Buoy has his time...

Sometimes Bella gets all the attention.

 But my man has a favorite dog. And even though he was the one who pushed for a big dog. The whole time. He...LOVES...BUOY.   LOVES HIM.  And it is easy to see why.  He is so cute and sweet and just lays around. But if someone comes to the door, and he is unfamiliar, he will bark like a 200lb Rotweiller (Rotweillers don't weigh 200lbs...but I needed effect).  Buoy is sweet and kind, tough and rough...he has been by our sides since we got married. So as we prepare to celebrate our 5th anniversary...I feel like we should give Buoy a little spotlight.
So here's our main man...

And, to make it even better, he sleeps like his momma...with his eyes open.. :)  

Sometimes I wonder if Buoy might be the perpetrator of all the crimes we blame on Bella. But how would be blame anything on that sweet face? Impossible.  Bella will continue to take the blame.

Blog Update

I am sure you haven't even noticed that the blog updates are much less often now.  I will tell you the truth...they just can't be... :)  When I get home from work, I just want to pass out. So I often lay around for hours on end. Then I get up to eat, take the dogs for a walk...and it's back to the couch I go. Maybe it's good sweet old Army Guy is not here. Actually, he always tries to make me slow down, so I'm sure he would LOVE this life right now. I had a wonderful, encouraging talk with him tonight. I do almost every night...but it was just nice.  He is amazing.  He sent me really pretty flowers to school this week. I was going to take a picture, but I didn't want to be too ridiculous.  Bragging about the romantic hubby I have. I am thankful that he chooses to love so intentionally. Especially when he is away.

Okay, are you wondering about this picture of a lonely looking dog? I'm not putting him up for sale. I simply wanted to share with you, the people who click all the way from facebook to this blog...how we told our parents we were pregnant. PS. Facebook does not have the privilege of knowing this news. It's just scary to reveal to all 1000 "Friends" who are not really friends. So...enjoy the secrecy of the blog. I figure if you click over, you are at least nice enough to care! haha!

I always wanted to wait. Keep it our secret for a couple weeks, then spill.  Well, it just so happened that AG was about to leave for many months when we found out. So I either had to tell them by myself, or we had to tell them super early. We chose the first option.  It had barely sunk in to us...but we decided to do something a little silly.  Background: Buoy (the beagle), who you see below is a little neurotic. We love him for it. He is a dog who doesn't like his own shadow, jumps at the sight of a stick and sometimes (often, even) hides under the bed for no reason at all.  He loves to spoon when we sleep. He might even be better than AG.  He begs to go into the backyard but then howls and tries to tear the fence down as soon as I let him out.  He freaks out when Brandon leaves (probably because he's been through 4 deployments too).  He is also very territorial and sometimes nips other dogs. Never people, but often dogs. It's embarrassing. it's like having a toddler that hits his teacher. You never think it will happen to you. :)  I digress. Back to the background.  My parents love beagles and they especially love Buoy. In their partially retired home (my dad retired in December), they have room for another ill tempered beagle.  Could I ever give Buoy up? I really don't know!! But do I want him biting a baby? That goes without saying. 
So, regardless. We had the understanding that when I got pregnant someday we would talk about it. So we decided to put this picture up on craigslist (in Kentucky) with a posting: Free Beagle to good home. 
We decided to do this at 9pm at night.  My dad was settled into his tv watching chair. So when I called and asked him to go to the computer, he was not happy. In fact, he downright turned me down.
I told him it was really important and he had to get mom.
You could hear him getting more agitated by the moment.
I kept reminding myself that it would be worth it.
(My dad is un-emotional, so I was hoping he would have a reaction, but thinking i might actually be in trouble for getting him off the couch)
As we directed him and my mom to craigslist, they were curious and annoyed, especially when we told them to go to the "Free" section. 
We told them what the post said. Then we waited for them to see the picture. All we had in description was, "Located in ***********, GA" so they would make the connection.
My dad immediately knew it was Buoy. It took my mom a minute.
We heard, "That looks like Buoy", "What is this?", "Cute dog", "Is BUOY HAVING A BABY??", "Wait, are you pregnant?" "Am I going to be a GRANDMA????"
We all started crying. It was pretty wonderful. We wanted to do it in person, but it turned out pretty special anyway.
We did the same thing with Brandon's parents. We had elaborate plans to wait and mail them something, but both Brandon and I were too impatient, so we played the same trick on them. :)  It turned out to be a wonderful, amazing night. 
We are still early (almost 10 wks), so keep us in your prayers. It's hard to trust God's sovereignty. I have NO CONTROL over this thing inside me. None. It is an amazing time to know and feel the power of Christ in me. I have never felt to unable to help, to guide, to control something in my entire life. This has nothing of me, only my prayers to make it healthy and whole and alive. 

"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in you presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand" Psalm 16:11