Glory Baby

Sadly, I had a miscarriage this past February. That baby would have been due this Friday. We were so devastated as our plans to move to China included hoping that we would move over with a newborn...well, here we are, 2 months into this gig, and our arms (and my womb) are still empty. It has been a lonely time for me, especially as I look at how I hoped life would look like here, and am faced with the reality that it's not what I wanted or hoped for. I miss that sweet little one every day and am so thankful I got to carry him/her for the few weeks that I did. This month has been especially hard as our hope was to be pregnant by the due date so that we would not have to watch it pass still longing for another baby. But, alas, we are still longing and still trying to hope. Not that another baby would ever replace the one we had....no, far from that.

And while I'm still so very sad that we had to lose a precious life, I am grateful that that baby is whole and with Jesus. That sweet baby has 4 cousins, 7 great grandparents, and a dear, dear uncle fighting to hold him/her in Heaven, and I smile and cry at the same time thinking of it.

I am posting the lyrics to a song that I listened to a million times in college, but never actually heard the words, or understood their meaning. However, since our loss, I have listened to it a million more times, and it has given lots of comfort, along with lots of tears.

To my Glory Baby, you will always be a part of our family and we will never forget how you changed our lives. I miss you everyday, and I can't wait to hold you.

Love,

Mommy

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Glory Baby, You slipped away

As fast as we could say baby, baby
You were growing, what happened Dear,
You disappeared on us baby, baby
Heaven will hold you before we do
Heaven will keep you safe
Until we're home with you
Until we're home with you

(chorus)
We miss you everyday
Miss you in every way
But we know there's a day
When we will hold you, we will hold you
And you'll kiss our tears away
When we're home to stay
We can't wait for the day
When we will see you, we will see you
But baby let sweet Jesus hold you
‘Til mom and dad can hold you
You'll just have heaven before we do
You'll just have heaven before we do

Sweet little baby, it's hard to understand it
Cause we are hurting, we are hurting
But there is healing
And we know we're stronger people
Through the growing and in knowing
All things work together for our good
And God works his purposes
Just like he said he would
Just like he said he would

(chorus)

I can't imagine Heaven's lullabies
And what they must sound like
But I will rest in knowing
Heaven is your home
And it's all you'll ever know
All you'll ever know

(chorus)

What we do on Monday mornings

About a month ago, one of the other moms here discovered an indoor playplace at a local mall. Ever since then, a few of us try to go every Monday morning. It has only happened a couple of times, but it's great. We all pile into someone's mini-van (there are about 5 moms, and between us we bring 7 kids, and yes, we all fit into 1 car with no carseats), then maybe stop by Starbucks and hit the playground, and complete the morning with lunch at Papa John's. I know what you're thinking...Or at least, what I would think..."Ew gross, Papa John's?" Yes. I ate my weight in Papa's pizza my first 2 years of college and from then on, it grossed me out. But, I have to say when you live over here, beggars can't be choosers, and it tastes pretty darn good. Now, it's no Mellow Mushroom or Fellini's (my 2 personal faves), but it's yummy!

So, a couple weekends ago, I wanted to show Brett the place that Harrison loves so much, so we cabbed out there and played and had lunch together at Subway (this mall is chock full o' western restaurants!) Here's a couple of pictures from all the fun...

I love the mini-animal merry go round!

not sure what the above thing is, but H gets knocked out by it a lot!

random floating balloon room

and the very favorite...the slides going into the balls!

we raced down the slide, and if you can't tell, it was FAST!

I think we will spend a lot of time at this little gem, especially as the weather gets cold. We have not seen a cold winter in 6 years, so inside we will be! I am thankful for this time with other moms as I'm really hoping to become better friends with all of them. Harrison is already BFF to the bone with the whole entire city, so I'm glad I get to hang out with him...he makes me look so cool!!

My Room

Hey Folks,

What'sa happenin' in your corner of the world? Yep, if you couldn't figure it out, it's yours truly back on writing duty...did you miss me? I sure missed all of you!

I wanted to show y'all a couple pictures of my room! I love my new house. Every time We go in or out of it, I say, "Bye Bye, New House" or "Hello, New House!" Anyway, Mom has more pics of our apartment, but they are not uploaded to the computer and she's actually having some problems with the computer anyway. But, thankfully we had a couple pictures of my little man cave. I think you'll like it!

So, this is the view from the door. Mama and Daddy put a shade over the window so that I could sleep past the sun in the morning.

And here's the view standing at the window. Don't you love my big boy bed? I haven't slept in it yet, because, just between you and me, I'm a little scared. Mommy is stumped because everyone tells her it's not a problem to do "the switch". However, every night when they try and pump up this bed, I say to them, "no, I want baby bed." So, I am still scrunched up in the pack and play and loving it! Any ideas on getting me to this bed? Mommy thinks it's the cutest thing ever! Some of our friends let us borrow it. Oh, and there's nothing on the walls yet. Mommy sure does miss what she had on the walls of my room back home. You can see them for yourself here and while you're at it, you should definitely make an order of your own!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my tour. I will be back, and Mom will be back with more pictures of where we live!

6 years

**old picture, i promise i will post new ones soon!**

This past Saturday was our 6th anniversary! I really can't believe it...it seems like yesterday that my bridesmaids and I were getting our nails done in the dark the day before our wedding, due to Hurricane Ivan hitting Atlanta pretty hard. However, the actual day was gorgeous and so much fun! At the same time, it seems so long ago! So much has happened since then!

Well, one of our favorite traditions that we do every year is to fill out a book that Brett's mom gave us when we got married. It is our "wedding anniversary book". It has a page for each year with quotes and room to write your memories--good and bad--from the last year, and a place to put a picture. We usually go out of town for our anniversary, but seeing as we just moved to another country, we settled for dinner and a massage (but, not nearly as nice a massage as you would get in the states!) We were also able to sneak in some time to talk over our last year, and talk about the year to come. It is always one of my favorite things that we do, and if my house were burning down, this book would surely be the one thing I would want to take with me (along with Brett and Harrison too, of course).

So, here in blurb fashion, are our memories (both good and bad) from September 18, 2009 through the same date in 2010:

UAE, Oman, going to London as a family, Harrison starts walking at 18 months (finally!), Dad and Isabel's divorce, trying to have a baby...getting pregnant...miscarrying...still trying to have a baby, friends leaving, Deacon Dooley, watching our church become particularized, marriage conference in Miami, Iron Bowl with The Baileys, beach with the Baileys (we love these friends!), Outback bowl, Disney, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, H turns 2, Lauren turns 30, getting snowed in with the Fierer fam in NC, St. Petersburg, Grandma passing away, filing our first police report (for a stolen bugaboo!), lots of goodbyes, lots of transition, lots of going away parties, Easter egg hunts, Easter with the Dooleys in Orlando, going to a taping of the Ellen show, Braves spring training games (H's 1st), moved to China, watched God provide for our move (ie. selling our car, renting our home, etc), Parenthood, Glee, Seasons 52, Ravenous Pig, First Watch, Sweet, feeling hopeful, uncertain and homesick, 3 weeks in Atlanta with family and precious friends, celebrated by eating ribs at Tonyroma's in China--ha!

And those are just a few memories to scratch the surface...As we looked back at the past year, we laughed and were sad at how things looked different than how we hoped they would be at this time. But, we also talked about hopes for year 7, and some (but not all) included:

Growing in our marriage, Baby, Potential Grad School for Brett, friends and family visiting (hint, hint!), new friends, and parenting with grace.

I love Brett and am so glad he found me! He literally just walked right up to me one day and introduced himself...I totally ignored him...and he has not turned back ever since! I am grateful to get to walk through life with him in this difficult, yet amazing covenant called marriage.

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"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." --Emily Bronte

The 5 Letter Word

Well, thanks to those of you who lifted Harrison up. Please keep doing so! And before you keep reading, please heed my warning that this post is gross. It names many bodily functions, so if you don't read it, I understand. I, however, for some odd reason, want to remember this little nugget of a story, because my dear husband has been such a trooper through it all, not to mention the mini-trooper has been just as fabulous.

You see, the "issues" I was talking about involved the lack of going to the bathroom. As some of you know, Harrison is not a stranger to traveling and a handful of times in his life has gotten constipated for several days on end. Once when he was a baby baby, he went 11 days without going. I was at my wit's end when my sweet friend, Tiffany, told me of a home remedy of giving him Karo Syrup in a dropper...worked like a charm! And it worked the other 4-5 times it has happened in his life...

Until we insert our move to Asia in his little life. For the last month, he has only pooped 1 time a week. And his last stint was, again, 11 days. I think he was going for the record. That, coupled with the fact he won't touch the local food and wasn't eating well, was starting to unnerve me. I wasn't worried at first, because it was jet lag, right? And also, those of you who know me, know that I don't worry a whole lot about these type of things, but 11 days?? And guess what, the Karo wasn't working this time (and for those of you who are wondering, yes, you can buy Karo syrup here, although mine is borrowed right now!)

So, we finally call the doctor. We go to him yesterday. He was great, spent an hour with us going over how the large and small intestines work and where they are located in the body. I came to the realization at this time that I truly wasn't paying attention in Mr. Barnhart's biology class in 9th grade...none of it rang a bell. Oops!

And do you know what we had to do? Oh yes, the 5 letter word, we had to give our child an enema. An enema, I tell you. Now, we had already tried this the night before, as our friend Sonya helped me buy one at the local pharmacy. Well, we did it wrong. After 2 failed attempts (because of blockage from 11 days of poop), the third try was a charm. Thankfully he had a dirty diaper right away....but the unfortunate part is that he threw up at the same time...all over Brett.

We decided that Brett was the better one to have gotten the blow...I would have probably immediately thrown up as well and started crying uncontrollably. But, sweet Brett just held Harrison and rocked him as his little body shook. He didn't care that he smelled plain awful or that his favorite shorts might be completely ruined. He just held that sweet boy. Because he's a sweet boy himself with loads of compassion especially on his sick son because Brett has been way more sick than that here in years past.

I told you it was gross. However, the stain came out, even in our tiny 30-year-old washer, it came out...and thankfully Harrison has had several dirty diapers since then. However, we do need to continue giving him the enema twice a day for a few days. And guess who the bad guy is that administers it? You got it...Yours truly. I'm the enemy with the enema. It is truly the worst thing I've ever had to do to him, but I am so thankful for his system to (hopefully) be getting back to normal. Yuck. Please keep praying for him. He has been such a champ through it all, although he does tell us that his "tooshie hurts"...it is so pitiful, but so precious. Please keep praying for his eating as well. Can anyone give me great ideas for fiber in his diet?

I plan to take pictures of our apartment soon and post them so y'all can see where we live. It is such a dear little place. Until then, I hope you all enjoy your day. Ours is just ending, so I will dream about all the wonderful things y'all are doing! Good night!

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, a little family of three went on a great adventure...After a rough couple days of travel, they made it to the other hemisphere in a land far, far away. Little Harrison, the youngest of the 3 did quite well on the airplanes and adjusted to the time very quickly. After 2 weeks, they moved into their palace (aka 4th floor apartment) and have spent the last week settling in. It has been a long, arduous journey filled with lots of highs and lows, but strangely, this place, after not having lived here for 6 years, feels normal. Many other things are not normal, but this far-away land is not one of them.

The city has changed so much so that the little family has to re-find their way everywhere. All the old spots are gone and the way of life here is so different now.

Okay, that may be enough of my fairy-tale writing (for today), but as stated earlier, we are HERE and hopefully I can be a little more consistent in documenting our lives here. We are closing in on a month in-country, which is crazy. It feels very normal to be here, but so much has changed. It's very weird! We are all adjusted to the time difference and still have a little more settling in to do. We have been to Ikea about 800 times (and yes, how crazy is it that there's an Ikea here?) I will take pictures of our place when it's put together a little more and post them. I think we will be really happy here, but it will definitely take some time. Until you hear from me again, here are some things you can pray for for our family::

...My computer is totally broken. Needs a new hard drive. We took it to the store before we left the states and it was completely fine. However, we had to put some software on it to secure our computer and ever since, it has been shutting down. Computers are such a life line here, so please pray that mine gets fixed. (this is why I have no pictures to share!)

...Harrison's stomach. He has gotten into a pattern of only going to the bathroom once a week and this last run has lasted 10 days. At first, we thought it was the jet lag, so we didn't worry, but being close to a month now is concerning. We are taking him to the doctor tomorrow.

...Friends. Enough said. I can live anywhere if I have good relationships, but so far we definitely feel lonely and homesick (except for Harrison, he is by far the most popular Dooley here).

But, overall, we are so very grateful to be here. We know the time will be short, and although we miss the comforts of the place we have called home for several years now, we know that we will cry many tears over leaving East Asia in a couple years. I look forward to sharing with y'all how our family falls in love with this place again!

I will be back with more posts soon!

A sweet story

Hi friends, oh it's been too long! There is much to write, but we have had a terrible time with our computers here. I will write a huge, long post of our travels and first weeks here soon. We are so grateful to be here and our days have been a mixture of wonderful and so very hard. We move into our apartment tomorrow and hopefully will have better internet connections although we have to send my computer to a shop--um, not sure how I feel about that!

But, today I wanted to share a sweet little story for my memory's sake...Every night at bedtime we spend a little time playing with Harrison, singing to him, reading, praying, memorizing the gettysburg address (gotcha! just checking to see if you were paying attention)...Anyway, lately he has really enjoyed us singing to him (which is not a super lovely sound). So, every night after we have prayed, he has asked for "more song". Well, usually the songs are little diddies like "Jesus loves me" or something of the like, and last night both of our hearts melted after we sang to him and he looked up at us and said, "more Jesus?"

Oh, what a sweet, sweet boy we have. We are so thankful for every minute with him...all the easy minutes and the difficult ones too. His life is such a miracle and it is such a privilege to get to watch him grow.

More stories to come on our settling in...please keep us in your prayers as it's been a rollercoaster of emotions and events these past weeks. I'll be back soon, I promise!