Nothing too exciting has been going on around the Courington house this week. We had a good weekend. Walkfest, Brandi & Shirley came to visit, DeMarle party at mom's house, worship (the highlight of every week!), Hung blinds in the living room, Arby's Sunday night. It was a fun weekend - busy but fun.

This week has just been the usual week - cooking, taking care of Hannah, cleaning, etc. Hannah has learned to play in the laundry basket. I sit her in it and then slowly spin her around. She loves it. She has a ton of toys but it is the laundry basket that brings her the most enjoyment. She has been sleeping better at night and even taking two hour naps. I hope she keeps this up!! I am scared to say anything hoping I will not jinx myself. Also, today she said what I think might be her first word "Da-Da." Josh heard it too but I am not writing it down yet. I will give her a few more days and try to get a non-biased opinion to see if that is what she is saying or if I am just stretching it a little bit. I will let you know soon!

FRIDAY!!!

Even though I am not going to work everyday, I still love Friday! I guess because I know everyone else gets a break. I have been ready for Friday this week. So much has happened that has been on my mind - the VA Tech shooting & the Mary Winkler trial. All of this has had me all worked up! Another thing that has been on my mind is the Supreme Court shot down a woman's "right" to have a partial birth abortion. This is wonderful! I know there needs to be more done before abortion is stopped, but at least it hasn't gotten worse. I think this week has proven that murder is a term people don't like to think about or face anymore. Society tries to cover it up by calling it abortion or voluntary manslaughter. However, it all boils down to the same thing - taking a life. I just have to keep reminding myself that God is in control and He knows what is best! I am so thankful for that!

Okay I told myself I wasn't going to get all serious today because it doesn't reflect my mood. Wednesday night Emily & Clay spent the night with us. They are so hilarious! I didn't get any sleep - Clay goes to sleep late, Emily gets up early, and Hannah has just decided she doesn't know when she wants to sleep! Anyone have any ideas of how to get her to sleep through the night again?????

Yesterday we went to the church building to price stuff for the ICYC (Indian Creek Youth Camp) yard sale we are having in May. I am in charge of the Good Samaritans and this was the first project of the year. We had a good turn out and priced for a good three hours. There is still so much to price!

This morning I had a scare. I was logging onto the computer and Hannah was crawling around in the floor. I thought she was going after her Elmo DVD cover (by the way that is the reason for the blinkie - Hannah loves Elmo) and then I hear her gagging. I jerked her up and ran to the bathroom thinking she had already swallowed whatever it was and it was making her sick. I ran my finger in her mouth and fished out a price tag that was stuck to the roof of her mouth! Luckily everything is okay and I put her in her walker to watch Sesame Street while I typed this post! That little girl is FAST!

Tonight is the Walkfest and I am excited about it! I think Hannah will enjoy herself. She likes to be outside. The rest of the weekend has not been planned but I am sure it will be enjoyable! Hope your weekend is great too!

A few thoughts....

For those American Idol fans out there, I am pulling for Melinda Doolittle to win! I think there are several good singers this year, but she seems to be the strongest one. I know she has a strange look but she is my favorite. Plus, she seems so genuine. Who are your favorites?

In other serious matters, I know everyone is praying for the campus of Virgina Tech and the families that were affected there! How sad is it that there are individuals out there that are so depressed, alone, and angry that they not only want to commit suicide, but take out 32 other people with them? It is proof that not having Christ in your life is a very depressing life. I don't know how people get through the day when they do not believe in God. It is so sad! Now all of the gun control issues are being brought up again. Do people really believe that if they had given this man a 5 day waiting period that he wouldn't have committed this crime? He would have waited the 5 days and more than likely would have done the same thing or he would have used a bomb or something else to fulfill his agenda. The gun control lobbyist think that they can control crime but how can you really control someone that is sick enough to shoot 32 people without a shaking hand? Everyone that saw him said he was calm but determined. People always try to find something or someone to blame when things like this happen, but sometimes there is no way to prevent it from happening. I am not saying that the laws shouldn't make it a little more difficult to buy guns, but I don't think it is a magical solution.

Another serious matter that has been on my mind is the Mary Winkler trial. I have not been following everything that has happened in the trial, but I did hear a little on the local news yesterday. They said that the oldest daughter testified. What a terrible experience for this little girl! She had to see her dad after her mother shot him and now she has to testify at her mother's trial. I am just so sad that these little babies have to go through all of this! Please pray for them!

I normally do not like to post about sad stuff, but I just had to say something about these two things! Any thoughts?

Blinkies

I have become a little addicted to Blinkies. I think they are so cute. You will notice that I got a little carried away after spending hours with Emily last night at church looking at them.

We had a very good weekend. Friday for lunch Hannah & I went to Brookwood Village to meet mom & Cindy for lunch. On the way to meet them, I was in a "not so desirable" part of town. There was an SUV that stopped in the middle of the road in the right hand lane. I see a girl jump out of the driver side and a boy jump out of the passenger side. The girl runs around to his side and punches him right in the face. He was trying to get away from her but she was yelling and hitting him. I pass them and continue to look in my rear view mirror, thinking "please do not start shooting each other!" They get back in the car and drive off. After I was on the interstate I started thinking maybe I should have called the police, but I didn't really know what to do at the time. I just hope they worked it out! After we ate lunch, we did a little browsing at the mall and then went to Babies R' Us. This is my favorite store! I bought Hannah a little swimming pool for the summer. It is kind of ironic that I bought it on the day it turned very cold!

Friday night we went to eat with the usual Friday night crowd - David, Susan, MaMaw, Jared, Emily, Marty, & Susan. We ate at Dale's. It was VERY good! Saturday, Hannah & I stayed at home. I didn't want to get too far in case the weather was bad. It rained all day, but thankfully we did not have any bad storms. Saturday was my sister-in-law Jan's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAN!!! It was also our friend, Mark's birthday. We went to Mark & Shana's house for dinner. We ate steak (yum!) and then watched a movie.

Last night after church we stayed and ate pizza. Some played cards, some played with the Wii, some looked at blinkies for two hours. What a great weekend!

Friday the 13th

Hannah drank out of a sippy cup for the first time yesterday. She loved it! She drug it around forever - banging the cup on the ground and then taking a sip. I am so grateful for the no spill cups!

Last night Josh was watching his turkey hunting video and I was playing with Hannah. She was crawling around the living room and she went for Josh's cup, which I thought was empty. She takes it, rolls over on her back, and then dumps all of the ice in the cup on her head. She made the funniest face. Ice was all around her and she is just looking at us like, "What just happened?" We were laughing at her, Josh cleaned up the ice, and (still thinking the cup was empty) let her continue to play with the cup. She turns it up again to get a drink and more ice flies out on her head. She is trying her best to get a drink. She starts licking her lips and sucking on the cup. This time I KNOW the cup is empty so she plays with it a while. Then she starts to scream and we realize a very tiny piece of ice slid down her shirt. So, we removed the ice (and her shirt) and she had a great time playing with the cup, which is bigger than her head!

Lads to Leaders

Hannah with her cousins - Alex, Jasmine, Addi, & Levi.

Our Easter photo!

Ice Cream!

Hannah sporting her Steak N' Shake hat!
She loved the waterfalls!

The Easter Bunny visited Hannah & was very good to her.

We went to Nashville this weekend for the Lads to Leaders Convention. I can't remember what age I first went to convention. I think I was 8 or 9 years old. Lads to Leaders was great for our family. I didn't do speech and songs of praise, but Bible Bowl was a main topic at our house. We studied hard and I learned a lot. This was Hannah's first year at convention. I know she will learn so much from this program and will have many memories just like her mommy. Hannah did great on the trip. She only had one melt down and it was on the way out of the room. She was so tired and was asleep before we left the parking lot. She slept all the way home. We stopped by to see PaPaw & MaMaw Shadix in Decatur before coming home. They were happy to see Hannah.

All of the kids at church did a great job at L/L! I am so proud of each of them for their courage to do this program. I hope they keep up the good work! I am excited about 2008 and have many ideas for the Good Samaritans. If you read this - I hope you are ready to work!

More Pictures.....

It seems everyone loves the pictures - So I posted some more of Hannah moving around the house. She still army crawls everywhere but now she is getting on her feet. In the picture of her on her toes she was going after my drink. She knows that a straw in a cup means Coke.

This was a good weekend. Friday night, Amy kept Hannah and Josh & I had a date night. We stayed at home and watched the Pursuit of Happyness. It was a very good movie. Josh even stayed awake through the whole thing!

Saturday Amy, Mom, & I had a yard sale at Adam's new house. I made $7.50, but ended up in the hole because I bought a dryer from Adam.

Sunday after church we went to Alex's 16th birthday party. Happy Birthday, Alex.