overflow his diaper and leave a nice little present on the jeans i just put on...gotta take care of that

giving in

2009-03-16T13:53:00.000-04:00

As if i have a ton of extra time on my hands, i have decided to join the wonderful world of blogging. I think my number one inspiration for doing this has been reading my friend Maria's blog (yes Maria its true!). She has a way with words and an ability to humorously capture and recount the happenings of their little family in a way that draws you in and almost makes you feel as if you are experiencing life with them. She's definitely got writing talent. My mom is the same way. She doesn't have a blog but she's a good writer. So from here on out we shall see if i have inherited the same ability to write and effectively give you a glimpse of what life is like our little southern neck of the woods...

I make no promises as to how often I'll post but check back every now and then and hopefully there'll be something new and exciting to read about or look at. But I'm just not sure how exciting breastfeeding, diaper changing, burping and other newborn caretaking activities can be to blog about on a regular basis. Someone just yesterday asked me what I do when I'm not taking care of Lucas. The first things that came to my mind were take a shower, eat, or sleep! I managed to come up with some other profound things to say, in hopes that i sound remotely close to what comes to your mind when someone says "Super Mom". Well, I know I certainly am no super mom and wisdom has risen to the top of my list of things to pray for as I take this mothering adventure one day at a time. My mother-in-law once said that my first child would be our guinea pig as we figured out how in the world to sustain the life of a small child and raise him up in a Christ-like manner. Boy was she right, and I can only hope and pray that our sweet little guinea pig Lucas is not being scarred for life already at such a young tender age!