The James Family

Summer Fun

2011-08-08T11:28:00.002-05:00

I figured it was time to change the blog background since it was still Christmas colors.

We have been busy, busy, busy since I posted last. As far as home improvements...we installed our tile backsplash in our kitchen, finished staining our deck (although we have decided that we are going to put one more coat on), installed a new garage door opener, and of course worked in our yard some more. I don't have any pictures right now, but I will try to post some soon.

We have had a FABULOUS summer and unfortunately it's pretty much over! Chad's first day back was today and mine will be on Wednesday. This summer we were busy traveling as always. We went to Hilton Head for a week and stayed in a different house this year that was beautiful. We also went to Destin, Florida with some friends, the Jeffs. I had never been to Destin and it had been a while since Chad had been there. This was the first time we have ever vacationed with friends, and we had a great time! It was so relaxing and we spent alot of time laying out by the beach, eating great food, and got to try paddleboarding for the first time. Paddleboarding is so much fun, but very, very hard when the water is choppy!

For those that don't know yet, Chad has a new job for this coming school year. He is changing school systems and will have an opportunity to coach cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. He will be teaching all Biology classes this year. We know this is where God wants him because doors just kept opening for him to have this job. I know he will enjoy it! We have been working hard in his classroom over the last two weeks. The students start next Monday so he has a week left to get ready. He has meetings all week, so not much time to work on his room. Hopefully I can help him later in the week.

I will be in the same position next year at my school. I have really enjoyed the summer, but I'm ready to get back in a daily routine.

Our Boys in Heaven

2011-01-11T08:16:00.000-06:00

For those that don't know, we had a miscarriage in September. I'm finally able to talk about it without tearing up. I wanted to share about our experience in hopes of helping other women who may be going through the same thing, to help everyone understand and be more compassionate to those that experience a miscarriage, and share our story.

We have always wanted children. I always said I wanted 10 (meaning alot), and Chad keeps reminding me of that. We had been trying to get pregnant for about a year. Without going into details, we were getting frustrated that we still were not pregnant. I had decided not to worry about it so much and I was going to talk to the doctor next time I went in and explore my options. As perfect as God's timing always is, we got pregnant!

On July 24th, 2010 I took a pregnancy test because I thought I might be pregnant. It was positive!! I couldn't believe it so I went to the store and got some more tests to take. I took 5 in all and they all showed positive right away. It was a Saturday morning and Chad was taking a test to get his teacher certification so I had to wait for him to get home to tell him. I always wanted to do something special to tell him, but I couldn't think of anything. So, I had him come into the bathroom when he got home and had all the tests laying out by his sink. He studied them for a while and then looked at me and I said, "What do you think?" Apparently I kept repeating that question over and over and grinning from ear to ear. Beginning that day I had morning sickness pretty much throughout the day. I never got sick, but felt sick to my stomach most of the time.

It was really hard not being able to tell anyone. We wanted to wait until our first doctor's appointment for confirmation before sharing our news. I was about 6 weeks along at the time.

August 9th, 2010 was our first appointment and the ultrasound tech confirmed that I was pregnant and that it was twins!! She told us right away that Baby B was not developing. He was smaller than Baby A and his heartbeat was lower. She told us that usually when she sees this, Baby B does not survive and is reabsorbed. We were worried, but knew that everything would be ok. After speaking with the doctor, she wanted to see us back in 2 weeks to check Baby B's progress.

We went back on August 24th and Baby B's heartbeat was still low, but it had increased. There was also fluid in the baby's spine area. We were told this could be Turner's syndrome, which is only found in girls. I was sure at that point that they were girls. The doctor recommended that we got to a specialist so they could begin monitoring us.

On Sept. 4th we drove to my mom's house in Georgia where we met Chad's parents, my mom, and step-dad, Roland, to tell them our news. They were all shocked and even more suprised to learn that we were having twins. It was such an exciting day and we were so happy to share it with them. That day and throughout the weekend we called and skyped with other family and friends to share our news. I was exhausted from smiling and talking, but I felt so blessed to be able to share what God was doing in our lives with those closest to us.

The next Wednesday, Sept. 8th, we had an appointment with a specialist. I was now 13 weeks along in the pregnancy. We were both hopeful for good results that day and thought we were just going so they could begin monitoring the babies. When we first went into the room the ultrasound tech did an initial ultrasound. We were told that their ultrasound machine would be able to show alot more than the machine at our doctor's office. Right away Chad knew that something was wrong because the tech was not zooming in close at all, in fact, we could not even see the babies. I was just assuming that the doctor would show us more when she came in. When the doctor came in she looked on the machine for a few minutes and then told us she had some really bad news. At that point I still believed that she might say that Baby B didn't make it, but she told us that neither baby had a heartbeat. Time stood still for a few seconds and then we both lost it. We were shocked and definitely not prepared for that news. The doctor left us in the room for a while to grieve and then came back to explain a few things to us. She said that most likely Baby B was showing a chromosomal abnormailty and if that was the case then Baby A also had the same chromosomal abnormality, but it was not showing yet. We went home after the appointment and it was nice to just be together. The next day I had a D&C and we both stayed home for the next few days to recover and grieve. My mom came to help take care of me/us. It always helps to have your mom there when you are hurting!

My doctor recommended chromosome testing on the babies just to see if we would possibly get some answers or know of some challenges we would have in the future. We went back to see her 6 weeks after my procedure and she already had the chromosome results back. We found out that there was no chromosomal abnormalities and they were BOYS!! I was shocked because I really thought they were girls. Even though we didn't get any answers, I felt really good about the information she was able to give us. Just like in our faith, we don't always get all the answers we want. I was just relieved to know there were no chromosomal abnormalities that caused the miscarriage.

Now I just smile everytime I think about the fact that our boys are up there in Heaven just waiting on us to come meet them one day. God has his arms wrapped tightly around them showing them how much they are loved. I can just see my Memaw trying to take them away so she can hold them as much as possible.

Even though it has been one of the hardest obstacles I have faced, I have learned so much through this process that I would not take it back for anything. God is continuously teaching me that He is in control of all things and His timing and ways are much better than mine. Last Sunday at church our pastor preached on Ephesians and showed us how God can do far more than we can imagine and He loves us far more than we can imagine. How appropriate that lesson was for me! Now if only I can remember that daily when things get tough.

Thanks for reading and thanks to all our family and friends who have been so supportive during this tough time in our lives. We love you all!

Granite Countertops

2010-12-25T20:35:00.003-06:00

We LOVE them! Here are some before and after pictures.

Kitchen Before

Sink Before

Sink After

Kitchen After

Next up is our tile backsplash. We think we have picked out the tile. We are installing it ourselves so it may take a while! We'll keep you posted. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Lately

2010-11-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

We have been busy lately as usual! Here are a few things we have been up to:

1. We have been involved in the same Core Group (small group) at our church for the last 3 years. The people have become some of our closest friends and we have enjoyed watching everyone and their families grow. This year we are the leaders and it has been great! It pushes me way out of my comfort zone, which is good for growth. God continues to bless our families and friendships. Yesterday some of us participated in "Baskets of Kindness" with our church and a local mission partner. We put together baskets with food for families to have for Thanksgiving, then we had the privilege of delivering 2 baskets to different families.

2. This year we are having Thanksgiving at our house. My mom and stepdad are coming here to celebrate with us. I'm so excited to be able to host a holiday at my house for the first time ever! It has been fun planning the meal, putting together the table decorations, and shopping for the food. I bought a turkey for the first time in my life! Hopefully we will get a little shoping while they are here, and of course we will eat well and watch LOTS of football.

3. The exciting thing in our life lately is that we are getting granite countertops installed tomorrow! We have been wanting to update our kitchen for a while, so we decided to start with the countertops. We are using a company in Atlanta that was recommended by a friend and they have been wonderful so far. We went to Atlanta to pick out our slab last week which was lots of fun and interesting to see their warehouse. We should be able to use our kitchen again on Tuesday. I hope everything goes well! Hopefully in the near future we will be replacing the floors and appliances. Kudos to Chad who did all the research and made all the phone calls to find us the cheapest company!

4. I have to brag on my husband for one more thing. Let me start by saying that he is not naturally handy, but he is trying really hard to learn. After 3 years of our doorbell not working, he fixed it! I'm so proud of him for persevering. It worked for a while and then the other day it stopped again. We think we know what the problem is now, so he will be fixing it again soon!

*Update: He fixed the doorbell after I typed this! It's working again.

Furniture

2010-10-29T20:31:00.011-05:00

We finally got our bedroom furniture and we LOVE it!!! Unfortunately we noticed a few flaws when we got it home. I called the store right away and they will be replacing it hopefully in November. After getting it all set up in our bedroom, I now see several other things I would like to change or fix in the room to make it just perfect. Hopefully, we will work on those soon. Here are some pictures:

9-Drawer Dresser

Lingerie Dresser

Chad's Night Stand

Tara's Night Stand

Night Stand up close. I love the detail!

Our bed all made up (which does not happen very often, but I love when it is)

These are some willow tree figures that our parents gave us. For now, they are on our night stands, but we hope to put them together when we rearrange a few things in our room.

For those that don't know, we had a miscarriage about 6 weeks ago. I was 13 weeks pregnant with twins. We were pretty devastated at the time, but the Lord has helped us through every moment since then. He has put wonderful people in our life to love and encourage us and each one has been such a blessing. The willow tree figures were given to us in rememberance of our twins. I just love them and I love that they are the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning when I wake up.

I'm planning on sharing more about the miscarriage later because I'm still working on finding the right words.

New Sofa and Chair

2010-08-22T19:17:00.003-05:00

They are here and we LOVE them!!! We picked them up yesterday with Chad's parents help. I know the tag is still on. Chad keeps asking if we can take it off, but I'm not ready to yet. Here are some pics. Chad was sitting in the other chair on the phone so he got to be in some of the pictures.

View from the front door.

View from the kitchen/hallway.

The new sofa! I love the color and thankfully Chad does too. It is so comfy and soft!

The new chair. It glides and swivels and is super comfortable. It's hard to tell in this picture, but it's a herringbone fabric.

Our bedroom furniture is still not here! It should have been here several weeks ago so we are a little frustrated. We were told yesterday it should be here mid-September. We'll have pictures when we get it. I guess we just have something else to look forward to.

Washington D.C.

2010-07-26T15:33:00.004-05:00

This year for our vacation we went to Washington D.C. I had never been and Chad had only been for a few days when he was younger. We knew that it would not be a luxury vacation and we would be hot, tired, and have very long days. It turned out to be everything we expected and more! We were HOT, TIRED, and my FEET HURT from all the walking. It was all worth it though to see this beautiful place and learn so much about our nation's history. Here are a few pictures we have to share:

Lincoln Memorial

U.S. Capitol

World War II Memorial

Washington Monument

White House

Our days were jam packed so we could see as much as possible. Of course, I had a strict schedule for us to follow including where we would eat lunch and dinner each day. We did pretty well sticking to our schedule and got to see everything we wanted to, but had to cut some things short because of time. It was pretty impressive overall and Chad and I both LOVED all the beautiful architecture of the buildings and all the natural stone that was used. I had many favorites including the Washington Monument, National Archives, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Chad love Mount Vernon and the U.S. Capitol. We are looking forward to going back one day to see more, but we are planning on going in the spring instead of summer. :)

Time Flies

2010-07-02T19:40:00.005-05:00

Every time I see someone that reads our blog they ask why I have not updated it in a while or when I'm going to update it again. I guess I'm just not as good at this as I would like to be.

We are out of school for the summer and LOVE spending our days together. Everyone always asks us if it is nice having our summer off together and we always respond the same way...Absolutely! It is so nice not to have any worries or stress at least for a short span of time.

We went to Hilton Head with Chad's side of the family in the beginning of June and it was so nice as always. For a few days, the weather was beautiful and not as hot and humid as usual. It is always fun spending time with them! Gramps...you are one reason for this post.

The last few weeks we have been home and it has been REALLY nice! We celebrated our 3 year anniversary at home this year. We traveled on our first 2 anniversaries so we have never celebrated in Birmingham. It was such a nice day just spending every minute together. We woke up early and ran that morning. Actually, Chad ran with Aaron Bishop who lives back in town and I ran by myself, but we ran at the same time at least. Then, we had brunch at a quaint new brunch restaurant in town. I was going to buy Chad some Keen's for our anniversary so we went shopping, but he could not decide on any. We did some furniture shopping for several hours that afternoon...more to come on that later. Then, we had dinner at my favorite restaurant, Cocina Superior. Yum, yum, yum! We never ate the top layer of our wedding cake, so we had some that night and it was actually very good, especially since it was 3 years old.

On to the furniture story. I have been wanting a new sofa for about 5 years now, but we just didn't want to spend the money on it. So, we decided that would be our next large purchase. On our anniversary we went to a cute little home furnishings store in Homewood called At Home. I had been in there before, but it had been a LONG time. Let's just say that 6 days later we walked out of there after ordering a sofa, chair, and new bedroom furniture!! We chose a sofa we liked right away, but went back and forth on the fabric and trying really hard to compromise. Before we even looked at sofas, Chad found some bedroom furniture that he LOVED and once I saw it I did too. We had looked at some bedroom furniture at Pier 1, but Chad didn't love it so we decided to look some more. Well, we found something we both loved for sure! The chair was a complete splurge, but it will be nice to have more seating in our living room that is comfortable. We are so excited because we have not bought much furniture together as a couple and this is something that we picked out and purchased together. The bedroomm furniture will be in by the beginning of August and the sofa and chair will be in around the end of August so look for pictures later.

I also have to give a shout out to Aaron Bishop and Shana Ely Pardue. We had lunch with them last Monday and had such a good time. Aaron lives here in Birmingham and he and Chad have been running together and really enjoying hanging out. Shana has been in town some lately for cancer treatments at UAB. She has Hodgkin's Lymphoma for the 3rd time and is such a trooper. I admire her for her faith, courage, determination, and so many other things. She is such a positive person and always concerned about others that you would never know she has cancer. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful, selfless, and caring friend.

Maybe next time I will have pictures of our furniture!

Spring is Here!

2010-03-27T18:59:00.003-05:00

Once again, I'm sorry I have not posted in so long!!

We really haven't had much going on, just the usual. Chad's track meets started in the beginning of March so that is keeping him very busy on Saturdays. I have to say that it is very nice that his meets are all here in Birmingham because I get to see him on Friday night and Saturday night after the meet. Plus, he gets to sleep at home instead of in a hotel!! It's now 7:00pm on Saturday and he just got home from his meet. It's so much better than when he had to travel!

We recently had Spring Break and did quite a few things to our house. It has been fun, but ALOT of hard work. I know Home Depot and Lowe's are loving us right now. I think we went every day over Spring Break and some days we went twice. Our big project was refinishing our deck. Well, that turned out to take much longer than expected and we are still not done. There was a red stain on it before so we are still trying to get it all off in order to restain it. We also cleaned the wood really well and it looks GREAT so far. As soon as we can get all the stain off we will restain it. Don't worry, we will post pictures when we are finished. We were also hoping to do a little painting to the front of our house over Spring Break, but we ran out of time because of how time consuming the deck was. So, that is what I worked on yesterday and today. I painted the wood around our garage door and our front door. They all need another coat, but they look so much better already. It's amazing what a difference it can make!

I'm just dying to plant some flowers and get all my hanging baskets out of the garage. I love all the pretty colors of the flowers in spring. I also can't wait for our grass to turn green. I fertilized it today so it should start looking better soon.

We have 9 more weeks of school and we are definitely ready for summer!

31st Birthday

2009-12-30T09:32:00.012-06:00

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. It was such a great one! My very favorite, of course, was 3 years ago when I had just gotten engaged the day before, but this was definitely up there with the best. I pretty much had a day of doing what I wanted to do, which is a rarity with so much to get done all the time. I started out by going to get a manicure and pedicure. It was so relaxing! I got black paint on my toenails just for fun. Then, my friend, Katie, treated me to lunch at a great restaurant called The Blue Plate. It was very unique and had a great atmosphere. It was so good to spend some time with her in person rather than just talking to her on the phone. She is due with her first baby in about a month, so I helped her organize her nursery after lunch. It looks great so far and it's pretty much ready, but she has been blessed and received lots of gifts so there is alot to organize. After that, I met Chad's family for a quick game of bowling. I did horrible and came in dead last on my team, but I didn't let that ruin my day (even though I'm really competitive). Chad was going to take me to dinner and we had a little time to kill so he took me to the mall!! He never goes shopping with me because he despises it, so it was quite a treat and I loved every minute of it. Then, Chad took me to a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner and we got to have a conversation without the TV on, it was so nice!! When we got back to Chad's grandparents house his family had a cookie cake waiting for me along with birthday presents. They spoil me and always make my birthday special! I got more of my china, stemware, and flatware, which I'm trying to collect. Chad got me a massage gift card and some beautiful pearl earrings that he picked out all on his own! It was so nice to have the day off and spend it with friends and family doing whatever I wanted.

Christmas Party

2009-12-13T23:22:00.002-06:00

Tonight we had our Core Group over for a Christmas Celebration. We had such a good time visiting with them and we ate come yummy food from Zoe's. It is always so good to get together with them and just catch up with one another.

Chad and I are looking forward to only 5 more days of school and then being out for 2 weeks! We have been so busy lately and barely even get to see each other. We are looking forward to spending some time together over the break with no stress. We are both like 2 different people when we are not in school. It is always a great time for us.

I hope to update again soon because I have been so bad at posting lately. Until then, I hope you enjoy our new Christmas theme.

Yard of the Month

2009-10-25T21:19:00.005-05:00

I finally got our pictures downloaded from the last few months. I will have to do one post at a time because right now I'm too overwhelmed with the amount of topics to write about. The first topic up is Yard of the Month. We got Yard of the Month in our neighborhood for the month of September! Here is our sign:

One morning I walked outside to put something in the mailbox before leaving for work and I saw the sign in our yard. I was so excited! Chad had already left for work so I called him right away to tell him. Later that day, I remembered reading in our neighborhood newsletter that if you get Yard of the Month then you get a $50.00 gift card. That night when Chad was home and I was not home yet, a lady from our Homeowner's Association knocked on our door and gave Chad a $50.00 check. They are very prompt because the sign was out of our yard on Sept. 30th.

We were both so proud of this award because we have worked very hard on our yard throughout the last year.

Check back soon because there is more to come!

Happy Fall!

2009-10-18T21:32:00.002-05:00

It has been way too long! I really need to download some pictures because we have had lots going on that needs to be shared. I'm gonna try really hard this week to get some pictures downloaded to share. School is in full swing and busier than ever for both of us. In August I went to Dallas for a wedding shower for my new sister-in-law. Then, we traveled to Dallas in October for my brother's wedding. Plus, we got Yard of the Month in our neighborhood in September! We were so excited and glad that our hard work paid off.

It just got cold here on Friday and has lasted through the weekend. We can feel the winter coming! It's a nice change.

Check back soon! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the new background.

Almost Back to School

2009-08-05T09:44:00.002-05:00

We are back from our last vacation of the summer! We were in Hilton Head, South Carolina last week with Chad's family and had a great time. While there we played games, went on bike rides, got a tan, relaxed, had a luau, and ate some great food.

Now that we are back we have been working hard to get the rest of Chad's paperwork filled out and turned in and trying to get his classroom ready. Tomorrow is our first official workday, so our summer if officially over. It sure was a great one though!

We will be busy the next few weeks with school stuff, but I will try to update when I can!

Other News

2009-07-15T10:26:00.003-05:00

Now that I got the Costa Rica update posted, there are a few other updates that we would like to share.

1. After being home from Costa Rica for 2 days, we went to my mom and stepdad's house in Atlanta for the week of July 4th. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece and nephew were there as well. We got to meet our niece and nephew for the first time! It was so great to meet them, they are both precious children.

Greg is 12 years old and all BOY! He loves sports, video games, riding his bike, and pretty much anything outside. He really liked Chad because he is so active and Chad can hang in there with him. One thing Greg does not like to do is eat. He is a very, very picky eater. He puts me to shame in that category.

Then, there is Izabella, or Bella as we call her. She just melts my heart, especially when she calls me "Aunt Tawa." She seemed to cling to me at first and even though I would like to think that she loves me the most, I know it's really because I was a new face. She just turned 3 years old and is very tall and mature for her age. She is tall and skinny and has light brown hair, just like I did when I was a child. My sister thinks she looks like she could be my child, and I don't deny it. Bella is sooooo smart, mischievous, and manipulative for her age. She is a girly girl and loves to wear flip-flops. She loves to be held and loved on.

I just love these kids, they fit into our family just perfectly and add another great aspect to our time together!

While in Atlanta, we went to the pool several times, went hiking, shopping, ran the Peachtree Road Race, watched fireworks, and ate, ate, ate. It was great!

2. Chad got a job! It is amazing how God worked it out just perfectly. He will be teaching Biology and coaching girls track at Shades Valley High School next year. It is a Jefferson County High School and the feeder High School for my school. So, eventually, Chad will have some of my students in his classes. He went in for an interview in mid-June. To be honest, he was not really excited about the interview, but when he called me after it was over I could tell he felt differently. He felt really comfortable with the principal during the interview. The princial told him that she would probably contact him later that day. I was shocked! I have never heard of a principal saying that, especially that early in the summer. I knew they mut have really liked him (but who wouldn't?). Low and behold, she called later that afternoon to offer him the job! It's still amazing to me how it all worked out and I know this is where God wants him right now. Now he is trying to figure out how to get his teaching certificate so he will be qualified for other positions. I'm ready for him to get into his classroom so I can get all this stuff out of my house! I can only take it for so long.

3. We have been home now for about a week and a half. Last Friday, Chad woke up and decided it was time to clean out the garage. That has been our latest project. We hung more shelves and used hooks on the walls to hang some other things up. We also used hooks to hang our bikes from the ceiling and that made a huge difference in giving us more room. It looks really nice and I hope we keep it that way! In the process, we also decided to hang another shelf in our laundry room for extra storage space and that made a big difference as well. It's all neat and organized. That also led us to clean out our "junk drawer" in the kitchen. You know, we all have one of those where you just throw things in. I just need to get some baskets and that will be looking great. We are hoping to do some more home improvements this fall. We'll share them when we do!

We still have one more beach vacation coming up! We are going to Hilton Head with Chad's family. We are excited! I will give an update when we return.

Costa Rica

2009-07-13T22:11:00.003-05:00

We returned from Costa Rica! It was so much fun and we highly recommend it as a vacation destination. It is a 4 hour plane ride from Atlanta to Liberia and then we only had a 45 minute drive to our hotel. It was nice to not spend our whole day traveling and we got there with plenty of time to tour the hotel and grounds before it got dark. There was so much to do in Costa Rica, we could have easily stayed there a few more days. We stayed at the Paradisus Playa Conchal, which is an all-inclusive resort right on the beach on the Pacific side of the country.

The resort was beautiful, had great food, and lots of things to do. All the rooms were suites situated in small villas. We had a sitting area, minibar, bathroom, and our "bedroom" that was up two stairs in our suite. The room was very quaint and romantic.

The resort was spread out and required alot of walking. We didn't mind at all because it was so pretty and we were able to see many "critters" during our walks. We saw iguanas, something that looked like a cross between a raccoon and an anteater, squirrels that looked different than the ones we have here, and a variety of birds.

There was 24 hour room service and many restaurants open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We tried all of the restaurants at least once and we were very impressed. For dinner, there was a buffet open each night, or there were 3 specialty restaurants that required reservations. There was an Italian, Mexican, and Asian Restaurant and all of them were wonderful. We liked the Italian restaurant so much that we went twice. Each restuarant was very "up-scale" and offered many appetizers, entrees, and of course dessert. Since it was all-inclusive, we just couldn't help ourselves! We went a litle overboard a few times, but it was worth it!

The resort also had free activities such as: bike tours, kayak tours, sunset boat cruise, bike rentals, kayak rentals, canopy, exercise classes, dance classes, etc. Even though we wanted to do a few of these activities, we just ran out of time. We did go on the sunset boat cruise though and it was awesome! We also participated in water aerobics class 2 different days while we were at the pool.

We went on two excursions away from the hotel. The first one was an ATV/Canopy Tour. First, we rode our ATV's to the canopy. It was a good introduction canopy tour and nice because we were alone with our tour guides. Then, we rode the ATV's for 2 more hours on dirt roads. It was neat to see the daily lives of the people that live there. We saw some school children walking and riding their bikes to school and 2 boys raced Chad on their bikes. We rode by the beach for a while and got to stop and take pictures. We also saw howler monkeys during that time. There were a ton of them together in several trees and some had babies on their backs. Our second excursion was our favorite day of the entire trip. It was called "Adrenaline Adventure Combo" and boy was it a combo! We were gone from 6:30am -6:00pm that day. First, we drove about 2 1/2 hours to a canopy tour. It took an hour and a half to complete the canopy tour. It was built around a canyon and we went back and forth over the canyon on the zipline. At one point we were lowered down 25 meters into the canyon, did a "Tarzan" swing back over the canyon, and the rock climbed back up the canyon. Also, there was a section where we had to rock climb horizontally to the next line. It was so much fun! I was glad when it was over though because my nerves were pretty much shot! For those that know me, it was very scary for me, but I did it all. Chad was loving every minute of it, he is such a dare devil. Next, we went on an hour horseback ride to a waterfall, where we got to jump off a rock into the waterfall. Then, we had lunch, and we to a "Costa Rican" spa for the rest of the day. At the "spa" we went in a sauna for 10 minutes, took a mud bath, let it dry, and rinsed off in a freezing cold shower. It was supposed to be good for our skin, but I'm not sure about that. Then, we went to a hot springs, where the water is naturally heated from the lava in a nearby volcano. The whole day we had a tour guide that taught us alot about the Costa Rican culture.

While we were there I treated myself to the spa and Chad played golf on the course at our hotel.

Even though we went during the rainy season, the weather was not too bad. When we first arrived, it was very hot and humid and I was worried that the whole week would be like that. Luckily, that was the worst day! It was very warm during the day, but we got at least a short rain shower each afternoon. Two afternoons we got thunderstorms. The resort provided us with an umbrella in our room, which was convenient.

We had a great time! It is so nice to escape the stresses of daily life and refocus, relax, and rest. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Happy Summer!

2009-07-10T09:54:00.012-05:00

We just love the summer, but why does it always go by so fast! We have been busy, busy since the last post so now we have lots to update about. I hope you enjoy the new template, I thought we needed something summery with bright colors for this time of year.

First, I would like to update you on my newest sewing ventures. I took my grandmothers sewing machine to a local sewing machine store and was able to get all the parts I was missing. While I was there, the lady told me about introduction sewing classes for my machine. I was able to attend a 2 hour class a few weeks ago and learn some basic things about the machine that I did not already know. It was wonderful! My newest project is learning how to applique, which was much easier than I thought it would be. I made some kitchen towels with a personalized applique for a thank you gift. I would not recommend starting with the letter "S" because it is probably the hardest one, but I didn't have a choice. I bought some cellophane bags at Michael's and wrapped them up with a ribbon.

That is all I have time for right now, but check back soon for updates on our Costa Rica trip and my new niece and nephew!

Why...

2009-05-30T08:09:00.003-05:00

did I wake up so early on my first day of summer? That is so frustrating to me sometimes, but at least I can take a nap later if I want. I woke up at 7:15 this morning, which is my first day of summer. I know this is not early for some of you that have children, but it is early for me when I want to sleep in, and I didn't go to bed that early last night.

It has been a while since I posted, so there is alot to tell about:

1. It's SUMMER! Yea! This is always such a great time for us because both of our schedules allow us to spend lots of time together in the summer and it's so great for our relationship. Plus, we are both in very good moods all the time because we are not stressed out from work. While we have a very busy schedule already this summer, all the things we have planned are fun things that we choose to do and don't have to do. As I've said before, we will be going to Costa Rica this summer! We will also be going to Hilton Head for a week with Chad's family, meeting our niece and nephew for the first time, running the Peachtree Road Race with my mom, and having several visitors throughout the summer.

2. My Memaw passed away on April 24th, 2009. The entire family was there for her funeral and it was so good for us to all be together to honor her and celebrate her life. While we were all there we got to take some of her sewing items since we were all together to divide it up. My sister and I are sharing her sewing/embroidery machine and I got to take it home for now since Teah has her hands full with being a new mom. It is so special to me to have some things that belong to her and I know she would be so happy that my sister and I enjoy sewing. Hopefully, I will come to love it as much as she did and be even half a talented as she was.

3. Chad lost his job at Samford a few weeks ago. The new Head Coach, who has been there for about a year, decided he wanted to start over with all his "own" coaching staff. So, he let all 3 of his assistants go. Chad is taking it pretty well considering he LOVED coaching at Samford and he probably would have stayed there forever if he could have. He is now looking at his options. We know that God has a plan for his career and it does not include Samford at this time. Please pray that God would provide something that Chad would love just as much, but would also allow him to spend more time at home and get rewarded finacially for all his experience, certifications, and hard work.

Those are our big updates since the last post. I am hostessing a baby shower tomorrow so today I will spend most of my time planning for it and making sure we have everything we need. I do have to go back to school on Tuesday for a teacher workday, but that is no big deal. I already have all my work done so it will be an easy day. Chad is at the Regional Track Meet this weekend and will not be back until Sunday evening. This is his last track meet at Samford, he has 1 athlete competing so he wanted to go support him. Please continue to pray for him in his job search.

Assistant Coach of the Year Nominee

2009-04-18T13:46:00.002-05:00

Chad is one of the top 5 nominees for Assistant Coach of the Year at Samford. I'm soooooooo proud of him and I'm glad he is finally being recognized by other people for his hard work and dedication. He does work so hard and puts so much into his job because he loves coaching and he loves Samford. A banquet will be held on Monday, April 27th to reveal the winner. Even if he doesn't win, he is already the winner in my heart! Good luck Chad!

The Final Product...

2009-04-11T21:48:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of my latest creation. I just love it! I sewed it together about 2 weeks ago and all I had left to do was sew the button holes and buttons on. Well, I thought that would be easy, but the buttonholes turned out to be very difficult to do on my machine. I had to play around with my machine a bit, but I finally got it and they ended up looking great and being pretty easy to make after some practice.
I hope to make many more of these in the future! I already bought some fabric to make for my new foster niece (more on that later). I have a similar pattern for a boy, but with shorts of course. Hopefully I will be brave enough to try some with trim, pockets, and other decorations.

I know my grandmother would be very proud of me and I wish I could share it with her. She is the first one that inspired me to want to sew and she and my grandfather bought me my sewing machine a few years ago for Christmas. She also gave me lots of sewing items to get me started.

For those that don't know or have not heard, my grandmother is not doing well. She was moved into a nursing home on Jan. 31st of this year and since then has gone downhill quickly. Her alzheimers is progressing at a very quick pace. She had a seizure about two weeks ago and has not been the same since. She is unresponsive and is not eating. The doctors have recommended that hospice be called in. Please pray for her to be comfortable and pain free. Also, pray for my grandfather during the difficult time.

On a happy note...I have a new foster niece and nephew!! Teah and Ryan have been foster parents for a few weeks now and they LOVE it! I am very excited for them and I can tell how much happier Teah is already. To read more about them, look at their blog. The link is on the left side of my blog under The Doyle Family. Izabella (Bella) will turn 4 in about a month and Greg is 12. It has been so much fun to hear about them so far.

Chad is on his way back from a track meet right now. I had a nice relaxing day today. I worked out with a friend this morning, went to the grocery store, worked a little around the house, and sewed for several hours. It was nice to have a large amount of time to devote to sewing, I sure feel like I got alot done.

Tomorrow is Easter and we are excited to be able to go to our church for the first time on Easter. It is such a wonderful day to celebrate Christ's resurrection. I just made us a reservation for a lunch buffet tomorrow after church!

Sorry for the long update all at once. I'm off to bed now!

New and Improved Front Yard

2009-03-29T14:20:00.007-05:00

Here is what we did last weekend:

First we (meaning Chad) tilled the soil. It was so funny watching him because the tiller was so powerful that it nearly pulled him across the yard at first. He did a great job!

I forgot to take a real before picture, but this shows mostly what it looked like before.

This is after all the tilling took place. We found some wires that ran right along the driveway so we dug them up, dug a trench, and reburied them deeper in the soil.

Chad the tiller man.

Chad decided that I was a better raker. Since he did the tilling my job was raking. That sure did make my back sore!

We finally got all the soil evened out and had a mess to clean up.

This picture shows what the yard looked like after we laid the sod and trimmed the edges. As you can see we also made a small flowerbed around the mailbox. We thought it would give our house a little more curb appeal.

The final product a week later and after lots of rain.

Here is our yard now. We are very proud of all the work we have put into it. I planted flowers around the mailbox, but we are still looking for something to line it with. We are thinking maybe some small rocks. Also, we can't wait for our grass to turn green, it is still dormant right now. We still need to plant some annuals in the flowerbed by the house and that will give it some more color. Even though it was hard work and took a long time, we enjoyed doing it together and learning as we went!

Sewing Project

2009-03-18T19:15:00.006-05:00

I thought I would share my latest sewing project. I made some burp cloths for a friend in our Core Group that just had a baby. Actually, I bought the actual burp cloths and then decorated them. The green one with brown polka dots is made with ribbon and then piping on each side of the ribbon. The piping was a little difficult to work with, but it turned our really cute. The one in the middle is made with polka dot fabric with rick rack around all the edges. I used stitch witchery to make the fabric stick to the burp cloth. That one was the easiest to make in my opinion, but it was also the last one I made so I felt like I had the hang of it. The blue striped one is the first one I made with a little help from a friend and I really like it as well.

It was difficult to find cute ribbon and fabric for boys! I didn't want it to look too girly. I already have some very cute things for some girl burp cloths so I'm looking forward to making some soon.

I have moved everything up to my new sewing room, which is just an old desk in one of our guest bedrooms. It is already much easier to get in there and sew since it's already set up. Before, I had to pull the sewing machine out and set it up everytime I wanted to sew. It should be much easier now. I just need to organize all my things so I can find them easily.

Hopefully, my next project will be a little girl's jumper. I'm a little scared about making clothes, but I'm going to give it a try. I'll post a picture when I do it!

Just a little spring break update...this afternoon Chad and I worked a little in the yard. We sprayed something to kill all our grass/weeds in the front and backyard. Our plan is to till the soil on Friday and then lay sod on Sat. We'll see how it goes! I also pruned all our plants in the front yard, watered them really well, and pulled our potted plants out of the garage. It already looks so much better! I'll update this weekend on what all we were able to accomplish.

Spring Break

2009-03-14T18:48:00.002-05:00

This week Chad and I are both on Spring Break! While he will still have to work, we are hoping we will be able to enjoy a few days at home working around the house and on our yard. Since he is away so much on the weekends we don't have much time to work together around the house. Our yard is still in need of some serious attention!

Chad had a track meet today at Birmingham Southern College, here in Birmingham. It rained ALL day long! I went out there for about 6 hours and had to leave before it was over. They were running really behind the schedule and I just couldn't sit out in the rain any longer. I have been home for about 2 hours and he just called and he is still at the meet and the last field event is just starting! I think I may take a nap while I wait for him.

Hopefully we will be able to relax a little and get some much needed rest this week, but also be able to get some work done. It's always nice to have time to spend with him since he is gone so much on the weekends.

On a side note...we finally got our wedding album last week! We are so excited to finally have it and be able to show it to friends and family.

Costa Rica Here We Come...

2009-03-14T18:39:00.004-05:00

After researching for over a month and for at least 40 hours we have booked our vacation for this summer to Costa Rica! We will be there for our 2 year anniversary in June. We are really excited about getting away and having time to enjoy each other without the distractions of daily life. Check out our hotel at: http://www.paradisus-playa-conchal.com/
While we are there we are planning on doing a zipline through the rain forest, hiking up a volcano, relaxing at the pool and beach, enjoying the spa and golf course, and possibly some other fun excursions!

Planning a Vacation...

2009-02-19T21:06:00.002-06:00

Chad and I are trying to plan a vacation for our anniversary at the end of June. We have been talking about it since November, but I have had a hard time convincing Chad to do some research with me. We would love any suggestions. Our requriements are:
1. Outside the United States (even Canada, Central or South America)
2. Somewhere we could not go once we have kids or somewhere we would not bring our children
3. Outdoor activities/day trips (Chad loves the outdoors)
4. I would like to stay in a nice hotel (all-inclusive possibly)
5. Within our budget (of course)
Other than that we are pretty open. I would like to go somewhere warm and beachy since it is the summer, but that is not a must. Please help!

Cleaning Out the Guest Room Part 2...

2009-02-07T10:38:00.002-06:00

This morning I got to sleep in and it was so nice! Chad is away at a track meet until late tonight and I have some free time to get some things done today. A few weekends ago I cleaned out our guest bedroom closet and now it's time to organize our files. That is my goal for today. Hopefully I will get in there and get busy and get it all done. I just LOVE getting organized, but I have been procrastinating because I never seem to have enough time to get started. I prefer to have a full 1-2 days to complete a large project like this so that I can get it all done and not have to come back and finish later. So, we'll see how far I get!

Jenny Wilson

2009-02-07T10:31:00.004-06:00

When we got back to Birmingham after Christmas, we were at the mall trying to exchange one of our Christmas presents and ran into Jenny Wilson. For those of you that know Jenny Wilson, that is all I have to say. I'm sure you have a smile on your face already. She is a few years older than me and ran with us at Samford. She is probably the sweetest person I have ever met in my life and took care of me my freshman year at Samford. She has been living in Birmingham for the past 3 1/2 years and just finished Physical Therapy School at U.A.B. I can't believe I never knew she was here. We also figured out that she was in Birmingham when we got married and could have come to our wedding if we would have been in touch at the time. I met up with her on Thursday night and we had dinner and talked for several hours. It was so good to see her and catch up on her life. Hopefully, we will continue to stay in touch and see each other often.

Random Post

2009-01-28T16:57:00.005-06:00

I haven't posted in a while and I have a few random pictures that I would like to share.

This is the puzzle we completed at Christmas only to find that we were missing a piece. We brought it with us to Chattanooga and started it there. When it was time to go to Atlanta Chad decided he just could not leave it or take it apart yet because we had made some progress. So, we transported it to Atlanta with us. Even though we tried really hard, we were not able to complete it before we had to go home. So, we then transported it back to Birmingham with us. The night after we got home we finally finished it. We were sad to find out that we lost one piece in all of the transporting. If you are wondering...it is Jelly Belly jelly beans. Wow! It was difficult!

Last year I decided I really wanted a nativity scene since I did not have one yet. After looking for one I finally gave up because I could not find one that I liked. Chad suprised me and bought me the basic pieces in the Willow Tree set for Christmas. This Christmas I got the other pieces to complete the set. I absolutely love it!

The girls in my Core Group took me (and Susan) out to celebrate our birthdays. We had a nice dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. They have been such a blessing and I am enjoying getting to know them even better. Pictured below are: Susan, Karen, Me, Dana, and Hayley (with baby #2 on the way)

After Thanksgiving, Chad and I bought a 50" plasma TV. That was our Christmas present to each other this year. Doesn't it look like Oprah is in our living room? We have really enjoyed it so far! We also purchased a media center since our new TV would not fit in our other entertainment center. We bought it from Home Decorators, which is the same place we purchased our desk and file cabinet from over the summer. I'm really impressed with the media stand, especially for the price. Plus, it really opens up our living room without the taller entertainment center.

Hopefully, we will have something better to share soon!

New Year...

2009-01-10T20:45:00.002-06:00

The new year has begun! I can't believe it is 2009 already. We made it home from our Christmas travels, took down all our decorations, and are back in the swing of things with work.

I spent much of the day today trying to organize some things around the house and find a new home for some of our Christmas presents. Chad was away most of the day with recruits. We are looking forward to an afternoon together tomorrow between church and dinner out with friends.

After looking at the calendar today, the next 6 months are already looking busy for us. My goal is to be productive with my time, especially on the weekends so I can continue to organize and clean out some things in our house. I hope to be able to use my time wisely when Chad is gone to track meets on the weekends.

I already can't wait for the summer when things will be more relaxed and we will have more time to spend together again.

Friends..

2008-12-31T16:50:00.003-06:00

We have so many good friends, but many of them don't live in Birmingham so we don't get to see them very often. Our friends Leah and Rick who live in Seattle were in Atlanta visiting family for Christmas. Our other friends Katie and Trey who live in Chattanooga were in the Atlanta area also visiting family for Christmas. We were all able to meet up and have lunch and visit for a few hours. It was so nice! All of them were a part of our wedding and they are very special to us! Thanks guys!

Rick, Chad, and Trey

Katie, me, and Leah

I'm 30!

2008-12-31T16:30:00.004-06:00

Well, I can't believe it, I'm 30! Chad is very happy that he is not the only 30 year-old in our household now and he does not want me to forget it. For the last few years I have had the privilege of celebrating my birthday with Chad's family and my family so the celebration gets drawn out. It's fun to celebrate more than once! Thanks to everyone for going out of your way to make my birthday so special.

First celebration-Dec. 27th: Chad's uncle Mark's birthday is on Dec. 31st so we get to celebrate our birthday together. This year we each got our own ice cream cake. Yum!!

Second celebration-Dec. 29th: My very own homemade cookie cake-my favorite! Plus a gift bag with nothing in it. My mom wrapped a gift card in the small bag you see in the picture. When I went to open it there was nothing in it. We think the cats got to it!

Thanks for such a wonderful birthday! It is so nice to be able to celebrate with family.

A Wonderful Christmas

2008-12-31T16:01:00.005-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year! Here are some pictures:

Our unsuccessful gingerbread house

Christmas morning with Chad's parents and grandparents.

My new pashmina scarf that Teah and Ryan bought me in Prague

Dustin and Shannon-the newly engaged couple

The Pickle Game-We started this last year. My mom hides a small pickle in the Christmas tree and we take turns trying to find it. The one who finds it gets a special gift. Chad found it last year and I found it this year. So far it's a James family sweep. In the picture Dustin is looking for the pickle.

Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas so special and enjoyable!

First Sewing Project...

2008-12-31T11:58:00.003-06:00

Here it is! I made 2 pillows this size for my couch and a smaller one for my chair, with a little help of course. They turned out well and I'm very proud of them. I hope to tackle some more difficult items soon. We took a break with our sewing classes during the holidays since everyone is so busy. We hope to start up again in January and learn to make some children's clothes.

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-25T16:42:00.003-06:00

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! We are so thankful for all God has provided for us in our lives. We are so blessed by wonderful friends and family who support and encourage us. We are having a great time in Chattanooga with Chad's family. We will be here a few more days and then we go to my mom's for a few days before heading back to Birmingham. Enjoy the holidays, spending time with family, and get some rest!

Our Christmas Tree

Wishing You a Merry Christmas...

2008-12-08T19:59:00.004-06:00

The Christmas decorations are all up and we are about half way finished buying presents. Hopefully this week we will get all the presents bought and my goal is to wrap the ones I have this weekend. That way we can have a stress free week next week with not much to do.

We survived hosting our first Christmas party at our house this past Sunday for our Core Group at church. We spent most of the day on Saturday putting up our lights and decorations outside, which you can see here:

This year we added the wreaths, which I LOVE, and the lights on the small bushes. Chad did a great job cleaning up the yard and putting up most of the decorations outside. We also cleaned the house on Saturday. Secretly, I love having people over because it forces me to clean my house really well and I'm always so glad it's clean when I finish!!! Last, but not least, we decorated our tree on Saturday night and it looks so beautiful. We didn't take a picture yet, but we will try to post one later.

On Sunday I finished some last minute things in the house and made some appetizers for our party while Chad went to the Samford track Christmas party. We worked really hard on our table decor and really enjoyed using some of our wedding gifts that we have not used yet. Here is the table we set up in the study:

We also had our kitchen table set up, but we didn't get a good picture of it. We had a great time visiting with everyone and of course the guys played the Wii for a while. We would love to do it again some time soon.

We are going to Chattanooga for Christmas this year and then to my mom's afterwards for my birthday and New Year's. So, lots of traveling, but we are looking forward to seeing our family and hopefully some friends along the way.

We have officially received 5 Christmas cards as of today and we are looking forward to receiving alot more! We love seeing pictures of all those babies!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

2008-12-02T17:14:00.002-06:00

I'm so happy that Christmas is so close. I just love this time of year! We are doing well with our decorating. I decorated the house before we left for Thanksgiving and we bought our tree when we got back. Now all we have to do is decorate the tree and put up the lights and decorations outside. We are hosting a Christmas party this weekend for our Core Group and I'm excited because I love having people over to our house! So, we must finish all our decorating by then. Also, our Christmas cards are just about ready to be mailed. Everyday I go to the mailbox hoping to get our first Christmas card in the mail and we have yet to receive one. Maybe tomorrow will be the lucky day. Now I've just got to start buying Christmas presents!! Better get started!

Sew Much Fun

2008-11-11T12:51:00.002-06:00

I know that is a cheesy title for my blog, but I thought it was appropriate. My first sewing class was lots of fun and very successful. It was just me and a friend from our core group, Karen, along with Chris, our "instructor." Chris was very patient with us as we are both very much beginners in the art of sewing. We started out by refreshing our skills on sewing a button and then quickly learning how to hem pants. That's all thanks to me since I brought my whole wardrobe to be fixed according to them. Then, we cut out all the fabric for our pillows and began making the cording. Chris finished up by making one of my smaller pillows so we could see what we were going to do next time we meet. I went to Hancock Fabrics today to pick up a few things for my new hobby. Luckily, they were having a sale for Veteran's Day. Many things were 50% off! Now, time to go practice! I will post some pictures once all the pillows are done.

Ready for the Holidays

2008-11-08T12:27:00.002-06:00

The James household is ready for the holidays! The holidays are always great for us because we both have time off of work and we get to spend alot of quality time together.

As I'm writing this Chad is at the Alabama State Meet recruiting athletes for next year. I'm trying to get some things done around the house today as usual. We'll see how much actually gets done! We have been very busy lately! There has been alot going on at school that I have had to help out with and Chad is winding down the cross country season. They have one more race next weekend and then they are done racing until the end of January.

Tomorrow I am starting a sewing class and I'm so excited about it! One of the mentors in our Community Group is a wonderful seamstress and has agree to teach some of us the basics about sewing. I'm really looking forward to learning how to sew so I can make things for around the house, gifts, and hopefully children's clothes one day. I'll keep you updated on how it is going.

For those of you that don't know, my mom had surgery last Wednesday to remove a benign tumor on her ovary. We were all very relieved to hear that it was benign! God once again showed us that He is in control of everything and we just need to trust Him.

We are going to Houston for Thanksgiving this year probably for the last time because my dad is moving to Florida! He has been out of a job for a while and finally got an offer in Melbourne, Florida. He has already started working there, but will go back to Houston to be with us for Thanksgiving. I'm sad that this will be the last time for me to stay in the house I grew up in.

I've already begun my Christmas shopping and I have found lots of presents that I'm excited to give! I'm about half way done at this point and I'm hoping to finish early as usual. I love getting my presents wrapped early and under the tree to admire.

Halloween

2008-11-08T12:13:00.005-06:00

Chad was out of town for a cross country meet for Halloween this year. I invited 2 of my new friends from work over for a girls Halloween night at my house. We had so much fun! I made a big pot of chili and chocolate delight for dessert. We carved pumpkins, which you can see below, ate, played the Wii, and watched a movie. Unfortunately, we only had one group of trick-or-treaters so we had ALOT of candy left.
On Sunday, Nov. 2nd, our Community Group had a Fall Party where we dressed up in our Halloween costumes. We dressed up as Olympians! We had so many clothes to choose from that it was hard to decide what to wear. Here is a picture of us and our Core Group at the Halloween Party.

Fall is Here!

2008-10-23T19:50:00.003-05:00

I just love the fall weather and colors. I bought mums a few weeks ago for our front porch. My mom advised me to get some that had not bloomed yet so they would last through the fall. I tried to chose the best one from the selection at Home Depot, but they are already dying and I'm so sad! I may just have to buy some more because they are so beautiful. I also bought our Halloween candy to give out at our house, which was a BIG mistake. I even tried to hide it from Chad so he would not get upset with me for buying it and then not having willpower not to eat it. Well, that didn't last long because he found it and every time he eats a piece I HAVE to eat a piece. It was in the low 60's today in Birmingham and so nice! I hope this weather stays around. It sure it helping out our power bill.

Back To Our Routine

2008-10-04T16:43:00.004-05:00

Chad is home! He has been home for about 2 weeks and it has been hard getting back into the swing of things here at home. He has been so tired and has had a hard time adjusting. For about the first 2 weeks he went to sleep each night between 8:00 and 9:00pm. That is very uncharacteristic of him. I think it was a combination of the time difference and the lack of sleep he got while away. He is finally back to normal (I think) and we have gotten back in our day to day routine. I actually had to get used to him sleeping in the bed with me again so I did not sleep very well for the first few days he was home. We are as busy as usual, but we are hoping to make some time to do some more home improvements this fall.

24 More Hours...

2008-09-17T20:27:00.002-05:00

until Chad gets home!!!! I'm so excited and I think he is finally ready to be home. I spoke with him briefly tonight and for him it was the morning of the day he leaves. The Closing Ceremonies were last night, but he didn't tell me alot about it besides he took his video camera this time. They asked them to not take cameras to the Opening Ceremonies, so he followed the rules and didn't get any pictures of his own. He was hoping to get pictures from other people though and I hope he didn't forget. Before he leaves he was going to try to take pictures around the Paralympic Village since he hasn't taken many yet. Well, it's time for me to go clean a little around the house so the house will look nice when Chad gets home! I probably won't post for a few days, please forgive me!

Initiation

2008-09-12T22:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I was officially initiated to Gresham today. I was on duty in the lunchroom this morning during breakfast when I look over to see two boys in the breakfast line with their arms around each other and one with his arms around the others neck. I could tell it would not be good. The next thing I knew, they were out in an open area throwing punches at each other!!! I have never been in that situation so I just reacted without even thinking. I attempted to break them up for what seemed like 10 minutes, but I'm sure was only about 30 seconds. At the same time I was yelling at the top of my lungs for them to let go of each other and stop. Right about the time I got them separated I was happy to see another teacher running in my direction to help. She took one and I took the other and we marched them straight to the office. My heart was pounding so hard and I'm sure I was beat red! It took a while for me to calm down, but by the end of the day I had forgotten about it. Needless to say, the two boys were suspended from school for 3 days. I really hope next time I'm not in the right place at the right time to break up any fights.

On another note, I have been glued to the news all night watching hurricane Ike progress. My grandparents live about 30 minutes from the Louisiana border and were able to evacuate. They are VERY worried about their house and are hoping the flooding is not bad. I hear most people in the Houston area are hunkering down, so I will call tomorrow to make sure they are all ok. Please pray that everyone will be kept safe and that there won't be much damage and flooding.

One More Week...

2008-09-11T16:32:00.004-05:00

and Chad will be home. I will be picking him up at the airport next Thursday night at 8:54pm, assuming his plane is on time. I can't wait!

I have not been as busy this week, but it's been good. I have gotten quite a few things done around the house that need to be done, but I still have alot more to do. I will have all weekend to try to get some of those things done.

Tonight we have Open House at school and a Ribbon Cutting for the new renovations in our building. I'm resting a little at home before I have to go back to school. I used to stay after school until Open House because it was too far to drive home and back. It was so nice to be able to come home today after school.

School is going well! We finally know which children we will be working with and we will start our "real" schedule on Monday. I'm ready to start working with the children so I can start seeing some results!

Keeping Busy

2008-09-07T07:50:00.002-05:00

I continue to keep busy. Yesterday I treated myself to a massage and it was so nice and relaxing. I sure do wish I could get one at least every other week. I am slowly beginning to get some things done around the house. I have many things on my "to do" list to get accomplished before Chad gets home, so I better get started soon! This week I have a few meetings after school and we have our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Open House on Thursday at school. By then, it will only be one more week until Chad comes home.

I woke up early this morning to call him. He had been shopping all day! I hope he didn't spend too much money! He had to go to a meeting so I'm waiting to call him back. He said the Opening Ceremonies were amazing and a few times while he was there he got overwhelmed and was so glad that he made the decision to go and be a part of it.

Also, last night I got to talk to 2 of my friends on skype. Abbey and Jan somehow found me on skype and called while I was on my computer. That was fun! A little later, Chad called on skype! So, I got to actually see him for the first time. He was in a room that was set up like a computer lab. The computers had webcams built in and each computer had a headset with it. It was really cool!

New Cell Phone

2008-09-04T21:37:00.002-05:00

I finally spoke with Chad again tonight. Apparently, something was wrong with his old cell phone so they gave him a new one. He did not have much time to talk, but it seems he is doing well. Please be praying for a couple of the athletes and their classifications. Last night they reclassified several of the athletes, which may mean that some of them cannot compete at all. Their classification is determined by their disability and the amount of mobility they have in certain body parts. After going through tests with the officials, some athletes have been reclassified into different groups which means they may have to throw certain implements that are much heavier than they have been practicing with. Also, a certain mark is required in each classification to be able to compete. Since these athletes have not been competing in that classification they do not have the mark. That is the short version of the story! This is just very frustrating and sad for those athletes who have been training for this for 4 years. One more thing...the coaches were told they would not walk in during the opening ceremonies, but Chad found out that they are letting them walk in after all. How exciting!!! He can't decide if it would be better to walk in or watch from the stands so that he can see everything. Everyone that walks in is kept in a hallway and is not able to see the opening ceremonies take place. Personally, I would rather walk in to have the experience and watch the opening ceremonies on-line or TV later.

Half Way

2008-09-03T22:16:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is the half way mark for Chad being gone. I REALLY miss him and it's especially hard not being able to talk to him much. I'm sure it will only get worse over the next two weeks as he gets busier and busier. I'm trying to keep myself busy to keep my mind off of it. Several of my friends here in Birmingham have been wonderful. I have gone to dinner with many people to catch up on life. Tonight I was invited to dinner at Adam and Karen Blair's house and had a great time visiting and holding little Charlie! Thanks to those who have gone out of their way to hang out with me!

One Week Down, Three To Go

2008-08-27T21:07:00.002-05:00

As of tomorrow morning, Chad has been gone for one week. It's actually gone by really quickly, but I'm sure I won't be saying that in the last week. I have kept busy going out to eat with friends and doing things around the house.

There was an "exciting" happening in the James household earlier this week that took up much of my time and distracted me from missing Chad. Monday morning as I reached for my laptop bag to take to school, I noticed the strap was wet. As I investigated, I discovered the carpet in our living room was wet all along one of our walls. Lovely, and just after Chad left! Why does it always happen like that? I thought I was done taking care of these things since I now have a husband to do it! Anyway, I had to leave for school so I would not be late, but took half a day off to come home and deal with the situation. Before leaving school, I called someone to come look at it. Luckily, he was able to come by shortly after I got home. We are still baffled and are not sure where the water is coming from other than from under the ground in front of our house. We don't know exactly how to fix it yet, but are talking about our options. My carpet has dried out, but still smells a little musty. I hope it goes away!

After a 4 hour nap...

2008-08-21T22:49:00.003-05:00

I feel much better! Wow, I sure needed that. I spoke with Chad briefly tonight and he was telling me about all the clothes and things he got today! It's amazing what all they gave him. He got shirts, shorts, bags, socks, hats, shoes, and much much more. He got the entire outfit that the U.S.A. team wore in the opening ceremony and the outfit they will wear in the closing ceremony. I guess I will have more clothes to wash! :)

Exhausted

2008-08-21T08:04:00.008-05:00

Wow! What a week it has been! Let's just say...I'm very tired and I think I will take a nice long nap when I get home from work today.

Since the cross country team had camp this week, Chad has been very busy with all that goes into that as well as trying to do their workouts for while he is gone and trying to get everything ready for his trip. I have tried to help him as much as I can this week, but I will be glad to have a weekend to rest soon.

I tried to get as much packed for him before last night as I could, but it obviously wasn't enough. We went bowling with the cross country team last night and did not get home until about 9:00 pm. Then, we stayed up until after 1:00 am packing all of his things, making sure skype was working, and taking care of some other logistics before he left. Then, we woke up about 5:00 am for me to get ready for school and Chad to pack the car and we left at 5:45 am. We made it to the airport and then I went straight to school.

I know Chad is so tired because he has not slept much at all this week and has been busy non-stop during the day. I am praying that he will be able to get some rest while he is in Colorado over the next few days before leaving for Japan. His flight is about 13 hours to Japan, so hopefully he can get some rest at least by then so that he can enjoy every minute of his trip and be at the top of his game.

By the way...I still don't believe this, but I got my laptop from school yesterday, Wednesday, the day before Chad left! Isn't God so faithful even in the little things?!? It just takes a while for us to realize that has a plan for everything, even something as silly as this. I wasn't really too worried about it because I had come to the conclusion that if I needed to, I would just go out and by a new one this weekend because I WILL be talking to my husband while he is away from me for a month. Well, I won't have to do that now and it's a good thing because that would not be good for our finances. God continues to teach me that He will take care of me in all situations, now if I would just learn the lesson and stop worrying that would be great!

Please pray for Chad and all the athletes and coaches as the travel alot over the next few days especially. Also, pray that he would get some rest and be given opportunities to share Christ with others that he comes in contact with. Thanks!

4 More Days...

2008-08-16T19:09:00.003-05:00

until Chad leaves and I'm already sad and feel like I have not seen him enough. The Samford cross country runners are moving in to their dorms today. Chad has been at the school all day working and handing out dorm keys. Tomorrow at 3:00 pm they start their cross country camp and he will be busy pretty much 24/7 with the athletes until he leaves. The athletes will come over to our house on Tuesday night for dinner and games, so I have been cleaning today.

I will take Chad to the airport early Thursday morning, Aug. 21 and he will actually get back a day earlier than we originally thought, which will be Sept. 18th. Last night we set up a blog for him to write on while he is in Beijing. Check it out: it is on the top of my friends list in the left column. The site is http://www.frombirminghamtobeijing.blogspot.com/. He is going to try to keep it updated as much as possible while he is away.

I still can't get Skype to work on our desktop computer!!! It is so frustrating! We are actually borrowing an old CPU from Chad's parents and I can't even get the internet to work on it right now. Also, I can't get the webcam to work and I think I've figured out why. I think it's because the computer has a 1.0 USB port instead of a 2.0. I am supposed to get a laptop at school and was hoping to bring that home to use to talk to Chad, but we have not gotten them yet and I'm not sure we will soon enough. So, other than going out and buying a new desktop computer (which we know we need to do in the near future anyway), I'm not sure what other options I have. Why are computers so difficult?!?

School Begins...

2008-08-12T18:25:00.003-05:00

TOMORROW! While I'm not ready for it to start because I LOVE not working, I'm also ready for it to start so that I can see how my new school works. We have had 3 teacher workdays now and the kids will be coming tomorrow. For the next few days I will be helping out in the office and anywhere else I am needed. On Friday we have a Title I meeting to learn more about our responsibilities this year. Next week we will look at data from our test scores last year to determine which children need our help the most. Then, we will go through the long and grueling process of making our schedules. I'm excited to begin working with the kids so that I can start seeing some results.

Chad leaves next Thursday, so it is getting closer and closer! He is very excited, but we still have alot to do and buy before he leaves. We have our skype accounts set up and Chad's webcam and headset are up and running, but we are still working on mine.

Shopping with Chad...

2008-08-09T22:24:00.004-05:00

is SO DIFFICULT! Today we went shopping for some large picture frames for our study and bedroom. We are going to print some pictures that we have taken on some of our trips and frame them. I went the other day to one of my favorite stores-Hobby Lobby-and found the perfect frames for over our bed. Since we wanted 3 frames I was trying to find some for a decent price because I am the thrify one in the family. Well...today I took Chad there to make sure he liked them and decide which size would be best. Needless to say, he did not like anything that I had already picked out, but instead he wanted to get some frames that were twice the price!! Now, you might wonder if he really cares how I decorate our house. The answer is YES! He does not like when I buy things without his approval and alot of times I have to bring them home and make sure he likes them first and then I end up taking many things back because he doesn't like them. As I said on an earlier post, we are learning (or trying to learn) how to compromise. By the end of the day and after checking several stores, we found something we both love, even though I had to give in on the price!! Once we get the pictures printed, I will post pictures of the final product.

Just a side note...we got to have a lazy day today and watch many of the Olympic events on TV, besides our trip to purchase the picture frames, which ended up taking WAY longer than it should have. This will be our last free weekend before Chad leaves for Beijing. Next weekend the Samford Cross Country Team comes in town for Cross Country Camp. Even though they will be staying in Birmingham for camp this year, they will be very busy the whole week before Chad leaves, so I will not see him much that week. So, needless to say, we are having a nice weekend spending lots of time together!

Home Improvements

2008-08-06T08:49:00.003-05:00

We finally planted some things in our front flower bed in June and just this past week we lined the flower bed with rocks. We are very proud of ourselves since this is the first large outdoor project we have tackled. The hardest part was deciding which plants to buy. For those of you that don't know... Chad and I seem to have completely different opinons on most everthing, which makes things really difficult, but we are learning to compromise. Also, notice the hanging plant and potted plant by the door. We have a few of those in the back as well, but you will not see pictures of the back for a while because we have alot of work to do. The challenge now is keeping the plants alive and I think we are doing a pretty good job so far. Only one thing has died so far and they were some white annuals, which are cheap, so I was glad it was those and not something else. Take a look at our results:

The second improvement we made last week was in our study. We ordered a desk and file cabinet from Home Decorators on-line. I would highly recommend this company! We ordered the furniture on a Sunday afternoon and it was on our doorstep the following Thursday. We had to put the file cabinet together, but it was pretty simple and we only had to put the legs on the desk. So, we now officially have a study and we love it already. There are still a few other things we would like to do in the room like paint the chandelier, hanging a picture above the desk, etc., but it looks much better already. (By the way...we have not gotten rid of the ugly blue couch yet because Chad just can't let it go. It is out in our garage until we can figure out what we are doing with it.) Check out our new study:

New Classroom

2008-08-05T16:15:00.006-05:00

I went up to my classroom yesterday and I will go again tomorrow to try to finish unpacking all of my boxes and arranging my room. It is the perfect location because it is in the main building and basically just up the stairs from the office where I will sign in and out each morning and afternoon. Also, it is right across the hall from a teacher workroom that houses the only copier in the building and the only teacher restroom on that floor. I have enough space in my room to unpack all my things and put them in the cabinets and drawers. Also, I found a nice surprise of 2 brand new Dell desktop computers with flat panel monitors in my room when I arrived on Monday. I had heard that each room had 2 Dell computers already that were not that old and would be getting 2 more brand new ones. Also, each teacher is getting a laptop. Our principal e-mailed us and said they had been ordered. Well, I assumed I would only get the laptop since I would not have kids in my room, but as of now the computers are in my classroom, so we'll see how long they last in there. I'm hoping our laptops will be in soon since they were ordered at the same time. Also, I just recently found out that written into the contract with the newly renovated building was that each classroom would get a smart board. For those of you that don't know what that is it is an interactive whiteboard that you display in the front of the room, most likely by or on the dry-erase board or chalkboard. There is also a projector that is hooked up to your computer and you can either project something from the computer up on the screen or you can use a small hand-held "notepad" to write things up on the board. They are so cool!!! I am doubtful that I will actually have one in my room, but then again I would not use it much, but all of the regular classrooms will have one for me to borrow or use with the kids. I'm so excited about my new school. My old school was really nice and practically brand new when I started working there, so I was very spoiled. I'm glad to be at a new school that is almost just as nice and that has much more advanced technology!

Happy 30th Birthday Chad!!

2008-08-04T20:48:00.007-05:00

Chad turned the big 3-0 on August 1st! I had a surprise birthday party for him on Saturday, August 2nd and it was a success! He had a great time and it was so good to see some people we had not seen in a while. Thanks for coming! For dessert we had banana splits, which we also had at our wedding in place of a groom's cake. We all went in together and I made a money tree for his present to start his TV fund. Of course we went shopping for a TV the next day, but we decided we should save up a little more money before purchasing one. Here are some pictures from the party:
Chad blowing out his 3-0 candles on his banana split.

Chad and Tommy. Do you like their birthday hats?

The money tree.

I thought I would share the funny story of me making the money tree. I was planning on making it the day before the party, but ran out of time. So, that night I had to wait for Chad to fall asleep and sneak out of our bedroom into the guest bedroom to make it. I then stayed up for 2 hours making it and snuck back into bed without him even knowing!

It's Over (almost)...

2008-07-30T09:19:00.003-05:00

Well, the summer is coming to an end. I'm very sad because it always goes by way too fast and I never get all of my summer goals accomplished.

This past Monday I finally moved all of my classroom items into my new room. I have a really nice big room and I won't even have kids coming in there. I'm excited to be able to spread out and have a nice space of my own. I will go up next week and try to unpack and get organized. The teachers start school next Friday, Aug. 8th, and the kids start the following Wednesday, Aug. 13th.

This week is filled with trying to get some more things done around the house. Today cleaning is on the agenda and so far I have just spent time on the computer, so we'll see how that goes!

Hilton Head, South Carolina

2008-07-30T08:57:00.004-05:00

We returned from our annual family trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina last Saturday. That was our last vacation/trip for the summer and it is very sad it has come to an end, but it was a good trip to end on. We always have such a great time with Chad's family in Hilton Head! Some of the fun things we did in Hilton Head include: bike riding on the island, playing boche on the beach, laying out and playing volleyball at the pool, shopping, and flying kites. Here are a few pictures from our vacation:

A beautiful sunset.

Palm trees.

The James'.

The whole family.

Look closely and you will see our kites flying in the sky.

July Fun

2008-07-16T12:24:00.002-05:00

Well, as usual July has passed by way too fast. Here are a few updates from this month and what we have coming up:

For July 4th we went to visit my mom and Roland in Big Canoe. My mom, Chad, and I ran the Peachtree Road Race on the morning of the 4th. My mom only started running about a year and a half ago and her goal was the run the Peachtree this year. So, we went to run with her and had so much fun. Our goal was to run the whole thing without stopping and we did it! It was very, very crowded so we had to dodge people and run around people pretty much the whole time. We had a great time and hope to be able to do it every year.

Last week I baby-sat all week. Since I was a sophomore in college I have been baby-sitting for this family. They have 3 girls and when I started the youngest was 2 years old and now she is 11. It's really crazy to see how quickly they grow up. The oldest girl had a leadership conference to go to in the Boston area so the parents decided to take her early to look at colleges since she will be in 11th grade this year. So, that left me with the 11 and 13 year-old girls for the week. We really had a great time and I feel more like I am just hanging out with them than baby-sitting them.

This week has been filled with doctor's appointments and getting some things done around the house. Also, we have started packing for Hilton Head, our annual family trip with Chad's family. We are very excited! We leave this Saturday and come back the next Saturday.

The Monday after we get back from Hilton Head I will move into my new classroom. I have most of my things in my house right now and I'm ready to get them out!

For those of you that don't know...Chad will be a National Team Coach for the Paralympic Games in Beijing. He will be gone for about a month from Aug. 21st-Sept. 19th. This is such a great opportunity and we are both very excited that he gets to go!

Anniversary Trip to Gatlinburg

2008-07-01T15:13:00.013-05:00

We went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee June 21st-24th to celebrate our one year aniversary. It was so good to get away, especially after having a rough last few months. Since we have not gotten to spend much quality time together lately, we needed this time to get away and just be together with no distractions. We had such a wonderful and relaxing time and it was definitely worth it! I know Chad is having a good time and is stress-free when he gets silly and he was very silly the entire trip. He needed to get away and not have to think about work for a while.

Gatlinburg is such a quaint little town and has some cute shops! We spent lots of time walking down the main strip and eating at several yummy restaurants there. Our cabin was perfect for just the 2 of us. It had a beautiful view, a hot tub on the balcony, and a pool table (let's just say that Chad was pretty impressed with my skills and he needs to practice alot before he plays me again). We tried to spend as much time there as possible so we could relax and enjoy the surroundings. One day we spent about 5 hours at Ober Gatlinburg and were able to do the Scenic Chair Lift, Alpine Slide (which I remember doing when I was a kid and was VERY excited to do again), bumper cars, and 2 different water rides. On our anniversary we went on a hike in the Smoky Mountains and got some beautiful pictures of the views. Here are some pictures of our trip. Sorry there are so many, I couldn't just pick a few.

Our little one-bedroom cabin.

The view from our cabin.
We ate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company one night.
Hiking in the Smokies.

Alum Cave Trail in the Smoky Mountains.
A beatiful view of the Smokies.
Another pretty view.

Wow! I think we'll have to hang this one in our house.
Riding on the Scenic Chair Lift.
The Alpine Slide.

Chad loved this ride!
He talked me into riding this one and promised I wouldn't get wet.
Wet Tara after riding the water ride.

New Design

2008-06-30T23:08:00.002-05:00

I have been seeing all these cute backgrounds on other people's blogs, so I decided I should look into it. I found out you can get free designs on-line. There are some really cute ones, so it was hard to decide. I hope you like it!

1 year Anniversary

2008-06-17T14:35:00.004-05:00

Wow! I can't believe it! Monday is our 1 year Anniversary. We are taking a mini-vacation this weekend to celebrate. We rented this log cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee from Saturday until Tuesday. We are very excited to get away and be alone for a few days since our lives have been extra stressful over the last 4 months. There are many things to do in the Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge area such as: horseback riding, whitewater rafting, shopping, mini-golf (which Chad LOVES), hiking, etc. We are currently working on the agenda for the trip and hope to get to do many of these fun things. We will be sure to post pictures after our trip.

Zac and Kristin's Wedding

2008-06-17T14:19:00.004-05:00

Chad's cousin, Zac, got married to Kristin on May 24th. They started dating a few months before Chad and I did, so they dated for almost 7 years before getting married. Kristin and I have been "roommates" for the past 5 years on our annual Hilton Head trip with their family. We are both very excited to stay in the same room as our husbands this year! The wedding was outside in a garden and the reception was under a big white tent. It was beautiful and we were so glad to be there for it. Chad got to walk Zac's mom out after the ceremony, which was pretty special.

Memorial Day Fun

2008-06-17T14:10:00.003-05:00

On Memorial Day we had our small group over for a hamburger cook-out and to play our Wii!! It was lots of fun. After we visited for a while we ate dinner and then the men played the Wii while the women visited a little longer. One couple in our small group, Adam and Karen, had their baby that day so we made a Wii character in honor of Baby Charlie.

A Birthday, Charlie, and Arkansas

2008-06-11T20:55:00.008-05:00

My brother, sister, and I (and of course the 2 husbands) went in together to get my mom a Kitchenaid mixer for her birthday. She has been talking about how she wants one for about a year now and I thought it was time to get her one. She absolutely loved it! Here are some pictures of her opening her present.

A couple in our Core Group (small group), Adam and Karen, had a baby on May 26th. His name is Charlie and he is so cute. We brought them dinner about a week after he was born and I got to hold him right away. He was getting a little squirmy so I put him up on my shoulder and he fell asleep curled up in a ball. It was so sweet and I was in heaven!

June 4th-8th I went to Little Rock, Arkansas. My high school friends and I had a friend reunion. They were all a part of my wedding last summer and we realized how much we missed spending time together. We all live in different places now and don't get to see each other very often and have not all been together in several years until last summer. Sarah lives in Little Rock and her parents and 2 sisters live very close as well. She showed us where she works, hangs out. likes to eat, and all the hot spots around Little Rock. We climbed up Pinnacle Mountain to see a beautiful view and got to experience many of the cute shops and places around the city. We saw Rachel, Sarah's younger sister, who just had a baby in April. Rachel's baby, AnnMarie, is so sweet and calm and I got to hold her for about an hour the first night we were there and I loved every minute of it. On Saturday we went to visit Sarah's parents and her other sister, Rebekah, and her little girl, Elisabeth. It was so great to see them, we grew up hanging out at their house alot and we all feel like they are like our second family. Elisabeth is so precious! She was born almost 2 years ago and was only 2 pounds when she was born. It is amazing to see her now. Although she has grown alot, she is still small for her age, but is very mature and speaks well.

Christie, Me, and Amber on our first night together having cocktails (or "sipping cocktails" for some of us).

Suzanne and Sarah

Me holding sweet AnnMarie.

Precious AnnMarie!

Sarah and Elisabeth-she loves her "la la".

A New School and a New Head Coach

2008-05-16T21:21:00.006-05:00

We have some news to share for those of you that haven't heard yet. Both of our jobs are going to be quite different next year and we are excited to see what God will teach us through these new experiences.

I (Tara) got a new job at a new school for next year. I decided it would be the best for me to stay in the same school system so that I would still be tenured. There is another Jefferson County School about 10-15 minutes from our house called Gresham Elementary. I applied for a transfer, had an interview with the principal, and got a job offer all within about a month. I will be a Title I teacher, which is what I did my first year at Oak Grove. I will be a resource teacher who helps struggling students in targeted grade levels. I will probably be working with 2nd and 3rd grade or 3rd and 4th grade. While I'm very sad to leave my current school because I LOVE it and the people I work with, I'm also very excited about the challenges of a new job. God has made it very evident that this is where I need to be since it all worked out so perfectly and quickly.

For those that don't know, the Head Cross Country and Track Coach at Samford, Coach McWaters, was suspended back in the beginning of March and later let go. Samford is entering into a new conference next year and they said they wanted to go in a "different direction." We are VERY close with Coach McWaters and his wife because he was our coach at Samford and Chad's boss for the last 6 years. They will be missed very much, but we hope to still see them often.

Because of this, Chad has been the Interim Head Coach for the last few months and has been very busy! I have been helping out as much as I can and going to the meets on the weekends to help him out. He also had 2 former athletes helping out with the sprinters, which was wonderful. It has been very challenging, but we have grown closer through it all.

Earlier this week Samford hired a new Head Coach for next year and are currently in the process of hiring another assistant coach. So, if everything goes as planned there should be one head coach and three assistant coaches next year. This will be a huge help and hopefully will take some of the load off of Chad! Chad and Lauren Blankenship (the other assistant coach for next year who just graduated from Samford) will be in charge of the distance runners.

Chad's job will be very different next year, especially at first as he will be learning how to work with 3 different people. We are excited to see some of the good changes that will be made, but it will be sad to have some of our traditions change that have been around for the last 13 years. Please pray for Chad as he goes through some major transitions in his job next year.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T22:37:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day Moms and Mema(w)s!!! We are so sorry we could not be with you today. Thank you for all you do for us and being so encouraging and supportive. We hope you had a great day today. We love you!

Baxter Warren Carroll

2008-05-11T22:17:00.004-05:00

On Saturday I went to a baby shower for my friend Abbey and her son Baxter. Several people that I ran with at Samford were in town for the shower and it was so good to see all of them. On Saturday morning I ran with Jan and Alice (Abbey's twin sister) and we were able to catch up. The baby shower was that afternoon and I got to meet Baxter for the first time. He is so tiny and precious. Erin Giesa and her mom were also in town from Florida and it was good to see them there. That evening we met a group of people for dinner. It is so good to see friends and so crazy that most of us are married now and beginning to have babies. Alice will have her second (a boy) in September.

Abbey and Baxter

Alice and Emma Kate (cutie!)

Me holding Baxter (don't I look so natural)

Some girls at the shower-Erin, Christy, Jan, Me, Ashley, Alice, and Abbey

Chad and Tara with Baxter

Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-11T22:07:00.003-05:00

We have been involved with a Core Group at our church this year. A Core Group is a small group of people from our Community Group (Sunday School Class) who meet every 2 weeks. We usually discuss the past 2 weeks sermons, but sometimes we just meet for dinner or hang out. We decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with our Core Group by going to eat Mexican food. We always have a really great time with them and God has blessed us with some really good friends that can challenge us in our faith and pray with us. It has been so nice to get to know some other young couples that are also newly married. One couple already has a 1-year old little boy who is precious! Two others have babies on the way. Here is a picture of our group:

Chris and Dana, us, Blake and Susan, Adam and Karen

Jimbo and Hayley had already left when we took our group picture because it was Carson's bed time.

The Biggest Loser

2008-04-15T19:35:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting here watching The Biggest Loser Season Finale. They are so inspiring! I have never been able to watch a whole season until this year. Now I can't skip a week because I'm so addicted to it. They are amazing and look SO good.

Life has been a little crazy lately. Chad has been in charge of the track team all by himself for the last month and a half so I have been helping him as much as I can by helping him with office work, going to the track meets, doing pretty much everything around the house, and making sure he is eating and getting some rest (as much as possible). I just have one question...why is our grass growing like crazy when I am in charge of cutting it. I am just beginning to learn about gardening and taking care of the lawn, but I don't think this is normal. We have been getting ALOT of rain lately, but no one else has grass that is growing out of control.

Last Thursday Chad took 4 athletes to Knoxville for a track meet and was supposed to be back late Friday night to take another group of runners to Ole Miss on Saturday morning. Some bad weather came across the area and they postponed 4 of the races until Saturday, so that left me to take the athletes to Ole Miss by myself. Luckily, Chad has two former athletes helping him out right now and they were able to come with me. I woke up at 4:15am on Saturday!!! We left about 5:45 with me driving a 15-passenger van! Yes, that is right! I drove one a few weeks ago, but that meet was only about 45 minutes away. We did not get home until almost 12:00 that night, so it was a very long day. On Sunday I took a really long nap and somewhat recuperated. I just don't know how Chad does it every weekend.

This weekend they are running at Georgia on Saturday. They are leaving on Friday afternoon and I have the day off, so I will go with them. We are taking a bus, so it will be a little easier. They do not run the next weekend, but a recruit may be coming into town. The weekend after that is Conference in Missouri. I will take off Thursday and Friday to go with them. After that, things will calm down a bit.

By the way, we finished our Crown Financial Ministries class. I started keeping very accurate records of our budget on our laptop and then it crashed a few weeks ago!! We lost everything including our taxes, which I had already done, but not filed yet. How frustrating!

The computer is now fixed and I got our taxes redone and filed last week.

We only have 5 more weeks of school until summer and I can't wait.

Through all of the business and difficult times, God continues to draw us closer to each other and give us strength when we don't have any left. We are learning to be content in all circumstances and fully trust in Him.

Tara

Spring Break

2008-03-21T20:51:00.007-05:00

Chad and I were both on spring break this past week. It was much needed and at just the right time. Although Chad still had to work throughout the week, we were able to get alot of work done around the house and manage to relax some, sleep alot (OK, I did this more than Chad), and spend some quality time together before the athletes come back and track meets start up again. In the beginning of the week my mom and Roland came to visit. We ran some errands on Saturday while Chad was at a track meet. On Sunday we took them to church, went shopping a little, and prepped the kitchen for painting. Yes, I said painting! On Monday we painted the kitchen a beautiful green color. They left on Tuesday morning and Chad and I painted our "sitting room" which we are turning into our study. I could not have gotten that much done without mom and Rolands help! Thanks! Here are some before and after pictures:

The kitchen before painting. Check out the lovely diamond pattern. While someone spent alot of time on it, it was just not us!

Another picture of the kitchen before painting. The eat-in kitchen area is a gold/tan color if you can't tell.

This is our "sitting room" before painting. As you can see it is a lovely DARK burgandy. While it might be nice for an A&M fan, it was not for us and much too dark for that small of a room.

Mom an I are painting a coat of Kilz on the sitting room walls before painting them.

Chad decided he would help us. He is taping the walls up before painting.

The "sitting room" with a coat of Kilz on the walls. A work in progress.

Here is the kitchen after painting, but still a mess. Looks much better!

The final product in the kitchen-a dark sage green.
The eat-in kitchen. How lovely!

The sitting room. It is a little lighter than the kitchen, but you cannot tell here. Now we notice other changes that we need to make because of the beautiful wall color. We'll start with the couch, it has to go! We will turn this room into our study and are currently looking for a black desk to go in it's place. That beautiful plant and lamp need to go too!

Wow! What a difference. Now we just need to find another place for the exercise ball.

While the painting really lasted until Friday after we did all the touch-ups and got everything picked up and put back in place, it was well worth it to see the difference it made.

The rest of the week was filled with doing taxes, running errands, going to doctor's appointments, and working (for Chad). Chad's parents are coming into town tomorrow and we are planning on cleaning our siding and pressure washing while they are here. Look for that update soon! I will try to take lots of pictures.

Tara

Busy, Busy, Busy

2008-03-21T20:28:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have blogged. We have had alot going on lately and there is just not enough time in each day. Here are some of the things that have been keeping us busy:

1. Crown Financial Ministries
We are taking at class at our church called "Crown Financial Ministries." It is a 10 week class that looks at what scripture says about money and being a good steward of God's money. Along with each week's Bible study there are also worksheets to complete about debts, budgeting, life insurance, ect. Although the class hs not gone as in depth about finances as we thought it would, it has been very beneficial in teaching us that it is not our money, but God's money and we must been good stewards with what He has given us.

2. House Improvements
Although our house was built in 2000, we are trying to make some small improvements in hopes of increasing the value when we try to sell it. We are extremely SLOW at this because our opinions seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. While this can be very frustrating at times, God is teaching us patience and how to compromise.

3. TRACK SEASON
Track season is here! Samford had their first outdoor track meet last Saturday and will have one almost every weekend until the middle of May. It will be a very long few months, but I hope it goes by quickly. Needless to say, Chad is VERY busy and spends lots of time working in his office or at home. That leaves me to take care of most things around the house on my own. While it is very tough, God knows what we can handle and He seems to give us time to spend together just when I don't think I can take it any longer.

I'm going to try hard to blog more regulary, even if nothing exciting is going on in our lives.

Tara

President's Day

2008-02-18T16:45:00.002-06:00

It was a quiet weekend around the James house. Chad left for an indoor track meet at Clemson University early Friday morning and did not get home until about midnight on Saturday night (Guess what I was doing when he got home? Yes, that's right, I was fast asleep!).

On Friday night I watched The Waitress with Keri Russell. It was a weird movie!

On Saturday I worked on getting some of the house organized, but I sure do have a LONG way to go still. We are still trying to combine/mesh all of our "stuff" and it is really hard. Also, we are trying to decide what color we will paint our kitchen and sitting room. We decided on a sage green, but we have MANY shades to chose from. I narrowed it down to 10 from about 40 or 50. I definitely have a favorite, so I'll have to see if Chad agrees. We are going to paint on our Spring Break so we need to chose a color soon.

On Sunday after going to church we went to visit some friends from college who also go to our church, James and Heidi Drake. They had a baby so we wanted to meet him, James Isaiah Drake, and he is precious! I forgot my camera so I don't have a picture of him. She let me hold him for a long time and I loved every minute of it.

Today I was out of school for President's Day and it's just so nice to have a 3 day weekend. I stayed busy running errands and managed to rest a little.

Tara

Surround Sound Rocks!

2008-02-15T14:12:00.006-06:00

We finally hooked our surround sound speakers up last weekend. Instead of running the speaker wires through the walls, we decided to tack them up on the outside of the wall right under the crown molding. Although we thought this was the easy and fast way, it still took us 5 hours. Wow! I guess we will get faster once we learn how to be more handy around the house. It was cheaper and did take a lot less time than running them through the walls. Here are some pics.

Tara

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-15T13:58:00.006-06:00

Chad took me out for a nice dinner at The Olive Garden on Tuesday night before Valentine's Day to celebrate. We did not want to wait until Thursday and have to fight the crowds of people. I went to work out and called him when I was finished. He normally isn't finished with practice by that time, but he answered his phone and said he wanted to take me out for a surprise Valentine's Dinner. I went straight home to take a shower and get dressed because I was so excited. He came home later with some pick roses and a very sweet card. We had such a wonderful quiet dinner full of conversation, which we have not had much of lately. I, of course, ordered chicken parmigian, which I LOVE, and ate way too much salad and too many breadsticks. It was so nice!

Here are my roses:On Valentine's Day we decided to have a nice quiet night at home. We made pizza on french bread and watched Survivor, one of our favorite shows. It was even more exciting because we got to watch it with surround sound, which we set up the weekend before. I also made Chad some heart shaped muffins. I gave him a nice white button-down shirt, red tie, and black suit pants to go with his suit jacket I bought him for Christmas. Now he has an entire black suit! Hopefully he will get a chance to wear it soon.

Heart-shaped muffins:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tara

Getting Old

2008-02-04T14:49:00.000-06:00

Chad and I decided we are getting too old to stay up late. We got back from the track meet about midnight on Saturday night and could barely keep our eyes open. I think I was worse than him.

We left on Friday to drive to Nashville with some of the athletes that had to compete early Saturday morning. Chad drove a 15-passenger van and there were 14 of us in it with all our luggage and barely any luggage room. We were pretty packed and I can say I was very glad to be the coach's wife at that time because I got the front seat. I did feel a little bad, but I think I have earned that privilege and REALLY did not want to give it up. I felt better the next day when I talked to Mrs. McWaters (the head coach's wife) and she said she would have done the same thing.

We arrived at the hotel in Nashville about 9:30 pm, had a brief team meeting, and went to sleep because we had to wake up at 5:30am the next morning.

The meet got off to a slow start with just the 1600 M. and some field events starting that morning. After a few hours many other teams began arriving including the rest of the Samford team that left Birmingham on a bus that morning at 6:30 am. I kept busy with brief moments of rest in between Chad asking me to do some "favors" for him. I like to refer to them as "duties", I mean can I really say no?!?

We left the arena about 8:00 pm to drive to the other side of Nashville for dinner. After dinner at Atlanta Bread Company and a little ice cream at Maggie Moo's (Cinnamoo Bun...YUM), we began our trek home in the van with only 6 athletes since some of them decided to ride back on the bus. It was alot more pleasant since we weren't as crowded.

The drive back was pretty rough, I could have been asleep in 2 seconds except for the fact that I did not bring my pillow and I was trying to be a good wife and keep Chad from getting tired. So, I talked to Chad as much as possible and kept looking over at him every 5 seconds to make sure his eyes were open. We finally made it back to Samford to drop the athletes off, got my car, returned the van, and zoomed home as fast as possible to get in bed. Needless to say, we slept really hard that night because it was a LONG day!

On Sunday we each took a nap to finish recuperating from the long day on Saturday. I just don't see how Chad does it every weekend. Luckily, for most of the track trips they take a bus so he doesn't have to drive and can sleep on the way home. Overall, it was a fun trip, but I think I will have to choose just a few meets to go to each season.

Tara

A Coach's Wife

2008-02-02T10:39:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here in the Tennessee State University arena watching Samford's first indoor track meet. It's so great to be a coach's wife, this is now my weekend life. I really do enjoy it because I get to relive the glory days of running and be with Chad, even though he is NOT himself at the meets because he is so focused and busy. I just have to get used to asking him questions at least 3 times before he answers and making sure he is eating and drinking throughout the day so that he does not pass out. Also, I have decided that I am his personal errand runner during the meets. I just do whatever he asks whenever he asks. I was amazed to learn that they have wireless internet access throughout their arena!

Let It Snow!

2008-01-28T18:23:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures of some snow that we got on Jan. 19th. Chad woke up early that morning and I slept in (what's new?). When I woke up I immediately looked outside because I knew there was a good chance of snow that morning. It was snowing!!! It was so great, even for the little amount of time that it lasted. Chad went to Samford that day to meet with some track recruits and was able to get some pictures while he was out. They are beautiful!

Tara

Our First Christmas Together

2008-01-26T13:37:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful first Christmas together. It was really nice to be together the whole time and not have to leave each other. This picture is of us showing that it is our first Christmas together. As you can see, Chad is really excited and into the picture.

We went to my mom's house for about a week. My grandparents, two aunts, brother, sister, and brother-in-law were all there for Christmas. It was really nice for us to all be together because we have not all been together in so long. This picture is everyone that was at my mom's for Christmas.

Katie's parents live about 30 minutes from my mom's house and she was there for Christmas. Leah and Rick were back in Atlanta for Christmas after moving to Seattle. We all met at the Dawsonville outlet mall the day after Christmas for lunch and a little shopping. It was good to visit with them and for us to all be together again.

We went to Chattanooga after Christmas and for New Year's to celebrate with Chad's family. While there I celebrated my 29th birthday. Mark's (Chad's uncle) birthday is on Dec. 31st so we celebrated together and shared an ice cream cake. Unfortunately, we were so busy having fun that we didn't take many pictures in Chattanooga, but we had a great time as always!

Once again, we had a great Christmas! We were so fortunate to be able to see so many of our family members. We look forward to many more exciting Christmas' always together!

Tara

Our House at Christmas

2008-01-25T18:30:00.000-06:00

Here are some picutres of some of our Christmas decorations..

We had alot of fun decorating our house together for the first time and putting many new ornaments on our tree. Chad still thinks we need more ornaments, but I think it looks great just like it is.

Tara

First Time Blogger

2008-01-25T17:24:00.001-06:00

Well, we've decided to enter the world of blogging! I can't believe we are actually doing this, but we especially want to be able to share pictures with all of our family and friends. I can't promise that I will be great at updating regularly, but I will give it my best shot. We hope you enjoy it!

Tara