"TO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED"

So these past few weeks have been crazy and exhausting for everyone in the Brian household. I took a 5th and 6th grade basketball job, Chris' football team made it to the playoffs, and he is beginning coaching for basketball, and of course Cade and his crazy schedule with doctor appointments. Amidst all the stress we have right now in our lives, I was reminded today, by a quote that says it all.."Too Blessed To Be Stressed." How true is this statement. Of course this time of the year always reminds us of how truly thankful we are and should be.
I am so grateful to the Lord for how he has brought comfort, health, joy, and many other numerous provisions during the course of this year. We are so very blessed!

I am also grateful for family. My sister just recently sent me some pics that she took of her kids. We don't get to see them that often..only when we travel to Ohio for Cade's eye appointments. These pictures are amazing! She is an awesome photographer and not to mention Holland and Addi Kae are too precious!! I am very thankful for her and so proud of how she has continued to seek the Lord in everything that she does. She is an awesome wife, a loving mom, and a wonderful sis! Love you Hill!

Happy Halloween and a few random pics.....

So Cade was a Race car driver for Halloween. It was actually a Pit Crew costume, but we told him it was a race car driver--Lightning McQueen. He had a great time and actually went up to a couple of houses by himself--that was huge!! He was so excited all week for Halloween. We asked him what he was going to say when he went up to the door and he said, "trick or treat, smell my feet.." We eliminated the last phrase to be polite..haha!
The other pics are from school. He had school pictures last week and they didn't take his the day I had him dressed. As you will notice he was NOT cooperative with the photographer, but glad he expressed his true self. This pic has the real CADE written all over it.
We actually found another race car costume today on sale and he had to have it. He looks somewhat like Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights..haha!! Too funny!!!

Enjoy!!

Football and Pumpkin Carving.....

Chris and I took Cade to his first SEC college football game last weekend. It was Vanderbilt v. South Carolina. Yes, the same Carolina team that beat my Alabama team earlier..ugh!!! We had great seats--right behind the Carolina bench. Cade just sat there and took in all the pre-game festivities. He had a pretzel and a pizza before the game even started..haha! He enjoyed it and he loved watching the band at halftime. Not sure if that is good or bad thing..:) We ended up leaving around the 3rd quarter, because Cade at that point was everywhere. He could not sit still. Vandy lost 21-7, but it was a great game!

We carved pumpkins the following day and it was Chris' first time to carve a pumpkin. Neither one of us carved pumpkins growing up, so we do not have any carving skills whatsoever! Thanks to the carving book I picked up, along with some handy-dandy tools we carved 2 pumpkins. Cade loved it, but did not like all the goo in the pumpkins..go figure..he hates to be dirty. He asks every night to light up the pumpkins and he is sooooooo excited about Halloween. He has been counting down the days since last weekend. This year he is a Lightening McQueen racecar driver..it's really a pit crew costume, but we didn't tell him that. It looks adorable on him. He also dressed up his buddy "NASCAR." NASCAR is his puppy he got from Build-A-Bear, and yes he named him NASCAR..haha! They both match! It is the cutest thing ever. Will post pics of that soon!

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

My Celebrity Crush Part II

So most of you know that I am a HUGE fan of Carrie Underwood, so much that I will be traveling to Memphis to see her perform AGAIN!! Yes, this will be the second time, but it was just the best concert ever. This past Wednesday I went to see her here in Nashville with my bestie Tosha. WE had the best time and when we are together the laughter never stops!
This summer my cell phone rang and it was my sister. She wanted to know if I still wanted to see Carrie in concert. Of course my answer was an ECSTATIC YES!!! You see I had been trying for months to get tickets and knew I couldn't afford them at the time, so it was such a blessing for her to call!! And on top of that our tickets were soooo close. You will see in the pics.
It was AMAZING!!!! My favorite part of all was when she sang "Jesus Take the Wheel" and incorporated "How Great Thou Art" into the song! It felt like we were all standing for several minutes in applause.
I think what amazes me about her is how grounded she is. She is in the top of her league with many accolades to her name, but so grounded in the Lord. Love that about her.
Anyway, enough of my rambles. Here are some pics from this week!

Owen Farm

So today, Cade and I went to Owen Farm. Our church has their Fall Festival there each year. We had alot of fun. We visited with the animals, went for a hay ride, went down the big slide, played on the tires, and picked out a pumpkin. Here are a few pics of our fun day!!!

Never a Dull Moment

Well we had some things unexpectedly occur this past week in regards to Cade. Cade's doctor has been wanting to have an MRI done to see what has been the cause of the irritation in his eye. So Wednesday I received a voicemail that they were trying to schedule the MRI and surgery in the same day for Thursday. THURSDAY---which was the very next day!!! So all day on Wed. the surgery coordinator worked on getting this done in one setting. I was shocked, but very thankful this would be one procedure and not two separate. By 4:00 I received the call that it was good to go. Cade would be having an MRI done and then they would be transporting him directly to the OR for surgery.

To make a long story short, Cade was very scared and nervous. Poor thing thought he had to go potty about 5 times before surgery. Sedation went great thanks to our best friend "versed"- his loopy drug that makes him forgetful. Surgery only took an hour. She removed the glue that was causing the irritation that was left from the previous surgery in the summer. He was stitched up and sent home.

We are so thankful for VCH. I know I have said this many times in many posts, but it is the truth. The way they handle these children is amazing!!!

We were home by 3:00 with minor swelling. My dad was able to come down and help and Cade was so thrilled about that! He loves his Papa!! They spent the next day together and had so much fun!

Again, I can't put into words how appreciative Chris and I are of those of you who have walked alongside us since Cade's birth and have prayed for him through numerous procedures!! It amazes me still today that many people that Chris and I have never met lift us up daily in prayer!! Do you know how encouraging that is? To see the body of Christ wrap it's arms around strangers who are struggling? That truly exemplifies Christ's love for us!!!

While we were waiting for Cade to get out of the OR on Thursday, I have been reading our pastor's book Plan B. In one part he talks about all the questions we try to answer in regards to life.. the when, how, where, who...when the only question we should be living out right now is the "why"? This question we already know the answer to and this is the one we should be focused on. The answer to the "why" is to reflect His glory, to bring Him glory. This is where I TRY to keep my head in the midst of all this craziness we call life! We are called to this earth to reflect HIM and to bring HIM glory!! That is it!!!

Cade has done great through all of this!! Most of you know that he bounces back so fast. He went back to school yesterday and has been sharing his experience from last week with all of his teachers. Last night before he went to bed he prayed and thanked Jesus for all of his friends that prayed for him when he was in the hospital. He is getting so big and I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use him!

K...I think I wrote way too much.. Sorry for all the rants. Thank you all for your continued prayers! We love you!!

The Boys of Fall....

Well, it is football time in the Brian household which means Friday nights are spent at the stadium and Saturdays are spent watching college football! Cade has become very interested and has really enjoyed watching the games with us.. So fun!! We root for Alabama, Texas, the Tennessee Titans and the Dallas Cowboys. Today we had our own football game in the front yard. Me, daddy, and Cade. We had a blast. Here are a few pics! We love this time of year!!!!! "Are you ready for some football????"