Happy Anniversary!

4 years ago today, I married by best friend, and the perfect man for me! It's exciting to celebrate another year together, and look back at how blessed we have been together. I'm so thankful that the Lord placed Donald in my life. He has been "a constant" and has been so loving, caring, and supportive, and for that I am so grateful! I thought in honor on today I'd share a few photos from our wedding, and a few from our honeymoon. We love to travel and hope to take a trip next summer to celebrate my graduation.

Captions:

Photo 1: A picture taken looking across the canal from Venice, Italy.

Photo 2: Donald feeding the pigeons in Venice. This is something that lots of people do while in Venice because there are so many pigeons in San Marco square.

Photo 3: Sacred Heart Basilica in Paris, France. This is a beautiful, quaint church. We were able to observe a mass there while on our trip.

Photo 4: Donald and I in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Photo 5: A photo of our hotel in Paris. We had a gorgeous room looking out at the Eiffel Tower across the city. We had a nice little balcony that we could stand and watch it light up different colors all night long. The Hotel Regina is shown in the movie Bourne Supremacy which is kinda neat.

Photo 6: Donald and I eating dinner at our favorite restaurant in Venice. We also ate at this restaurant while visiting Venice during our study abroad trip in 2001.

Update

Last night while getting Jackson ready for bed, he began laughing at Donald, and I couldn't resist the video. There's just something so special about boys and their daddy. I'm so thankful Jackson has been so blessed with such a special daddy that is so good to him. How can you resist smiling at such a sweet little cackle =) Hope that brightens your day!

We celebrated Donald's birthday on Sunday and had a nice time together as a family. He turned 29. Jackson loves "pesents" and "cake." I'm sure he wishes he could celebrate a birthday everyday.

In other news...things are starting to settle back down a bit from a hectic week last week. Things are falling into place at my new internship, and I'm enjoying it so much. There's something so special about being involved in helping a patient make improvements in their health and be able to do things once again that they took for granted; such as conversing with your friends and family, eating, or even having a sip of water. I am constantly reminded of how many things I can truly be thankful for. I remember asking Mom in August of last year as I turned in my month notice at the bank to remind me that I was making the right decision to leave a good job and pursue a career in speech-language pathology, and I'm so thankful that I took that step of faith, and pursued something that I love and feel fulfiled in. It's not been an easy road, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel and look forward to graduation on May 8, 2009. Thank you for all the continued support from my friends and family. I could never have done it without you!

Jackson's Tricycle

We bought Jackson a tricycle several months ago. Up until he started riding his tractor everywhere he was pretty interested in his tricycle, but not for the typical reasons. We tried teaching him to pedal, but he simply wanted to scoot the tricycle off of the sidewalk and down the little hill in front of the sidewalk so that the tricycle would tumble over. Typical boy =) He lost interst in his tricycle and everything else once he got his tractor, but recently decided he would start riding it again for short sputs here and there. He finally has learned how to pedal, and he's quite good at it. Here's a picture of him pedaling away last night .

Hectic Week

Just wanted to let you guys know it's a hectic week, so not sure how much I'll post this week. My classes started today, and I started my new internship today at a hospital, and have to say I'm very excited about it but overwhelmed at the same time. This will be a semester of stretching me so that I can learn so many new things, meet many new friends, and come into contact with many families who are in need of compassion. My prayer is that I will always take the time to lend an ear to a hurting family, show compassion, and show the love of Christ through my day-to-day interactions.

This week we celebrate Donald's 29th birthday on May 25th, and our 4 year anniversary on May 29th. How exciting!

Cheap Entertainment...A Clubhouse

Since Jackson got his tractor for his birthday, I have been saying I was going to turn his box that his tractor came in, into a clubhouse. Jackson has been so caught up playing with his tractor that I haven't thought about the box, until tonight. Jackson helped me turn the box into a clubhouse, and he couldn't be happier with the results. Inexpensive entertainment that has already provided him with hours of fun and excitement! Here's a few pictures from his time tonight. I would've taken more, but he made me sit in the clubhouse with him, and I couldn't leave to get my camera, until daddy came along and got the honors of sitting in the clubhouse =)

Ice Cream

Last night after dinner, we decided to take Jackson to get some ice cream as a special treat. Donald and I enjoyed iced coffees, and Jackson got a scoop of ice cream. I had to share this pic of his creative way of eating ice cream. I guess the spoon wasn't working fast enough =) The lighting in Baskin Robbins was kinda weird which is why the coloring looks funky.

Jars of Sand

We had a pleasant evening tonigh with my family who joined us for dinner. Always nice to have family visit, and Jackson of course enjoyed their company and was sad to see them go. After everyone left, we let Jackson continue to play in the yard. He was having such a great time. Donald and I decided to play an old-fashioned game of HORSE with Jackson's 4 ft. tall basketball goal. What a great time! (I was able to teach Jackson to scream when Donald shot the ball for added distraction, but it simply wasn't enough!) This simple game reminded me once more of the little things I miss about my dad. I remember countless times playing HORSE in the backyard with my dad. I have to say I have so many fond memories of my childhood, and wouldn't trade them for the world! Life was simple and so good!
I've learned so many things about life recently. Blogging and thinkign about things that happen each day helps me reflect on the things that I am learning from life and through each day. One thing I thought about today was just how simple my childhood was, and yet we were such happy kids. I think so many people these days get caught up in the material things, adding more things to their agenda, running here and running there, and we miss out on so many things because life is so complicated. Our preacher talked about this in his sermon on Sunday as well. We try to fill our jars, which is our life, with sand and then fit in the big rocks which are our priorities and it just doesn't work. We should fill our jars of life with our big rocks (God, spouse, children, etc.) then fill our other time with the sand that will fit and what doesn't fit we should start eliminating and simplifying our life.

Farmer Jackson

I was so excited today when I opened my mailbox and found the pictures above in an evelope along with a sweet note from my Aunt Gail! She took these pictures last week while we were at our cousin's farm, and the ones above are just a few of my favorites.

If you know Jackson, you know that he LOVES tractors. He talks about them constantly, and is always on the look-out for a tractor in a field while we're driving down the road. He was pretty excited to be able to get up-close-and-personal with these tractors at the farm.

Thanks for sharing Aunt Gail!

Happy Mother's Day!

**A beautiful rose from our rose bush in our yard.**
We had such an enjoyable today as we celebrated our mothers. Jackson was fascinated today by a necklace they gave me for mother's day. He wanted me to look at his neck as if he had a necklace on too, but at any rate, he was very cute and lots of fun!

After church, we headed to Rocky Mount to celebrate Mother's Day with our families. One thing I can honestly say is that I have been so blessed to have such a wonderful family. What a blessing it is to be raised in a Christian home that is loving as our home always was. The memories I have with my family and continue to make with them are ones that I will always cherish, and I'm very thankful that God saw fit to place me in this family. So, I enjoy celebrating holidays such as Mother's Day because it is such a special occasion when you are able to celebrate a mother as wonderful as mine!

Being a mother is such a special role and such a unique ministry that occurs right in your home. I feel priveleged that God has called me to this role and ministry by blessing me with such a special little boy.

Word of the day: Thank you!

Jackson's word of the day has been "Thank You." He usually remembers his manners, but today he has thanked me for picking up his toys, putting his shoes on, giving him snacks, fixing him juice, etc. You get the idea, he has thanked me for so many things. It's so sweet to listen to him being so sweet and thankful for everything I do for him. I could just eat him up! Reminds me that's how our heavenly Father feels about us. So many times we go through life not stopping to say "Thank you" for all our blessings. We get so caught up in the day-to-day that we forget all the things He has blessed us with, and we often are consumed thinking about all the things that don't go our way that we forget to see all the many blessings we have in our life. My prayer is that I have a grateful heart, and look to around me to be thankful for all the blessings I have in my life.

Yesterday a shipment came from Fed-Ex and Jackson thought the narrow box was the perfect hiding spot for him, and indeed it was. He thought we couldn't see him in the box. Guess he didn't think we'd see the box jumping around or the bulge in the middle of the box that was him =) Here's a cute pic of him "hiding" in his box.

**Aunt Gail--I had to include the first pic with him hiding with his water gun because it reminded me of the story you and Papa used to tell about him hiding his cheese toast from you. Ha ha =)

Last day of internship...

Today was my last day at my internship site for this semester. Since completing internships in the graduate program, I have realized just how generous people can be in helping you get started by sharing their time, information, and talent with you. So far I have worked at 2 different internship sites, and both were such a positive experience that I learned so much from, and found lifelong friends and mentors in the supervisors I had there. It was a bittersweet day because I am so happy to be finishing up another internship, and also so happy to be one step closer to obtaining my Master's degree. WHOOO HOOO! This internship has been somewhat difficult in that some of the children were cold & hard because of their home life, and the caseload was varied and challenging. I've learned so much about life and becoming a Speech-Language Pathologist through this experience. My supervisors were so generous! They gave me a new market tote (I've been wanting one of these for months now!) filled with goodies to help me get started as a clinician. There was everything from games to play with the kids, books to read with the kids (one was especially for Jackson, HOW THOUGHTFUL!), hand sanitizer, etc. I'm humbled at how thoughtful they were, and how much they genuinely cared about giving me a head-start in my career.
I'm excited to have 1 week off before beginning my next internship. It'll give me a little break, and some time to get a few things done around here. My next internship is in a long-term acute care facility, and will be quite an emotional challenge. I went into this field thinking I would work in a facility like this, but am not sure that this is an area that I will work in after graduation. Pray for us as we pray about God's direction in our lives, and where He would have us live, work, etc.

Spring is here!

So things have been a little crazy the past few days, so I haven't had an opportunity to sit down and blog about our days here at the Irwin house, and what Jackson has been up to. I'm happy to say that this semester of school is finally over and I have 2 weeks of down time to relax a little before another semester and internship begins. This is a much-needed break! The countdown to graduation begins...12 months and counting =)

Since the weather has been so beautiful, Jackson and I have been spending the majority of our days outside enjoying SPRING! There's so many things for Jackson to explore, and he's such a great helper with the yard work. He loves finding sticks or pieces of pinestraw to throw in his wagon. Jackson has been such a big helper in the yard that we decided to let him plant some wildflowers that are his flowers, so they have been his responsibility to water and check on everyday. He worked hard digging the hole to put the seeds in and actually covering up the seeds. He checks his pots everyday even though he doesn't see much going on now. He waters them and tells me about his flowers. Here's a picture of him planting his seeds. I'm sure we'll post more pics as his seeds sprout and he gets even more excited about his flowers.

In other news...we've been working on teaching Jackson how to drink from a cup. He gets so excited to be such a big boy. We've still got a ways to go on this, but he's learning and getting the hang of it. I love his big refreshing sigh after each sip as if everything tastes better when you drink it from a big boy cup instead of a sippy cup.

Talk Daddy!

*Jackson having his morning conversation with his daddy.*
"Talk daddy" is a phrase I hear numerous times everyday while Donald is at work. Jackson has to "talk daddy" about everything. Throughout the day if he wants to call and talk to daddy on the telephone he'll tell me "talk daddy." Donald is always happy to hear his sweet voice, and likes trying to figure out what Jackson is so excited about. It's so cute to watch him walk around the house on the phone like such a big boy talking to him about his toys, or an animal he saw in the neighborhood, or a truck that drove down our street. Usually he has to leave the room I'm in so he can go sit in the other room and talk to his daddy about everything that's happening in his day. He loves his daddy so much and hates that when he wakes up in the morning Donald has already left for work. He usually wakes up calling for daddy to come get him, and looks a little disappointed when it's mommy that greets him, but is soon better after he has his morning talk with daddy on the telephone.