What makes you happy?

Earlier this week I was taking some pictures of Alex and Emily as they were playing. Alex has a chronic issue when it comes to taking pictures.......the totally goofy smile. It is never a true Alex smile and his eyes are all squinted and closed. Usually if we get him talking about stuff while we take pictures, the pictures end up looking much more natural! So, that is what I did. I asked him to tell me "What makes you happy?" These were his 3 totally unsolicited answers:

• God Loves Me
• Playing with my Daddy
• Playing at my house

Now, that makes me happy! I haven't been able to get his answers off my mind all week. I could not have been a happier mommy than I was at that moment. Alex is continuing to process and learn about what a relationship with Christ is all about. And he is getting a pretty good grasp on the concept that God Loves Us! Ryan and I continue to pray that his knowledge and understanding of a relationship with God continues to progress so that one day he can make a decision to allow God to be the center of his life!

Of course all of this has made me think....if I had been faced with the same question what would my answers have been? Having a child-like faith is so awesome! I think we need to let go of our "adultness" (if that is a word) and strive to have faith like a child more often! So, I guess my question to you is "What makes you happy?"

My baby is growing up

My baby girl is turning into a big girl. Tuesday was her first day of preschool. We were very fortunate to have a wonderful sitter to keep Emily this past year while Ryan and I were working. But as Emily gets older, we want her to be around other kiddos and get used to the ideas of playing and learning and sharing with others her age. We found out back in April, after being on a waiting list since we moved to Rock Hill, that Emily had a spot in a preschool program. The place she is attending is open for kids 18 months thru 4K. She will attend 10 times this summer before I go back to school, sort of as an adjustment period. For those of you who don't know Emily that well, she has pretty bad separation anxiety! We keep praying it will go away or at least diminsh soon, but so far it has been going strong since she was about 9 months old! Therefore these 10 days to get used to the "new place" are pretty important!

She did pretty good on Tuesday. She cried when I left and the teachers told me she had a couple of small melt-downs during the morning. But she was playing on the little playground when I arrived to pick her up and seemed to be taking in her new surroundings pretty well. We only left her for a 1/2 day on Tuesday. She goes back tomorrow for day #2. Tomorrow she will stay through lunch time....about 45 minutes longer than on Tuesday. Say prayers for my sweet Emmy-girl...that she will like her new school and that she will quickly become accustomed to new routines, new people, and new things! I am excited to see how she grows in this new place this year.

One of THOSE days....

Well, today has been one of "THOSE" kind of days! You know...the kind that never seem to go the way you planned, no matter how hard you try. I think we are at the point in the summer where all the vacations are over, the newness of hanging out at home is gone, and the no routine has become, well, too routine! I had visions of a good day, and it started out pretty well, but the middle part of the day definitley hit bottom. As nap times have ended and the day turns to evening, we can hope that things only go up from here!

Here are a few pictures of the sidewalk chalk creations the kids and I made this morning. I wanted pictures of them actually making the creations, but I had to settle for pictures of the final project without the kiddos. They weren't in to picture taking today....just another example of the kind of day it has been.

Alex's Jet Ski....use your imagination and you can actually see the jet ski : )

Alex and I decided the big creature in the middle of the picture is a hammerhead shark. He said he just drew a creature and then decided what it was. I'm not an art person, so I do't know if that is considered Modern Art or something else. : )

Looking at all these pictures does tell me that we did have some fun today in spite of the things that were not so fun... Please tell me I am not the only one that has these kinds of days! The good thing is that tomorrow is a new day! : )

Charleston, SC

Ryan and I were able to spend a few days in Charleston, SC last week. It was our belated 10th anniversary trip. Our 10th anniversary was back in May, but we decided to wait until school was out and our new church building was complete before heading out of town for a few days. We have no idea where 10 years went! We talked on our way down to Charleston and said some days it felt like it wasn't that long ago that we got married and other days it seems like it has been forever! My parents graciously agreed to keep Alex and Emily so that we could spend some time together. Neither Ryan nor I had been to Charleston in many years and we had a great time walking through the city and eating some really good seafood! We took a harbor tour, a carriage ride and caught up on our SC and American history. History was never my favorite subject in school and anytime I go to some really historical place, I wish I had listened in class a little more.

For those of you who may not know the story of how the Allred family came to be, here is the quick recap..... Ryan and I met while at Clemson. We begin dating in November of my Junior year and in May of 1997 we were engaged. I wasn't graduating until May of 1998, so we lacked 2 weeks having a full one year engagement. Ryan stuck around CU and finished up his 2nd engineering degree while I finsihed my teaching degree. We got married on May 16, 1998 at my home church in Gaffney, SC and then on May 28th, we left Gaffney to head to Dallas, TX so that Ryan could attend seminary at Dallas Theological. We thought we would be in Dallas for 4 years while Ryan completed the ThM program and then be headed back to the good 'ole Southeast. God had other plans though....4 years in Dallas turned into a full time job at Lake Pointe Church and 9 total years in the great state of Texas! A seminary degree, 9 years of teaching experience, and 2 kids later, we returned to SC in January '07 for Ryan to pursue a new job as a Small Groups Pastor at North Rock Hill Church.

God has been faithful every step of the way from finishing degrees at Clemson, to getting married, and doing something totally crazy like moving 1000 miles away from everyone we knew! We laughed on our ride to Charleston....we think we left for Dallas with $2000-$3000 to our names and no jobs....you know God had to be in it! And now here we are 10 years later. God is good......our prayer is that he will continue to walk us each step of the way through whatever is in store over the next 10 years!

More Pics

A few more beach pics.....

A Few Pictures

I've been told that this blog is no good without pictures. So here are a few pictures from our family vacation at Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago. We had tons of fun in the sand and surf!

Recap

Well, this is a quick recap for anyone who doesn't know what has been going on in the life of the Allreds. We moved to Rock Hill, SC a little over a year and a half ago. We made the move after Ryan accepted a job as Small Groups Pastor at North Rock Hill Church. Shortly after moving, I was hired to be the library/media specialist at Rock Hill's newest elementary school. I was hired in March and started working from home to order about 9200 brand new books for the library.

As my school year was coming to a close it was probably Ryan's busiest time, because our new church building opened June 1st. Our church started 10 years ago as a church plant. It has grown tremendously and we were finally able to build our first "real" building this year.

God has been good to us during this year of transition. Leaving Texas and all our friends was hard, but God brought us through it one day at a time. I finally feel as if we have totally made the transition back to life in South Carolina.

So, that's the recap of the past year and a half......We will try to keep you updated on a more regular basis as we make our way through year 2 here in the Palmetto State.

A blog by any other name....

Well, Ryan and I have been talking about creating a family blog for a while now. However, neither of us has actually gotten around to doing anything about it. So, as kids are taking afternoon naps, I decided today was the day to get started. Now, this is the Merri Anna version. Ryan has visions of grandeur....as his grander plans take shape, I will let you know and share his blog with you as well. For now though you are stuck with me and 2+2=4.

I've spent a large portion of the last 2 days thinking about my blog name. The teacher in me is always trying to come up with something cutsie and "teacher-y". But I didn't want just cutsie, I wanted something that would truly represent our family. And then, it popped in my head.

So, where did 2+2=4 come from..... basically it is a good description of our family! There are 4 of us: 2 parents and 2 kids; 2 males and 2 females; it is a math equation.....Ryan and Alex love those. And as much as the librarian in me would love for Alex to want to spend his summer learning to read, he is much more interested in math and numbers and science and how things work. Yikes....another little Ryan in the making. So I guess I should really thank Alex for naming my blog. He has been working hard this summer to grasp the concept of adding, and he constantly walks around telling me that 2+2=4.... 2cars + 2tractors= 4, 2dinosaurs + 2insects= 4, 2soccer balls + 2baseballs= 4.....and 2Allreds + 2Allreds = 4!

Check back to see what us 4 Allreds have been up to and please keep us updated on your life as well!