Happy Halloween

Hope you have a "fairy" good Halloween!!!

Fall Blessings

Fall is definitely around us!! What a blessing to live in a part of the world where you can experience four magnificent seasons. I think Fall is my favorite...but then again I think they are all my favorites because it seems like you are always ready to enter into the next season when the time comes. There is just something about this time of year though that gives me that "warm & fuzzy" feeling. There is so much to be thankful for and often times I feel so unworthy of God's blessings. Don't get me wrong...I don't always stop and count my blessings! In fact, yesterday morning I thought I was having a break down and called Keith crying. It was just one of those mornings but sometimes I think God gives me moments like those so that I can stop and focus on him. Recently I attended our church's women's bible study and the topic was all about God's mercy and our worthiness of receiving it. Most of all the women around me felt the same way...UNworthy! There are times where I get so caught up in trying to be the perfect mom to Merrin, trying to keep the perfect house and sadly, trying to be the perfect wife falls to the bottom of the list. I think my priorities are backwards but what I'm trying to say is that I get so stressed about doing day to day tasks that I sometimes forget what God has planned for me. I'm looking forward to an upcoming all women's retreat, titled "A Wellspring Within", at our church and if any of you are interested you can go to the website or contact me for more information. I think its going to be an inspiring weekend full of praise, worship and not to mention fellowship with some amazing women!

God has truly blessed our family lately and again that unworthiness feeling tries to creep in...but recently Merrin had her 18 month check up and I am happy to report that she is 100% HEALTHY!! What a blessing!! She is in the 75% for height and the 50% for weight. I also am feeling this baby boy daily in my tummy and it brings back so many memories of being pregnant with Merrin only the difference is that this time I know what a precious gift we are about to receive. And...I'm happy to report that Keith and I are coming close to settling on a name for this little guy although we are still open for suggestions so keep them coming!

Oh...one more thing...if any of you out there have not seen the movie FIREPROOF then I highly encourage you to go. Can I just say that I am IN LOVE with this movie and all that it stands for?!!! It was the best movie that Keith and I have seen in a very long time. If our society made more movies like this one...can you imagine what kind of world we could be living in? Check out their website AND...if any of you want to go and enjoy this movie with your spouse but have no childcare, I offer free babysitting! Fortunately my parents offered to keep Merrin so that Keith and I could go and it was the best date night we've had in a long time!

I'll leave you guys with a few pictures of Merrin enjoying this fall season.

Ellie and Merrin running to jump in the fall leaves!
Merrin looking sweet in her fall dress made by Grammy.Merrin picking muscadines at my aunt's house and eating them with her Mamaw.

Parlez-Vous Français?

Most of you already know but Keith and I traveled to Paris, France a few weeks ago!! Keith had the opportunity to go to a conference in Paris for work and I tagged along. We figured it would be the cheapest we could ever get to go considering that his whole trip would be paid for so all we had to do was buy my flight and food...and of course a little shopping money ;)
We had a wonderful five night, six day trip which was jammed full of activities. We decided to leave Merrin at home with my parents since the trip wasn't long enough for her to really get acclimated to the time change and plus all the hassles with traveling and not to mention being in a foreign country! It was the longest I had ever been away from her and I missed her terribly. Every time I saw a stroller on the street or a little child walk by I would think of her. Merrin had the best time with my parents and I think they thoroughly enjoyed her too!

Keith and I left Charlotte on a Sunday afternoon and arrived in Paris on a Monday morning (Paris time) but it was really the middle of the night for us so needless to say we were exhausted. Since we had a limited amount of time to spend in Paris we wanted to make the most of it so after getting settled into the hotel we immediately set out to do some sight seeing. One of the partners at Keith's work, Kirk, came with us and the three of us quickly deciphered the subway system and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. WOW is all I can say...it truly was something to see and because we wanted to see it all, we choose NOT to take the stairs but instead ride the cart all the way to the top of the Tower. We were able to see all of Paris from the top of the tower and it was an amazing sight to see. Next we made our way over to the Arc de Triomphe which is located near the famous Champs-Élysées avenue. Again, what an amazing sight to see!! After the "Arc" we had to travel back to the hotel so Keith could get ready for a "meet-and-greet" in the hotel lobby for his work conference. I decided to eat my first "Le Big Mac" which was conveniently located next to our hotel. It felt so good to take a hot shower, stuff my face, rent an exorbitantly expensive "on demand" movie and fall asleep in the hotel room at 7:00! Poor Keith had to schmooze until late in the evening but thankfully he got a good nights sleep...I on the other hand woke up at midnight and was unable to fall back asleep until 4:00am! The time change really affected me more than I thought it would.

On Tuesday, Keith had to spend all day at his conference so I ventured out on my own and enjoyed some shopping and sight seeing. I visited the oldest church in Paris, the Saint-Germain des Prés and enjoyed a nice French cafe lunch. Tuesday night I was able to go with Keith on a fabulous dinner cruise along the Seine River. Luckily there were lots of spouses who tagged along for the week and we were all invited to the nightly work functions. It was an AMAZING dinner cruise which slowly traveled along the Seine river and we were able to see the Eiffel Tower illuminated which was spectacular!

On Wednesday Keith had to attend his conference again so I took a guided 3 1/2 hour tour of the city. I am soooooo thankful that I did this because it was pretty much a one on one tour and I got to see ALL of the hot spots in Paris. There were only four other people on my tour and they were all Japanese so the tour guide sat me up front with him and did most of the tour in Japanese and then talked to me on a one on one basis. He was the nicest tour guide, he spoke 5 languages and told me all about his wife and children. Wednesday night was the official ending of the conference and they sure did end it with a BANG! All of the spouses were invited to a tour of Paris' City Hall which included a very fancy dinner. It was almost like we were royalty! The inside of City Hall was like a museum and there was live music and fancy foods which I mainly stayed away from out of fear I was eating something that a pregnant person shouldn't. It sure was hard to resist the gorgeous cheese platter!!!!!!! Keith and I sat with some wonderful people, one couple in particular that was from New Zealand. I really enjoyed talking with the woman beside me and she informed me that spouses are welcome to this particular conference EVERY YEAR which are always held in a different location. She even said that normally the spouses have their own program which mainly includes socializing while the husbands are working but she was so sweet and apologized that she had not met me sooner. She said next year would be different and I would be able to do lots of things with the other spouses. Next year the conference will be held in Chicago but the year after that it is going to be in Singapore!! Keith may be going every year from now on so that is definitely something to look forward to.

On Thursday, Keith and I finally had some time to spend together so we decided to visit the Louvre Museum. Kirk joined us as well and the three of us had a nice time touring the museum together. We were able to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Next I decided to take Keith and Kirk to my favorite spot in Paris that I saw on my guided tour, Montmartre, which is where the famous Sacré-Coeur Catholic church is located. Montmartre is considered the "last village in Paris" and I think that's why it was my favorite...because it looked like it was straight from a French story book. The streets were lined with cafes, flowers and French artists. There were also some great little French clothing shops which I came very close to getting into some trouble! Thursday night Keith and I spent a romantic dinner along the Champs-Élysées at an outside restaurant. We had a great meal and were able to sit back and take in the sights around us. We sat right across from the "Louis Vuitton" store but luckily for Keith, they were closed by the time we finished eating our dinner...darn! After dinner we took a nice stroll down the Champs-Élysées, took the subway back to our hotel and got a good nights sleep before our long flight home on Friday morning. All in all it was a fabulous trip. I feel very blessed that Keith has such a good job in the middle of such a horrible economy. I know that no job is perfect and no one is guaranteed job security forever but I am thankful for what we have in the here and now. God is so good!
If you want to see the pictures from our trip, click here!