Sunday, July 29, 2012

Reasons he's so great :)

6 years ago today, I married the love of my life.  I can definitely say that I love him more today than ever.  I thought I would share with you what makes this man so great.  So here goes my list in no particular order :)

1.  He takes care of me and SK so SO well.
2.  He makes me a grilled cheese sandwich almost everyday even if he might be tired and hungry himself.
3.  He puts up with me :)
4.  He knows when I need a break and makes every effort to make that happen.
5.  He gives really good back rubs.
6.  He unloads the dishwasher...that is pretty sexy :)
7.  He can get so passionate about what he is learning and I love to see his passion when he talks about it.
8.  He is so awesome with SK as her daddy.
9.  He makes me sit down and rest when I need to.
10.  He will do whatever he can to keep me from stressing out over things.
11.  He puts others before himself.
12.  He loves the Lord.
13.  He will try anything I cook.
14.  He won't complain if he doesn't really like what I cook :)
15.  He comforts me and encourages me when I am down in the dumps.
16.  He always kisses me goodnight.
17.  He always kisses SK goodnight.
18.  He will make me stop running around the house doing chores and just hug me.
19.  He is a good snuggler :)
20.  He makes me feel beautiful even if I haven't put on makeup or look like a mess.
21.  He takes out the trash.
22.  He is so humble.
23.  He cleans the bathroom since pregnancy doesn't really make that fun for me anymore.
24.  He will stay up way too late at night to study so that he doesn't have to take away from familytime with me and SK earlier in the night.
25.  He cooks raw meat for me when it makes me want to gag.
26.  He makes time for me even when his plate is full with school and work stuff.
27.  He still likes to take me on dates and makes it a priority for us to do it often.
28.  He still holds my hand often :)
29.  He is good at making me laugh.
30.  He is even better at getting SK laughing.  (I love to see him play with her and get her giggling!)

I love him.  Isn't he great? :)  I think so.  Six years ago today I would have never thought we would be where we are today.  I am glad we are where we are though.  I love to see him following the Lord's call on his life in ministry.  I am excited to see how the Lord will use him and our family in the coming years.  I can totally see that Michael is right where he is supposed to be right now.
It is fun to watch.  To see him learning in school and come home so passionate about how the Lord is drawing him closer and closer to Himself through that is pretty awesome.  I wish I had that same passion.  It pushes me, that is for sure.  His passion is infectious :)
I miss him being here today.  But I look back at the last 6 years of marriage and am so thankful for where we are now and that he is having the opportunity to go overseas and experience what all he is getting to experience.
It is hard to believe it has been 6 years.  We have actually been together for over 11 years now.  That is crazy!  Where has the time gone?  I can't wait to see what the next 6 hold and beyond.
Thought he won't be able to read this for another week and a half....
Aaron Michael Davis---
I love you to the moon and back.  You are so incredible as a husband and father.  Evelyn Joy and Sarah Kate have the best daddy.  We miss you so much, but are so excited at the same time for you and for our family to see where the Lord leads us from here in ministry.  I must say though, I am ready to have my hubby back :)  Thank you for loving me so well and putting up with my craziness at times.  I like being your wife and getting to call you my husband.

Alright, enough mushiness right? :)  Sorry.  If I don't get a chance to really tell him all this today (since we only get to chat for 10 minutes....sharing that time with SK too :)) I want him to know that he is pretty awesome and a great guy. He deserves to be bragged about!   Hope everyone has a blessed Lord's day today!

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Rise and shine :)

I have been awake since 4 a.m.  Not much you can do at 4 a.m. really.  I sit here wide awake though.  I am kinda ready to have my hubby back.  I kinda like the guy, you know :)
So to entertain myself and you at this insane hour, let's chat, shall we?
What can I blog about??
I have been able to chat with Michael everyday.  That has been nice.  They have only been 10 minute conversations, so that is sad, but I will be thankful that we can talk at all.  He says he is doing his best to write down each night things he wants to remember and tell us about when he gets back.  And I remind him almost daily to be taking plenty of pictures, which he says he is trying :)
From what he has told me about so far (no details really, just a quick summary of his day) they have spent time at the campus (University of Cape Town), gone to Lion Park and Cape Point, a township close by, a school (younger children), a prison, and today they go to an orphanage I believe.  I am sure they have  been and done plenty other things, but it is 4 a.m. and that is all I can think of right now.
I am so excited to hear all the details of his trip when he returns.  For now, I will enjoy our 10 minute conversations each day.
On another note (this is probably going to end up being a pretty random blog....have I mentioned it is 4 a.m.?) pregnancy is going well.  I haven't done a good job taking any pictures or such this pregnancy....  I remember with SK, I took the weekly pictures to watch my belly grow....not so much this time.
I am 31 weeks pregnant now.  Woohoo!  I can't believe in 9 weeks or so we will be holding our sweet baby girl.
I am starting to really feel the need to get some stuff done. It's about time right? :)  By this stage with SK we had the room just about done and clothes put away and such.  This time, not so much.  We plan to get the crib out when Michael gets back.  I have started making some things for the room, cause you know I have to do some crafty things in there :)  On my list of things to make...
*bunting
*curtains
*wood sign thing (that Michael is in charge of when he gets back...)
*a mobile

All of this thanks to pinterest :)  That place has given me so many ideas, I can't help myself from wanting to make it all!  Of course there are other things that need to be done too like organize the clothes and put them away.  I did wash them, but now they sit in a big pile on the floor waiting to be organized.  One step in the right direction, right?
Hopefully I can accomplish some of this stuff before the hubby returns.  We are on the countdown now.  10 days!
Oh, more about pregnancy....cravings.  Man, do I have cravings.  These cravings include: italian ice (it has been over 100 degrees most days...), ice (love me some good ice to chew on...), grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup (which taste better when your hubby makes them for you), root beer/root beer floats, sprite, rice crispy treats, chocolate chip cookies, french fries (CFA specifically--which I discovered yesterday they now have a cheese dipping sauce that was a.ma.zing!!!), a good steak, spaghetti....
That is all I can think of now.
I have been so clumsy this pregnancy too.  All in all, I think I have broken 7-8 glass things in our kitchen.  I should just fire myself from handling glassware, but is that possible when you are constantly hungry and feeding a 4 year old?
Evelyn is quite the mover too.  Somehow she will push out both sides at the same time.  Let me say it is really fun when she decides to do it in the middle of the night.  And sometimes it feels like she is doing a tap dance on my hip bones.  I must say that I do love to feel her move though.  I like watching my stomach dance around and know that there is a little baby girl in there.  What a huge blessing I have waited to see for so long.
Alright, enough jabbering.  If you are still reading...I hope I have entertained you and I hope you are sleeping better than me :)

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

2 weeks now...

Today marks 2 weeks till Daddy returns to us.  That seems better than 19 days right?  We are still having our sad moments of missing daddy, but we are having some fun too.  Yesterday we decided to go swimming in the afternoon since SK was getting a little bored with mommy.  She and I both had fun and some good laughs.  We needed that :)  It is hard to single parent.  Really hard.  I have had to repent for my lack of patience multiple times with her.  I had to ask her to forgive mommy and pray that the Lord would give me more patience and the strength to do this.  She has been a booger at times, but also been so sweet to me.  Yesterday, I started to cry after having a hard time talking to Daddy on the phone (he called and the call kept getting dropped after only 30 seconds or so...).  She climbed up in my lap and started rubbing my arm and snuggling me telling me that it was ok and don't be sad.  Her sweet face was incredible at that moment.
So back to the swimming.  SK did swim lessons the last couple weeks and I was determined to take her this week to keep up with her confidence and what she learned during the lessons.  She did awesome.  She doesn't swim independently yet, but she isn't far.  She now loves showing how she puts her face in the water (holding her breath) and swims all over of the pool with a noodle.  Her favorite part I am sure she would say is now jumping off the side.  She jumps so far and tells you to back up!  And, unlike a couple weeks ago, she likes it when you let her go under the water a bit when you catch her.  She probably jumped off the side a good 20 times before Mommy decided I needed to rest a bit from it :)
We have some playdates set up for this week, so that will help SK not being so bored with mommy.  I am trying to be fun, but I just get tired more quickly and really want to be selfish and lay on the couch....
She needs to have some friend time :)  For both of our sakes!  Today we are having a tea party with a couple buddies.  Can't wait to see her have fun with that!
On to a Michael update...
I don't know much.  We haven't been able to talk too much and when we do the cell service is very spotty. I was quite frustrated with it yesterday.  He sounds good though and having fun during the day.  He sounds like evenings after they get back to their place are hard for him.  He misses us most during that time.  Yesterday he sounds like he wanted to jump on a plane and come back to us :)  As nice as that sounds, I know that isn't what the Lord called him there to do.  So...pray for his evenings, will ya?  Pray for him to be able to sleep well and get the rest he needs and for him to develop good friendships there that will be encouraging to him and point him to Christ, esp. during the evenings.  Thanks, friends ;)
We didn't get to hear much about it, but yesterday they went to Lion Park.  All I know about it is what I have googled online.  I can't wait to hear more and see the pictures (he knows he better be taking lots of pictures!!!)  Today I believe they are going to see some other missionaries and the African Bible Institute there.
So that is an update for us I guess.  We are hanging in there.  Definitely having some fun, but missing each other too.  I can't wait to have him back and hear all about his time there.  I am so excited for what he is learning and what the Lord is teaching him through this time.
No pictures for the next couple weeks from me.  Michael has the camera and better be using it lots! (did I already mention that???)
Hope everyone else is having a good week! (Did I mention that I do have this week off from work?)  So it is just me and SK all week, which is nice and fun :)

Friday, July 20, 2012

Day 1...

Well...I guess we made it our first day without Daddy here.  Whew.  I miss him.  Kinda pitiful that it has only been a little over 24 hours and I miss the heck out of him.  1 day down...18 to go.
I tried to keep things positive and have a fun afternoon with SK and go out for a little bit then pick up a pizza for dinner.  We even went to the dollar tree and I let her spend one of her dollars :)  What did she pick?  Silly string that provided all of 3 minutes of entertainment outside after our pizza dinner.  Then came bedtime.  SK wanted to snuggle on the couch, so did mommy.  We snuggled then she asked if we could Skype daddy.  Then...we both start to cry.  I try to explain that he is on the airplane right now and can't and won't be able to while he is in Capetown, but she didn't like that and wasn't buying it.  Therefore mommy got even more sad.
She is in the bed now and better.  Hopefully we will be able to hear from him tomorrow morning.  He is supposed to land around 1 or 2 a.m. our time here.
I have got the whole next week off from nannying so I am trying to make a list of projects to do while we have some more time.  I started washing some baby stuff tonight.  I am hoping to keep busy so the days pass quickly.
I miss my hubby.

Today went slow.  The other 18 better go quicker than today went.

Ok, enough of a downer blog.  Sorry.   I promise to not be a downer for the next 2 weeks.  Well...I guess I better not promise that.  I take it back.  I will try to not be though.  I am hoping to do some fun stuff with SK.  We are going treasure hunting soon we decided :)  That means going to goodwills and such looking for treasures.
Off to do something before bedtime for me.
If you see this tonight, pray for Michael and his safety.  Right now he is about half way through his flight.  Pray he is able to get some sleep and rest on the plane and adjust to the time change well.  Pray for the pilots.
Pray for me too.  I am kinda dumpy about missing my hubby.  I love the guy and don't like being without him.  We haven't really ever done the being apart thing much since being married.  Like...we have only had 2 nights apart since being married.  I know the Lord will give us all strength to endure this and we are so totally excited for what the Lord will do there, but it doesn't mean it will be easy.
The Lord has a plan through all of this.  I know the Lord paved the way for this trip and this is all a part of HIS perfect plan.  I pray I can continue to rest in that.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Time in Alabama

I'm back.  Slowly but surely I will catch up with my blogging.  I wanted to blog about our time in Alabama before we got too far away from it.  We were able to spend a little over  a week with family and friends there and it was awesome.  I was really horrible about taking pictures, I guess I was too busy just soaking in the time there and enjoying myself to worry about pictures :)
We were able to make it to a friend's wedding the first Sat. night we were there, which was so awesome!  SK came to the wedding with us and then we let her go on the bed at my mom's while we headed out to the after party!  It was a fun night to hang with our church family and enjoy a night out with everyone we love and miss so much. 
It was a good week of spending time with family and friends and I wish it could have beeen longer.  We swam, played, napped, and ate really good :)
It is hard too though.  I love love love our church in Alabama.  It is hard to go for just 1 or 2 services and know I won't be there for the next.  They were getting ready for their VBS the following week and I found myself sad that we weren't there helping with preparations for it and SK being a part of it.  It is hard too to see Sk with her old friends there.  She was 2.5 when we left for St. Louis and now it takes her some time to reconnect with her buddies back in Alabama.  I have a hard time with that.  Now don't get me wrong, we love St. Louis and know that the Lord definitely called us here for this time in our lives and we love the people he has placed in our lives here.  We are truly so blessed here.  But that doesn't mean I don't miss the relationships there. 
Ok, enough about that.
I did catch a few pictures while we were in Alabama :)
Filling up the pool at Mimi's house!

 Tea Party time with Mimi!

 Pool time at Haven's house!

 Playing with the choo choo train with Papa!

 Sk's newest discovery---she loved pickle juice...she licked a pickle for the juice :)

 Walking Pearl (Nana and Papa's puppy) with Aunt Lala!

Painting time with Nana and Papa--this is when Nana was teaching her how to use watercolors!


We are trying to soak in our week with Daddy this week before he leaves for Cape Town, South Africa for 19 days.  That will have to be a whole other blog post though...

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Still here :)

I know it has been over 2 weeks since I posted.  We've been out of town and still trying to get back settled in.  Lots of blogging needs to be done to catch up on what all we have been up to lately.
Let's get started....shall we?
So after VBS ended (my last post) we headed out of town to spend 5 days in Illinois at a lake with the family I nanny for.  They put us up in a cabin and we took care of their little girl while they raced in a sailboat race thing (I know there is a more technical name for it...just can't remember it right now).  We spent some time around the cabin and pool there at the place we were staying and some time at the lake where Molly's parents were racing.  They even took us out  on their boat 2 times!  SK loved getting on the boat!  It was a fun week and a relaxing week.  We didn't really have internet access and didn't turn on the tv barely at all.  That was nice to be a bit disconnected for those days.
SK brought her fishing rod and one afternoon her and Daddy decided to take her out to give it a try in the pond by our cabin.  Within 10 minutes she had caught a bass that was big enough to break her line!  I caught it on video, which was fun!  She was excited about it till she saw it snap her line then she jumped back and decided she would rather catch smaller fish from now on :)
The next day they headed back out to try to catch more, Daddy taking his rod this time too and caught nothing.  They had fun though :)
We really did have a great time at the lake and it was nice to get away as a family and enjoy that time together relaxing and having fun!  On Friday, we headed out from there to Alabama!  That will be another post though...
SO here are some pictures of our time at IL:





Hopefully I can get to the post on Alabama soon too.  We are slowing getting back settled around here.  I finally unpacked SK's bag yesterday.  Slow progress.  I am feeling the need to get in some naps when I can this week too.  I think the third trimester is hitting me hard with the tiredness and all.  I need to get more energy soon though.  Lots to do in the coming weeks like get Eveyln Joy's room ready for her arrival.  Time is starting to draw near and nothing has been done in her room yet...