It's been a while!

I apologize for not keeping up with blogging more often. We've been busy lately!

To start, I had an amazing Mother's Day this year! We went to Relish (in Roswell) the day before Mother's Day, for lunch. Relish serves super yummy Southern food. We didn't realize that there was a festival going on in the Roswell square during that weekend. We sat on the patio and ended-up moving due to light rain (with all other patio patrons :-) to the covered porch overlooking the festival. After eating, we walked around the square, looking at different vendors, etc. One of the vendors sold spoon rings and other related items. So, I treated myself to a spoon ring and a nice pen made out of silverware. Sounds strange, but they're really nice! I will try to take a picture sometime.

Sunday before church, the kids and Doug gave me their cards and gifts. The kids gave me Demadco (I think that's how you spell it?) wooden carved baby figurines, to go with the "Mother's Love" figurine I have. Doug gave me the butter dish to go along with the nice serving dishes we have (Flute and Pearls).

Our church also has an infant dedication on Mother's Day, for babies in the congregation one year and younger. It was so special to be a part of this service. We walked up front as they videotape our family, while they put the video on the large screen in front. The parents all then read something together that says we will raise our children to love God, and in the best possible way. The congregation agrees to support the families in our efforts raising our children. It was great to be able to participate in this with so many other friends who have also had babies within the past year. So special!

To catch everyone up...

Liam is now 10 months old (yes, I know I need to take THE picture :-) and is everywhere! He has been teething the past few days, but other than that seems to be faring well. We found out he has eczema. After attempting to treat it ourselves with creams and every potion imaginable, we finally resorted to a doctor's visit, where she prescribed a steriod cream. It cleared up within three days, thank goodness!

He babbles now, too. He says "Ma-ma", "Da-da", "Ba-ba". He's definitely becoming more communicative. He loves for me to hide and peek out from a corner. He cackles, it makes him so happy! :-) He can now walk across our living room and may not fall while going across. But he does continue to take some spills while walking. Poor kid... a few weeks ago he had a bruise or scratch on every side of his face (forehead, chin, left cheek, right cheek). I could be sitting with him in my lap and he will find a way to hurt himself. But he is a rough-and-tumble boy, thankfully, so he moves on pretty quickly.

Ava is unbelievably growing into a sweet little lady. When we recently picked Doug up from the airport, we then went home and were sitting at the dinner table. She said "Daddy, you didn't say 'thank you' for us picking you up at the airport." Oops! Caught! :-) She is enjoying the warmer weather and playing outside with her schoolmates. Her best friend at school is Emma, another little blonde-haired blue-eyed girl.

Ava still isn't much of a phone-talker these days, but thoroughly enjoys coloring / drawing, helping Mommy bake, giggling with Liam, running, exploring the backyard. She is getting better at staying in the lines when coloring, too. Not that I'm a nazi about it, but she seems to naturally be doing better at more fine-motor skills like that. And can she run fast! She seems very agile for her young age. I think she would probably really enjoy a dance class of some sort. When at home, before dinner, she asks if we can dance. We like turn-on a cable t.v. channel with fun music and break out the dance moves! It makes for some fun! :-)

Doug lost his job at The Preston Partnership on 05/01. He was notified on 04/01. He was fortunate enough to receive four weeks of severance pay. He filed for unemployment and is searching high and low for jobs. He has had one interview so far, and should be hearing about the potential employer's decision within the next week or so. I've never been so thankful for a job in my life! And at this point, I'm glad we weren't a one income family. The kids remain in day care full-time, but that may change with our needs. If they went part-time, we wouldn't have the discount we have now, so it's not really that much of a payment difference.

I am so thankful for our health and that we've budgeted our money well, up until this point. I am not anxious about this and know that Doug is doing everything within his power to find a job. The month of April seemed stressful and full of anxiety, but with the resolution of each variable (or each time God answers us), the stress decreases. So it isn't a matter of "if" Doug will find a job, but "when", thankfully.

The Preston firm went from 360 people about 1 1/2 years ago to 20 people. Doug was previously told that he was one of "Bob's 'top 20'". He made it to #21 or so, I would say. So, he was fortunate enough to hang on that long. It is almost a sigh of relief that this time has come, because his neck just seemed to get closer and closer on the chopping block. Most of his current leads are coming from people with whom he has worked, who know his amazing work ethic and knowledge for building. So I pray that a potential employer recognizes his skills and decide to hire him soon. If you know of any architecture firms in the Atlanta area that are hiring, please be sure to let us know!

It's interesting. The night before he was let go, Doug and I watched a PBS documentary about how ridiculous the federal deficit is / will be. It was that night I thought how ironic that our family had not yet been hit too hard with the economy. I haven't received a raise in two years, but neither has anyone within Sprint. I then realized how thankful I was for the years I "hustled" at Sprint, trying to do as well as possible to secure the highest potential raise possible. So, my not receiving a raise for two years was how "rough" our family was hit in the past few years. Not too shabby. We've lived on a budget for at least the last five years, so that has also benefited us greatly. Now we know where we can tighten up and what savings we might need to suspend.

God has truly blessed us, and will continue to do so. I know many others are in worse positions than us, and we will continue to pray for everyone affected by the economic downturn. I'm glad to hear that the downturn seems to be leveling-off. (So they say, at least). I pray that employers start hiring and families will continue to be able provide for themselves.

My Mom came down for a visit for the week of Easter. We had a great time when she was here. I will try to post more pictures when I get around to it.

So that's the quick version. As I think of more to add to the blog, I will do so.

I hope you are all thriving and striving!

With love,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam