Wet and Wild Weekend!

It's been a long week for both of us, especially Jason! He worked four 10 hour days, then had to work half day on Friday. (Hopefully, he'll get some extra time off this week!) We looked forward to a fun weekend!

Since we were celebrating Uncle Mike's birthday at his house in Mint Hill, we decided to go to the Carolina Raptor Center before the party. It was a hot day, but thankfully most of the walking trails are shaded! We enjoyed seeing the hawks, eagles, and especially the owls! (even though they are fiesty ones there!) Here is a picture of us with a golden eagle after we watched the flight show program.

Then, we headed to Mint Hill and met Linda and Lee on WT Harris Blvd so they could follow us. At one of the intersections, we noticed that they got behind a car taking a left hand turn, so I called their phone to tell them where to turn next. Lee said, "We've just been rear-ended. We'll be awhile."

So, Jason and I turned around and parked in a driveway. The car behind Linda and Lee had hit them because of the force of another car running into the second one. (Like dominoes)

Their car was not dented at all, but the other two were banged up. Thankfully, no one was hurt though.

So, after that little drama, we headed to Mike and Becca's, where she had gotten a dunking booth! We laughed so much! Jason got dunked at least 10 times throughout the night! Some videos are below that captured the moments well!

Dunking Booth Videos 7-25-09

Molly loves Jason!

Here's a video of how much Molly loves Jason! She knows he's the one who brought her home!

Molly's been here one year!

Today is the one year anniversary of Molly being with us! Here is the story of how she came from both of our perpectives:

Jason- On the Tuesday before we got Molly, I had gone to one of the schools supply houses, and there was a woman with a black lab puppy. She said six had been dumped at her house and she was giving them away. I asked Melissa what she thought about getting Chip a playmate and she said she wasn't sure if that was a good decision.

But since I had Friday off, I found out that the puppies had been given back to the people who had them originally, so I went up there to see. It was at a mobile home and the puppies were in storage building. I saw a boy puppy that I really liked, but he was already taken.

Then, I saw a sweet little girl curled up on cloth and she looked me with sad eyes. So, I took her instead. I had to bring her to Lee's work because I had planned to eat lunch with him. Then, we came home and waited for Melissa.

Melissa- I got off of work at 4:00 that day and walked into the kitchen to see a little black puppy on top of the couch. She got very excited to see me and jumped down to greet me. In complete shock, I said "You got a puppy." I didn't really know what to think. Jason said he wasn't sure if I'd want to keep her or not, but after hearing about where she lived, I knew we would be a better fit. What's one more mouth to feed anyways?

We went to life group that evening, and then came home to try to figure out what to do with her for the night. I was afraid to leave her on the sunroom with Chip since I wasn't sure how he would react to her. We tried putting her in the cat carrier in our bedroom, but she whined. So, we let her sleep between us in the bed on a towel. She did well, but a few times I she licked my hand during the night. (The only other times she's slept with us was after she got fixed and was sedated. But she was about 20 pounds bigger, so it was a bit more cramped that night)

The next day, we let Chip and her interact a bit more. Chip was very curious, and Molly kept wanting to play with him. She also wanted to play with the cats, but they really didn't know what to think of her.

She still gives us a few "loves stratches" though we're trying to teach her not to jump as much, and many nights, she is our living security system. But we're glad to have her!

Getting through the rest of the week

I (Melissa) had some migraine issues this week, which I haven't had in awhile, so I'm not quite sure why. I felt bad Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but then felt lots better in the afternoon and evening.

Friday was the opposite with feeling good in the morning, but had a bad headache by mid afternoon. Thankfully, my boss let us off at 4:00, so I came home and laid in bed. I could tell that feeling bad affected my attitude in wanting to help my clients and co workers. I also felt like I wasn't quite myself either.

Unfortunately, the nausea didn't go away so we had to miss life group. I hate missing life group, but Jason took care of me and we watched some America's Funniest Home Videos and laughed.

Saturday, we went to one of Jason's childhood friend's weddings up in Dobson, which was lovely. Then we hung out with his mom and stepdad at his brother's house in Statesville, where they are giving the kitchen a nice facelift!

I found out something neat and I hope Linda doesn't mind me telling this. She didn't know she was pregnant with Jason until 15 1/2 weeks, because she lost one too beforehand. Afterwards, her clothes weren't fitting and she took a pregnancy test, and it was positive. She called her college roommate, who was a nurse, and told her concerns. So, they did an ultrasound, and there was Jason doing flips! Linda could be an episode of "I didn't know I was pregnant" on TLC!

Today, we stayed in nursery all morning, and had a good time with the kids. We treated ourselves to lunch at O'Charley's (which we went for our second date) since we've cooked all this week. Then, we both found shoes at Kohls (thank you 30% off with my Kohls credit card!)

We had a discussion night at TNT with just us and Wes and Tiffany. We talked about the freedom we can experience with God: times we've had that and other times it's been taken away. My favorite scripture reading was Isaiah 61: 1-3, about how God is there for the brokenhearted and gives us "a crown of beauty instead of ashes..." I just think that's such a neat visual!

Now for a new week!

History of July 14th

Today is my Grandmother's birthday and deathday. I picked some flowers from our yard to place on her and Grandfather's grave this morning before work.

I laid the flowers on the counter and my cat Jimi must have liked the smell. I think some of the pollen rubbed off on him because he now has orange on his face and legs. He looks like he's eaten some Cheetos!

Also, my first day at CFA was on July 14th, 2005, in which Grandmother died that evening. Interesting events happened on this day and maybe the future holds more!

Garden progress

We cooked our first squash casserole this week using squash from the garden! It was very good, considering I haven't been a big fan of squash! (Mom would be proud of me!) We've had a good amount of tomatoes too. Our pictures show the "baby" watermelon, a good sized cantalope, and some fuzzy okra!

It's so neat to watch everything bud and grow! It reminds me how awesome God is an awesome creator and provider! I often feel I overlook the complexity and details of nature, so it's nice to have the visual reminder right outside!

At life group, we talked about Jacob's deceit of Issac into blessing him as the firstborn, and also Jacob's dream about the ladder. I never really understood the Jacob's ladder deal, but I was enlighted that it appears as the first time God speaks to Jacob directly. I thought maybe Jacob needed visuals aids too!

Myrtle Beach, June 30th to July 4th, 2009

This past Tuesday, mom, Chris, Lesley, and I headed to Myrtle Beach! I worked that morning, which always seems like a blessing and a curse. I had a few things I needed to get done with a group changing carriers July 1st.

As I looked forward to the beach, I remembered a phrase from Camp Rockfish: "Participate, don't anticipate." We told the kids that since they wanted to know what activity was next, instead of enjoying the one at that moment. So, I focused on being content at what I did.

Tuesday, we ate a Fuddruckers and walked on the beach since we got there around 5:30.

Wednesday we chilled on the beach and played a bit in the ocean. One of the lifeguards had to get someone on a boogy board that morning, so that should have been the foreshadowing of a dramatic week.

Dad and Jason arrived around 6:00 on Wednesday and we ordered pizza. After we finished, we heard the fire alarm. We headed out to the front of the hotel, seeing the staff scrambling. We ended up walking to the pier and eating ice cream. We figured someone pulled the alarm "for fun".

Thursday, we played in the ocean a lot. Jason got sunburned since he didn't apply sunscreen. We shopped at the Tangler Outlets before dinner. It was scronching hot! We ate at Philips Seafood near the Broadway at the Beach for dinner. I actually loved the crab cakes and salmon I had! Later, Jason and I walked on the beach.

Friday, Jason, Chris, dad, and I went on the banana boat that morning. Dad was the one who wanted to go the most, but in fact, enjoyed it the least! About 90% of the time he groaned or cussed, and occassionally I heard him say he wasn't able to hold on anymore. Thank God, he didn't fall off! None of us did!

Jason had a great time in the front. It took me a few mintues to get used the jerkiness. From the shore, the banana boat did not seem that jerky. But, I started to really like it on the way back, which I think is mainly because we flowed with the current instead of against it. I think I held on too tight because my hands really hurt! Later that night, my arms and legs joined in!

After laying out that afternoon, mom asked one of the hotel staff if they knew about a good local restaurant. We ended up at Mrs. Fish, a hole in the wall! Wonderful seafood! Mostly, everyone had fried scrimp, but I got Mahi Mahi (being brave!) and it tasted excellent!

The Family Kingdom amusement park was across from our hotel, so mom, Jason and I went to walk around since there is no admission fee. We hoped to find candy apples, but they didn't have any. We didn't ride anything, but it was a nice reminder of county fairs.

Saturday, Chris and Lesley headed to Charleston since she'll have an internship there for the month of July. Chris flies to Memphis Sunday.

We had a great time! I enjoyed seeing a different side of God's creation and beautiful sunsets from our hotel room!