Thanksgiving 2008

For Thanksgiving Luke and I made a quick (and I mean 48 hours quick!!) trip to North Carolina to Ashleigh & Chris' house. We rode up with Mom and Dad Wednesday night, got to NC around 8:00am Thursday morning, and flew home on Friday afternoon. Our holiday was VERY layed back with everyone hanging out in their PJ's all day. Here are some photos from our day...

The boys played 18 holes of WII golf.

And Rock Band... we like to call this group "The Ninja's" :)

Em blogging... we girls do this A LOT!!

Cadence Playing.

I know I am a little biased, but isn't this child precious!?!?!?

On our way to the airport on Friday we had to stop for an impomptu photo shoot in a field down the street from Ash & Chris' house. We were attempting to get a Christmas picture. Who knows... you might see one of these photos on a Christmas card in your mailbox soon :)

Luke and I have A LOT to be Thankful for!! God has blessed us with Incredible Friends and Families!! He has given us both Wonderful jobs that allow us to share the Love of Christ with others, and he has given us each other! I am Thankful, not only today but everyday, for my wonderful husband who loves me and loves Christ with all of his heart!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like CHRISTMAS!!

Luke and I have finished our Christmas decorating for 2008. We had to do it sporadically over the past week (due to how busy our week was), but we finally completed it all yesterday.

Last Sunday night when we got home from Liz and Shan's "Goodbye Lunch" we put the lights up on the house. Yes I know... we are "those" people who put lights up before Thanksgiving! Under normal circumstances we would NEVER have done this, but Luke is leaving for a few weeks so it was now or never.

Look how efficient my husband is... even our attic is organized!!

The work begins...

It's coming together!

Every light must be perfectly straight and pointing down.

It's finished!!

Luke and I flew home from NC on Friday night, so Saturday morning we went to buy our tree. We spent the entire day (until I went to work) decorating our tree and our house.

Our yearly dough ornament from Mom.

The Tree!!

Busted Face!!

This is definitely not the type of phone call that you want to recieve at 10:30pm...

Luke: April, I busted my face open.

April: What??

Luke: I busted my face open during the show.

April: On what?

Luke: My guitar.

As the picture shows it is technically his eyebrow that he busted open, not his face, but either way that is going to be a nasty black eye!! So much for my grand idea to try and take our Christmas picture while we are in North Carolina for Thanksgiving.

Busted eye or not he is one Super Cute Guy!!

*Please pray that this does not scar!! Luke definitely does not need another scare on this face.

Miracles Among Us

I must say I have been humbled over the past few days as we have experienced a miracle in our lives. Tuesday I went with Ashley to All Children's to have a CT scan done on Brady's little head. We recieved some wonderful news on Wednesday, and the email below from Ashley on Wednesday night! Once again, I will let Ashley explain it to you in her own words...

A heartfelt thank you to all of you praying for us! Our prayers were answered! Brady's CT scan showed that all of the bones of his skull are normal, and his brain is also normal. There are NO signs that he has any premature fusion of the skull bones! I looked at the first xrays myself today and you truly cannot see the lines that you are supposed to see... but on the 3D CT scan they are all visible. The CT gives a much clearer picture... my boss and the radiologist thought the xray films were poor quality. Whatever the case, it's a miracle to us! God's plan for this was not as complicated as we were preparing ourselves for, but it truly made us see how powerful He is, and how He can give us absolute peace when we are facing something that seems so awful. The bump on the back left side of Brady's skull is caused by some flattening of the skull that they saw on the back right side.. but that is just a cosmetic concern, and generally "shapes up" as he grows and spends less time laying down.
We give thanks to God for taking care of our precious baby, and ask that you send up one more prayer of thanks as well! Thanks again for the love, encouragement and prayers!

Praise Jesus!!! "Poor Quality" Xrays or not... we all know that this was a Miracle!!

Please pray...

Many of you know our wonderful friends Josh and Ashley. Josh is the bass player in Since October and he and Ashley are literally some of our best friends. They had a precious baby boy, Brady James, 5 weeks ago and he is Incredible!!!

They are dealing with a health scare right now with Brady and I am asking everyone to pray for them during this time. Our God is WAY bigger than any medical issues and this definitely did not catch Him by surprise. I have attached an email that Ashley sent out this afternoon... I figured she could explain it better than me.

I found a bony lump on the back of Brady's head a few weeks ago and since I work in pediatric neurology, I had my boss take a look at it. He wasn't too concerned at first, but said "let's watch it." On a social visit back to my office last week, he felt Brady's head again and noted that it was still there... He asked me to have it xrayed to rule out a condition called craniosynostosis, which is a premature fusion of the bones of an infant's skull. A baby's skull bones shouldn't fuse until he is 1-2 years old. The skull bones are not fully fused to allow the brain room to grow and therefore the skull to expand to hold the larger brain. Premature fusion of the bones can restrict the brain's growth and development, or cause an increase in the fluid pressure around the brain. Anyway, they could not visualize the suture lines (like how you are able to see the lines in a put-together puzzle) on his xray, so my doctor recommended a 3-dimensional CT scan of the skull to further assess it. This will show a much better view of the suture lines and if they are fused or not. We are having the CT scan done at All Children's Hospital in the next day or two. If the scan confirms that the skull bones are starting to (or have) fused... Brady will need surgery on his skull to separate the bones again. My doctor assures me that this is a "bone" problem and not a "brain" problem because Brady has no other signs of any genetic problems or deformities. Josh and I are terrified that our tiny baby may need surgery and ask that you all please pray for him. On a side note... I have been at this job for 9 months now, and it is much harder and more complex than working in general pediatrics.. there are days when I am completely stressed out and wonder why I changed jobs... I now see that God put me in this place so that I would have the knowledge to recognize that there was a problem. We are doing our best to remember that God is in control of the situation, no matter what it is... He made this child and He has a plan for him and for us. Please keep us and Brady in your prayers and we will keep you updated as we find out more information. Right now, Brady is doing just fine... He is growing and eating and starting to smile at me!-- The Johnson Family,Josh, Ashley, and Brady

I will keep everyone posted as we learn more. Please for now just pray, pray, pray for this family. Pray that God heals him and that surgery is not necessary and Pray for peace for Josh and Ashley (SO is still out on the road until Saturday, so they are seperated right now).

Bayside Family Picnic

I must start this post off by saying that the pictures below were stolen from Sandy's Facebook and Charles' Twitter because I have totally slacked in the Picture Taking Department lately.

This Sunday Bayside celebrated our 6th Anniversary with a Family Picnic at our Property on SR 64. I went to the picnic with the only family member I had in town... Amanda, were we had a blast hanging out with our "Bayside Family".

Alyssa (small group friend), Toni (bosses wife), & I

There were tons of inflatables... for children and adults to enjoy!!

My boss, Jason, enjoying the inflatables!! This picture is a pretty accurate picture of typical Jason behavior... imagine a day at our office!!

One Word

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD. IT’S HARDER THEN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? TABLE
2. Your significant other? MICHIGAN
3. Your hair? PONYTAIL
4. Your mother? AWESOME
5. Your father? GOLFER
6. Your favorite thing? FAMILY
7. Your dream last night? N/A
8. Your favorite drink? FANTA
9. Your dream/goal? STORE
10. You’re in? HOUSE
11. Your fear? STOLEN
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? KIDS
13. Where were you last night? GUERIN'S
14. What you’re not? MESSY
15. Muffins? BANANA
16. One of your wish list items? RUGS
17. Where you grew up ? WAUCHULA
18. The last thing you did? EAT
19. What are you wearing ? SHORTS
20. Your TV? ON
21. Your pet? PRECIOUS
22. Your computer? LAPTOP
23. Your life? GREAT
24. Missing someone? LUKE
25. Your car? DIRTY
26. Something you’re not wearing? SUNGLASSES
27. Favorite Store? TARGET
28. Your summer? HOT
29. Your favorite color? ORANGE
30. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY
31. Last time you cried? YESTERDAY

Now it’s 4 answers
32. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME? mom, ashleigh, elizabeth, emily
33. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: ice cream, pizza, hummus, cake
34. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW? nyc, michigan, bed, beach
35. FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND: anna, liz, ashleigh, ?

Guess who is FREEZING?????

Luke is!!!

Since October is in Michigan for the next 3 days and the temperature is in the 20's!!!! It is times like these that Luke remembers so clearly why we live in Sunny Florida :)

I Voted!

Luke and I voted absentee for this election, so we did not get the Stylish "I VOTED" sticker that apparently was the ticket to A LOT of free stuff today (Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Ben & Jerry's, & Krispy Kreme)!!

But Baby Brady did make his first trip to the Precinct today with his Mommy where he received an "I VOTED" sticker.

Ashley & I visited our friends Charles & Kristen tonight who welcomed Baby Charley into the world very early Monday morning. Baby Charley is a styling little guy in his black baby gown and "Rock Star" blanket!! He is such a cutie!! Here are the two newest Bayside Moms with their babies!!