It is finished!

Oh happy day!!! Mark completed his degree with his graduation from DSC on Friday night. What a relief. We are so proud of him!This is Mark and Stacy (many confuse this picture as Mark and myself). This is actually my cousin Stacy. She was also a graduate of the education program. She and Mark leaned on each other many times throughout the program. After the last blog, many of you emailed me wondering what I have been up to. At the time, I couldn't say much, but I had been planning a surprise party for Mark since January. Friends from Louisiana brought fresh crawfish (mark's favorite) for a low country boil. Of course my close friends and family helped me pull this one off on old Curls.

We had over 150 pounds of food for friends and family to celebrate Mark! (these are the crawfish)

Mark's buddies took him to Blue Ridge to fish all day so that we could surprise him that night.

Thankfully the weather was perfect and so was the food and fellowship!
(definately a redeemable picture, Jeremy. See blog from Sept. 4th, 3rd picture down to compare)

Jackson just enjoyed the water !
This is Jackson's most favorite place...the sandbox. Just thought
these were some cute shots of our 18 month old (can you believe it)!
CHEESE!!!!I've also stay busy with my gardening. I have a small garden at the edge of the yard just for tomatoes, herbs, squash, lettuce and cucumbers. Small but convenient. Mom, Lesli, Jase, Jackson and I made a trip to McMinnville, TN. It is the greenhouse capitol. Every year, the weekend after taxes are due, we load up and head to Mary's nursery. There are at least 30 green houses just at that nursery. We have a great time together.

Many of you probably also know that I am a physical therapist. I am currently working 4 days a week in the home health setting. This is a great set up for me-allowing quite a bit of flexibility, but also, God has allowed me to be blessed by so many people. I have the wonderful opportunity to develop a personal relationship with many of these people. Each day I am touched by people like Mr. Rollins- with their wisdom, kindness and thoughtfulness. My life is so full!

Spring is here!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay on keeping everyone up to speed. This spring has already proven to be a busy one! Even though it has been almost a month, I have to show some Easter pics. We had the church Easter egg hunt at our home. Here are a few of the kiddos, getting ready to take off to find eggs.

Initially the whole egg hunt was interesting to Jackson, but then after a minute or two....

His attention focused elsewhere!After the egg hunt we took the boys (Jackson and cousing Jase) to a neighbor's to have some cute pictures made.

How cute is he? We also have new additions to the fam. We actually had triplets. Here are the two boys. Lesli and Jason actually adopted the baby girl as a pet. Jase and Daffodil are inseparable.We also have discovered that Jackson and fire ants do not mix. This is from one bite on his finger. Unfortunately Jackson has inherited many of our allergies. He survived, but we now keep an epipen close by.
Please say a prayer for Jackson. He has pneumonia and an ear infection.

We also have a praise. Mark got a job!!! He will be teaching 3rd grade at Tunnel Hill Elementary. This is a great school about 5 minutes from the house. My sister teaches 2nd grade at this school. God has blessed us in so many ways! His hand of guidance has been unfailing!

Thank you Lord for the rain!

Thank you Lord for the rain! Jackson and I enjoyed our day at home together. I couldn't resist letting him play in the mud puddles (one of my favorite childhood memories)You can see that things quickly progressed!
(Don't worry mom, it was warm outside!)

We also had some excitement ealier this week when "Pop and Nee" got a new batch of "chick-chicks".
It was funny because the whole idea of seeing the chicks-chicks was so exciting to Jackson, but touching them was a different story-not so crazy about the little balls of yellow fluff-can't say that I blame him.
Here is Jackson enjoying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Many of you would say "big deal". This is one of the small things that we are thankful for. At the beginning of the year (after experiencing a grueling allergist appointment) it was determined that Jackson is allergic to dairy products and eggs. Being the southern cook that I am , I thought what can he eat! Thanks to friends and family with the same issues, we have found many foods and beverages that he can eat/drink and I can cook with(besides veggies and fruit). We are so thankful for a healthy growing boy ( 28pounds, 33inches!).

I'm behind this winter with my blog posts. Between sickness, work and school, we've been busy! I hope everyone is doing well. Jackson continues to grow and learn. He loves the outdoors and animals. Here is Jackson helping feed our free-roaming pet goat Pris. Gotta love livin' on the farm! Jackson also loves his friends. We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many young Christian couples with children. We spend at least one to two evenings together throughout the week and weekend, catching up on the kids and just goofing off. Here are some of the kiddos: (Left to Right) Anna Roy, Jackson, Elli Grace Roy, Landen Talley and Jase Talley. They all decided to pile up in Jackson's bed. Anna and Jackson (hopefully we can use this at the rehearsal dinner one day haha!)The twins also had a big #1 birthday in January. They are both doing so well. Jackson loves to push their buttons!This is some of the most precious time for me. Jackson loves "the bubbles".
And for those of you that didn't know that I am now a brace face, here you go. Just 1 1/2 years to go!Jackson in his "jammies". Each night is so special for our whole family. We have a routine: bubbles, night time prayers, and then I rock my baby to sleep-I know, I can't get rid of that just yet. And finally, Mark and I had the privilege of going on a marriage retreat with our church last weekend. We missed Jackson, but we had a great time as a couple. By the way, Mark is doing wonderful in his student teaching. Please pray that God will guide him and provide him the opportunity to teach in a school where his free to minister to the kiddos and also a school that is close to home!

The longest blog ever!

First and foremost I have to tell about Jackson's latest achievements ( I am his mom after all). At 14 months old he is walking! It was so funny how he had to decide on his time that it was time to walk. He's amazingly agile to have such a pot belly!

I have mentioned before that Jackson is all boy. These pictures tell all. Jackson and Mark were cleaning up the barn and playing on their tractors.Just a cute shot I couldn't resist throwing in.

Another first was Jackson's haircut. He wasn't crazy about it as you can tell.

And I know you won't believe it but I don't feel that I was able to capture just how wonderful our holidays were with our friends and family. It's is truly amazing how blessed we are with so many that care about us. There was also such a spirit of worship throughout the Christmas season-this also was such a blessing. Here are a few shots of family and friends. This is Mark's aunt Lyndal and uncle Glenn along with one of our family friends Ann Boswell. These are some of my most favorite people, what I want to be when I grow up! Great Christian people all with a love for travel...and having fun! Jackson with uncle Glenn-one of his favorite people.

Jackson at Beppie and Bo's house looking for the kitttttttyyyy!
Jackson, Cousin Will, Beppie, and Mark with the boys playing a duet.
Jackson and Pop-do you see a resemblance?
Jackson and Bo
The fam

Kicking off the New Year with the Dawgs and the Watkins family at the River in Blue Ridge! Thanks Mom and Dad for such a fun getaway with the Talleys. What memories we are making!
Happy New Year everyone!