It ain't easy being green...

Rusty wanted to title this post “Going Brown” because our crops have…well…gone brown. And although Rusty would disagree, it isn’t because they didn’t get enough attention from me—I think it is a combination of being scorched on hot days, drowned during our monsoon we’ve had lately and starved when we went out of town. I think I’ve lost the green beans, the birds have taken to the tomatoes, the strawberries only come in one at a time, the pumpkin refuses to bloom a male and female flower at the same time (that is how you get a pumpkin) and the green-beanless vine has attacked our herb garden. I haven’t given up—but we are having some issues.

But the story of our crops basically tells what has been going on—it is scorching hot most days, when it rains—we practically drown and our most recent trip to Asheboro was a lot of fun.

We’ve not taken many walks because it is so hot—I feel sort of guilty but Par seems to settle for being pushed around in his car in front of our house. We also haven’t been out much—since I rarely will eat inside a restaurant with Par (because of germs) it has seemed just too darn hot—even in the shade—so we’ve played more at home. Lately, Tiffany just mopes around the house—she seems different—we won’t know if she is preggers for another week or so.
Par loves the rain. He loves to be in it—but since most of our rains have had thunder/lightening, we’ve remained inside.



Our trip to Asheboro was great! Par was a trooper on the way there and loved seeing his Big D and Minnie. He also got to spend some time with his other Great-Grandmother, Memaw. He met lots of cousins (and prayer warriors) for the first time. Although he is the youngest—I know he is going to have tons of fun with them as he grows up. Unfortunately, we didn’t let them play with each other because of germs and stuff—in fact, we really kept most everyone from holding/touching him—we just wanted to be super careful—so I hope no one was upset.

Asheboro? I’ve never heard of Asheboro? My sentiments exactly—but for a small town—I had a pretty good time. (Asheboro is sort of a small town—but not that small. When Rusty and I first started dating he talked about Asheboro in such narrow terms that I assumed his high school had maybe 30 people in each grade—his high school is actually bigger than ours—so not such a small town—just not much there to do—but plenty of people--so keep that in mind as I tell you about our time there.)
Anyway, we decided to stay at the Hampton Inn—but we had Tiffany and we wanted her to stay with us (her boyfriend Franky is Big D’s dog and we just didn’t think they should sleep over together since they aren’t married). The problem is that the Hampton Inn doesn’t allow dogs—but we brought her in with us anyway—for goodness sake—she lived in a hotel for 3 months in Gainesville! We knew she would behave—although in her former years she was a bit like Eloise. So how’d we do it? Well…if you remember, Rusty gave me a picnic basket for my birthday. I had packed a picnic for the trip to Asheboro and so we had the basket—and Tiffy fit perfectly (Toto road in a basket with Dorothy, right?)
We went to the North Carolina Zoo on Friday—the zoo is HUGE!!!! I must admit that I enjoy the “quaintness” of the Birmingham Zoo—but they have TONS of monkeys and a real Savannah—crazy!?!
We went to Seagrove on Saturday to do some early Christmas shopping (I usually have 95% of my shopping done by the end of September—it all stems from my days in retail when I had to finish shopping before Christmas Season started—which got earlier and earlier each year). Seagrove is just 10 miles from Asheboro and is famous for its pottery-literally hundreds of potters to choose from—I had a great time—Rusty and Par enjoyed driving me and Minnie around!
Later we went to an antique store—it was fun to see all the treasures! We found a sterling bud vase for $25—I know I just saw the same one in a silver store in Birmingham for $125! I love my knew vase (and I love Asheboro prices!)
Par’s Big D and Minnie had a cookout on Saturday night—this is when Par met all the family! He had a good time and we are so humbled by everyone’s love for our son. Thank you.
Sunday, after we dropped Tiffy off at Big D’s house—we went to Mass at St. Joseph’s church (our first time to Mass in Asheboro since Rusty converted). Rusty had never been there before—we were a few minutes late (surprise surprise) and we couldn’t find the door to get in. Well, we went in the most obvious one which ended up being at the front while someone was reading—a little embarrassing—and then Par was a little talkative—a little more embarrassing—needless to say, people stopped us on the way out to tell us how cute our baby is! Seriously, tell us something we don’t know. (hee hee hee)

A very special time was getting to see the field named in honor of Par’s Big D (Rusty’s dad, Darrell). It is so special that the city of Asheboro would name a field in honor of him (we know he deserves it—it is just pretty cool that everyone else knows it too!). I loved seeing the three of them out there together—they are all very blessed to have each other.

So what is knew with Par? Check out the video below…(keep in mind he is just about to turn 9 months old)


He has been trying lots of new foods—just like his dad—he hates anything green. He still loves bananas and sweet potatoes. His favorite snack is an apple—he loves to gnaw on a wedge (I’m sure it feels good on his teeth!)

These are his 8 month pictures (if you haven’t figured it out yet, we do a “photo shoot” for each month)—they were taken at the beginning of the month but we like to give them to the grandparents and great-grandparents before we put them on the internet—so it took us a little longer this time to deliver them. I love our photographer—but he has an attitude sometimes when I offer suggestions and tell him how to take the pictures—anyway, he did a great job as usual—and I didn’t get in trouble for telling him what to do! (I love you Rusty).

Par’s friend Ella celebrated her 1st Birthday on Thursday—but the actual celebration was today—and with a live webcast so all her friends could be there! Par loved watching her (and we loved watching the family dynamic—we were cracking up listening to you all speak to one another!)—check out Par at Ella’s Birthday!



Today was a great day—we played in the bed this morning—(really, Par and I played while Rusty and Tiffany snored away) and then we went to church. Par fell asleep as we grabbed lunch and so we decided to eat it in our car in the driveway so he could keep sleeping. We headed to the zoo to see the otters and discovered the misting machine for the first time (we love it!) Rusty kept mentioning something about his friend Cohen in LA…

We attended Ella’s birthday as I mentioned before, played in our pool this afternoon and then made a big dinner mess. Par is now sleeping. Amen.

Other than the bruises he’s acquired trying to walk—Par is doing very well. We are still being very careful about exposing Par to germs and we feel certain this has a lot to do with why he is doing so well. Praise God for Par’s health! We ask that you will pray for the families who have lost a child to CDH—sadly, we know of two children who passed away this month—one was just a few months old and the other was 8 months old. Please pray for these families who are grieving and also pray for the children living with the effects of this horrible defect—a 4 month old reherniated earlier this week—this is not uncommon and we pray daily that Par will not fall victim to reherniation. Whatever our lot—we are so thankful to have this monkey in our lives—he has blessed us immensely already!