Wordless Wednesdays > Miriam's new bow

Experiencing parenthood on our 1 year anniversary

This week Eric & I are taking care of Miriam, Levi & Micah while Candi, Craig, Luke & Cameron are in Atlanta for the LSU game. We've been having a good time so far. There hasn't been any problem with the so-called "trouble-makers" (I hope I didn't just jinx it though) and Micah has been eating just fine... her baby food AND bottles. She even held her own bottle today.

Miriam napping on the way home yesterday...
with her sunglasses on her head.

Miriam and Levi

Miriam after her bath last night

Levi eating his quesadilla at lunch

Uncle Eric feeding Micah eating her lunch

Micah eating her fruit

Miriam drinking her lemonade

Micah enjoying her bottle

Micah holding her own bottle

Levi hogging the balls

Let them eat cake...

Since this is our 1 year anniversary, of course, we had to eat our wedding cake. It's been a few different places throughout the year. Eric's parents froze it for us and kept it for the majority of the year. A few months ago we brought it home and put it in our freezer. This morning, we got it out to let it thaw. Then after our dinner tonight (with the kids), we cut into the cake. Surprisingly, it was actually pretty good and tasted just like wedding cake. Here are a few pictures that I took of the momentous occasion.

I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine

December 30, 2007

The happy couple

Walking down the aisle... trying not to cry!

Giving away of the bride

Listening to the sermon

Congregational worship

Eric's vows

Laura's vows

Vows

Giving of the rings

Rings

Prayer

Introduction of Mr. & Mrs. Eric Busby!

The sanctuary

We're married!

Stealing a kiss at the back

We're outta there!

I can't believe we've been married a whole year... a very busy one filled with a lot of new changes. We moved to a totally new city (and state)... Eric started a new job... we have a new church... we bought a new house. Looking back, I can see God's providence for us, not only financially but also in other areas of our marriage. We've had some wonderful times, as well as some very trying times. But through it all, I am so thankful that God has put Eric and I together and I am looking forward to all that He has in store for us. I also pray that our marriage will be the "mysterious" example of Christ and the Church that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 5:22-33.

Prayer Request

As the New Year approaches, Eric and I will be facing some new challenges. The main one being my job situation. For the last year, I have been able to work for LSU full-time as a telecommuter (work from home). It has really been a blessing and we have seen God's providence for us constantly during this first year of our marriage. He is always faithful! However, my full-time contract with LSU ends December 31st. I have been approved to move to part-time contract work for LSU effective in January. This is one opportunity that we are considering for me.

In the last few weeks, there have been 2 other opportunities arise. The first being a part-time job at our church. It is for a Missions Ministry Assistant. Today I interviewed with the Missions Pastor and it seemed to go really well. This is a new position in the church, so it will be a completely new experience for everyone involved (no one really to say how it was done in the past). However, I think it may be a rewarding job as well, since I would be helping to fulfill the Great Commission by assisting in the mission work of our church.

The other opportunity is with a Web Development company (FoxWebCo) based here in Clinton. This is a small business owned by a couple in our church. I had lunch with them Monday to discuss the job and their company. They are looking for someone to help manage their Content Management System for the Web sites they develop, which is basically what I do for LSU. Since it is a smaller company, they are offering me a test project to do with them. And if they think the experience goes well and that we all work well together, they will offer me a more permanent job. However, this will not be until mid-January at least.

One other factor for us to think about is that none of these jobs offer benefits, the most important of which is health insurance. I can get on Eric's insurance at the church, but it will come out of our pocket. And it is really expensive. The other option is to do COBRA insurance with LSU. Again, of course, this is much more expensive than what I currently pay for insurance. The job with FoxWebCo may offer benefits, but it wouldn't be until I was with the company for awhile.

I ask that you pray for Eric and I as we make this decision. It really is a difficult one, especially for me. I've never NOT had a full-time job. We know that God will provide for us as always. But I also want to take this opportunity to see where God wants me to be in regards to my job/occupation.

Winter Storm Watch for Clinton, MS

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

A LARGE UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO AND INTO ALABAMA TONIGHT AND TOMORROW. THIS WILL INITIALLY BRING WIDESPREAD RAIN TO THE ARKLAMISS BUT AS THINGS COOL OFF LATE TONIGHT THE RAIN WILL BEGIN TO MIX WITH SNOW. ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF THE NATCHEZ TRACE RAIN SHOULD START TO CHANGE COMPLETELY OVER TO SNOW EARLY TOMORROW MORNING AND PERSIST THROUGH A GOOD PORTION OF THE DAY. SNOW WILL BE MODERATE AT TIMES LIKELY LEADING TO ACCUMULATIONS EVEN IF THE SURFACE TEMPERATURES ARE STILL A FEW DEGREES ABOVE FREEZING. AT THIS TIME SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE LIKELY AND THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THAT A LINE OF HEAVIER SNOW WILL DEVELOP WHICH WOULD LEAD TO GREATER SNOW ACCUMULATIONS.

I was excited when I got this e-mail from the Weather Channel in my inbox this morning. Of course, Eric thinks I'm silly. But I want it to snow. It's so close to Christmas... I could say that I've actually had a "White Christmas". That would be awesome. Anyway, we'll see. It's supposed to be tomorrow sometime. For now, I'll just stay curled up by the fire so I can try to get this cough to go away.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's been about a week since we started putting up our Christmas decorations. We started the Saturday after Thanksgiving and finally finished this past Saturday. The tree took awhile because (1) it's new so we didn't know how many lights or what extra decorations we wanted and (2) it's really BIG! The tree that I had broke last year, when it fell over in Eric's apartment. So, we were blessed to be offered a nice tree from our church's music department. They bought some trees to decorate the church during the holiday season. However, the 8.5 foot trees they bought weren't big enough... yes weren't BIG enough. Crazy, huh?!? Anyway, they offered one to us and we were very thankful to use one since we didn't have one and didn't really need to spend 100s of dollars to buy a new one. However, we did spend some money on new lights. Eric wanted clear lights and I wanted colored lights. So we splurged a little and got both. I think we ended up putting 2300 lights on the tree. But it looks really good :) We also got some tinsel for the tree to add a little extra something. It's messy... but I think it adds a little sparkle. The only thing we haven't found is a lighted star. So we just used my old one. The bad thing is that you can't see it at night. Oh well... maybe next year. Here are some pictures of our decorating. As you can see, it was a few days process.

Eric unwrapping the bottom layer of the tree.

Eric & I stringing lights (we did it by sections)

Hanging ornaments

Eric hanging ornaments on the top of the tree
(that's a TALL tree)
Our newest ornament
(First Christmas in our new home)

Eric putting the star on top

Final results at night after the tinsel

For our mantel, we wanted to add a little Christmas touch. So when our family was here for Thanksgiving, my mom made us a swag out of the extra corkscrew willow branches we had. We bought some holly berries and ribbon at Hobby Lobby (for 50% off) to add to the swag. We put the holly berries in the swag and then I made the bow and attached it. It was the first time I've ever made a bow... so I think I did pretty good. We hung the swag up on the front of our mantel and hung our stockings on either side. We also got some red, green & white tapered candles to put on top of the mantel. Here's the final result.

My homemade bow

Our Christmas mantel decorations

With the fireplace (which we use quite often)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Voice Jury

I've been taking a voice class this semester at Hinds Community College with Dr. Terry Fletcher. It has been a great experience. I think that I have learned to recognize some of the things that I do wrong... or incorrectly when I sing. I have also seen that when I relax, my sound is much better than when I try to push out the sound. You'd think I would've realized that by now. Anyway, today was my voice jury, or "final exam" for the class. I sang in front of the voice faculty. I've been sick all week so they didn't make me sing all of the songs I had been working on. I only sang two songs (one of my choice and one of theirs). My choice was Puccini's "La Canzone di Doretta" and I also sang "Un moto di gioja" by Mozart. Eric went with me and videoed my performance. Here's Doretta's song... there's one really bad part in the middle. But for the most part, I think it went pretty well.

Final decorations for our mantel

Awhile back, we made an art piece to go over our mantel. We decided that we needed something to go on either side of it. So while we were in Baton Rouge a few weeks ago, we found a set of 3 pillar candle holders at my parent's house. They were gracious enough to give them to us... of course they were just sitting on the floor in the hall... taking up room. Dad even put them in a bag for us to take! Anyway, last week, we finally found some candles that we liked to put on them. On the other side of the mantel, we found a big vase at Walmart that we liked. We decided that we wanted to put something tall in it. Some kind of big branches... or something like that. Eric mentioned that there was a tree at his parent's house that has long curly branches. It's called a Corkscrew Willow (or Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa'... as Eric would say). So he thought that might be a nice decorative touch... a free decorative touch (might I add)! So this weekend when we were in Winnsboro, he cut some branches to bring home. Here are some pictures ... and the final product on our mantel!

Eric and the tree

The Corkscrew Willow tree branches

Eric cutting a branch

Eric cutting a high branch

Eric and his loping shears

Me & my man with our matching glasses
(it was early... and COLD!)

Our mantel decorations

The vase with the corkscrew willow branches