Astounding Generosity

Church was awesome this morning! It was our cd release and Wade had worked so hard on that project so it was so nice to see the final product ready to be handed out. Pastor Steven talked about our story and Wade got to share the details of going to Cincinnati up to what we are going through now. It was a powerful time as Wade shared how we are praying for Liana and Adleigh to be completely healed and that God would move so mightily on their behalf that everyone including the doctors and nurses can only say that it is from God. At the end there was a time for other people going through very difficult circumstances to come to the altar (aka front of the high school auditorium) to pray their "sun stand still" prayers. Also, Pastor Steven decided to give all the money the church made from selling the cds today to us. He wanted to make sure we were taken care of during this time. Our church is so generous and we found out we received more money than we could have ever hoped for. I am in awe of how good God is and how He takes care of us and I am also in awe of how our church family bought cds like crazy to support us. I feel completely surrounded by a church family that loves and cares for us so much.

Liana had another amazing day today. She went down from being at level 6 on her CPAP to level 5 and was already around room air. She is now eating 5 ml every 3 hours and I think at her next feeding they are going to move her up to 6 ml. I got to hold her again today. It wasn't kangaroo care. It was just holding her in the blanket for about 15 minutes. But I got to see her face this way. She did really well. She seemed to settle in and all her vitals were really good.

Adleigh is still fighting her infection. The second blood culture they took to see if the antibiotic was working came back positive. So they took out her IV line in case that was the source of the infection and are trying to find out if they need to make any changes to her antibiotics. She was supposed to have her spinal fluid checked today, but they were unable to do it so I think it is going to happen sometime in the middle of the night tonight. It seemed like her symptoms were better today, but when Wade visited her tonight the nurse told him that she had a fever and she was having more bradys. By the way, I got to hold Adleigh in some blankets for about 15 minutes today. The nurse said that she thought she just needed to be held by her mom for a little bit and sure enough as soon as I held her all her vitals were great and she looked so peaceful.

We are praying hard for Adleigh right now. She needs to get over this infection. We are praying specifically that there will be no infection in her spinal fluid and that she will be able to fight off the infection in her blood quickly. Thank you to all the people who are joining with us to pray!

Doing Better

Today we found out that Adleigh's blood culture came back with an infection. They had already started her on the antibiotics and it looks like she is responding well to the medicine and she is having a better day. She was having fewer brady episodes and her temperature was a little better. She even had a bath today and was without her CPAP for 30 minutes and was doing great! Tomorrow they are going to check her spinal fluid to make sure nothing has gone into that. We are asking that you pray this antibiotic kills all the infection and that nothing has crossed over into her spinal fluid.

Liana had an exceptional day. She went from being at 60% on her oxygen levels last night to 30% today. At one point she was down to 25%. The goal is to be at 21% because that is the level of oxygen that you and I breathe. She is doing so well! I got to kangaroo care her again today. This time it went a lot better. She seemed to snuggle in but she kept desaturating so I could only hold her for about 30 minutes. She is eating now and is up to 4 ml!

July 4th for the girls

Happy 4th of July. I am having an early update today!

We went to see the girls today and Adleigh was having a bit of a rough day. She was having a lot of apnea and bradycardia episodes. They decided to check her blood to see if she was fighting an infection. The results we got back aren't crazy bad, but it is a little suspicious. They are doing a blood culture and we will see if anything comes back from that. They will check that every few hours until 48 hours or so passes. We are praying that they don't find anything and that she has no infection. Adleigh also got taken off the nasal cannula and put back on a different type of CPAP so that she could have a little more assistance breathing. When we were in there (when she was still on the nasal cannula) she had an episode where her heart rate dropped like 3 times back to back and I had to keep patting her stomach or feet to stimulate her and help her breathe and get her heart rate up. But now that she is on the CPAP she is doing a lot better.

Liana had a pretty rough night last night. She was desaturating on her oxygen a lot during the night and had to have her level put up to 100%. She also had a little bit of a fever last night, but they think that it had to do with taking her off her pain medication so fast. Today when we got there she had been weaned down to 60% on her oxygen and the doctor said that they would just keep her on the CPAP and keep seeing how she does. We continue to pray that her lungs get stronger and that she can stay on the CPAP at a lower oxygen level.

Thank you for the continued prayers!

A greater power

Can you believe Liana was on the CPAP today? Just two days ago the doctors were unsure of how she would do with her breathing and now she is doing so well. She is very sensitive to touch and sounds right now. The nurses told us that they are giving her as little stimulation as possible and we even noticed when we talked beside her bed her vitals would drop. So we decided to let her rest today. We are letting her get used to her CPAP and focus on breathing.
Adleigh is still on her nasal cannula and doing great. She does have some bouts of bradycardia, but that is normal for preemies. It gets a little scary though when a nurse tells you to stick your hand in there and pat your baby to make her heart rate go back up. We think that will go away around 33 to 34 weeks.
We have been thanking God for giving us such a great day. I read this verse today that really encouraged me.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said. 2 Chronicles 32:7-8
Later on you read that God sent an angel to annihilate Assyria's army once Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed for God to help them. I want to be strong and courageous through this battle that we have. There is a much greater power working in our girls than just the tubes and machines hooked up to them. There is the power of our mighty God who is helping us and fighting our battles for us.

One another note, the NICU has been a place where we have gotten to meet a lot of families. One family we are friends with now is Kayleigh's parents Adam and Aimee. Their daughter was born at 1 lb and 1 ounce and dropped to 13 ounces at one point. She is beautiful and you should check out their blog about her.

Today was Amazing

God gave me the best day ever! When we arrived at the hospital I found out that Adleigh's PDA opening is now really small. They think that since she is a little older it may close on its own. She is doing so well with breathing that the doctors want to do everything they can to avoid surgery. So we are going to continue waiting and we will see God close up that opening! Then we found out from the doctors that Liana had been taken off the oscillator and is now on the regular ventilator!!! God completely amazed us. We had no idea she would be taken off that soon. She is doing so well with all of the settings and they are weaning her off as fast as possible. They hope to put her on the bubble CPAP either tomorrow or the day after. I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am to God for bringing Liana this far so quickly. Just two days ago we were hearing from the doctors how her lungs were so sick and now with God healing her through the steroids she has progressed so fast.

Wade got to kangaroo care Adleigh tonight and he loved it. He smiled the entire time and when we put her back in her isolette I heard him tell Adleigh that holding her was the greatest thing he has gotten to do. Tonight he got to be a real dad. He held her for a whole hour.
Then to top everything off we went to go visit Liana and our nurse said we could kangaroo care her on the ventilator! She was very squirmy and I think the shirt that I had on wasn't the most comfortable to her so it didn't last too long. But just getting to hold my daughter (that has gone through so much) for the first time on her two week birthday was completely amazing. I was the proudest mama ever and I can't wait to hold her again. I can now say that after them being two weeks old I have held both of my daughters. Praise our gracious God! I can't believe how good He has been to us.

Answering Prayers

We had a great day with both girls. I got to do Kangaroo care with Adleigh and I held her for an hour. I finally felt like a mom since I got to hold one of my daughters for an extended period of time. Adleigh had the last dose of the medication to close her PDA at 2:30 pm and she will have an echo in the morning to see if it has closed. I really believe we will hear tomorrow that the medication was successful. Here are two pictures of Adleigh. She is so funny with her hands.

Liana is responding well to the steroid shots! Praise the Lord! When we went in there today she was down to 35% of oxygen needed on the oscillator. We are so thankful that the Lord is healing her lungs and making it a lot easier for her to breathe. We believe she will be off that oscillator soon. She also has been eating some. The past feeding she didn't digest, but it has been good to start the process of preparing her digestive system. Liana having MRSA has changed our routine quite a bit. We aren't supposed to go back and forth between the nurseries now, but I think that Liana's new spot is going to be much better for her. It is quieter than her old spot and darker. She doesn't seem to like much stimulation right now so this seems better for her. This is Liana and she has our new blankets under her.

Please pray for:

I think the best thing for me to type is our major prayer requests for our girls.

• Adleigh's PDA to close. Her hole has gotten larger and the doctors put her on the medication they used to use that has more side effects but they believe had a greater rate of closing the hole. She is only going to go one round on it and we will find out on Wed. if it has worked. We need everyone to pray that this hole will close with this medication. If it doesn't close with the medication then they will do the surgery and that may set her back a little with her breathing.
  
• Liana's lungs to become stronger. Liana was put on a round of steriods. The doctor said her lungs are very sick, the sickest in the nursery. She has been having a lot of difficulty in this area and has been on the oscillator for a long time. They really need her lungs to get stronger and move on to the next step. Steroids are the last thing they can really do in an effort to help out the lungs so she really needs to respond well to this treatment.
• Liana's MRSA. We just found out about this one late in the afternoon, but Liana somehow got MRSA. I really have no idea how to explain this one except to say that Liana had to be moved into a different nursery where each baby there has MRSA. They are isolated from the other babies. This has something to do with staff infections, but she doesn't have an infection she just has a bacteria that is resistant to the medicine they would give for it.

Praising God

I went to church today and it was so amazing to be back with so many people worshiping our God. I loved singing out songs that declared how great our God is!
Adleigh had a good day. She was on the nasal cannula today and she looked so much more comfortable. She was eating some food, but they decided to stop that so they could watch her PDA a little more closely and give her digestive system some rest. Please pray that Adleigh's PDA closes on its own so that she won't need the surgery.
Liana is doing pretty well after the surgery. She had a few times where her oxygen level dropped really low and they had to give her more oxygen. Her incision looks good and the surgeon is happy with how she is doing. We just continue to pray that she stays in a stable condition and that she will get off of the oscillator soon.
God is using our girls to minister to a lot of people in the NICU, online, in our friends lives, and beyond all of that too. We are really excited to see how God specifically uses our daughters to make His name famous.

Liana's heart surgery

Well, today ended up being a complete roller coaster. We called this morning before we left for the hospital to check on the girls and they let us know that Liana's echo showed that her PDA was open and pretty large. They recommended surgery and were trying to get hold of the heart surgeon to coordinate everything. We got to the hospital as fast as we could and the surgeon came into the room while we were visiting with Liana. He told us that it would be within the hour that they would start the surgery so everything went so fast.
The surgery only lasted around 45 minutes and we prayed so hard for our little girl. She ended up doing really well and the surgeon said everything looked good. She will have to recover from the surgery, but after that we will see signs of her being able to breathe better and that will lead to her progressing a lot faster. We are so thankful to God for keeping her safe and guiding the doctor's hands. Here is a picture of our sweet Liana.

Adleigh had a great day. She actually got two drops of food today and digested it and her oxygen level on her CPAP is still really good. We are continuing to pray that her PDA will close by itself. For some reason Adleigh has a new nurse like everyday. But each one talks about how fiesty she is. We are going to have our hands full when they both come home.

A prayer for heart healing

I had plans to write my post early, but I have just been so exhausted today. The girls have had a great day today with all of their vitals. We found out that Adleigh's PDA has not closed yet. They don't want to do another course of the medication so we were given the options to wait it out or to do surgery. She is doing so well with her breathing that the doctor feels that hers could possibly go away on its own with time. So the plan is to watch her today, tomorrow, and so on to see if her breathing keeps getting better or worse. I specifically prayed over Adleigh's isolette that no surgery would be needed and that her PDA will close quickly.
Liana will have her echocardiogram tomorrow to see if her PDA is closed. If hers is not the doctors recommend that she immediately go into the surgery because her lungs cannot handle all the extra blood flow. We are praying hard for her that this PDA will be completely closed tomorrow and stay closed! She needs this so bad because she has more trouble breathing than her sister does. Our God is our healer and we know that He has Liana and Adleigh's health securely in His hands. Join us in praying tomorrow for their PDAs! Also, Liana had her bilirubin mask taken off today since she was no longer on phototherapy treatments and we finally got to see her beautiful little face. I don't think anyone could find two more gorgeous babies than mine!

How Great is Our God!

* I wrote this last night, but the video had trouble uploading. So here it is today!*

Another day with the girls in stable conditions! They seemed so peaceful today. It was pretty hard for me because this was the first day that I went to the hospital without Wade. It was even harder for him since he wasn't able to go see the girls until this evening.
Both Liana and Adleigh are on their medication to close their PDA's. We will find out tomorrow if Adleigh has closed and on Saturday about Liana's. We are praying hard that both will be closed because the medication they are on seems to have a negative effect on their kidneys.
Adleigh had her brain ultrasound today and I actually was in the room when they came around so I asked if I could stay. The ultrasound tech said that her head looks good!
God is so faithful and good to us. He has given us strength to handle the rough days and shown us how to rejoice in every situation. We are getting to know other families in the NICU and being an encouragement to them and also trying to speak words of how powerful our God is to the nurses and doctors. Apparently some nurses think we are in denial about the health of our girls since we have put scriptures on their isolettes. They will be amazed at the power of our awesome and mighty God when our girls are healed and leaving before any believes possible.

Here is a video of Adleigh having one of her temper tantrums. I am so thankful to hear a cry come out of that throat and to see arms and legs moving around!

One week

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. Your love oh Lord endures forever–do not abandon the works of Your hands.
Psalm 138:8

We left the hospital today. We were there for a week so it was pretty hard for me driving home today without having our two precious girls in the car with us. I got pretty emotional, but Wade was there to strengthen and encourage me and to speak truth into me that our girls will be with us soon and that God is doing something mighty in their lives and ours.

Liana had her brain scan today. It ended up being at 3 in the afternoon and then we had to wait until 9 to get the results back. First, I want to say THANK YOU for your prayers. We have been blown away by all the people that are standing with us in agreement that God has healed our daughters. Liana's scan came back that her brain bleed is starting to resolve. This means that everything is moving in the right direction as the blood is clotting and starting to dissipate. God is healing Liana and using this situation for us to talk to the doctors and nurses about our faith. We are continuing to pray our "sun stand still" prayers that Liana's brain will completely heal and that both girls will come home healthy and sooner than anyone expects. Also, we found out that Liana's heart valve (which we learned is called a PDA) reopened and she is having to go on another dose of the medication that can close it. Once this valve closes the doctors believe she will have a much easier time breathing so this is a very important prayer for Liana.

Adleigh is still trucking along. She is still on her CPAP and on the medication to close her PDA. I got some good touch time with Adleigh today and Wade and I sang to her. We got to see another one of her daily temper tantrums which at this age is a good thing. The fiesty ones have the advantage!

Please continue to pray for both of our girls. We can definitely feel the power of all of your prayers surrounding us and them. Please also pray the Lord will use us as an encouragement to all the other families in the NICU.

We love our girls

God has given us two great days back to back. Liana has been looking so peaceful. We had prayed that she would get off the breathing machine that made her shake and this morning she had been taken off of it! Praise God! We also found out today that the valve in her heart had been completely closed. So it is possible she might be able to eat something tomorrow. She is making so much progress and we are so proud of her. God is doing an amazing work on her little body.
Tomorrow, possibly between 3 and 6 am, is the brain scan on Liana. We have told both of her nurses that we have prayed for a complete healing. We placed some bible verses on both Liana's and Adleigh's isolettes that speak of the healing that the power of Jesus brings them. We are excited to see what God is going to do tomorrow through this brain scan and we can't wait to tell the doctors that it is all because of Jesus that she is healed.
Adleigh still never ceases to amaze us. She went almost 24 hours on her smaller oxygen tube, but then needed a little more help so they put her on the bubble CPAP again. We know she will be back on the other one soon though. Her heart scan showed that she still had the hole in her heart, but that it had gotten smaller. She is going on another round of the medication to help close this, so in three days we believe that that hole will be completely gone. We have been able to hear Adleigh's little cry a few times and every time my heart leaps. It is so exciting to hear a sound come from your daughter's lungs.
Besides all the medical stuff, Wade and I began to really feel like parents today. I got to take Liana's temperature and change her diaper and Wade did the same for Adleigh. We were so nervous because we were changing our daughters diapers for the first time, but it was also with like 5 wires and tubes to deal with. But afterwards we couldn't stop smiling! God is being so good to us and we are so thankful that He has our two precious daughters in His hands.

A Day of Progress

Today was truly a gift from God.

First off, Liana had a very stable day. Her heart rate is still a little high but it has slowed down significantly. She has done really well with her blood pressure and is now off of the medicine regulating that. She is still on an oscillator for breathing, but the doctors and nurses seem to think that it is likely she will be able to get off that machine soon and on to the next step for breathing. She was more relaxed and we were so proud at the progress she accomplished today.
(This is our precious little Liana)


Adleigh was a little diva this morning. She had been pulling off her CPAP (this bubble breathing tube) throughout the day and at one point even had it on her forehead and was breathing without any assistance. They decided to go ahead and see if she could handle the next step up which is just a small tube that looks way more comfortable than the CPAP did. She ended up doing amazing with it. Because of this progress we were able to hold little Adleigh for the first time today!!!!!!! Wade and I were so nervous, but once I started holding her she began to calm down and would look up into my eyes and even reached out with her hand and touched my face. As we were putting her back in her incubator, Wade was able to hold her and it was the sweetest moments I have ever experienced. As we walked out of her NICU nursery we were elated and were so joyful at the gift God had just given us of letting us hold one of our little girls. We can't wait until the day that we will be able to do this with Liana.
(This is us with our sweet Adleigh)

Our twins are here!

You might have read from Wade's blog that our two beautiful girls are now officially in this world. They are so precious and every feature is perfect, from the little curls on their head to their tiny toenails.
Liana Hope Joye and Adleigh Grace Joye were born June 18th from an emergency c-section because Liana went into distress. I will have to post a blog on the craziness of this past week.

I am going to use this blog to have updates on our girls progress. Right now Liana is going through a very difficult time, but we are standing firm that God will completely heal her. Please go read Wade's blog for the exact situation and how you can pray on our girls' behalf.

Here are some pictures so that you can see how gorgeous our baby girls are.

(This is Liana)
(Here is Adleigh as she is holding Wade's finger)
(This is Liana with Wade's mom's hand)
(Adleigh)
(Liana with her eyes open)

What's in your belly?

I came back a little while ago from going on a walk with Scooter. He is now laying by our glass door to our backyard completely stretched out and exhausted. I had one old man on our walk tell me the secret to a great pregnancy and quick recovery is walking, walking, walking. It is awesome how many random people talk to you when you are pregnant. I had a little girl come up to me at Coldstone yesterday and say, "What is in your belly...a baby?" To which I replied, "Yes, there are two babies in there." And then she walked up and poked me in the stomach. Seriously! It was the greatest thing ever.

Wade's parents came up yesterday and prepped the girls' room and the bathroom next to their room for painting. They come back today to prime and Saturday is the actual painting of the rooms. I think I am already in "nesting" mode because I want everything to just magically be in place. I have gone crazy about things needing to be organized. I am sure I am driving Wade insane. Don't worry Wade, we only have at the most 13 weeks to go!

I've lost my mind

Last night I was on my way back home from Lowe's. It is probably about 5 minutes from my house and it was almost 9 so not many cars were out. I was listening to some Bloc Party and I saw a little bug on my windshield. It looked like one of those flying ants...a type of bug if I found in my house I would normally kill instantly.

However last night I felt sorry for this little bug. Somehow he stumbled onto my windshield and had no idea he was in for the ride of his life. He clung on for dear life and would get a small break at a red light where he would then re-situate himself for the massive wind. I figured out that if the car went past 40 mph he had a harder time holding on. So of course I went 35 to 40 in a 45 mph speed zone. I had two cars whiz past me and probably thought I was some old lady who needed to stop driving but instead I was just some crazy preggo lady hoping to get this little bug to safety.

Have you missed me?

Yes it has been almost 2 weeks since I have posted last. A lot has been going on and I have just been a crazy person. We now know the girls are identical. That means that even though my grandmother is a twin and twins run in our family it has nothing to do with that! Identical twins are just random and there is no medical reason.

I have already been thinking how I will keep them different in my head those first few days. Painting the thumbnails? Writing on them with a sharpie? Any other suggestions?

We finally registered for baby stuff last Friday. I can't believe how much a baby needs (well I don't know if they NEED all that stuff or not, but it makes life easier!). And then to have to put 2 of some items ended up making our registry look massive. Babies R Us does need a better selection of double strollers. We ended up with this sterling (icy) blue color which I really love, but doesn't exactly scream two little girls. We took our friends Larry and Kelly to help us decide what was worth registering for and what ends up being only used once. They were a huge help and we would have been totally lost if they didn't come. Even Riley and Audrey were picking up stuff and helping us out!

Here is one of our ultrasound pics of the girls with their faces beside one another. Isn't the little hand of baby a so delicate and cute.

Happy Birthday Wade!

It is my amazing husband's birthday today! I am such a blessed woman to have him in my life and I love that today is a celebration for him. I made him muffins before he went to work and I think tonight we are going on a little birthday date. It is so crazy to think that by his birthday next year our family will have doubled and we will have two little girls crawling around. I love it!

Our cruise pics

We had an amazing time on our Caribbean cruise. The food was amazing, the places we visited were beautiful and it was so much fun being able to have a week to relax with my sweet husband. We even had our waiters sing Happy Anniversary to us. Here are a few snapshots of our week.

(This was our formal night. You can see the twin bump!)

(Our stop at Grand Cayman. Wade and I didn't mean to match.)

(My friend the crazy bird and my classic picture face.)

(Here is Wade's friend, the donkey who needs protection from the sun.)

(Our table and our waiters. The other couple we ate dinner with peaced out before we were able to get a pic with them.)

Going on a cruise

Wade and I leave in the morning (actually in like 10 hours since I am writing this at 12am) for our cruise. We are so excited. We will be celebrating our 3 year anniversary May 7th which is the final night of our cruise. I am super blessed to have such an amazing husband and these three years have been the best of my life. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next 50+ years!

The girls

The initial shock of knowing we are having twins is fading. I told Wade last night that I feel like I should chronicle this journey of being pregnant with twins through my blog, but the fact is that nothing is really different with me.
I am sorry for those of you that have horrible pregnancies but this has been so easy (knock on wood). Of all the things I have been looking up online apparently one of the symptoms of twins is increased morning sickness and fatigue in the first trimester. I hardly had any of that. In fact it was only like two times. I had a slow start to gaining weight. I am almost at 20 weeks and I have gained a total of 10 lbs. which is supposedly standard for one baby. I say all of this only to let you know how shocked we were when we found out it was two. You think we would have had some kind of indication. I took a little quiz online and answered questions about the likelihood of us having twins from my symptoms and such and it came back like 5% and said your chances are slim to none. Hmmm.
Now I know that I have the rest of my pregnancy left and I know it will be hard carrying two. I have noticed my legs cramp up more and my ribs hurt occasionally. So I am sure this pregnancy won't be all awesome. But the fact that I get to have two precious girls at the end makes me willing to endure anything for them. I just want them to stay put as long as possible so they are healthy.

The Update

So Wade and I found out today that we are having twin girls!!! We had no idea so it is definitely lots of excitement mixed with lots of shock. We had a boy name but no girls so I have to put in some time in my 100,000 baby names book to find 4 girl names (first and middle) and they have to at least sound good when you say them together. This is crazy!!!

The Big Day

So today it happens. We should be able to find out what the sex of the baby is at our ultrasound today. Not only is that really big, but this will be the first time we see our little baby squirming around and kicking and doing crazy things. I loved how Wade put it last night. He said in a way it is kind of the first time we will meet.

Any guesses on what it is?

Chick-fil-a

The other week Wade and I were on our way out of town and we decided to stop at Chick-fil-a to grab lunch at the drive-thru. I think most of us are fans of Chick-fil-a. I mean they have tasty chicken sandwiches and those hand-spun milkshakes. What more could you really ask for?

Well that afternoon the line was especially long. They had two guys stationed outside, one was going around asking if people needed a menu to look at in their car and the other was taking the orders. As we were waiting to give our order the menu guy came up to us and asked if we wanted any mints. I immediately told Wade to get them since I love mints and was so excited about how Chick-fil-a is really thinking about its customers. Well after a few seconds the guy came back and asked if we had a puppy in the car. Of course Scooter was in the back seat in his crate going with us out of town and we thought he might just say cute dog or something. Instead he reached in his pocket and took out a dog biscuit. What?!?! A dog biscuit at Chick-fil-a? That is amazing. Scooter gobbled it up and was loving life. And I of course go into this long drawn out speech to Wade about how amazing I think Chick-fil-a is because it has dog biscuits handy for its customers' dogs. I was very impressed.

Then fast forward about a week later. We ate a Chick-fil-a again. It started raining pretty hard outside and out of the corner of my eye I see two guys outside with umbrellas running up to their customers to walk them from their cars to the restaurant or vice versa. Maybe it is the pregnancy hormones but I got a little emotional seeing these guys help out their customers. Sure it is just good business, but what other restaurants (fast food ones at that) go out of their way to make sure you (and maybe your dog) have a pleasant experience when you dine with them? Most expensive restaurants wont walk you to your car when it rains!

So thank you Chick-fil-a for all your do and for thinking of the little things that can make someone's day just a little bit easier.

What a Weekend

I spent the entire weekend (from Saturday afternoon to Monday evening) vomiting. Apparently I either got some stomach bug or ate something bad. Who knows? But it was definitely not fun. The thing though is I could really care less about how it was affecting me. I just kept praying that it would be over soon so the baby wouldn't get dehydrated or feel sick. But I went to the doctor yesterday to make sure everything was okay and the baby was fine. Heart beating at 150 or so bpm.

It is amazing though how we revert back to our childhood days when our mom would take care of us. I just let Wade do everything for me. He was amazing and asked how he could serve me even though he had such a long day on Sunday. I am so blessed. But now I am feeling back to normal. I am still taking it slow eating, but things are getting better.

I have about 2 or 3 posts in my head so I don't have any reason not to get a good blog in within the next day or 2.

Graphic Design

Most of you probably know that I am a graphic designer. When Wade and I lived in Columbia, I was blessed to work part-time at our church there and also at an insurance company full-time doing graphic design. Right now I am still able to be the graphic designer for the church in South Carolina, but I would also like to add more freelance design projects.

I focus on print design which is logos, brochures, postcards, posters, book covers, business identities (letterheads, business cards, envelopes), etc. You can look at my website ferrisjoye.com to see my online portfolio.

If this is something that you or your company is needing then please email me at ferrisusc@hotmail.com.

Wedding season

Tomorrow Wade and I head off to Richmond, VA to see our wonderful friends Will and Sarah get married. I love weddings. I think once you are married you have this inner joy to see other people join the club.

Here are some of my reasons that I get so excited for my friends when they get married.
1. You get to wake up every morning next to your best friend. I love the mornings that Wade and I have a few extra minutes before one of us has to get up. We are sorta delirious and always end up laughing about something.
2. You have someone that is on your side no matter what. It means a lot to know that someone is there to support you when it seems everyone else is on the other side. And you become a team, a force to be reckoned with. Team Joye will take you down.
3. You are better together than you were by yourself. It is amazing how one's strengths help the others weakness and vice versa. Or how you can accomplish so much more with your different skill sets and gifts God has given each of you.
4. Your marriage only gets better with time. I know I have only been married basically three years, but I already see how things get richer with time. Our first year of marriage was AMAZING, but I am by far enjoying right now more.
5. It is fun to make babies. Wade might have told me to write that. I hope that isn't too scandalous for a blog.

Tagged...twice

My friend Rachel Olshine and Kelly Hubatka both tagged me in their blogs. I had been meaning to answer Rachel's (since she was first) but now I can do both of them at once!

Here are the rules for both:

• When tagged place the name of the person that tagged you and URL on your blog.
• Write 7 random facts about yourself.
• Name 7 bloggers that you are tagging.

1. I have a hate/no love relationship with my hair. I feel like I can never do anything with it and it is always so limp. I had one awesome haircut (thanks to Meredith Brock) that helped with this problem but it is back in full force now. But I am going to schedule a haircut soon so I won't complain anymore.

2. I love my house to be uncluttered. I want everything to have its place and if it was up to me we wouldn't have any personal items. But Wade couldn't live like this so I make do. But it is like pulling teeth for me to give my house a deep clean. I really need to vacuum and mop my house right now. You can see Scooter pawprints on the wood floors.

3. I am super awkward when you first meet me. Well you might not think so, but it is true. I have a partial shy side that comes out when I don't know someone, but I still want to make a good impression so I am trying to get out of my shyness but feeling super uncomfortable doing it. However, it usually makes for an interesting night.

4. I am the worst phone caller in the world. My friends from B-town probably feel like I don't care about them, but it is so hard for me to sit down and decide to call someone. I just hate talking on the phone. I try to make an effort but it usually only lasts for a week.

5. I have a slight fear of 18 wheelers. Whenever I am next to them on the road I either speed up to get by them as fast as I can or go really slow to avoid being frightened. I remember writing in 8th grade about our worst fear and instead of being snakes, spiders, or bees mine was 18 wheelers.

6. Some of you may know this, but I get mad at technology a lot. Wade makes fun of me because my profession is based all on technology but I feel like a lot of it has made life so impersonal. But what is stupid is the fact that I pretty much embrace it all. I just think back to simpler times and wonder how things might be different.

7. Last random fact...whenever I brush my teeth I take way longer than any normal person. I feel like I either have to sit down and chill for a few minutes or use the time to do something useful like make the bed, put clothes in the hamper, or clear the counter.

Here are my tagged ones.
Sharlie (my sister)
Meagan
Kelly Mac
Bradelyn
Candice
Felicia
Sarah

...Just testing you

This Wed. I will be 14 weeks pregnant...that's the 2nd trimester people! I went through pretty much the entire first trimester not even feeling nauseous. There was about two days in there that I did in the morning for about 5 minutes, but then was fine for the rest of the day. I haven't had any mood changes except for one random burst of tears when talking to Wade on the phone once, but I think a lot of that was from just missing him for the 3+ weeks he had been gone.

But last week I woke up, ate breakfast, still felt hungry, looked in the pantry, felt weird, ran to the bathroom, then threw up. So weird. One random day out of 13 weeks?!? It wasn't too bad though and so far no repeats so we are good!

I also received my first baby gift (except for two baby books Wade's mom had gotten). Sweet Amy Corbett got me a little onesie that is adorable. It says "Nothing's wrong...just testing you." I got a little emotional over receiving it because it is the first thing I have gotten that I could see our little baby wearing in my head.

Wade's mom and dad came up last week and we stopped into a baby store and Bev went giddy. She decided to get a gender neutral color (yellow) and got a little ensemble for the baby. It is super cute and even has little dogs on it so that Scooter got a little loving too.

And finally Wade, his parents, and I went to a Bobcats game. The Bobcats were victorious against Atlanta. We had a great time and Wade decided he wants to keep up with the Bobcats now. Wade got so excited when he saw Earl Boykins because is 5'5" and plays in the NBA! And he was awesome.

Baby Books

Before I got pregnant, I took about 6 books from my sister to get me baby ready. For the two months before I knew I was pregnant I would read something out of the books everyday. I would constantly search through the baby names book trying to find that perfect name to call a baby boy or girl. Then something happened...I found out I was pregnant. I pretty much stopped reading all of the books. I really don't understand why I would do this. Wouldn't you want to read up more when you are actually experiencing all of the stuff the books talk about? Wouldn't I be obsessing about what name I should give the little one growing inside me? Apparently not.
However, I am getting to the point where I think I need to start reading again. I am absolutely clueless about babies so I need to read up as much as I can. And since Wade and I like completely different names I am going to have to start looking so that I find the perfect blend of what we like.

I'm having a baby!

Well after 11 weeks of keeping it off my blog I am finally sharing to the world that I am pregnant! Wade and I just went to the doctor this morning to hear our baby's heartbeat. After 11 weeks of not really feeling any different, (no morning sickness, not much of a change in my energy level, etc) I was wondering if I had just imagined the whole thing. But baby Joye was ready to be heard and immediately after putting that heartbeat thing on my stomach his/her heartbeat filled the room. It is so amazing and I feel so blessed. Wade and I are ecstatic and we can't wait to be parents.
Here's a little video to listen to in case you are dying to hear the heartbeat too!

Today's Scoop

After wondering whether or not I should just delete my blog or just post something that tells you that there will be no new updates I realized that I was just taking the easy road out. I didn't start this blog so that I could entertain the thousands that come to my blog (yes, that is a joke). I started my blog...well first off because Wade started one ( and I have to be just like Wade) and then secondly because I just wanted to have a place where I could write down whatever I was thinking. In my earlier posts I talked about how this is a type of journal that I can't lose. I had many notebooks that were half full because I would eventually lose them or get tired of writing and stop. And I realized that was about to happen with this little blog. I refuse to let it. So here I am. I am going to make a promise that I will at least blog once a week, hopefully more if I have something to say.

Right now

I have a little post coming up with my sweet niece, but I have to edit some video AGAIN! And I just can't make myself sit down and edit it yet. So I decided to end the 10 day (or something close to that) blog drought and just let you know what is going on right now.

1. Wade is still in the studio. Kind of. I mean today he isn't but he leaves tomorrow and will be there until Friday night.
2. On Thursday, I am going to visit my husband in Atlanta so we can spend Valentine's together and then hopefully Friday I can get to see what is going on at the studio with the guys.
3. Can I tell you how excited I was about yesterday! It was our church's 2 year anniversary and it was amazing. An awesome morning (a fantastic message from Pastor Furtick), 165 baptisms!!!!, and a off the chain worship night where our voices were recorded so they can go on the cd, that way it will have the energy of an Elevation worship experience.
4. I have been horrible about working out. I am starting to feel like a slug or something. The guys being at the studio has made my life a little less structured so I have just fallen off the workout wagon. But I am going to get back...I promise.
5. I am just really horrible at blogging right now. I hope that in the coming weeks it will get better, but right now I just don't have much to say. It is like torture trying to pull something out of my brain to write about. Oh well!

Check Me Out (youth calendar)

I was asked to make a calendar for Mt Horeb's youth. They wanted something that could be put simple enough for parents to just glance at and understand. They also brought in a new youth minister and wanted to include a letter that the new youth director had written. They print these in-house I couldn't full-bleed anything. So I ended up making a bulletin board kind of feel with a mix of post-it notes, push pins, notecards, and a postcard with the letter to the youth group. There was also a back side with upcoming summer events that was put on a piece of notebook paper with a post-it paperclipped to it. I thought it was a simple, fun way to have a calendar.

Sweet Lost

So I hope each and every one of you are gearing up for the Lost premiere. It is one of our only fave shows that is coming on since the writer's strike is still going on. It is like a warm, breezy day after a dark winter. I thought that I was going to have to watch the show alone since some of us girls are for some reason going to eat right during the show, but sweet Beth Brown reminded me that she too is a lover of Lost. Thank goodness for DVR!

It has begun

It is official, Wade has left for the studio. He left last night and will be at the studio for three weeks with some breaks to come back for Sunday mornings. I am so sad. Wade and I are best friends and to not be able to hang out with your best friend for three weeks is so uncool.

But with all that being said, I know that this time in the studio is going to produce a worship cd that is going to be off the hook. They are all songs (except for one) that either Wade, Chris, Mack, or Pastor wrote so it is going to be great to have that cd to rock out to in the car. Keep praying for the guys as the have to stay healthy and be full of creativity as they produce the cd and then pray for me, Beth Brown, and Meredith Brock who are husbandless for a little bit.

(Wade on his way out of Charlotte and on to the studio)

My dear friend Meagan

Note to readers: Sorry it has been like a week since I last posted. I have been trying to figure out how to get this video I made onto my blog, but it was giganto so I had to keep compressing it without losing too much quality.

My friend Meagan came to visit me last Sunday and spent the night at our house. We grew up together. We went to the same church and school and formed a bond that would last a lifetime. We had so much fun and I was so glad she was able to visit!

(yes, I know we look like supermodels)

As some of you know, Scooter goes absolutely crazy over people. We have to put him outside so that he won't leap all over our guests. But since Meagan is such a good sport we opened the doors and allowed the craziness of Scooter to be unleashed upon her. I actually think this may be one of his calmer moments, but he is still really funny in it. Check out the rare footage of Scooter in action.

The Scooter Saga

Thursday evening Wade and I had just finished eating and had put on an episode of (you know what) CSI and were chilling. A few minutes into the show I said, "I don't hear Scooter." Usually that means somehow he got into our room and is standing in the tub or he found some tissue and tore it up into tiny pieces, but as I searched for him this time and he had gotten into a pack of Orbit chewing gum and ate it all. We thought we might should look up if gum is bad for dogs so when we did we found out that most gum isn't but Orbit which contains xylitol is like poison to dogs. I called the emergency vet and they said to give Scooter hydrogen peroxide to make him throw up. We tried twice, but couldn't get him to. So we made our trip to the emergency vet and made our trip to pick him back up 12 hours later. They had to monitor his glucose cause apparently it could lead to hypoglycemia and could mess up his liver. Scooter is fine now. We were worried for the little guy. He has two little bandages on his legs and they had to shave an arm, but he is super happy to be home. If only we had pet insurance.

I heart CSI

Wade and I have gotten into this crazy CSI: Crime Scene Investigation kick. Since the writer's strike is still happening all of our other shows that we were super excited about have been postponed. Thankfully CSI hasn't let us down, it comes on like every channel and has a marathon on every day so we have recorded them and have a CSI supply that will last us a long time. One of the reasons that we like it so much is because our fave character Greg Sanders is on it. He is super funny and our favorite Greg moment was this.
(Location CSI lab)
Warrick Brown: It looks the USB we found at her office is more than meets the eye.
Greg Sanders: So it is a transformer.

If you know me and Wade you might guess that we pausesd the show, laughed for awhile, rewound to hear it again, then laughed again. It is something that Wade would definitely say. Of course now Wade says that if he was a Crime Scene Investigator he would be just like Greg.

Can you see a resemblance?
Greg Sanders/Eric Szmanda (photo from IMDB)

Wade Joye

Ooo I brought back Would you Rather

Yes, Would you Rather used to be on Wednesday but I am bringing it back today for a special addition on this beautiful Monday.

Would you rather

Be able to hear any conversation
or
Be able to take back anything you say?

Saved by the Bell

This past Friday night our group of friends got together to celebrate Lori's and Buck's birthdays. But instead of the traditional party we went with a Saved by the Bell theme. It was really fun seeing every person commit to the 80s style and channel their inner Bayside High character. Of course Wade went as Zach Morris and then I attempted to go as Lisa Turtle but I didn't really look like her at all so I was just some random 80s girl. Here are some pictures to show you how awesome it was.

(We're so rad!)

(Kelly as Jesse Spano and Larry as "one of the mathletes")

(Rachel wearing her airbrushed tee and Buck is a Mexican version of Rambo dressed as A.C. Slater)

(The whole clan in 80's goodness)

Quick photo peek at our holiday

(The Joye clan on Christmas day, I'm so lucky to be part of this family!)


(My beautiful niece Pressley looking like an angel)


(The grandparents/my parents with sweet Pressley)


(Doesn't Wade look good with a baby!)

A new series

The holidays were amazing and I just kicked back, relaxed, and enjoyed time with my husband and our families. I think the gift I was the most excited about was my new digital camera (thanks to Wade) that can fit into my purse so whenever the need arises to take a picture I will have my camera at all times.

I am going to upload a few pictures from the holidays, but first I wanted to share with you this incredible video trailer that our creative department came up with for our new series "Made." I believe this is the best trailer I have ever seen for a sermon series and I am so proud that it came from our guys. I am sure you will enjoy it too.

A Grande Era

I don't know if any of you do this, but I get hooked on a certain channel for a period of time. Like I went through a Discovery Channel phase for about a month and then there is Animal Planet. One month might be TLC with the baby stories and then next it is TCM. TCM is Turner Classic Movies and that is the channel that I am stuck on now. I wouldn't say that I am an old movie lover, but something about the way most of the movies are black and white and how the actors don't seem anything like today's actors intrigues me. I love thinking about what life was like in that era-how it would feel if my life was an old black and white movie. I can just picture Wade with slick back hair, a dinner jacket on, and saying sweet nothings to me (oh wait he does that now, I'm so clever). Of course I would have the perfectly curled hair with bold lips, the big flowing dress, and the soft voice that sounded beautiful when I broke into a solo in my sitting room.

I wonder why those movies seem so beautiful and today's seem so digusting. Romantic comedies now are just full of stupid stuff that make you wish you hadn't paid the money to go see it. I wish they would take a cue from the older movies and focus on the development of the characters and have humor in the movie with witty lines instead of trying to get laughs with crude jokes. Why can't the men be the night in shining armor like the TCM movies instead of slobs or jerks that the leading ladies try to turn into a man.

Here's to Turner Classic Movies, a look back into a way of life that seems lovely (at least for this month, until I move onto Animal Planet).

The beast of change

I just had an amazing time with my friend Alyson today. She has been the friend I have had for the longest and we still are close. We go back to about 3rd grade and went on family vacations together and had tons of fun growing up. We would even sit on the phone and watch a tv show on school nights together just so we could occasionally speak up and say, "I can't believe she said that!" I have so many fond memories with her.
She recently got engaged and she will be the first one of my best friends to get married. As she was sitting at my house and we discussed what people were doing now in Belton she received a phone call from her fiance Brent. I could halfway hear the conversation between the two of them and they sounded so cute together and then I got this realization that will sound like I am an idiot to you, but it seemed so divine at the moment. I realized that the man on the end of her phone was the person she was going to spend the rest of her life with. I know that sounds like I am just stating the obvious, but she is my first friend to get married and for the 15+ years I have been her friend she has been a single woman. I don't know if this seemed so crazy for my head to grasp because I don't know Brent that well or because it will seem so different for Alyson to now be Mrs. Nelson. I can't quite grasp it.

I can't begin to imagine what my friends felt like when I got married. Here I was still in college at the ripe age of 20 and my friends were thinking about what class they could make an easy A in and I was planning a wedding. It didn't seem odd to me at all at the time, but when I am on the other end of it with sweet Alyson getting married a normal way it still seems weird. I must have been like an alien or something to my friends.

Anyway, all that being said it reminds me that change is always going to happen. And usually change is going to feel so weird and sometimes uncomfortable that you might just decide to not even consider the change. We are people that love familiarity and want things to follow the routine that we have neatly packaged, but the best things in life are going to be when we embrace the change. Alyson is going to be the happiest she has ever been when she gets married and I will have my best friend to share stories with and to live life with as a fellow married woman. It will be amazing and it all had to happen with change. Some of the best things in my life have happened because I left everything familiar to me and followed a path that I had no idea of the outcome. It was then that I have grown closest to my Lord and that I have been truly excited to see what God had planned for me-I knew it was going to be good because I wasn't in control of it anymore.

Where's the intensity?

I think this might be true for most of us. I was in the best shape of my life right when I got married. I worked out every other day for like and hour and a half. I lifted weights, did cardio, cut out all fast food, and ate really healthy. Why? Because I wanted to look the best I could for my husband (Wade and I called it the honeymoon bod). Well after I got married I haven't really stopped working out I just haven't had the same intensity with it. I haven't gone off the deep end with eating bad food I just don't mind hitting the desserts or grabbing a Big Mac every now and then.
Right after I moved to Charlotte I found my workout buddy Kelly. Although at the time we thought we were awesome with our 40 minute cardios and our 500 calorie burns we were sorely mistaken. We have since upped our workouts with some heavy weightlifting and some intense cardio and my entire body hurts.
When I look back on this whole workout history I wonder why it took so long for me to get serious again. I always wanted to be toned and have a healthy heart and body and I still wanted to look great to my husband. But there was this whole season that I just went through the motions, but didn't take any risks or endure any pain. I figured I was good to just maintain and I wanted to get by with giving as little effort as possible.

I see how this happens with us spiritually as well. I can look back at so many times in my life where I was pursuing God with every ounce of my being and then others where it felt like I was mainly just going through the motions. It doesn't take much for us to lose the focus or take our eyes away from the the goal. Sometimes I think we just give it a tiny bit of effort just so we can strike it off our list or so we can tell ourselves we are good little Christians. But the truth is if you aren't giving it your all you are still a slacker. It takes more than just having this feeling of maintaining your relationship with Christ. It takes upping the intensity and pushing past the pain. If we get to a season where it feels like we are just gliding along or just going through the motions then we need to evaluate how we are connecting with our Lord and then do something to make it a little more intense.

Oh the Joy of Marriage

Wade and I have the awesome privilege of doing marriage counseling for two of our friends. We had dinner with them last night to see what they want to get out of this kind of thing. To tell you the truth it seems like Wade and I are newlyweds still so it was kind of funny to be the wise old married couple at this dinner. But we are so excited to pour into this couple's life and share how things worked for us. I know two and a half years isn't long to be married but I feel like Wade and I have learned a lot from each other and we realized that alone we can't do this, but when we center our marriage and our lives on Christ then it makes us willing and joyful to lay down our selfishness for the sake of our husband/wife.

I am guessing that people must see this special glow around Wade that makes them want him to be part of their weddings because this past Saturday two of our other friends got married. And Wade had the honor of being the one that married them. On the day before and the hours leading up to the wedding I don't think I have ever seen Wade that nervous. But you would never have known it once he started. It seemed like he should take a side job of marrying people. I was so proud of him and so happy for our friends to be joining the married crowd!

So if you want a marriage tip of the day from counselors Wade and Ferris then it would be to never joke about divorce. Never use it as a way to scare your spouse. Just don't use it.

Christmas Thoughts

First off I want to thank everyone for giving Wade and me some great movies to put on our list. We finally have the tree up and stockings and I would say our house is looking pretty Christmasy. I am pretty shocked at how much scented candles are. I mean how hard it is to form wax into a cylinder shape. I am sure it isn't $15 worth.

Also, I am shocked (well not really shocked) that Target doesn't sell any Christian ornaments. I think it is lame that stores have taken it so far to remove Christ from Christmas. I understand stores having Happy Holiday things for sell so that they sell even to the the people who remove Christ from Christmas, but couldn't they keep the Christian stuff so Christians who shop at Target can buy those?

And I haven't done any Christmas shopping. I am really excited about it though. I mean I have Baby Pressley to buy for this year so that will make it fun and I can go to the mall during the day to shop for people so that makes it a little less hectic. Maybe I can knock everything out a few days next week. I can never decide if it is better to make a list of what I want to get people or just let the mall inspire me. Making the list takes a lot less time in the long run and I probably have gifts that are more thoughtful. There I decided to make a list this year.

The Christmas List

Wade and I are the couple that love Christmas but since we have been married we really haven't started any of our own family traditions. We did make our own Christmas ornaments for two years, but last year we ended up not doing that so there went our one tradition. So we decided this year to embrace the festive Christmas spirit and emerse ourselves in all its goodness. So right now we have two things on our list that must be done before Christmas.

Number one is a list of Christmas movies that we must watch before Christmas is over. The list is growing and right now we only have the Santa Clause trilogy and Polar Express. What other movies do you recommended to be added to our list?

Number two is that our fireplace has to be used at least one time. This is may not happen since we have a real fireplace and that means we have to go get wood and really start it and then who knows what we need to know about our chimney. So if this one doesn't happen I won't be too upset.

Then on my own (I guess this counts as three things) I want to make our home feel like Christmas. For previous years, if you weren't in the room with the Christmas tree then you wouldn't know it was Christmas at our house, but this year I want to embrace holiday hand towels and stock up on red and green candles and liven up the table with a christmas centerpiece.

So here is to Christmas and the need to go to the store and buy things to make it feel that way.

I fell off the universe

So I haven't blogged in awhile, but it is with good reason. Well first off I kept my niece like the last post said then there was Thanksgiving with family and you can't really get around to writing a blog with that much food around and then I got home and "it" hit me. "It" being the sickness that left me begging for relief for four days. Somehow I got a fever and a congestion so bad that the nurse at the doctor's office said it was the worst congestion she has heard in awhile. That is comforting. So thankfully Tuesday the doctor gave me some meds and I rested a little more and by Wednesday the fever was gone and the sore throat was feeling a little better. I still sound like I am pinching my nose if you talk to me on the phone and you don't want to know how much kleenex I go through, but I am on my way to recovery.

Hanging out with Baby Pressley

My sister had a conference to go to today and tomorrow in Columbia. So she brought my niece with her and I am getting to keep her for two days. If this would have happened three months ago I would be clueless on how to keep a baby, but since moving to Charlotte I learned how to change a diaper and be a little more natural around kids.

I am figuring out:
1. that you can't do much until it is naptime.
2. you better be good at doing stuff with one hand and a baby on the other hip.
3. that if you didn't have a baby in front of you some of the faces and sounds you make would be pretty embarrassing.
4. that bringing a baby to a new place means lots and lots of bags and hardly any of it is the mom's stuff.
5. being entertained by a toy only lasts for a few seconds.

I think I am well on my way to understanding the babies. Good times.

A logo on the side of the building

Last week I had the incredible opportunity to be part of Palmetto GBA's pie rally in order to celebrate their new brand look. What is interesting about all this is the fact that about a year ago Chris How (Palmetto GBA's web designer) and I worked on about 50 logos hoping one would get picked. As a graphic designer you think that the logo that will get picked will be the one you spent the most time on or that you were just really inspired with. But in this case the logo that was picked was my 11th hour logo. We actually had a meeting about which logos we would present to our company's president and one hour before that meeting I came up with my last logo and somehow everyone liked it.

Needless to say after about a year when they had the unveiling of the logo I was really excited. I have never had a logo that I designed roll off the side of a building. It was huge. I didn't bring my camera since I messed that up, but my boss George Nicholson had his and took some pictures of our design team.


(Chris How, George Nicholson, and me)


(The logo off the side of the building)


(Logo up close)

The Ball

Now that I am working from home I have taken over our one armchair and my storage ottoman has become the home of my computer and freaking awesome external hard drive. The armchair and ottoman are perfectly positioned in front of our sliding glass doors that lead to outside. And outside is Scooter.

Quick backstory...Scooter may really have an obsessive compulsive disorder. His first toy as a little puppy was a squeaky ball. I feel like his thought process with the ball may be as follows: "Oh my, it is my ball" "Is my tail waving fast enough to show my excitement to everyone?" " Wait, I caught a whiff of the ball over here...I can actually smell the trail!" "AHHHHH....the smell is glorious." (the AHHHH in my world is this ear piercing bark followed by smaller barks and this happens over and over again) So somewhere along the way any ball became this crazy obesessive toy. For awhile he got so crazy that balls were banned from our house. (It's a long story)

So back to my armchair. I sit working on my computer with my back to the sliding door. Then I hear a faint whimper which turns into a loud high pitched cry then on to a manic scratching on the door that makes me feel like any moment Scooter could bust down the door. So I put my computer down look over my shoulder and there he is. I walk to the door. He doesn't want to come in. He doesn't need anything. He drops the ball at my feet and gets a running start for the ball to come sailing to him through the air. And this happens maybe about 20 times during my workday.

Material Possession

Don't you hate it when you have some material possession that you like a lot and then you do something completely stupid and you get so upset but the only person responsible for messing it up in the first place is yourself?! Yep, that happened the other day to me. Last Christmas, Wade got me this macdaddy, awesome camera. I loved it. It was perfect since I was trying to get into photography more and it was a digital slr and had the most amazing picture quality. I have taken many a pictures with it and made a design out of it. So the other day I decided to get out my camera so Wade and I could take it to Uptown Charlotte and we could take some fun pictures. The battery was running low so I decided to charge it and I saw this other battery laying there. Since it was in my camera bag I decided it must be already charged and put it in. However, it was the wrong battery for the camera. I could smell this faint burning smell and Wade eventually got it out. But when I put the correct battery back in, the camera didn't work. So the limited warranty won't be effective since I messed it up myself! It is a very good lesson about materialism though. Yes, it is great to have a camera and it is good to use it since it cost a lot, but it is something that can be replaced or possibly fixed. I almost had a little pity party for myself, but Wade helped me through it. I realized there is absoultely no reason to let some small object like my camera cause me to break down.

Buck Teeth

Creative advertising can certainly put you ahead of your competitors. And it doesn't matter what kind of company you are...it is still important to think outside of the box.Take for example a doctor who specializes in children's teeth. I mean you would think their advertising would be a tooth for a magnet. Or maybe even some smiley face stickers or something. But this guy steps out and does this.



The orthodontist handed out these pacifiers to mothers and attached to it was his business card with a line saying get your child's teeth checked before it is too late. A interesting mix of something funny, but thought provoking. And if you were one of those moms you probably dialed his phone number immediately.

Is it bad that when I have kids I want to have a pacifier like this? I would laugh all the time!

Standing out as a Design Gangsta

As a graphic designer you have to do something to stand out above the rest. I still haven't figured out how to really do that, but this guy certainly did. I love how he uses all of the design terms and he goes past the wall of famous designers. Not to mention he is from my new state North Carolina. Pretty funny.