Thankful

Last night I met with my accoutability group and we decided to pray for our husbands. It was powerful, and it is so important. I think that most days I go by without praying for protection over my husband. That God would use him in his job to bring joy. That God would continue to grow us as a couple to make the best choices for our family and His plans for us. I am so grateful for that time (we missed you katie), and thankful for the ability to be open and honest with these ladies. God is teaching me to just continue to enjoy this journey....and boy has He moved. Our house officially has a contract on it...first hoop, but we seem to be moving forward. We are continuing to trust God in this, and that He will shut the door if it isn't what He wants for us.

Camden had his 15 month dr's appointment on Tuesday. He is 32" long/tall, 24 pounds 6 ounces and he looks great according to the dr. He said our biggest obstacle now is keeping him from having "accidents." Yeah right, I am doing my best, but short of a bubble, I think we are in for a few bumps and bruises in the future. He is a busy, busy boy!! The shots were horrible, he now knows they hurt and the nurse made me hold him down. I was looking into his eyes and she gave him the shots and he was screaming. I believe he was asking me why in the world are you lettin them hurt me? Colin and I fall more and more in love with this little guy everyday. He is such an amazing boy...we are so lucky.

Thanks for praying for us as we walk through this house/move situation. We are really excited to see where all this goes. If the contract we signed last night goes through, looks like we close on August 30th. WOW! I need to go find some boxes stat.

Em

Happenings

Quiet few days on the home front. It has been nice not leaving the lights on and just letting Camden wreck the living room. Joy, our realtor is really good at giving us a heads up as to if the house is being shown. That way I can vacuum, spray some good smelling stuff, and leave every light on the house. Joy is holding an open house this weekend, we are hoping to get some good foot traffic through and get this place sold.

Camden is into hiding behind things and saying, "boo!" It is so funny. He is also loving his Elmo, and will grab the remote and point to the TV and chang "mo-mo." Is that bad? He loves Elmo. The only place he sees him is on the TV, so he LOVES TV. We limit it to 30 min before nap in the AM, and maybe while I am getting dinner ready. He is taking more and more steps, and I am sure soon he will be off. We have his 15 month appointment on Tuesday, which holds four shots! I am sure it will not be fun, but it is what is best for our little guy.

Colin is back in "Big Church" this weekend. He had rehearsal on Thursday night and will be gone tomorrow night and Sunday until early afternoon. I am sure he is excited to get back into the rotation in there. We are going to go to the 830 service and see daddy play guitar.

Getting ready to head over to the pool to spend some time with Grandma, Kristin, and Will. Love spending time with my fam and friends.

Relaxed, Calm, Anxious....repeat

(Tree on the right...storm came through, and....)

....no more tree

(Camden and his newe buddy, Mo-Mo)

This house buying/selling thing is quite a journey. I have to admit that as long as I trust that God is in control, I am relaxed. When I realize that no matter what we have a great home, I am calm. Then the flesh side of me who wants to have my hands in everything and make it happen the way I want it to....I get anxious. Here is the deal, this life is all about loving God and loving people. Houses, cars, clothes, all that STUFF...momentary. God is forever, living for Heaven and being an example is what matters most. If I get caught up in this house buying/selling, I am going to miss out on people and other ways that God is trying to romance me. Sooooo....I am going to sit back and enjoy the ride. He has gotten us this far, why try and take the wheel now.

We have a contract on our new house with a contingency on selling our home. We have had four showings in the last four days and lots of great feedback. Last night Colin and I say on the front porch and just watched a thunderstorm roll through. This thunderstorm took out our bradford pear tree (pictured above)...some serious wind. Well when the tree guys came by to prune our tree, they noticed it was dead and that it would be better to remove it....so we have some new curb appeal. I kind of like it!!

I will keep you posted on my many emotions, but pray that I can enjoy this time and just watch and listen to God....
Em

Ohhh...how could I forget to add a little something about my boy? He has been taking steps and choosing to cruise more and more. I have posted a video on FB of his "cupid shuffle." He also has moved on from Yo Gabba Gabba (thank goodness) and onto Elmo, or "Mo Mo."

Temporary

I have been trying to grasp the message Mike Breaux taught this weekend. The basis of the sermon was that this life is temporary, that we have everything to look forward to in Heaven. So what that means to me is that the present sufferings that we go through, all things that we go through...good and bad, are NOTHING compared to the hope we have in Heaven. Eternity with an amazing Father. So, so thankful for that promise. The hope of Heaven.....and that no matter what my circumstance, He will always be there.

Ecclesiastes 3:11
"Yet God has made everything beautiful in his own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's word from beginning to end."

Hoping to move...

Soooooo, new news at the Stout home. We could be moving in the near future. We have some amazing friends, actually second set of parents, who are selling their home. It is a home where we had our couples wedding shower, my 30th birthday, and many more precious memories. It is a home, a beautiful place where we are hoping to be soon. This all happend within the last 5 days....FAST! The first step for us was to put our house on the market, which we did last night. Our realtor is money...the best, on top of it, and so efficient. She came by around 8 last night and snapped pictures and said it would be listed later today. Here is link http://search.lbar.com/mls/details/residential/1015607.html.

This is a bitter sweet move. We love our home so much. We realize how fortunate we are, and if our home doesn't sell, we still have an amazing place to live. So much has happened at this place. Last night before Colin and I went to bed he mentioned it was the longest place he has ever lived. Great memories of being newlyweds, our sweet baby boy, and celebrations galore. God is so good and HE continues to be in charge. We trust Him and His will, and His timing.

If you know anyone looking for a home, look us up!
Emily

PS Mom and Dad just found our camera!!!! Good thing I hadn't purchased our new one. YEAH!!! I guess I left it at the lake over the 4th of July weekend.

weekend.

We had the best weekend! We spend most of it at Grandma and Grandaddy's new pool. We enjoyed splashing, laying out, and eating. Here are some pix of Camden taken from my phone...man i miss my camera. (mama and papa, we have found the one we like....now saving to purchase it).

Em

Lots on the mind...

This is going to be one of those random posts about what is on my mind and what I feel like God is teaching me. My biggest problem these days is slowing down to listen to God. I am unable to do the 7am up early read, pray, blog time because my little man is waking up earlier. Don't get me wrong, I love that time with Camden, but I am missing my quiet time. So as my days start earlier, I keep pushing back that time with God until I fall into bed at night and think, I didn't have my quiet time...ending my day disappointed in myself. Make sense? I find myself praying for people throughout my day as they come to mind, but I need time to listen, read, and thank God.

Camden is growing so fast. He now loves to climb the steps and then walk down the hall holding onto my fingers. I believe that walking is right around the corner, but for now he knows that he can get places faster when crawling. He absolutely loves Grandma and Grandaddy's pool. He can spend an hour on the steps playing with ducks, trucks, and balls. He loves for us to hold him so he floats on his belly, with tiny kicks. He also loves to be thrown up high into the air and then caught to make a big splash. He is hilarious. I made the mistake of taking him out of his ladybug float, so now he is over being confined to a float and more about us taking him around the pool. School is going well for our little guy. We are having a little bit of separation anxiety at first, but his teachers assure me he screams long enough for me to hear him as I leave and then he is happy with playing with all his new friends and eating cheerios. He is saying "mom," "duck," "quack," "ball," and "peez"

Work for me is wonderful. I love having those twelve hours to talk to adults and listen to others. I enjoy the people I get to work with each day. I am encouraged and feel needed. My favorite part of work so far is the Myers Briggs training we go through. I am learning so much about my personality and how I can relate better to others (work, home, family, ect). I am super excited that Colin is going to take the test and then walk through the results with our life group.

So that is what is going on in a nutshell. Need more time with God, loving camden and my job!
Still can't find my camera but have some great suggestions on replacing my old one (that is still in a super safe place).

4th Festivities

We have had such a wonderful weekend. I love when Colin is home for THREE whole days, and so did Camden. There is something about having Colin around that just makes life more fun, I guess that is why I married him. He really is my best friend, and he knows how to make me laugh. It is also so nice to see him and Camden interact, he is an amazing dad. We started our weekend off at a cookout with some good friends. We love spending time with the Jennings' and the Feola fam (minus Katie and Jos, he was sick and you were both missed). We had burgers and dogs and just hung out and let the kids run/crawl around. On Saturday we got the call that the pool was officially open so we took our first dip in the Baxter Pool. The heater wasn't hooked up yet, but since it isn't deep it was pretty comfortable. (80). Camden loved floating in his ladybug raft (hand me down from Leann, thanks)...until he figured out how much fun it is to "swim" with mommy and daddy, and hang out on the steps. He loves the water. We are happy that he loves to be in the pool, but we also want to teach him how to swim and the boudaries of the pool. I think that he would swim all day if he could, swim...you know what I mean. We cooked out with the Jennings' fam again Saturday night, and Sophie and Riley approved of the pool.

Sunday we started off going to church for the 1010 service. Followed by another afternoon at the pool. The Vandemark family joined us for burgers, sweet potato fries, pasta salad, and some cookie cake. Charlie helped me sing "happy birthday USA" before we dove into the bright blue iced cake. We kept Camden up to 730 two nights in a row and I really believe the later we get him to sleep, the earlier he wakes up, what??? If we get him down at 6:45 or 7 he sleeps until 8. Who knows....

Monday we drove down to Lake Herrington to spend time with the Stout family. Dennis has this beautiful gazebo that we spend the afternoon in watching the kids play. Katelyn and Camden had so may toys that Grandma Deb brought. We enjoyed burgers and dogs, fresh fruit, and some amazing cake Deb made. Colin and I got to sneak a ride on a jet ski, but really just enjoyed time with the family.

Overall it was such a wonderfully relaxing weekend and I know that we are blessed to live in the USA, but to have family and friends to celebrate our freedom.

PS still no camera. I will upload some pix from my iphone....I guess i need to buy a new camera now. It has been over a month, and it is still MIA. I am sure I put it in a really "safe" place.