Monday, July 28, 2008

This Terrible Heat

Hello all,

Just a little prayer request here. As most of you know and as most of you are experiencing, this brutal 100+ degree heat has been awful. Most of you also know that when the mercury rises, my health goes south. Even with the improvements I've seen, my fibro goes out of control under these conditions.

Right now, it is 5 am and after two pain pills, all of my night medicines that are supposed to make me sleep, not a wink. The pain is off of the charts. My legs, feet, and hands are knotted up, cramping, aching, and in terrible pain.

I don't know if I will ever fully understand how this works, but even when I stay inside in the air conditioning, my body reacts violently to the change in the weather. I told Carrie just the other day, I always talk about how much the heat oppresses me, but I forget every year just how bad it is until it hits.

I'd appreciate your prayers for either some relief in the pain or a break in the weather. (or both!) :-)

On a positive note, God has been blessing our finances of late. No, we aren't rolling in dough, but lets just say for the first time in a long time we can actually see the ends if not actually make them meet! I'm too sick to pastor right now, so we are dependent on our business and keeping kids. It has been a roller coaster at times, but God has been so faithful. We are thankful to Him for His grace and thankful to many of you for your prayers. God bless each of you. Thanks.

Micah

Here are some of our latest pictures:

Dad, do you think we could do something about this hair!!
(click on this one for a closer look, his hair is hilarious!)

If you don't hurry up and feed me, I am going to gnaw my fingers off!

You know Pop, you ought to try these fingers, they aren't half bad!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Update - Latest Doctor's Visit

Hello All,

I had my follow up doctor's appointment yesterday, Thursday the 24th. It went real well. All of my test results came in and they confirmed I do have a heart! Carrie keeps telling me I don't have one, but I knew she had to be wrong! :-)

No surprises really, they came back showing a lot of different vitamin, hormonal, and other markers were off, some by a lot, some by a little. The doctor adjusted a couple of my prescriptions and added a few more supplements. Carrie has to start giving me shots every couple of weeks. I hope she doesn't take any secret enjoyment in that! Actually she gave me my first one at the doctor's office and did great.

Long term prognosis is still looking up. It will be a long and expensive haul, but we will keep at it. I'm somewhat better, don't want to mislead anyone though, I am still very sick. Just better. Thanks to all of you for your love, prayers, emails, and blog comment posts. Keep em' coming! Love you all.

Micah


Dad, in case you are rusty, this is my I'M NOT HAPPY LOOK!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

What 17 years will get you.

The Results of 17 Years of Marriage

After 17 years of marriage, we are:

Blessed with three children, two here, one in heaven.
A little grayer.
A lot fluffier.
Hopefully wiser.
Not much richer.
Moving a little slower.
Thinking a little faster.
Loving more.
Fussing less.
Listening more.
Hearing less. (literally) :-)
Not as young.
Certainly older.
Farther from birth.
Closer to heaven.
Thankful for our past.
Loving our present.
Excited about our future.

God is good. Thank you Lord for all You have done, all You are doing, and all You have yet to do. We love you.

We love all of you too. Thanks for reading our blog. Thanks for caring about our family. God bless.

Micah, Carrie, Zachary, and Samuel Mauldin

AKA "The Heavy Revy's Regulars" :-)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Happy Three Month Birthday!!

My favorite picture of my Samuel

I cannot believe that our little boy is already three months old! He is, if it is even possible, getting cuter by the day! I know we are biased, but we sure do think he is gorgeous! We don't know for sure, but we are pretty certain he has reached the 15 pound mark. He is getting so big and heavy. He smiles at us all of the time, just melting our heart. He has started making noises, his earliest attempts at talking. He really makes them to Zachary. I think he is trying his best to talk to him. He just shouts AAAGGGHHH at his direction. Though, I want to remind everyone that he said Daddy the day he was born and made sure that I knew, he loves me best!!!! :-)

We continue to be amazed at God's great gift, His abundant mercy, and our little answered prayer. Our two sons are such a blessing. We get odd looks when we go places with our 5'7"+ lanky teenager and our little butter ball baby. We even had someone ask us once if the baby was Zachary's baby! Ah, the world we live in! It sure is a great conversation starter. People want to know how many years apart they are. I don't know about you, but 13 years, two months doesn't seem all that far apart to me! :-)

On another note, this Sunday, July 20, Carrie and I will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. Now, if you want to talk about hard to believe, THAT is hard to believe! Best 10 years of my life! (Just kidding) God's greatest gift to me, short of my own salvation, has been Carrie. I can't believe she has put up with me all of these years. She definitely got the raw end of this deal! :-)

I have put together a collection of a few of our favorite pictures from these last three months. Call it our greatest hits collection, enjoy:

God, why THIS family???

Daddy, you are the greatest!

I love you, but MAN did you HURT!

Home with a full belly, doesn't get much better than this!

Our first family portrait

My little hairy gorilla.

I will SO make you pay for this!

Daddy lovin' some snuggle time!

Beautiful Momma and her big, big boy!

Momma, you are SSSOOO funny!

Our SLEEEPY boys!

Our other BABY boy!

The Three Amigos (Momma says the Three Stooges!)

Daddy, YOU DA' BOMB!

Check out the tummy on that guy! (the baby, not the Dad) :-)
Our two greatest earthly gifts!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Everyday Life Here in Denton

Hi All!

Life is going well for us here in Denton. We can't really complain. Life is busy, between our business and the children we keep, it is REALLY busy. We are making it work. The ends meet, well, at least the ends are in sight of each other! :-)

Samuel is growing so fast. He grew 4 inches in a month between his last two checkups! He is chubbing up nicely. Can't have skinny Mauldin babies! Hard to believe, but Samuel will be 3 months old in just 3 days! Cannot believe he is growing up so fast. He smiles all the time, just melts your heart. He is really starting to get more vocal. I think he will be saying "DaDa" real soon!

Here are a few more pictures. I'll be posting some more things real soon.


Samuel finding the most comfortable seat in the house!

A very proud Daddy!

I love my cousin Jaden, and if you can't tell, she LOVES me!

Hey, Jaden even likes to feed me!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Fun on the Fourth of July

We didn't do much on the fourth. The only family we have here in Denton, is my brother, and he and his wife were in the Bahamas! Turkey! So, the Mauldin clan just hung around the house and cranked up the old grill. I grilled up some juicy burgers and a couple of kinds of Brats. The best were the Jalapeno Cheddar brats, Man those were good! Momma whipped up the inside fixins, french fries, baked beans and for dessert, Cherry Cheescake.
Yep, we ate ourselves sick and enjoyed every minute of it!

Happy Birthday America and cut me another slice of that cheescake!

These next four pictures we LOVE of Samuel. We were outside grilling and I started singing my goofy "Boomba Loomba" song. A song I made up from the nickname I gave him, "Boomba Loomba". Yep, Carrie and Zachary hate it, but Samuel LOVES it and was grinning ear to ear.
Man, you gotta love it!
Are you gonna sing that song again?

Daddy, you are so funny!

Man, Pop, you crack me up, sing it again!

OK Pop, 14 times is plenty!

Yep, 15 times and it is still funny!
Why are Mommy and Zachary making such terrible groaning sounds?


Carrie's Three Men outside Grillin'

Yep, the three Amigos again!

Carrie wondering how the big lug got so stinking big! :-)

Micah, the "clean shaven" grill master.
(And to a certain friend in T-town, this one is for you!) :-)

The family getting ready for an evening walk, because we were so FULL!

This Bubba guy is AWESOME!

Hope you all had a great fourth of July. We sure did! Love you all.