Fun with Friends

Megan, Mary, Ross and Mary Townsend came to visit us this week for Spring Break. We had so much fun. The kids played and played. Mary Selwyn really enjoyed having, "Woss and Town," spend the night. Shay was even brave enough to keep all three kids so Mary, Megan and I could go out for a nice, quiet dinner. Such a sweet husband. We were able to enjoy each other's company and have really good conversation. Megan and I gave Mary many suggestions on how to run her business and reduce stress in her life...ha ha... what fun would life be without friends to really butt in your life. I really needed some girl time. I know I say this every time but it is just so refreshing to get to spend time with them. Just puts me in such a better mood. (We did miss you Brooke.) Here are some pictures of the kids and the fun times they had.


Townsey had a hard time sharing her big brother at first. Ross was so sweet to MSN.


A little Girl time for Mary Townsend and Mary Selwyn.


Three little monkeys on my window sill.

It's been a while

It has been over a month since my last blog. I've missed blogging and reading all of your blogs. It has been a super crazy month and I have not had the time or energy to sit and blog but I'm back now and hopefully things are settling down. I'm going to attempt to give a short synopsis of this past month but lets face it, with me writing it will probably be a novel.

So the end of January we found out that Shay's account here with JB Hunt was being cut way back and they didn't need all the managers here anymore. He was never in danger of losing his job all together but changes were going to have to be made. We knew we would be moving, which was sad but with a move comes a promotion and raise, which is good! It looked like the destination was going to be Tifton, GA. Not my first choice but not my last. Not that it really mattered because I will follow my husband where ever he goes. We were so sure we were moving there we had the real estate agent over to discuss things and everything. This was an extremely stressful time for me because this move would mean that Shay had to move to Tifton at the beginning of March and be away from us until Baby #2 arrived. Did I mention I'm 8 months pregnant by now and that is stressful enough but just for kicks lets add job stress on top...ha ha.

Anyhow, we prayed and prayed about it and really just trusted God through the whole situation. I think He really knew our hearts and knew we were willing to do whatever was best for our family. He answered prayer after prayer for me each week we were dealing with all this stuff and I felt his presence maybe more than I ever have before. To sum up this part, JB Hunt decided not to transfer us for now. They have worked things out to make it an ideal situation for us getting to stay here for at least 6 months and get settled with the new baby and there is a good chance we may not have to move at all. I'm so thankful for a company with management that cares about Shay and had tried really hard to keep him happy. We are excited about the future account, move or not.

In the midst of all that craziness, last month my Great Aunt Dottie was also diagnosed with Acute Leukemia. I hate to even call her my Great Aunt because that seems so far removed to me and we have always been so close to her. She never married or had children of her own so she has been a part of my immediate family. Dottie was diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago and when we got the report that said she was cancer free we also got one that said she now had leukemia and only had 3 months to live. Unfortunately she didn't make it 3 months. She passed away 2 weeks ago after a terrible week of struggling to breath among other uncomfortable suffering. It has been tough on the family and has completely worn out my Grandmother and Mother, who was her primary caretaker. As much as we hated to lose her in the end it was what was best because it was an illness she could not recover from. It was just a shocking diagnosis and it happened so fast.

So that pretty much explains why I have been so absent from the blog world. I'm sure I'll never get caught up on what everyone else has been up to but I'm going to try. A quick baby update, we scheduled my c-section for April 23rd. Hopefully that will be baby Nichols arrival date and not a day before. Mary Selwyn is sweet and smart as ever, however, she has gotten very good at saying "No, Mine," and has her 2 year old "moments." She has also become extremely polite and says "Tanks, Mama/Daddy," every chance she gets. She is also getting better at "No ma'am." She knows 7 colors and can count to ten if you leave out numbers 3-7, ha ha. We had postponed potty training because of the almost move. I didn't feel like I could offer her any consistency with a move and arrival of a new baby. Now that we aren't moving it is back on the table but I'm trying not to pressure her. She has pee peed in the potty twice and the first time it was totally her idea. Everyone tells me she will just revert back after the baby is born and I have seen that happen before so I'm just trying to relax and take it slow.....I'm not great with patience and sometimes find myself wondering why it is so hard. Oh well, more on that later.

We can't wait for Megan, Mary, Ross and Mary Townsend's visit tomorrow and wish Brooke had a spring break too. It has for sure been one of those months when you feel like you have gotten nothing but bad news and you can't remember the last time you said, "Wow, today was a really good day." It is nice to have something to look forward to. I know everyone experiences times like that and it does pass. The Lord is on our side and things will only get better from here.