Mission Trip.......

Today I am leaving to go on our churches annual mission trip to Smiley Court in Montgomery. Please pray for our safety on the trip down there and also while we minister to these kids. It is such a blessing to be able to do such a thing.

Luke 1:37-For with God NOTHING is impossible!!!!

I am still thinking I may pack Andrew in my suitcase. It is going to be so hard to leave him.

Greater Than 100th Percentile.......

Well............Andrew had his 18 month check-up yesterday. He got his last shots until he is 5. That is great news!!!!! The best news is, is that he did not scream bloody murder when the pediatrician walked in the door. He was actually quite calm.

He weighs 32 pounds and is 35 inches tall. That puts him over the 100th percentile in both categories for his age. Dr. D. says he is the size of a 3 year old. Hello?????? My arms already new that! :-) He is one heavy little dude! He is growing so fast. I love him so much!

Just a Few of My Favorite Pics....................

Update on Nick............

As far as the MRI goes, there was nothing there of any concern to his eye sight. However, they did find a cyst on a gland on his brain but Dr. V. spoke with a radiologist and he said there was nothing to worry about there. As far as his sight goes, he is still having the double vision and other symptoms and the doctor wants to wait on all his blood work to come back. He said that should take about a week. So that's where we are at at this time. So if you know Nick he was happy to hear that there was not tumor and we PRAISE GOD FOR THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prayer for Nick...........

Today is Nick's appointment in Birmingham. He will be meeting with this doctor at 9:15. I ask that you please remember him today when you pray! Please ask for the Lord to comfort Nick. Just know that all your prayers and thoughts are very much appreciated. Seems like I am constantly asking prayer from you guys, but that is all I know how to do. Prayer comforts me in a way I can't explain.

Thanks Again!

Kayla Rose

This is sweet precious Kayla Rose.................

Isn't she just gorgeous????????

Michelle,

Thank you so much for allowing me to take photos of your beautiful KK. She is just a doll! I am so looking forward to taking pics of Brody!!

Love,
Melissa

A Prayer Request for My Hubby.......

**Update #2** Nick's appointment was moved up to Friday at 9:15.

**Update** Nick has a cousin who is an optometrist in Birmingham and she doesn't want him to wait until the 28th for that appointment. They are trying to get him in somewhere today. Would you please pray.

Nick has been having some issues with his eyes. Double vision, dizziness, one eye not moving to one side.......and I have been leary of saying anything about what is wrong with him because I just thought that maybe it had to do with his glasses or contacts. I have been trying to doctor his symptom of dizziness and he has also been going to the chiropractor. Turns out he has a condition called Sixth Nerve Palsy. Click here to read more. It has him so worried and I don't know how to comfort him. But I know a God who can comfort him and I just ask that you lift Nick up in your prayers. He has an appointment with an optic neurologist on July 28th in Birmingham. Waiting 20 days is going to drive him nuts plus it doesn't help that he already thinks it's something bad. So I just ask that you remember him in the coming days!

18 months and counting................

Boy. Where does the time go? My precious son is 18 months old today. Can you believe it? This boy right here............

I have no idea where it goes but it needs to stop! He is getting so big.

Dear Andrew,

Mommy and Daddy love you so much! What did we do without you? At this age you can do just about everything but talk. That's okay though because I am sure when you do decide to do that you won't quit.

You have two cousins on the way. Cooper will be here in September and Baby Graham will be here in February. You are gonna have alot of playing to do when they get here.

Your favorite toys are Mr. Ducky of course and your knew Mater truck. You like big trucks alot. Every time we see one you just have to point and grunt.

You like to dance ALOT and I mean ALOT. Dancing is your thang! You like it when Mommy turns the IPOD on so we can dance to Glory by Casting Crowns. You rock out alot!!! But you are so funny! We think you are the funniest person we know!

God has truly blessed us by letting us be your parents and we continue to thank Him everyday for that blessing!

We Love You!!
Mommy and Daddy

Austin & Kendra

I was so honored to take the photos for Austin and Kendra's wedding. What a lovely couple they make! Don't you think? I took like 1200 photos and only chose just a few to share!

Austin & Kendra,
Thank you guys so much for this wonderful opportunity! You guys will never know how much it means to me!!!

Love and Best Wishes!!!
Melissa

Where Have I Been????????????

Well I don't have much time to post but I have been so busy lately with life and it's little extras that it throws at you! I have been editing photos..........lotssssssssss of photos..........that I was honored to shoot at a co-workers wedding and also have been working on several other picture projects. Please bare with me! I will post about them all soon and show off the beautiful bride and groom, plus my other projects too!!! This is one of my lastest favorites!!

Hello?????????????? Can anybody hear me???????????????????????

Niece or Nephew???????

IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD BY NOW..............MY SISTER NANCY (A.K.A NOO NOO) IS GONNA BE A MOMMY!!!!

You can go back to what you were doing now!!!!!

I LOVE YOU NOO NOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YUMMY!!!!

You Are a Cherry Flavored Popsicle

You are sweet and friendly. For you, summer is all about doing your favorite things. You are a nostalgic person. You love old fashioned things like ice cream trucks. You savor everything. Every taste of summer, the feeling of the sun, the smell of the beach... Of all the types, you love summer the most.

What Flavor Popsicle Are You?

I Hate Wet Steps.............

Today was my first day back to work this week and boy did it start with a bang! If you read this post then you know that I am one clumsy person!

This morning as I was getting all of Andrew's things in the car I was going down those stupid wet steps on my back porch again and I'll be danged if I didn't get to the last step and there my feet went again! The last stinkin' step. It never fails.

Luckily, I am not as injured as the last time. Thank the good Lord! Although I am sorry to say that my "NEW" cell phone suffered some major damage in the fall. I put it in my back pocket, which I never do. Now the LCD screen looks like it was hit by a bullet instead of my tushy! It still works but it's a touch screen and it is hard to read it now. Oh well....that's just "MY" luck!!

Hope you all have a wonderful "free from falling" day!!!!

Memorial Day 2009

On this day we honor and celebrate those who fight, fought and died for our freedom. I want to share with you some pictures of close family members who served and who still serve in our military.

This is my Granddaddy, Roland Gann. He served in the US Army and was in WW II. I just love this photo! Black and White are my favorite. It is a side of him that I never saw!! I wished I would have listened more to his stories before he passed away!

This is my Cousin David Blaylock. He currently serves in in US Air Force. He has been stationed in so many places that I can't keep up! (This pic is of him in a Mig Grave Yard)This is my Great Uncle Coolidge Downer. He will be 85 in November. He served in the US Army and served in WW II.

I want to share with you a detailed history of his account that was in a book published earlier this year with all of our county in Alabama WW II veterans in it.

"I was 19 years old on D-Day, June 6, 1944 on Omaha Beach, France, a member of the 29th Infantry in a front line combat division. Mine was one of the first landing craft that went in that morning about 6:30 a.m. The sun was just coming up and the waves if water were so large we went off into it shoulder deep, our life jackets on. We were receiving a lot of small arms, artillery and mortar fire. I saw about the entire first wave of men killed. Hundreds were wounded, drowning in the water. Most of our equipment was destroyed and truckloads of ammunition and gas were exploding on the beach and in the water. I could have walked around on the water's edge and not stepped on the ground for dead and wounded bodies. Many of them were killed right beside me."

"If the 35 men who were on the landing craft with me, five of us got out of the water and three of us got across the beach to the ridge. We lay there and watched the other landing craft come in and all of the destruction that went on that day. Very few got off Omaha Beach. We got replacements in and chased the Germans all over the hedgerow country in France, and the Germans were always waiting on the other side of the hedgerows. We fought day and night with very little rest or sleep. Many of the replacements were killed the first day."

"I was wounded at St. Lo, France on July 15, 1944 about 3:00 a.m. They took me back to the field hospital about a mile behind the front lines. A nurse in army clothes said: 'We are giving you a pill to put you to sleep and tomorrow morning you will be on a plane to England.' When I awoke the next morning there was a guy on the army cot next to me--a wounded German soldier who had been brought back to our field hospital. When we invaded Normandy I weighed 189 pounds. Thirty-nine days later I weighed 136 pounds. After five weeks in England I was back with my outfit on the front lines of battle again."

"I fought across the Netherlands, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Near the Elbe River I witnessed two American tanks exploding after hitting a road mine. All of those inside were killed. In Germany the civilians were leaving the area to get away from the Russians. A large horse-drawn wagon came down the road filled with people and their belongings. It hit a road mine that blew up the wagon, the people inside, and the horses. It is reported that the 29th Infantry Division had more casualties than any other division in Europe. A book that i have states that the division received 19,815 replacements. The division was 15,500 strong when we made the invasion in France. Seventeen men of a group of 150 from this area in Alabama came back with me. When asked hoe I survived, I have one reply: 'My Mother's prayers.'

"The prison camps and gas chambers in Germany are almost more than I can talk about now--even after all of these years. I still see those scenes in my sleep some nights. As I get older I think about it more, and as I fight the battles at night it is as clear in my mind as if it had happened a month ago. I never saw German prisoners of war mistreated. We were American soldiers. We only killed people when it was "kill or be killed.' That is what we were trained to do, and we did our job."

After the war ended, He served in the Army of Occupation for about four months before returning to the US October 10,1945.

I can not even begin to imagine what all he went through but what I DO know is that he did it for his country and for our freedom!!!

Excerpt from : Hornoring Them: A History of World War II Veterans from Dekalb County, Alabama.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD'S GREATEST DADDY!!!!

Daddy,

I am so proud to call you my Dad! God couldn't have hand picked a better one for me! Thank you for all the things you have ever done for me and will do for me in the future! Oh Yeah........Have I mentioned the fact that I love that you are retired? I love knowing that I can see you any time I want to now???? Thank you for being a wonderful Granddaddy to Andrew too! I know he loves spending lots of time with you!!! We are truly blessed to have you in ours lives!! Nick thinks so too!!! HEHEHEHE!!! Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Love Your Favorite Baby Girl!!!! (wink wink)

Melissa