Hello blog world! I am back from my self-imposed and unplanned writing hiatus. Not that there hasn't been anything to write about, there is (usually) never a shortage of eventful happenings around our household. But obviously, for one reason or another, there haven't been enough minutes in my day to update you. For time's sake I'm going to do a random bullet list of a few interesting things.
So here goes:
- I can finally, and quite proudly say after 6 months of being poked and prodded every other week, my levels are down. My doctor said that he had never seen or heard of it taking anyone that long for their levels to come down after a miscarriage. So glad I could be the first.
- My husband is the human version of the Energizer Bunny. He has been taking Greek I & II during the summer sessions. On top of working two jobs. I have barely seen him in 5 1/2 weeks. There are only 3 days (count them 1-2-3!!!) left and I am so ecstatic that I can barely contain myself. I think I am going to let him sleep for an entire week, and then hug him for the entire following week.
- If you are my Facebook friend, you should know that there is another baby Brock on the way that should be making their appearance sometime in February. Brad's brother and wife came to visit us for a weekend and surprised us with the exciting news. We got to hang out with my littlest red-headed niece. She is a Honey, and quickly won our hearts over with her cuteness. She called Brad "Unk Boo" all weekend, and had a shirt that said "Future Big Sister."
- We had an adventurous 28.5 hours in SC last week. Here's the short version of how it all went down.....Brad's college buddy called a few months ago to ask if Brad "wanted to be in his wedding." Sure. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Brad got out of class at 12:30 on Friday, we got on the road around 1 so we could get to the rehearsal dinner by 6. We make it almost 2 1/2 hours down 85 before we hit traffic at a dead stand-still. We can see at least a mile in front of us, and the pillar of smoke that we see around the curve was a good indicator that we would be stuck there for a while. Mrs. Jill (our Garmin) took us on a detour through Kannapolis (sp?). (Sidenote: It's a city on this side of Charlotte, but it's known to our family as the forbidden exit off I85 because my parent's car got broken into at a rest stop.) The detour wasn't too bad, it just put a kink in our already stretched schedule. Quick phone call to the parents to let them know we're running a little late. After we had been back on 85 for maybe 10 minutes, a huge chunk of tire flies up and mangles our car. Lovely. We risk our lives to pull over and assess the damage. Another quick phone call home to ask my mom to set up the ironing board and have it hot so we can iron our clothes as soon as we walk in the door. As I'm talking to my mother, she informs me that she has no water. I start to freak, just a little. She explains that the water main has broken in the middle of the intersection in front of her house. If you live in the area, you may have heard about it here. When we finally do make it to home stretch, a man in a SJWD truck cuts us off and tells us he's closing the road. Awesome. We take our second detour of the day, and finally make it home. Brad shaves with a water bottle and a bowl. Our clothes remained unironed. We rush to off to Speigel Farms which is half an hour away. We pulled in at 6:01 and beat the bride and groom. They were late! As they are calling up the groomsmen to rehearse, they ask Brad to sit down. He was only an usher. Awesome. Did I mention that the wedding was outside and it was 97 degrees? We left right after the wedding to make the wonderful trek back. That was the first and only 28.5 hours I've been home since Christmas.
- So, maybe that wasn't the short version of that story, but I felt the need to start a new bullet.
- I am working on another blog give-away. I want it to be super fabulous, and I'm writing (typing?) it down so I can hold myself accountable. However, this is what my craft closet looks like at the moment. I need to clean/organize the closet so I can first think straight.
- I know this is totally random, and it's getting long, so I'm going to wrap it up with a story of how I woke up this morning. (Sidenote: If you are my Facebook friend, you should also know that we've had a problem with snakes lately. So we had to put out a sticky trap that will supposedly catch snakes, rodents, and small children if you aren't careful.)
Brad: Libby, wake up!
Libby: No, I have 15 more minutes before my alarm goes off.
B: Please, I think you need to wake up now. You have to come see this.
L: [Thinking] This better be good, or I might have to kill you.
B: Come on. Hurry!
L: Brad, what are you making me get out of bed for, what is wrong? (As she looks at her husband who is obviously panic-stricken.)
B: I don't know what to do, you just need to see this.
L: (Preparing for the worst.) Did someone break into our car?
B: NO! JUST COME HERE!
L, with her afro sticking up on top of her head, still in her pajamas, walks outside.
L: What is it?
B: It's a bird.
L: A bird? Are you sure?
Bird starts flapping its wings in a wild effort to free himself.
L: Yes! That is definitely a bird. What are you going to do?
B: I don't know. I guess nothing.
L: Brad! You can't do nothing! You have to do something. He's going to die!
B: He's as good as dead. His legs are probably broken and half of his feathers are all over the yard.
B convinces L to go inside before they wake up the neighbors.
7:25am
L: Brad, please do something. I think he still has a chance.
B: What am I going to do? Rip him off of the sticky pad?
L: Uh, yeah. Or maybe you can shake it off, and then you won't have to touch it.
B: What if he attacks me?
L: Really? You think he's going to attack you?
7:27am
L gathers a bag to scoop up the poor little bird that she fears is already dead.
B, fearing for his life, hesitantly picks up the sticky pad and puts it in the bag.
Wait! Somewhere in between 7:25 and 7:27 am the bird gets away! If you can't hear it on the video L starts to say "You did it, now it wasn't that bad..." but then B says "The bird wasn't on there!"
And that, my friends, was how my day started.
Please zoom in on the picture above and look a the ginormous spiders that the sticky trap also caught.
We think our little bird friend was trying to eat them.
That's all for now, folks.
He took me in his arms and gave me the most comforting hug. There were several women around drooling at his hotness and sweetness. He didn't have to say much, but I could tell from the look in his eyes, he was saying, you're not alone in this. When I asked him what the flowers were for, he simply said "You know what they are for!" 
After church, Brad took me out to the lake, for a relaxing day. We went to spend some time together, but we also went out there to spend time in prayer. It was Mother's Day, and we were wanted to remember our sweet little baby.
I believe that the Lord was there too. Matthew 18:20 says that if two or more are gathered in His name, He will be there too! Satan must have known of our plans too, because he tried to scare me away with this snake. Do you see him?
But I was not going to let anything ruin my first mother's day. So we took pictures of the snake, and he eventually slithered away.
At first, Brad and I just spent time together enjoying the beautiful weather. We talked about his great sermon, about life, and laughed together. It felt so good to laugh and have fun with the love of my life at my side!
We enjoyed God's creation around us!
And as we were leaving, we saw the hope of new life. 
