What it's all about

We love our church!  We love everything about our church.  We are so thankful that we made the decision as a family to look for a new church home after Gavin was born and for the last (almost) 2 years we have been abundantly blessed by great teachings, awesome ministries, and some wonderful, Godly friends!  

We joined a small group a little over a year ago and immediately had 8 TRUE friends!  This weekend we're having a "child dedication" for the 3 kids at one of the couples homes, the Lutz family.  They have been working very hard the past few weeks getting their yard and flower beds looking good!  Last week at group, they expressed a need for time and energy to get it all finished and were hoping it could be done before they had lots of visitors coming over.  We could tell this was weighing heavy on their hearts so, our group decided to help them out.  We all showed up at their home Monday night with shovels, gloves, and lots of tools ready to work.  Within an hour and a half we had finished everything.  There wasn't a single weed left, a dead branch anywhere, and even their palm trees got a trimming.  It was amazing to watch everyone throw themselves into this project with willing hearts!  Our church always talks about how your small group should be your 2am friends-- friends you can call at any time in any situation and they will be there.  Obviously, this wasn't a dire situation, however, we saw the need and wanted to serve them and be a blessing.  That's what Jesus did-- he served the people!  

We had a great time with all of our friends and loved getting to spend time together!  We really are going to miss these people!  Of course, when I remembered I wanted to take pictures, it was when all of us girls were taking a break, so there's no evidence of us "working", but trust me, we did!  Check out the Lutz's blog and see the after pics of us relaxing as well as what was collected from their backyard!   

We brought Gavin who played and ran around the entire time.  He was a little obsessed with all the sharp tools laying around-- thankfully, everyone had an eye on him and would take them away from him.  He had a grand ole time just moving from one flower bed to another watching what everyone was doing and helping out where he could!  He's too cute!  

All About Gavin

Well, hello there!  I'm sure some of you are tired of seeing the same post, posted for the last week.  We have had a very busy week- relators, celebrations, all day demonstration events, house projects, and more.  So, get ready, I'm planning/hoping on making a new post everyday to update you all on things going on in the Perry house!  

I did finally have the chance to upload pictures from my phone onto my computer that have been held hostage for the last few months.  All the pictures are random and from different events, but I still wanted to share them!

Gavin loves wearing his back packs (he has 3 of them).  We usually switch them at least once a week and he likes to put some toys in them and walk around with them on his back.  It's really cute b/c they hit his bottom when he walks and he turns around to see what's touching him.  He's gotten use to it and is very proud when he wears them!

I found this CUTE lawn chair at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago of a frog and waited until it went on sale to get it for him.  He now sits in it in the back yard with us in the evenings while we're winding down for the night!  To say he loves it would be an understatement.

HAHA! I laugh at this picture every time I see it.  This was a few months ago (hence the long sleeves), but it was his first time to ride in on of these type buggies at the store.  He thoroughly enjoyed the "ride" and stayed in the furniture store much longer than expected thanks to getting to "drive" around!  Now, anywhere we go and he sees want this is is preferred method of riding!  Just yesterday, we went to Krogers, and they have the cars attached to the end of their buggies-- he decided he wanted to ride in that!  I'm happy for him that those buggies are entertainment for him, however, getting him out of it when we were done shopping-- NOT SO FUN!  We'll have to work on that though!

This is another sweet moment picture.  A few weeks ago, I watched Gavin's friend Peyton, and we made a pallet on the floor for the kids to lay on.  For the next few days, Gavin would gather up his blankets and make his own little pallet.  If you know Gavin, you know he doesn't normally sit or lay still for much length of time, but when on his pallet, he'd stay there all day if he could.  

On our way to Gulf Shores a few weeks ago, we stopped in Lake Charles to see Audrey Kate who had come home from the hospital.  We were so excited to get to see her and hold her and kiss her!  You can see her in the background of this picture getting her diaper changed.  David is starting to walk when holding on to furniture so naturally, Gavin loved getting to hang out with David.  These two are soooo cute together!  It won't be long and they will be chasing each other all around!  

Also, on our way back from Gulf Shores, we stopped in Baton Rouge to grab a quick bite to eat for lunch.  Before leaving, we decided to take Gavin to Counter Culture, my FAVORITE yogurt shop in BR, and let him have his first Humphrey!  They are delicious!  Frozen yogurt, granola, honey, strawberry, grape, and banana! YUMMY! He loved it and was excited when we put this in front of him!

This is our child being himself.  He is such a ham for the camera.  It is now a habit for him.. the moment he sees a camera he smiles and says cheese even if the camera isn't on him!  

It's been really fun to watch his personality come out over the past few weeks.  He's talking more, repeating us with words and sounds that actually sound correct.  He has an opinion on the type of shoes he wears, has stopped drinking soy milk (sort of), and prefers regular milk with chocolate in it.  He is obsessed with broccoli and the moment he hears the bath water running he attempts to take his clothes off OR would be okay getting in the tub with all his clothes on.  He still sleeps in his crib.  Even after the day he started climbing out, he has never tried to climb out again.  He stays in his crib and calls for me when he's ready to get up.  We tried seeing if he would climb out to us this past Saturday, but he wouldn't... he looked at us and said, "No No".  At least we know he listens to us when we tell him something.  We're totally okay with him not being in a big boy bed.  We'd have to change up his room a lot (by taking out his changing table and/or rocker to fit the twin bed) and we don't want to have to do that when we're about to get our stuff packed up anyways.  As long as he isn't climbing out, we're good with the crib!  

Stay tuned for more posts this week!

Trying to Get things Ready

WHOA!  Have we been busy this past week!  Brooks received his offer letter last week making his job "official" in Saudi and giving us the go ahead to start the process of EVERYTHING that must be done before moving.  We've been focusing on getting the house ready to go on the market.  With that, meant removing our dining room chandelier (we don't want to sell it with the house).  Gavin, of course, has been a huge help in our process and thought he'd give his daddy a hand with the chandelier!  I'm telling you- anything Brooks is doing Gavin HAS to be doing it too.  I love it!  Too cute!  

There is a young couple who we met last summer that already moved to Saudi in August and they were gracious to send us pictures of the closets and cabinet space in the villas (which we are hoping to get).  We decided to pick up some drawer systems to install into the closet systems that do not have any drawers- just two shelves (our friends, the Sperlings' did this and gave us the great idea).  Friday morning we arrived at The Container Store and had a really friendly worker lady help us design and create a drawer system that worked for us!  We ended up leaving with a lot of stuff.  We even got a few of those space bags that you can vacuum out the air and it shrinks the size of your storage.  I hope they work-- they will come in handy for our winter stuff, Gavin's clothes he grows out of as well as clothes we already have that he can grow into.  

The drawers!

While we are trying to get the house ready to be put on the market and ready to sell, we have started going through all of our stuff.  We realized we have a lot of stuff, too.  A majority of what's left in our house are items we are planning on putting in storage or taking with us.  The problem we are having is deciding what to take and what to leave.  Plus, we need a majority of our stuff to be packed up just to get out of the way to make closets look bigger and areas around the house less cluttered.  We started to tackle Gavin's toys, but quickly put all of it outside in the garage and agreed we'd deal with it later.  We really don't know what we're going to do with all his toys, just look: (and this is only half of them)

On Saturday, some of the guys from our small group came over and helped Brooks with his projects.  They re-mulched the yard, trimmed all the bushes, laid down some new base boards, painted base boards, and did a few more projects that required a nail gun, air compressor, and a saw.  While they were busy with all of that, I cleaned out Gavin's closet and got things organized.  I WISH I would have taken a before picture, but I wasn't thinking I was going to document all of this.  Here's his closet after putting up all his winter clothes, finding a place for his extra diapers and wipes, organizing all of his luggage and bag pieces, and putting up "baby" stuff that's been in his closet since he was born.  I will be honest and tell you that we haven't see the bottom of Gavin's closet, probably, since he was 3 months old!  Wow!  What a difference makes just putting things away.  

I never knew it could look this good! 

Saturday evening, once we put Gavin down for the night, Brooks and I went into our closet.  Our closet is huge and is one of the reasons we bought our house (that and the master bathroom)!  We didn't realize how much stuff we stored inside our closet until we started taking it all out.  We cleaned out, once again, clothes and accessories that we are going to get rid of- that's our 3rd time in the last 2 months- then we bagged up all of our winter clothes, and left only clothes that we intend on wearing during the next few months.  We bagged up clothes that we are willing to send over in our shipment and not see for a while.  We packed up shoes, purses, hats, and bags into some of our suitcases and sent those to the attic.  I decided to keep out 5 purses, SOME of my shoes, and packed up a majority of my flip flops (I had like 30 pairs of flip flops).  Thankfully, I bought a flip flop hanger last weekend in Gulf Shores and kept only enough pairs that would hold on the hanger-- that way they are up and out of the way.  We didn't finish our closet until Sunday evening, but we are very glad that part is over!   

Here is sort of an after picture, but already all the items that were on the top shelves are gone.. so just imagine that!  

I forgot to mention, while I was finishing up our closet last night, Brooks went around the house and took down all of our photos and picture frames.  He took all the pictures out of the frames and filled a large container with them.  When we move, some of our pictures are the originals and we don't want to risk having to leave the country in a hurry and not be able to take some of them (like wedding pics, or Gavin's newborn pics)  My plan is to get copies made of some of our pics and leave the rest here, just to be safe.  All the other pics, I'm going to carry into the country to help with getting confiscated. 

 

This flip flop hanger thing is awesome! I wish I would have bought another one to add more shoes to once we move to Saudi. 

After getting all of our stuff from Gavin's room and our closet, we needed to send it all to the attic.  That way, when the movers come towards the end of June, they can pack it all up based on storage or shipment to take... and now, it's out of the way for when buyers come to look at the house.  Believe me when I say that all of this completely filled up our guest bathroom, where we stored it until we carried it up to the attic.  

Today, I'm going to work on our guest bedroom closet!  That closet has truly been our catch all closet with anything and everything-- paper work, scrapbooking, guitars, guns, craft and cake supplies, and much, much more!  On top of that, I'll be clearing out our hall closets to de-clutter them.  Wish me luck!

Also, just to give some specific details:  Brooks has a projected leave date of July 1st.  Gavin and I will head to Lake Charles after that (hoping that our house sold and because all of our belongings will either be in storage by then or on the sea shipment heading to Saudi).  Our goal is for all of our stuff to go over with Brooks, so when Gavin and I arrive it will be there!  We will see how that works!  It can take anywhere from 3-6 weeks for your shipment to arrive.  We do have an air shipment (it's small), but we can take items that we feel would be beneficial to have immediately upon arrival.  The rest of our stuff will go in a sea shipment.  Brooks will come back to the states once his paperwork has been processed and he has been cleared to bring his family over, and pick us up.  From that point, it will take 3-5 days for our Visa's to get processed and then Gavin and I will move to Saudi.  We're thinking it's going to be the end of July/beginning of August.  However, some of the processes haven't been taking as long as projected, so it could be sooner!  We shall see.

Please keep us in your prayers as we go through this transition.  Brooks has just under 8 weeks left and there is a lot do to prepare for the move!  Pray that our house sells, we get the right buyer, and can keep the house organized, clean, and well put together while having a 20 month old playing and living here!  I'll keep you posted as things progress!

Mother's Day

This years Mother's Day was a fun, relaxing, and love filled day.  I woke up to coffee, chocolate chip muffins, and fruit for breakfast (strawberries and pineapple- my favorite).  I was given some really pretty flowers and two TV series DVD's.... Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes- did you expect something else?  I'm really excited to get to watch them on the 18 hour plane rides to Saudi (while I'm not entertaining Gavin of course).  We went to church and heard an awesome sermon called The Gospel According to Moms-- it was powerful.  The pastor really challenged us moms to realize we influence our kids and it's our responsibility to instill in them to have a heart for the Lord and it starts with our own relationship with the Lord.  If our kids are watching us seek the Lord, spending time with HIM, then they are going to want to do the same!  I loved the message!  You can check it out on Itunes-- type in Clear Creek Community Church in the podcast section!  

After church we came home and Brooks cooked a delicious meal- steaks, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans.  It was scrumptious!  Even Gavin ate all of his green beans.  I think I saw some individual cups of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream in the freezer, but I'm going to wait for Brooks to give that to me when it's time! The funnest part of my day was watching Gavin help his daddy make lunch!  Brooks handed Gavin some green beans and a butter knife (it's not sharp, don't worry) and he "cut" them up for him.  It was cute to watch!

For some reason, the last few weeks I've thought a lot about this Mother's Day coming up and my heart was filled with many emotions.  It was this day two years ago when I left the hospital and was put on bed rest after going into preterm labor.  I remember that day like it was yesterday.  I'll spare you all the details from the 10:00am fiasco, through the doctor's office, and being admitted into the hospital.  I do remember being told several times, we just want you to know Mrs. Perry, if you have this baby this weekend, he won't survive.  I was 22 weeks pregnant at the time and had been battling contractions for a week and a half, but my body wasn't responding to the medications.  I laid in that hospital bed all Friday night thinking and praying "Lord, please let me keep him in!"  I had lots of tests run over the next 24 hours, I was monitored constantly, and had several ultra sounds done.  I was released from the hospital on Sunday morning, Mother's Day 2008, and was told if I wanted to go home with a baby some day to go lay on the couch and don't get up for the next 15 weeks.  So, that's what I did.  

We all know the rest of the story-- bed rest worked, the medications worked, and we ended up being induced to meet Gavin.  He was born at 39 weeks and 5 days.  God is good!  I'm so thankful that things worked out the way they did and that we have a healthy, happy, little boy.  So, on this Mother's Day, I'm reminded that God is in control!  I don't take one minute with my Gavin for granted.  As my mom would say, he gives me a "happy heart!" 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mom's out there.  

Gulf Shores

We went on a little vacation this past weekend and had a really nice time.  My parents got a condo right on the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama.  I will say during the time we were there, I think we saw the sun twice and it rained on our last day.  Even with that, we still managed to play on the beach, go swimming, and have fun!  We took Gavin out to the beach on our first morning to see how he would like it.  He's been in sand before, but sometimes he has different opinions on things.  Within the first 2 minutes of walking on the beach, he tried very hard to get the sand our of his shoes.  It was cute to watch him.  Eventually, he got use to it and didn't mind it at all.  

We went to lunch at a place called Lulu's.  The restaurant was started by Jimmy Buffet's sister, Lulu.  It was a cute place outdoors that had a large play area for kids.  My mom brought Gavin to the sand area and he played his little heart out.  He laughed a lot and threw sand everywhere.

Brooks, Gavin, and I spent time on the beach and they played in the water.  I will admit the wind was blowing really hard and it was very cloudy, which made the water a little cold, but it didn't matter to them!  Gavin would hold Brooks hand and walk out into the water.  They would pretend the waves were chasing them and run away.  Gavin laughed a lot!  He would go out into the water if Brooks was holding him and he let a few waves crash into them!  It was a precious sight to watch!

Did I mention that Gavin enjoyed playing in the sand??  He LOVED it.  He had shovels and a pail and he would scoop up the sand and play and play and play.  After a while, he'd hand me his hand to clean it off.  On this day, we noticed Gavin's mouth was turning a little blue from the "cold" so we decided to go swimming in the indoor pool.  Gavin loved being in the pool and it was amazing to see how much of our swim lessons from last summer he remembered.  He'd jump off the side of the pool, he'd go under water, and he would kick his feet when we put him on his stomach to swim to one of us.  My mom had a great idea and bought some water guns so Gavin got to play with those.  He thought it was hilarious to get mommy and daddy wet.  

So, the indoor pool area also had a hot tub.  I took this picture thinking it was pretty funny that the sign behind it said no kids under the age of 12 allowed.  Normally, we would have NEVER put Gavin in the hot tub, but after 15 minutes of being inside and swimming, his lips were still a light shade of blue.  Brooks dipped him in the hot tub water to help his body's temperature even out a little.  Gavin would get in and say, "ooohhhhh", "HOT".  Don't worry, we didn't let him stay in THAT long..

On our last day it rained pretty much all day.  We did manage to take Gavin outside on the tennis courts and let him throw balls.  Brooks found a frisbee in the bushes somewhere so Gavin got a kick out of throwing that all around.  We also brought a bat and ball and practiced hitting!  He was actually really good at holding the bat and got better at watching for the ball.  He ran around and laughed hysterically 90% of the time.  Then, we stayed inside and just hung out until the rain stopped. 

Our last night we went to dinner at a restaurant on the water and got some amazing seafood!  Overall, the trip was a huge success and a lot of fun.  Brooks enjoyed getting time off of work, I liked getting to just rest, and Gavin LOVED the beach!  

First Haircut

We went to Gulf Shores this past weekend with my parents and had a fun, enjoyable trip that I will post pictures and tell you all about later!  On our way back home, we stopped in Lake Charles for Brooks to go to the dentist and for Gavin to get his first haircut.  We took him to my cousins shop at The Ritz.  I was really not eager to get his haircut just because I like his curls and feel like his hair has just started growing, so to cut it just seemed premature.  Plus, I was nervous about how Gavin would react once he was in the chair and saw the scissors.  However, Gavin did AWESOME!!  He sat in the booster seat, got the cape put on him, and sat very still.  He was calm, relaxed, and serious at the same time.  It was cute.  After realizing that he was going to be fine with the haircut, and wasn't bothered by it at all, I started to relax.  Gavin did soooo good!  He let Melinda cut where she need to, how she needed to, he turned his head when she asked him to.  Ahhh, he just did soooo good!  We were really impressed.   I'm glad that we decided to get his haircut.   Right before Gavin got in the chair, Brooks thought we might need some candy JUST INCASE we needed to "encourage" him to stay in the chair, so he walked next door and got a bag of M&M's.  Since we didn't use them while Gavin was getting his haircut, we gave them to him as a reward afterwards.  Brooks and I were so proud of him!  He was really proud of his hair, too!  Along with him climbing out of his crib, this is another example of him growing up!