Thanksgiving 2011

Chris, Ben, and I went to St. Augustine, my hometown, for Thanksgiving this year. I was so excited to be going back to Florida. Due to different circumstances, this was my first Thanksgiving with my family since 2007. This was the first year of our new "holiday schedule" with our families. We are spending every other year at the other parents' house, so next Thanksgiving we will be with Dave and Kelly. The thing I was most worried about for the trip was how Ben would do with such a long drive. We broke up the first drive into two days and drove the whole way on Sunday. In both scenarios, Ben did GREAT! Just another reason why I love that boy :)

We arrived in Florida early Wednesday afternoon. We enjoyed winding down from the trip, and Ben enjoyed being with his Grandma and Grandpa. He also made a friend with the family dog, Buddy. That boy LOVES dogs! Late that night, my brother arrived from Gainesville after work. It was great seeing my baby brother, who happens to be 6 feet tall. Thanksgiving day was wonderful. My Grandma Lois (maternal) came, as well as my Uncle Dan and his wife, Laurie. I haven't seen my uncle since my Grandpa Smith's funeral and I had never met Laurie. It was great to be with family and eat wonderful food. That night, Dad went with Chris and me to see "The Muppets". That may be my new favorite movie. I have loved the Muppets since a kid, and this movie brought out all of the fun that the Muppets are known for.

On Friday morning, we helped Mom and Dad decorate the house for Christmas. Their house looks so pretty at Christmas time. One of the great things about where my parents live is that it's right down the road from the Outlet Mall. Friday afternoon, Chris and I made our way into the madness. We only went to a couple of stores, which Chris appreciated. We got Ben some clothes and the nieces their Christmas presents. That night, my home church's new pastor and his family, as well as Phil and Tracy, came over for dinner. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun.

Saturday was spent watching football and spending more time visiting family. My Grandpa Poppa and Grandma Joanne came to visit. They met Ben for the first time. Ben loved playing with my grandpa, and Grandpa LOVED being with Ben. He had been waiting so long to meet him. That night, Chris and I went to Old Town St. Augustine to walk around and see the lights. St. Augustine is such a beautiful city with so much history. Adding lights at Christmas just makes it that much better. We left Sunday morning around 7:30 and got back to Knoxville between 6:00 and 6:30.

While it is great to get away for a vacation, there is nothing quite like being home. Besides my salvation, the Chris Garner family is what I am most thankful for. Wherever I am with them, I am most content. Apart from being in Christ, I hope that you are content in where the Lord has placed you. His ways are better than we could ever know, and being still in where He has placed us is glorifying to Him. I am leaving you with pictures from this past weekend. I hope that your Thanksgiving was wonderful!


Ben and Uncle Andrew

Ben loves Buddy

Ben and Grandpa

Andrew and I with Ben

Brother and Sister

The Garners with Uncle Andrew

Sweet Boy

Great-Grandma Smith and Great-Grandma Lois with Benjamin

The Garners

Grandma Lois, Mom, Me, and Ben - Four Generations

The Whole Family

Chris with Grandma Lois's Four Generations

Chris with Grandpa Poppa's Four Generations

Grandpa Poppa, Mom, Me, and Ben - Four Generations

Great-Grandpa Poppa and Great-Grandma Joanne with The Garners

It's Been a While

Wow. So I haven't posted anything since July. That really was not intended. We are just strolling through life right now, and I have completely forgotten to blog. So much has happened since I posted last.

I left off by telling you that Ben had surgery for pyloric stenosis. I am very happy to say that you would not know that he had any eating problems. The boy has a couple of weeks until his 6 month birthday and he is wearing mostly 6-9 month clothing. Also, at his 4 month check-up, he was in the 90% for weight! He is a growing baby boy and we love his sooooo much. He fills our life with so much joy. He laughs and plays and is so content. He is just now sitting up on his own, which brings about mixed emotions to me. At the one hand, I am so happy about how he is growing and learning new things. Still, I want him to be little! Ben is such a gift!

We are now settled down in an apartment on the west side of Knoxville. The location is great because it only takes Chris about 10 minutes to get to work, and it is centrally located to everything, except church. It's very simple and great for us where we are at in life right now. The one thing that I love about this place is that is has a dishwasher! Amazing the things that you get excited about when you grow up :)

Chris and I are pretty busy on a weekly basis. Chris's job requires him to travel, sometimes as north as Bristol to as south as Chattanooga. I am now nannying a little girl named Evie Grace during the week. What originally was a two day a week job had turned into a 4+ day a week job. It has been a blessing at both ends. Evie Grace's dad now works full time, which has been a huge answer to prayer. In addition, this has been a huge blessing with us getting extra income while I am able to be at home with Ben. Did I mention that she is a week older than Ben?!?! Needless to say, I have pretty busy days. Time management is something that I am learning more and more during this season.

We have loved being at FBC Powell. This church has been such a blessing to us. This church was instrumental in Chris coming to know the Lord and discipling him. We are so happy to serve at such a place. Chris is serving with his parents in Turning Point, the addiction ministry at FBC Powell. He also has the chance of possible teaching a Sunday School class starting early next year. I am about to serve in the choir. We are now part of a wonderful Sunday School class. Bob and Karen's heart for the Lord and passion for His Word is so evident in the way they teach. Chris has picked up friendships within the class, and I am hoping to continue to develop relationships with the wives.

So what's next in the soon-to-be future? Our church's mission conference is this coming weekend. We are blessed to be part of such a missions-minded church. We are also excited about spending Thanksgiving in St. Augustine with my family. This will be Ben's first time to the Sunshine State! At the beginning of December, we will be back in Louisville attending Andrew Peterson's "Behold, the Lamb of God" concert at Alumni Chapel. We love Andrew Peterson, and we are looking forward to hearing his music, as well as spending time with good friends. We will spend Christmas in Knoxville with the Garners at Dave and Kelly's new house! The house is beautiful and I can't wait to see how she decorates it.

As you can see by the pictures of Ben, we have one handsome little boy. God has truly blessed us more than we ever thought possible with this little man. Hopefully, I will post again sooner rather than later. Blessings!

Ben's Surgery

With Chris being out of work for a while, we took a vacation to his Granny and Grandpa's house in Lynchburg, TN. They have a house on a lake where there is not a lot of people. We enjoyed relaxing after a hectic few weeks. It was during this time that we noticed that Ben was spitting up. Since the beginning, Ben did not spit up. He ate well and burped after every feeding. This spitting up shocked us. We just figured that this was the next step of him being a baby. We really noticed it on Friday, June 24 and it got worse on the 25th. Little did we know that this was more then just spit up.

I did not go to church on Sunday because I got little sleep Saturday night while attending to Benjamin. We went to the doctor on Monday morning to check out what was wrong. We thought going in that he had reflux pretty badly. We saw the doctor and described our situation. We told him about him not keeping his food down, but he was not crying and still liked to eat. With this information, the doctor believed it was reflux. He told us to put rice cereal in his formula so that his food would stay down because of it's thickness. He also told us to sleep him sitting up in a swing or his carrier seat. We did what the doctor said. He seemed to be doing ok Monday night and Tuesday, though he still spit up pretty badly. We put him to bed Tuesday night and waited to see what happened. It was about to get worse.

We went to bed at midnight. Right after Chris turned the light out, he heard Ben stirring. He got up, turned on the light, and then saw Ben projectile vomit over a large distance. He got worried and let my mother-in-law know. We both knew it got worse. We called the doctor's office to see if anyone was on call. Chris talked to a nurse and described the situation. She told us to go to the Children's Hospital ER. When we got there, they decided that he needed an ultrasound to check to see what his stomach looked like. After the doctor saw the ultrasound, she concluded that he had pyloric stenosis. Pyloric stenosis is a condition where the pyloric muscle (the muscle that connects the stomach to the intestines) is enlarged to a point where food cannot pass through. The only way to fix this was for Ben to have surgery and to have it immediately. When we heard this, we were heartbroken. Our five week old was about to go under the knife.

Ben was admitted to a room and had surgery later that day. He was such a trooper. Because his electrolytes were not regular, he had to get an IV in his forehead and not in his arm or leg. I had to leave the room when they put the IV in. Chris said that he almost had to leave. After he got a room, we waited a few hours before he went into surgery. Saying goodbye to him before he went was so hard. We knew that the Lord was good in all of this situation, yet it was still heartbreaking. We would have gladly taken his place. The surgery lasted just under an hour. The surgeon said that everything went well. We were elated!

The next 36 hours involved Ben learning how to keep his food down while this muscle was recovering. He could not leave the hospital until he kept his food down. He didn't keep his first round of food down, which is normal in recovery. By Friday morning, he had kept all of his food down. We left the hospital a little before noon. We were so glad to finally be bringing our sweet boy home!

During this time of trial, we were so blessed with all of the sweet words of encouragement and prayer. If anything, Facebook and Twitter are wonderful ways to let others know of burdens and trials. We know that our son was being prayed for, and for that we are so grateful. We are happy to say that Ben has fully recovered and is doing wonderfully. He loves to eat and he is not vomiting anymore! We no longer worry when he sleeps, wondering if he could possibly suffocate. Yet again, the Lord has proven himself faithful.

Rocky Top Tennessee

Yes, I have neglected my blog yet again. I think me taking care of an infant is a valid excuse as to why the neglect. Much has happened since my last post.

As most of you know, the Garner family has relocated. We now live in Knoxville, Tennessee. That's right, Volunteer country! We now live in the land where "Rocky Top" is played constantly and everyone wears orange. You may ask why this change in scenery. Well, that's why I am writing this post.

Chris has been struggling with working full-time and going to school. He wants to be a good steward of what the Lord has given us, and taking out loans for school is not in the picture. He knew that adding a baby into the picture would add to the struggle. He knew that the Lord had called him to ministry, specifically church planting, and taking classes at Boyce just to repeat them in seminary did not seem like the best way to use our money. After the Fall 2010 semester ended, Chris came to me and told me that he wanted to move back to Tennessee. While I did not act out in such a way, I was completely shocked. Tennessee was not in my mindset. We were supposed to be in Louisville for the next several years. After thinking about the possibility, I felt like this was really what the Lord wanted for us. With Chris still having his residency in Tennessee, this would free him up to go to a state school, which would mean cheaper tuition and the possibility of grants and scholarships. With much thought and prayer, we decided that Knoxville is where our new life would be.

It was such a blessing that Ben came two weeks early. It was hard enough to get everything ready to move four weeks after his birth. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be with only two weeks! We left Louisville on June 17. We were so blessed with all of the help. There were about 15 guys total, and they packed up the truck in an hour! Because of a miscommunication with Chris's new job, we are living with his parents and our belongings are in storage. However, the situation has been resolved and we will be moving into our new apartment on July 23. We are so thankful for the opportunity of staying with Chris's parents, but we are DEFINITELY ready to have our own home.

Even though we know that Knoxville is where the Lord wants us to be, we do miss Louisville, specifically the people that we left. We have been blessed with amazing friends and we miss them terribly. We can no longer call up "The Shire" and see if we can come over to hang out. We can't hang out with Wellum's Couples after church or for special events. Louisville and Southern Seminary has been an incredible blessing to us. After all, this blog title would be different and my cute little boy would not be here if I never would have moved to Louisville and married my best friend. We are thankful for this season of life and we look forward to join the Southern family again once Chris is finished with his Bachelor's.

Ben's Birthday Story

So as you can see by my ticker and blog picture, we have welcomed our son into this world! Benjamin David Garner came on May 21 at 3:11 P.M. He weighed 7 lbs and 8 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Here is the recap on what exactly happened that brought this sweet boy into the world.

On May 12, I went in for my 36 week appointment. I was very excited to see if I had progressed at all. When my doctor checked me, I was a fingertip dialated, my cervix was thinning, and Ben was head-down. I was very encouraged by this report, seeing that both my body and Ben were making progress before labor would start. On May 19, I went in for my 37 week appointment. Again, I was interested in finding out if I had progressed at all from that point. When she checked me, I was 2 cm and 90% effaced. I could not believe how fast I had progressed! I had a gut feeling that something was going to happen that weekend. That Friday was a great day. My father-in-law received his diploma for his MDiv. We were so proud of his accomplishment. That Saturday, some close family friends were throwing him a party in Knoxville. We had planned on going, but my doctor said that there was no way that I was traveling with how I was progressing. Even with her telling us that we couldn't go, it didn't matter in the end.

Throughout the third trimester, I had been getting up a couple times in the night to go to the bathroom. Saturday the 21st was no exception. However, this time was different. When I went to the bathroom at 1:50, I felt a gush. It wasn't a lot, but it was different. I looked online to see if this was really my water breaking. I decided to wait half an hour and then check to see if anything had changed. Sure enough, half an hour went by and I knew that we were going to the hospital. We left the house and got to the hospital at 4:30. We went to triage where they examined me to make sure that my water had broken. They said that it had broken and that I was still 2 cm and 90% effaced. Once they said yes, we went into my hospital room between 5:30 and 6:00.

They started my pitocin at 7:00. I knew from the beginning that I would have an epidural. I had a few friends tell me that as soon as I could to go ahead and take it. I was having some contractions, but they weren't serious. However, I knew that they were only going to intensify. The anesthesiologist came around 7:30. I hate needles, so I was nervous about getting that needle put in my spine. I was surprised at how quickly it went by. All I felt was a burn and pinch, then it was over. As time went on, Chris and my mom would look at the contractions and be amazed. Apparently, they were coming at a good pace, and I wasn't feeling a thing!

They checked me again at 10:00 and I was 7 cm and 100% effaced. I believe it was this time when they told us that he had hair. I was so excited! They checked me again two hours later and I was 9 cm. They said that unless I felt pressure and the need to push, they would come by at 2:00, most likely to push the baby out. I was excited. It would be very soon when I would meet my baby boy! At 12:45, my dad arrived at the hospital. He took a 7:00 flight out of Jacksonville after my mom called him and told him that I was in labor.

They nurse came in at 2:00, checked me, and said that it was time to start pushing. I hadn't seen the doctor hardly at all during the labor. She had 11 of the 19 patients on the floor. The nurse got ready and I started pushing at 2:20. I was completely numb in my legs because of the epidural. Yet after getting the hang of pushing, I started to feel pressure and the need to push. So I pushed through each contraction, getting more excited about meeting Ben. At 3:11 P.M., we finally saw his sweet face! He hardly cried at all, and he was so cute! I could not get over how cute he was! He was 7 lbs 8 oz of cuteness! Tears were in my eyes. I was overwhelmed with love for this little guy.

It has been 11 days since he was born and I have loved every minute of it. Ben is such a content, sweet baby. He hardly cries, he loves to eat, and we have to wake him up in the middle of the night so that he can eat. He has a habit of peeing when getting his diaper changed...or when he's taking a bath. He loves to be snuggled and held, and he loves looking at whoever is talking to him. He has totally captured his daddy's heart, and turned his dad into a sap in the process :)

I cannot imagine life without him. While Chris and I had originally planned to wait a few years before kids, I am so glad that the Lord had other things in store. Being a mommy is such a joy, and I cannot wait to watch him grow. We pray that Ben would come to know the God of his father, and that he will love Jesus and live a life that displays the grace of God.










I hope that you have enjoyed looking at the photos of my boy. I mean, how could you not?! :)
Have a blessed week!

Almost There!

Wow! It has been quite a while since I blogged last. At the time of my previous post, we just found out that our baby boy was being knit together. Now, I am less then a month away from the due date! It is crazy to see the ticker so close to the end! I do wish that I would have updated the blog more during that time, but what can you do :)

At 26 weeks, we had the opportunity to have a free 4D Ultrasound! Dr. Cutrer is a licensed OB/GYN, as well as a professor at Southern. In addition to that, he volunteers at A Woman's Choice Resource Center in downtown Louisville. This is a great ministry to women to give them an alternative to abortion. In fact, the office is next door to the abortion clinic. When we went into the office, we heard the protesters on either side of the issue. When we parked, a staff member of the abortion clinic began to make his way towards me to escort me into the building. I am so glad that I was not there by myself!

My in-laws were able to be there for the appointment. Also, Chris was able to get my mom on Skype over his iPhone. We were so excited to see what Ben looked like. As Dr. Cutrer was going over my belly, he took a couple of pictures. Unfortunately, Ben was being somewhat shy and didn't want to cooperate with us. However, Dr. Cutrer found and angle where we could see his face. When I saw his precious profile, my heart leaped! He was absolutely precious! His hands were blocking most of his face, but we were able to see him. The last picture he took was more face-on. Again, we thought that he was adorable.

At 30 weeks, my sister-in-law threw us a baby shower in Knoxville. She did a great job putting everything together. What's even more impressive is that she was 36 weeks pregnant at the time! We played some games and had some amazing food. We received many precious gifts for our baby. Chris and I are continually amazed at the generosity that has been shown to us and our boy. We are extremely blessed.

Until 2 1/2 weeks ago, I worked at 5th and Broadway, the campus store and post office for the SBTS community. In addition to myself, there is another girl that works there that is also pregnant. Her baby girl is due at the end of July. In the middle of April, they threw us a "Baby Celebration". There was food and gifts. I was not expecting them to do anything. This was another reminder to me that I was so blessed to be placed in that job. They have been like family to me and I loved going to work with them.

So what is going on with life right now? As I said before, I am now officially a stay-at-home wife and mom. This is an absolute dream come true! I am so blessed that we are in the position for me to stay at home, and that Chris feels that this is important for us and for Ben. Tomorrow is my 36 week appointment. I am eager to see if anything has happened. I cannot believe that we are at this point! This pregnancy has gone by fast for us, and we are so thankful for a healthy pregnancy and baby. Also on Thursday, my Mom will be flying to Louisville to stay with us for the remainder of the pregnancy, for Ben's birth, and for the adjustment time afterwards. We are excited to have her, and I think that she is a little excited herself :)

A lot of other things are going on right now that I will be sharing later. In the mean time, I hope that I will be able to blog more frequently then I have before. Blessings!

We're having a boy!!!

So as you can see by the title of the post, we found out today that we are having a boy!!! We are so excited to welcome little Benjamin David this June!

Kelly, Chris's mom, came to Louisville last night so she could be at the appointment. Our ultrasound was at 9:30 and our appointment was at 9:45. We arrived at the office a little early, so we got the ultrasound done early. My heart was fluttering. I was so ready to see our baby! I made sure to drink some caffeine on the way to the office to try to let the baby move, for it sure has made it move before! Well, the caffeine worked wonders! Baby was moving around like crazy! The technician told us what we were seeing, pointing out the head, heart, and stomach. Then she proceeded to say, "And you are having a boy." She said it so casually. And we were all so excited!! We were so giddy! We were having a boy!!

After the ultrasound, we met my doctor. She told us that we have a "beautiful" baby and that everything is growing well. Of course, I was relieved about this. Pregnancy is such an unknown without seeing pictures. I was so glad that my boy is doing well. She was thrilled for us and we loved her enthusiasm.

After the appointment, Chris went to work while Kelly and I went to Babies R Us to go shopping!! I loved looking at baby clothes and KNOWING what I was looking for. Benjamin has some cute clothes already, and Grandma Smith is making sure that he will be a little Volunteer...despite the horrible fact that my family are Gators :)

While we aren't big on specific meanings of names, we do want our children to have good names, masculine for a boy and feminine for a girl. His middle name, David, is specifically after Chris's dad. Even though Chris's first name is David, we always intended on carrying on that name in honor of our son's grandfather. We wanted to make sure that our son's first name was very much "boy", and we think that Benjamin is very much a boy name. Kelly originally wanted Chris's name to be Benjamin, but a close friend of hers had one of her own. So Nana gets her Ben!

We are so excited to raise this little boy. Ben has a wonderful family and we know that he will be so loved by everyone. I wish so many things for Ben and his future. The thing that I long for Him the most is that he will love Jesus and serve Him. We are taking this task very seriously, seeking to lead Ben towards Jesus, showing him that he can never be good enough. We want him to love God's word, treasuring it in his heart. We ask that others join us in this prayer.

To end, I am leaving pictures of our little man. I cannot wait to update again!