Some Christmas pictures.

As many of you know, Julie Roberts is an artist with the camera. I personally am a fan of the art of the renaissance so this picture of the hand of the Creator reaching down to the created (Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling) was always one of my favorites. It inspired me to suggest something for our photo shoot kind of in the same vein.






Little Eliza loves to latch on to my thumb or finger when she feeds. This close up reminded me of how Kristen and I got to participate with God in the creation of this little beauty. It is amazing to think that is what we did.


Here is one of our Christmas angel.

one of my favorites. My two best girls. What a blessed man I am!

A great reason to celebrate Christmas. I don't need any presents. Really. Okay maybe a completed dissertation...but that's it.

I may be only a little biased but....

I am pretty sure that besides the best looking wife ever, I am in the running for the cutest baby ever. If you don't believe that Photography is an art, you my friend, have never met Julie Roberts. She is more than a Photographer, she is an artist and someone we know as a friend and she makes my family, especially my baby...look good. So take a moment and see why I smile everyday....

just some thoughts...

First I have the prettiest and best wife ever. Kristen is the only Christmas present I need. She understands me, cares for me, and overlooks most of what I do. Plus she thinks I am funny and handsome? And by the way not to brag but I think my baby girl is the cutest thing ever. She is so much like her momma. Except she is a bit more of a morning person than Kristen. I love it in the morning when I change her diaper and she smiles so big that her eyes close. Now people can steal her away from me. But I can't wait till the day that she runs to me with a big smile because I am raising that child to be a daddy's girl. It is weird and humbling sometimes when I think that my relationship with Eliza will affect every male relationship she ever has. I hope that I can make her feel loved, valued, and protected so she grows up strong and secure and of course sassy.

In other news, I had my glucose tolerance test. No results yet. But I have been dieting about a month before it and have lost 15 pounds. Only about one person has noticed. Usually you have to lose about 30 before someone goes...dang are you losing weight? But I can tell. My shirts fit better and so do my pants. I am trying to get healthy not only to cure my possible problem with sugar but also my sleep apnea snoring issue. Plus I do feel better. and to end this post is a little movie of my princess. Her momma is the queen.

Christmas...

It is so exciting that I get to share my first Christmas with Kristen and our new little bundle of joy Eliza Mae. I love that kid. I really think that she is present enough to be honest. I know that she will be more interested in the paper and lights than any gift we get her but it will be her first celebration of the birth of Jesus with us. I hope that is what she always takes away from Christmas that it is about Jesus and not gifts.

In other news, Kristen and I saw this movie FireProof. It was pretty stirring emotionally and about how to "fireproof" a marriage. In the movie a guy tells his son to do the "love dare" it is a book that his wife wrote and has 40 days of trying to do things for your mate to draw yourself closer. Well the people in the movie actually published the book and it is on sale here http://www.amazon.com/Love-Dare-Stephen-Kendrick/dp/0805448853/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228491917&sr=8-1

It is a 40 day devotional where you read about an issue, you pray about it and then you have an action item. For instance the first lesson is on patience, and the first item is that you have to go one whole day without saying anything negative to your spouse. Then each day you add a different task on top of that one. It is hard but it puts all your energy into valuing your spouse. How many arguments would be avoided if you can't say anything negative? So far so good. I have been blessed with a beautiful woman who loves me and a wonderful child whose smile reminds me of her momma and teaches me that God is love. Happy Christmas early!

the help of family..

Kristen and I are so blessed to be around family that really love our baby and want to help us so much. Many of you my faithful readers will know this next lady very well....Teresa aka Mamaw or Big Momma. Whatever the name she is crazy....about our child...and when she can she helps us so much. She cooked Thanksgiving for us, a huge spread as Teresa only knows how to cook for a hundred people. It was soooo good.

Plus sometimes when she has a day off she comes down, babysits for us (giving my mom a spell) then cleans our house, buys us groceries and does our laundry. She once asked Kristen if I minded if she did my laundry. As the laundry person in the family...I was like what are you kidding me? But we just wanted to give a big shout out to our favorite ER nurse who has a crazy side that you have seen, (and will see again) and a great loving generous side which we see all the time. Just wanted to let Teresa know how much we (that's me too :) ) appreciate and love you and thank God for all you do for us and our little bundle of joy.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Tonight Kristen went to the store to shop for our Christmas party for our student small group tomorrow night. So Eliza and Daddy put up the Christmas tree. Actually Eliza watched from the comfort of her bouncy seat but as i put the tree up and added more lights, she would jump and smile and make happy noises which I interpreted to be that's awesome daddy. It was a great tradition to start.

our tree our first Christmas as parents of Eliza Mae.

I think Eliza had fun...

momma and her babies...

Some pics..

So our good friends Christy and Larry needed to borrow our house to have some awesome Julie Robert's photos taken. So Julie the awesome photographer that she is decided to give us a few photo shots for free for our trouble...even though it was no trouble at all. So here are a few of what's coming. I love my family.

our sweet girl....and she is daddy's girl...

a rare moment..but I swear this is the cutest....

the family..

I have got a lot to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving

I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. Excited about thanksgiving I have much for which to be thankful. However, it is uncertain what my future holds at my current job. I have not been renewed officially for next year due to budget cuts, however, there is still a possibility something might work out. Not sure. May not know for a while. In the midst of everything great in my life, this is the one bad. Well I know God has brought me through worse times before. I have till August 2009 to find something to do. I would love to continue teaching full time at Milligan but with the financial scare they are cutting back and it affects me.

I am going to apply at nearby colleges and see what shakes loose. I don't want to move anywhere although Charleston, SC does sound nice. Kristen has a great job and I would not want to move away from that and our families. Hopefully I will get my dissertation done before summer and that will help in my employment searching. Please pray that something opens up.

But we are excited that we get to see Crystal, Andrew and Finley and they get to see Eliza Mae our princess. So happy turkey day..

a visit to see Eliza

Papaw and Nana came to see us on Friday night. I mean to see Eliza. Eliza has started smiling a lot and I have got to tell you it is the most wonderful sight when she does. Here is a picture of her smiling at Papaw.


Uncle Arlis came, even though he needs a hair cut, and Uncle Josh and Aunt Eden came as well. Josh loves to give me a hard about UT football and his first words to me were "So what do you think about Phillip?" Meaning Phil Fulmer. He is very funny.


Nana got a suprise when Eliza decided for the first time to hold her own bottle. It was amazing. I am sure she is gifted...:)


In other news still uncertainty about my job for next year. Also apparently I have a condition known as "pre diabetes" it is when your blood sugar isn't quite bad enough to require insulin but usually because of extra pounds it is much more sensitive to sugar. My fasting blood sugar this a.m. was 116. I have a glucose tolerance test on Dec 9. But today starts day one of my new life where I will try to go low carb, no sugar, and lose 30-40 pounds. No problem right? This can help take care of the pre-diabetes thing. But I have to watch what I eat big time.

Well that's about it for today..

Uncertainty...

Tomorrow I meet with the Academic Dean at Milligan to discuss my future. I have a year to year contract as a non-tenured track Visiting Professor. So if the budget is tight which it is, if they need to cut someone they start with people like me first. I am a bit anxious about it and am trying to trust that God will take care of me no matter what but I also want to be some sort of provider for my family.

I would say there would have to be a good chance I was staying simply because I teach three sections of humanities a semester and that would displace about 64 students a semester that the other teachers would have to absorb. Plus one of the history profs is going on sabbatical next year. That would leave 5 open sections of Humanities in the Spring. So hopefully I can stay.



I so enjoy teaching at Milligan but I am making good progress on the dissertation. Once I get my Ph.D. I can look for other jobs as most schools won't hire you without it. I really feel like I do a good job at Milligan and have excellent rapport with the students, but I don't know if that will count for much. If I got a job at another school it might involve moving and Kristen has the ideal job at the VA. So I guess I could try to teach high school but would a school hire someone with a Ph.D.? I guess i should start looking. :(



If you are my friend just say a prayer for me. The family thing is working great and I am sure that somehow God will show me the way through it all. In other news here is the latest pic of my sweet daughter...

Mondays....

Well today Kristen goes back to work. Pray for her. She has really enjoyed being at home with the kid but sadly I make a teacher's living so we really need her income. And she has decided of late that truly God's ministry for her is her job and she feels good about it. I am glad. She really is a bright ray of sunshine in those people's lives.

But this is also the first day I dropped Eliza off at mom's. It went well of course. Eliza was smiling so much I barely wanted to leave. She is a cutie like her momma. In other news we got a new car. Our volvo began having transmission problems so we traded it before it died. We had spent so much on that car fixing it. We got a 2008 Honda Civic and the payment is almost the same...although the payoff date is a bit farther out in the future. But at least it runs. And it gets great Gas mileage. So we are happy.

Other news. I have finished two chapters of the dissertation and submitted them. No word yet but it feels good to be making progress. I have about 2 more to go. Hopefully by summer I will be Dr. Ted.

We also have been visiting at different churches lately. Nothing against our old church we just have a huge drive, and we want Eliza to grow up at a church with people she goes to school with. We have visited many and found some great and friendly churches in Johnson City. Right now we are visiting with Grace Fellowship. This is the church that kristen went to before dating and marrying me and I think she has always missed it. Their worship is incredible and the teaching there is so insightful, intellectual and engaging. Yesterday's sermon was on the persecuted church throughout the world. Grace has missionaries that are in countries that persecute Christians and we prayed for them collectively. They also talked about how we sometimes love the world more than we should and how we are so attached to it. It was very challenging. So we shall see what happens.

Off to teach Beowulf. Here's a pic of my daughter.

Eliza's first halloween

The outfit we had for Eliza was a bumble bee so Kristen decided that we all together would be the Bee---ooth family. So we were bumble bees. We went to church for trunk or treat and we hosted a trunk to help Christy's program out. We had a lot of fun and Eliza did pretty well. She got a bit sleepy at the end and it was cold.



we stopped by Mamaw and Granddaddy's first. They were very excited to see our little "bug" Eliza.


It seems I have seen this face before. On her momma. Love them both.

Eliza in the office

Eliza stopped by Daddy's office today to hang out while Momma ran an errand. So she helped me with my Dissertation a bit. I really loved having her here with me. I don't ever want her to feel like she is an interruption to what I am doing. I want her to feel like she is the reason for whatever I am doing. I am a blessed man.

Writer's block

I am at school and have the whole afternoon mapped out to write. So that means of course that I have that tendency to want to blog, or check facebook or walk down the hall or whatever instead of writing. But in an hour or so my girls will come visit me at work and Eliza and I will hang out here in my office. I love the idea of Eliza coming to my office and hanging out. I am sure once she gets here I will be inspired but will still not want to write..

Eliza's pictures

Hey everyone, including those at Lee Memorial Hospital, look at this site http://julierobertsphoto.instaproofs.com/ and click on Eliza Mae to see a slide show of the prettiest baby ever. But I might be a tad biased.

Also took Elvis, one of our dogs, to the vet today. Bill was 200 dollars. Wow. He needed some flea medicine and lots else. Hopefully this will fix him for a while. He was really good at the vet and laid on the table and didn't whine too much. Going to a football game tonight to see one of my good friend's dads inducted into the Science Hill Athletics Hall of Fame. Kristen and Eliza are in Lee County, the first time they have been away from me for the night. miss them already.

Some more pics

Here's Eliza in her little outfit before the game started. Momma gave her a head band so she wouldn't look like a boy. She is the cutest little vol ever.




Eliza and her daddy and our good friends Michelle and Josh and Moma all watched the UT game together. Eliza was all decked out and cheering for the Vols. But she did begin to yawn and fade as the game went on...much the way UT did.


Here I asked Eliza why the Vols lost? She wasn't sure...



Eliza even had a little burp cloth that said, "I spit orange." I imagine if that happened. That would be bad. So for you Lee County OR people, that means she likes Tennessee not that she has some kind of weird disorder....



And a final pic of Mamaw and Granddaddy. They really love having a grand kid that is close by. Eliza loves to hear them sing off key to her.



By the way, she keeps asking when is Papaw coming over...Hint, Hint....

First day at church and some more....

We went to Papaw's church in Jonesville to show Eliza off. Seems I had mentioned this on a previous post but apparently the entire medical and nursing staff of Lee Memorial read my blog and have been asking for more pics. So a big shout out to those of you who work in the OR or other places. If I ever have to get my galbladder out you guys are my first choice....


My two favorite girls. I love that from the beginning Eliza will know the name of Jesus. It truly makes me want to be a better man than I am knowing that she is here. God has blessed me a ton with these two ladies and I love them so much.


This is from our professional photo shoot from http://www.xanga.com/JulieRobertsPhotography If you go there you can see a slide show of her pictures. I just remembered that apparently wellmont in its wisdom blocks that site so write it down and look at home. It will be worth it I assure you. Julie is an artist with the camera and of course with my girls she has a lot to work with. More to come so don't get impatient with me....Thanks for peering into our lives....

My two girls....oxford style...

Here is a picture of Kristen and Eliza in their matching Oxford shirts that I bought when I was in England this summer. While I took a break from the Oxford library looking at 400 year old letters I decided to buy KRisten and Eliza matching outfits, even before Eliza was born. They look really cute and smart in them.


Eliza's says "Tiny Oxford." She is already our little scholar. I love that kid and her momma so much I want to bust sometimes. God has been so good to me beyond what I deserve. Everyday of my life is a great day.

My little girl...

Well the Braves didn't make the play offs but Eliza still looks awesome in her Braves PJs. Next year we will take her to a game. Can't wait. I so love this girl and of course her very cute Momma.

Eliza's first Sunday at Church...

We went to Eliza's Papaw's church this morning and it was Eliza's first day in Church. She did really well but did drift off to sleep during the sermon. It was so nice to be able to show her off. Kristen's dad was so excited to see us that he forgot to introduce us--he just introduced Eliza. that's okay we like her too.


Then we went to Pizza Hut to eat and Eliza seemed to be very happy about the whole thing. Christy says that little babies are smiling because they can see Angels that we can't. Sounds good to me. The thought of my little girl growing up in Church, going to VBS, attending Church camp, going on mission trips, makes me feel like my life has added some value to this world. I really love this kid and her momma. I love being a family.

Just because...

Well I found a website called http://www.makeaonesie.com/ where you can make your own onesies and upload pics, text, etc. So I have made one for Eliza and can't wait to show it off to you all. I know that especially Ruth Cook will be proud of it. I am excited.

Eliza saying hello

I recorded this so Crystal and Andrew could see Eliza up close. My new phone I got from ebay recorded it. I love this kid and her momma so much.

best friends....

Here is a picture of Callie and little Eliza. Callie is Uncle Larry's and Aunt Christy's youngest child. Eliza and Callie are already best friends and are wearing matching outfits given to them by Aunt Crystal and Uncle Andrew. Kristen wanted me to post this picture as soon as we took it so Crystal could see.


Of course Karisse had to mug for some face time herself. We love these kids so much. We are so blessed by God to be able to have a hand in watching these kids grow and learn how to love Jesus.

I have a hard time going to work in the morning because I miss Eliza and her momma so much while I am gone. I showed all my classes pictures of Eliza before I even started class. God has blessed me beyond what I ever hoped or dreamed. I have the most beautiful wife, who is also my best friend and my partner, and I have the most beautiful child who is the gleam of joy in my eye and I have the most wonderful friends. God has blessed us so much. Thank you God for all you do even when we don't deserve it.

Smiling...

This has to be more than gas. Kristen was talking to her and she smiled so big and I snuck up on her.

More on Eliza..

Here are a couple of her hospital going home pics. We sure love this kid.

eliza update

Well Eliza seemed to have a bit of an issue with wanting to nurse all the time. But we suspected that Kristen's milk had not come in so the doctor recommended that supplement with some formula after breast feeding. We started doing that and talk about a personality change. She never was too fussy but this time she could sleep like a champ. Once we fed her and she slept for 4 hours and we had to wake her up to feed her. It seems that she was simply hungry. So the hunger fix has helped her sleep better. Also she has started smiling...I know it is probably gas....it makes me smile sometimes too..but it still is the cutest thing ever. I LOVE THAT KID.



So here we go back to the doctor today to see if she gaining or at least maintaining some weight. Please pray all goes well. We are so stoked to have this bundle of creation and joy in our lives. Today her Papaw and some of his family are coming to visit--Papaw's daddy's sisters I think. Eliza is excited about seeing them. Eliza is really excited about meeting her Aunt Crystal and Uncle Andrew though and her playmate to be Finley. here are some pics of my girls. I love them madly.

I LOVE being a daddy.....

Look at this future freshman at Milligan. She will be the prettiest one there (just like her momma was)--especially in her daddy's heart.

At home with baby...

I am so excited that our little girl is here. But I will admit that there is a learning curve. Even changing diapers is a bit challenging as that little girl has some strong leg muscles and does not want to put them straight down, so I am afraid to man-handle her and pull them. Also when she cries, which is not often, but it still bothers me (she is mine I want her to feel good and secure) I don't always know what to do so I sing to her. I have chosen some bluegrass Gospel to sing to her and either sing The Uncloudy Day or Jesus loves me most of the time. It seems to work. But for the most part when she cries there is only one reason--hunger. And I can't help with that.

It also gets a bit stressful with all the family in. You want to preserve a careful balance of seeing everyone and letting everyone see her but you get a tad tired. When everyone is in you can't just lay on the couch in your underwear and watch tv. And I feel so much for Kristen. I think she is tired. She is healing, dealing with hormones and emotions, and is really the soul source of comfort for our child. So she is tired. I feel for her and at times feel totally helpless to help her. But I will say she is so beautiful as my baby's momma.


The other day I laid on the couch and Eliza and I watched some tv together. I love that kid. I am crazy about her. Only slight less crazy about her than her momma but still crazy in love with her. I highly recommend having a kid. It is such a miracle of God I can't even express it. Even when she cries I am still fascinated by her. I think she is a work of art even if I did participate in it. How can someone see the things I have and not believe in God.

Here are the words of Psalm 139 written so long ago, but still so relevant.

You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and

wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Here is a video of my girls...