Totally Unblogworthy

True stories about this week:

-I got congratulated on being pregnant. Small problem: I am not pregnant.

-I earned yet another Mommy-of-the-year-award. Gave Coop whole kernel corn for supper last night. Who knew that was a no-no?

-I got the news that I will be helping to open our new CHOA site in Cumming. Woot! Woot! What an awesome opportunity!! And the best part? Two of my most favorite people will be there. Look out Forsyth, look out.

-Chris has been in three states in three days. Thankfully, one of those states was Georgia so I could love on him like crazy and ask him to check his luggage over and over again.

-A lady was robbed this morning at the spot Lori and I meet to pass off Super Coop. In broad daylight.

-I watched "Mobbed" for the first time ever tonight. I actually shrieked out loud at one point and teared up at another. I can't decide if it was the group of cloggers or the impromptu prenuptials, but something got me good.

-I ate Chick-fil-a four days in a row. Mental note: order chargrilled tomorrow in order to decrease "congratulations-on-your-pregnancy" comments.

-Our itty bitty baby boy turned 11 months old yesterday. E-L-E-V-E-N. 11. How is this possible again?

He gets his thighs quite honestly.

Hole in One

Who knew the kudzu after-party would be quite so much fun? Chris had (another) follow-up appointment with Dr. Z this week. He was scheduled for a PET scan Tuesday but because of insurance shenanigans, we have to bump it out a week. The "trial" meds he started a few weeks ago turned out to be a bust. They caused migraines and made him want to yak. He (still) doesn't see it, but he is such a rock. He has been through more than most of us will ever go through, yet he stays focused and strong no matter what. Dr. Z thinks he is dealing with PCCI (a fancy name for the neuro-toxicity that follows certain chemo regimens). He came out of Tuesdays appointment with all sorts of, well, appointments. Little grains of sand in our once kudzu-clad underpants. Regardless, God's provision and sovereignty is ALWAYS first and foremost on our minds and in our hearts. He is SO good and SO merciful. He has blessed us beyond our comprehension and we know He is still leading us, every step of the way. We are thankful for: 1. The need for haircuts. 2. Coopie Doop and his newfound love for blowing kisses and clapping his little hands. 3. $5 Bang Bang Night at Bonefish. 4. This little darlin: Have I told you how much we adore this little sweet pea and her Mama? Isn't she just the cutest thing in all the world?

Friday is a quite a special day for the Davis girls. You see, Ludi girl will be swinging her tiny golf club in honor and memory of her Daddy at the 1st Annual Stephen Davis Memorial Golf Tournament. He's going to be so proud of her.

I often find myself sitting in awe of Dori Bell and her strength. She is a reflection of God's grace and mercy and we love her and Lu-Lu to pieces.

3-0 and other Tid Bits

These two little love bugs helped me celebrate the big 3-0 'round here this past week.

Let me just say...What a BLESSED 30 year old little lady I am!

On Saturday 2 of my lifelong besties kidnapped me and swept me away to the spa! What an absolute TREAT! We ate yummo lunch at Harvest Bread Company, got sugar scrubs and pedicures, massages, partook in dainty little cupcakes at Starbucks, and perused the Forum for hours without a care in the world. It was a most marvelous day! I truly can't thank you enough sweet friends!!!

Chris was so super sweet (and so super sneaky) and planned a fabulous get-together at Grace 17:20 last Sunday. I was surrounded by people I absolutely adore and grits galore!After a year like this past one, we have come to realize just how fortunate we are to have so many wonderful people in our lives. Truly, to be 30 (yes, 30 friends) and have an army of loved ones like we do is just truly amazing. Although it was technically a birthday celebration, I just sat in awe of our friends and family. I might have shed a tear or two in the ladies room just thinkin' about how much each and every one of you mean to us.

And my sweet husband is just something else. He is a rock for our family and I fall even more and more in love him each and every day. There isn't a second that passes by that I am not whispering humble thank-yous to our great God above for bringing him into my life.

We finished off birthday extravaganza week this past weekend down in Savannah. Just the two of us. Coop packed up his rollin' suitcase and headed to Grammie and Poppy Tots for the weekend. He had an absolute BLAST (and I think they just might have too!)

We had oh, so much fun (even though we talked about Coop 95% of the time and counted down the hours until we got to see him again!) We didn't take a single picture. Not-a-one. Can you believe it?? Me either. Had we remembered to take our camera, there would be one picture down by the river, one behind an enormous plate of fried green tomatoes, and one out on HHI at, well, the Tanger Outlet Mall.

THANK YOU all so much for making my birthday so special this year. Truly, I feel so loved and so blessed!

Hacked

I've been trying to blog for the past week. This is why I have not:

1) I am, apparently, training for a marathon and didn't know it. Go, mama, go! (He's fast. Really fast.) Whew.

2) We've been attending Driver's Ed classes with our 10 month old.3) We've been recovering from Coop's easy-breezy tubes/tongue clipping event.
4) We've been hacked.

Sneaky little hackers.

About a week before the whole bank fiasco a little bubble popped up in the lower right hand corner of our screen. It reminded me that we needed to update our antivirus software. Like any good blogger/facebooker/googler/hotmailer, I eagerly clicked on the bubble to insure that our computer stays virus-free.

Bleh.

APPARENTLY, I invited these ridiculous hackers into our lives.

*Hello, superhackers. Let me take this minute to ask you, "WHY on earth did you spend all of our money on gas?? Have you not seen the new line at Coach? Are you not interested in the latest at Tiffany's???" Gas? Come on now.*

Anyway, both of our home laptops are now boogered up.

I always like to belive the best in people, but alas, I am reminded that doo-doo heads do indeed still exist out there.

So this is my public service announcement. Do. not. click. on. anything. that. says. ANTIVIRUS ANTISPYWARE 2011. Do. not.

Heart of a Champion

On my knees praying for the Landreau family this morning. Safe to say, this one's gonna be on "repeat" for quite some time in the Davis House. Absolutely beautiful.

To support Chris Landreau and his precious family, go to ITunes and download this little gem. It's sure to make you sing like a song bird, cry like a baby, and pray like a warrior.

Intervention

I started getting crabby this past week. It just kind of snuck up on me. I blame it on the return trip to the oncologist and bank account debacle, but really, there's just no excuse. I found myself worried about silly things and forgetting just how many blessings surround me each and every single day.

So I decided to take action.

I thought about doing some retail therapy but remembered that all I have left in my wallet is my Old Navy card, and well, that just wouldn't do.

So I bought myself a teeny tiny little notebook. Oober doober cute, straight from the dollar bin at Staples.

In true geekazoid fashion, I gave myself a homework assignment. Each day I write the date on the top of the page and challenge myself to write 3 things I am thankful for, 3 "I wills", and 3 "to-dos".

It has been life-changing.

I am a list kind of girl. I just love them. I really do.
1. Because they are fun to write. 2. Because I love any excuse to use funky patterned note pads and Sharpie felt-tip pens. 3. Because I have the memory of a 90 year old. 4. Because I love to check things off and cross things out. 5. Because I was born Type A trapped in a wanna-be Type B's body. and 6. Because sometimes just making a list can just make you feel oh so good.

Today's entry looked something like this:

I am thankful for:
1. The word 'remission'.
2. Saturdays.
3. Fried green tomatoes.

I will:
1. Not go through the drive thru at Chick-fil-a for a tea.
2. Play on the floor with Cooper in the playroom past our bedtimes.
3. Not worry, talk about, complain about, or carry-on about the bank fraud. (Enough already. I only mention it here for the sake of sharing my list).

To do:
1. Clean master bath floors. Sidenote: *We moved into our house on December 30th. It is March the 12th and the floors have never seen the bottom of my swiffer pad. It is time.
2. Load dishwasher. *Must start somewhere, right?
3. Clean off dresser. *Confiscated items included: nail clippers, a Santa Claus onesie, 2 coat hangers, and 5 mix-matched socks.

Rules about this self-help intervention project:
1. You are NOT, in fact, allowed to put something on the "to do" list portion of the list simply for the sake of marking it off the list. I am queen of adding things to my to-do list that I have already done, just so I can mark them off. Blush.
2. You can be thankful for things both big and small. One day I was thankful for bellybuttons because, well, Cooper's is just so darn cute and I couldn't stop thanking God for giving him to us, bellybutton and all.
3. When it comes to the "I wills"...you may not make this another list of "to dos". These have to be personal goals for the day, not just 1, 2s, and 3s of silly things to get done.
4. You may not get so overwhelmed by your list of to-dos that you fill out that portion of the assignment ahead of schedule, for every day in the book.
5. If finding yourself crabby and thankfulness-less, you must complete the exercise twice for the day. Three times if you remain in the same state of disheveled-messiness.

So there you have it. My mood is a gazillion times better.

I am thankful. I am crabby-no-more. I am once again walking barefoot across our bathroom floor.

So tell me, what WILL YOU, DO, and be THANKFUL for?

4.32

One day I am going to write a book. This particular chapter shall be entitled "$4.32".

I got a text message this morning. It was from Bank of America--a courtesy alert that our savings account had a balance of $4.32.

I prayed for God's grace and poise, I really did. Instead I found myself shrieking and flailing around for the next 24 hours. Faith: fail.

In a nutshell, my debit card number was stolen. We don't know how. We don't know when. We don't know where. The card remained tucked away, safe and sound in my wallet. My number was sold/distributed across the southeast and within 24 hours, every PENNY, every single PENNY was taken from my accounts. My checking account is linked to our savings accounts. Our savings accounts are linked to my bank credit card. By the time I got the alert and signed on to our online banking page, it read: Checking Balance: $0.00, Savings Balance: $0.00.

The list of deductions was mind blowing. Within mere hours, the checking account was completely depleted. All debits took place at gas stations. Truck stops at that. They occurred simultaneously, across 4 states. When the checking account balance hit zero, funds were pulled from savings.

By the time I got myself off the floor from the fetal position, fluffed a new brown paper yack sack, and drove to our local BOA branch, the suckers had cleared another $400.

I prayed for more grace and poise. In it's place came snot rockets and blotchy face patches. You know the ones.

The people at the bank were ever so sweet. They reassured me that everything would work itself out. The BOA fraud department jumped on the bandwagon, cancelled/froze all accounts, and filed claims to have the money credited back (in 48 hours).

In the meantime, my new past time consists of watching additional fraudulent truck stop debits trickle in one by one. Apparently scam artists purchase a lot of pork rinds and no-doz.

And so, I sit and pray for grace and poise :)

Vines

I try not to think about Kudzu. I shudder at the mention of the word. I think "Gee what was that all about!?!?". I wake up each and every morning and am instantly reminded that we are healthy and blessed. My feet hit the floor and my praises hit the ceiling.

I am constantly overwhelmed with God's goodness and provision for our little family. I lose hours of the day thinking about how much we have to be thankful for. Spend 45 minutes every night in the bathtub praising God for His sovereignty and hand in our lives.

Cancer took a lot from us. I won't lie. But more importantly, it gave us more than we could have ever imagined.

We have learned how to be humble. How to drop to our knees in prayer. How to cling to each other and those that we love. How to savor every hour, every minute, every second of every day. How to locate obscure prescriptions in the middle of the night. How to count our blessings. Upside down and inside out. How to put on our big boy/girl panties and "just deal with it". How to care for a port. And a staph infection. And Red-Man syndrome. And chemo brain. How to embrace baldness. How to juggle pediatrician visits and oncology appointments. How to be brave. How to be helpless. How not to laugh ourselves silly when the home health nurse shows up in her "Shape Ups" driving her white PT Cruiser.

How to have faith as small as a mustard seed and watch mountains move.

Truly. It's been a year of lessons.

A mom of one of my little patients told me several years ago "You can choose to pray or you can choose to worry. You cannot choose to do both". I watched as she endured her precious little one's battle with a brain tumor. I stood in awe of her strength and grace. I clung to those words, and never knew why until several years later.

I say all this to say, well, we are still learning. By the grace of God, Chris beat that nasty Kudzu, but every now and then the lasting branches of it's crazy vines tickle our feathers. Just when I think I have mastered the art of not worrying, a little wrinkle rears its head on my brow. Chris has an oncology appointment tomorrow. Everything's fine--nothing at all to worry about. Coop's up for surgery tomorrow too. Tubes and a frenulectomy. As always, your fervent prayers are oh so greatly appreciated!

MIA

Drop-in daycare. Work. Work. Work. Pick-up day care. Car dancing. Sweet potato puffs. Dinner. Bath. Bubbles. Splash. Ice cream sandwich. Mommy bath. Daddy home. Helping Hands. Co-Op bread run. Dentist. Walking shoes. Lunch with grandparents. Goodbye hugs. Bonefish. Yum. Kohls-2 hours. Baby kisses. Church. Baptism. Praises. Hymns. Hotdogs. Baby dedication. Sweet sweet Brooks. Barbeque. Biscuits. Sweet tea. Jammies. Songs. Prayers. Sippy. Laundry. Dishes. Bath. Splash. Hugs. G'night.

A few of my sweet friends asked me tonight why I haven't updated this week. Chris said he was going to blog for me (complete with pictures) and inform you all that by 8:15 every night I am sacked out staring at the back of my eyelids.

I see no problem with this ;) Zzz.