My Resolution

So I'm sure a lot of you have either seen or at least heard of the movie Courageous. I read the book way back before it was released in theaters. It touched me in more ways than one. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
Anyways in the movie the main character Adam Mitchell comes up with something called the resolution. It challenges all men to stand up and take responsibility for their families. Men everywhere has decided to take the resolution challenge, including me. After I read the book I decided right then that I was going to "sign" the resolution. For Christmas my wife bought me the book "The Resolution For Men". Which is kinda like the love dare but different, its kinda hard to explain.
If you are a father,or husband MAN UP! And take the challenge.
Here is the Resolution.

The

Resolution

I DO solemnly resolve before God to take full

responsibility for myself, my wife, and my children.

I WILL love them, protect them, serve them, and teach

them the Word of God as the spiritual leader of my home.

I WILL be faithful to my wife, to love and honor her,

and be willing to lay down my life for her as

Jesus Christ did for me.

I WILL bless my children and teach them to love god with

all of their hearts, all of their minds, and all of their strength.

I WILL train them to honor authority and live responsibly.

I WILL confront evil, pursue justice, and love mercy.

I WILL pray for others and treat them with 

kindness, respect, and compassion.

I WILL work diligently to provide for the needs of my family.

I WILL forgive those who have wronged me

and reconcile with those I have wronged.

I WILL Learn from my mistakes, repent of my sins,

and walk with integrity as a man answerable to God.

I WILL seek to honor God, be faithful to His church,

obey His Word, and do His will.

I WILL courageously work with the strength God provides 

to fulfill this resolution for the rest of my life and for His glory.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

Taken from The Resolution For Men by Alex and Stephen Kendrick.   

So will you take the challenge? I promise you it will not be easy, but it will change your life.

Catching Up (Part 2)

So, we had just finished our Christmas at my parents. A few days later on Christmas eve  we went to the the Christmas eve get together that my in laws have every year. Elah got to meet most of her family on Sarah's side, an she LOVED the attention. We had alot of stuff to eat and Elah ate alot, either that or she gave it to Maggie(Her uncle Dylan's dog) without us looking.
After everyone left we opened presents with Nene and Papaw. I swear between Me and Sarah, my parents, and Sarah's parents, Elah had enough toys to last her two Christmases. Once again she had a good time playing with the wrapping paper and ribbons.
                           

Christmas at Nene and Papaws

Christmas day I had to work 9:30 to 6, so I only had Christmas morning with my two ladies. After opening so many presents at  her grandparents we were afraid she wouldn't want anything to do with opening anymore. But we were sure wrong. She had a ball, even though she was half asleep. I think her favorite thing she got was her books. She LOVES books, so we got her a backyardagains book. Even when we tried to open another present she wanted to look at that book.

Christmas Morning.

Notice my red long johns Sarah got me, complete with the butt flap. Come one you know your jealous .

So you read it plain as day on here, yes my little angel is one year old. I'm still trying to believe it. Shes growing up so fast and is getting smarter everyday, maybe alittle to smart.  Here's some pictures from her birthday party.

Its know been a few weeks since then. and Elah is walking, she still needs alittle help but just in the past few days she has really taken off. She saying more words, and is getting more rotten each day. Just tonight she figured out how to climb up on the couch and that's all she wanted to do.

My baby girl isn't a baby anymore, shes becoming a toddler. But no matter what whether shes a toddler, teenager, or a grown woman, she will always be my little baby girl.

Catching Up. (Part One)

Wow, its been a while since my last post, 3 months to be exact. I now have a little more time on my hands to blog so I'm hoping to at least make and entry once a week every Wednesday.
OK, so my last post was back in October. As you can imagine a lot has happened since then. I guess we will start with last thanksgiving. I had to work and I didn't get off till 5:30 that afternoon but Sarah had cooked thanksgiving dinner at her parents so we ate there. Elah had her a pretty good time with Nene and Papaw.

Elahs 11 month photos

OK, now on to December. It was a pretty exciting month cause for one it was Christmas time, and Elah turned one year old! can you believe it? Sadly I had to work Christmas day, I know it sucks right? But You gotta do what you gotta do I guess. Anyways a couple days before Xmas we had our Christmas get together at my grandmas house. Elah had a blast, and we got to meet our new little cousin Andrew. Elah would point at him and say "baby!" Nanny got her a little tea set as her Christmas present and she loved it. Later on that night I saw my dad and my little brother playing tea party with her. I swear she has them wrapped around her finger more than she does me. . We then went to my parents to open presents. We were afraid Elah would get bored with opening all of them but she had a good time with it. She definitely loved the paper.

Christmas and Nana and Paw paws.

To be continued.....

9 Month Photos

9 Months Old!

Elah is now 9 months old, can you believe it? Its hard for me to. She is learning so much so fast.
Since my last post back in August, she has cut four teeth, learned to crawl, and can pull herself up on just about anything. But my favorite thing by far that she just started doing is when I get home from work and open the door, she looks at me with those big eyes, smiles real big, and goes "DA DA DA DA". My heart melts every time.
I started a new job and I get off now at 5:30 in the afternoon, so I have plenty of time to play with her, and to be with Sarah. I have a routine now, that I'm gonna call the Daddy Routine. Basically when I get home we eat supper and I play with her till about 7:30. Then I give her a bath which she loves. Pretty funny cause she hated bath time a few months ago.
Then after that I put her night time diaper on her and put her Pj's on and we sit in the glider rocker and I'll read her two books. Right now I think her two favorite books are "Goodnight Moon" and "Baby I Love You".
She just started to pucker her lips and give kisses, so last night while I was reading baby I love you I had to stop before I turned the page so she could kiss the picture of the baby. Then she would lean her head back and look at me with that toothy grin and I would say "aw sweet baby" Then  would read the next page.
As I said at the beginning of the post, she has learned to crawl, that's good, and bad all at the same time.
She can occupy herself more now that she can get around. But she also likes to get into EVERYTHING!
I think right now her favorite thing to get into is the entertainment center where we keep our old VHS tapes.
Elah is something else. Shes growing up way to fast, which is exciting cause I'm looking forward to all the times we have together when shes older, but its sad because I miss her being that little baby we brought home from the hospital.
God has truly blessed us more than we deserve, I love being a daddy, and this is only the beginning.

Saying Good Bye.

Its been a while since my last post, and well a lot have happened since then. Some good things, and some not so good things.
Elah is doing great, shes growing more, and more each day and it seems like over night she learns something new. Just recently Sarah and I was playing in the floor with Elah when she reached for Sarah, grab a hold of her pants, and pulled herself up to standing. We were both shocked lol. I swear she is just gonna skip crawling all together and go straight to walking.
She still hasn't got any teeth yet, but we can defiantly tell they are coming. At night she has been pretty fussy and we think that might be cause of it.
Now for the not so good things....
This past Sunday, my grandma passed away. My family knew that it was coming so we had, well at least tried to prepare ourselves for it the best that we could, but we didn't think it would be this soon.
The past few months she has been in and out of the hospital, and highland farms( retirement home) because she kept getting pneumonia. Well this last time she went to the hospital, it didn't look good, then like all the other times she perked up and was doing pretty good. so they moved her back to highland farms to stay awhile to build her strength back up before she came home. She was there for at least two weeks this time and we all thought she was doing really good. Then last Friday my dad told me her kidneys wasn't working.
I went to work last weekend like I always do, made it through Saturday and had went to bed early so I could go in Sunday. Only that night around 1:05am or so, my brother called. I knew something had to be wrong because, no one calls us in the middle of the night unless something is. He said that highland farms had just called and said she passed away sometime in her sleep that night. Like I said, we were prepared for it but no matter how much you prepare for it you still are not.
I went to my parents right after I got of the phone. The one thing I was worried about was how my dad was doing.
I ended up getting someone to work for me that day and the next so I could stay with my parents. Monday they had the family visitation at the funeral home and I went but when it came time to go in and see her, I just couldn't do it.
Tuesday we went to the funeral and the preacher did a great job, it was a really good service. I was hoping it was a closed casket service but it wasn't. I gotta say it was hard seeing her. It just wasn't her.
Later durning the service me and my brother was talking and he told me " you know it doesn't feel like that's her up there. I keep waiting for her to sit up and start talking to all of us like always". I told him I thought the same thing. Later that day after everything was over I went up to the cemetery where we buried her. It was then while I was standing over her grave that I realised she was really gone. I stayed there for a few minutes and then I said bye Maw Maw, I love you and left.
Since then it has gotten easier for me. But I worry about my dad when they get back from vacation( After the funeral they said they needed to get away for a while) I know she is in heaven with her loved ones that have already past and most of all she is with God. I know one day we will see her again though.

6 Months Old!

A lot has happened since my last post. We are letting Elah try real food now, she just turned 6 months, she watched her first firework show last Thursday, and I had my first official fathers day.

Yes you heard it right, my little sweet pea just turned 6 months old. Can you  believe it? I know, I say this in every post, but it still feels like we just brought her home from the hospital. Shes starting to sit up on her own now, and she loves to sit on the floor and in my lap and play. Shes so independent now its crazy. She don't like for you to do things for her, she has to do it herself, or atleast try.

We started giving her regular food now. I know I'll probably get the same reaction from ya'll that we get from everyone else, but we aren't giving her baby food. We are doing something called baby led wenning. Basically we give her veggies that are cooked enough for her to eat but still firm enough for her to hold. This teaches them to chew, and to grab it themselves. Elah is doing great with it. We have given her squash, zucinni, green beans, peas, water melon, and a bunch of fruits to.

Also, I had my first official fathers day. Sadly I had to work all day, but when I got home Elah made me(with the help of Sarah, and her mom) a card thing with her footprints on it, and a poem about being daddys little girl, and i got another card that has her picture and everything on it. I'll post them on here later.

Last Thursday we took Elah to see the fireworks at the Black Mountain Center. For those of you who don't know, they have a small fireworks show a few days before the 4th. Its sad they are usually a lot better than the big fireworks show that the town of Black Mountain puts on. Anyways, we always get there early so we can get a good spot. So we packed a pic nic lunch and just played with Elah on the blanket most of the time. Later my mom, brother, grandma, aunt, and cousin showed up. Elah was in a good mood the whole time.

We were afraid she would get fussy  but  she never did. She ended up falling asleep about 8:30 and slept till time for the fireworks to start. We were afraid they would scare her cause they are so loud( I screamed when I was little the first time I saw them) but she was in awe of them. A few made her jump but other than that she loved them. I got a picture of her watching them with my phone.

We are gonna go to see them again Monday with my inlaws, and I'm gonna try to get a bunch of picks.