The Joy of Fall

Those of you who know me well know that I LOVE FALL. It is my absolute favorite season. And it just so happens that in the Fall, Brian and I have much to celebrate. October is the Dempsey month as my sister-in-law Ashlie says. Brian's birthday is on the 19th, mine is the 20th and now we have Ava whose birthday is the 25th! And as if that wasn't enough, we also celebrate our anniversary on the 27th. So there ya have it, all that celebrating in one week of one month. But that's not the reason I love the Fall, although it adds some fun. I love the Fall b/c it's the most Beautiful of all seasons. It's as if God's glory is on display everywhere you look. A gorgeous bright red, orange or yellow tree literally takes my breath away and I just have to stare at its beauty. There is an older post of mine that I wrote one Fall about the beauty that surrounds us and when we are beholding it and we are in such awe of it, beholding it just doesn't feel like enough. We want to step into and be IN it, a part of it. I didn't actually write that, C.s. Lewis did. But I understood when I read it EXACTLY what he was talking about. But the beauty really is the glory of God. It is His creation, His creativity, it's HIM. He is this beautiful. Oh, I can't wait to see Him and Heaven. If what I see on this dying, decaying world is this gorgeous and glorious, what will that be like?

So one of my all time dreams as a woman without a child was that one day I would take my child to a pumpkin patch. Sounds funny, but I think the women out there would understand this. It's something moms do and I felt left out of those types of things and looked forward to the day that I could that with my own. Well, as Brian and I drove home from an event we attended last Saturday, I saw a church that already had their pumpkins out and I said, "we have to take Ava!! It's my dream to do this!" Brian said after we got home that he thought I was joking about that and then he realized that it was no joke! I was so excited and we got some great pictures of Ava. The weather was perfect for it. I do have to add that right before we went to take the pumpkin pictures Ava had a few tastes of our blue rasberry italian ice treat. So if you think her lips look a tad bit blue, you're right, and now you know why!

I am looking forward to the day she will remember these events and they can become happy memories for her as well. So I am happy and so pleased to say that once again, another dream fulfilled. Thank you to my Heavenly Father who has blessed me with such a thing.

11 Months Old today...

Where does the time go?!?!? I can't believe Ava is 11 months old. CANNOT BELIEVE IT. One month and she'll be 1 year old. Whew. Time flies.

Ava is doing wonderfully and is still as sweet as ever. Those top teeth are really showing now but Ava has not acted like they bother her at all. They are cute, let me tell ya. Looks like they are big 'ens and they will have a good space between them...oh, just too cute. I was thinking today that now I understand why SOME parents keep the baby teeth when they fall out...they are just too precious. I'll probably be one of those parents. Sounds gross I know. I never thought I'd be the one to do that but....

Ava has taken a couple of steps here and there. Her balance is not great yet, but she keeps tryin'. Crawling gets the job done so what's the rush?! Everytime I let her crawl around freely she heads straight for the kitchen. She loves to open the cabinet doors now and peek inside. She especially loves the cabinet with the snacks in it---Just like her mama! And she still loves the dog dishes. One afternoon I put up the usual blockade to the kitchen and I stepped into the garage for a moment to look for something. I heard a peculiar sound and I peeked in only to see that she had crawled over the baracade and made her way to the dog dishes and had splashed all the water out!! She was sitting in a pool of water. Soaked. But it was so cute I had to grab the camera and snap a few. And don't worry, she didn't actually drink out of the bowl--I grabbed it before she had the chance. That would have been quite disgusting!




One thing I always am telling Brian: "she is tenacious!" She wants to get to something and she makes a way. I've got to get some gates up. That's probably the only way to keep her out of the kitchen unless she is in the playpen. Thankfully she doesn't mind the playpen.
She has been the biggest joy of our lives and we realize just how blessed we are to have her with us. A day hasn't gone by that she hasn't made us smile and laugh.

More pics from September:
This is how I found her watching Sesame Street:






She likes for the hardware on this particular piece of furniture to be "up" so she takes the time to flip them!









Those amazing cheeks


Her favorite room in the house--the kitchen!

I'm Back!

I guess you could say I've been on a blogging sabatical. I've missed blogging and everyday I'd think, "I need to go blog!" But I never got around to it. So many exciting and fun things have happened since the last update.

First and foremost we had Ava's stateside adoption at the courthouse. It's very short and simple but meaningful. We could have invited folks but I knew there wouldn't be a whole lot to it. When we went into the judge's office Ava got very quiet, it was cute, like she knew that it was appropriate behavior for the occasion. As we raised our right hand and accepted the responsibility of raising this little girl, I think Brian and I both were a little emotional. No tears were shed but we came close! We went downstairs to do some paperwork in the clerk's office and the girls down there knew Brian and that we were adopting so they were so excited to meet Ava. She was carried around the whole office to meet everyone! It was a fun morning. So now she can get her birth certificate and her social security number and start paying taxes. Woohoo! After the precedings Brian's office gave us a small reception and that was nice. Nothing like cake at 10am!!

Ava has started pulling up on everything and she can even stand on her own for 5 seconds or so. She's even figured out how to go up the stairs at my sister's house. Lucky for them. She is very coordinated and has great balance, most of the time anyway. We've had a few bumps to the head lately. She has become quite vocal and loves to hear herself yell and shriek....it's such a lovely sound :). She is saying "da da" and something that sounds like "night night" without the "t" on the end. She has said "ma ma" but not in reference to me. We're working on that! She has just started cutting her top teeth this week. Thankfully it doesn't seem to be bothering her. She had her 9 month appointment last week even though she is a little over 10 months now--that's how backed up the dr.'s office is. She weighs 17.8 pounds and is 28 inches long. She had 3 shots which were just terrible for her, so sad. But she was quickly over it. We got in the car and she fell asleep right away. Very traumatic afternoon you know.

We visited mom and dad's this past weekend. Everyone came over on Saturday and Sunday. There were kids everywhere! Which is wonderful and fun but LOUD. We had a fun time except that Ava decided she was going to give us a run for our money come bedtime. That girl would not sleep by herself in her crib even if we were in the room with her. Nope, she wanted to be held--all night. So, that meant that one of us was awake with her at some point in the night. We tried to take shifts. So we were pretty exhausted Saturday and then that night was pretty much more of the same. But we got home, put her in her crib, and guess what...nothin'. She cried maybe 20 seconds and drifted off and slept all night. I can't figure out what the issue is at mom and dad's. We're going to try to put her in a room upstairs next visit. We'll just experiment with different things and see what works. But she really didn't sleep great in New York either, or in the hotels we've visited. SO maybe it's just that she can tell she's not in her own bed and she doesn't like it. If that's it then there's not much we can do until she grows out of this phase. One good thing about the nighttime problem, she is awfully cuddly. That's not enough to make me want to wake up at 3am every night to hold her though!!

She crawled everywhere at mom and dad's. She is a girl on the go. I don't think it will be long before she's walking. But she's surprised me before and she could again.

This is the cutest thing: Brian was holding her one day and she noticed her picture on the fridge and got very excited. I got some great shots of her pointing to her referral photo. The funny thing is that in one of the pictures she is sticking out her tongue JUST LIKE she is in the referral picture! I hope you can all see it because it is the CUTEST thing!!!

Summer Fun With Family

The past couple of weekends we have been out of town doing some fun summer things. The first weekend we spent with my sister and her family enjoying their neighborhood pool. This was Ava's first time in a pool, and we thought she'd enjoy it since she like the bath so much. She just laid back in our arms and seemed to relax and would kick her feet to splash. She didn't even cry when the water got in her eyes--typical Ava. We went to the pool after 4 so it was still really hot, but the sun wasn't so bright. She was so adorable in her bathing suit and hat even though she kept trying to pull it off, her hat that is. I had sunglasses for her too but forgot them at the house. I think the kids had fun with her too. They love their cousin and she enjoys watching them play. Jack is never still and she gets a kick out of that. He IS fun to watch although it's tiring. I wish I had a drop of his energy! Anyway, I got some fun pictures:



















This past weekend, we went up to New York for a visit with Brian's family. They live in Oswego and the weather there was like Fall here! I loved it! It was a little tease though and now I'm so ready for the summer to be over. I'm ready for the fall weather and decorations. But I digress....so we decided sort of last minute to take a trip to visit. Brian's sisters still hadn't seen Ava and we knew Jen's kids were anxious to see her too. So we took the opportunity and flew up Friday. You would think after a 35 hour trip home with her from Vietnam that 2 hours would be easy, but I was still anxious about it. She gets fussy when she's sleepy and can't get comfortable, and we happened to land a flight that took off at her nap time. So I knew it would be touchy. Fortunately, she fell asleep in my lap for a few minutes in the airport. So when we got on the plane she woke up but was happy for the flight.

We had such a fun visit with everyone there. We were so tired when we got there but the excitement of the day rejuvenated us for the evening. She had a slightly difficult night but Grandma was the big hero that night and came to comfort her since mom and dad didn't hear her crying. I felt like a terrible mother! But she quickly calmed down after a bottle and went back to sleep. The next day we just hung out and everyone watched Ava crawl and clap and do all her little tricks. We took a walk outside with the kids and she had her first feel of grass under her bare feet (we don't do that at home b/c of the fire ants here that we can't seem to get rid of-ouch!). It was a gorgeous day. Brian was excited about seeing Grissom again, and I was too. He's such a fun dog and he has found himself a perfect family I tell ya. He's one lucky dog that one. Those kids love him and treat him well. They wear him out from playing every day from what I here. Every time Ava was on the ground he wanted to lick her feet and hands and if possible, her face. And if ever he got to her before anyone could intercept him, she was lovin' it!!! She got such a kick out of that dog.

We left Sunday around 2 and once again we were hitting the flight around her nap time. Brian got us seats in the back of the plane so I was able to get up with her and stand in the back and I got her to sleep. She slept the ENTIRE way home. What a blessing that was! It really couldn't have gone any more smoothly than it did.

So we're home now and she's getting back to her normal schedule. I think she wonders where her adoring fans went. There's no crowd around clapping for her every time she sits up or does something cute! Bummer.

Food for Thought

"Our trials are great opportunities. Too often we look on them as great obstacles. It would be a haven of rest and an inspiration of unspeakable power if each of us would henceforth recognize every difficult situation as one of God's chosen ways of proving to us His love and look around for the signals of His glorious manifestations; then, indeed, would every cloud become a rainbow, and every mountain a path of ascension and a scene of transfiguration.

If we will look back upon the past, many of us will find that the very time our Heavenly Father has chosen to do the kindest things for us, and given us the richest blessings, has been the time we were strained and shut in on every side. God's jewels are often sent us in rough packages and by dark liveried servants, but within we find the very treasures of the king's palace and the Bridegroom's love." --A.B. Simpson
(Here I must add that I have discovered myself that the "treasures" are not often material things. The "treasures" that bless the most and bring the most joy and peace are those that proceed from His presence itself. It's not the actual gaining of those things I thought I wanted or needed.)

"When you are doubtful as to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one....Meanwhile keep on as you are, and consider the absence of indication to be the indication of God's will that you are on His track...As you go down the long corridor, you will find that He has preceded you, and locked many doors which you would fain have entered but be sure that beyond these there is one which He has left unlocked. Open it and enter, and you will find yourself face to face with a bend of the river of opportunity, broader and deeper that anything you had dared to imagine in your sunniest dreams. Launch forth upon it; it conducts to the open sea."

"God guides us, often by circumstances. At one moment the way may seem utterly blocked and then shortly afterward some trivial incident occurs, which might not seem much to others, but which to the keen eye of faith speaks volumes. Sometimes these things are repeated in various ways, in answer to prayer. They are not haphazard results of chance but the opening up of circumstances in the direction in which we would walk..." --F.B Meyer

"If we could see beyond today
As God can see
If all he clouds should roll away,
The shadows flee;
O'er present griefs we would not fret.
Each sorrow we would soon forget,
For you and me."

"If we could know beyond today
As God doth know,
Why dearest treasures pass away
And tears must flow
And why the darkness leads to light,
Why dreary paths will soon grow bright;
Some day life's wrongs will be made right,
Faith tells us so."

" 'If we could see, if we could know',
We often say,
But God in love a veil doth throw
Across our way
We cannot see what lies before,
And so we cling to Him the more,
He leads us till this life is o'er;
Trust and obey."

I read these quotes today and was reminded of why God commands us to "fear not". He says also that fear leads to evil (Ps 37:8). Wow. But aren't we human? Aren't fear and anxiety just natural parts of who we are? Well, according to Scripture, when those things arise in us we are to fight them and not allow them to grip our hearts and our minds. Man, I can so quickly jump to panic mode and allow fear and anxiety to push me down an emotional river, if you will, that I have no business going down as a Christian.

For some reason, it feels like I'm accomplishing something when I get fearful and anxious--that's so crazy! There are reasons Christ commands us to avoid this pattern of thought.

Okay, what are the reasons? I could think of a few:

First,when we are fretting or anxious we are not recognizing Christ power and control.

Second, we try to grasp at control ourselves instead of trusting. That seems to lead to much more trouble in one way or another.

Third, God knows the physical toll this takes on us. He is aware of limitations and cares about this aspect of our lives.

Fourth, it is a waste of mental and emotional energy---what does it accomplish?

Fifth, He has a plan for us in mind. He's not letting us drift without direction.

How do we stop it? I don't know exactly. Wish I knew the secret. I personally think that we can't stop the onset of worry. I think it IS human to have that reaction to unexpected problems in life BUT we have to stop it there. No more dwelling on things we can't control!!!! We must pray at those moments and really practice meditating on the Truths we know about Christ and His promises to us: He is God of ALL; He is good and loving; He is always with us; He knows what is going on and cares; He has our best in mind; His desire is for us to know Him more, not to give us everything we want; He cares for even the sparrow so how much more does He care for His children.... Just to name a few! These are the things I need to dwell on in the moments of panic and fear. David was so good at that. When I read the Psalms I can see how David would come to God with his worrisome thoughts and as he focused on the attributes of God, his worries turned to praise. He's a great example for me.

God has been so good in the past. That doesn't mean He hasn't allowed me to go through PAINFUL times. But He has shown me that through them He reveals more and more of Himself, and for that I am grateful.

One other thing, I think that when pain comes, we are reminded that this world is not our home. Our home, our true home, is Heaven. We long to be there with Him, complete. That desire is unrecognizable most of the time I believe. It's masked by desires for material things, the things of this world. We misinterpret our desires. When pain comes, things are quickly seen for what they really are, and I believe that's why we are so thrown by our disappointments. It is jolting. Our focus is then sharpened and made clearer.

It is by God's grace that He allows those moments to come. Despite the pain, good comes. He uses the pain for our good. That is why Jesus died. To bring life from death. Good from evil. Peace from pain. Now that's worth dwelling on.

What a Big Girl!

First of all I have to say Happy Anniversary (3 days late) to my parents. They are celebrating their 39th year of marriage. Now that's an accomplishment! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! We love you and thank you for setting an example worthy of following.

Ava is doing new things everyday and this week she has started pulling herself up to a standing position. She is always so proud of herself when she gets up! She grins from ear to ear. We actually did not know she could do this until one morning we walked in to see this:

What a big girl! Now I know every baby does this eventually, but it seems like such a big deal when it's your own. And I am just SURE that no other baby does it as well as ours:)! Standing and falling is her new favorite game.

Last weekend Brian decided at the last minute that we should go to Atlanta for an outdoor concert. It made me feel good that we can still be spontaneous! So he got off early and we headed to Piedmont Park to see Jerry Jeff Walker. I am not a fan as I didn't know who he was, but Brian likes him. The thought of being outside was appealing to me. It was great weather for it. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and walked to the park. The weather was so awesome! When we got there we found a place on the grass and parked our chairs and Ava's stroller. She did great too. We took turns strolling her when she got bored and she eventually fell asleep. The folks next to us commented on how good she was. Yea, well, we know. ha ha! I think she was the only baby in the whole place! We did see another family on our way out. The mom and dad had 2 older children, and the dad said, "we were making bets that we had the youngest ones here but looks like we lost"! Yea, I think we won that one.
We walked back and it was close to 11:00 by that time, poor Ava. She had a hard time that night with sleeping. She had slept the whole walk back so when we got back and changed her she was AWAKE! That was the price we had to pay I guess. She got to sleep in the next day so it all worked out. We ate an on open air Mexican restaurant Saturday and I walked to some local shopping while Brian headed back. I found some great deals at a closing sale...woohoo! I like me a good sale. Saturday night we got some awesome Thai food again, outside. It was another beautiful night. We don't have any plans for a big vacation trip this summer since we did just get back from Vietnam. So, it's nice to just take a weekend here and there to do something different and special. There's so much in Atlanta to do too that we haven't gotten to still. Hopefully we'll have more weekend trips like this in the near future. It can be very refreshing.

This week is just another run-of-the-mill week, no special plans. Ava keeps things interesting though with the new things she's doing. She keeps us on our toes!


Here are some more pics from the week:

Showers of Blessings

This past Sunday, a couple of girls at the church, Kelly and Elizabeth, threw me a shower. It was held in the fellowship hall of the church after the service. Before the service started, Brian went to drop off something in the kitchen for me and when he came back into the service he wrote me and note that read, "I stopped by the fellowship hall and it looks REALLY REALLY nice!!!" He was very impressed with the decorations and food and the hard work the girls put into the shower, as was I. And it DID look very nice, just perfect. I have to add here that other girls from Sunday School helped out as well and added their touches and good cooking. It was quite an effort and we are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. Not only did they bless us with their prayers but also their generosity and thoughtfulness in throwing us this shower. After the service, Brian hung out a little while because it was Ava's lunch and nap time, of course, so while we all ate, he fed Ava and she fell asleep on his shoulder. He held her and she slept a good while and woke up just in time for the opening of the gifts. I'm so glad he stayed too. She would have been in quite a mood had she not slept. So THANK YOU Brian! After she woke up he took off for home. I guess he didn't want to be the only guy hanging out at the shower! After she woke up we grabbed one of the exersaucers from the nursery and she sat in that while I opened gifts. I could tell she was a little groggy for a while and then she perked up and was a happy girl. Give that child an exersaucer and she's good to go, or stay I should say! So here are some pictures from the shower. The food was awesome and the decorations sweet. Elizabeth made the cake herself---I'm impressed. The icing was a exact match to the invitations. Doubly impressed.
By the way, Beth, she wore the dress you gave her. She got MANY compliments! You did a great job picking it out. It is beautiful.

Celebrating her First Fourth

We had a great weekend up in Athens for the Fourth of July holiday (I can't believe it's already the fourth!!). Well, actually we were home for the Fourth and then the next day we went to Athens. It was Ava's first Fourth of July and we didn't see any fireworks--shame on us! I don't know that she would have like them anyway. Every year I start thinking about the Fourth and want to go see fireworks somewhere and have a picnic, but then when it comes down to fighting the crowds I just say "forget it!" So we opted to stay home and cookout there. It was very relaxing and quiet. When she gets a little older I think we'll venture out. Then on Saturday morning we headed up to Athens, baby and dog in tow. Ava was in her holiday garb. I found her the cutest dress that says "I'm an American baby!" all over it! I guess it looked like a flag...but I thought it was adorable on her. Clark, Ashlie and the kids came over and we grilled steaks and corn and had quite a spread. No fireworks. I almost bought sparklers but figured mom had bought some, o well. No such luck. I should always go with my first instinct I guess. But we did have a water balloon fight. When we were there a few weeks ago and Jennifer's family came and John, sensing the kids were bored, decided to surprise them with water balloons. So he and Brian and Clark went outside and filled the balloons with water. They made three water balloons for the kids to defend themselves with and then kept the rest for themselves! They thought they wouldn't have a chance. We called all the kids out and if I'm remembering correctly, the guys threw all the balloons they had at the kids and not ONE of them got wet!! Because the guys didn't want to throw them too hard at the poor unsuspecting children, the balloons would just bounce off them, hit the ground and then pop! So their plan was not working out as they'd hoped, but the kids got into it and it was quite a show. The guys definitely got their due. Then when papa came home from the store, they all hid in the garage until he got closer and then ran out and screamed "happy father's day!!" as they pelted him with balloons! Unfortunately only his shoe got a little wet. Drats. I believe I heard the kids say this is a new tradition...the water balloon fight that is, not attacking Papa!It sure is a great way for kids to cool off in the summer, and let off some frustration with the parents at the same time!

This past weekend Clark had gotten Wade some more water balloons so that was also on the schedule for Saturday. So Clark and Wade and Ashlie tried to get each other wet while Brian and Papa filled the balloons with water. Brooks tried to help as well.:) Ashlie sort of inadvertantly got in the mix. Wade got her good! He loved that...I'm not so sure that Ashlie did however. From this picture I'd say she wasn't thrilled. Wade looks rather pleased with himself!

Ava had a big week last week. She learned how to sit up on her own. I turned around to do something and when I looked back, I caught the last second of her pushing herself upright! I couldn't believe it! It took me by such surprise. I would clap after she would do it successfully and say "yaaayyy Ava!", and so she also learned how to clap! Well, she can't make the sound but she loves to sit up and then do the clapping motion. It's the cutest thing. AND her two bottom teeth are coming in nicely. You can see them a little bit in this picture. She hasn't had too much pain with these. Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come. So we're making progress over here.

We don't have too much going on this week. I do have to take her for vaccines. Yuck. Never fun but necessary. And then we may go to the park Wednesday morning with some girls from church. We'll see how that goes. It will be nice to get out of the house and outside.

Hope everyone has a great week!!