It's a Boy

Well, the verdict is in and baby Walter is a boy! We found out Friday after waiting through a 30 minute ultrasound that we were going to have a boy. Neither of us were totally surprised. She asked what names we had picked out and if we had any guesses ourselves. We both had a hunch from the very beginning but when the nurse said, "meet Mr. Michael" we were so excited. I laughed and cried at the same time. Michael Steven Walter will be here in late January. Michael is Christian's grandfather's middle name and Steven is the name of my brother, uncle and great uncle. We are halfway through the pregnancy and January can't get here soon enough!

Now we are really getting antsy. The nursery is mostly done and we have most of the big ticket items. We suffered through the process of registering this afternoon and after 3 hours of it had to call it a day. How anyone enjoys this stuff is beyond me? It was pretty trying on us both and it got pretty miserable being on our feet for so long until we got to the glider section where we helped ourselves to a little rest and relaxation. I told the lady at the registry help desk if they really wanted to keep people in there comfortable and shopping for hours they should put out food sample people like they do at warehouse stores. This would keep moms-to-be and dads-to-be happy! At least do it on weekends?

I was pleasantly surprised to see several cute little boy outfits. Everyone knows cute girl stuff completely outnumbers cute boy stuff. Michael will be making his appearance during the coldest time of year so I was happy to see lots of cute and comfortable warm-up suits and jackets. I have never liked character clothes and I am doing my best to make sure they don't make it into my son's closet. I don't mind if my 4 or 5 year old wants a "Go Diego, Go" or "Bob the Builder" shirt, but why I would put it on my child when he could care less I don't know? Imagine he looks back at pictures and asks if he liked "Bob the Builder" at that age and I have to say, "I don't know. You were 4 months old." I would rather say, "oh my goodness, yes, I couldn't get it off of you!" I don't like when grown ups wear that stuff either. I never understand what I am looking at when I see adults in shirts with Tinker Bell or Bugs Bunny? Who does that? Who walks into a store and sees a Tinker Bell shirt and thinks "I have to have that"? I don't like "baby saying" shirts either like "Party at my crib, bring your own bottle" or "If you can smell me, change me." I don't mind words or phrases but those stupid baby sayings are not my thing.

Well, that's the update. Happy September to all!

Hey from North Carolina,

We are now officially in our second trimester and despite claims that I would be feeling better by this point, I am definitely not. Truthfully, to be going through this for our baby makes it a bit more tolerable, but not any easier. I have added to my list of symptoms the onset of migraines. Migraines are a pretty common occurance during pregnancy and assuming you were not afflicted by them prior to pregnancy it's likely they will go away after the baby is here. To go with migraines I have horrible back pain and shortness of breath. This reached a peak last Friday when I collapsed and was out for quite some time. I landed on my tummy and after an hour or so I began to feel some severe cramps and abdominal pain. Our doctor wanted us to go immediately to the hospital where, upon our arrival, I was rushed into a hospital room and poked and prodded for hours. The collapse was unexplained. The baby was fine, which was really all I cared about and after a while, I was feeling fine as well. I was on bed rest for a few days and for the next couple days the time I can spend on my feet has been limited to just a few hours.

Our doctors assure that everything wrong with me is normal because I am pregnant. I don't want to seem ungrateful for the pregnancy. It has been an incredible blessing however unexpected it may have been. But I don't pretend that this is a magical, beautiful time. It's hard and it's gross and utterly exhausting. All that matters to me is getting this baby here safe and healthy. Through all of this we are blessed that the baby is healthy and doing very well. We should be finding out the sex of the baby on Friday assuming we can get a good view but the fact of the matter is we really could care less what we have. The baby is due at the end of January and we just can't wait to meet him or her.

In the mean time Christian has been such a wonderful help to me. He keeps the refrigerator stocked with ginger ale and the pantry full of crackers. He is working overtime taking care of me and takeing care of his business. He is back in school and between classes and coaching volleyball he has been a very busy man. The most exciting thing coming up this year (besides the baby, of course) is going to be Chris starting law school in the spring. He will going in the evenings three times a week. I am a little nervous simply because between teaching and law school there is a pretty good chance I will be ready to have the baby and he will be no where in sight. Although I know he's going to be super busy, I have to say, I am really proud of him and how hard he works for our family. He wants the best for me and the baby and I am so blessed to have a husband like that.

Boy or girl? What do you think? When we find out, we will let you know.

Starting Over

We are sad to share the news that our adoption has fallen through. On Friday Christian and I made the very difficult decision to walk away from this. Beginning about three weeks ago we began to have problems with our birthmother that initially seemed to be nothing more than some emotional stress. However, as time passed her behavior became more and more erratic and it began to take a serious toll on us. Last Thursday, our birthmother had a very important meeting with her attorney scheduled and she just simply did not show up. She didn't call with any explanation as to why she was not there and failed to return any phone calls from him after the fact. This was a meeting to discuss finding the baby's birthfather. Her attorney contacted ours on Friday morning suggesting that Chris and I walk away from this. It was his opinion that we had been deceived by our birthmother regarding what the birthfather knew and did not know and how involved he may have wanted to be in the life of his child. We were advised to stop all financial support immediately and consider terminating the relationship altogether so as to avoid any severe heartache later on. We spoke to our attorney Friday morning for about an hour and came to the same conclusion ourselves. We called the adoption agency and let our coordinator, Maxine, know about the situation and seek her opinion as well. She had her own stories regarding our birthmother's erratic behavior in messages and calls she had received in recent weeks. Maxine agreed that this was on track to end very badly for us.

This was not an easy decision for us to make and we are struggling to make since of this now. I have been feeling uneasy for several weeks now and began to feel disconnected for our birthmother and the baby. It's so hard to explain, but I believe that what I felt was God telling me this wasn't going to be the baby for us. I shared my feelings with Christian who is much more an optimist than me, and he was set that this was going to be fine and it would all work out. These past few days have been harder on him. We are both feeling a loss beyond what I can convey. We are grieving the loss of that baby boy and are working through the emotions.

We did have a nice surprise come our way a few weeks ago that has become our miracle and our little ray of sunshine in the midst of so much heartache. We found out that we are pregnant. I can name about half a dozen doctors who assured us we would not be able to get pregnant. We were stunned to find out we had managed to get pregnant on our own. We were double stunned because it came after we had been chosen by a birthmother. After the shock passed we began to embrace having two little ones just months apart in age. Now that the adoption has fallen through we are looking forward to January when our baby is due. After much prayer we decided to go back on the waiting list for another adoption and are leaving it in God's hands as to whether or not we will be chosen again. If we are not picked in the next few months then we will postpone the adoption for a while so we can focus on our pregnancy. We believe that we have been chosen to be adoptive parents and this is something we feel called to do.

This is has been an emotional roller coaster for us these past few weeks but we will keep y'all posted. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Three Months to Go

Hey all,
Well, the finish is in sight. Our baby, who we have named Everett Steven Walter, is due in three months. We have been in contact with our birthmother regularly since the match a few weeks ago. We talk a couple times a week and I am happy to say she never ceases to amaze us. She has such a wonderful spirit and has made what could be a very anxious couple of months, very enjoyable. Christian and I are planning a trip to New York to meet her for the first time face to face in a couple weeks when Chris gets out of school.

In the meantime we are doing our best to get ready for baby. The nursery is coming together beautifully and Chris and I are reading up on exactly what we are in for. I am not so naive as to think we will ever be fully prepared for this but we are doing what we can. It's amazing at how much we don't know!!! I don't know how we are going to pull this off. Everyone keeps telling us that it comes naturally but I think that thsoe people don't know us very well. Hehe. We met with our adoption attorney here in NC last week and she is wonderful and is going to be working very hard for us. We feel so lucky to be working with her as she and her husband just recently adopted a baby of their own about 6 months ago. We had the priviledge of meeting her husband and new son that same day and they are a wonderful Christian family.

Everett is doing well and growing nice and big in his birthmother's tummy. The doctor's have told her that he could be making an appearance before his due date on August 23 because he is big and active. She told me the other day he gets very active when she is on the phone with us. I loved hearing that! All in all things are moving along nicely so far.

It is definately a good day!!!

Today was quite a day. This afternoon Christian called me to tell me that he was offered the head varsity basketball coach position at school today. This came as quite a shock considering former college basketball coaches applied for the position. However, thanks to a less than ideal economy the school didn't have the budget to bring someone new in and create a position for them so Chris got it. Now this is not to belittle Christian in any way. We were just not expecting him to get it. But he did and we were and are thrilled. I am so proud of him. He has waited for an opportunity like this for several years and now he is going to be able to run his own program. This was the beginning of some really good news.

A little while later I received an email from the adoption agency telling me that our profile was being put together and would be active on the agency's website in 2 weeks. I immediately emailed back to say that we were excited it was moving along so quickly and that I appreciated their hard work for us. I was very excited.

About an hour later I got a call from the agency and heard the words I wanted to hear so badly, "A birthmother picked you." I would love to fill you in on all the details of my brief conversation with her but I honestly don't remember it. She asked if Chris was home and I told her that he was on his way and should be home about 20 minutes later. She told me that she wanted to tell us together so she would call us back. She did and Chris and I sat quietly, barely breathing, listening to each detail about our birthmother, Annette. I cried more than once throughout the conversation and have cried several times since. We learned that she is expecting a baby boy on August 23 in Brooklyn, NY. The birthmother is 1/2 hispanic and 1/2 black, the birthfather is 1/2 black and 1/2 white. Our birthmother is healthy and is taking good care of herself. At the end of the conversation the woman asked if we were interested and "YES!" didn't seem like a good enough word, but that's all we could come up with. She told us that she was going to contact Annette and let her know we wanted to adopt her baby and ask her if she would be available the next day to talk with us over the phone. We waited about ten minutes and the woman from the agency called back to tell us that Annette was available to talk and that she was so excited she was crying when she was told we said "YES!" Annette told her that she had been praying Chris and I would say yes.

Christian and I are still overwhelmed by all of this! Our profile was not even up and running on the website. We still don't know how she found us or why she picked us! We have only been on with the agency for 5 weeks. We are excited and scared and anxious and happy and antsy and peaceful all at once. Tuesday evening we are going to talk with her via conference call and get to know her and let her get to know us. We were happy to hear that she is open to us being as involved in the pregnancy as we would like even up to the birth of the baby. Our baby boy. With 3 months still to go we understand anything can happen, but we are optimistic. The picture was taken 4/1 and is the baby at about 20 weeks.



I also have to extend a congratulations to Evan and Aubrey on their house. Chris and I are so excited for them! I can't wait to hear about it and see some pictures... hint, hint...

Thank you everyone for all your love and prayers. We will keep you posted.

Waiting....Sort of....

Hey everyone,
As you know we are in the process of adoption, the very long process of adoption, and we are finally nearing the end of the paper road. We got a call from our adoption coordinator on Monday afternoon telling us that pending a confirmation from our home study people verifying that our home study report is in fact in progress, Christian and could be put on the waiting list for a birthmother. The following day, that confirmation was sent so I guess that means we are on the waiting list. However, because our paperwork is not completely complete and will not be completely complete for another 3 weeks or so, we cannot be matched with any birthmother due within that time frame. That does mean that we could get matched any time with someone who has at least 3-4 weeks left in her pregnancy. This was good news for us! Although I have no idea when God is going to bring a birthmother to us, it's nice to know that it could happen very soon.

On Saturday my mom followed Chris and I around taking pictures of us for our adoption profile to be shown to birthmothers. As neither Chris or I are picture takers we don't have any of us. We have pictures of maybe one of us somewhere...although it's usually him because I am the camera holder, or we have pictures of scenery but we aren't in those pictures. We have beautiful pictures of trees and lakes but no people. So we grabbed several changes of clothes and drove around taking pictures changing outfits in the car. Some pictures were very silly, like the one of me baking cookies. I wasn't baking cookies. I do like to bake cookies but I wasn't doing it that day. So my mom grabbed a cookie sheet and lined up rows of chips ahoy and handed me a spatula. We went to the speedway and took race car pictures however, the stadium was empty, but maybe no one will notice or think we got there really early that day. There were others that to us are funny but thankfully look like exactly what we wanted them to look like.

Christian and I with the help of my Mom....that's not entirely true....my Mom along with help from Christian and I were able to get most of the nursery in order. It's still missing a few pieces but is coming together beautifully. When we get it all together we will post pictures. In the meantime Christian and I are sorting through the last little bit of paperwork and will be very relieved when it's done. Thank you all for your kind words and prayers through this process. We love you and we will keep you posted!

Love,
Kelly

Big News

Some of you already know this but we have an official announcement. We are going to be adopting a baby. Before we got married we talked about what we saw our future family looking like. Naturally that included children. We took for granted that when we were ready to have them, that we would simply have them. Ha ha! Not so. After we were married we talked about having children and had a very "if it happens, it happens" attitude. Well, it didn't happen. And it kept not happening every month. After several months of unsuccessful attempts we sought the advice of a doctor. The treatments we went through were also unsuccessful and quite frankly, our hearts were not into it. We began to focus our prayers on what God would have us do, and He began speaking to us about adoption. Once the Lord began speaking to us about this we met four couples in our church in a matter of a couple weeks who all had adopted children. It seemed as though God was trying to tell us something and He wasn't particularly discreet. We got the hint.

We began searching the multitude of adoption agencies for a good fit. Initially we settled on a local agency called Christian Adoption Services. The preliminary application was long but we muddled through it. This was followed by the formal application which was even longer. After reviewing their formal application we noticed several red flags that caused us to put the breaks on the entire process. We were both so discouraged and began to lose hope.

Several weeks later Kelly was talking with her cousin, Sarah, about how difficult it was to walk away. Sarah encouraged us to do a little bit more research and try to find an agency that was a better fit. That's exactly what we did. Kelly came across Adoption Network Law Center (ANLC) and contacted them immediately. Their application process was more streamlined and the people there could not have been nicer or more helpful. We knew this was the way we wanted to go.

Within the past week we have submitted our application and fees and contacted the home study people for an expedited home study review. This process should be completed in the next two weeks and we will begin what we anticipate to be the most difficult part, waiting for a birthmother to choose us. In the meantime, we have been asked to get ready for a baby as the process to be matched could potentially be very short. Couples like us who do not specify a gender or race can be matched within a matter of days. Although we don't necessarily think that will be the case here, we do want to be ready when it comes.

Each day seems to bring yet another challenge in the form of paperwork or money or questions. We have been encouraged by the support of our friends and family and just ask for your continued prayers as we move through this process. We are both so very excited about what the future holds for us and evn more excited to see what else God has in store for us.

Trippin

We just got back from the long car ride from NJ and I must say that we are spent. But I just wanted to say how great of a time it was (but still too short). It was the best trip to NJ since we left two years ago by far. We got to see Grandpa Walter, Melody, Grandpa Price, Karl and Laura, Mom, and maybe the best of all...Evan and Aubrey. Kelly and I just had so much fun with everyone. Grandpa Walter and Melody were so nice and happy to see us. Grandpa Price was happy (so much so that he gave me a whole bunch of his clothes!), it was great spending an old night at the diner with Karl and Laura. And dinner and lunch with Mom and then Evan and Aubrey was great. I just feel so thankful to have such a loving and supportive family.

Thanks so much for a great time! We love you all and miss you!

The Thrilla from the Grilla

In my life I've done many things and been through many experiences. But today was a very special one. I did something today that I have never done alone. I grilled (or tried to) a steak. Yes I know that it is quite astonishing that a 31 year old man has never used a barbeque grill and there are really no good excuses for that. To the world of manliness I apologize.

A few months back we bought a nice grill and Alex showed me how to use it. I was all excited about grilling and then the winter set in and the grill went to the shed. With the 80+ degree weather we've been having I decided to bring it out and start the season off right.

I lit the grill (successfully!) and put the two steaks on and we were in business. I let them sit on high for about 10 minutes or so, flipping them a few times. After 10 minutes they seemed to be done. I put the steaks on the top rack of the grill and set one burner on low to keep them warm. The other items were making took a little bit longer than expected but I figured the steaks would be fine.

Boy was I wrong, after 10 more minutes they turned from medium to well done to beef jerky. They were definitely a little tough to eat but I finished the work I began and ate them like a champ. Needless to say I'm feeling pretty good right now. I wish I could have those steaks back but alas lesson learned. To the world of manliness...redemption will be mine!

EIGHT is Enough!!!

Hey all! After lots and lots of talking and thinking and thinking and talking we have made a big decision. Chris and I have decided to get a new puppy. This dog makes three and brings our critter total to a whopping 8! But eight is enough. After we got Obi Wan (our little orange kitty) we both knew that we were done bringing cats home. Even me, who can't stand to even watch humane society commercials on TV feels quite comfortable that Chris and I are doing our part for the homeless cats of the world. However, we have known for a while that we would probably end up with another dog. We were right about ourselves. Ha! Christian and I have a new puppy. He is yet to be named but he is gonna be a big one. He is 3/4 great dane and 1/4 mastiff. He's called a great daniff. The daniff's are one of the new mix breeds that are being recognized as an independent breed. Daniff's are big and wide and have a dane's temperment and the health of a mastiff. This mix breed has reduced health problems as they age thanks to the mastiff in them but they are known as "gentle giants" thanks to the dane in them. We anticipate our little guy to get upwards of 150 pounds full grown. When we talked about a 3rd dog temperment was the most important factor. We wanted a dog that would be low maintenence and very easy going.

Baby Daniff is only 3 weeks old right now so will not be living with us for a few more weeks. He has a scar on his right side because his mother accidentally stepped on him resulting in stitches. He has a recovered but as I said, he will have a scar. We couldn't care less about that. Please, we have a one-eyed cat. A scar is nothing. He is a harlequin which as you can see from the pictures means he is white with black markings. Like I said, he isn't named yet. Chris wants a Dukes of Hazzard name to go with our Daisy May and Bo Duke, so Chris likes the names Rosco, Hazzard and General Lee. I don't care much about Baby Daniff being named after that. I like Diesel and Tank. We are going to go see him on Saturday. He's in Ridgeville, SC just outside of Charleston. After we get a chance to meet him in person he may name himself. Duke and Daisy did. We will see. In the mean time here are pictures of our new little puppy.

Life lessons in modelling

Hello all,

I have recently begun a new endeavor in the hobby world. A few weeks back Kelly's mom was visiting us and she absolutely loves antiques. If you know anything about North Carolina you know that we are one of the antique capitals of the world. So, we went to some antique malls out in the country one of the days she was here.

Now some antique malls actually have antiques and some just have people's old junk and we found one that just had people's old junk. But there are always treasures in jars of clay. One of the booths had some old NASCAR 1/24 scale models and I remarked how Dad and I used to buy those and put them together back when I first got into NASCAR in my middle school days.

Of course I had no idea what I was doing and Dad, with all of his model assembly expertise, did most of the work on them. But I felt like I was accomplishing something nonetheless. Anyway I digress. Kelly's mom decided to buy me the models. I was so excited and surprised. Yet another project to add to the list!

I started putting together one of the cars a few weeks ago and all of those old frustrations came out. Paint not sticking right, parts not gluing together well, the noxious fumes of enamel and paint thinner stinking up the garage (and the rest of the house!) etc. etc. I guess all of these difficulties make me admire my dad and his talents even more. He had incredible patience and grit to do these models without completely going insane. Having a steady hand helped too! These traits I do not possess.

As usual I find myself gleaming a whole bunch of lessons from putting together these dumb models. One is how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. The model comes disassembled and unpainted and you have to put it all together to make it look like the cool picture on the box. I suppose that if you took all of the model parts and just threw them up in the air, they might eventually (after maybe a billion tries!) make a car. But (as frustrating as it can be) I think that I'd rather follow the instructions and do it myself the right way.

Following this logic, how can anyone believe evolution? That we are a just a random conglomeration of different cells that have come together and evolved over time seems pretty absurd when looked at logically and rationally.

"The chance that higher life forms might have emerged in this way is comparable with the chance that 'a tornado sweeping through a junk yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein'."
Sir Fred Hoyle-Cambridge Professor of Astronomy

The Drummer's Wife

Hey all. Christian wrote a couple weeks ago about our church. We are really loving our church. A couple weeks ago the music director called Chris and told him he was really hoping Chris and I would go to choir practice on Wednesdays because they were starting the new Easter music. So we thought it seemed like a good starting point and we went. We got there and I settled into the back row, alto side of the choir. I made fast friends with the other back row altos and had a great time with those ladies before practice started. I have been singing for a while so I was comfortable with the music and quite honestly, was just At my church in Houston we had a great choir. They made CD's and put on Christmas and Easter pageants that were amazing. They ran about 150-200 on Sunday mornings. On my 18th birthday I was there. From pageant practices to great music to even catching my hair on fire at a rehearsal one year I have so many wonderful memories of singing in the choir. I am looking forward to making new memories with my new church choir!

The real story, however, is my superstar husband. Most churches have at least one drummer, many can have several they rotate Sunday to Sunday. Much to our surprise, Pitts Baptist didn't really have one. They had a guy who played okay just on request but no regular drummer. Chris didn't waste anytime letting everyone know he would be happy to play when coaching season came to an end and they seemed excited about that! He showed up to practice with me and they set him at the drum set and he practiced with us. He hadn't seen any music prior to practice but did very well. We got to practice early to settle in, so no one saw us come in together, therefore, no one knew we were together. Throughout practice I could hear people around me talking about the new drummer. They loved him! They kept saying he's so good and how much they love what the drum beat adds to the music and so on. I was quite proud! After rehearsal our director, Jonathan, announced us as new members and immediately several people turned around and kept saying, "that's your husband?!" I smiled and said yes, that the rockin' drummer belonged to me. They all told me how wonderful he did and they went on and on. Well, last night at practice everyone kept calling me "drummer's wife." It was very cool. Christian did a great job and looked great doing it. He would look at me and wink or smile throughout rehearsal and all the ladies thought it was sweet and that we were so cute. I felt like I was back in high school and had landed the hot popular guy.

Already I have a fun memory!

Our Church

I guess it's been quite awhile since I've last written here. Life has been really busy the past few weeks (or months). School has been going about 100 mph. We have just started the new semester and classes seem to be settling down. Basketball has been absolutely insane. Needless to say, coaching girls is quite different than coaching boys. But our season just ended and it ended on a positive note with a win (only lost four games all year).

Enough rambling. I wanted to take some time and write about our church. It has been our place to connect with other believers and regroup with God. We have found a strong refuge that we have come to enjoy more and more each week we attend.

We absolutely love it. Our Sunday School class consists of about 12 or so young couples just like us. They share many of the same burdens and joys that we have and they have been kind and welcoming to us. They have been very quick to recognize Kelly's sense of humor and quick wit and my knowledge and teaching ability. In fact I will be teaching in two weeks (on what I don't know yet!)

The church service itself is perfect for Kelly and I. Average attendance is about 700 and it is a mixture of contemporary and traditional styles of worship. We sing about three or four traditional hymns (Green Brook Baptist style!) and one or two contemporary songs. There is a good-sized choir which Kelly is about to join, and some instrumental opportunities for me.

But perhaps the best part about the church is our pastor, Scott Davis. He has been there for about ten years and knows the Bible thoroughly inside and out. When we joined the church he willingly spent about three hours with us in his office and didn't mind that we were there until the late hours of the night. He delivers sermons with authority and conviction and speaks to our hearts each and every week. Currently he is doing a series on Psalm 23 and is doing one verse a week. Now this might seem ridiculous but he finds a way to pull a thousand points out of a few words. He has an incredible expository mind.

Being at Pitts has made me think a lot about the purpose of church. I've come to understand how important the body of believers that you surround yourself with is. If you don't have that support and fellowship, your Christian walk could be very lonely and difficult. Maybe that's why there were twelve disciples and not one or two. Maybe that's why Paul made it a point to visit the believers in every town he arrived in. The Bible says we need only Jesus, but of course, so does everyone else.

Happy Birthday Steven!

Today is my baby brother's 23rd birthday! Wow! Happy birthday Steven. I know a lot of big sisters probably say this but I have the best brother a girl could ever ask for. Steven is 3 years my junior and one of my best friends. Unlike a lot of siblings Steven and I have rarely ever fought. We have always been close and had a good relationship. When Steven and I were kids our family would go on one big family vacation a year. Now, you have to understand something about my parents. They wanted our vacations to be educational and every year, without fail, we would end up somewhere that required A LOT of reading. We never flew anywhere either. It was up at 4 a.m. and loading our sleepy, tired bodies into the car and we hit the road. Steven and I always slept in the back for the first couple hours, at least until the sun would wake us up. Once we were up, the fun started. The moment Mad Libs made its appearance Mom and Dad would not get a moment of peace and quiet until we arrived at our final destination. For anyone who doesn't know, Mad Libs is a game where words from a story are deleted and you get to fill in your own words. What makes the game fun is that one player fills in the blanks and the other doesn't know anything about the story except that it needs 5 verbs, 3 nouns and so on. Steven and I would spend hours taking turns and laughing so hard sometimes we would barely be able to read the completed story. Even Mom and Daddy would get a kick out it, although Mom says the reason she was laughing was not because what we wrote was funny, but because Steven and I were utterly hysterical with each other.

The best thing about my brother is that we never drifted apart. We are as close as always and I am so thankful for him. He is one of the funniest, most kind-hearted people I have ever known. Even to this day we still play Mad Libs and cut up just like we did when we were kids. It's like I am 10 and he's 7 all over again. Although I miss my family living here in North Carolina, it's my brother I miss most. The day before Chris and I got married I called him and told him that Christian and I had decided to elope and would be getting married the next day. I remember Steven got really quiet and then asked to talk to Chris. I was a bit nervous but handed the phone to Christian and held my breath. Chris kept saying thinigs like, "I do" and "I will" and "thank you." Christian handed the phone back to me and Steven was crying and told me how much he loved me and how happy he was for me. Christian told me that Steven had told him that I was his big sister and he wanted the best for me. He wanted Christian to promise that he would take care of me and love me more than anything. He welcomed Christian to the family and through tears told him how much he loved me and would miss me.

This picture was taken right after Chris and got married. Steven and I were goofing off and wanted to take an "artsy" picture. It took about 30 minutes to get a shot where we could hold a strait face. Now he's 23 years old and has a fiance Chris and I adore. I can hardly believe he's 23. Anyway, happy birthday Steven and I love you more than you can possibly know!

She's gone, yes, she's gone

My baby is off to the world of (most likely) testosterone-filled high school boy racing. I made the decision to sell the Mustang. Yes, that's right, it is gone.

It was a very difficult parting. This car was my pride and joy for almost nine years and we have been through a lot together. (Graduating college, Masters degree, student teaching, my first teaching job, 9/11, two presidential elections, the deaths of dad and grandma, numerous girls that I liked a lot, marriage, a move to Texas and North Carolina, and so much more!) It is amazing to think about what has happened in the last nine years of my life and how that car was there through it all.

But, I'm not really that sad because I believe it was the right thing to do. So now I'm looking for a cheap, old truck to get me around for a few months. I trust that God will provide something!

Givin' credit where credit is due.

I have always loved Wal-Mart but not until recently have my affections grown. Perhaps it is the season in which Chris and I have found ourselves. Like all newlyweds we do what what we can to save money and what we have to spend, we want to spend wisely. Wal-Mart has been the answer to our life. Everything you could ever dream of needing can be found at this great store. Don't be fooled either by sceptics. The products purchased at Wal-Mart are good quality. I have found clothes, home goods and decor, products to keep you clean and looking and smelling good and food prices that can't be beat, and TV's and video game stuff that blows competitors out of the water. True story, Chris and I save anywhere from $50 to $100 per trip when we load up on stuff there.

I even like going to Wal-Mart just to walk around. One afternoon I was upset about something and Chris came up to me and wrapped his arms around me and said, "Do you want to go to Wal-Mart?" I said yes and off we went. I felt better afterwards. So this is my shout-out to Mr. Walton...Well done sir, well done!

A little of the white stuff!

After days and days and cold weather and days and days of rain I was really starting to wonder when the rain and cold would get together and give me some snow? The weather people started mentioning possible snow and I was beside myself. I am from Texas and other than a brief stint in New Jersey after getting married I have never known any place cold enough to snow. I remember in 5th grade the principal came over the intercom and said it was snowing outside and the kids could be dismissed to go play in the snow. Well, as you can imagine this was very exciting. We went outside and played in the snow...sort of. You see, the ground wasn't cold enough to hold the snow so it melted on contact and my entire elementary school spent the afternoon playing in cold, slushy mud. This is a fond dmemory of mine and as I retell it, I am not sure why? Anyway, it snowed quite a bit when we live in New Jersey but that wasn't fun snow at least not after a day or two. It became trouble snow. It made our cars dirty and it was hard to drive around especially since we lived up such a steep road. It was bitter cold and crippling. I remember standing outside in several inches of snow (and even more falling from the sky) and mud for what seemed like hours as Chris and tried to get his Mustang out of the giant pile of snow that had accumulated around his car. That wasn't much fun either. Nonetheless, when I heard that we were expecting snow here I was very excited. In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, it happened. I looked outside and there it was, falling from the sky, covering the ground. I fell asleep very excited thinking about what awaited me in the morning. The next morning we woke up to about three inches of snow on the ground. It was just enough to be beautiful and not so much that you would be inconvenienced by it. It was so cool. Duke and Daisy were a bit confused by it at first, but Duke took off into it and Daisy followed and Chris and I sat watching them. This was thier first snow and they seemed to think it was awesome! Labs love cold weather and our two are no exception. They rolled around in it, chased each other in it and ate it. By the late afternoon most of it was gone but it was fun while it lasted. There are a few spots of the white stuff still hanging around but for the most part everything is back to normal. One of the best things about North Carolina is not just that we have four seasons, but that they are four distinct yet mild seasons. It's a hot but not too hot summer, a beautiful fall, a cold, but not too cold winter and a pretty spring. The weather is still cold but it's nothing that requires more than a heavy sweatshirt.

Today the sky is a beautiful blue and there is not a cloud in sight. The sun is shining and it's really nice outside. Thank you Jesus for giving us just the right amount of snow and then turning it around and giving us this beautiful day!

KSW

Trident Nuclear Missile Inbound!

Now that I have your attention...this past weekend we went to Atlanta to see Celine Dion in concert (yes I love Kelly that much!) and I must say that it was quite an event.

I had never been to Atlanta and the little bit of it that we saw was very nice. It was very clean and the people were generally very cordial and conversational. Typical southern hospitality. Within a few blocks were many interesting sites. There was the Coca-Cola Museum which is really exciting for me because I love Coke and when I'm a multi-millionare I want a room in house especially devoted to Coca-Cola. There is also the CNN Tower right next to Philips Arena where the concert was. I'm not really all that interested in CNN (being conservative and all) but I guess it would be nice to see some day. But one day we'll come back to Atlanta and see all the cool stuff there.

The concert was quite a scene (as Seinfeld would say). There were many different types of people there. Black, white, old, young, male, female, straight and .... it was a virtual cornucopia of diversity. What does that say about Celine Dion? The music was Celine Dionny. The classics as well as some new stuff and even a song in French. While Celine Dion is not really my bag I enjoyed the musicianship and talent of the band. She is a little corny and cheesy but she can sing her butt off. The band was extremely tight and right on. But I left the concert asking two questions:

1. How does one go about becoming the drummer for Celine Dion?
2. Will my heart indeed go on?

What a man! What a mighty good man!

I have to take a moment and tell you how amazing my husband is! I have always known he was incredible but I have become acutely aware of how blessed I was that no one had snatched him up when I came along. How he was still on the market has always been a mystery to me. He's 6'8", blonde hair, beautiful blue/green eyes and well, he didn't get the nickname 'sexy legs' for nothing. He has a good job, a Master's degree and enough ambition to share. He loves the Lord and has a deep understanding of the Word. He loves me and there is nothing he wouldn't do for me. He spoils me rotten and seems to like doing it. Christian works so hard and the fruits of his labor are very evident. He has provided us a beautiful home and given me a life better than I could have ever imagined and it keeps getting better and better. He is so sweet to all our pets and although he may never say so, I have seen cuddle up with them and play and baby talk to them. It's very sweet to see that. I admire his strength of character and his servant's heart. I have known very few people with the kind of integrity he has. He's smart and clever, he's quick-witted and funny and he's thoughtful and passionate.

Growing up I was fortunate to have been raised in a christian family and my father is one of the most amazing men I have ever known. My dad set the bar for whoever I would chose to marry. There was a point I didn't think anyone would be able to fill dad's shoes but Christian came along and I knew in an instant he was the one who would do it. And do it, he did. He jumped so high over the bar, the bar is a dot to him. Since getting married we have overcome just about every kind of obstacle imaginable and we love each other more because of it. My husband is a remarkable man and I couldn't imagine my everyday with anyone else.

Christmas year round?

Kelly and I had an interesting idea. Instead of waiting until the Christmas season to buy presents for each other for Christmas we have decided to buy one Christmas present for each other each month of the year.

I think this will save us from the budget bust that always happens around Christmas and gives us a little of the joy of the Christmas season all year round. The only downside to this method is maybe that you lose a little of the Christmas shopping craziness that is hectic but yet fun (in a sick sort of way). Oh yeah...and you have to find a way to hide the presents too!

So...to us...2009 will be the year of Christmas! (inside joke for those who are aware of the "year of" idea)

Peas,
Christian

Living under Love

Our blog is not here so that we can argue about politics or religion and we will not allow this to become that. However, it seems so foolish to forget who we are and how we got to where we are. I think the greatest struggle our country faces is not the collapse of the financial industry or the housing market, it's not the rise in unemployment. I believe our great struggle is the growing spiritual poverty and moral deficiency of the people. People are mean. Meaner than I have ever known them to be. They are hateful and perpetually ungreatful for what they do have. Even on America's worst day, we are more blessed and have been given more opportunities than anywhere else in the world. As Christian's we have been given so much and this idea that somehow we are entitled to anything is so contrary to everything Jesus describes a Christian should be. We are not entitiled to anything. Everything we have is a blessing. It's a gift. God promises to take care of His children and in my experience I have always known Him to do exactly that. My God has proven Himself time and time again. There are things I don't understand but I have learned to accept that I don't have to. "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me."

Feeling Good

KSW here... Well, the new year is in full swing and for the first time ever I decided to take advantage of the new year as a fresh start for me. I decided that the new year was going to find me with a better overall attitude, a renewed committment to my sweet Savior and I made the decision to have fun and just enjoy each day. I know we are only 2 weeks into 2009 but I think I have made great strides. This blogging thing was my idea. I was able to convince my husband that this would be a great opportunity to open the lines of communication with family and give us a wonderful chance to share with the people we love about the things God is doing in our lives. I started a new personal bible study that explores the lives of women in the Bible. Each week is a new woman. Obvoiusly it started with Eve and I have really enjoyed looking at her life. Genesis is one of my favorite books, I have always been partial to the Old Testament. I am praying that the Lord will stay on my heart about this and I will continue to be faithful. I also set my Tivo to record Joyce Meyer in the mornings. She comes on really early so I record and am able to watch it at my convenience. I really enjoy her. Even Chris is enjoying the series she is discussing now. She's funny, she's smart and she really communicates well her messages.

Along with my renewed committment to Jesus, I have decided to have a little more fun. This started with an attitude adjustment which didn't seem like much but really makes a difference. And of course, yesterday, I went from red-head to "blonde bombshell!" (At least that is what Chris keeps calling me... and believe me, I am loving that!) Growing up my mom was really strict about what I could and couldn't do to my hair. She didn't want me fickle and changing it all the time and as a result destroying it forever. I have strong and in my opinion, pretty great hair, but I also had a weird aversion to hair treatments. Before I decided to go blonde I called around to several salons and asked them about their process. Most used bleach and I wasn't feeling that. I was also really nervous because a friend of mine with red hair dyed her hair blonde and ended up with pink hair. I don't think I would like having pink hair for more than a week or so. If I was a grandma I would totally be into having pink hair. That would be so awesome. Someday I will be a pink haired grandma with high heeled shoes and lots of bling. Oh yeah! But for now, not so much. So I went in for a consultation and my salon was going to be able to help me make the transformation without bleach. My appointment was Wednesday at 11 a.m. and I was not finished until 3:30 p.m. It was a long process. But totally worth it! When the color was in and it was just a matter of the blow dry and style, Tabitha, my hair dresser, spun me around so I couldn't see...I waited...and waited...and then, she spun me around and I started screaming and crying! Happy tears! It was amazing. I didn't even look like me. I was one satisfied customer. To make a long story short, so was my husband. He couldn't take his eyes off of me. It's nice to have the man of your dreams checking you out all night. It's a good feeling!

Life is really good. Chris and I are happy. We are having fun together and taking advantage of life in the slow lane. Life is good. I love you Chris Walter!

Legally Blonde 3

CW here. Ok...interesting day. I get home from a ridiculous day at work and lo and behold, my lovely, fiery, red-headed wife is no longer. She has been replaced with this fantastic and gorgeous blonde bombshell. So I had to take my new maiden out to an exquisite dinner at Texas Roadhouse to introduce myself to her having never seen this fine woman before. I must say, that I was quite smitten and could hardly touch the juicy steak on my plate as I stared at this new glowing beauty in my life.

As we went home, my new wife and I settled down to a cozy, warm house and enjoyed the first night of our new life together....

OK, before anybody freaks out Kelly just changed her hair color from red to blonde today and it looks great. But red or blonde, it is fantastic either way. I love you Kelly!

Our Family

Our family is a little different than most. We have Chris, Kelly and 2 dogs and 5 cats. Chris teaches at a high school here in the Charlotte area and coaches volleyball and basketball. He works for what seems like most of the hours of the day, leaving around 6 a.m. and not making another appearance until around 10 p.m. on game nights. He doesn't have much time for fun but manages to make enough time to play war games with a friend about once a week and let's not forget the love of his life...Guitar Hero! His victories and defeats echo throughout the house every night, thankfully Kelly hears more cheers than jeers.

Kelly is a full time trophy wife. She spends her mornings, afternoons and nights taking care of the home, our pets and the biggest job of all, Chris. Kelly takes a lot of pride in her home. It's an extension of who she is and is reflective of the kind of wife she is to Chris. While Chris is at work Kelly takes the time to do housework and run errands. On Wednesdays she meets with her local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was fortunate enough to be able to trace her ancestry to the Revolutoinary War and is proud to serve as a member of such a distinguished organization. The DAR volunteers with the Salvation Army, at the Veterans Hospital and works to maintain the integrity of the historical homes and buildings throughout America. She sings in the choir at church and is working a few solos to sing for the congregation. She has a lot of pride being a wife and serving the community.

We also have 2 dogs and 5 cats. Duke and Daisy are our labrador retrievers. Duke is a barrel chested, block headed yellow lab. Chris's mom thinks he may be a bit slow. When Kelly asked why she believed that to be true his mom just pointed out into the yard and said, "look". Kelly looked to see Duke standing out in the middle of the yard, using the bathroom, with a hot pink frisbee hanging from his tooth looking off into the distance with what looked like a smile on his face. He is the eternally happy puppy. He's a big talker but is as gentle at 100 lbs as he was when we brought him home. Duke is Kelly's dog and will follow her to every corner of the house all day long. Daisy is the antithesis of her brother. She is black as night and about 15 lbs smaller. She is smart....freakishly smart. She is our faithful protector. She can hold her own with Duke but out runs and out jumps him by a long shot. She is definitely Chris's dog. She will sit right in front of him and stare at him as long as he can stand it.

Our cats are Luke, Leia, Han, Padme and Obi. Star Wars. Chris said Kelly could have a cat but he would get to name it. She agreed. When we ended up with two right away, Chris struggled to come up with something clever and cute. Luke and Leia are brother and sister. We brought them home just a month after we were married. Luke is fat. Very fat. He's friendly and very easy going. Luke is a black and gray stripe tiger looking tabby. Leia is only kind of fat. She is beautiful calico with a bit of an attitude. She loves to have our undivided attention and is the epitomy of a "lap cat". Han was our very first charity case. He is a one-eyed, allergic to everything cat. He is solid white and with that comes sensitive skin and possible blindness and deafness. His eye was removed before we brought him home due to an infection his previous owners neglected. He is allergic to fish, if you can believe that, and can only wear hemp collars if he wears one at all because any other collar reacts with his skin resulting in hair loss and a rash around the neck. He is quite a sad situation. Han is also the sweetest cat we have ever known. He loves to be held and loves the water. Where water is running you will find him close by being amazed by it. Padme was charity case number 2. She is a black cat that sat in a cage at Petco from November 06 to May 2007. She has a very high pitched meow and is very shy. If people are here she is in hiding. She stays in our room 23 out of 24 hours. She doesn't get along well with everyone. She tolerates the dogs and like Obi pretty well, but that's about it. Having her is very low-maintenence. She is small, quiet, and likes her privacy. Obi was the third and final cat charity case. Kelly brought him home after finding him wet and scared near a local restaurant just before we moved to Charlotte. We planned to give him to a local rescue but obviously, we changed our minds. We were amazed at how well he got along with everyone in the house. He's an adorable little orange and white kitty. His lip is a little deformed so he always looks like he has an attitude. It's funny! Because he was the only cat to join after Duke and Daisy he was able to choose to be friends with the cats or the dogs. He chose the dogs. He is very dog like and loves to copy them. He can play rough with them and they don't seem to mind. Obi gets along with everyone and it's very rare to see him by himself anywhere.

We know there are a lot of critters in this house but to us it feels normal. We don't know anything different. They say that people who own pets live up to 7 years longer than people who don't. We think we know why. It's got to be becuase they make us laugh. We laugh a lot and it's often because of them. We couldn't imagine life without them.

Happy New Year

Hello all, Chris and Kelly here. It's quite possible we are the last to join in the blogging revolution, but we are finally here, and what a better time than this, January 1, 2009!

Happy New Year!

It’s officially 2009 and we are praying that this year will not bring yet another huge change for us, but instead be one of peace and rest and stability. In two short years we have moved three times, have had six jobs, been members of three churches, traveled through every state between New Jersey and Texas and added five cats and two dogs to a wild and crazy life. Although the journey has been long and at times we have been weary the destination has made it all worth the while. We have had the privilege to see our sweet Jesus move in a way that neither of us had ever experienced.

We left New Jersey to give Kelly the opportunity to complete her final semester at The University of Houston. She graduated in December ’07 with honors. We both struggled to find work in a tough job market. However, we were blessed to be near Kelly’s family and be members of a wonderful church near our home. Christian began interviewing for teaching positions in schools in both Texas and New Jersey. Although the thought of another move so quickly brought on a lot of stress we were ready, willing and able to go where we had to go.

As the days grew longer and longer we found ourselves struggling to find work, pay the bills and on some days even find the strength to get out of bed. After months of silence from God we dropped to our knees and didn’t ask for a job or money but a miracle. We knew that God was in control, that He was the only One who could deliver us, and we asked Him to move in our lives in a way that only He could. We asked Him to move in a way that would be His undeniable hand over us. We asked for a miracle. And a miracle is exactly what we got.

As we faced our battles daily, our dear friends Alex and Danielle Tavarez were facing the same battles 1600 miles away. In May they asked us to begin praying for them because Alex had applied to a job in Charlotte, NC and was excited about the opportunity for both his career and their family. Two months later, as we sat frustrated and jobless we thought North Carolina seemed like a place we might like too and Christian sent his application to school districts across the greater Charlotte area. Fifteen minutes later, Christian received a call from the principal of Independence High School in Charlotte, NC. Principal Bosco seemed eager to meet with Christian and a week later we were on our way to NC for the interview and to spend a few days checking out the area. Kelly made arrangements with a realtor to show us a few homes and tell us about Charlotte. The more we heard the more excited we were about the possibility of making this our new home.

Christian’s interview ended with an initial offer pending HR paperwork. Two days later, Alex called us at our hotel to tell us he too had just received a job offer. It all seemed very surreal. The drive home was long and filled with phone calls and random stops to fax this or that and awkward discussions as we avoided getting too excited about this opportunity. When we got back to Texas we sat on pens and needles hoping this would come together. It was a Wednesday in July and Christian was on his way home from yet another interview when he received the call…or calls. His interview from earlier that day offered him a position, Princeton High School in NJ offered him a position and Independence officially offered him the position. We were overwhelmed but this was a no-brainer. We were on our way to Charlotte. Christian had to report to work on August 4th. August 4th meant we had two weeks to pack up, move and move in.

During our initial visit to NC we were shown a home in Concord that stood out among all others. It met our needs and had all the personal touches we wanted. It was big enough and had a nice little piece of land, red brick, white columns and blue shutters, fenced yard, covered patio and rural enough to give us the “country” feel we wanted. When the job offer came in, Kelly immediately called the real estate agent, we put in our offer and it was accepted. We had the job, we had the house and now we had our own little spot in the world that we could call home and we did it in less than a month.

August began with Christian teaching and coaching volleyball and Kelly setting up our new home. There were moments we would stop and take it all in, feeling like any moment we would wake up and be right back where we were just a month earlier. It seemed like this little town outside of Charlotte had everything a Jersey Boy and a Southern Belle could ever want. Six weeks later we eagerly welcomed Alex and Danielle and their brand new baby girl Bekah to North Carolina. They had found a home perfect for them that we really liked too…mostly because it’s a mere 15 minutes from our house.

We settled in easily and found our routines. After a successful volleyball season, Christian is now on the tail end of a successful basketball season and enjoying being back in the classroom. Kelly stays busy taking care of Christian and seven animals and has begun working with the local chapter of the Daughter’s of the American Revolution. In our free time we enjoy weekend trips to places like Greensboro and Asheville and taking in all that Charlotte has to offer. Charlotte is home to Lowe’s Motor Speedway where for $5 you can ride around the race track in a passenger van at 85 miles an hour! And for $100 a professional driver will take you around the track 3 times at 165 miles an hour!

It took us a few months to find a church where we would both be happy but true to form, God lead us to Pitts Baptist Church and into a church family we love and look forward to seeing every week. We have already made several friends and are excited about using our gifts to serve and give back to the church.

Even our critters have adjusted nicely to the move. The house is big enough that our cats Luke, Leia, Han, Padme and Obi all have their own little nook and cranny to get away from each other, us or the dogs if they so choose. Duke and Daisy love the big yard to run and play and have even learned to catch a Frisbee in the air and bring it right back to us to do all over again. It’s hard to imagine what God has in store for us this year but we are hoping it’s peace, rest and a little stability at least until next year.

Until next time.