Full Circle

Well the blog has officially come full circle.  We started with our very first post as a picture from an ultrasound and now here is another one.  This is the first pictures of baby 2 so you can't tell very much yet.  So far all we know is that things look good and they have re-estimated our due date for June 4th.  I may not feel this way by the time June gets here, but I'm actually hoping for June 6.  Mac is 3/3 and my birthday is 4/4 so I think that would be a nice way to make an addition to the family.

Pumpkins!

This is a little late, but the weekend before last we went to Washington Farms.  Its a local farm that has a corn maze and tons of other kids activities.  We had a great time playing all afternoon and even managed to take a few pictures.  I was surprised as I uploaded these pictures to see how tall Mac looks all of a sudden.

A Curious George moment

Tonight Mac was playing and somehow managed to get his foot stuck in his chair. Luckily this exact same thing happened in an episode of Curious George we saw recently so we were well prepared. And also luckily we did not have to call the fire department like they did in George's case. Though Mac probably would have enjoyed that.

The Knack

Mac is a funny kid. I guess most 2 year olds are, but we pretty much only know him.

Sunday after church we sat down to eat lunch at a restaurant. After getting our drinks he insisted that he needed the salt. After grabbing it, he dumped some onto his napkin and then placed his drink onto it. He was pretty pleased with himself, but went on like it was nothing.

After laughing we asked him where he learned to do that.

He said "Huh, Papa." "Huh" is the first thing out of his mouth anytime he is asked a question. Quite annoying, but I am sure typical for his age.

I thought this was funny enough to let Papa know. He modestly replied "He may have figured out on his own how the salt breaks the adhesion properties of the wet paper. After all, he is my grandson."

If that is the case, then perhaps its one of the early symptoms of The Knack.

Of course shortly after this he exhibited symptoms of not having The Knack by shamelessly flirting with two ladies at a nearby table. Perhaps he is a rare breed - a ladies man with The Knack.

BIG news

This past weekend we went down to Americus to visit family and have a late celebration for Grandpa Tom's birthday.
Sunday we decided to meet up with the Cook/Chadwick/Ragsdale crowd at Ryan's and there we found even more celebrations.  Uncle Mike proposed to his girlfriend (she said YES!) and Chet announced that he is going into the ministry.  We are unbelievably excited for both of them, but the celebrations did not end there...








A translation for those of you who don't speak 2-year old: Mac is going to be a big brother! (yay Mommy...)
Samantha is due at the end of May, just after Doug's cousin.
We are super excited and glad that Mac is excited, even if he doesn't fully understand.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we are amazed at all the ways God is blessing us, even when we don't deserve it.  He truly is an amazing God.

Morning with the McFarlands

Good morning everyone. We are visiting Nana and Grandpa Tom. That means our morning started with homemade French toast and now Mac is helping wash dishes. It makes me nervous so I'm distracting myself by blogging.

Teaching points

Being a parent is full of fun and excitement. Its also full of opportunities for teaching a child about things that are truly important, like family, faith, and giving to others. On October 30th we will have a chance to share some of these things with Mac, even if he isn't quite old enough to understand fully yet.

That day we are planning a trip to Columbus, GA to participate in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk. This event is the largest fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association - the world leader in research and support for this disease.

The real importance of this trip has to do with why we are walking and who we are walking with.

We are walking in memory of my grandfather (Pop Pop), Charles Robert McFarland.

He suffered from Alzheimer's for several years before passing away just after Thanksgiving in 2003.

We will be walking with my grandma who took care of Pop Pop as he struggled with Alzheimer's.

We'll also be joined by many of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

There are plenty more family members who will not be able to join us, but I am excited about having a mini-reunion and honoring Pop Pop at the same time.

Since this is a fund raising event, we are obviously trying to get donations. This is the part that I don't like. Thankfully I can just put this link out there and give people the chance to donate without putting pressure on anyone.

Click here if you would like to donate.

Thanks.