Pumpkin Patch and The Proposal

Here we are just starting another trip with the group! :)

We're at the Dreamfield Farms Pumpkin Patch.

The sisters and Ellie taking a picture in the corn box....we may be grown but we will still sit in a corn box....and still be finding corn from it! :)
And the sisters again :) Morgan has grown out of the stage of cooperating in these pictures! :)

And little did I know that hayride up to the pumpkin patch would change my life forever! So here is where I tell our story! :) I didn't think anything of it.....I was going along taking my pictures of Ellie and of Morgan and I asked Nate to just go ahead and pick us out a pumpkin that we were going to get left if we didn't. So he walks about 15 feet from and bends down....he says "Hey Babe I think I found ours" so I walked over there and started to bend down when he pivoted around and was on ONE KNEE!!! :) He had a pumpkin (which will be in pictures further down) that said "Marry Me Leigh" and my absolutely STUNNING ring on the stem. I couldn't have been more surprised. Now here is the truth.....I knew he had the ring but only did I find that out that day. I walked in his room to put his jacket up from in the car so it didn't wrinkle and there sitting on his side table was the ring boxes, so in my defense I wasn't snooping! But I certainly didn't think he was going to do it at the pumpkin patch, I won't lie it crossed my mind but I didn't think he would do it in front of everyone. But I was so wrong. Everyone in my group knew about it. Laurie, Louise, Dustin, Ellie, Michelle, Morgan, and Justin were all in on it. He had been showing the ring to everyone. He was so excited and happy. I cannot be happier than I am now....He really is the best thing and I love him to death....obviously or I wouldn't be marrying him! :) I have to admit I know I said I didn't want it to be in front of people but I couldn't have been happier to share it with my closest circle! My family is the best and I am super excited Nate will be a part of it....it's been a long road but so worth every minute. Blessed is all I can say.

I think it was at this point I was asking, " Are you serious???"

And his reply, " Yes I am serious.....Are you going to say YES???"

Well OF COURSE!!!! :)

The most beautiful ring I have ever had on my hand. By far.

Ohhhh I love you so much!!! :)

"Hey guys.....ya'll knew about this?!??!"

I really couldn't be any happier.....I hate that cheesie grin but I love it when I can't help but to smile that big. :)

THE PUMPKIN! :)

Us walking back after having a few moments to ourselves. :)

On the hayride back.....we were celebrities it felt like! Everyone was congratulating us and asking if it was for real! LOL

Overall it was just the best day. I love this man oh so much and I can NOT wait to start my life with him. He is wonderful and I know deciding to marry him, aside from becoming a Christian, will be the best decision I have ever made. He makes me laugh like none other and can cheer me up in no time! He can soothe me when no one else can and he is truly my best friend and teammate. :) I can honestly say he is the one my parents have prayed for.

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day 3: Let the Healing Begin

Well day 3 has been a bit of a doozie for Laurie...But let's start with Janet. :) Janet was taken straight out of the operating room to a step down room where they have a nurse on duty 24-7. And boy are they sticklers! They do not let people come in unless it's visiting hours! Not even Chuck! But luckily today they moved Janet down to the room right beside Laurie. Good thing because as you can see from yesterday's blog, well we like to party in our rooms! :) But Janet actually WALKED THE WHOLE WAY TO THE ROOM! She looks so GREAT and is doing so incredibly good! I am so proud of her and she totally deserves to have a light pain load after the last year she has endured! So now Janet is resting in her room after staying awake all day and visiting with everyone! I am just so happy for her. She has really been such a trooper and she makes my faith stronger ever day.

Now on to Laurie....I cannot tell you how much I look up to Laurie and admire her tender and selfless attitude. We are family so of course we see each others faults but man it's hard to think of them when I see her in here enduring this. She has been so incredibly strong and positive through all this. Let me go back to last night.....everyone was very worried about me getting sleep but I was NOT going to let anyone else stay in this room with out me in here too! So about 9:30 mom, dad, and Louise headed back to the hotel and left Seth and I in the room with Laurie. Well Seth kept telling me to tell him when I was ready to leave, and finally I said to him "Seth I don't care if you leave at all...you can stay the whole night if you want too!". And he did just that. He let me sleep most the night and he stayed up with Laurie feeding her ice chips and reminding her about her medicine. It was GREAT to get some sleep and I cannot express my gratitude for him doing that. It is hard to find good friends like that who would stay up with your sister so you can sleep. He is probably the closest thing we have ever had to a brother (besides having Dirt now of course!). He is just great! But anyways, about 5 AM Seth and Laurie started talking about Laurie getting up and walking. The dr's told us that the sooner she felt like walking the better off she would be. Well the first walk was very hard. And on top of that they took her off her medicine pump and didn't have the other medicine for pain in her system. So immediately she was nauseated and in a lot of pain. To shorten this....we got put back on the pump. :) About 9:30 AM Dr. Hannaway, who preformed her surgery, came by to check on her and broke this news to her.....That today would inevitably be her worst day. It would hurt more to do anything today but that by tomorrow it would be a faint memory. Well so far he has proved right but Laurie being the trooper she is has pushed through and gotten up and walked 5 TIMES!! Which is great, and by the 4th time she was saying it was getting easier to get in and out of bed and it wasn't hurting as bad!!! That is such a blessing!!

As you can tell I didn't have the chance to take lots of pictures below but I wanted everyone to be able to see some pictures! :) And I think for the most part they are in order too!

This is the 2nd time Laurie got up to walk....on her way to have her and Janet's first time seeing and talking since pre-op the morning before the surgery.

Rachel and Julianna watching Laurie and Janet as they talk.

Janet and Laurie talking :) It was a GREAT moment and I was so glad they got to visit.

This is Nana, Papa, and Aunt Betty. They found out tonight that they might be related somewhere down the line....crazy how things happen. :)

Below are the pictures of all of Laurie's flowers.....

These are from Janet and Chuck and man they are absolutely beautiful!!!

These Orange Roses are from Janet's brother, David. He got orange roses for Tennessee :)

These are from the Young Professionals Class. :) They came yesterday and they were a sweet surprise! Have I mentioned that we have the best church family?!?! :)

These gorgeous Gerber daisies are from Aunt Betty. She has really gone above and beyond for all of us during this surgery.

These are from Mom, Dad, Louise, Dirt, Me, and Nate :)

Leslie and James came by for a visit and it was so nice to get to visit with them. It is nice to have good friends. :)

This is Janet and some of the youth group from University....they are in Birmingham for SEC church thing at Decatur Highway Church of Christ and they decided to stop by and see Laurie and Janet and Rachel, since she is in the youth group at University. It was so sweet of all of them!

Rachel came in later tonight and gave Laurie a present....she had told Louise and I what she was getting Laurie and we were so excited! I love Laurie's face right here. She is genuinely so excited about her orange watch! :)

As you can tell this made her "down" day a TON better. I love that really happy smile. That's my sister. :) I love her.

Well it's now later than last night's post, but it has been a bit busier tonight with the walking. But all in all I am glad it's about to be the start of a new day. Seth and Louise are still in the room with me for now and I am again so thankful for all the calls, text, emails, cards, and messages! We are so blessed with the best friends, family and church in the world!! Hopefully tomorrow's post will be all good news and exciting! Continue to pray for Janet and Laurie's recovery! Goodnight all! :)

Janet and Laurie's Surgery Day One: Check-in and Check-ups

Well today started out amazing! I got up and started getting ready about 5:15 am, Laurie had just walked in and we started getting ready for the day ahead. Our first part of the day was getting breakfast, and Laurie wanted to go eat at the Farmer's Market downtown. So we met Louise and Nathan there for breakfast at 7:00 am. It was soooo good and Phil and JoAnn Norton, who own it, also go to church with us and have been so good to us throughout this whole process, sat down at the table with us and just talked. It was a nice relaxing way to start the day!! They are some of the nicest people I know. I am so thankful for people like them. Down home just all around nice caring Christian people. We are blessed.

Leaving from a high of being there Laurie and I get on the road, Nate went to work and Louise was heading to Birmingham after work. I get about 2 miles out of Montgomery and blue lights come flashing behind me....in the midst of Laurie and I talking I had missed that the speed dropped from 70 mph to 50 mph.....needless to say I was speeding. The state trooper was a complete JERK....let me insert here that I don't like to give cops a hard time, I was speeding and I know that but you do NOT have to show your tail just because you are a trooper. So after about a 15 minute cry session we decided that wasn't going to start our day off bad. So we kept on trucking it to Birmingham.

We got here and checked in and got Laurie and Janet both admitted and settled into rooms. To our surprise we already had one visitor waiting on us. Brother Barry Buford was here ready to pray with Laurie and Janet and it was so very nice. That was just the beginning. From then on out we had people in Laurie's room checking all of Laurie's vitals and taking blood and giving IV's. Laurie was a champ she did amazing through all of it and all the nurses and Dr.s just love her and think she is amazing....just like the rest of us. I know tomorrow is going to be great. Laurie and Janet both have already impacted this hospital and I know it's just the start of whats going to happen. God is so good and he has blessed us so much with this surgery.

Below are some snapshots I took of Laurie and Janet...since I got my new camera I VOWED I would definitely be documenting everything from here on out! So far I have stayed true to that. Hope you all enjoy! Sorry they all aren't in order! (Also Louise got here later and we didn't get one picture with her or Ellie :) But we will get many more tomorrow!)

Chuck, Janet and Rachel before going to bed :)

Janet and Rachel :) How cute are they??
Me and Laurie looking at the afghan that Aunt Shirley sent and made for Laurie :)

Me and Laurie enjoying our show....didn't work out so well for us...we will be re-watching Rookie Blue on Monday :)

Janet and all her visitors...from Left to right: Aunt Betty, David, her brother, Janet, Chuck, and Chuck's mom.

Mom and Dad got here about 6:45 pm and this is her and mom enjoying her down time. :)

Laurie and her music therapist.....Laurie REALLY enjoyed her!!!! :) She sang us some Beatles songs and she was REALLY good!!

Laurie and Cora....Cora.....she is a character. She sang and danced around and said the Holy Spirit was moving her and she was praying for Laurie! :) It brought tears to Laurie's eyes when she started singing to her.

Laurie and Janet first thing this morning!! :)

Chuck trying to help out a friend! :) He is a great supporter!

Janet resting right after she got to her room!! It is FREEZING in this hospital....but don't worry I can prepared! Blankets and sweatshirts :)

Laurie and MaryAnn....she is amazing and I am so glad we got her for Laurie's transplant coordinator! I am going to send her a card with this picture in it! :)

Well that is all for tonight. I will update more tomorrow night! :) Goodnight blog world!! Keep Laurie and Janet in your prayers!

3rd Edition of Special People

So here goes the 3rd Edition!

1. Gin-Gin :0) She is amazing! There is not many other words that fit her as perfectly as that does. She loves all her nieces and nephew so much and she has been an amazing aunt throughout the years. She is an amazing mother, wife, sister, daughter, aunt, and soon to be GREAT AUNT! She will be just as excited for Louise when she has her baby as Laurie and I are! :) (There will be a post to come about Jessica :) She needs her own post!) I am so blessed to have such an amazing family!

2. Weeze: the glue that holds us together. She is great. In every aspect of her life. She is preggers with my first niece....or nephew :) I look up to her so much. She is an inspiration. She is loving, patient, kind, gentle, peaceful, full of joy, faithfulness, goodness, and self control. She truly is a great example for me and everyone around her. A real life example of the virtuous woman.

Oh and she IS the funny sister :) (Just kidding Laurie :))

3. Brookers: She is beautiful. She has a heart of gold and big enough to love anyone and everyone :) She is funny. She makes me laugh when I need it. She doesn't know how important she is to so many people, including myself. She inspires me. She is creative and I am so jealous of that. (In a good way of course :)) She has endured a lot and in the end come out a better and stronger person for it. She is going to be the best older cousin to her new cousin on the way...for kicks we will call him William :) Just another amazing woman God has blessed my life with.

Again stay tuned...I have honestly had more than 3 this week but I don't want them to be super long so I will write again on Monday! :)