BIG BIG News

Well, last weekend we moved to Kernersville!! It was very sudden and chaotic, but we did it! Josh and I have always said we wanted to end up closer to his side of the family. We tried to live here when we first got married, but couldn't find jobs. I wouldn't trade the last nine years in Union County for anything! We were there for so many things and getting to watch Will & Grace grow up was fun. We've known for years that our house on Luther Lane wouldn't be our 'forever home.' As far as mom, she isn't planning on staying where she is and we're pretty sure she will come closer to us, or closer to Damari. =) We were a little over an hour from her in Monroe and now we are right at 1.5 hours, so not a huge difference.

Josh's grandmother is getting older. Also, Josh's dad has 7 acres of land and Josh, as the oldest male, feels obligated to help. I totally agree. What about my family, you ask? They are ever precious and dear to me and while I've been excited, I've had moments of fear and great sadness. I'm leaving a lot, my dad, brothers, and sister. Not to mention a wonderful step mom and her family. I've had to keep what I'm gaining in sight. And realize that Concord Mills is about an hour away for my dad as well as us and we can meet there. Also, my dad and family are more apt to travel, so all in all I think everyone wine. I'm the oldest, but not the oldest male. My dad has a wife and two grown sons who can help with him and I'm never more than two hours away.

About a month ago we began to take the steps to make our dream a reality. We were looking for and applying for jobs and left the rest in God's hands. On October 14, I had an interview at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for a night position as a pediatric nurse. Tuesday I was offered and accepted the job.

Tuesday of last week, was a busy day followed by an insanely busy week. Tuesday I submitted my resignation to my current PRN position and began packing boxes. I packed and packed every free second I had. Damari tried to help by pulling the items out of the box as fast as I could put them in, so my packing was done during nap time. :) Thursday night, Josh and Blake went and picked up the UHaul and loaded a desk someone gave us. Friday Ricky and Devin (along with Kim and Braxton) came over to help and got the washer and dryer loader as well as the couch. Saturday Devin, Caleb and Drew helped get most of our stuff loaded, while my mom kept Damari at her house and we hit the road at 3 to head to our new home.

Side Note: Josh's cousin Caroline and her husband, Mark had recently relocated to Charleston, SC and their house in Kernersville was sitting empty. They graciously offered to lease it to us.

We had extremely smooth travels and arrived to our new house around 5 on Saturday evening. We were welcomed to the town by a crew of friends to help unload the truck. Seth (UNCG student) and Tay (NC State) were former Parkwood students Josh ministered to and befriended showed up. As did Steve and Shelly. Not to mention Josh's dad, sister and uncle. We had the truck unloaded and the kitchen 80% set up by 7:00 at which time we slowed down for some fellowship and pizza.

Tonight is my second night in our new home and Damari's first. We have had numerous visitors and have spent time with Memaw already. I've also already taken my first trip to Walgreens and Target, all of which are in town!

I'm not sure how I'll adjust being 60 seconds from a grocery store! :P I do believe I'll enjoy this.

Feeding the Ducks/Geese

We took Damari to feed the ducks, but there were mostly geese there. He wasn't so sure about what we were doing and the geese were crazy! They swarmed us and we were afraid to put Damari down. He just watched. He wouldn't share his bread with the geese, he ate it!

I really enjoyed this outing; it is something I remember doing in the same exact place with my grandpa and great grandfather years ago!

I'll continue to take Damari and maybe one day he'll share his bread with them!

Damari is ONE!!

Well, actually he's been one for half a month now! He's growing so fast. He is walking now and is very smart. He says several words, "Dada," "Mama," "Nonna," "Gigi," "Grace," "yes," "no," and "stinky." There may be others that I can't remember right now. We enjoy everyday with him. He is a very sweet child full of hugs, kisses, and laughter.

Cooling off

It is so hot lately, we have been miserable. Our upstairs a/c is broken so we have a window unit in Damari's room. He loves it! I hope you enjoy the video and stay cool. :)

Teething boy

Damari is currently working on his 4th tooth. It has been keeping him up at night and he is chewing on everything! I hope you enjoy the video.

Sick Boy

Damari has an upper respiratory infection and has been running fever for the past two days. He's pitiful and it breaks my heart. He does pretty well as long as I keep Motrin in him. Our pedi recommended me give Damari a popsicle to increase his fluid intake, but you know me all I could think about was the sugar! So, on the way home this morning I stopped at Target to buy some of the plastic molds to make your own popsicles. I bought some fruit juice and made Damari his own special popsicles (I diluted the juice with water). After his nap this afternoon, I thought we'd try one to see if it'd help Damari feel better. He wasn't so sure what to think at first, but then he got the hang of it and loved it! In addition to a special treat, I'll be giving him these when he's sick and I think it may help with teething as well.

Isn't he just the cutest thing, even when sick?

Play date!!

We had a play date yesterday! Damari had 3 friends over. Well, really I had three friends over to make baby food and see all the kids together. They were so cute. The children are growing so fast. We had a great time and made a lot of baby food! Its so much cheaper than buying baby food and I like it because it has no preservatives! Here are some pictures from the day. All four babies were sleeping at one time. It was so funny, they each were in a different room of the house! Damari really enjoyed playing with Malikye, Azaylee, and Leighra. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Its been too long...

Sorry for the delay in updates. We've been super busy! Three weekends ago was my last weekend at work! Yay! I'm going to pick up about 32 hours a month now and I'm so excited that I will be home more! Since the last post a lot has happened. We went to Smithfield and saw my great grandmother and Damari got to meet his great grandfather, Papa Jess, who was visiting from Houston, TX. We had a great visit. From there we went to Kernersville (Josh's home town) to visit Josh's family and we got some 6 month pictures taken of Damari by the best photographers ever! Smoot Photography rocks! We can't wait to see what magic TJ and Megan work this time. However, we all know it won't take too much to make our kid look good! ;) We came home late last Wednesday and spent a day or two at home recooperating.

Two weekends ago we went to see my mom, aka Nonna. We spent the weekend at her house with both of my brothers and Meghan (Blake's girlfriend). Sunday we went to Uwharrie National Park and had hotdogs and played a little disc golf. It was a little chilly, but we had a great time.

Damari did great with all our travels! He fits in with Josh and me so well! He was a little tired of his car seat, but overall he did excellent!
















This pic was taken late one night at Nonna's. We were watching a movie and Damari didn't want to go to bed...he didn't want to miss out on any of the fun, even though he was so tired.

Thank God Thursday: Dedicated Husband

I'm so thankful for Josh. He is so dedicated to me and our family. He is truly an amazing father. I love getting to see him and Damari spend time together. He is so intentional about spending time with Damari everyday. Josh is my best friend and we always have so much fun together. Last night we went out to dinner. We took Damari, but it was the first time since Damari has been born that it was just the 3 of us. Damari was a great boy and Josh and I really enjoyed it.

Josh and I decided this week that I'm going to cut my hours back even more. I'll be working one-third the hours I've been working. I'm so excited! We decided that Damari needs his mommy, not a sitter. I'm so thankful for the peace and confirmation we've received from numerous people! We are convinced that we are doing the right thing and we know that God will take care of us. Josh is dedicated to do what it takes to take care of our family and provide for us.






















Thank you Josh, I love you so much!

Wordless Wednesday: The Mom Song

I know we aren't close to this, but I still found it funny. I know I'll really be able to relate to this one day.

Mouthwatering Monday

I want to share a quick and easy recipe with you. I made this last Friday and it was really good. I just threw some ingredients together and it turned out better than I thought. I don't know what to call it, maybe you can suggest a name. I wish I'd taken a pic, but I didn't.

1Tbsp Olive Oil
2 cups of fresh Spinach (ours was from a bag that was getting old)
3/4 cup crumbled Feta Cheese (I used basil spiced feta)
1 can Italian Diced Tomatoes (undrained)
1tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Oregano
1tsp Garlic Salt

Add Olive oil to pan on medium-medium high heat. Add spinach and saute until wilted/soft. Add remaining ingredients and reduce heat to low. Serve over a bed of pasta of your choice. We used whole wheat spaghetti and it was so good.

I took it to work the next day. It can be eaten cold too!

Thank God Thursday

I'm going to try something new with our blog. Let me know if you like it or not after a week or so. Hopefully, this way I'll update it a little more.

Thank God Thursday

God is so good to Josh, Damari and me. He always has supplied all our needs. I want to thank God for allowing me to cut my hours back at work. Josh and I have talked and talked about this and we decided that the best thing for Damari is to have his mommy, not a sitter! So, instead of working three 12-hour shifts a week, I'll be working one 12 and one 8. This status will allow me to keep my benefits (ie health insurance) and have definite hours, even though I will not make as much money. Graybrooke business is really thriving and we pray it continues to do so. Our hopes are that one day I'll be able to be PRN, which is even less hours. I'd only be required to work 32 hours a month and I'd choose what days and what hours. It would be nice to not be scheduled to work. I do miss our weekend trips to visit family. Please pray that Graybrooke would continue to grow.

I hope you take time to thank God today for what HE is doing in your life.

And as always I'm thankful for this

Look at me!!

I can sit up now!!

New Hobby

I've recently gotten consumed with saving money by couponing! I've become slightly obsessed with it. I have several sites I check daily for new coupons and ideas. I thought I'd share them with you. My biggest issue right now is that I can't find a blog/site that matches coupons and sales for Lowe's foods. This is my favorite store right now. They double coupons everyday, you just have to ask! :) I frequent Lowe's foods, Target and CVS every week or every other week. I'm beginning to 'stockpile' many items and am hoping to be able to buy things only when on sale and combined with a coupon, making for a great deal! This is a challenge for me and I'm enjoying it. I've saved over $150 at Lowe's Foods last month alone!!! I'm currently looking for a cheap deep freezer to store all my good deals so I can stock up on even more!

Here are my favorite sites (in no particular order)....let me know if you have any that I don't know of yet!

http://www.momsneedtoknow.com/
http://neverpayretailagain.blogspot.com/
http://couponcravings.com/
http://hip2save.com/
http://www.southernsavers.com/
http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/

Maybe in a few months, I'll be better at this and have more time and be able to pair the coupons with the sale items at Lowe's Foods myself!


In Damari news: We have the newest Mac fan in our house!



He's a monkey too!

Busy Boy

Damari has been a busy boy! We've enjoyed the weather being nicer and have spent some time outside. Last week we tried out one of Damari's Christmas toys, (thank you Papa and Gigi). We will put it out in the yard when it gets warmer, but we tried it out in the garage for now. Damari seemed to like it pretty well.


Damari has visited all of his fellow baby friends in the last few weeks. We don't have pictures of each visit, but he's enjoyed hanging out with Malikye, Molly and Rayna and Azaylee. Malikye is a few weeks older, Azaylee is a couple weeks younger and Rayna is 2 months younger than Damari. He's got lots of friends his age to play with! Last night we were at Aaron and Ashley's house visiting with them and Azaylee. Damari borrowed her high chair and ate some cereal at their house. Damari and Azaylee were so cute together. They just kept staring at each other. Here is a pic of them holding hands...we didn't do this, they did!


And finally, just a few more random pictures of our growing boy. He's so happy all the time!

Damari & Guitar

Click to Play Video on YouTube

Damari Eating

Today we introduced Damari to solid foods, we started with a little oatmeal. Hope you enjoy the video. I propped the camera up and my hand gets in the way some...sorry.

Click to see video

Right after the video, Damari grabbed the spoon and tried to help me feed him.

4 months old and growing up fast

Even though my 4 month check up was a couple weeks ago, Mom wanted me to tell you my stats. I'm 14 lbs 7oz, (I've doubled my birth weight, which is right on track) and 24.25 inches long. Here are some recent pics, hope you enjoy!

A letter from Deborah

A good friend of ours recently traveled and served in Liberia. He spent some time at the orphanage and with Deborah! He brought back pictures of her and she is growing and maturing. He brought us a letter from her:

Dear Dad Josh and Mom Brooke,
Thank you for sending my things. I love you and miss you very much.
I play with Bro Seth and I like him.
Tell the baby hello for me.
Love
Deborah Jonah

Another bit of exciting news our friend Seth shared with us, is that Pastor Emmanuel is now calling Deborah, 'Deborah Jonah Robertson.' How exciting! We love this little girl so much and can't wait to hold her. Please continue to pray for a speedy and uncomplicated adoption process.

Past, Present, and Future

Looking back over 2009 it not only was a great year, but a big year for us! In January we found out we were going to be parents and were ecstatic. Josh was able to travel to and serve in Liberia in March and April of 2009 and meet the Jonah Family. We are still trying to find ways to serve those in Monrovia and at the orphanage. 2009 was the year that we found out about Deborah and the possibility to adopt her. August was the birth of our sweet son Damari and the next few months were spent adjusting to parenthood. December was when we got the great news that adoption was once again open in Liberia.


We celebrated New Year's last night with some of our close friends and family. We had our 4th annual New Year's Eve Party and it was a lot of fun. We didn't take as many pictures as normal, but here is one of our family right after midnight.

In 2008 we had no idea of all the blessings we would receive in 2009 and look forward to all the many things that will happen in 2010. We are most hopeful about continuing the adoption process and hopefully getting to bring another member into our house this year. Please continue to pray with us for a quick and easy adoption of process to bring Deborah to our home.