July

I guess it's time for another update! It's the middle of July and we are finally settling into our new home and just got internet today! We moved the first weekend in July and boy, was it eventful! We drove down late one friday after loading the truck for 6 hours and still didnt get all our stuff (we had to leave a queen bed we were going to get from JR's mom and some things at my parents house that were too fragile to pack in the big truck). We unloaded the truck Saturday morning (with the help of family and friends) in 1 1/2 hours! Fast! As we were moving things Momma decided to move a couch, and fell and hit a chair on the way down and hurt her back badly. So much so, she went by ambulance to the local ER. She came back with medicine and was told to do nothing. :( She was hurting so much she layed on the couch the rest of the weekend while we worked around her. She did get to catch up on some rest though! :)

We started unpacking and organizing and by the end of the day on Saturday I had the kitchen all unpacked! It took us until now working around the clock (with a few trips back home) to get the house looking like home. There are still some things I am trying to figure out as far as decorating and I need to get pictures of Tenley printed to fill up my collage frames! So many ideas and not enough time and resources it seems! whew!

I am so glad things are finally shaping up to where I don't feel like I have a huge to do list and when JR starts school I will be able to focus totally on taking care of daily things and Tenley and Bella. :) I have loved having JR full time the past little bit to help with Tenley and to help with the house stuff! He is so amazing! There are so many little things I learn about him each day that make me fall even more in love with the man I married :). Tomorrow we have a friends and family event at PCOM and my parents and sister are here to go with us and see his new school and then enjoy the weekend! :) I can't believe he starts school in 2 weeks and will be on this road to becoming a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine! Never in a million years did I ever think I'd be a Dr's wife one day. Funny how God has a way of surprising you with new and exciting things! haha!

Tenley is growing like crazy and learning new things everyday. She loves to laugh and smile at her daddy when he talks in a high voice to her and dances with her. She also laughs when I sit her on my lap and bounce her up and down! Bath time still is her favorite thing ever though. This girl is going to be a fish! She loves to float and kick in the water and getting water in her face doesnt phase her one bit!

We even put her little foot prints and hand prints on her closet door in pink paint and dated it. We decided to do this and keep it up so we will see her growth through the years. :)

We also have decided to try and be more intentional about having our time with the Lord individually and together and to pray together with Tenley every night. It's been crazy with the move, but now that we are more settled its time to put things more into practice. We are also visiting different churches, hoping to find a few to narrow down our search in becoming our home church. We have met several families here that will be in JR's class as well with young children who have similar values as we do and we are really looking forward to building on those friendships.

Ways you can pray with us:
1. Med School studies and finances
2. That we will raise Tenley to love the Lord
3. That we will grow as a family in Christ.
4. That we will build our life and our home on Godly values here
5. That we will make friends and find a home church here.
6. That things will go smoothly with me at home with our girls (Tenley and Bella)
7. That we will learn how to balance school and family time.

Thanks for reading and we pray things are well with you!

The Byrds

Great and Much Needed DATE!

So....after a long time, we finally had a much needed DATE! We spread it out over 2 days :) We went to see a movie and did dinner one night and they the next day we went out and did a "picture date!" All of the photos are on facebook, but here are a few!!! This was so fun! We went to historic downtown Dandridge, TN and just goofed off!! :) then I came home and edited them! YAY!

workin on our house....tenley's room is going dark green to white and installing ceiling fans! whew lots to do!

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tenley's 4th wedding this summer. a hot outdoors wedding and she did great! danced with daddy and mommy too!

our newest addition to the family. Bella Mae Byrd. born march 14 2011. a cockapoo (cockerspaniel and poodle mix)

So long for now Carson-Newman College

Well today I turned in my keys to Carson-Newman and cleaned out my office. :( My official last day won't be until June 10th, but I'm still on ML til then. It was a bittersweet process and once I packed and loaded everything into my car, I went and chatted with everyone in the office. My boss said she doesn't do well with goodbye's so we said "see you later." I spent the last 2 years of my life working there and traveling and meeting new people through my travels. Truly a wonderful experience. As I drove away, I cried. Yes, I cried. Tears were streaming down my face as a song that said something like have faith knowing God has a greater plan for you that what you've seen and where you've been.

Leaving this job was one of the toughest things I have had to do yet but I know He has greater plans for our family and He is in control and will continue to bless our family as we seek Him.

2 Years of Life!

Yep! 2 years ago we gave "birth" to our family of JR and Michelle Byrd! hehe! (I have to use this analogy because of the recent birth of our Tenley! It's been 2 years since our wedding day and there are so many things that have happened that have made the past two years pretty stinkin amazing! I will first re-cap our wonderful weekend of our Anniversary! Saturday my parents (MiMi and Poppa) decided to keep Tenley for us so we could go out all day and night on a date to celebrate our anniversary! I was able to pump and leave enough milk for her so she was set! We decided to go to DollyWood because 1. It was our first date alone. 2. We have passes. 3. We just wanted to do something fun like riding rides and seeing shows etc! So we spent the day riding roller coasters and laughing and watching shows and eating ice cream! haha! I was so excited to ride the new rides because the past few times I'd gone to DollyWood I was preggo so no rides for me! After DollyWood, we went and shopped really fast for tennis shoes for JR...with no luck. boo. Then we went to eat at Logan's...we had never been there before so we wanted to try it! It was delish!! JR got steak and I got fish and then we split a Chocolate Stampede dessert (well, got it to go b/c we were too stuffed to eat it then!) I really want to learn how to make the stuffed fish I had, because it was wonderful! After that we drove home and went to sleep. We slept til 11am the next morning with no interruptions! wonderful! Probably the last time that will happen in a while but it was seriously amazing!

Sunday::: JR and I had "bring a friend free tickets" so we took my family and Tenley back to DollyWood! Some people may think it's lame but I love this park! It's so family oriented and just fun! I enjoyed walking around pushing the stroller and being with my little family and my original family. :) We rode rides and took pictures and Tenley was in such a fantastic mood too so we got lots of smiling pictures of her. She has been such a happy baby, I just love it! I never thought our family could feel so much more complete as it does now that we have Tenley!

Monday::: Our "actual" anniversary! 2 years ago....I did a lot of reminiscing of our wedding day. A LOT! We even laid in bed Monday night and picked through every detail of the day...things that made us laugh, cry, and even the drama we want to "omit or change" haha! We decided to not to gifts for each other but rather, did a gift to share...well 2 to share. :) We got a puppy! Crazy I know right? A 7 week old daughter and a 10 week old puppy! We got a Cockapoo named Bella Mae (Mae after my mamaw that passed away May 17, 2010). Bella is such a spunky and adorable little puppy! She is tan/cream colored and has the cutest little face. She already loves Tenley and has a blast playing with Riley (momma's dog). We also closed on our very first home on our anniversary!!!! It's so exciting! 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, with a kitchen, 2 car garage, living room, dining room and eat in kitchen and a large fenced in backyard! Perfect for our little family! I am so excited to begin painting and decorating our home and making it ours. We have plans to work on it with family and friends and I am pumped about it!! I am using my colors of red, brown, tan, white and black in the main parts of the house. Hot pink, white and black for Tenley's room and I am thinking teal and brown for the guest room! I am so excited!! I never would have thought 2 years ago, we would be getting a house on the day we got married, have had a baby girl and a puppy all in the same year! God is Good!

Ways you can pray for us:
1. JR's med school loans and living expenses loans to go through as they are supposed to.
2. Scholarships to work out.
3. Moving and getting all set up to go smoothly.
4. Tenley to continue to grow and develop and learn new things!
5. Bella to housetrain well!
6. Our marriage to strengthen and grow even more.
7. That we are able to tie up loose ends and make sure we get all things smoothed out in this transition.
8. That we grow closer to the Lord during all of this as well.

We love y'all!

~JR, Michelle, Tenley, and Bella Byrd
*Written a day after our anniversary for obvious reasons*

Loads of Excitement!!!

A lot has happened in the Byrd household since I last blogged! As I type (at 4am with one hand), I am holding and rocking our sweet baby girl Tenley Joy. :) She was born at 37 weeks and 1 day, making her birthday fall in March (not April as expected). She was 6 lbs 10 oz, 19 inches long with a head full of dark brown hair, blue eyes, long fingers and toes and absolutely stunning! I really had a great labor when I think about it too. Yes, I was on bedrest for about 2 weeks prior and when I arrived at the hospital I was 6 cm dialated so thiings went pretty quickly from there. We are still in the recovery stage and I am learning lots about infant sleep cycles (she was awake in the womb from 1-6am and so she is still on that schedule right now). I am also learning that my own recovery takes more energy, time, and patience than I ever knew. (Im also learning to take my pain meds before they wear off and not try and tough it out lol!!)
We are still waiting on a few things to be for sure, but things are looking up in several areas for our future. Here is a list of current prayer needs:

1. Daddy, Mommy and Tenley to figure out her needs and better incorporate them into our lives.
2.Med school loans, paperwork, financial aid, and all it entails.
3. Finances regarding future needs and current with hospital bills coming our way.
4. My healing and recovery.
5. Wisdom in how to deal with various situations right now.

This was just a short update... hope to update more later, but no promises!

HUGE REQUEST

OK, Can't say specifics right now but we have 2 HUGE prayer requests that we ask you to pray with us about. God knows the details and that is all that matters.

Thanks a bunch!

Preparing for the rest of our lives

Ok, so 2011 is going to be a whirlwind! First of all, I'm so thankful for this past year in our marriage and I am looking forward to many more wonderful and adventurous years to come. God has blessed me with a husband that desires to seek Him and move forward in our family regardless of outside situations or extended family curcumstances. Praise Him! We had been blessed with a great home to live in for the first year and a half of our marriage and the ability to save and replace our 2 older cars with newer (still used) cars that are more dependable. Every marriage has trials and tribulations that make you want to give in and give up but I am so thankful that both of us have the mind set that marriage is for life, that its not a game and everything can be worked through by the power of the Holy Spirit living within us. True love never ends, expecially when backed up by a commitment before our amazing Savior!

Ok, so this year....
1. We work and save money for the expenses later in the year.
2. We travel and pray and God will show us where He wants us to live during med school.
3. We experience the birth of our daughter Tenley Joy Byrd sometime this spring!
4. We enjoy our time with family and friends and prepare to embark on the next journey in our lives.
5. We move to GA, get settled in our new home there and JR begins his education to become the best flippin DR ever!
6. We find a new church family and become involved.
7. Michelle begins her online job again once we are all settled.

That is kind of our goal list for this year. Of course there are lots of things that will lead up to each of these steps and Lord willing things will go smoothly.

Those are the ways you can pray for us.
We love you,
JR, Michelle and Tenley Byrd