As the world Turners

Well, after a REALLY LONG drive, we finally made it here to Indianapolis!!  We came to surprise Shawn's mom, and boy did we ever!!  We left yesterday around 5:00pm from Charlotte.  We stopped in Morganton (at Chick-Fil-A, of course!!) for dinner and then settled in for a while.  Reilly and I watched a video in the backseat, looked at books, and played with a variety of random Dollar Store purchases I got for the trip.  Then we stopped just on the other side of the "gorge", before Knoxville, for one last potty and fuel break, and then prepared for the rest of the night.  Since it was no where near dark outside,  Reilly wasn't even close to being interested in sleeping!  And, in fact, she didn't fall asleep until well after 10pm!!  After she finally fell asleep, I think Shawn "put the pedal to the medal" and tried to cover as much ground as possible!  I dozed off for an hour or so and woke up around 12:30am to find us just passing through Lexington, KY.  Why in the world were we stopped for ONE HOUR in bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of the night!!!  Yes, construction.  Oh, how lovely.  I held my breathe the whole time, hoping that Reilly wouldn't wake up.  I finally convinced Shawn it was TIME to stop for a hotel so we pulled off somewhere in Georgetown, KY.  Would you know that as soon as we came to a stop at the top of the exit ramp, POP went Reilly's eyes and she was ready for some fun!  After going in FIVE hotels to find an available room (Karin, you called it!!  should have listened), we finally ended up in a $100/night room in a Fairfield Inn, which we literally were in for less than 8 hours!!!  We finally got to "sleep" around 2am and the next thing I knew it was 7AM and Shawn is ready to get going again!  I forced him to wait a little while longer before getting in the shower,just to allow Reilly a few more minutes of sleep.  We all showered and dressed and hit the road again by 8:45am.  Coincidentally, Shawn's dad and Susan were heading down to Asheville from Toledo and were literally traveling the same stretch of highway that we were.  So we met up with them outside of Cinncinnati for some yummy, southern breakfast at Cracker Barrell and let Reilly play for a while.  After that, I guiltfully (real word??  who cares!) gave Reilly a dose of Tylenol to help her "relax" and hoped that she could fall asleep for a little morning nap.  After one more video, she dozed off for about 45 minutes.  That put us about an hour from Indy with a tired baby, a cranky mommy, and a sore/impatient daddy!  And, as luck would have it, we hit another bumper to bumper traffic jam literally 10 miles from his grandparents house!!!  We finally made it here around 1:30, just in time to shove some lunch down Reilly's mouth and get her down for a NAP!  She slept for over two hours and was a new child when she woke up!!  Then, it was time for the big surprise!!  We loaded up in the truck once more and headed over to the apt. complex that Shawn's mom lives in.  As soon as we pulled in, we saw her in the distance walking the dog.  Shawn pulled around the block and then whipped into a parking space right beside her and rolled down the window by Reilly.  With the dark tint on the truck, she couldn't see us but looked up and saw Reilly sitting there.  It was so funny b/c she just stared and looked and turned her head, trying to figure what exactly she was seeing!!  After she heard my outburst of laughter (who would have thought?!), she knew it was us and that it was in fact her granddaughter staring her in the face!!!  She burst into tears and "the rest is history".  It was very fun:)  The trip was worth it:)  But, for the record, I'm NOT looking forward to the drive home:) 

Happy 4th of July folks!!

You know, selling a house is the most stressful, emotionally draining, headache causing, thing EVER!  Seriously!  Shawn and I have had our house on the market for 6 months.  We started building a new house in January that we were so super excited about.  But, through this whole process, we've been very prayerful and very reliant and God's timing for this to work if it was supposed to.  We've wanted that knew house more than anything (well, maybe not more than we wanted Reilly, but you know what I mean!!) and we watched it go up from the dirt.  All the while, trying to remain grounded in the fact that that house was not "ours" and it would only be "ours" if God decided to make this work.  We have tried so stinikin' hard to remain emotionally detached from that new house so that we could 200% focus on God's plan and His Will and allow Him to work.  We've prayed thousands of times about our current house being sold to the perfect buyers.  We've prayed over each room and over each showing that's been scheduled.  And then finally, last week we saw a glimmer of hope.  Was this REALLY going to happen?  Were we really going to get to move into this amazing new home that we built but have had to let go of?  Were we actually going to get to move out of this house??  We had a couple come through that loved the house and wanted a 2nd look.  Trying not to get to excited, and knowing there were still LOTS that had to happen, we perfected the house, yet again, for their second showing.  And then we got the call.  They wanted to put in an offer!!!  Holy cow!  Another step closer to this dream coming true!  Another glimpse of hope of what God may have in store for us!!  And then the offer came in.  Wow.  Let it just suffice to say that the current market is REALLY bad for selling a home.  After two whole days of bathing this in more prayer and faithfully trusting God's plan, we have realized that the time is not yet right.  For whatever reason, God is not quite ready for us to leave this house.  So, we wait.  And keep on praying and keep on trusting and keep on relying on the fact that God's Will and His Plan are sovereign.....no matter what.  So after sort of a downer of an evening when we came to the realization that we were going to have to do some more waiting (something I feel like we've almost perfected over the last 3 years!!!) we looked out in our backyard during a pop up thunderstorm last night to find this:

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That's right, not only one but TWO rainbows literally going over our backyard.  But not only that, the bottom of one of the rainbows was honestly touching down IN our backyard.  I know you may not believe this or find it hard to believe since the story is that there is a "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow, but I stand here to tell you that that dang rainbow was touching the ground in the back of our yard!  :

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It's kinda hard to see b/c the camera didn't pick up the boldness of the colors, but it's there folks....the rainbow is touching down in our backyard.  So, we feel like God was telling us something.  "Shawn and Lindsey, it's going to be ok.  I'm in control.  Trust me.  My plans are ALWAYS perect and My time is ALWAYS just right.  And remember, I'M IN CONTROL". 

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On Saturday, my parents came down from Greensboro to hang out at the pool with us (well, really they just came to hang out at the pool with Reilly).  Mom had Reilly kicking and splashing all over that pool.  We finally tried out the much talked about Harris Teeter subs (for only $2.49--thank you Dreschers!) and they were indeed as good as we'd heard!!  Subs, sun, and pool time....makes for a great Saturday afternoon:)

Reilly literally cracks herself up everyday.  She laughs so much....maybe as much as her mama:)  Here are a few recent videos of Reilly laughing, being silly, and just being herself!!  Be sure to click on the these images so that the videos will play.

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This is how Reilly entertained herself while I was doing laundry on Monday...

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You know, there are some parts of parenting that really are fun and special, and then there are other parts that are not so fun!  With a true toddler on our hands, Shawn and I are learning the ropes of this whole discipline and correction thing.  We've always had this idea, or goal, of what we wanted our children to be like when they're grown.  We've been so blessed to have a mentor couple in our lives that have taught us invaluable things about parenting.  But just having the knowledge or the goal doesn't cut it!!  It actually takes WORK to see the fruit that we have in mind.  For us, "first time obedience" is a huge priority.  Meaning, we want Reilly to respond to us the first time we say something, instead of having to repeat ourselves 100 times.  Afterall, isn't that what God desires of us as His children as well?  But we are learning that this whole "first time obedience" deal takes quite a bit of purposeful parenting on our behalf!  So, no matter how many times I have to stop cutting up vegetables in the kitchen and wash my hands so that I can go "help" Reilly follow through with what I've asked her to do, or no matter how many times I have to stop working on the computer in order to take Reilly by the hand and help her do what I'm asking, it's all worth it in the end if we can shape her precious little heart for "first time obedience".  It is such an incredibly overwhelming job we have of sheparding a heart, a life, and person for Christ, but that's exactly what we're doing.   Doesn't it blow our minds to think of how many times God has taken us by the hand and helped us respond to his desires?  And because of His amazing Grace, He continues to do it...over and over and over.  And as for us, the joy of parenting will most certainly come when we see Reilly responding to her Heavenly Father with first time obedience as well. 

why is it so bittersweet to see our little baby, who really is not a baby anymore, grow up?  i don't think a day goes by that shawn and I don't look at eachother and say, "oh my gosh, she's getting so big!" 

yesterday, reilly had her first dentist appointment!  it's funny b/c when i was working, i always suggested to my clients that they take their children to the dentist for the first time around two years old.  after seeing how many teeth reilly has right now (12!!), i just had to take her!  she did very well.  the dentist had her sit in my lap, facing me, and then lay back into his lap so he was looking into her mouth upside down.  she didn't really want to keep her mouth open for him, but she really didn't cry much at all!  i was very proud of her.  he gave us two new toothbrushes too!  (sorry, no picture from the dentist office!) 

the other day, i was sweeping the floor and reilly wanted to hold the broom for the first time.  so after i was done, i gave it to her to hold.  i walked into the living room to pick something up and came back to find this:

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last night she opened the cabinet where Fontier's (our cat) food is.  we, of course, immediately told her to close the door.  but she reached in, grabbed the cup that sits on top of the food, walked over to Frontier's food bowl, and tried to pour in food.  then, when she noticed that nothing was happening, she looked in the cup as if thinking,"where is the food?  it's supposed to be here."  shawn and i just looked at each other and again said, "holy cow, she's getting so big!!"

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Ok, here are some fun video clips and pics from our Fathers' Day celebration at the lake.  The videos above are from the slip n' slide action. 

Here's how Shawn spent some of his time.....icing that groin injury that has been hurting like the dickens!!!

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And here are the fantastic fathers that we were celebrating:)  You guys are the best!!  Our children are so blessed:)

On Saturday we drove up to Greensboro to surprise my dad for Father's Day.  My brother and sister-in-law and Shawn, Reilly and I met my parents at a resturant as a surprise.  We had a FUN lunch; as we always do:)  Making a scene by laughing so hard and loud; in typical "Cash Family style":)  Oops!  Mom wanted to get some updated "family" pictures, and even though the sun was dead above and it was 142 degrees, we got a few cute ones:

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We came back to Charlotte Saturday night.  Yesterday, we woke up and went to church, where Shawn was suprised to see a couple pictures of he and Reilly (that I had secretly submitted!) in a slide show/video the Arts team used during a song!  Very cool:)  As we were eating lunch, I put on Shawn's 2008 "Fathers' Day Video" that I started doing or him last year.  I made him a video last Fathers' Day of pictures of he and Reilly and I wanted to continue doing one each year.  This year's video was much longer (30 minutes!) b/c I had to sort through a whole years' worth of pictures and video clips!  But, he LOVED it and of course it brought some tears for us both looking back over the year of Reilly's life.  Then we headed out to our friends', Patrick and Laura, house on the lake!!!  Boy were we super lucky with the a gorgeous day!!  Patrick borrowed a Slip n' Slide from the neighbors and the girls had a BLAST on that thing!!  Even Reilly was loving it!  Then we played off the dock in the lake and of course had to take the boat out for a spin!  We had some MESSY ribs for dinner and a YUMMY Coldstone Creamery cake for dessert!!  It was a fabulous day and we had so much celebrating our husbands!!  You know I have TONS of pictures, but I have not a second to go through them yet, so I'll post wild-and-crazy-lake-day pics later! 

or not?!  Reilly and I didn't know we'd get to have Shawn home with us so much this week! 

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Unfortunately, yesterday he was home under not the greatest circumstances.  On Tuesdays, the men (boys?!) from our Small Group have been getting together to play basketball in the evenings.  Shawn said another group of guys showed up at the courts and wanted to play.  He said they acted as if they were big and bad ballers so, being the competitive player he is, Shawn decided he needed to "show them a thing or two"!  And that he did!!  Right on down to the floor with a seriously pulled GROIN!  Yes sir, you got it.  He was putting the moves on some guy when all of the sudden, with the sound of a "POP",  down he went in excruciating pain.  He was in such pain and could baely walk, that we actually were thinking he may have torn his groin!  After spending about 30 minutes trying to find an open urgent care, he decided to just ice it and take some Advil and go to bed.  Needless to say, neither of us slept much at all because he was in such bad pain.  He saw our Dr. yesterday morning and was given some ridiculously strong pain killers.  So, while Reilly and I enjoyed having him around all day yesterday, I felt so bad for him being in such pain!!  He's off to work today, but I'm thinking he'll be back home before too long! 

(to his defense, when all body parts are in "working order", Shawn has some seriously impressive b-ball skills!!)