:: Vyla Irene Dearman

Camping at North Mills in '04

Last Friday was very sad as we found out that our dear friends, Jonathan and Britainy, had suffered a tragic loss in the death of their little girl, Vyla Irene Dearman. Vyla only had a few more weeks to go to make her due date, but God decided to take her home before she even was able to take her first breath here on earth. I cannot imagine having to endure such loss. I just can't imagine it.

There is a song called "Glory Baby" that speaks about the untimely death of an unborn baby. A line from that song goes...
"I will rest in knowing, heaven is your home. And it’s all you’ll ever know." Wow. That is the only realization that would keep me going, I believe.

Please pray for Jonathan and Britainy and their families. I know they would appreciate your prayers.


Vyla Irene Dearman
Vyla Irene Dearman was born into the loving hands of God on Tuesday, April 22, 2008. She was held and cherished by her parents, Jonathan Edward and Britainy Miller Dearman and their families. A service of honor will be held at 5 p.m. today at Trinity Episcopal Church. The family will visit with friends following the service. Nicholson Funeral Home is assisting the family of Vyla Irene Dearman.

:: i'm a jerk...

...for never learning more than 8 or so chords on the guitar.

:: Dispenser o' Tishooos

I know you're jealous of my new Dispenser o' Tishooos. Bwhaha! Isn't it so fantastickly sweet?? I'm thrilled with it. Thanks to ReadyMade for the idea...can't claim it myself. Mom supplied the can and Dad helped drill the hole and put the cewl trim around the opening so that you don't rip your Kleenex on the way out (that was his idea...no thanks to ReadyMade)! And Matt and Scout performed the pull-out tests. HA! Thanks family! :-)

my birthday is coming up, you know...hint, hint, hinto...

:: when life is in discord, praise ye the lord.

Happy Birthday, Scouter!

Scout turns 2 today! Happy Birthday, Buddy! : - )

:: baf.

scout loves a good baf...and a not-so-good fauxhawk.

:: don't drop your arms.

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:: hemangioma and hootie

Today we went to Charleston.

If you're reading this, then you probably already know about Scout's hemangioma on her nose. If you don't know, I'll brief you.
--At Scout's 3 month old well-baby visit, Dr Few informed us that Scout had a hemangioma on her nose that would most probably need laser treatments and/or eventually invasive surgery. We found this out within one month of our move to Williamsburg, so we were referred to a surgeon in Norfolk. While we were there, Scout had 7 laser surgeries over the course of 9 months. At her last surgery in April, we opted for her to have no more surgeries for fear of eventually damaging her skin. At this point, the surgeries had kept the hemangioma small, which was the goal of the process. (If it grew large, it could damage cartilage and the structure of her nose.) The doctors felt this was the best thing to do...buy time with the eventual hope that it would dissolve and go away as she got older. When we moved back to Greenville in May, we were able to get Dr Few back for Scout's pediatrician...yay! He referred us to a surgeon in G'ville who more-or-less wanted to just watch it and just see what happened. At Scout's 18 month old well-baby visit, she started laughing at some point and Dr Few thought she sounded a little hoarse. His wheels began to turn, and he said he would feel better if we would go see an ENT friend of his that also had a "fascination" with facial hemangiomas. I thought that was weird, but he said that sometimes if there is a hemangioma on the face, there is the possibility that they can show up near the vocal cords and he would just like to play it safe and have us see the ENT to get it checked out. Plus it would just be nice to get another opinion on the one on her nose. (This short story isn't so short afterall, huh? Sorry. Ha!) So off we go to see Dr Brown, the ENT who has a "fascination" with facial hemangiomas, remember? The weird guy. He proves to be not so weird. Pretty much the nicest, friendliest, most interested-in-his-patient doctor I have ever met (other than Dr Hammond, of course). He asks me if I have ever heard of Dr Marcelo Hochman. I tell him no, although I learn later than I had through all the research we had done about hemangiomas right when we found out about Scout's. So he tells me that Dr Hochman is "the man" when it comes to these things. And he would be more than happy to refer us to him if we didn't mind the drive...to Charleston.

So, today we went to Charleston. What a great day it was. Scout was great (despite her having a virus..yak!), the weather was great, the ride down was great...and Dr Hochman was great. He told us that surgery is really the only option for her at this point...which we were prepared to hear...and really wanting to hear after all of the other surgeries and the waiting and the watching. He said she's at a great age for it since she hasn't really developed a full-blown self-image yet, and she's several years before she starts to school so there will be time for the scar to heal and be touched-up if need be.

Tonight, when we got home, I typed in the web address for the The Hemangioma Treatment Center. My browser automatically remembered that I had been to that site before...hmmmm. When it came up, I couldn't believe it. We had been to the site many times just gathering information when we were in Williamsburg...so come to find out, it's the same place we visited today. Crazy!! www.hemangiomatreatment.org
www.hemangiomatreatment.com


Also, Hootie and the Blowfish are "Friends of the Foundation"...thought that was neat. Maybe Scout can get a signed copy of "Cracked Rear View"...that cd would definitely be an oldies record to her. HAHA!

Surgery is scheduled for Dec 14 at 6:30am. Please be praying that Scout will be protected and come through the surgery with no complications and that the healing process will be smooth. Pray for Dr Hochman and the staff. And pray for Scout's family that we won't waste time worrying about something that our Father has complete control over.

:: i need work!

i'm rolling here.

i used to love this cartoon...i pity tha' foo' that don't like this cartoon...even the new, revised one! HA!

:: my new favorite pic of scouter

that's our lil' bug.

:: good stuff...

· fuzzy biz is boomin'

· scout is learning and remembering things she is learning. she said her name yesterday. it was a moment. she also said, "i love you, mommy"...but it sounded more like "i eeeee eeee, bobeee"...but it was so sweet. she is such a blast.

· SCS homecoming is tomorrow and i can't wait to see all my ol' friends

· lunch with Upward crew is in the morning...can't wait to see those peeps too

· my "business expenditure" for the year arrives tomorrow. adobe creative suite 3, apple keyboard, 500 G lacie firewire drive, and iWork...Leopard and my lacie rack will arrive later in the month. whoohoo!

· i hopefully have a solution for having a great place for scout to spend a few hours a few days a week so that i can get some more work hours in. i hope it works out...i couldn't ask for a better place for her to be.

· our loft bed will hopefully be completed this weekend

· the air is getting colder outside and i love it

· i found my new bible that i lost...now i just need to read it or i might as well lose it again

· lindsay and robert tie the knot in just 3 more weeks

· matt passed his real estate exam and will be gradually starting his new career

· rosie thomas concerto is next week

· scout and i are walking every morning again and it's been so nice. i've missed that so much since leaving w'burg.


i'm sure there are a gazillion other good things, but i must get back to work for now...

:: the big 5

shirley?? shirley.

i received this via fwd this morning. it's the cutest kid thing i've seen since our ol' "he was injud...injud bad." friend.

:: critical mass

- - coffee is good this morning...so happy i found the grinder, finally. - -

after being bewildered by the weird bike race we saw as we waited on the street corner in chicago for our yum pizza, i got online and found out what we were a small part of that night...

The Chicago Critical Mass

wow. who knew? i think it's awesome and i would have given part of my yum pizza to have had a bike to ride that night. watch out g-vegas...perhaps you're ready for a critical mass ride? okay, maybe not. there were 5,000+ riders that night. we stood and watched them pass for 25 min or so...not to mention however long they were passing by before we got to that street corner. simply crazy...yet, amazing.

here are some pics i found of some of the riders we saw that stood out (you'll see why)...

this guy was being pulled on a trailer by a fellow rider. there was a sound system involved on their little set-up. hilarious.


not sure if this was the EXACT guy we saw, but we saw several balloon heads.


fun stuff.

:: great things in great places...

these past few days have been fantabulous. unfortunately, i couldn't find my camera before we left (it's in a box somewhere and hasn't been recovered yet), so i don't have any pics to attach to this post. i'll post some when ange and colette send theirs to me.

we left early wednesday morning for south bend, indiana for the innovate conference at granger community church. with all of our moving and business with fuzzy bison going on, i was in no frame of mind to get on a plane and go on this trip...up until the night before, i was honestly dreading leaving scout and matt, but i knew once i got on the plane, i would be fine and would enjoy myself. i just didn't have any idea how much i would learn and how much i feel now that the Lord wanted me to be on this trip. i heard lots of things i already knew, yet just had never heard them from a different point of view...and that different point of view was what i needed for refreshment. it was great. fantastic. if you work within a church (or from outside a church, like me..in the freelance arena), i would definitely recommend this conference. check out gccwired.com or wiredchurches.com for more info. there. there's a plug.

okay, so i'm really ready to see matty and scouter now. i've missed them so much, but i have honestly enjoyed this break away from routine and work! haha! but it's time to get back and see my brabies.

thanks ange, for inviting me along on this trip. it was amazing. :)

oh, i forgot about the title of this post...here's why...
· great quesadilla and taco salad - la esperanza in mishawaka, indiana
· great conference - granger community church in granger, indiana
· great pizza - giordanno's in chicago, il
· great weird bike race - streets o' chicago, il

i'm sure there are more, but our flight is loading now, so i must sionara. sionara.

:: gettin' there

we moved all of our stuff from the lake house garage and from ralph and regina's garage in greer to the house in taylors yesterday! yay! go penske! penske has become our friend...although a dear friend, i am glad that we won't see his shiny yellow self for a while...i'm tired of seeing him.

thank you, stephen, for all of your help yesterday. and thank you, holly, mom, carey & jack, for keeping scouter while we loaded and unloaded! what a mongo help! now comes the unpacking. oh joy, oh bliss. tonight, matt and i worked for a few hours while ange kept scout (thanks, ange!)...scout's room is finished (for now). we'll probably be spending the night there tomorrow night, although the loft bed hasn't been put together. we're waiting on the hardware to arrive. hopefully, will be here in the next few days. yay! thank you, ange, for letting us crash yo' crib fo' the last 2 weeks. what a huge savings in gas moolah...i owe you lots of mochas.

next week's chicago trip is coming up way to fast. i'm lost for how i am going to get my fuzzy work finished in time and get our space livable and be scout's mom all at the same time. she's getting older and has been really clingy these last few days as she has been staying with everyone while we've packed and moved. poor thing. she's never really acted like she really cared much if i was around or not, but i guess she's getting at the age now where she really knows what's up...even if she does call me "ca". i was looking forward to the chicago trip, but tonight i cried thinking about having to leave her with all of this chaos going on around her. ugh. it is that time o' the month, but i was sad/stressed, fo real. ha.

fuzzy gotta get to work.

out.

good tunes: colbie caillat

:: backpedalin'

As I've intended to do for several months now, here are the pics of our move from Williamsburg, VA back to SC. The week of June 3.


June 3
Scout said good-bye to her faithful Sunday School teachers...Mrs Donna and Mr Paul. Scout loved them and they loved her. Awww!
Here we are saying good-bye to Edilson...one of the youth we had in Sunday School. He is from Cape Fear, Africa...one of the most beautiful places on earth! I wish we would have gotten pictures of all of the kids...they were so sweet.


Mom and Mary were SOOOO kind to come up and help us pack up the place! What a huge help they were! We couldn't have done it without them! Thanks so much, y'all!

Here's Scout helping MiMi get in the car.



See y'all in a few days!


Byeeeee!


The night before the move...I always hate those few last straggling boxes and random things!



June 8
We decided for Scout and I to go ahead and get on the road. Matt had to work until 2pm, so Scout and I headed out just as soon as we got the last few things packed up. There was no need for us to wait around since there was nothing to do in the house...haha!
Scout waiting patiently for the train to leave...


Packed to the gills...where did Scout go?


Bye baby birds. I hated to leave them. We had been watching their mother and being careful not to disturb the eggs for several weeks. They hatched about 4 days before we left. I had to leave my fern. :(


Bye ol' house. We'll miss you.


One last look at the ol' homestead.


Scout didn't waste anytime finding creative ways to entertain herself. Maybe she was trying to tell me something about my driving! HA!


Happy Meal Picnic in the McDonald's parking lot. Somewhere in NC.


Scout deemed herself the "drive thru greeter". It was quite funny.


All tuckered out.


Chillin' with a good read. She was sooooo good to have been in the car for 9 hrs!


"Lookie Scout! Someone put up a billboard for us! Awww!"


Kaylee was so happy to see Scout! I think Scout was just happy at this point to get out of the car! But then she kissed on her cousins! HAHA!

'tis the season...for re-vival

sorry for the long season o' no posts. i've really missed blogging...lack of time has not allowed me to this summer. i have enjoyed the quickness of facebook (thanks andrea, for getting me into it!)...blogger just seems to take a lot of time at one sitting that i just can't seem to find anymore. fuzzybison work has been booming and keeping me extremely busy. so most often, when i sit down at the mac, it's to work...and i must maximize that time as scout is sleeping. because when she's not sleeping, fuzzy is not working. just not possible.

next week, we move back to the same rental house that we lived at from fall of '03 to late summer of '05 before moving to st louis...so we are really looking forward to that! we loved living there...great house, affordable rent, great location, close to the gym, church, and family and friends! one challenge we have before us is fitting back into the house that we outgrew while living there...since now we have an additional member. with this challenge, we're adopting a lifestyle that has always been enticing to us, yet seemingly unattractive in our world. simplicity. simple stuff and not a lot of it....(minus our macs and hiking/camping gear. bwhaha!) stuff that perhaps has been used for years, but needs new life. re-usable, re-newed, re-lifed, re-vived. we've been reading ReadyMade magazine for several years and we're ready to really adopt it's ideas and practical ways of living. it's somewhat of a spiritual calling. i sometimes feel all of our stuff and paying for stuff/keeping up with the Joneses gets in the way of God's calling on our lives. i look at how Jesus lived when he walked this earth and i wonder if he would get caught up in all of the "stuff" that i delve myself into on a daily basis. i honestly don't believe he would. i don't even think he would live in taylors at the tiny rental house. he didn't even have a house during his years of ministry on this earth. he had shoes and the clothes on his back. he had friends. he had a calling. he needed nothing else because he was here to minister. so with that, i feel that maybe all of our "stuff" gets in the way of our ministering...maybe in a way, gets in the way of our real reason for being here and doing what we're called to do. i realize he lived in a different time than i do...so it just makes me wonder how he would live in our day and time. i don't know exactly how that would be, but i would like to try and attempt to model that in my life. i want scout to grow up and realize that re-use is a good thing...not just an okay thing. that the newest thing, isn't always the best thing. that she is blessed because of who she is and not because of what she has. i am finally coming to realize that for myself after 30 years. mom and dad tried to instill this in us as children, but it's funny how stubborn kids can be and how influenced they can be by the world...kids meaning carla the child and carla the adult. :)

"Small [house] equals less material possessions and lower rent, which equals, most important, less time spent working on things I don't care about." -Joseph Costa

:: it has been TOOO long...

Gosh. I know y'all are just sitting on the edge of your seats wanting to know what the heck we're doing. Ahhhhh, I kid, I kid.

I have SO much to post about, but the short of it is this...
· we're back in SC (Townville for the next 4-6 weeks...then to Taylors for...get this...longer than 6-12 months! Oh, oh! And we don't have a move planned for the next 1-27 years, at least! HA!)
· our move back was pretty uneventful, although, i do have some great pics to share of Scout when I do finally post the play-by-play
· Matt is starting real estate school...soon. He's sad. The class that he had registered, pay for, and anxiously awaited has been cancelled. He got a phone call today that it was cancelled. That would have been nice to know more than 3 days before the class started. Ugh. So, poor Matt. Pray that we'll find a class soon that he can get into.
· Fuzzy Bison biz is boomin'! Dang. Anybody looking for a job? I could use some help. Okay, I'm not THAT slammed, but it would be nice to have a secretary and a babysitter. HAHA! (btw, having family close by has been a life saver in that!) www.fuzzybison.com <---lil' plug there

Okay, that's all for now...sorry, I'm all blogged out. Actually, I'm just about to fall over in the floor. You know John Tesh says that the best way to get sick is to stay up past midnight. It's 12:17am. I'm doomed.

Here are some pics to keep the blog alive until I come back...

Scout met spaghetti for the first time last week and boy, did she have a blast-o-rama! Photo credits: Matteo Carter





Look at those WILD eyes! She is WAY too into this activity! HAHA!