Standards

Tonight I was in the attic and I came across the standards that I wrote in July of 01 for the man I was going to marry. I had dated a couple of guys since becoming a Christian and I felt that I really didn't have any standards for the man God wanted me to marry. Over the course of several weeks, I prayed and this is the list of standards that I felt encompassed the man that God wanted me to marry. I knew that I would never marry a man unless he met all 31 standards without me telling him the standards. I had come to a point in my life where I was tired of mediocre and I wanted God's best and I was willing to wait forever. Jim and I met October of 01 and the rest is history......
1. Growing Christian (Loves the Lord more than He loves Me)
2. Spiritual Leader/Willing and Wanting to Teach Me
3. Gentleman
4. Has a High Respect for His Sisters in Christ
5. Believes All of the Bible
a. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
b. Isaiah 5:17-19
6. Is able to communicate (talk and listen)
7. My Best Friend
8. Prays with me/for me
9. Will never ask me to compromise myself/standards/purity/always asks permission
10. Patient
11. Slow to anger
12. Country yet conservative (adventurous yet romantic)
13. Likes to travel
14. Has a sense of humor
15. Loves His Family
16. Adores Me
17. Wants lots of Children
18. Works Hard
19. Accepts my faults
20. Gracefully and truthfully corrects my faults
21. Bring flowers/sends cards
22. Dedicated to his ministry
23. Likes working with young people
24. Accepts/Loves/Prays for my family
25. Wants me to be a “homemaker”
26. A servants heart
27. Looking for a helper, soul mate, His “Eve”
28. Has prepared to be the person He wants to marry
29. Plays guitar/sings/worships through music
30. Encourages me
31. Not afraid to share his love for me with other people (I shouldn’t be a secret)

Dear Lord,
May I be all that I am committed to desire, and may I never settle for anything less than your best. May I fulfill all of theses standards. May I prepare to be the person I want to marry. Lord, help me to see only with your eyes, think only with your mind, and love only with your heart. I have given you my heart to do with what you please. May I never have it back until the appointed divine time. Lord, help me to remain pure in character and stay focused on YOU. Make me a woman of excellence in Your time. No matter what it takes!! I love you, thank you!!!
Because You Loved Me First,
Stephanie

A New Perdue

No, I am not having another one, yet!
Jim's brother and wife, Dan and Jessica, welcomed a new baby girl into the family June 18 at 7:26 PM. She was 6lb 11 oz and 19 in. Her name is Rabun Ophie. We are so excited to have another little girl. Congratulations Dan and Jessica we can't wait to meet her.

18 months

My baby boy, Judd, turned 18 months on Saturday. This was an emotional day for me. It is hard to believe that he is growing so fast. He brings so much joy to our lives.


Juddman, this is for you

You are hilarious and so much fun. You always wake up with a smile. You smile lights up a room and your laughter is contagious. It is fun as you intentionally do things to make us laugh. Lately, you have been “singing” your favorite songs, Washed in the blood and I’ll Fly Away, at the table while we are eating. Most people wouldn’t recognize I’ll Ba Ba Ba as I’ll Fly Away, but you are doing an amazing job. Your dad and I enjoy watching you play independently especially with cars and Jake’s trains, but still your favorite “toy” is our phone.

I think we should name you little Spiderman, you are climbing on everything Every time I turn around you are climbing on the couch to get the phone, climbing in your chair to tell us you are hungry, climbing up the end table in order to jump on the big chair, and now you climb into the bath tub at random times because you would like to play in the water.

It is hard to believe but you have gone potty a couple of times which is very exciting. You just clap and wave bye-bye as the toilet flushes. I am sure this is all pure luck based on good timing, but still.

You love to do everything Jake does. Brush your teeth standing next to Jake on the stool is one of your favorite activities. Riding Jake’s tractor, reading books like him, sitting with Jake on the couch and playing in his room are more ways your try to be like Jake.

I enjoy watching you kiss Anna Kate and try to put her pacifier in her mouth when she is crying. You are already spoiling and protecting her when you aren’t trying to sit on or tickle her.

You are fearless especially in the pool swimming. We put a lifejacket and swimmies on you while you are in the pool and you LOVE the freedom to swim around. You are quick to jump off of the diving board to daddy. You will come to the edge and count holding up one finger, 3free, 3free, 3free and then jump.

Whenever we mention the word “book” you run to get your Little People flap books, touch and feel pony books, or your Bible then stand in front of us and back into our laps so that we will read to you. It is so precious! Currently you have three signs and 20 words that you use regularly, although many are animal noises your verbal skills are increasing everyday.

You are QUICK to run from mommy and daddy if you know that you are going to be disciplined. You usually run with a concerned look on your face, but other times you laugh hoping we will do the same.

This week will be another milestone. We are taking away your pacifier. You only get it when you sleep, but you LOVE it. This was the hardest transition for Jake, even harder than potty training, so I am expecting a long week with little sleep.

Lastly, we are taking you to an allergist and an ENT in a few weeks. You have reoccurring ear infections and it is time to figure out the cause and solution. We have been praying and will continue to pray that your little ears will stop getting infected, but we need to take steps so that we can stop giving you antibiotics every month.

I love you, Judson Hunter and I wish I could hold on to this precious time. . and that you would stay this age forever! I know that you will continue to grow and we pray that you will be the man God wants you to be. Our prayer for you has always been to love Him with all of your heart and live for Him without regrets

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day to the love of my life!
I am married to one of the best dad’s in the whole world. He loves his family and he loves being a dad. He truly enjoys every minute. He sings silly songs and has silly nicknames for the kids that make them laugh. Most importantly, he loves his boys and wants to see them love Jesus more than anything else.

Jim, thank you for your faith and how important it is to you to share it with me and the kids. Thank you for loving us in so many ways. Thank you for coming home everyday always ready to play “dead gorilla ,“roll them up”, have devotions with our children, or just enjoy a nice afternoon in the water. Thank you….

Yes, we did get Jim a tie this year, BUT he also got two suits and a shirt. He wore one to church today and I must say that he is a fine looking man! **we took pictures, but they didn't look so hot***


Happy Father’s Day to my Dad
Thank you for always loving me, your princess. Thanks for being such a great listener. I have always been able to talk to you and I always knew that you would lend an ear whenever I needed to talk. You have always worked so hard to give me everything I need and just about everything I wanted. Bad thing or not, I was spoiled. At least I recognize it, right? Thanks for the past three years. I am so glad that you are apart of our life. My boys love Papa Wayne.

Happy Father’s Day to Benny (a.k.a Mr. Brown)
Thanks for all of you love, support, and encouragement through the years. You are a great step-dad and I am thankful you are in my life. Thank you for your advice and your willingness to serve others. Thank you for investing my family. We love you, Sweet Papa.

Happy Father’s Day to Mr. Sonny
Thank you for your son. I want to say thank you for the teaching him to be a godly man, to love his wife and family, to work hard, and most of all thanks for teaching him to love Jesus. Thank you for loving my children and being such a great Big Buddy.

Awww! Isn't she cute.......Oh no!

At my 20 week ultrasound we saw sweet Anna Kate doing this:

If you can't tell what she is doing take a good look at this picture:


I have been waiting for 2 months to see if Anna Kate would really live up to her ultrasound pictures. Well, this morning I woke up and I saw my precious little girl sucking away. I snapped a quick picture because it was cute and I wanted a memory, but she will be sleeping with mittens on from this point forward. I don't want a thumb sucker. I know many of you think "no big deal", but it is a big deal to me. I was a thumb sucker and I don't want to go through what my parents went through.

The Many Faces of Anna Kate

I can't believe Anna Kate is two months old today. She is growing to fast. I am trying to cherish every single moment, but the days continue to come and go so much more quickly than I remember with the boys. My life is so busy with three little ones, but I know that very soon I will wake up missing these chaotic days and wanting them back.

These are the many faces of Anna Kate...

Bottles

I wanted to give you some information that I have been looking at the past few days. You may already know all of this but if not I just wanted to inform you.

I read this website the other day and on May 29 they were discussing BPA free bottles. Apparently, the concern with BPA (bisphenol-A) in the plastics used in many bottles and sippy cups. I returned my bottles at Babies R Us this morning and bought Dr. Browns 3 Pack Polypropylene Bottles - 8 Oz. They return them without any questions asked. Be sure to call before going. They are selling them as fast as they get them in.

I have used Dr. Brown's bottles for both of the boys and I love them. Dr. Brown's supposedly has the highest levels of BPA leaching when heated. I don't heat them when I use formula, but with breast milk you have to heat them and that is when the leaching supposedly takes place. "According to Babies R Us website - they are transitioning to BPA only products by the end of 2008! You can do a quick google search to learn more about the dangers of BPA. For a list of bottles that do NOT contain BPA, check this out. Most mainstream bottles (Avent and Dr. Browns) DO contain BPA."

An Awesome Prayer

Sunday at church Anna Kate received a precious gift. It was a Raggedy Ann doll. I haven't seen one of those in years. It is hard to believe I have a girl and she has a doll.

When I opened the card there was a heart-shaped piece of paper inside with a note to Anna Kate. This is what it said:

Anna Katherine,
Sweet Baby girl...
I pray that from the beginning you will have a heart that is tender toward God; a heart that beats to please Him. That early on your hands won't hesitate to lift toward heaven in praise and worship of God. And as you grow up, that they will be used to reach out and comfort those who are hurting and help those in need. May the first step you take be one of many on the path that God has planned and laid out before you. And ultimately, may your countenance reflect a young lady who has come to know and love her Savior, Jesus Christ LORD. God bless and keep you.

Jim and I both had tears in our eyes. What a blessing to know that people love and care about our children enough to pray this kind of pray for them. We are humbled.

God is Here!!!

Update on Anna Kate

Anna Kate is 7 weeks old and she is so precious. She is sleeping and eating well. We made it through the first growth spurt and I am still nursing. Yippie! For those of you that know me, the sixth week has always been the beginning of the end of my nursing experiences.

With all the sleepless nights and tiring days, I quickly begin to anticipate the first smiles. Each smile melts my heart. Anna Kate started smiling about two weeks ago, but this is the first time we were able to capture them with the camera. I just thought I would share a few of Anna Kate's smiles. Hopefully, they will bring a smile to your face.

More Fun with Photo Booth

The boys saw the pictures of Mom and wanted to play also. Here are a few of their pictures. I still think Mom's are the funniest.

Hilarious!

These are pictures of mom playing with photo booth. She thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. I just thought I would post the pictures for everyone's enjoyment. 

Mom, I love you!

Zoo

Last Tuesday several girls and I took our kids to the Memphis Zoo. They have something called Tennessee Tuesdays. If you have a Tennessee License then you get in for free after 2:00 p.m. I must admit this was QUITE an adventure. My friend, Jessica, met at my house and some how we loaded five kids, all 3 and under (with car seats) and two double strollers into my Trailblazer. She arrived at my house at 2:30 and we left at 3:00. Yes, it took us 30 minutes to get everything packed. I don't think that we realized that it was going to be such a "zoo" going to the zoo.

When we arrived both of the babies needed to be fed so we sat in the car for 30 minutes and fed them and then we slowly but surely got everyone out of the car, lathered in sunscreen, and loaded into their designated stroller seats or front pack in Anna Kate's case. I really wish you could have seen us. I know that we looked like a big bundle of chaos.

The zoo was fun and it impressed the big boys. Judd really enjoyed the elephants, which he was able to see at the Atlanta Zoo a week or so earlier. They all thought the gorilla and sea lions were neat. We walked around the whole zoo and then we decided to go eat at Moe's. Jake and Judd love Moe's so I thought it would be somewhat relaxing...wrong! It was crazy! While we were eating, I was at the table with all of the kids except for one and a lady walked by and shook her head at me, as to say "you poor thing" I very sweetly responded "They aren't ALL mine." It was funny and all the girls laughed. Once again the babies needed to be fed so we hung out in the Moe's parking lot after dinner to feed them and then we headed home. We arrived back at my house at 8:45 p.m. just in time to put the sweet babies to bed.

Here are a couple of pictures. As you can tell Jake and Cooper had the most fun playing in the water. So I ask myself, why did we go through all this so they could play in the water? Memories... that's why!

Two of the five car seats.

Jake really wanted to pet the goat.

pure joy

Anna Kate's Canvas

For a while I have been looking for something to go over Anna Kate's crib with her name on it. I thought about doing letters, but then I saw a painted canvas with names on them and decided that is what I wanted. I have been trying to find someone that makes them near here and the other day mom and I went to Freckled Frog, a store near my house, and saw samples of a lady who makes them in town.

I was so excited. We sketched out what we wanted based on several pictures that were in a photo album and the colors in Anna Kate's well. I picked it up today and I love it!


It is not hung up yet, but I was so excited and wanted to share it with you that I took a picture of it in Anna Kate's bed. There is a piece of black ribbon with white polka dots attached at the top for hanging. It is a 16x20 canvas. I will publish another picture after it is hung up.

I just spoke with the lady who made the canvas. She is willing to make them and ship them out of state. Let me know if you are interested. I can get you her contact information. She also does bow holders. They are really cute too, but Anna Kate doesn't have a need for bows right now. :-)

Anna Kate Dedicated

For the first three months, this little girl made me very sick and very tired. For the next sixth months, my pregnancy was so great and I carried her with great anticipation. God had given us our first girl. I wonder what she would look like, if she was healthy, and I prayed for her often. I prayed for her health, her life, and I as many of you know I spent many hours praying for her name. After nine months, she came into this world in a hurry, almost too quickly. We welcomed Ms. Anna Katherine Perdue into our family on April 9 and 5 weeks later we were given the opportunity to dedicate and give her back to the Lord.

God has given a beautiful gift in her with an awesome responsibility of caring for this gift, but also the wonderful privilege of enjoying her. Children are a gift from God. Because she belongs to God and was given by grace as a gift to us, it is only proper and appropriate that she be dedicated back to God.

On Mother's Day, Jim and I dedicated this precious little girl back to Him. This is the time where we promise to to do as God commands in Deuteronomy 6. "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

Our prayer for all of our children is that our home, our life, and service to Him will lead our children into a relationship with Him at a very young age and that they will live for Him every day without regrets.

Here are a few pictures from her dedication. Funny story about the dress: Nana, Jim's mom, bought this dress and bonnet along with a blue outfit for Jake before he was born. Since we didn't know his gender she bought two outfits. When he was born I put the pink dress away and waited to have a little girl. Anna Kate wore to dress to be dedicated. I thought it was only appropriate that Anna Kate wear it to her dedication. Thanks, Nana.





Children are a gift from God. Psalm 127:3 proclaims that "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him." As believers we are called to recognize that children belong first and foremost to God. God in his goodness gives children as gifts to parents. They not only have the awesome responsibility of caring for this gift, but also the wonderful privilege of enjoying the gift. Because children belong to God and are given by grace as gifts to parents, it is only proper and appropriate that children be dedicated back to God.

Mother's Day

We had a great day. My mom was in town so I was able to enjoy a great day with my family and my mom. I am glad that she was able to be here with us. Church was great and Jim sang during this service. He did and awesome job. I just wish his mom could have been there to hear him.
Here are a few pictures.

G-Daddy Surgery

Thanks for your prayers. The surgery went well. The doctor was able to remove all of the affected area. He will be going home Thursday. We are very thankful.

Prayer for my G-Daddy

In May of 2006 I asked for prayer for my g-daddy.
"While we were down we found out that my g-daddy has cancer in the lymph nodes in his neck. He is having surgery May 17 and they will be removing several major arteries and nerves from his neck and down his right arm. Please pray that God will calm his fears over the next few weeks and that this surgery will be what is needed to heal him. We will not know until after the surgery, but he may have to do chemo or radiation. Just pray when it comes to mind. God is always in control and all sufficient."

Well over th past several weeks he has found out the the cancer has returned in the same place in his neck. On Wednesday, May 7, he will have this surgery again, but this time it will be much more complicated and severe. Please once again pray that the surgery will go well without any complications and that all the cancer is removed. This is no other treatment for this type of cancer so we are praying that the doctors can removed all of the affected areas and that God will guide their hands as this is a very difficult surgery to perform. Thank you for your prayers once again.

Chicken Bones

Since Anna Kate was born several families in our church have been so kind to bring us meals. One night we had a chicken and vegetable meal. I don't think my boys have ever had chicken on the bone. Jim isn't a fan of any meat on a bone so I always buy boneless chicken breast.  I grew up eating drumsticks and had forgotten how yummy they taste. BUT I must say that my boys loved the chicken so much more and we enjoyed watching them eat it almost as much. 

Quote of the Day

Jim has started something called Quote of the Day. I thought I would share several things Jake has said to me since Anna Kate was born. I know that Jim would never post these quotes.

While I was pregnant with Anna Kate Jake always asked about my belly and he would ask me if it would be small again after the baby came out. I would tell him yes.

The first belly comment came three days after Anna Kate was born. Jake and I took her to the pediatrician for a check up. While we were waiting I picked him up to look out the window and he asked me if my belly was little again. Of course, I told him yes! My sweet little boy looks down and rubs my belly and says "It's not that little mommy." Thanks Jake:-)

The second comment came several days later. All of us were playing upstairs. The boys love to tickle and blow on our bellies. They were blowing on Jim's and then Jake started tickling my belly. As soon as he started I could tell by the look on his face that he was thinking something. This is what he said as he was pushing on my belly, "Mommy, your belly is so squishy." Once again, Thanks Jake:-)
Little ones keep you humble!

All Alone...

 Anna Kate will be two weeks old on Wednesday. This has been a busy couple of  weeks. My mom, Mema, and Benny came to visit the day Anna Kate was born and stayed until Sunday morning. Mom took the boys to run errands and all of my clothes were washed for 5 days straight. Not to mention all of the diapers and other goodies she hauled up here for us. 

This is a picture that Mom took after Anna Kate's first bath.

Jim and Benny stayed busy doing jobs around the house. Their greatest accomplishment was painting all of the shutters on the house and the front door. The shutters and door are now black and I am very excited. It looks great. We really enjoyed having them come and visit for a few days. Benny told me that he isn't planning to make that drive again unless I have another baby. "See you again in 2010"

Nana, Jim's mom, arrived Sunday afternoon and stayed until Thursday. Nana was also busy helping us with sewing projects and trying to keep up with the boys. Nana even swept and mopped the floors the night before she left. :-)

Thursday Jim and I had to face the three of the all alone. I think we did a pretty good job. 

Uncle Jim arrived Sunday for an overnight visit. It was good to see him and he got to play with the boys and meet Anna Kate.

It's Monday, Jim is at work and I am at home with the boys ALL ALONE. They are down for a nap and I must admit today hasn't been bad. We went to the library and to Walmart to pick up a few things. I am glad that my first day went smoothly. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds for this stay at home mommy of three.

I hope to update Wednesday. We are taking all three of the them to the doctor for there well visits.