Happy Birthday Big Mama!

Today is my grandmother's birthday. I honestly don't know how old she is but am going to guess on the low side to be safe; I'll say early to mid-70s.

Actually, she doesn't read this blog so I think it's more like 78. On second thought, my mom does read this blog and she very well may show it to my grandmother...or at least tell her what I write. Therefore, my new educated guess on my grandmother's age is 29.

Sometimes I am amazed when I think of all my grandmother has experienced in her life. By the time she was my age (nearly 25), she had experienced a world war, nearly a decade of marriage to my grandfather, motherhood more than once over, and the loss of a baby.

She was my grandfather's loving wife for 60 years, caring for him throughout his struggle with Alzheimer's. She also cared for her five children, three of whom are still living. Today she is a mother of three, grandmother of nine, and great grandmother of nine. She is one of the strongest ladies I know and has finally earned a little time for herself...which she spends watching Desperate Housewives!

We love you, Big Mama! Happy 29th Birthday!

Thursday's Big Surprise

Thursday I came home from work and found a nice little package on my door step. At first I didn't get all that excited because I thought it was a public economics textbook I had ordered for class (oh, joy!), but then I realized it was from my sweet mother-in-law.

When we visited over the holidays I had taken some fabric up to South Carolina because she had graciously offered to make me some pillow covers for some very sturdy but horribly ugly pillows that originally came with our couch.

Being the highly talented, speedy, and thoughtful seamstress she is, she had already made them and mailed them to Birmingham.


They look so nice and really tie in the dark red, tan, and green colors I have going on in the living room.

As you can see, Robert loves them too.

Year in Review

I thought I'd do a little year in review. Thinking back on what to include in this listing has made me remember the good times, the tough times, and God's faithfulness to us through them all. We truly serve a mighty God who has promised to complete the work he has begun in our lives and never leaves or forsakes us.

So, here's a little recap of some of the big and not so big events in 2008...not in any particular order.

Big Daddy's Passing

My grandfather passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's last January. God was faithful to him until his last day on earth, and was equally faithful to us as we cared for him in those difficult times when he slowly lost all of his memory and abilities. Experiencing death has a funny way of realigning your priorities and making you truly long for heaven. It will certainly be a sweet reunion for us.

Ski Trip in Montana

For Christmas last year Rob's family gave us all a ski trip in Whitefish, Montana. It was so generous of them to fly the whole gang cross country to enjoy the beauty of the mountains. Somehow we all managed to arrive safely from Kentucky, Birmingham, and South Carolina, and had a fun week together.


Kyle's Surgery

My brother Kyle had to undergo emergency surgery over the summer after being diagnosed with a nontraditional occurrence of compartment syndrome. This was a difficult time for my whole family but God was truly good to us, and Kyle was fortunate to only lose a small bit of his muscle and function in his leg. Today he is completely mobile and has resumed nearly all of his normal activity with the help of a small leg brace he only wears occassionally. Thank you all for your prayers for him during those difficult months.


Weddings

We had five wonderful weddings in 2008 and traveled to Starkville, Columbus, Demopolis, and Birmingham for the weddings of some of our dearest friends:

• Amy and Matt
• Patrick and Meg
• Katie and Drew
  
• Anne and Rob
• Parker and Kristy

Congrats again to the newlyweds!

Upcoming in 2009...(we can't wait!)

• John Austin and Sarah
• Leigh and Justin
• Margaret and Dave
• ????????????????????

54 Hours

Ok, so Robert and I didn't realize this until just a minute ago when we did the math, but collectively we completed 54 hours of graduate classes in calendar year 2008 while both working full-time. I can truly say it was the grace of God that got us through. Graduate school has really been an overall positive experience for the both of us. I have particularly enjoyed the opportunity to develop some new friendships with classmates. We're both taking 9 hours again this spring semester.

Countdown to graduation (hours left):

• Robert - 18 hours; anticipated graduation date: Summer 2009
  
• Tiffany - 27 hours; anticipated graduation date: December 2009

Presidential Election

So, the 2008 presidential election was certainly one for the history books. Regardless of how you feel about the outcome, you have to admit we got a pretty great couple halloween costume out of it. (Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin for those of you still trying to figure it out.)


12-2 Season

What a second year for Nick Saban's Crimson Tide. The boys truly played above their potential and gave us 12 great victories in 08. The ending of the season wasn't so wonderful, but we got a ton of awesome road trips (Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Atlanta...) out of it and really enjoyed going to games with so many of our family members and college friends - and also tailgating on the quad with my brother, the UA freshman. Already looking forward to next year. (Only 7 more months until kickoff...)


Seeing Julia 3 Times

You may not realize it, but seeing Julia, my best friend from college, three times in one year is truly remarkable. She's a Coloradian now and our visits are just too few and far between. But we espeically enjoyed a girl's weekend at Smith Lake over the summer. Good times.


Proration/Buyout
(Sorry couldn't find a good illustration for this one. Google Images failed me.)

So, tough economic times meant the governor enacted proration for the state educational system and budgets are a little tighter this year at UAB. At the same time, Robert's engineering firm was sold to a larger firm based in Houston. Yet this year more than ever we have seen God's faithfulness to us in the provision and security of our jobs.

During my junior year of college I applied for two internships - one at Southern Progress and one at EBSCO. I didn't get the one at Southern Progress but did get the one at EBSCO, which led to my first job out of school there in public relations and eventually my current position in Development at UAB. Robert received a job offer from Hyundai in Montgomery before receiving and accepting the offer at BE&K, where he is now working towards his PE license. Both of us never saw ourselves at UAB or BE&K. This year, Southern Progress has made massive layoffs and Hyundai has had to make large production cuts like the other auto manufacturers. Looking back we both see God's provision and good plan from the beginning. We are truly thankful.

Baby Tess's Arrival

Yes, our beautiful little niece made her debut December 3. She's such a joy and blessing!

FunDayGo!

So one of the highlights of the trip to South Carolina over Christmas was our afternoon at FunDayGo. It's basically a child's paradise of inflatable bouncy slides, tunnels, and mazes. It's probably the closest thing to Disney World in Florence, South Carolina but don't take my word on that since I still haven't seen much of the town. It definitely was a new experience for Robert and I. I'm sure there are some similar places in Birmingham but we haven't really been in the market for inflatable entertainment.

So one afternoon we all (Liz, Mike, Reeves, Tallon, Robert and myself) piled into Reeves and Rebecca's minivan and headed to FunDayGo. We got a few stares when Reeves asked for one child ticket and five adults, and then subsequently paid the $7 for Tallon while the rest of us got in free, but they let us in.

Tallon was pretty excited as he got ready to show Uncle Mike and the rest of us where to put our shoes (socks only while playing). The rest of the hour pretty much consisted of five adults following a three-year-old whether he wanted to go...and getting lots more strange looks from other kids, parents, and staff.

Here we go...

The slide was a big hit with everyone.

At first Tallon was a little nervous, but then he got used to going down...

...and started enjoying it a little more.

Tallon really liked riding this red dinosaur...maybe it was a dragon...(?)


The point of the trip was to 1) entertain the three-year-old and 2) wear him slap out so he would take a nap. But as you can see, we were the ones who tired out first, and he never napped that afternoon.

The boys got this idea to see if they could jump through this section of the maze and thread themselves between the bars in the middle. I got some pretty funny photos of everyone's attempts.

We all had loads of fun but Tallon especially enjoyed all his playmates and the attention.

Christmas in South Carolina

Christmas is always better when you have a toddler ready to rip open every present in sight. Christmas at the Adams was quite the event with Tallon on the scene. We really enjoyed seeing our energetic, imaginative nephew get excited about his gifts and try them out for all of us.

Mimi and Pop helping Tallon with his presents.

Fireman Tallon!

Fireman Robert!

Nana and Mike

Papa unwrapping his peanuts from the Peanut Depot in Bham.

We got Tallen this fun Curious George hopper ball. He seemed to be a big fan.

But he really loved Robert's guitar.

We also had some fun tickle fights.

Which even Papa joined in.

Robert's grown up cousin, Lauren, with sweet baby Tess.

Uncle Tom and Rebecca

We also had a fun afternoon in the park.

Tallon wanted his uncle "Wobert" to do everything with him! It was so sweet.

Look at that tongue!