9 Years

May 31, 1999 I graduated from high school. This morning, I got home from work and saw the picture that is on my desktop, which is of Dean, Lola and Deacon. I thought, "how lucky am I?" Those few months surrounding graduation and going to college were very confusing for me and at times painful due to things that were happening in my life. For a couple of years after that, I made really weird decisions and really didn't have a direction. To make a long story short, I am blessed today to be married to the person I have loved since high school! Not only that, but we have two great kids. Today I have what I always wanted.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Lola's Program and Other Happenings

This was Lola's last week of preschool! I didn't enroll her in the summer program this year. She went last year and I worked the nights before she went, but it is more like a day camp than school. I figured we can do other things at home, and she is going to take dance class and swimming lessons. Let the summer fun begin!

Her program was Tuesday night. She is on the far left on the top row, sorry the pictures are so dark. I did use the flash.
The theme was "God's love makes the world go round" and her class sang a song called "God Made." She has been singing it for months, little did we know that she was practicing for her program! Her class was the best 2 year old class, most of them sang and they were almost in unison.
Lately, Lola's favorite story is Jonah and the Whale. She knows exactly where it is in her kid Bible, and she reads it and talks about it all the time. It's very cute.
Lola reading to Mamaw and Deacon.
Me and my child who, so far, looks nothing like me.

Deacon is 13 pounds now. He is starting to get onto a schedule, some days. He is taking more long naps. He still eats every 2-3 hours during the day, and sometimes he goes 4 hours at night. He seems to sleep a lot when I am at work and then be awake a lot when I get home (which is at 1 am.) Fun stuff!
He is outgrowing some of his 0-3 month clothes because he is SO long!

In the picture below you can see his dimples.
Lola got to use her birthday money to pick out a bathing suit. This is the one that she chose. She will tell you that her "pikini is pink and really sparkly." Her "pikini" was on clearance, so I let her get a little ring pool for the backyard too. As you can see, she is content just to swim in the bathtub.
Deacon wasn't too happy in this picture, but we were trying to get one of him in his adorable little sweater thingy. He wore it to church last week, so cute.

That's all I have.

~Jessica~

Prayers for Bhoov - (Updated)

Update: (as of 5/24/08)

Bhoov went home last Monday. His surgery went well - he had no damage to his bowel, they didn't place any rods or pins in his pelvis, and they were able to sew up the wound in his back. It is very deep because a piece of metal went through and shattered his tailbone as well. He is on crutches and still in some pain. I have talked to him on the phone and he seems back to his old self. I may try to go see him in the next couple of weeks.


> My brother, Brad (we call him Bhoov) was in a car accident in Abilene last night. He will be transported via helicopter to Parkland hospital in Dallas sometime tonight (this morning) and will have surgery to repair a fractured pelvis.
The police officer that spoke with my dad said that the impact was on the passenger side-if it had been on the driver's side, he may not have lived.
Please keep him and my family in your prayers. He will be recovering for several weeks.
Thanks!
~Jessica~

Just A Little Update

Lots of new things going on, but at the same time not really. Deacon is growing and changing all the time. He is 6 weeks old today! When he is hungry lately, instead of crying, he "squaks" at me. It's funny to hear him try to talk. He acts like he wants to smile, I think he will soon. He likes to stay awake for about an hour (sometimes more) after he eats and look around. Today we did tummy time and he really liked it! He can hold his head up very well. Here are some cute little pictures of him from the last week.

As for Lola, she is starting to turn a corner. Some of you know that she has had a very hard time adjusting to Deacon being here. There were many days and nights where Dean and I were totally at a loss for what to do with her. She never went through the "terrible two's", which I believe is because she could always verbalize what she wanted. A lot of 2 year-olds have a hard time because they cannot say what they want, but she always could. She and I were having full conversations last year at this time, when she had just turned 2. Anyways, she doesn't act mean towards Deacon, but she has had some behavior and discipline problems that I won't go into right now. She started showing a lot of anger and aggression towards us. The last 6 weeks have been the hardest I have had with her since she has been born. But......................the last few nights she has started going to bed a lot better, and finally responding to our efforts, which I am so thankful for. Please keep all of us in your prayers so that hopefully this difficult time will soon be a thing of the past!

Lola only takes a bath now with her bikini, sunglasses, and water shoes on.

Here we played beauty shop and she covered my fingers in her little scrunchies.
She went out to play in the rain last week, and it had hailed earlier in the day. She was fascinated by it.

She is wearing her dad's reading glasses here. I think she looks like her grandad Sir.

Dean trying to get Deacon to look at him and make faces. (He rarely looks at us in the face, he looks at lights and windows instead.)
Deacon's first fauxhawk. Until next time I get around to posting.......................

~Jessica~

P.S. - I am going back to work this week! Only 6 hours at a time, but I will be working a few nights a week and Dean will be on kid-duty by himself. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers, and if you live around here and have some extra time, he could probably use some help from about 7:30-9:00 pm or so!

Deacon is One Month!

Deacon turned One Month old on May 1st. He is such a sweet baby. He still really just eats and sleeps like most babies, but he is awake more during the day now. (and sometimes at 5 am.) He is growing like a little weed. Tonight I went up to my work and weighed him and he is almost 12 pounds!

I just figured out that someone (Lola) must have changed the settings on my camera, because all of the pictures I have taken were too large to upload. I finally realized that I had to resize them (Duh) to get them on here. I have been trying to post pictures for a week!

Last week, also on the 1st of May, Dean's sister Andrea graduated from LCU with her BSN. Yay Andrea! Picture above is our first family photo, after the graduation.
Deacon and his Billie-Mom.
Deacon and Aunt Andrea.
Aunt Andrea and the kids.

On Friday there was a big bash for Andrea at a friend's house, it was a lot of fun. Even though she is a nurse, Andrea spends most of her time working for free helping others in our community. She and a few friends of hers live at Miracle Manor, an apartment building in an older part of Lubbock. The work that they do is awesome. She has touched so many people's lives, some of whom were at the party.
Congrats Andrea, we are so proud of you and we love you!