Holy Cow!!! 6 Months!

Our life has been kinda crazy lately. Here's an abbreviated version in pictures. Here are some updates.

Our friend, Gary, FINALLY met Lincoln! It only took 6 months! Crazy guy lives in Raleigh and has been super busy and hasn't been in to meet Ian or Lincoln. This day at the mall he met them both! It's about time!!

Lincoln is the happiest baby in the world!! He and Daddy were playing peek-a-boo with Mommy over the couch cushions. That open mouth, full faced smile is just one of those things you can never get enough of!

I finally got a picture of Lincoln with Poppy! He's seen him tons and we just live a few miles apart, but for some reason there weren't any pictures of Poppy. Lincoln and I went over to visit Moppy a few weeks ago and we finally snapped a good one! Now we'll just have to get a picture of the two of them on the tractor!

Do you remember my little rabbit??? Look at how much he's grown!!!!!

As of October 2 Lincoln was 6 months old. It's so hard to believe and imagine that six months ago he wasn't here. That he was just a wiggly mass in my belly. And to think that 9 months before that we were still praying for him to be here. My how time flies! This baby brings us more joy and happiness than anyone could possibly express. We've heard a thousand times how fast they grow up and how wonderful kids are, but when you're childless you just don't understand. It's not until you actually hold that tiny miracle in your arms and he looks at your with unabashed innocence that you begin to understand. The faith, trust, and understanding these children have is remarkable. It might be tough for the first few months. Ok, it might be REALLY tough. But there is no way anyone can measure the greatness that is to follow. It's amazing that people can question whether there is a God. I see Him every day in the eyes of my son. 

I love this "big boy" vest! We wore it to church. He's posing while sitting up by himself!! :)

"Come on Lincoln, let's go take some fall pictures!" So we changed his clothes and got him dressed to be super cute, and all the boy wanted to do was eat the leaves!! Just keep looking! I had to stick my finger in his mouth to rake some of them out. It was GROSS! But he sure had a good time. 

This one is by far my favorite, and makes me laugh out loud!!!

Serious leaf munching!

Mommy's little angel....what a perfect picture!

October 1st marked the 5th year that I have been married to my best friend. I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. What a wonderful, Godly husband he is. Anthony is my strength and guide. I don't know where I'd be without him.

To celebrate our anniversary we decided it was time to have our first sleep-away from Lincoln. What a big step! We left him at my mom and dad's for one night while we went to Bryson City to ride the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. It seems like everyone we know has done it, and we couldn't figure out why we hadn't. So we did!! We were a little apprehensive about leaving Little Man behind. Not nervous to leave him with Mom, but worried that we would miss him terribly while we were gone. Good thing we weren't gone for more than two whole days and a night. By Saturday night we were really missing him badly! He did great with Mom and Dad. He slept well, ate well, and just played and played. What more could we ask for?! 

Friday night, Oct. 1, we drove into Cherokee and stayed the night. We visited the Harrah's Cherokee Casino just to see what was going on. We spent about $20 and played for maybe an hour or so. I always seem to lose my money lickety-split, but Anthony can hold onto his and keep playing. So not fair. Anyway, we were pretty close to the train for our Saturday morning ride. We chose the Nantahala Gorge trip to see the Nantahala River and the rafters, and also the Nantahala Outdoor Center. 

We were in a first-class, adult only dining car. We were seated at a table across from an older couple from Florida. They weren't very chatty and that was fine by us. For the beginning of our journey we were traveling backwards. Not the train, just that our seats were facing the caboose. It was a little disappointing. And a little gross to see everything race by...

It was a beautiful fall day, even though most of the leaves were still bright green. The weather was cool and it was nice to be in a car with heat, instead of one of the open-air cars farther back in the train. Brrrr! It was quite an interesting trip. Before we even left Bryson City Station there was an announcement that one of the servers had gotten sick and had to be taken off the train. We had to wait for that, and for another server to come on board. Once we finally got underway we had about a 2 hour ride until the engines were separated from the train to take us back towards Bryson City. On our way back we stopped at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. That's where so many rafting adventures begin. There is a restaurant, and tons of little shops with outdoor gear and everything you could need for rafting or kayaking. 

We had an hour layover there.

 We were served lunch and had unlimited sodas. 

What a beautiful day it was!

Some of the beautiful scenery. This is Fontana Lake. Home to the Fontana Dam, the largest Dam east of the Mississippi. It was a beautiful ride. And it was nice to finally be traveling in the "correct" direction so we didn't feel woozy anymore. 

We were already behind schedule because of the server's sickness in the morning and it didn't get any better. Right as we were beginning to pull out of the Wesser Station at NOC we got word that there was a medical emergency on board. We waited. And waited. And waited. It turned out that an elderly woman had fallen ill, possibly had a stroke. The ambulance was called and we waited. It took about an hour for the emergency crews to stabilize her and move her to the ambulance and for the train to keep moving. At this point what was supposed to be a 4 hour train trip has turned into about 6 hours. All of this would have been fine, except for the fact that I hadn't pumped since 8:30 that morning, and it was now going on 2 pm. The train didn't pull back into the station until after 4:00 and I was VERY ready to get off the train!

All in all it was a wonderful trip. The ride was beautiful and it was GREAT to spend time with just Anthony. Lincoln is fabulous, and I wouldn't trade him for the world....but it's nice to remember how much in love you are with your spouse. Sometimes you need to be just the two of you, so you can remember why you fell in love in the first place...which lead to that beautiful baby. 

Thank you, Lord, for our beautiful family. We are truly blessed.