An assortment of random happenings

Last week was a l-o-n-g one! Gray was sick with a nasty, croupy cough and stuffy nose. It was his first real sickness and he was 8 months yesterday, so for that we are so thankful. But he was pitiful and it broke this Mama's heart! He was so miserable and there wasn't much we could do for him. He was wheezing a little last Monday so I called the doctor and they wanted to see him. Thankfully his oxygen, lungs and ears all looked good and we were told it was just a bad virus. I wasn't going to hold back snuggles and kisses from my boy when he needed them the most, so even though he started feeling better on Wednesday, that happened to be right about the time it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Being a stay at home mom leaves you no option to take a sick day, so it made for a really hard week with my busy little booger. Thank the good Lord I started feeling better on Saturday and today I am almost a new person again.

Now on to the randomness...and there is a lot of it that most of you will not care about but apparently I thought was worthy of being in the next printed edition of Hickster Happenings.

Paul and I decided to start watching Downton Abbey on Netflix and we were immediately hooked. We would have marathons while Gray napped and after he went to bed and flew through season one. We found a video store that had season two and watched all of those too. It is safe to say we are officially obsessed with Downton Abbey. We don't watch a lot of TV but thank goodness for a new show because have you seen American Idol this season?! NO THANKS!

We are approaching the 4 year mark of our house being for sale. We just ended a year with our current realtor and are looking into some different options but might re-list with her for a few more months. She has certainly gotten us the most showings we've ever had and we don't necessarily fault her for our house not selling yet. Most all of the feedback we get is wonderful but there's always a "but" and usually it's "but we've decided to buy a single family home, rather than a townhouse, for hardly any more money". We are trying to stay patient but as our little guy gets closer and closer to being mobile, we wish even more we had our own yard for him to play in. If we had a dime for the number of times we've heard, "but the market is looking up..", we'd have enough to pay the house off and move on.

Paul had to discipline a student this week for telling another student that their butt smelled like hot sauce. Is this what "yo mama" jokes have been replaced with? Another day last week he was teaching on leadership and what being a good leader looked like. When he asked his class to think of some people who were good leaders, one very eager student piped up confidently with "Flo Rida!"-referring to the rapper, not the sunny state.

I would like to share about this week's grocery list with y'all. Paul and I started shopping at Aldi about a year or so ago. My Gram has shopped there and loved it for years and my friend Kristen is a regular shopper there too. I must admit I was skeptical for a long time but I am a huge fan now and I feel like Aldi is one of the biggest reasons me being able to stay home with Gray is possible. I am still weird about buying meat from there, though I don't have any reason to be, but I buy almost all of our fruits and vegetables there along with some other things. Here is what I got at this week's trip:
3 pound bag of Fugi apples
5 pound bag of red potatoes
1 pound of strawberries
2 containers of blackberries
1 container of blue berries
a bag of sweet onions
mushrooms
a box of dried prunes (in case you are wondering, prunes are not my fruit of choice but I blend them up into baby food for Gray to help, well you know, and they are actually one of his most favorite things to eat)
bottle of sesame ginger dressing
a bottle of olive oil
a box of 100 ziploc bags
2 bags of frozen broccoli
1 gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream
All for...$29.41!!!! Perhaps I could get a part-time job advertising for Aldi ;)

I am doing a Nehemiah Bible study on Wednesday mornings and am loving it! I never would have thought a book about the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem would be able to teach me so much. My friends Ashley and Caroline join me every week and we also have wisdom and fellowship from all ages of other women to enjoy and learn from. Gray loves going in the nursery and it's another time for him to be around other babies. I am just so thankful for my Wednesday mornings!

Speaking of Wednesday mornings, I have two other things to share about that. The leader of our Bible study, Joy, was also one of the teachers in the engaged/newlywed class we took several years ago at church. I sent her a one sentence e-mail on Tuesday to let her know Gray and I were sick and wouldn't be there this week. Thursday she brought us a meal simply because she "wanted to make life easier on us". I was so humbled by her thoughtfulness, especially in the busy, mom-to-three life that she lives. She is the kind of person who really prays for you when she says she will and has such a servant's heart. The other thing to share is that there is the sweetest little old lady, Mrs. Peggy, who worked in the nursery on Wednesday mornings all last semester. She fell in love with Gray instantly when we first started going in September and the two of them have the most precious bond. She'd always make sure she was the one to answer the door so she could take him from me. She came to Gray's dedication in November and bought him a sweet ornament for Christmas. She and her husband move to Florida for the winter and she was so sad she wouldn't be there on Wednesdays for this Bible study semester. She looked our phone number up in the church directory and has called twice to check on Gray. The last time she called I talked to her for almost an hour. Mrs. Peggy has her own children and grand-children, but still has such a love for a little boy who happens to not be related to her at all. It has just meant the world to me. There is much to learn from so many sweet women (and men) in our church-thankful for that!

I just took down our Christmas cards last week. And if it weren't for wanting to hang something in my card holder's place, I would have gladly left them there another month. Or five.

My brother Bruce recently accepted a job as CFO. At not quite 34 years of age, this is quite the accomplishment and I am so proud of him.

Paul and I recently had the privilege of hosting a table at a dinner for engaged and/or newlyweds with the one and only Dr. Gary Chapman. We attended this same dinner twice several years ago-once as an engaged couple and once as newlyweds. Dr. Chapman is the author of The Five Love Languages and has written many other best selling books also. He and his wife focus mainly on marriage ministry, though he has taken on the head/senior pastor role in our church for over a year now as they search for a new pastor. Dr. Chapman was also on the Oprah show recently. He is probably one of the most humble men I know, despite the fact that he is a famous, well known author all around the world. Check him out here, I promise it won't be a waste of time!

Okie dokie, I believe that's enough randomness for one day and I am anxious to finish our big boy's 8 month post. Happy Monday, y'all!


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