Social Shoots

Yes, Social Link coordinates weddings and parties ... but now we are trying out a little bit of photography too. Check out my Social Link blog by clicking on the link to the right. The Cole Brothers were our first subjects.

Heather's Birthday

Friends helped celebrate Heather's birthday during a Mary Kay party. What a fun night!!!
Enjoy some pics of the Birthday "Queen."

Eat, Pray, Love

I loved reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Now, I am in search for her new book Committed.
The following are some of Elizabeth Gilbert's thoughts that I highlighted throughout Eat, Pray, Love. They are quoted below directly from the text with the chapter (or bead) number to indicate where you can find it. Her thoughts are EVEN BETTER when in the context of the chapter. A very good read! I recommend it! Now, I can go see the movie.

Say it like you eat it.

True wisdom gives the only possible answer at any given moment. (4)

Could I have survived myself, by myself? I don’t know. That’s the think about human life – there’s no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed. (17)

Perhaps my life has not actually been so chaotic. It is merely this world that is chaotic, bringing changes to us all that nobody could have anticipated. Not to get attached to any obsolete ideas about who I am, what I represent, whom I belong to, or what function I may once have intended to serve. One must always be prepared for riotous and endless waves of transformation. (25)

Responsibility = the ability to respond. (30)

It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection. (30)

The resting place of the mind is the heart. The only thing the mind hears all day is clanging bells and noise and argument, and all it wants is quietude. The only place the mind will ever find peace is inside the silence of the heart. (45)

Just as there exists in writing a literal truth and a poetic truth, there also exists in a human being a literal anatomy and a poetic anatomy. One, you can see; one, you cannot. One is made of bones and teeth and flesh; the other is made of energy and memory and faith. But they are both equally true. (46)

Life, if you keep chasing it so hard, will drive you to death. Time – when pursued like a bandit – will behave like one; always remaining one county or one room ahead of you, changing its name and hair color to elude you, slipping out the back door of the motel just as you’re banging through the lobby with your newest search warrant, leaving only a burning cigarette in the ashtray to taunt you. At some point you have to stop because it won’t. You have to admit that you can’t catch it. That you’re not supposed to catch it. At some point, you gotta let go and sit still and allow contentment to come to you. (49)

Destiny, I feel, is also a relationship – a play between divine grace and willful self-effort. Half of it you have no control over; half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions will show measurable consequence. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is he entirely the captain of his own destiny; he’s a little of both. We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses- one foot is on the horse called “fate,” the other on the horse called “free will.” And the question you have to ask every day is – which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it’s not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort? (58)

You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you’re gonna wear everyday. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop everything else but that. Because if you can’t learn to master your thinking, you’re in deep trouble forever.” (58)

The rules of transcendence insist that you will not advance even one inch closer to divinity as long as you cling to even one last seductive thread of blame. As smoking is to the lungs, so is resentment to the soul; even one puff of it is bad for you. I mean, what kind of prayer is this to imbibe- “Give us this day our daily grudge”? You might just as well as hang it up and kiss God good-bye if you really need to keep blaming somebody else for your own life’s limitations. (60)

The Wilson County Fair

The Wilson County Fair is the largest county fair in Tennessee and it is right down the road (I-40) from us! Last year the fair had over 1/2 million visitors. Typically there are 100,000 people in the fair grounds each night. Steven and I have been once or twice (I think while we were dating...it has been a while). This year we wanted to take John Parker. Last night was PERFECT!!!! The weather was great. It had just rained and I was even a bit chilly at first. What a great relief after our 100+ degree temps. And the crowds....WHAT CROWDS??? I don't know where everyone was. I know it was a school night but that usually doesn't stop anyone when the fair is in town. NO LINES, NO WAITING!!! John Parker had a blast for his first fair. First, we went to the races. Yes, hog racing, goat racing, and even duck racing. John Parker was chosen to be the hog caller for the #24 pig (in yellow) and HE WON!!!! Our #24 hog won the race and John Parker got a blue ribbon. A great way to start out our evening. Then, on to the rabbits. This is always my favorite part. The rabbits are soooooo cute. One year, we are going to bring several home with us... but with a cat, a toddler, a baby on the way, and 900 square feet of living space...we will wait a while. We ate cotton candy and even road some rides. John Parker, I'll just call it as it is, he is a scaredy cat. He is a very cautious child. So we were surprised when he wanted to ride the boats. After that he wanted to try all of the kiddie rides. It was already late but we also rode the airplanes and the trucks. What a blast! Disney World, here we come!

Healthy Hearts

Two trips to Vanderbilt Cardiology Clinic this week sent us home with two great reports.

1. Monday, John Parker had his Cardiology check up that occurs every 6 months. The ECO and EKG shows exactly what we thought...John Parker's heart is working perfectly right now. He is growing, eating, sleeping, and playing just as any other kid his age. He is doing just fine without his pulmonary valve for now and there is still blood flow getting through his stent which is placed in a narrow part of his left pulmonary artery. Vanderbilt is now using the procedure which allows us, later, the opportunity to give John Parker a pulmonary valve by cath lab instead of by another open heart surgery. YEAH! He just has to get bigger before needing the valve. We are going to have a lung perfusion scan soon to see just how much blood is getting through the stent. We have had several lung perfusion scans but it has been 2 years so we need updated information to see if the stent can be or should be rehabilitated (or opened wider in the cath lab). That scan consists of an IV of dye/contrast and then images taken. So, JPL is cleared for another 6 months!!!

2. Tuesday, Steven and I returned to have a fetal eco. Yes, isn't it amazing that the technology can look at the new baby's heart the same way they did JPL's, while in utero. There was a 1% chance of John Parker having a congenital heart defect and therefore a 3% chance for one of JPL's siblings to have a congenital heart defect. Odds were still small and we beat them this time. Baby Boy Link #2 has no large heart issues. Our doctor didn't even see any holes. YEAH!!! Can this baby be born with a small hole that is not seen at this time, sure, but the percentage is VERY low and holes are usually a one time fix and go. Now, we have 18 weeks to grow our little boy to full term (fingers crossed) and come home this time with a true newborn.

WE LOVE HEALTHY HEARTS!!!!!!!!

Catching Up

Two posted that I just realized have not been posted. John Parker, even at 3 1/2, is still experiencing some "firsts". Steven and I took him bowling. He LOVED bowling. Then we were at the farm for the weekend and St. Patrick's Church in McEwen was having the annual reunion picnic. This is a very SMALL town event with BIG bbq pits. When you look at these pics it may look like a building is on fire. NOPE. Those are the bbq pits cooking 4,200 bbq chickens the first day and 21,000 pounds of pork the next. Both were wonderful! There were games, live music, more food, and a lot of political campaigning. Oh and... the tow truck looked a lot like Mater (like in Cars the movie) and JPL loved that!

Glasses for Good

WOW pregnancy can do the strangest things to your body (even beyond the expected). I have been having eye and vision issues and the doctor has now diagnosed that the chemicals of my eye are no longer compatible with the chemicals contained in contacts and their solutions. So, I am stuck in glasses for at least a year and a half. I foresee Lasik surgery in my future ...

My Big Back Yard

We were in Memphis this past week and needed a Saturday morning activity. The Botanical Gardens has a section dedicated to kids called "My Big Back Yard". It was so fun. It is everything you might see in your own backyard, JUST BIGGER! There is a puppy dog kids can climb on and his large dog house. John Parker went rock climbing then slid down the slide. There is an over-sized tree house with a large bird house attached with a wooden swinging bridge and twisty slide. There is a large bird's nest to play in and a wooded area filled with tree stumps to jump across and building blocks. Steven made John Parker a log cabin. There are several little houses with everyday items like pots and pans that make music. A small pond is the perfect place to for Pop and John Parker to hop along boulders. There is even an area where rain storms occur every 5 minutes. What a fun day. If you live in Memphis, or visit, I highly recommend it.

Link Garden

The Link Garden was quite an experience this summer. It was fun planting, watering, and harvesting the crop that it produced. Some veggies didn't make it at all and some produced way too much. Unfortunately, our tomatoes never made it (sad, because they are my fav!). On the other hand, our cucumbers were out of control. We could not pick them fast enough. And really... (though I love them) what can you do with that many cucumbers. Our okra is just now producing. We are about to cut about 20 out of the garden and try out our very own fried okra for dinner this week. Take a look at the zucchini that Farmer Steve grew. I am not sure zucchini are suppose to get THAT big. And last but not least...every farmer needs a riding lawn mower. We are now proud owners of a new (previously titled) ride, Henry! (John Parker named the mower Henry because it is green and so is Thomas's friend Henry the train.)
Coming soon: the Link Pumpkin Patch. We have 4 good pumpkins on the vine.