Hannah's Birthday

Harris Teeter Praise

So, today I went to the grand opening of the new Harris Teeter in Durham close to our house. It was a great store, and I thoroughly enjoyed my shopping experience. Hannah enjoyed her cart with a special steering wheel. And of course we both enjoyed multiple free sample that were offered. When I got home I realized that they had forgot to put a bag in my cart and I was missing four items. I called and notified them, thinking they would save the groceries for me to come pick up. They took down my address, drove me my missing items and gave me a $5 gift card for the inconvenience.... oh yeah, and also an extra cappuccino cooler which I had not purchased. What costumer service!

Update on Jury Duty

After multiple calls and letters, I have been released from Jury Duty- well hopefully.

What I had to do...
1) Call Hannah's doctor to get a signed letter... what should it say you may be asking yourself. When I asked what the letter should say, they replied, "Sorry, we cannot tell you what the letter should say, but you need a doctor's note"
2) I was turned down by the doctor, only to have a sympathetic nurse say she would write something up and see if he would sign it.
3) Received the letter from the doctor which stated that I am the primary caretaker of a dependent child.... yes, just one sentence.
4) Made a copy of Hannah's Birth Certificate to include as evidence.
5) Wrote a personal letter stating that I would be happy to serve jury duty when my life circumstance changed.
6) Included a copy of their website that stated that an acceptable excuse was as follows: Provides actual and necessary care of a person and actual and necessary care of another.
7) Sent all the evidence in.
8) Received a letter saying I was excused from Jury Duty.
9) Received a letter saying I was summoned to Jury Duty.????
10) Call to clarify whether I was indeed excused.
11) She told me I was, but I would not be surprised to find out they did not excuse me after all! I think I should have just served!

Taylor update

It is hard to find time to blog these days. Sleeping, watching TV, reading, cleaning, and checking email seem to fill all my free time. Every now and then I try to catch a minute to just sit and do absolutely nothing. Hannah needs constant attention when she is awake. We received her Pre-school packet in the mail. We are all excited for her to start school in September. She is of course our greatest joy especially when she is in a good mood. On Wednesday she was in a constant state of ecstasy for no reason what-so-ever. Everything we did she exclaimed to me with a "WOW" or "YEAH". I love those days. She is starting to memorize her books. She can finish sentences and sometimes if something reminds her of a book, she will start reciting it. She is still completely clueless about her colors. When you ask her what color something is, she says "Pink"... no "Yellow"... no "Blue"... no "Green" and so on. So she knows what colors are, she just can't identify them yet. We have a color book and she gets them all right, but I realized it is because she memorized the order the colors were in. I guess I can be proud about that. July is the month of bills. We moved here in August, so all of our yearly bills come around this time. We are also doing some major exterior work on our house. We are so thankful for how much God has provided for us. It is easy to always be looking upward at the things we don't have... a larger, more organized house, a full-time cook and housekeeper:), etc. Right after I graduated college, I lived off nothing and I did not have a care in the world about material possessions. Every now and then I just have to stop and remind myself what is important in God's eyes (which is all that really matters). Loving and serving Him and His people. Spending time with Him, caring and loving others.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Wrightsville Beach. We had a great time and will definitely go back. The last one is of Hannah's new hand wrap. She got a second degree burn by placing her hand on a hot burner. It was an eventful night to say the least.

Trip to Tallahassee (one month later)

Well, it has been a while since I have blogged. Hannah and I spent a week in Tallahassee in May. We had so much fun! We got to see Nana, Papa, Gramzy, Popsy, Grandma, Grandpa, and of course Poco or Coco as Hannah says. I got to relax everyday and Hannah had a lot of entertainment. My two good friends Lynn (from highschool) and Carla (from college) live there, so it was super fun to be with them. We saw Carla multiple times a day. Now my mom, Lynn, and Carla all hang out without me. Brian was very happy to have us home. Hannah also took her first trip to Chuck E Cheese. When we returned we went with Daddy to the North Carolina Zoo for the first time. More updates to come soon.

Florida Pics

Hannah's First Baby Doll

Brian took Hannah to Target yesterday night while I was at church to buy a Baby Doll. They waited until I got home to open it.

Here is a picture of Hannah grooving to some tunes and a picture at the park.

Shoes

Thirteenth Tale, American Idol picks, Compassion

I really liked this paragraph from The Thirteenth Tale- "Everybody has a story. It's like families. You might not know who they are, might have lost them, but they exist all the same. You might drift apart or you might turn your back on them, but you can't say you haven't got them. Same goes for stories... You are at liberty to say nothing, if that is what you want. But silence is not a natural environment for stories. They need words. Without them they grow pale, sicken and die. And then they haunt you."

My current American Idol thoughts
Bottom Three
Kristy
Syesha
Brooke

Next to go- Jason

My top picks at least for now (in order)
David Cook
David Archuleta- Brian is not too into him, but I like him
Michael Johns
Carly

I am very happy to say that after 4 months of procrastination, our family is finally sponsoring a child through Compassion International www.compassion.com. We picked a little 3 year old girl from Tanzania whose birthday is one day before Hannah's. We are so excited!

The Thirteen Tale

Not that anyone is probably going to read this blog entry besides you mom, but I am going to write it for my own benefit. When my very smart friend Erin wrote on her blog that this book was one of her favorite books of all time, I decided I had to read it. For her review of the book, check out her website: http://bestsellers.about.com/od/fictionreviews/gr/thirteenth_tale.htm. So I read it in three days. I haven't read a book that fast since the last Harry Potter. I have to admit, it is not a book I would have read on my own, and if they made a movie from the book, I probably never would have gone to see it (mainly b/c it would be a little freaky). But from page one, I couldn't put the book down. It has been a very long time since I have read a bestseller, and it was very refreshing. That could be a little misleading b/c the novel is not really a "refreshing" book, but after reading the heavy Brothers Karamazov- it really was refreshing.

So, the main thing I really liked about the book was the theme of storytelling. Actually, I found it interesting that I read this book when I did. The other book that I am reading at the moment is a psychology book about writing out your own story (To Be Told by Dan Allender). The novel was was a nice companion in a weird way. In the novel, a woman named Margaret is commissioned by a famous British writer, Vida Winter, to write her biography. Margaret goes and lives in her house and Ms. Winter shares her story during their daily meetings. The book is packed with libraries, big houses, twins, gardeners, interesting people, ghosts, etc. It is a story about a storyteller telling her story. I really did enjoy it. But, it is a book that you feel like you need to read a second time after you read the ending-- and of course you don't really have time to read it again:(

I think my next book will be Atonement which is also about an author.

Hannah Staying Busy

The other day Hannah went upstairs and got a diaper. She proceeds to lay it out, put her bunny down, and put it on the bunny. It was so cute.


Hannah was in heaven helping Daddy open the new light fixture.

Thoughts on A Wrinkle in Time

A book club that I have yet to attend recently read A Wrinkle in Time. At the recommendation of a friend, I have finally finished reading it. My overall opinion of the book is that I like a lot of the ideas presented, but overall I found it lacking for some reason.

My favorite chapter of the book was the part about Aunt Beast. She was by far my favorite character. I love the idea of a planet where they don't need eyes. They sense everything. "She (Meg) realized now that here on this planet there was no need for color, that the grays and browns merging into each other were not what the beasts knew, and that what she, herself, saw was only the smallest fraction of what the planet was really like. It was she who was limited by her senses, not the blind beasts, for they must have senses of which she could not even dream."

I also like the idea of a universe of planets who are all fighting in a cosmic battle. "All through the universe it's being fought, all through the cosmos, and my, but it's a grand and exciting battle." The great battle of good versus evil, and evil must be fought with truth and love.

In addition, I liked the quotes that were scattered throughout the book, and some of the overall images that the book left in my mind upon reflection.

But, while I was reading the book, I felt a sense of lacking during most of it. I think it is because of one of the following reasons. First, I didn't really like any of the characters (besides Aunt Beast). Charles Wallace was really weird and annoying. Meg was okay, but I found her relationship to Calvin to be a little unbelievable. Mainly, because I had glasses and braces at that age and there were certainly no popular basketball players trying to hold my hand:) In the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter I really come to love a lot of the characters, and that did not happen in this book. Also, I don't really like science fiction, and I think this book could potentially be put in that category. So again, I think the book is good, but it did not connect my soul in a way that a lot of books do.

Notice the new Title

We have changed the title of our blog in an effort to revive our original purpose. Originally it was designed to post thoughts and reflections on life, books, movies, etc and to occasionally update others on what we are up to in life. Ever since Hannah was born, the "thoughts" aspect of our blog has slowly become obsolete. In fact, I feel like I hardly even know how to write any more. (Notice the captions to my pictures are not even complete sentences- if there even is a caption) Some may think it is weird to have a bunch of pictures of Hannah and then an evaluation of presidential candidates on the same page. I completely disagree. I like having it all together because that is my life. It runs all together, and so I like the blog being set up this way as well. A chronological log of what is going on in our hearts, heads, and house. The lack of "thoughts" is evidence that I really have not been thinking all that much lately. I have been reading, watching movies, etc. as before. But I have not been writing, reflecting, and processing all the stuff I do. It has left me feeling incomplete. Most of our readers will probably only read the "Happenings", but we want to post "thoughts" as well. It is an effort to fight to keep our minds alive post-college, something we have found to be a challenge.

So now you will really see the level I have stooped to-

Thoughts one the bottom three on American Idol this week:
Chikezie
Jason Castro
Ramiele Malubay (although she is so incredible sweet and adorable)

At this point I am going for David Cook or Michael Johns. And I want the world to know that this is the first full season of American Idol I have watched. I am hooked!

Easter

We had a week filled with FUN and celebration.

Hannah decorating an Easter craft...well sort of.
The neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. I was bummed Hannah did not find the golden egg to win the big prize. She had fun and did not eat one bite of candy.


Hannah's Easter attire. Playing with bubbles that were in her Easter basket. No pictures of the Easter basket because she would not sit still. She got Annie and a new Bible.
Our friends Wally and Eowyn came over for dinner. It was VERY fun and Hannah and Rhi played very well together.

Pictures