He's packing his bags and getting ready to go!

I am not sure even where to begin with this post. So much has been happening in our lives that I have wanted to write about, but it just hasn't been the right time. We are moving to Mississippi! Hal has a new job with Raytheon in Forest, MS. We are so unbelievably excited to be closer to both of our families.

Over the last few months we have seen God do an incredible work in both of our lives and in this job situation and move. I must be honest and say we said we would never move back to Mississippi. It just wasn't in our plans, but after living away from both of our families for almost 4 years, having a baby, and Hal's dad getting sick, our desires changed drastically! We are really looking forward to Drew growing up around his Ramsey family and getting to see his Parnell family a whole lot more.

There has been some wait involved with the timing of all of this. Those of you that know me, know that waiting isn't my strong point, but I must say that God has most definitely used this wait to change and refine me. I would often say, "Hal- can you believe I am not freaking out right now!" I saw myself be able to take a step back and really trust that God was in control and whatever he did was the best...the absolute best.

There is a lot going on with us right now! Our house went on the market today! We already have a showing tomorrow afternoon. As most of you know because you live here or have seen on TV the Florida real estate market is dreadful. But we have really seen God's provision and glory dealing with our house already. We have wonderful agents. The market is up as of late and our house is listed for more than we expected! We are praying it sells quickly and would love for you to join us in that. Hal starts on February 22nd in Mississippi! His last day with Cooper is on February 9th. We will be spending the 9th-13th at Disney and heading for Mississippi sometime early in the week of February 14th.

I can't write this post without saying that although we are moving closer to family. We have very mixed emotions about leaving family behind here. There are several people here who have been family to us. They have walked with us through a very special season in our lives as we anticipated Drew's arrival and then as we spent our first year as parents. They sat at the hospital until the early morning the night he was born, talked us through the early days of being parents, shared as we dedicated him to the Lord, and celebrated his 1st birthday with us. We have been incredibly blessed with the people God has put in our lives and look forward to having those friendships for many years to come!

Poor Little Man

January has been a little rough on Drew. RSV over New Year's and then this week he has been battling a fever. No other symptoms just a high fever. I may never get him to take a bath again after the traumatic experience of having to give him a lukewarm bath in the middle of the night to get his fever down! The picture below is Friday afternoon. When I got him up from his nap, his fever had finally broken. He and his bed were drenched. Now if we can get these last 3 teeth in life should be a little easier for him!

One of the few smiles we were able to get today. He loves bubbles!

First Haircut

We took Drew to get his first hair cut today. We had it trimmed a little back in the fall, but it was time for a major cut. I love his curls, but it was getting long and time for a cut. He did great! He thought it was pretty cool to sit in the jeep and watch a video.

The best shot I could get after we got home.

LIttle man loves to READ

The last week or so Drew has been all about books! A few books in particular are his favorites. I think we have read the Pooh book in the video at least 100 times. He even carries them to his changing table. He has also started signing "please." You will notice him put his hands to his chest and say please. I will admit that we do hide the Pooh book and a few others from time to time. :)

Great day and a video for Aunt K

It has been a great morning! My house is clean and my baby has been happy! I am feeling so blessed to be a wife and a mother today. There are days when the house is a wreck, Drew is cranky, and mommy is cranky also. Those days I often find myself frustrated and crying out for patience to make it until daddy gets home. I know that the Lord grows me more in those days so that I can enjoy peaceful ones that much more. Here is a video just for Aunt K to see little man walking. Enjoy, Aunt K!

Resolutions-2010 and a look back at 2009

No cute picture of my little man today....just back to good ole' me writing just like the old days. I don't know that I have ever really made resolutions. I do think this is a good time of the year to set some new goals. Time for a fresh start. I am also thinking that if I put them down here, I will have some sort of accountability!

1) Respond to emails better. I am AWFUL at this. I read them and think I will get back to them later, but I NEVER do. So if you are reading this and I haven't responded to an email or a facebook message, it isn't that I don't love you, I just have bad follow through with emails!

2) Listen to voicemails. I never listen to voicemails. I am not sure why, but I just don't listen to them. I have learned my lesson though. A very close friend of mine left me a voicemail over Christmas to tell me she had been in a horrible car accident, but I didn't listen to the message and thus didn't find out for almost 2 weeks. I will do better.

3) Run.....Run....Run. I was doing so good, but the holidays and a cold combined with a little bit of laziness means that I have not had my running shoes over since before Drew's birthday. Although I don't necessarily like the running, I do like the way I feel when I am working out.

2009...what a year! My first full year of being a mother. You have heard me say that motherhood has challenged me like never before. I seem to think that more and more with every new stage that we enter. Lately, I have really been dwelling on the awesome task that God has given Hal and I in raising Drew. As I watched my little man lay himself out on the tile floor and throw an all out fit a few weeks ago, I realized what I had known for awhile, but wanted to ignore....I don't have a baby anymore. He is changing, maturing and we have to be ready for that. How we respond to situations now will help shape who he will be in the future. How we handle discipline, temper, frustration, joy, and sadness will make a difference in the man he becomes and how he responds to his need for a Savior. What a responsibility....but what an awesome God who has equipped us uniquely for the task of raising Drew Ramsey. We can lean into the Lord Jesus and He will direct us as we raise our little man. There are days I feel completely overwhelmed with this task, but I am so grateful I have a partner in Hal who supports me and has the same goal for Drew: to know Jesus as his personal Savior.

Apart from motherhood, God has taught me a lot this year. Lessons that have stretched and grown my faith. I have seen parts of my character that God has been refining for some time really change...I hope to share those with you soon! :)

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Happy Birthday to my best friend and most amazing husband! So sorry that we spent your day at home taking care of our sickly little man!

I am beyond blessed. Thank you for being such a great dad, making me laugh, encouraging me and loving me very day, and most importantly for loving the Lord and seeking to look more like Him every day!

Happy Birthday!

New Experience for New Years Eve

Our poor little man has been pretty sickly the last few days. I took this picture after his bath tonight...we can't keep his poor little nose dry! He started getting a cough on Tuesday night that sounded pretty nasty by Wednesday. I went ahead and took him to the doctor on Thursday morning because I didn't want to go into the holiday weekend not knowing if we had an ear infection or something else. The doctor said everything looked good and it was probably just a cold, but we ended up taking him the ER on Thursday night/New Year's Eve. I had checked his temp shortly after Hal got home from work and it was fine, but by around 6:00 it had shot up to 103. The on call nurse told us to take him to the ER since it was a holiday weekend and he couldn't see his doctor until Monday morning. She didn't like that it had risen so fast. We were able to get in pretty quickly. They checked his ears which looked fine and did a chest xray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia as well as a culture to see if he had RSV. His chest looked okay, but he does have RSV which is a respiratory virus. He has been better today and his fever is still up but not what it was last night! We are praying for a good night's sleep tonight!

We spent the day playing with little man and watching football. It looks like we will be doing the same for Hal's birthday tomorrow!

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Cards

I love Christmas cards! I love getting them in the mail and I love sending them out to friends and family. They are one of my many favorite things about this time of year, but this year I haven't sent one single card YET. We have had a hard time trying to get a family picture. We finally had some made while we were in Fayetteville, but I don't have them from the photographer yet....so it looks like I will be sending Happy New Year cards this year! :) In the mean time, enjoy a few pics of my little man walking around his grandparents front yard.

Finally....

I have been fighting with blogger to get pictures uploaded for the last few days and I finally had success! We have had a great last few weeks. It has been wonderful to be with family. We have been on the go since we landed in Fayetteville! Drew started walking last week.

Hal's dad is in the hospital this weekend for his 2nd round of chemo. He is hoping to come home again on Monday. Both treatments have gone great so far! Thank you so much for praying for him.

Drew is back from a trip with Dad and Uncle Ed to the donut shop....gotta go! Enjoy the pics.

Courtney, Kennedy, and Landry

On the square

Trying so hard

Grammy and I have created a monster over the last few days. Little man has had a rough few days. He has several molars that are coming through and really giving him trouble. Mom and I have had to work hard to keep him happy and entertained. Yesterday we took him outside for a "walk." Now he wants to walk everywhere! The only problem is he needs a finger to hold on to. He did take 4 or 5 steps on his own last night...so we will see!

Busy Morning

Here are a few pictures of Drew's busy morning playing in the front yard and eating a Rice Krispy treat with grammy.

Tour of the South

It is harder and harder to get a picture of little man these days. Not only is he never still, but he always wants the camera! This is about as good as I have been able to do this week.

My mom is here this week and we are loving having the extra help. Drew and I fly to Arkansas with her on Sunday to begin the Ramsey family tour of the South! Hal will join us in Arkansas on the 19th. My parents will then drive us to Mississippi on the 22nd. We will spend Christmas in Laurel and drive home to Florida later that weekend. We may be crazy to do this with a 1 year old, but we are looking forward to spending time with both our families this Christmas.

Randy has done well the first few days of his chemo. Today he gets a treatment the doctor has warned will be tough. Please pray for strength for him today

Praying for Paw Paw

For those of you that we haven't talked with over the last few weeks, we ask that you please pray for Hal's dad, Randy Ramsey. He has been sick for quite some time and in the hospital since last week. After multiple blood tests, a bone marrow biopsy, and surgery to remove a lymph node, they determined that he has lymphoma.

Earlier this week they were able to confirm the type as Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. This type of lymphoma is extremely rare and aggressive, but Randy's doctor feels that it is treatable. They inserted the chemo port earlier this week and he will begin chemotherapy this morning. The doctor let them know that this first round of chemotherapy is quite tough.

Please join us in praying the following:

*Pray for Randy as he has his first chemo treatment begins today. Pray for strength and that his body can handle it.

*Pray for Hal's mom, Nan, as she cares for Randy. Pray that she will get rest.

*Pray that they both maintain a positive attitude and trust in God's care.

Thank you so much for joining with us in these requests.

Love,

Hal & Lindsay

Go Gators?

My friend Kristen got Drew a Gator shirt for his birthday. It would be okay with us if he wanted to follow in Tim Tebow's steps! :)

I totally wimped out on a Christmas tree this year. We are only going to be here two weeks in December and I didn't want to spend the entire two weeks saying "No Sir!" I put up a small tree yesterday and he hasn't noticed it yet.

You can really start to see his top teeth. Look at my big boy!!

Mia and Mary Allison came to play with Drew today. They had a great time playing in his tent!

Whirlwind Thanksgiving

I feel like the last few weeks have flown by and the next few are going to go even faster! After having my mom and dad here for Drew's birthday, we went to Laurel for Thanksgiving. Hal's dad is in the hospital and we really just wanted to be there, so we headed up there on Wednesday. It was great to see his dad and mom and we had a great time with Ed, Jess, and Madison. The girls helped me cook Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and Saturday morning we randomly decided to hop in the car and head for Starkville. I loved getting to see a place that means so much to Hal and Drew got his first cowbell and SEVERAL other things. :) And State came away with a win over Ole Miss!

Please join us in praying that the doctors can specifically determine what is going on with Hal's dad and determine the best course of treatment. We are hoping to get some results today.

It was a great weekend and I am so glad that we went. I will just choose to forget the 10 hour car ride there and back. :)

Ed and his girls

Drew wasn't very cooperative for pictures

Helping Madison post to facebook

In Starkville with Uncle Ed

Little man was exhausted. The Paci was the only way we could get a picture without him screaming!

At Little Dooey's with Daddy

Watching the game

In his State Jersey. I think he looks good in maroon & white!

Hal & Madison

In the front porch swing before we left.

Lots of Birthday Fun

We have had several days of birthday fun! Hal waited to go to work on Thursday so he could be here when Drew woke up. Then we took him to a birthday lunch with Hal and that night let him have a birthday cupcake. He tore into it quickly! Today he had his 12 month wellness visit and his birthday party was this afternoon. I think all the birthday fun caught up with little man! He wasn't to into his cake today!

To say the last year has been amazing is an understatement. It has been filled with many challenges and frustrations, but has also been filled with laughter and full of joy. I think about how terrified Hal and I were the night we brought Drew home. We felt so ill equipped, but in His grace, we have made it through little man's first year! I am grateful to have Hal who has encouraged me every day this last year and told me more times than I could ever count that he appreciates what I do and that I am a good mom. What would I do differently? I remember my friend Kim saying, she would slow down and not worry. I agree. I wouldn't worry about how much I held him when he was so tiny. I would worry about messing up.

Now to the pictures...that is what you want to see anyway. :)

Birthday morning with Daddy!

present from Grammy and Grampy

Birthday cupcake

Reading books from Paw Paw and Maw Maw (notice he is sitting in the box they came in)

Present from maw maw and paw paw

Ready for the party!

Oh...what is this??

The crying begins. I think he was mad because we blew the candle out. He is holding on to it in this picture.