"AUDI" THIS WORLD

best friends, take 2

2011-03-07T09:11:00.005-06:00

A few posts back I posted an entry entitled, "for Bre," and posted a photo of me with my best friends (minus Nikki). Well, here's one with all of my best friends!

Last night Louisiana came to Texas - homemade crawfish etoufee, red beans and rice, and shirmp fettucine alfredo, topped with a King Cake and Mardi Gras decor. The occasion?

My 32nd birthday!

I think I say it often (well "often" for how little I actually blog these days), but... the ladies you see here in this picture are the cream of the crop. I mean, really. They are regularly encouraging me, pointing me to Jesus, asking me hard questions, walking with me as I endeavor to walk in freedom rather than live under the bondage of religiosity and legalism. They laugh with me. Cry with me. Do silly things with me. Make me a better wife. Make me a better mommy. Make me a better friend. Make me a better follower of Jesus. Which in turn hopefully makes me a better daughter and sister and woman in general.

My entire life the Lord has blessed me with absolutely amazing friends at different seasons of my life. And these are the ladies who are my bestest of friends at this season of life - and, I'm so blessed. So blessed. Lindsey, Bre, Nikki, Michelle, Elizabeth, and Natalie... it is an absolute privilege to be in community and in relationship with such sweet, caring, thoughtful and absolutely wonderful friends. I am a rich woman because of you. Thank you!!

boys will be boys.

2011-03-07T08:56:00.003-06:00

"You might be older and bigger than me, Elliot, but...I got you!!"

"Oh yeah? Well, take this, my best friend Josiah!"

"Ah....you boys! What are we going to do with you?"

cleaning up the backyard.

2011-03-07T08:43:00.002-06:00

So, we neglected to finish raking leaves in the backyard in the fall. But...spring is coming! It's almost here! And, the boys and I will be in the backyard a lot this spring and summer I'm sure. They "helped" me rake leaves, but mostly enjoyed jumping in the big pile of leaves that I raked. I love making memories with my boys!!

highlights from Colorado

2011-03-07T08:17:00.004-06:00

My dad turned 59 this year. On his list of things he'd like to do that he's never done was snow skiing. But as of a couple of weeks ago, it's no longer on his list of things he's never done. He did it!! We did it! We took him skiing!!

We enjoyed a long weekend in Winter Park, CO with my parents, and my sister and her family - our first big family vacation since Daniel and I have been married. And, my dad was AWESOME! We are so proud of him - one day of ski school and two days on the slopes. He was fantastic!! And my mom? She was awesome too! She didn't ski, but she was the babysitter for all 5 of her grandkids (did I mention their ages range from 15 months to 4 years old?) Yes, she's a trooper!!

The last time Daniel and I had been skiing was 5 years ago when we were dating. I have to admit, I was surprised that it came back so easily. I guess it's like riding a bike - once you get the hang of it, it sticks. I mean, when is the last time I rode a bike? But, I'm certain if I jumped on one today, I'd have no problem. Skiing was the same way. Granted, I chose to stay on greens and green/blues. I'd rather enjoy my skiing than be stressed out that I may fall because I'm going too fast or going down too steep of a slope.

Daniel skiied with me some and skiied some with my brother-in-law and sister so he could do some more advanced runs. Here he is skiing "Ski Papa," a bumpy path through the woods.

The boys enjoyed the trip. And we made yet another memory as a family! Thank You, Lord, for being our amazing God. Seeing Your beauty in the snow is yet another reason we give You praise! Really, You are the Master artist. Your creation cries out and sings of Your beauty!

post entry by Daniel.

2011-02-18T06:48:00.006-06:00

I love the beauty of my husband's writing. The Lord was really stirring things in him recently as he was reading a passage in Joshua. So, Daniel put pen to paper and wrote out his thoughts. Enjoy the read and be challenged, inspired.

Are you willing to go to war with your brothers?

So the other day, I was reading something in Joshua (chap 22) I had never read before. Backdrop: the Israelites had just entered the Promised Land and were wiping out all the enemies around them. Joshua was divvying up the land among the tribes, and the tribes were starting to occupy their new land, build homes, familiarize themselves with their new surroundings, find the nearest Starbucks, etc.

Well, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh decided to build an imposing altar at Geliloth. As it turns out, they were building this altar as a memorial to show that they belong to the Lord, that they worship the God of Israel in the Temple, that they have an inheritance.

However, the rest of the Israel had heard that they were going to build an altar, and it made everyone nervous. They were afraid that they were building this altar so they could make their own sacrifices, and that they could be turned aside from the LORD by pagan practices. They were ready to go to war against them. Selah. They were ready to go to war with their brothers.

They sent a delegation led by Phinehas the priest to speak with them before they sent an army to bust ‘em all up. They said essentially, “how could you do this? What are you trying to do, get us all killed? If you sin, it affects us all. Don’t you remember when Achan disobeyed God and kept some of the gold for himself? We were all affected by his sin. That’s why we were torn apart by Ai. Why are you trying to destroy all of us? Give us a good answer or you’ve got a war on your hands, brothers.”

The tribes explained their reasoning, war was averted, and all was well. But I was struck by the whole episode. I started to ask myself if I’m willing to go to war with my brothers. We in the Western church live such independent lives that we don’t really think that one person’s sin affects the whole body. We think, “Geez, that guy has got some really wrong views about God. He sees Him as an unloving task master who is always disappointed, angry, and moody. That’s too bad. Hope he gets over that.” We don’t really see that our brother’s wrong view affects the Church. We see someone in our small group who has deep-rooted issues with needing to control everything, or a guy addicted to pornography, or a woman who is negative and biting and sarcastic in everything she says, and we pretty much see that as “their problem” that they need to work on. It’s not just their problem! It’s my problem because we’re part of one Body!

Do I believe that? And am I willing to “go to war” with my brother because of this? Go to war gently, in New Covenant love, but go to war. John Donne said it well:

“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee.”

If you see your brothers or sisters in sin, let’s go to loving, compassionate, restorative war with them.

for Bre.

2011-01-26T12:55:00.002-06:00

So, my friend Bre asked me to update my blog. And, though this isn't an "update" per say, it is a very fun picture of my very best friends (minus Nikki). I love doing life with these ladies and raising our boys with their boys. And, the preggo one next to me, Michelle, is having her little boy any day now! Little Isaiah, come out when you're ready! We're ready to meet you!!

Here's to you, Bre! I love you and love that you asked me to do this so I'd at least do something with my blog!!!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-31T13:40:00.007-05:00

So, we went to a pumpkin patch yesterday morning. My purpose in going to the pumpkin patch was to come home with some great photos of the boys. I'm thinking my expectations are kinda high. I mean, they are almost one and almost two, so coming home with anything decent can be quite the challenge, right? Some of the shots we took in an attempt to get a good photo were priceless....the one of Daniel jumping in the photo on the left and the pumpkin in the forefront of the picture is our favorite! We put a heavy pumpkin in between the boys in an attempt to give them something to be distracted by and something that they couldn't push over. But....I guess we underestimated their strength. ;-) Here it is, along with some of the ones that turned out pretty cute!

No worries, Josiah DID actually get to get away from the photo opps and ran around the pumpkins and sat on the bails of hay. Andrew crawled around and found some hay to chew on himself. Daniel chased Josiah around. We all had a good time! YAY FOR FALL!!

other happenings in the past few months....

2010-05-29T20:47:00.023-05:00

Josiah has a best friend. And his name is Elliot.

Elliot and Josiah playing in the back of Elliot's Daddy's truck...

Elliot is 5 1/2 months older than Josiah. They became best friends this past fall. They started hanging out when I went back to work. Elliot and his Mommy, Lindsey, came to keep Josiah. And, their friendship was born. Elliot got a new little brother just one day before Josiah got his new little brother. And, their friendship
became even stronger. Now they talk about the woes and triumphs and joys of being the big brother - and boy, do they have a lot to talk about!

Josiah and Elliot at Elliot's 2nd birthday party - riding horses and catching up on the latest big brother news.

Andrew began propping himself up, getting ready to be a big boy and sit up!

Daniel celebrated birthday #33 with friends at Istanbul Grill in Arlington.

Josiah has a couple of lady friends.

I went back to work at the end of March and a friend of mine kept

the boys for us. She and her daughter came over 2 mornings a week to play with

the boys. Josiah and Naomi fell in love!

Grace is another one of Josiah's friends. We tried to get together with Grace and her mommy about once a month. This picture is at Kindermusik. Grace invited Josiah to be her guest at Kindermusik one morning - he had a blast!

Other fun around our house.

Watching Praise Baby with all of his stuffed animals, the babies hanging out with each other learning how to be brothers, taking Josiah on a date with us by himself to Putt-Putt, playing dress-up with cowboy gear, having a first lick of an ice cream cone, sliding down a BIG slide at our church's carnival (so proud of him!)

the boys.

2010-05-28T22:17:00.007-05:00

Well, it's almost June and Andrew is almost 6 months old. I last posted over 2 1/2 months ago. You probably guessed what happened to me... yes! Life has gotten busier with 2 boys and well, lots of things have taken priority over blogging. Though, I do miss it.

Since I haven't blogged in so long and I just got overwhelmed looking at all the pictures I've taken since my last post, I decided I'd just post a series of pics of the boys. Josiah has wanted to hold Andrew from day 1. And now, over 170 days into Andrew's life, Josiah is still wanting to hold him. And, he is sometimes trying to pick him up - THIS is scary! He also tries to sit on Andrew, hug him, pull him out of my lap, kiss him, tickle him, "zerbert" his belly.... he's very interactive with his little brother!

December 4, 2009 - birth day with big brother Josiah, almost 13 months

December 11, 2009 - one week and 13 months

January 4, 2010 - one month and 14 months

January 14, 2010 - 1 month, 10 days and 14 months

January 31 - almost 2 months and almost 15 months

February 10 - 2 months plus a few days

February 14 - almost 2 1/2 months and almost 15 1/2 months

February 27 - 2 1/2 months and 15 1/2 months

February 28 - 2 1/2 months and 15 1/2 months

March 6 - 3 months and 16 months

March 30 - almost 3 months and 16 1/2 months

April 4 - 4 months and almost 17 months

April 20 - 4 1/2 months and 17 1/2 months

May 15 - almost 5 1/2 months and 18 months

life

2010-02-24T09:56:00.005-06:00

Life. There is joy, there is sorrow. There is excitement, there is disappointment. But in all circumstances we can rest assured that God is not surprised by anything that happens. And, when the storms come, He will see us through!

Andrew was born with a hole in his heart. He also has a condition called pulmonary stenosis (a valve in his heart doesn't fully open). January 20th we went to our 2nd pediatric cardiologist visit to find out that one of the two issues had resolved on its own - yes, the hole in Andrew's heart had already closed in just 6 short weeks of life. I think this is sooner than most if I'm not mistaken. And here's our little man...

That same week Daniel's dad was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He'd been having pain in his chest for about a year - the doctor thought it was a pulled muscle. Finally he was encouraged to get a chest x-ray. The x-ray showed fluid on his lungs, and everything went from there. The week following his diagnosis the Audis had planned a trip to see us. Despite the diagnosis, they came. And, we were so glad to have them here! What a special visit it was.

We got to process some of the diagnosis with them, we played games, shared meals, watched Josiah play, read books with Josiah, played in the snow, laughed, prayed, worshiped together. This was the first time Josiah had seen Daniel's parents since July. They are "Grandma" and "Grandpa" to their other 8 grandchildren. To Josiah, they are "Guh" and "Pa-pa". Eventually he'll join the others with the longer names, but for now, I think his names for them are kinda cute!

Here are 3 generations of Audis: Norman, Daniel, Josiah & Andrew Audi.

Yesterday...

2010-02-10T12:42:00.004-06:00

Yesterday. Yesterday Josiah had his 2nd big mis-hap. The first was a couple of weeks before Christmas. He tripped in the driveway and ended up with this scrape on his nose. The scab finally went away a couple of days after Christmas.

Yesterday, like I said, was his second big mis-hap. And it was a double mis-hap.

It was about 5:30. Daniel's parents are in town and they were on their way to our house for dinner. Daniel had Andrew. I was in the kitchen catching up with Nikki on the phone while preparing dinner. Josiah was in the computer room next to the kitchen when suddenly I heard screaming and saw blood. I hung up quickly with Nikki to discover he had only busted his bottom lip, but he was pretty upset about it and the blood covered his bottom teeth and was pouring out of his mouth - it seemed worse than it really was. We got him settled down and got the blood cleaned up. Daniel's parents arrived and dinner was almost ready when suddenly, I heard screaming again. This time from the back of the house. Daniel runs in the room holding Josiah and says, "It's bad." I looked and a big knot was forming between Josiah's eyes and the area was already blue. "ICE!" I said to Daniel's mother. Josiah was screaming. I was trying to console him while not trying to panic, all the while thinking, "Oh no, his little head must be throbbing. This doesn't look good. How am I gonna get him to be still enough to let me put ice between his eyes?" We sat in front of the TV and put our PRAISE BABY DVD on (thanks, Molly, for a fabulous gift!) Josiah sat fairly still and calmed down quickly, though putting the ice on his bump was still a challenge. It was 6:25 when we finally sat down to dinner...

(see the black and blue between the eyes?)

Josiah went to bed just fine. A little banged up, but fine. He woke up this morning chitter -cattering away. Guess the black and blue between his eyes and the knot on his head and the fat lip are really only affecting me, he's quite resilient!

(see the knot between his eyes?)

Welcome to Mommyhood of 2 boys, right!?!?!? Guess I should get used to the bumps and bruises!!

On this day...

2010-01-08T09:28:00.007-06:00

On this day 14 months ago....

Josiah was born! And our family of 2 became a family of 3...

And less than 13 months later, on this day 5 weeks ago...

Andrew was born...

And our family of 3 became a family of 4!

And, today...

the boys are loving life together!! (Well, you can't tell that Andrew is loving it in this picture, but trust me, he is!) ;-) We have been so blessed that Josiah is so in love with his new brother. He wakes up in the mornings either asking for his drum set next to his bed or saying, "baby, baby". And, when Andrew is crying, he has this sweet concerned look on his face and says, "baby, baby". (He also sometimes mimics the cry, which is terribly annoying, but we're working on that!) When I tell Josiah that the baby is sleeping, he says, "shh, shh" and puts his pointer finger up to his mouth. He really is adapting so well and learning so much! A few times a day now he walks up to me while I'm holding Andrew and pats his tummy, which I've learned means, "Mommy, will you put Andrew in my lap?" Of course, he's only interested for 1 second, maybe 2. Then, he shoves him off of his lap and is on to bigger and better things!

We've been so blessed these past 14 months! Thank You, Jesus, for entrusting us with these little lives! May we raise them in such a way that their lives honor You!

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T11:51:00.005-06:00

We weren't so sure about our New Year's Eve plans until the last minute, but....Josh & Elizabeth and Caleb & Michelle moved their party from J&E's house to our house around 9:00 last night. We played Wii until 2:30 this morning, stopping only for a smooch with our spouses at the midnight hour. Then, we were back to our Wii playing. This is our 4th year to play games into the New Year with J&E and C&M. Thanks, guys, for a fun night bringing in the New Year. And, for wanting to celebrate with us despite the fact that we now have 2 wee ones at home!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, blogging world! ....can you make out our human 2-0-1-0???

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-22T21:48:00.001-06:00

Friends...

2009-12-21T21:01:00.004-06:00

Andrew enjoyed his first Christmas party with our small group...minus the 2 Brendons. You've seen pictures of most of these folks before, but this semester, Caleb & Bre Beacham joined our small group and we've really enjoyed getting to know them. They have tender hearts for the Lord and Bre is becoming such a dear friend. I'm loving getting to know you, Bre!

Caleb & Bre Beacham, Elizabeth & Josh Audi, Caleb & Michelle Dulock
Andrew, Daniel, me, Josiah, and Nikki, Tessa, Craig & Jesse Comolli

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Announcing...

2009-12-20T13:32:00.002-06:00

The birth of our son.

Andrew David Audi

Born on December 4, 2009

7 lbs. 7.8 oz.

19 1/2" long

As we talked about what we would name our 2nd son, we began throwing out names that we liked – oddly enough, not many of them were names we had seriously considered for Josiah. The name Andrew was one we both really liked. In the book of John, John records that Andrew was regularly bringing people to Jesus. Andrew was one of the first followers of Jesus and when he followed, he went to find his brother, Simon Peter, and brought him to Jesus. In John’s account of the loaves and fishes, Andrew is the one who finds the little boy with the loaves and fishes and brings the boy to Jesus. Our prayer is that our Andrew would be like the disciple – that he would bring people to Jesus. Another reason we liked the name was because of its meaning. “Andrew” means “manly” or “warrior.” Our pastor began a series a few months ago on the end times. As we’ve talked about what those days will be like and as we anticipate that living as a true disciple of Christ in this world will increasingly become more and more challenging, we really felt the Lord confirming in our spirits that our little Andrew will be a “warrior” for the Kingdom of God in the coming years. Finally, “Drew” is a family name in Kim’s mom’s side of the family, and this was an added special bonus.

As for his middle name, David. Well, we all know that David was called a man after God’s own heart. We pray that our son would be called a “man after God’s own heart.” That he would fulfill the meaning of his name, “Beloved.”

So, we pray over our son that he would be a perfect combination of his two given names – “warrior” and “beloved.” That he would be tough, yet tender.

Family Pics

2009-12-20T09:23:00.007-06:00

Our good friend, Izehi, took some pictures of the 3 of us just before the arrival of our little Andrew. We had a great time with her and got some fun shots!

dedication

2009-11-29T11:15:00.005-06:00

Josiah's first birthday fell on a Sunday this year and we decided to dedicate him at our church on his first birthday.

Our church doesn't have a group dedication, we just let them know that we'd like to dedicate our child, and they make a time for it during the service. Mom & Dad came in town for his dedication and one of Daniel's old roommates, Chris, came just for the dedication as well.

It was a really sweet time. Josiah of course performed for the crowd, smiling and clapping when they clapped, etc. We do have quite the social little man. Don Beacham was the pastor in charge of that part of the service, and if you remember, Don is the pastor who we trekked the mountains of Nepal with, so it was special to us that he was the one to be a part of the dedication. After all, Josiah hung out with him for 3 weeks before he was even born! ;-)

Daniel spoke sweet words over Josiah and shared about the confirmations we had received through other people guessing his name, through a dream our sister-in-law had about his name, and well, the bright red confirmation of his hair. You probably also recall that one meaning of "Josiah" is "fire of the Lord" and well, he came out with bright firey red hair! Daniel finished our time of dedication reading the passage out of 2 Kings about the King Josiah who became king at a mere 8 years of age. He was regarded as a righteous king and the Bible says about him that there was no one like him who came before or after him. Then we prayed over Josiah, dedicating him before our friends and family, to raise him as best we can in the righteous fear of the Lord. We are asking the Lord that our Josiah would be like the King Josiah - that he would walk righteously before the Lord and that there would be none like him before or after him!

Happy Birthday to....JOSIAH

2009-11-07T06:54:00.007-06:00

Josiah will officially be one year old tomorrow! It's so crazy to think that on this day last year our lives were so different - our little man hadn't yet arrived. It would still be a day and a half before he would enter this world. And now, 364 days later, our lives are fuller and busier and crazier! But, a good full, a good busy, a good crazy! We had no clue just how much our world would turn upside down with his arrival. No preparation, no advice can really do justice to clue a new mommy and daddy in to what life is like with a baby. And despite the sleepless nights and the crying and all of the wondering if we're doing things "right," we couldn't be prouder and more thrilled! Josiah is a gift to us.

Somehow the Lord chooses to entrust us with a living, breathing creature. And somehow, by His grace, we learn to be parents. And Jesus teaches us more about Himself and more about ourselves as we learn how to parent Josiah. There have been many days and nights that the Lord has reminded me that I am a lot like Josiah in the way that I relate to the Lord. Those moments are often humbling, yet tender. And, it's just like the character of the Lord to allow me to learn so many things about Him through the ins and outs of daily life.

We celebrated Josiah's birthday a week early with family in Ruston. The theme? MONKEYS, of cousre! We had a monkey smash cake for him, and I made monkey-faced cupcakes for his guests, and we had banana splits. It was really fun!

And, he loved being the center of attention. If you've seen him in pictures, you know that he has a smile that lights up a room, but one thing you couldn't know just by the pictures is what a social butterfly our little man is! And his party was quite the social event - 8 little cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles and big cousins filled the house.

He wasn't too sure what to do with his smash cake. He was mostly mezmorized by the flame of the candle. And the fondit icing was just too thick for him to figure out. He just poked his finger in the nose of the monkey for the longest time. I dug into the cake to give him a taste or two. He liked it, but could take it or leave it.

Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us! Josiah loves all of his new toys and his Mommy loves all of his new fashionable outfits! A special thanks to Josh & Elizabeth for driving from Arlington to Ruston to be at the party, and to Uncle Sonny, Aunt Evelyn, and Donna for driving from Houston.

4 years ago...

2009-10-13T18:16:00.002-05:00

Four years ago today I was teaching an ESL class of Somalis in Arlington on Collins Street. This guy who I worked with at Catholic Charities had been volunteering to help me in my ESL classes some after he had worked a full day. I was oblivious to the fact that volunteering in an ESL class after having already worked 8 hours that day with refugees was probably a sign that this guy had some interest in me. Until....he started emaling me pretty regularly - like, every morning before work and sometimes in the evening, responding to whatever I had replied to him, or inviting me to play tennis with him, or inviting me to hang out at the house where he lived with 7-8 other guys who were a part of a discipleship program at his church. And then, he invited me to meet him at Starbucks on Hulen in Fort Worth. Originally, we were supposed to meet later that weekend because his brother was moving to Arlington that particular October 13th. However, his brother was gonna be late getting in, so he asked if I wanted to bump up the coffee date a couple of days. YES! I did! I was fascinated by this guy. I hadn't really figured him out to this point (and even 4 years later, I'm not sure that I have either!) but I was interested in learning more about him.

That October evening he invited me to dive deep into the mystery of knowing him. He asked me to be his girlfriend! And, I said yes...and the rest was history!

3 months and 3 weeks later, he asked me to be his wife...

Almost 5 months later, we stood at the altar and promised our lives to each other...

Now, 4 years later, we have an 11 month old and I'm 7 months pregnant with our 2nd child, another son.

Tonight we returned to that same Starbucks and enjoyed another coffee together. Daniel worte me a note 4 years ago asking me to be his girlfriend. Tonight I got a note again, an on it were his thoughts of the past 4 years, his wonder at the Lord's works in us these past four years.

How could we have ever known 4 years ago all that would be in store for us at this point? We couldn't. But, the Lord has filled our lives, our marriage, with many, many blessings. And, today we celebrate that great day when He began this story - the story of the Audis!

a visit to the pumpkin patch

2009-10-10T21:07:00.006-05:00

The weather here has been amazingly cool and delightful the past couple of days. Today it averaged about 55 degrees throughout the day. We took advantage of the nice weather and went to a pumpkin patch that is just down the street from us. We discoverd it about a week or so ago and wanted to go last weekend, but the rain never let up. Today, though, was perfect! Here are a few of my favorites from today....

oh so close

2009-10-03T21:22:00.006-05:00

Josiah wants so badly to walk. He started out by cruising - pulling up on furniture (usually the coffee table) and taking a couple of side steps. That progressed into cruising around and around the coffee table. And then, around and around his exersaucer his music table. Then he began pulling up and side-stepping using just about anything - the wall, any furniture, our legs.... He used to need to hold on to our hands with both of his hands in order to have the balance he needed to walk. Now, he's completely content and balance with just holding on with one hand. I attribute this to recent practice with a hand-me-down push toy from his 2 1/2 year old friend, Caroline. Now, Caroline being a girl means that her toys sometimes have pink on them. And, yes, this push toy has a pink and another pinkish wheel. But, since Josiah doesn't care and we don't care for now, we're just content to get such a great toy from a friend! And, Josiah LOVES it! He pushes it back and forth in our living room until he runs into something. And, often he's able to figure out how to maneuver the push toy in order to get started again. So smart!

Of cousre, we didn't get this next thing I'm reporting on video - who does actually get a baby's FIRST anything on video - would anyone be so lucky??? Well, Josiah took his first step this past Thursday! He's been transferring lately from holding onto one object and grabbing another one, but this past Thursday, he clearly let go of the push toy, took one step, and grabbed onto his baby rocking chair. Daniel had just gotten home from work and we were both watching him, so....Daniel says this DEFINITELY counts as Josiah's first step! He' s such a proud Daddy and was so glad to get to be here for a "first."

our little noise maker

2009-10-03T20:16:00.003-05:00

Josiah has proven himself to be quite the noise maker - I know, I know....WHERE in the WORLD would he get that from? ;-)

Anything that he can shake or beat together or bang on a table, he discovers and with a huge grin on his face and excitement in his expression he makes lots and lots of noise!! ....that's our boy!!

what happened to us - part III

2009-09-24T09:38:00.002-05:00

Josiah pretty much has the freedom to crawl about our house and play with whatever is in his reach - though there are some things we left out to try to help him learn boundaries. One thing that we can't put away, though, is toilet paper. And well, once he discovered it, he decided he loved it! So, sometimes when he's been playing and all of a sudden he is missing and it's quiet, we know where to look! When he hears the pitter patter of our feet, he gets excited and knows he's being found out. This is what we generally find has happened in our absence...

a long hiatus

2009-09-23T16:52:00.009-05:00

Since I last wrote...

WE HAD A BABY SHOWER FOR ASHLEY

Ash was my roommate before Daniel and I became roommates - Ashley and I both traded each other for a husband! ;-) Ashley and Austin are expecting their first, a girl, in mid-October. The newest Perry's name is Charlotte and she's gonna be here before we know it!

JOSIAH LEARNED NEW TRICKS & GOT MORE TEETH

"I can pull up on furniture and cruise around!"

"I got cuter!" - (does that count for a trick?)

"I can drink from a sippy cup!"

"I'm getting bigger! And I have 7 teeth at 9 1/2 months old!"

WE HAD A 6 HOUR TRIP TO RUSTON

We went to Ruston for the long Labor Day weekend. Normally Ruston is only a 4 hour trip, but...not this time. Nope, not when your child explodes OUT OF HIS DIAPER not once, but TWICE, on the trip home. The first time was incredibly stressful. Daniel and I all but cussed each other out in the midst of it. Did I mention it was stressful?? I had to ask the lady at the convenient store for a hose to hose Josiah down - that's how bad the explosion was. Not to mention that his car seat was dirty and we had to clean it up. Yuck!! The second time, though, we pretty much just laughed and got Josiah cleaned up and rested a bit at the big Texas truck stop near Tyler.

We finally made it to Ruston and all crashed for the night - hoping for a better day in the morning! And, it was. Josiah loves playing with his cousins. And, they play so well together! Mornings at Papa and Gran-Gran's house are super special with all of us (minus Brian and Daniel) crawled up in my mom and dad's bed. The kids laugh with one another and play as they are waking up and we just enjoy family time. But, like I said, it's a little much for the sons-in-law to participate. They'll sometimes come in and stand around the bed, though. Or, just take the opportunity to sleep in a little! It's always nice to have some extra hands around to play with the babies!

Saturday morning in Papa's chair...

Saturday night at Mamaw & Papaw's - Josiah was learning the ways of a good southern red neck - deer in the back of a pick up truck!

Sunday afternoon playing with Annie & Allie (my cousin's girls)

I GREW

Here I am at 25 weeks...

MOM & DAD CAME TO ARLINGTON

We gave Dad tickets to a Rangers game for Father's Day. He and Mom came a couple of weekends ago during the rainiest week we've had in Texas in FOREVER! But, the weather was dry for the Saturday night game (until the 9th inning when they stopped the game for rain - who stops a game for rain at the top of the 9th inning? It was almost over!) Josh & Elizabeth kept Josiah so we could have a night out with my parents - it was so nice!

FOOTBALL SEASON STARTED
Josiah is ready for football season with this great Redskins jersey his aunt and uncle gave him last Christmas!

they tied the knot

2009-08-14T19:45:00.004-05:00

We made a weekend road trip to Oklahoma City to be a part of Andy & Laura's wedding last month.

We stayed with good friends Ryan, Adriane, and Graham Smith.

Ryan and Daniel were buddies when Daniel lived in Turkey and Daniel met Andy through Ryan when he moved down the DFW area. Andy and Daniel were roommates when Daniel first moved here. Anyhow, Josiah became good buddies with Graham for the weekend. And, Graham was so sweet to share all of his toys with Josiah. They started a band...

And, Graham even taught Josiah how to work puzzles!

Daniel was a groomsman, and may I add, he was the most handsome of all of the groomsman. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful - just so tender and intimate. The LORD's presence was definitely thick in that room! I thought I'd take Josiah home right after the ceremony, but we decided to get some grub at the reception, and Josiah had his latest night ever! He stayed up until 10 at the wedding and pooped out at our friends' house at 10:30 after his bottle. He was quite the trooper. It helped that at the reception there was loud music, lots of people, and dancing. But the biggest help of all was the strobe light. He liked following the lights on the floor!

We always have such a fun time when we're in Oklahoma City. When the LORD closed the door on our moving to Turkey in the summer of 2007, we had considered moving to Oklahoma City to build community with Andy, Ryan, and Adriane. But, the LORD led us to stay in Fort Worth and at Grace. We sure do love our visits to OKC and although there is often a pretty long span of time between visits, once we're there, it's like we've seen them all year long. Isn't God good the way He blesses friendships and causes His children to encourage one another, challenge one another, laugh with one another and cry with one another? We love it that Andy & Laura and Ryan & Adriane are those kind of friends!

a tribute to my Granny...

2009-08-08T20:01:00.004-05:00

My Granny went to be with Jesus 2 weeks ago tomorrow, in the wee hours of the morning. She was 90 years old. Some words to describe my Granny would be: faithful, fiesty, innovative, hard-working, perservering, creative, diligent, loving - lover of family, birds, books, and last but not least, Coca-Cola.

Granny lived through the depression, married, had 3 children, had a house catch on fire and another burn to the ground, outlived her husband by 45 years and never remarried, outlived her son by 29 years and one of her daughters by 6 years, all of which had tragic deaths. But you know what? I never once heard my Granny say one negative thing about all of the hardships she endured. And, through it all, she trusted Jesus. Talk about faith? What a sweet testimony she left behind of being faithful to Jesus through thick and thin. Yep, that was my Granny.

She wrote in a couple of notepads throughout the day. When we were in Ruston a couple of weeks ago, I found one that had been beside her bed and another that was at her breakfast table. Here's an excerpt from a couple of her journal entries:

"Friday, July 24, 2009, 12:25 p.m. - So here I am in bed - I can see beautiful trees - and pink flowers high on limbs in the sky. Trees planted long ago - to edge my vegetable garden space. There's the 'hole' in the tree limbs through wchi I send many prayers - and the Good Lord said yes to most of them and helped me through the others and I've often said 'thank you' for a wonderful family - now and for all my life. This south west room has had a lot of 'living' here. As I lie here I'll read some books - Bud my sister sends so many of them - nine the latest yesterday - there are many cross word puzzles from the Ruston Daily Leader and others - a few finished. My Bible is near by to read, with many notes from Annie. I smile many times when I see a 2 1/2" picture of Orphan Annie, and a comic picture from children's books from long ago when I read to the children from their books. - a little nap."

"Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 11:30 - Kim caled - we will have a new little boy at Christmas"

Granny's last playtime with Josiah

I had called Granny just 4 days before she passed away. I called her on the Wednesday we found out we were having another boy. So sweet to see that phone call recorded in her notebook. That was the last time I talked to Granny. However, the last time I had seen her before she died was in early June. It, too, was a sweet 'last' with Granny. Two of my best friends from high school and their kids joined us, along with Jenny and her kids, to play in my Granny's backyard. The yard where we played as children - there's a treehouse, trampoline, swings, and beautiful flowers in Granny's yard. Granny sat on her back patio in her wheelchair in the heat to watch all of us. I know she very much enjoyed seeing the kids laugh and play and I'm sure she thought about us, her grandchildren, all grown up with families of our own now. We had breakfast with Granny the following morning and returned to Arlington that afternoon. I sure didn't know then that I would never see my Granny again here on earth.

Granny and me the afternoon my friends came out to her house.

I am so grateful for these last memories with my Granny.

It is so comforting to know that Granny is now with Jesus. After 6 different hip replacements and a recent broken femur, I'm sure she's definitely enjoying her new body! Though her old body is no longer here on this earth, I am so grateful that I can be assured to see her one day - me, in my new body and she, in hers!

Today's Sonogram...

2009-07-22T21:58:00.005-05:00

We had the sono today and all looks great - heard the heartbeat, saw the little spinal cord and head and legs and arms and saw that the baby is...

A LITTLE BOY!!

Josiah is gonna have a baby brother!!!

Gran Gran, Papa, & Mamaw come for a visit

2009-07-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

My Mamaw wanted to come see our house, so Mom & Dad brought her here this past Saturday to see the house and to see Josiah! It was so sweet of them to make the 4 hour drive here, only to stay 3-4 hours in the afternoon. We had lunch and visited at the house a bit, and then they got back in the car for their return to Ruston. I was so glad they came. We got some good shots with Josiah...

turning thirty

2009-07-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

These are the gals I hang out with most. We celebrated Nikki's 30th birthday this past Friday at Bistro Louise, a posh little restaurant in Fort Worth. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NIKKI!

South Carolina

2009-07-22T20:09:00.001-05:00

Twenty-two Audis were in South Carolina

a couple of weekends ago....

We all met at the Eastons' and had such a nice, relaxing, long weekend....even went to the lake one afternoon! Josiah was definitely a hit with his cousins. He was like a magnet! They were so sweet to entertain him and play with him. And, Daniel and I enjoyed a lot of adult time with his parents and siblings.

cousin magnet

cutie at the lake

dinner on the patio

reading with Aunt Rachel

Josiah wants to tell you something....

2009-06-15T16:50:00.001-05:00

The baby is due at Christmas. We'll know if Josiah will have a little brother or a little sister in 5 weeks!!

Summer is Here!

2009-06-08T09:22:00.005-05:00

The heat is just now starting in Texas this week - or so the weather forecasters say. But, the past few weeks have been so incredibly pleasant. Josiah has really enjoyed being outside. And, we've enjoyed it too. Some evenings we all hang out on the patio in the backyard and push Josiah on his new swing. He loves it - especially when we get right up in his face as he's approaching us. He laughs the sweetest laugh from his gut! Wish you could hear it, but maybe you can imagine it from the smile on his face.

We've also taken some outings with him in the past couple of weeks. He's been to his first and second park, and he also had his first dip in the pool as well. He liked it a lot - and I figured he would since he's such an avid fan of his bathtime. It's so nice that he's at an age where both he and we can enjoy being out and about.

Our first park date was with the Bufkins. Meredith, Jaxon, Sawyer, Josiah, and I enjoyed the park in Mansfield. Josiah slid down the slide for the first time. And, he swang in this big boy swing for the first time. He loved both of his new experiences!

Here we are at his first dip in the pool. He liked it!! I wonder if he was thinking, "What a big bathtub this is?!?!!!"

Our second park trip was with Daniel and a family from our church, the Marvines. We went to Bicentennial Park in Pantego and took a dip in the fountain (no worries, it's apparently okay to do that - at least, the Mommy we met there told us that she's done it before when lots of other kids were in the fountain!) We grilled hot dogs with the Marvines and Josiah played on a pallet. The other 2 boys are 1 1/2 and 3 so Josiah enjoyed watching them kick balls and run around!

Audis' visit

2009-06-07T09:52:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago Daniel's folks came for a visit. We had so much fun with them. And, as you can imagine, they had so much fun with Josiah! They live in Maryland and this was only their second time to get to see him. The last time they saw him was 5 months ago at Christmas. How he has certainly changed since then!

"Hey Grandma! Look! You have teeth like me!!"

"And, Grandpa, you sure know how to make me laugh!"

The Audis of Arlington clan with Mom & Dad Audi

"Swine Flu Break" sends us to Ruston

2009-06-06T10:06:00.001-05:00

The FWISD let school out for a week because of the Swine Flu epidemic. And, we took the opportunity to visit my family in Ruston. It was a nice, unexpected surprise! And, the best part...Daniel doesn't have to make up the week that he was off! So, thank you FWISD for an extra week vacation!!

Josiah helped Papa grill shish kabobs for dinner one night.

And he played "booo-heady, boo-heady" with Papaw.

And he got up close and personal with a singing & moving deer at my grandparents' house.

And he got to get behind the wheel of the car with his Daddy on my family's private land - no worries, it's legal to be illegal on your own private property! ;-)

Turning 32!

2009-05-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

Daniel turned 32 on May 11. We celebrated on his big day at our house with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a visit to his school to bring him lunch, and dinner at a sushi restaurant. THAT was a labor of love on my part. Not a fan of sushi, but, I did try some. It wasn't terrible, but, I won't say I'd ever really choose it myself.

sushi dinner

birthday kisses for Daddy

We celebrated his birthday AGAIN with a steak dinner at our house this past weekend. Daniel grilled steaks and I baked potatoes, made salad, baked a German chocolate cake, and served rocky road and vanilla ice cream. It was such a nice evening with our small group. (Michelle, we missed you and hope you are feeling better now! And, Brendon, bummer that you couldn't fly in from Uganda for the party, but we understand. ;-) We're looking forward to seeing you in just a few weeks!!)

the guys

the gals

new milestone: SITTING UP

2009-05-18T09:12:00.002-05:00

Josiah began practicing sitting up around 5 months, but toppled over quite a bit. We discovered that if we sat him in front of his basket of toys, he could reach for things inside and was able to sit for longer and longer. Over the past few weeks his back muscles have gotten stronger and stronger, and instead of sitting for seconds, he sits for minutes! He still topples over at times, but he's getting better day by day.

Josiah and his basket of toys

Introduction to sitting in the grass...wasn't too sure about it at first

Playing with Curious George on a pallet in the front yard

"....the better to eat you with!..."

2009-05-17T19:31:00.002-05:00

Josiah got his first two teeth at 5 months and 8 days and 5 months and 12 days...these are the little bitty buds. They are about half way in as of today.

Easter in Ruston

2009-05-17T14:40:00.007-05:00

So, it's time to play blog catch up....

We spent Easter weekend in Ruston. The weekend equaled an Easter picnic at Mamaw & Papaw's, fishing, celebrating Papaw's 81st birthday, church on Sunday morning, and lunch with the fam at Granny's.

Papaw's pond

4 generations

Meredith catching her first fish with her Papa

Josiah getting his first close look at a fish

The men & boys

The ladies & girls

Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles

Cousins

Granny

Bedtime Stories

2009-05-16T21:37:00.002-05:00

Yes, our son is just that good....he can hold a book twice his size by himself AND read himself his bedtime story from his Bible. ;-)

Thanks, Amy Greek, for the great book!

easter photo shoot...

2009-04-05T19:25:00.006-05:00

contemplative Josiah: "what's up with this weather? one day i get to go outside in the warm air, the next day it's cold again and i'm cooped up inside! i like days like today when i can go outside!"

rock star Josiah: playing his air guitar and singing his own rendition of "He's alive!"

and, 'Elmer Fudd' Josiah: "shhhh....be vewy, vewy qwi-yet. I'm hunting wabbits."

laughing with Daddy

2009-04-03T08:01:00.004-05:00

I took this after Daniel came home from work yesterday...

feet.

2009-04-02T10:05:00.005-05:00

I guess all babies do it. But when it happens to your baby, it's just that much cuter!

Josiah has foundhis feet! And, it's terribly cute.

It makes diaper changing a bit more challenging now that he's so interested in putting his feet to his mouth, but again, it's terribly cute. But, I could be biased! :-)

You know, this blog has become mostly about Josiah now, but I guess that's okay, right? I mean, his arrival has totally changed our lives!! And, who wouldn't be okay with a face like this changing your life?!!!

reflections on this past decade.

2009-03-12T09:23:00.019-05:00

I did it. I turned 30 at the beginning of this month. Today I am 30 years and 10 days old.

As I reflected on the past decade, I was really amazed to remember all that God has blessed me with in the past 10 years. Here is a brief overview:

I started the decade as a junior in college.

I went on mission trips to Turkey and to Kenya.

(on the way to Turkey)

(in Kenya)

I graduated from college.

I moved to Egypt and lived there for 2 years. While there, I visited Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Spain, Gibralter, and France.

Upon my return to the States, I moved to Fort Worth, TX to begin seminary at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

I began teaching ESL to refugees with Catholic Charities.

I fell in love with a co-worker.

And..3 1/2 months later, he proposed!

We got married and Kim Hood became Kim Audi.

One year and a half years later we were pregant!

We bought a new car.

We traveled to Nepal.

We had a son.

We are buying our first house...(picture to be posted after we move in)!

What a decade! The Lord has blessed me beyond measure. I am trult grateful. Can this next decade get any better?

with a little help from his daddy...

2009-03-02T21:39:00.002-06:00

Josiah made me this birthday card:

our little man

2009-02-25T09:45:00.002-06:00

He looks so concerned...

I often wonder, "What's going on in that little head of yours?"

"what happened to us?" - volume two.

2009-02-14T17:21:00.003-06:00

We thought this one definitely fit with the series of "what happene to us?" except, I take all the blame for this one.

Here's the explanation to the post: I was mailing Valentine's cards to Josiah's grandparents and great-grandparents and...

...and, well..I'm not really as absent-minded as this picture makes me out to be. Really, Josiah has NOT sucked all my brains out. Really. My granny has been in the hospital and I planned to mail her Valentine there. But, the envelope was in the stack with the other Valentines and well....well, it got mailed before I remembered that I had yet to get the address. And for some reason, the mailman just wasn't sure how to get this to my Granny. Mailmen these days...really falling down on the job! ;-)

rollin' rollin' rollin'

2009-02-11T22:48:00.003-06:00

Josiah can now roll from his tummy to his back!!!! He did it four times yesterday by himself (though you'll see me help him in the last time on the video, but give the kid a break, that was his fourth time in a row! - I didn't have the video camera the very first time.)

Roll over, Josiah! Roll over!

where has the time gone?

2009-02-08T22:41:00.005-06:00

Wow...Josiah is 3 months old today. Amazing. And look at him, not a care in the world! ;-)

Amazing because just 3 months ago there I was, in the hospital bed, having done probably THE hardest thing I had ever done before (well, until the epidural came ;-)), and the result? - little Josiah Daniel came into this world. And, I was so incredibly clueless. How God has taught us so much in the 3 months since Josiah's arrival. We're learning to lean more and more on Him as we learn to care for this tiny being He has put on loan to us. We're learning how to read Josiah's cues, learning how to meet his needs. And in the process of it all, God is showing me a beautiful picture of how He loves me, how He cares for me, how He meets my needs.

Beautiful.

Dear Meredith...

2009-01-28T17:44:00.005-06:00

Dear Meredith,

I'm so excited to get to see you on Friday! I made this video for you... I miss you!!!

and...

I LOVE YOU!!!

Dear "Uncle" Brendon...

2009-01-24T09:14:00.005-06:00

Dear "Uncle" Brendon,

I sure do miss you! Mommy and Daddy have been reading your emails that you are sending from Uganda. Have you seen any wild animals in Africa? Did you see a giraffe? What about a monkey? - you know, my Mommy LOVES monkeys. She decorated my room with them and buys me any shirt or pajamas with monkeys on them!

I think God brought you to Uganda for very special purposes. (That's what Mommy and Daddy say.) But, don't get attached to Uganda because I want you to come back here and play with me!

I weigh 10 pounds now...can you believe it? And I'm 4 inches longer than I was when I was born. Today I am 11 weeks old. That's 77 days! Maybe Mommy and Daddy will have a party for me when I'm 100 days old - Daddy likes to do fun things like celebrate 100 days, or 1,000,000 seconds of life. He's so much fun!

I've been working on my tummy time. I'm still not a big fan of it - that head of mine is so stinkin' heavy! But, Mommy and Daddy say I need to practice so I can lift my head up one day and do something they call "crawl"...whatever that is! I guess I'll find out. Mommy made this video for you last week. She caught me smilin' at you.

I love you, "Uncle" Brendon! Take care of yourself and hurry back to see me - but not before God finishes in you His purposes for you there in Uganda! God bless you!!

- Josiah

last long trip, Josiah, we promise!

2009-01-23T13:03:00.004-06:00

So, we returned from Louisiana Friday night and got on a plane, headed for New Hampshire Saturday morning...Josiah's last big trip for at least a month. He was a FANTASTIC traveler. He didn't seem to have any problems with the plane rides and he only got fussy once when we were on our 2nd plane of the day on our way there. On our return flight, he was an angel the whole time!

Now, there is something exciting that happened on the way there...umm, exciting? Maybe not exciting. Let's just say eventful! We were sitting on the tarmac, 10th in line for take off and all of a sudden Josiah starts to poop. He hadn't pooped in a couple of days at the time, so not only did he poop that one time, it was followed up by two more poops. Well, I won't go into too much detail, but basically we had to change his diaper in our laps since we were in line for take off (yes, we asked the flight attendant to go to the bathroom, but he insisted that we stay in our seats.) Well, I knew it was going to be bad...and it was! Poop on his feet that kicked my sweater, poop on the blanket underneath him, and...poop on our hands. His diaper was exploding and thankfully we had a ziploc to put it in, but we got pretty messy in the process of cleaning it all up!

We arrived in Boston and drove about an hour to the Livies' home in New Hampshire. It had snowed almost 2 feet in the previous week, so it was pretty exciting to see all of the snow around! This was almost all of the Audis first time to meet Josiah, so there was a mad rush to the door when we got there. Josiah lasted for about an hour, and then he completely lost it - not so much because there were 20+ people wanting to meet him. It was mostly the fact that we had woken up at 4 a.m., been on two flights with a 3 hour layover in Chicago and had driven another hour from the airport to get to our final destination. He had had it! And, he let me know that night! It took a solid 2 hours to really calm him down that night, but whew... after that long night, the rest of the time there was really pleasant. His 8 cousins loved cooing at him.

Isabella (4) kept saying, "He's cute. I just can't stop saying that, 'He's cute!'" She's a cutie! Julia came in the room the night Josiah went balistic and sang to him, "Quiet down, quiet down, quiet down little baby!" Again, so cute! She called him "Hosiah." Did I mention that the cousins also love Daniel??? This is Gabrielle and Julia.

We opened Christmas gifts with the family. Daniel and I got matching UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND t-shirts. Aren't we cute?!?!....and cheesy!!

Josiah got a University of Maryland onesie and a REDSKINS onesie. All of the Audis are big Redskins fans, having grown up right outside of DC. This is Josiah's cousin Michael sporting his Redskins shirt with Josiah.

There were plenty of activities planned for the week. Josiah and I mostly stayed at home - too cold for him to get out. Plus, it was nice to have some down time for him. Nathan and Michael thought it would be funny to throw and snowball at me...it actually turned out to be a great picture!

And for the final blog picture... I guess sometimes you never grow up, huh, Daniel and Steve??

back to Christmas posts - Road Trip #3: Christmas in Ruston

2009-01-22T09:59:00.006-06:00

Our Christmas gift came early this year...it came November 8...isn't Josiah a great gift?!!! We think so!!

And his Papa thinks so too - Papa got TWO presents...2 grandsons for Christmas!

Our family grew this year...we went from 7 to 9!!

me, Daniel, Jenny, Meredith, Brian, Mama (Gran Gran), Brannon, Daddy (Papa), and Josiah

on the road...AGAIN! We had a different Christmas this year in Ruston. Christmas morning as we knew it didn't come on the 25th...it came on the 26th, and I spent the morning of the 25th in the hospital, visiting my Granny. She will be 90 years old February 20, and she fell and shattered her lower femur the week before Christmas. As of today she is still in the hospital but the doctors are amazed at her progress. For a woman whose diet consisted of coke, toast with a heap of butter, and Tootsie Roll Pops, her body is actually incredibly healthy and is proving to be quite resilient despite being 90 years old, overweight, and unable to put any weight on that leg for 10 weeks! Really, the Lord has been so gracious to my Granny.

Back to Christmas.

Jenny, Brian, Meredith, and Brannon arrived on Christmas evening and we all went to Mamaw and Papaw's...we were 30-ish people at their house!

Throughout our childhood, our Papaw would always dress up in his Santa suit and greet children at the bank where he was a board member. We still ask him to get out his old suit for old times' sake!

Papaw and his girls.

Mamaw, "Santa," and their great grandchildren: Sydney, Meredith, Abby, Brannon, Trigger, and Josiah ("little Santa")

Like I said, our "Christmas morning" actually came on the 26th. Brian and Daniel think Jenny and I are ridiculous, but on Christmas morning we always had this rule that you can't look in the den at what Santa brought before the other one. So, we'd have to go together. Every Christmas morning, I'd ALWAYS wake upbefore Jenny, go in her bedroom, wake her up, and we' go brsh our hair (for the pictures, of course), and brush our teeth, and walk into the den together. And...we still do pretty much the same thing! Even at ages 32 and 29 there's still something magical about being a child at heart on Christmas morning, something magical about keeping traditions. And now something magical about spending Christmas with each other and with our children.

beautiful Meredith

matching cousins

Merdedith got a John Deere tractor....such a great country girl!!

interruption of the Christmas posts...part 2

2009-01-13T21:39:00.004-06:00

Just when you think you know your son...

Well, I initially only posted the video in the post after this one, but I decided I HAD to include this video as well...usually he likes the "roar" but when I got the camera out to try to catch him on the video smiling at the roar....

interruption of the Christmas posts...

2009-01-13T15:32:00.005-06:00

I was gonna finish out the travel posts with Christmas posts, but I'll have to get back to that. Josiah has become quite animated lately, and I wanted to show off his sweet coos and smiles!

***disclaimer on the "roaring" noise I'm making. We watched Prince Caspian the other night and made lion noises at Josiah and he's loved it ever since. Pretty funny!

Josiah makes more new friends

2009-01-08T09:36:00.005-06:00

Josiah met Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and the Wise Men at the children's Christmas performance at Temple in Ruston.
He met Angie and Sarah Kate there too!

That day he also met Mr. Bill and Mrs. Iwilla, a precious couple at Temple who I've "adopted" as a 3rd set of grandparents. Mr. Bill is hilarious and Mrs. Iwilla is just precious. They love Jesus deeply and tell me regularly that they pray for me. They always ask my parents about me and Daniel and I always make sure to visit them at church when we are in town. They've just been moved to a nursing home, so Josiah wanted to meet them and visit them.

Mr. Bill gave Josiah a candy cane. He said it would help him stop crying when he needed it! ;-)

Josiah finally got to meet Anna Banana when we went home for Christmas.

And, he got to meet Kristin. Kristin is a few years younger than me and has been my friend since I was in high school. She's now pregnant with Georgia Kate who will make her grand entrance in April!

Tessa's blessing for Josiah

2009-01-08T05:03:00.002-06:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

our Fort Worth family

2009-01-07T21:43:00.004-06:00

Our small group...oh how we love them! We have been 9, and for the next 5 months we'll be 8 as we meet together. Brendon moved to Uganda on the 2nd of this month. He'll be there for 5 months. What an adventure he is on and we're already missing him, but we know God has GREAT THINGS in store for him in Uganda. We got together right before Christmas to have one last evening together before he left. It was a really sweet time.

the ladies with Tessa, Craig and Nikki's daughter. the men with Josiah and Jesse, Craig and Nikki's son.

date night...at the house

2009-01-07T21:22:00.004-06:00

So, the Friday before Christmas Daniel and I decided it was time to have a real Friday night. Granted, we weren't ready to leave Josiah with anyone yet, so we had to make do at the house. What did we come up with? Well, since our TV completely died a week before, Daniel rigged up the laptop at the foot of the bed.

We watched Serendipity, always a good holiday flick...

And we drank hot chocolate...

And the 3 of us snuggled in bed...

And lived happily ever after! Ahh...it really was so nice to feel like we had a date - a different kind of date than we'd ever had before, but none-the-less, movie and hot chocolate must = date, right?

road trip #2 - Josiah and Mommy go to Ruston

2009-01-07T09:34:00.004-06:00

The week before Christmas Josiah and I took a road trip to Ruston. The purpose? To see Jenny, Meredith, and Brannon for a few days. Jenny starts back to part time work next week, so it was our only chance to spend some extended time together. Meredith is at a really fun age now, and she seems to havereally taken to Josiah. When they got to Mom and Dad's Meredith looked around for Josiah, sat down, put her arms out and said, "Josiah, lap." So cute!

I brought Josiah's floor play gym and the 3 little ones hung out together! Meredith laughed at herself for pretending to be a "baby" with the boys!

Our cousins came over with their girls, and life got even more fun - 3 toddlers and 2 infants and 4 adults. You'd think we had a pretty good ratio...but it was a bit crazy still. Laura took Josiah and helped him get to sleep so I could play with Meredith and Annie. Thanks, Laura!

We enjoyed a couple of days together - Mom and Dad had to work so we just hung out together and visited with our grandparents during the day and saw Mom ad Dad in the evenings. Daddy gets to finally enjoy not being quite so outnumbered!!

the HOOD gang

2009-01-05T19:13:00.004-06:00

Our 2nd annual family picture, taken at Thanksgiving, for Mama and Daddy's Christmas card. We added 2 to the picture this year! Brannon is 6 weeks and 4 days older than Josiah. Meredith turned 2 on November 6.

Josiah meets my best friends.

2009-01-05T09:28:00.001-06:00

Heather, Anna, Molly, and I have been best friends since high school. Heather still lives in Ruston and is married and has a daughter, Hannah, who is 3. Molly lives in Alabama and is married and has a daughter, Audrey, who is 1. Anna Banana lives in Florida and has a serious boyfriend. Josiah got to meet Heather and Molly and their families at Thanksgiving. He didn't get to meet Anna until Christmas.

me with Hannah, Heather, and Josiah

Hannah wasn't too sure what to think about Josiah at first. She really has taken to me in the past and talks about me to her mom all the time. But this summer when I was in town for a baby shower, she would have absolutely nothing to do with me and the round ball that protruded from my belly. Since Josiah was born, Heather said when they would go shopping, Hannah would always want to pick out a present for baby Josiah. And when she finally got to meet him over Thanksgiving, she was so shy...at first. After we visited for about an hour or more and Hannah had begun saying to her parents, "It's time to go home," I asked her one last time if she wanted to hold baby Josiah. She grinned and nodded her head. I sat him on her lap and she glowed with excitement to hold a real baby! Then she said to her mommy, "It's not time to go now." ....so cute!

Hannah, smitten over Josiah

Molly, Brandon, and Audrey came over to meet Josiah as well. Audrey wasn't too keen on her mommy holding another baby - afterall, she's only one and SHE'S still Mommy's baby, right?!?! But, she let us take a picture with switched babies! :-)

me with Audrey, Molly, and Josiah

road trip #1 - Thanksgiving in Ruston

2009-01-05T09:20:00.000-06:00

Josiah met lots of new people at Thanksgiving - all of my mom's family and all of my dad's family...probably 35-40 people in all...and he was only a wee 3 weeks old!

Granny and Josiah

Jenny with Meredith and Brannon, Josiah and me, and Laura with Annie and Allie

Papaw and Josiah

Mamaw and Josiah

Aunt Liz and Josiah

The cousins and our babies - Garson & Trigger, Jenny & Brannon, us

All the new babies...and Meredith

Brannon & Josiah: matching cousins...arent' they cute?

Josiah's travels

2009-01-04T07:56:00.000-06:00

Josiah has been quite the traveler in his 8 weeks of life. He's gone to Ruston 3 times and flown to New Hampshire...not to mention the trek he did in Nepal while only 15-17 weeks in my womb! I'll try to catch up on the holidays in the following posts...

But, what's a post without a picture?!?! Here's our precious boy at 3 weeks of age:

Josiah got mail...from the White House

2008-12-10T22:08:00.003-06:00

So, in our mail today we received this envelope addressed to "Josiah D. Audi." The return address said, "The White House, Washington, D.C. 20500."

Inside was this letter to Josiah:

In case you can't read it well, it says,

"Welcome! We are delighted to join your family in celebrating your arrival. You have already brought much happiness to those around you, and you've just gotten started!

We are glad you are now part of the wonderful American story. Our Nation holds great opportunities for you. May you make the most of your unique gifts, and may happiness and love surround you always."

President George Bush's and First Lady Laura Bush's signatures were stamped at the bottom. What a cool souvenir for Josiah's scrapbook.

I called my sister to see if Brannon had received a letter from President Bush when he was born, but he didn't. Daniel and I are wondering if he only sends it to babies born in his home state of Texas. Nonetheless, we were honored to have our son's birth recognized by the President! So cool!

"what happened to us?" - volume one.

2008-11-25T20:45:00.005-06:00

Well, it's 8:45 p.m. and...we're ready to go to bed.

What happened to us?!?!?!

Oh, we're now parents who get up twice in the night with a hungry little boy! The joys of being 'mommy' and 'daddy'!!

a couple of 'firsts'...

2008-11-21T08:20:00.008-06:00

JOSIAH'S FIRST WEEK WITH "GRAN-GRAN"

My mom and dad came Friday, November 7th, when my contractions started being regular, and they got to be here for Josiah's birth on the 8th! Mom stayed with us all week and was such a sweet servant to our new family - she cooked so many meals and things to freeze for us. She went to the grocery store and ran other errands, she rocked Josiah to sleep so I could get some rest, she treated me to an outing at Old Navy, she helped us clean the house, she videoed Josiah's arrival home and first bath. She was a great blessing to us. Thank you, Mama! And, Daddy, thank you for making 2 trips 2 weekends in a row to Fort Worth - to meet your newest grandchild and to see him again and come get Mama to take her back to Ruston. Daniel and I are very thankful for you and we love you! ...and, Josiah loves you too!!

JOSIAH'S FIRST VISITORS IN HIS NEW HOME

Rebecca and I have been friends for a few years and she has been my faithful workout buddy throughout my pregnancy. We worked out together 2-3 times per week since right before we got pregnant. She and her daughter, Caroline, came to meet Josiah the day we came home from the hospital. Caroline will have a baby brother or sister at her house in April which means Josiah will have another little friend to play with! Thanks, Rebecca and Caroline, for coming to meet Josiah!! You are special friends to us.

JOSIAH'S FIRST OUTING

5 days after Josiah was born, he went on his first outing - he came with us to our small group! We stayed a couple of hours for "oooooo-ing"' and "aaahhh-ing" time over him and then for a really sweet time of worship. Some in the group prayed over him and Nikki spoke words of life and truth into him, declaring that he has been marked by the Lord through the unmistakable fire in his red hair and declaring that he will be a man of God who will walk in the rich anointing of his daddy, Daniel, as Elisha walked in the double anointing of his father, Elijah. It was a really holy time together. Josh, Elizabeth, Caleb, Michelle, Craig, Nikki, and Brendon...we are truly blessed to walk with you through this season of our lives. And we pray the Lord will allow this to be a long season in our lives - we are richly blessed by your friendship. And we're so glad Josiah is now being covered by that blessing as well!

JOSIAH'S FIRST PARTY

Josiah turned one week old on November 15 at 2:53 p.m. so....we celebrated! Daddy had driven in town that morning and we all blew up balloons and sang, "Happy one week to you..." to Josiah. (For those of you concerned that we have balloons in the bed with our son, thinking it's a safety hazard, don't worry, he was never left alone in the crib. We just thought he needed 7 balloons for his 7 days of life. And, you must admit, it makes for terribly cute pictures!)

pictures.pictures.pictures.

2008-11-13T11:02:00.005-06:00

Isn't he precious??? We're absolutely smitten...

The Unveiling...

2008-11-10T16:51:00.005-06:00

After 9 months of anticipation, the Lord unveiled His miracle to us this weekend! And, after a few months of anticipating our son's name, we will now unveil "Baba Ganoush/Tommy Chuck's" official name to you!

Drum roll please......

Announcing the arrival of

Josiah Daniel Audi.

After a 19 hour delivery that started at 7:30 p.m. on Friday the 7th of November, Josiah was born on Saturday, November 8 at 2:53 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 20 inches long. Mommy, Daddy, and Josiah are all doing fine – a little tired, but fine! God’s hand was all over this pregnancy and delivery and post-delivery. We are truly grateful and so incredibly blessed. We are humbled that the Lord has entrusted us with this little life – can’t tell you the number of tears of joy I’ve already cried just looking at him and holding him near. A miracle, indeed!!

“Josiah” means “fire of the Lord” and…what a sweet reminder the Lord has given us of His “FIRE” in Josiah – he was born with flaming bright red hair. Our prayer is that Josiah would live to be his name sake – that he would possess the all-consuming fire of the Lord and that his life would burn for Jesus. (You can read about King Josiah in 2 Kings chapters 22-23. Here are a couple of verses about him that we really love! 2 Kings 22:2 “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.” And 2 Kings 23:25 “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.” We pray that our son would be known as a man who turns to the Lord like King Josiah of the past - with all his heart, soul, and strength.

out of town guests.

2008-11-06T09:59:00.006-06:00

Well, it's 2 days past the little one's due date and we're still playing the waiting game - no consistent contractions or anything. The midwives have scheduled me to be induced on Wednesday night, November 12, with cervidil and will start pitocin Thursday morning, November 13, if the cervidil doesn't put me into labor. However, I'm hoping that neither of those things are necessary and that the little one will wiggle and squirm and send me into natural labor before having to be induced.

I know God has a perfect plan. Well, I know that in my head, and I'm trying to believe that in my heart. Sometimes it's hard to do that when I feel frustrated and just want to see his little face and hold him and know everything is okay.

In the meantime, I thought I'd blog! :-)

We've been blessed by some out-of-town visitors over the past month.

Andy and Laura came down for the TX-OU weekend and stayed with us after the game. Andy was Daniel's roommate when Daniel first moved to DFW from Maryland over 5 years ago! Now Andy lives in Oklahoma City. We had a fun night of being lazy on the couch, watching "Planet Earth," and eating quesadillas!

Us, Laura, & Andy after a yummy Sunday morning breakfast at IHOP!

Ryan and Adriane are also from OKC and came to DFW to celebrate their 4 year anniversary. And, even chose to have dinner with us on their anniversary weekend. We're always so blessed by them and their love for Jesus and just good conversation.

Ryan, Adriane, and us after a HUGE meal at Joe T. Garcia's.

Chris, Zahra, Brendon, and Zoey were driving through Fort Worth from Ohio...on their way to the Austin area. Chris and Daniel have been friends since high school. They stopped by for just an hour or two yesterday for a little road trip break. We haven't seen them since our wedding, over 2 years ago. It was good to catch up!

Us, Zahra holding Zoey, and Chris holding Brendon.

Elections 2008

2008-10-31T17:56:00.003-05:00

I was encouraged to watch these today and I hope you will too.

www.neverfindout.org

us...when we were babies.

2008-10-30T13:13:00.014-05:00

Well, as I sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting for our little one to decide to make his debut, I'm feeling pretty bored - his room is ready, all the errands have been run, I've even frozen some soup for us to have available after his arrival. I play Tetris on the computer and check Facebook regularly these days. It's all getting a bit old! :-)

Although our official due date isn't until Monday, I've been hoping all week that he would come a little early. To our dismay, he's still not wanting to reveal his little face. I feel like there's absolutely NO MORE ROOM for him in my belly, though. My skin feels so tight and when I wake up in the mornings, it is hard as a rock! I'm feeling sorry for his cramped environment.

My boredom has brought me to this post today. What to post? Nothing better than a preview of what's to come - a mixture of these two photos!! Wonder who he will look like? My theory is that first born children almost always look like the father, so...I'm thinking our little Baba Ganoush/Tommy Chuck will look more like an Audi than a Hood. But, we'll see!

baby Daniel James Audi & baby Kimberly Ann Hood

Daniel and I went for a walk this morning and have plans to go walking every day until the big arrival with hopes that it will encourage him to come! I've posted 'still waiting for our son's arrival. Pray with us for a weekend delivery,' on my Facebook, and have already had a couple of comments about others' success stories in speeding up the arrival of their little one. It's always so fun to hear what has 'worked' for some. One of our friends said, "Just go eat a big meal at Cracker Barrel - it worked for us!" I mean, what's the harm in trying??? And, who wouldn't want to eat at Cracker Barrel, whether it helped or not.

friends

2008-10-22T10:25:00.002-05:00

Every Thursday night these folks come to our home and we spend about 2 1/2 - 3 hours together. Who are these great people??? Our SMALL GROUP! And, like I've said before, we are so blessed to be in community with them. God is growing all of us and has been doing so since we began meeting a little over a year ago.

Caleb & Michelle Dulock, Nikki & Craig Comolli, us, Brendon Hollingsworth, Josh & Elizabeth Audi

When I think back on my walk with Jesus, I know that it's been in the past 2 years that I've grown the most. The influence?

One of the biggest influences has been Daniel. God has used him in so many ways to grow me into a better woman of Him. I was told several months ago that when I married Daniel, he became a 'spiritual covering' and protection over me in the heavenlies. And, I very much believe that. God blessed me with this incredible man of Him and I am regularly reminded that Daniel is my gift of grace from Jesus, defining 'grace' as "getting what we don't deserve." I know that I didn't deserve the man that Daniel is, but I am so thankful that God saw it fit to give him to me - to point me to Jesus, to grow me in godliness.

Another big influence has been this small group - intentionally challenging one another to search our hearts and be set free in areas where we've allowed the enemy to hold us in bondage. God has been so merciful to all of as He has highlighted different areas in our lives where He wants to bring healing, to make us completely His. Of course, we're all a work in progress. None of us has arrived. He is our Potter. We are the clay. It's so great to be on this journey with these friends, though, and to be molded together in His image.

Celebrating the goodness of the friends we've been given today....

homecoming week at Dunbar

2008-10-22T09:57:00.006-05:00

Daniel is teaching Spanish at Dunbar High School this year and this week is Homecoming week. They have themes for each day and today's theme is "the 70s & the 80s"....so, here's my husband, right before leaving for school today. And yes, he actually had these 2 items in his closet. Nice, huh???!! He "said" he bought the pants a while back for occasions such as this.

His students love him! ...who wouldn't?

38 weeks

2008-10-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

The little one is ripe and ready - if he comes any time now, he's considered to be 'full term'. So, we're just playing the waiting game now. We're ready to welcome him into the world whenever he's ready to make his grand entrance!

FIREPROOF

2008-10-20T08:43:00.004-05:00

Daniel and I went to the matinee yesterday to see FIREPROOF. Wow. Granted, I'm female, pregnant, and emotional on a regular basis, but this movie was so touching. If you have yet to see it, I highly recommend it. The storyline is of a couple who don't know Jesus and whose marriage is absolutely falling apart. I walked away from the movie thinking, "I know this must be a reality for some marriages - yelling and arguing and thoughts of divorce. I am so incredibly thankful that my Daniel has never once raised his voice at me. And that the dynamics of the marriage in the movie is very foreign to us. But, I'm sobered by the fact that it is a reality for some, maybe even for some of my friends. God, have mercy!"

The movie is really a beautiful story. There is so much in its content. And the message of Jesus - His redemption and His plan for marriage - is clear. The movie is blatently evangelistic without seeming awkward. Fighting over every little thing, Caleb (Kirk Cameron) and his wife, Catherine (Erin Bethea), are on the verge of signing divorce papers when Caleb's father and coworkers urge him to approach his marriage in the same way he fights vicious flames. When Caleb's father gives him the "Love Dare," a 40-day guide to religiously motivated marriage help, Caleb begins a difficult journey to reclaim his wife, and in the process, his faith in God. The film examines both the ups and inevitable downs of married life, offering faith as a prescription for saving what may at first glance appears to have already failed. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I highly recommend it. You will be touched.

Baba Ganoush can come now...

2008-10-16T13:42:00.007-05:00

This week the nursery was finished! We were waiting for "Baba Ganoush's" baby bedding and Monday I got a phone call from the lady at my church who has been working on it asking if she could deliver his bedding and pillow that morning. Of course I said, "YES!" Thanks to my parents we have a super comfy glider and a beautiful crib for his bedroom. With the other gifts we received from family and friends at showers and 'just because' we now feel ready for the little one's arrival. And, I am so pleased with the way everything turned out. Now, all we need is a healthy baby to put in his beautiful crib.

Pray with us as we have been asking the Lord for the baby's arrival to be in His timing and in His way. I'd love an easy, quick labor and delivery...who wouldn't? I know I have a great husband who will coach me and encourage me through it all, no matter how long or short labor may be. And I have great friends and family who will be there with me as well...well, up until a certain point! ;-) And, most importantly, I have a loving Father who already knows how the day (or night) will finish. And Who has it all planned out for us! Thank You, Jesus!

Jesus, would you bring a healthy son into this world. We commit to raise him as best as we can to love and fear You and follow hard after You!

Okay, Little Man, we're waiting for you...

October 13, 2005

2008-10-14T18:44:00.006-05:00

Three years ago, Daniel and I were both working for Catholic Charities and I was teaching an ESL class in Arlington. Daniel had invited me to meet him at Central Market after my ESL class that evening. "Is this a date," I wondered. I wasn't sure. But, after teaching in a Somali apartment for 2 hours, I decided I'd at least stop by the house and change shirts - nothing fancy, just didn't want to smell like the strong scent of the Somali apartment. I arrived at Central Market to find Daniel sitting at a table outside of Central Market, having jsut finished a little dinner. He asked if I wanted to walk over to Starbucks for some coffee. I agreed. We sat outside in the nice evening fresh air. He excused himself to the bathroom, and the sweet girl working that night came out and handed me this letter (of course, without the check mark...I added that as my reply):

That night, Daniel and I became an 'official' couple. And here we are, three years later, married and having our first child in just a few weeks....very exciting! And very much a reason to reminisce...

So... we went back to that Central Market on Hulen Street in Fort Worth last night....

We had dinner together...

We drove over to that same Starbucks (driving this time instead of walking. I mean, I am 37 weeks preggo!)

And enjoyed a white chocolate mocha and mocha with a shot of peppermint together!

...TO US, AND THE NEXT THREE YEARS+, MY LOVE!

showered.

2008-10-14T18:12:00.005-05:00

I've mentioned before the blessing that our small group is to us. Or, if I haven't, I've meant to. :-) For Daniel and me, small group = our family here in Fort Worth. These are folks who love us in spite of us. Folks with whom we can share the ugliest parts of ourselves and know that the repsponse will be love, love, love. And much prayer. Folks with whom we can share our accomplishments and know that they will celebrate with us. Folks who challenge us. Folks who point us to Jesus!

my very best friends in Fort Worth

The ladies of our small group hostessed a baby shower for me and our little Baba Ganoush this past weekend. I don't know all that they did behind the scenes, but the shower was lovely and, if you girls are reading this, THANK YOU!!! They asked the moms at the shower to give me mommy advice. They spoke words of blessing over our son, they prayed over us, they spoke scriptures over us. They gave us a 'treasure chest' in which to put words the Lord gives us for our son, fun memories with him, and whatever else. They also blessed us with our baby crib mattress. Their generosity humbles me. I have great friends, wouldn't you say? It was such a sweet time, not only for me, but for my Mama who drove in with my Daddy from Ruston to stay less than 24 hours with us just to be at the shower.

super cute decor, wouldn't you agree?

the 'diaper cake' center piece

I opened many fun gifts - from practical things like the mattress and pacifiers and wipes and a diaper bag to fun things like outfits and books and more. Here I am showing off a monkey card from my Mama and my sister - so cute!

"Love the monkey card, Mama and Jenny!"

mommies and daughters

Olive Garden and Andes Mints

2008-10-13T18:25:00.002-05:00

Last week Daniel and I had dinner at Olive Garden. I'm sure many of you agree that the salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden are the best part of any meal there. And, the fact that you get Andes mints with your bill is an extra bonus for dining at Olive Garden.

It has been my experience that when there are 2 guests, the server brings 2 or 4 Andes mints with the bill. This particular night, our server returned to our table with 8 Andes mints inside of that black leather bill holder. When he came to take our credit card, I said to him, "Thanks so much for the extra Andes candies - I love them!" Little did I know that he would return to our table with our credit card in one hand and this to-go coffee cup FILLED with Andes mints!!

Cheers to Angel, our new favorite server in all of the DFW metroplex. My face lit up even more as I said thank you to him and he replied, "You've got to make the pregnant lady happy." ....You know, there are a lot of kindesses that have come to me as a result of being pregnant. Will I still have the same treatment when the little one no longer makes me look like I've stuffed a basketball in my shirt and he's screaming as we are dining???? ....I doubt it!!! :-) But, I'll enjoy it for now and smile and say, "Thank you!"

Jesus Storybook Bible

2008-10-08T10:12:00.003-05:00

My walking buddy and friend, Rebecca, told me about this book, The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. And, I thought it was blog-worthy - for any of our blog readers. The author's intended audience is children, but it is a fascinating book, one that has even been a suggested read to pastors because of the way the book is written. It causes the reader to look at all the characters and events in Scripture in light of their place in redemptive history. It's a book telling the stories of the bible, but strewn in to each story is the underlying theme that points each story to Jesus. You can read a sample from this book of the story of The Fall by clicking on this link.

Sally Lloyd-Jones received The Moonbeam Award Gold Medal Winner in the religion category for this book. Zondervan's description of the book quotes, "At the center for the Story is a baby, the child upon whome everything will depend. Every story whispers His name. From Noah to Moses to the great King Dave - every story points to Him. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle - the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will pick up on the clues and and piece together the puzzle. A Bible like no other, The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to join in the greatest of all adventures, to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God's great story of salvation - at the cent of their Story too."

The book can be ordered on www.amazon.com as well as several other websites and in Christian Stores. I hope you'll decide to add it to your book collection.

Sundays and coke ICEEs

2008-10-05T18:20:00.004-05:00

Do you remember the post about our niece Meredith and her love for ICEEs?

Well, Baby Audi may come out with a love for ICEEs as well, namely coke ICEEs.

WHY?

Well, I love coke ICEEs, and Daniel and I discovered a while back that the RACE TRAC next to our church sells coke ICEEs!! And this summer, there was a special on 32 oz. ICEEs - 32 oz. for 69 cents!! Can't beat that!!! And all summer we didn't pass up a single Sunday without splitting a 32 oz. ICEE. Going to Race Trac after church became a weekly routine for us. So much so, that the lady who works there on Sunday mornings has become quite friendly with us - asking about our baby, telling us about her family, and today she said, "It's on the house!!"

Since the fall has arrived, the great deal on the 32 oz. ICEEs disappeared. A 22 oz. ICEE is now 99 cents. And the 32 oz. ICEE is $1.09. So, we share a 22 oz. ICEE every Sunday after church now. "Share" in the sense of the word that I hold the ICEE and drink from it most of the way back home from church and offer it to Daniel every once-in-a-while. Maybe I should go back to my nursery school days and re-learn how to "share." :-)

We're back home and well, the ICEE is all gone - just a cup with some trash from the car inside of it!

table top.

2008-10-05T13:34:00.003-05:00

I'm sure you moms have experienced the 'table top belly'. And, I'm not sure exactly when it happened that my belly began making a good table top, but I find myself regularly setting things on it - my glass of water, my salad bowl, my cereal bowl, etc. I'm thinking I might miss it's convenience once it's no longer around. We're at 36 weeks in the pregnancy, so we have 4 weeks to go until the little one's due date. I guess that means I only have about 4 weeks left to enjoy my built-in table! Hopefully, it will be gone soon after he arrives!

brannon's arrival...continued

2008-10-05T13:27:00.002-05:00

More pictures from Brannon's birth:

This is Meredith's "oooooohhhh!" face! She was so happy to meet her brother!

Proud grandparents!

Meredith kisses her new baby!

The double-chin is only a result of the angle of the camera...I mean, he weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces for cryin' out loud!

Daddy, his girls, and his first grandson!

baptism

2008-10-05T13:00:00.006-05:00

I have tutored and taught ESL to every member of this family throughout the past year since they moved to America. There are 12 people living in the home together - mom, dad, grandmother, and 9 children! They are a super sweet family and have been such a blessing to me. A few weeks ago, one of the girls approached me while I was at her school tutoring and said, "Miss, Musa baptize. You come?" "Come," I thought, "Of course I'd come!" And I was honored to be invited!

I attended their Tumaini International Church service and was blessed to see that so many of the African refugee families we serve are a part of this church. The service was similar to an American Baptist Church service - which in some ways, was disappointing. I could imagine missionaries going into Africa and recreating a Western church among these people. None the less, they love Jesus!

And, Musa, decided to follow Jesus a few weeks ago and get baptized! What a sweet memory to have with this family!! Thank You, Jesus.

aunt kim & uncle daniel - part dos

2008-09-23T19:45:00.003-05:00

My sister had a little boy today - Brannon David Cohn. She was a champ!

I made the road trip to Ruston yesterday (Thanks to Meg for riding with me)! And then hopped in the car with Mom and Dad to go to Baton Rouge. Jenny & Brian left for the hospital early this morning and we played with Meredith, took her to school, and met them at the hospital around 11:00. Jenny was dilated to 6 cm when we got there and within 3ish hours, she delivered a beautiful baby boy!

came at 2:18 p.m.
5 pounds, 12 ounces
19 1/2 inches long.

He has beautiful thick, black hair and a beautiful complexion. He looks great. And Jenny looks great too! Thank you to those who have been praying for her and for Brannon's safe arrival today!

Baby's Room

2008-09-14T14:50:00.009-05:00

This past week I was off of work, so I got to dive into some creativity that has been buried for over 10 years - I painted a couple of canvases for our son!

me, exercising my buried artsy side

Since I was a child, I wanted to have my own pet monkey. That never happened, but I did sleep with a stuffed monkey until our wedding day. Daniel asked ever-so-politely if he could replace the monkey. It was a sad day, but 'monkey' got retired to sit on the pillows in the guest bedroom. And, that's been his residence for the past two years. However, he's now moving into a new room in our home - the baby's room! And, along with the stuffed monkey, there had to be some other monkey decor. So, I saw some great paintings on a website, and did my best to duplicate them.

the small canvas on the shelf in the picture below

We're getting his bedding made. The stripe is his bed skirt and the paisley is the outside of his bumper. He'll have a chenille fabric that is off-white on the inside of the bumper. I love his fabric! We're hoping to have it sometime in October, so pardon the incomplete crib. Here is his bedding and his bedroom so far!

fabric for his bedding

crib and canvases

the wall opposite the crib

Stories of the monkeys:

The monkey on the shelf above the crib is one that we saw in the boutique store at the hospital on one of our visits to the midwife. Daniel bought it for his little boy. This monkey comes complete with a diaper and a pacifier!

The monkey on the shelf above the couch was my monkey growing up.

The monkey on the couch is a gift from the baby's aunt and uncle who live here in Fort Worth - they made it at "Build-a-Bear."

We will get a big mirror to put above the bookshelf and I also painted 5"x5" canvases for each letter of his name that will go on top of the bookshelf.

We'll announce his name on his birth date! Until then, there are a couple of names we refer to him as...."Tommy Chuck" or "Baba-Ganoush". "Tommy Chuck" comes from our Hispanic neighbors who came over to meet my parents and my sister and niece one weekend they were in town. Mom asked Remon, a 2nd grader, what he thought the baby's name should be. "Tommy," Remon replied. And she asked Giovani for his opinion. He replied, "Chuck." So, for the remainder of the weekend, my dad referred to our son as "Tommy Chuck." "Baba ganoush," well, Daniel named him that. :-) We must have been eating some Arab food when someone asked what his name would be. And, since Daniel is always quick on his toes, he replied, "We'll refer to him as Baba Ganoush until he's born." Baba-Ganoush is a dip Arabs dip fresh bread in. It's really good! Why our son is nick-named after a dip is beyond me...but, I like it! And Daneil came up with it. You can feel free to refer to our little one by those names as well.

33 weeks

2008-09-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Labor Day Weekend in Ruston

2008-09-01T22:04:00.000-05:00

Whew...we had a packed weekend this past weekend! Two showers, a football game, meeting Anna Banana's boyfriend, and hanging out with family - all in 48 hours!

Saturday Shower

2008-09-01T20:47:00.004-05:00

My family and my mom's good friends threw us a church shower on Saturday. I don't have many pictures to post now - most of them are on my sister's camera. I'll post more when I get them.

After having this shower and the one on Sunday I was reminded of the showers we had for our wedding and of the overwhelming feeling of being both loved and blessed. Our friends, my parents' friends, and our family are so incredibly generous to us and we are humbled to be given such nice gifts to help us begin this new chapter in our lives and welcome our son into this world!

Here's the great spread.

And the girls.

Meeting Trigger

2008-09-01T20:42:00.002-05:00

It's boy fever in our family this year. Garson, our cousin, delievered Cole Trigger Woodard on July 29. This weekend Jenny & I got to meet him. He was 5 weeks premature and weighed 4 pounds 5 ounces. He's gained 2 1/2 pounds since he was born, weighing in at a big 7 pounds now! Here we are with Trigger and Mamaw. Trigger is Mamaw & Papaw's 4th great-grandchild. She'll have 6 by the end of the year!

Tech Football & Meeting Christian

2008-09-01T20:31:00.004-05:00

Louisiana Tech played Mississippi State Saturday night. Meredith was such a good sport at the game, even though it was pretty warm. Anything to hang out with her 'Papa' - she's definitely a 'Papa's girl!'

The bulldogs came out on top...GO DAWGS!!!

Daniel and I met Christian, Anna's new boyfriend. And following the game, the four of us joined Heather, Chad, Molly, and Brandon at Heather's house. Anna deserves a great guy...she's really a catch. So, it was fun to get to meet Christian and get to know him a bit. As far as 'the four friends' are concerned, Christian passed the test - we all like him!!

Sunday Shower

2008-09-01T20:12:00.009-05:00

Sunday my best friends and one of their moms threw us and our son a baby shower. Check out the fabulous decor!!

A stork holding the invitation welcomed guests at the door.

A beautiful wreath and "It's a Boy" on the front door.

Check out the spread!

And these are some of my friends from high school who came to the shower: Karen, Molly, me, Anna, Heather, & Suzanne.

And all the sweet gifts.

And the ladies in my family - me, Jenny, Mamaw, & Mama.

We can't wait for him to come!!!

Meredith

2008-09-01T20:06:00.004-05:00

Meredith is at an incredibly fun age right now - she's 22 months old and HILARIOUS! She's a little parrot. Right now, some of her favortie phrases are, "It hurts!", "Where's Chloe?", "Yes." She loves chips, her Papa (my daddy), her 'bets' (her blanket). She entertained us last night with counting to 10 and saying her ABCs, singing "Jesus Loves the Little Chilren" and "The Wheels on the Bus." She sat on the counter in the kitchen and enjoyed playing in the candy and eating Doritoes!...and I thought this picture was pricelss!! (By the way, my sister is a GREAT mom although I know this post may make it appear that she just lets Meredith eat junk...she didn't eat any candy, but did have a couple of hands full of Doritoes.)

29 weeks

2008-08-18T18:52:00.001-05:00

Here we are...at 29 weeks.

Family in Fort Worth

2008-08-17T18:58:00.001-05:00

Last week Mama, Daddy, Jenny, & Meredith came to visit us. They came bearing fun gifts from them as well as from friends in Ruston. Meredith has learned many new words since the last time we saw her - over a month ago. She was a chatterbox all weekend...and so much fun!!!

It was a whirlwind of a weekend and we had a blast! We were packed in our small house - 2 in the guest bedroom, 1 on the couch, and Meredith in her pack-n-play. They came to baby shop with us and help us make some decisions about a crib and a glider. And...we made a decision about a glider!! The style is like this one, but it's custom made, so we got to choose a fabric that will go with the baby's room. We hope to have the glider delivered by the end of September... THANKS SO MUCH, Mama & Daddy!

Have I mentioned that Jenny is also pregnant? Surely I have. She's due October 1 and we're due November 3. She's been such a big help to me in this pregnancy. I've enjoyed our time as preggos together. She's full of great advice and I'm very happy to receive it.

Sunday we visited Ashley, her husband, and her baby. We were all Sigma Kappas at LA Tech and Jenny & Ashley were roommates in grad school.

We'll all see each other again Labor Day weekend. I have a couple of baby showers that weekend!! Until then....

anniversary in Granbury

2008-08-16T19:22:00.000-05:00

Again, I'm a bit behind on posting, but if you remember from a few posts ago, Daniel and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on July 29. We had decided to go to Granbury for a weekend get-away. For those of you living in the DFW area, we HIGHLY suggest going to Granbury for a fun weekend.

We drove about 40 minutes from home to find this quaint little town - it has a main sqare in the center of the town with absolutely adorable specialty shops, bookstores, and eateries in the 'square'. We stayed at a bed and breakfast on the square, appropriately named, "The Nutt House," named for the Nutt brothers who built and owned the house in the late 1800s. We stayed in the "General John Hood Room." Although this man wasn't a relative of mine (that I know of), the pretty cool thing is that both my great-grandfather's name and my uncle's name is John Hood.

This B&B isn't your typical flowery-country-style bed and breakfast. Rather, I'd describe it as classy, decorated with exquisite antiques.

We enjoyed our evening with dinner and a walk around the square. We had a HUGE breakfast and found an arsty little store on the corner of the square the next afternoon. We spent a couple of hours at The Bisque House making a mosaic together. We decided to make this cross, for the baby's room!! It was so fun to create something together for him!!

We had such a great weekend! Here's to the beginning of our 3rd year....crazy to think that this time next year, our son will be 10 months old!!

visit to Maryland

2008-08-04T03:30:00.012-05:00

This is completely out of chronological order, but since we forgot our camera the weekend that we went to Maryland and we've just now gotten some pictures from the trip, I thought I'd post...even if it's a bit late!

The 2nd weekend in July we went to Maryland for an Audi family fun weekend. We hadn't been with Daniel's whole family since our vacation to Virginia Beach last summer. It was great to see everyone and the kids were really intrigued by my growing belly bump. They constantly asked to touch my tummy and wanted to know when the baby was moving. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite big enough to move a whole lot at that point. Too bad, for their sake, we didn't go just a couple of weeks later - they would have definitely seen him move then.

The kiddos having a picnic - I caught Isabella on camera as she was thanking Jesus for her food - so cute!

These are the oldest of the girl cousins being silly, enjoying watermelon on the swing and 'Grandma' and 'Grandpa's' house.

The weekend was so relaxing! We just hung out around the house, mostly, and went down to the neighborhood pool a couple of times. The nieces and nephews had some picnics in the backyard - it's a bit difficult to get out and about with 21 of us! One afternoon we took a trip to DC, though. It was hot, but fun! We rode an elevator to the top of the Washington Monument that day, my first time in all of our visits to do that. What's so amazing about DC is that our tax dollars pay for all sorts of great things - like visiting fascinating museums for free and going up to the top of the Washington Monument for free!

Here we are, the three of us - me, Daniel, and our son - standing at the base of the Washington Monument.

Orange girls...at the Monument

The bird's eye view of the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial from the top of the Washington Monument

Laura, Trish, and Becky with Julia and Isabella waiting to go up the elevator to see DC from the top of the Monument

The family surprised us Sunday night with a baby shower. Daniel's family are such loving, giving, generous people. We were really blessed by a sweet evening with everyone being showered with so many gifts. These are two great outfits for our little boy! Thanks, Rachie!! Among lots of other things, Daniel's mom made our baby a blue crocheted baby blanket. He'll love it!! Thanks, everyone, for a fantastic weekend together! We love you!!

"boys will be boys"...or should i say, "men will be men"

2008-08-03T04:04:00.008-05:00

We really do love our small group! Our small group consists of Josh & Elizabeth, Caleb & Michelle, Brendon, and Nikki & Craig. It's been a 'hit-or-miss' summer with 2 couples going on overseas trips and others out for vacation. The night Caleb & Michelle returned from 3 weeks in Turkey, most of us met together for coffee at the Coffee Haus in Arlington to hear stories from their time there. Caleb gave each of the guys a 'Fez hat' and here they are, being silly together!

Guess who's the upside-down-one in the picture?!?!!? Yes, my extremely mature husband! ;-) I definitely didn't marry him because he's boring. On the contrary, I LOVE having lots of fun with him!!!

Couldn't this be the cover of a cool-band CD album?!?!!

2 years ago today...

2008-07-29T14:12:00.005-05:00

I became Mrs. Kimberly Audi.

Last year at this time, Daniel and I decided to start a Word document of memories that we wanted to record over the past year. And, I'm so glad that we did. I know that years down the road when more and more memories have been added and more and more time has elapsed, and our brains are older, it won't be as easy to remember the random fun, sad, scary, exciting things that we've done in our history as husband and wife. We've yet to make time to that again this year, but it's definitely a tradition we intend to continue.

Another tradition we began last year was to watch our wedding video on our anniversary. Glory Productions did a fabulous job capturing the wedding day and even the night before, at the rehearsal dinner. We LOVE reliving that evening and the following day. For anyone reading this who is not yet married, I highly suggest spending the money on a videographer when your time comes. The memories are so fun to relive!

On to reflecting: I recently saw a friend of mine's blog (Carrie) who posted pictures from her wedding day on her anniversary as well. I thought I'd do the same. (Pictures are all courtesy of Melissa Breedlove, our photographer.)

We didn't see each other before the wedding, so this was our attempt at calming any butterflies we had - a greeting through the door!

Our wedding party consisted of my sister, my 3 best friends since high school, Daniel's 2 brothers and 2 of his best friends. We were honored to have such fantastic people stand with us, supporting us as we became husband and wife. And Jim Reynolds, a mentor of Daniel's and friend of ours since we began dating, officiated our wedding.

When we started dating, Daniel said to me, "I think we should set some boundaries, so I just wanted to let you know that if I ever kiss Kim Hood, I'll kiss her at the altar one day." And well, he kept his word, and this was our very first kiss!

And here we are, "Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Audi!!!" I can hear the music now, Chris Hanchey singing, "You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you. You'd be like heaven to touch. I wanna hold you so much...." as we walked out of the sanctuary!

We couldn't have had such a beautiful wedding without the sweet support of my mom and dad. Thanks, Mama and Daddy, for a perfect wedding. Really, it was the perfect day for us!!

My family expanded - these are my new in-laws. Along with them, I also gained 4 sisters-in-law that day as well as 4 brothers-in-law, and 8 nieces and nephews!

We left the church and drove to the reception in this great Model A car, I think it's a 1928 model.

Who needs to be serious at a wedding??? Weddings are for celebrating two people God has joined together. Let's celebrate big!!!

The reception was so much fun - seeing many friends who came to support us, dancing, eating yummy cake, and celebrating that we were now husband and wife! Ah...it was a great day!