Race Crashing

Ok, so Erin and I have this thing where I try to run a race on every Army installation that I've been assigned to. As we are moving to Atlanta next week, time was not on our side for keeping the tradition alive. Last week, I find out there is a 10K/5K race on Fort Gordon...TODAY! Thank you God!! Unfortunately, I have become lazy in my old age and fail to register for the race during the week. No worries, right? The flyer says I can register on race day. The race begins at 8am; Erin, Renae, and I arrive around 7:30am. Cool beans. Except not. I walk up to the registration table and am turned away?!?! Are you serious? They are not taking anymore registrations. I have my $20 check IN MY HAND...and they deny me. Ouch.

So, what to do? Do we head back home, dejected and humiliated? OR...do I run the race anyway?? I mean, we're already there...why not just run it for fun? It's not like I'm going to win, right? Well...maybe not win, but I did finish 4th overall in the 5K. Take that registration table!! To top it off, my race t-shirt was free b/c my buddy Patrick was working the race as a volunteer. I was willing to pay for it, but he managed to finagle one for me. Sooooo, I show up to a race that I didn't even register for, dominate it, and then come away with a free t-shirt. In some circles that is known as race crashing. Boo yaaaa! And now, some photos for your viewing pleasure...




Then...we begin packing our house for next week's move. Went pretty well, I'd say. Tricia showed up for a few hours in the morning; Patrick and Leslie followed suit in the afternoon. As a break with Patrick and Leslie, we enjoyed a nice game of Book-It (or Hand & Foot if your prefer). Now, some time ago, the Thomases, the Arasmiths, and the Barricklows made a pretty bold amendment to this game. It went like this: If a player acquires a "book" of RED 3s, the red 3s become +300 points each, rather than the default -300 points each. Also, the "book" must be clean, meaning no wild cards can be used. This earns the team an additional 500 points for having a clean book. Must be all RED 3s. Period. In all my years of playing this game, I have yet to see anyone with enough stones to attempt a "book" of RED 3s. Until today...


Way to go, Patrick! You have done what the three families could not do for so many years. Of course, it looks like you had some help...



And, just for kicks, here's a photo of the two smokin' hot women in my life!!

In the thick of it

Well, I am quickly running out of days to get all that I need done...the move is 10 days away! Yikes! It definitely gets harder to pull everything off with a 5 1/2 month old. BUT, we did find a house, we will be renting this little GEM for the next year or so:


We've been able to meet up with a bunch of friends for the last time despite the busyness. We got to go out to a fabulous restaurant in Augusta called "The Boll Weevil" with the Curee's. We took a nice walk along the river after we ate and ended up getting rained on...but it was still really fun.



Over Memorial Weekend we all went to the pool with Patrick and Leslie, Patrick even let Renae wear his sunnies. :)




And last but not least, Renae has been seeing more and more that her dad is even more weird/entertaining than she ever imagined.

Little Miss Smiley

The Craziness Begins

So last week Josh got his orders and on Thursday we hit the ground running full speed ahead. 3 weeks from yesterday we will be moving to Atlanta. In our two house hunting trips we have found the areas nearest the base to be FAR FAR FAR less than safe, even though the houses are affordable and not bad at all. So that is stinky. Which means that God really knew we would need to be close enough to make SEVERAL trips to find a house. I can't even begin to imagine how stressed I would be if we had to fly there and rent a car and find a hotel and find a house in a weekend like we have other places.

No I have not started packing.
Yes I have turned in out intent-to-vacate and found out they will start showing our house to possible renters ASAP.
Yes our house is a disaster zone.

I'm sorry to say there will be no pictures in this post because Josh is in the middle of reformatting the computer....that has been a frustrating task. But the Internet works (after A LOT of hours with numerous tech support people who couldn't help with out us paying LOTS of money which we refused to do) because one of our Army friends knows his stuff and between him and Josh and lots of phone time and crazy ideas, they fixed it. But that's the only working component for now. We should be 100% back in business in a couple days when Josh has time to finish his project!

Ok, just because I feel the need to pass on knowledge to someone who may someday think about getting a new computer, here is our experience with Dell through this. Our computer came with a reformatting- erase it all and start over- disc, which, I'm sure is common. So we use it. And then the reload the Windows drivers and utilities CD. Which turns out is for several models of Dell computers. Our model...is not listed. So we guess. We call Dell Tech Support to ask which drivers we need of the many listed for all these different types of systems we don't have. "Oh I can tell you but it will be $60." WHAT?! So we said we'd figure it out ourselves, and we did! And by we in this entire conversation I mean Josh. :)

There are more BOO on Dell Support stories but I think that one is enough. And, I'd rather leave this post on a more positive note:

Renae is super cute and getting BIG! Pictures are coming soon! And, Renae has a new cousin! Sophie Grace Barricklow was born on Thursday (the 20th). She is 5 lb 10 oz and 17.5 inches long! We are sooo excited to see pictures and to meet her---soooo sweet!

With God's help!

We had the privilege of dedicating Renae to the Lord on Mother's Day. It was really special. The Pastor shared a lot of great verses with us about parenting and verses about Jesus being dedicated (who knew!) But these promises we made are so big and require a lot of wisdom and perseverance, so I wanted to share them with you- those who will be with us in this journey no matter where we live- so you can encourage us and pray for us as we try to follow through on our promises with God's help!



Do you today recognize these children as gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God’s blessing?
We do.
Do you now dedicate your children to the Lord who gave them to you, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to God?
We do.
Do you pledge as parents that, with God’s fatherly help, you will bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives?
We do.
Do you promise to provide, through God’s blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of your children, looking to your heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength?
We do.
Do you promise, God helping you, to make it your regular prayer that, by God’s grace, your children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey his teachings?
We do.

Hill-arious

Not the best videography, but my excuse is that I was locking eyes with her cuteness and not at the back of the camera. :) Enjoy!

The Week!

Have you ever felt so behind you just don't know where to start!? That's how I'm feeling now. There's so much I've wanted to write about lately, but I will abbreviate it all in an attempt to at least get you up to speed.

Tuesday May 4th:
Scarlett came to visit us! We met Scarlett and her husband Reid at Fort Leonard Wood. We have lots of fun and on her way through the area we got to hang out for a little while. Scarlett and Renae had lots of fun:



Sometime prior to that we started trying to get Renae to eat some rice cereal. So far, she has yet to swallow any of it. But, we'll keep practicing! Here's our progress:



Thursday May 6:
Renae and I went to the last PWOC of the year. :( We got fairwelled (Army lingo lesson #429: A Hail and Fairwell is an official Army event/ceremony where everyone either leaving or newly arrived is officially adiosed or welcomed!) which was sad, but I got a sweet gift to remember all the sweet ladies here. We ate delicious food and had a great time. Soon after we got home, I got a phone call from a friend and she had gotten in a minor car accident and needed to get a tow truck for her car. So we went on base and hung out in the Georgia HEAT for two hours with her and her 3 year old. It was good to be able to help though. When we got home, Renae took a much needed nap and then we headed to OCF (Officer Christian Fellowship) Bible Study. It was great to get back together and talk about Scripture and eat Key Lime Pie! :) Yummo!

Friday May 7:
Josh and I went to Atlanta to look for houses while Renae hung out with Rob and Amy all day. She had a blast! And Josh and I had a very adventurous time as well. We didn't find any keepers, but maybe next time.

Saturday May 8:
Church Picnic at the Lake Day! We had a great time! Josh and I went out on the boat for awhile and road around while people wakeboarded. Renae enjoyed time with Miss Shirley and many others. No one had remembered to bring an air pump so Josh and I blew up several floaties with our huge lungs. It took a long time:






Sunday May 9th:
Mother's Day! Here's what Dad and Renae gave me:



And! Josh and I had the privledge of dedicating Renae at church on Sunday, I'll have more about that soon, but here are a few pictures: