Maymont Park

We didn't stay at the hospital long on Monday. I wanted to get out of the way so Matt, Megan & Jackson could rest & get to know each other better. :) We got there around 12 and left about 1:30ish. We stopped for a quick lunch and then rode over to Maymont park to let Josh burn off some energy. And did he ever!!!

We saw lots of buggies (but no horses)

Josh really enjoyed looking at the buggies. He asked lots of questions about them and called the one below the "Santa slider". Makes sense to me!

Josh and the "Santa slider"

There are tons of hills and walking paths. We had a map and made our way over to the farm section of the park. Most of the attractions are closed on Mondays so we didn't get to see a lot of the best parts of Maymont. We didn't have much time so it was fine. We'll have to plan another visit during the week to take a buggy ride or go into Maymont Mansion.

Maymont Mansion

Racing down the hill.

MAN DOWN!!!

Can you spot the butterflies?

The farm had goats, chickens, pigs, rabbits, sheep, a donkey & horses. The horses stayed in their barn and we couldn't coax them out. The pigs were snoozing and the rabbits were huddled under their house and wouldn't move.

Freaky-eyed goat

Hungry goats

Goats always make me think of my PaPaw. He had a farm in Ohio with cows, goats, ferrets, etc. We used to feed the animals and play in the barn. We basically had full run of the farm and explored every inch. I have so many good memories of him. 

This peacock was NOT in a cage and was freaking me out! I'm not a huge fan of birds (I'm about as afraid of them as I am of clowns) and every time he moved I got the willies. There were also pigeons flying back and forth across the barn so I didn't stay in there very long. ;)

I smell bacon!!!! ;)

There were some little birds in this net. Josh heard me ask David what that was all about on our way over to it and told me that it was an Indian tent and those were Indian birds and they help the Indians put fires out. 

Josh saw a couple from running down one of the trails we crossed over on our way back to the car. He started "racing" them and was worn slam out by the time we got back up to the entrance. We saw three benches sitting under a HUGE tree. Josh assigned seats and then took a break. :) 

We had a lot of fun even though it was very hot. We all had red faces when we got back in the car. We hit the road for an impromptu trip to Yorktown to visit David's Mom, sister and Gram. We drove over 400 miles Monday and were exhausted all day Tuesday. We all got a good night's sleep last night and feel rested and raring to go today. 

Jackson Matthew Hand

My first nephew has arrived! As I was on my way to Rocky Mount to pick up Josh from Mama she called me and told me that Megan's water had broken and they were on their way to Richmond. I so wish I had packed a bag so I could have just gone up to the hospital to wait for him to arrive. :) I had Monday off and David took off work and we hit the road for the 3 hour drive.

We're going to see Jackson!

Jackson was born while we were on the road. Mama was there all night and sent me updates as she got them. We were all very excited to finally get to Richmond. Megan had been moved to a room just before we got there and we went right in. Josh helped push the elevator buttons for us. 

In the elevator.

They had Jackson in the nursery when we got upstairs and were checking him out really good. We visited with Matt & Megan while we waited for the baby to be brought back to the room. Megan looked really good, even after a long labor. Josh was entertained with some gloves. 

Dr White will see you now...

We got tired of waiting to see Jackson and walked down to the nursery to find him. Matt walked us down and we stood at the window a long time just watching him. He was very calm until the pediatrician rolled him over to check him out. Then we could hear him holler! :) Josh asked tons of questions, as usual, and said Jackson was "Cute." 

Josh and Uncle Matt

Jackson Matthew!

After watching him for a while we went back down to wait for them to bring him to the room. When he got back we all passed him around. Josh was fascinated. He held him for a long time and Jackson just laid there and was so quiet. I think they'll be good buddies. ;) 

Josh holding cousin Jackson for the first time!

Proud cousin

We checked out Jackson's long fingers and big baby feet. Josh thought his feet were funny.  

Baby piggies!

Uncle David and Jackson

I did hold him but no one got photographic evidence. :( Oh well....maybe next time. He's absolutely adorable and we're in love. 


Welcome to our family, Jackson! I pray the Lord continues to cover you with His mighty hand and you grow to become a strong man of God. I love you, kiddo! --Hen

Packing packing packing

The packing has officially started! Josh is with Poppa & Grammy this weekend so David & I have gotten a lot of packing done. When we met my parents in Rocky Mount to drop Josh off Mama gave us a lot of boxes from all the cleaning out at her school. They're all full!  David went and got some from the warehouse at work and we've filled those, too!

Empty boxes ready to go!

We've made a lot of progress but it sure doesn't feel like we've done much. We've packed: most of J's toys, everything from the bookcase, all of J's clothes for the fall/winter, all of the clothes he's outgrown and were put away for storage, all of his stuffed animals (except Monkey, Butter Bear & baby wolf), all of the clothes from his closet, our winter clothes & coats, some of the clothes that are in season now, Christmas dishes, some bake ware, mugs, non-essentials from the bathroom, dvds & "office" stuff from under the tv, most of the utility/laundry room....I think that's all so far.

Most of the boxes are from Josh's room. He has so many clothes & if he doesn't grow too much he should be all set for the fall & winter.

Thursday night's progress

I've decided to use a color system for moving. Each room is assigned a color; red for kitchen, yellow for J's room, etc. Every box we pack gets a the appropriate colored sticker and a short list of what's in the box. Then when we move in the new place we can just put the appropriate boxes in the appropriate room and I don't have to stand around & read boxes & direct people as to which box goes to what room. :) I hope it works. Haha!

My color coded packing list

We're running out of room in the dining room to stack boxes. I guess we'll move on to J's closet and then our room for stacking. I feel unsettled about not having anywhere to move our stuff to. I'd much rather have a certain date to be out and a specific place to be moving to. Right now we have no place to move to and up to a month to be out of our apartment. I like a plan...this doesn't feel like a plan. ;)

Friday's progress

Saturday's progress

We stopped by Marty & Exie's house to get our stuff out of their attic. They've been kind enough to let us use some of their attic space for as long as we need it. Most of the stuff up there we donated. We haven't needed it for years, so we won't miss it. Things like our Christmas tree, ornaments and out of season clothes will go with us. 

Sunday's progress

While handing stuff down to me from the attic David lost his balance when he tried to catch a falling box and fell out of the attic! It happened to fast and so slowly all at the same time. Ironically enough, it was the smallest box up there! He's fine, just banged up a bit, has a few scratches and will be sore. Somehow he landed on his back and side and NOT his head (I don't know how he managed that) but he took down Exie's picture frames on either side of the hallway on his way down. None of the photos were damaged and we'll replace the frames. I'm just thankful he wasn't hurt more than a bruise or two. It could have been much worse and I've since banned him from all attics for a long while. :) I bet he'll let the box fall next time! hee hee!

This evening we're taking a break. David is working on school work and I'm going to meet Mama to get Josh back. I've missed him! We'll probably work on the art projects for his teachers and spend some (supervised) time with the paper shredder. He should enjoy that. ;) 

We'll be working on finding a house to buy or rent this week so please pray that the Lord will handle that quickly and easily. I'll feel much better when we have an idea of where all this stuff is going to go! I'd really like to have officially moved before David starts work on the 10th. 

Adventure is out there...

I'd like to thank you for praying for our family the other day. There will be some big changes coming to the White house soon and we're very excited and a little nervous. By the end of September we will be moving to Raleigh!

Last Wednesday David traveled to Raleigh for a job interview. We have been wanting to make the move to Raleigh for a few years now. It provides better job opportunities for both of us and would put us closer to family (especially one of our soon to arrive nephews!).  David is working on a degree in network security and we made the decision for him to start applying to jobs before he was finished with his degree just to see what would happen. He got a call right away and we were encouraged by that. The interview Wednesday was technically a second interview as he had spoken with the company over the phone a few weeks ago. Josh and I rode over to Raleigh with him so we could goof off while he was interviewing. ;) It also helped distract me because I was SO nervous!

Well, they offered him the job. The pay isn't what we had hoped (is it ever?!) and we were a little discouraged about that initially. My Uncle Doug was kind enough to let us come over and talk it out a bit with him. He is so wise and we value his opinion and advice. He didn't try to sway our decision one way or the other and made reasonable, solid points. After talking with him for a while we felt the "perks" of the job made up the difference and the numbers didn't seem like such a negative as they had at first. 

The position comes with a company car, laptop and cell phone. David is able to take the company car home and doesn't have to report to the office every day. Perk: we wouldn't have to buy a second car for him to get to and from the office with.

The company has offered to pay for any training and certifications David will need. Perk: currently this is an expense we have to pay for ourselves (and it's pricey!).

The company offers health insurance and will pay for David's after the 90 day period. Perk: we'll only have to pay for Josh and myself which should save us some money. 

Although the offered salary isn't as much as we had hoped it is more than he's making now. Perk: the company has promised a pay raise after 90 days and again after a year. 

Now the fun (and scary and overwhelming) part begins. We have to find a place to live, find a job for me, find a new daycare and only have a few weeks to do it. We've lived at our apartment here in Greenville so long that we're on month to month lease so we don't have a contract to break there. And because of the timing we'll have to pay September's rent anyway so we technically have over a month to find a new place in the Raleigh area. If anyone knows of anywhere to rent or possibly buy in Raleigh or Wake Forest please let us know. ;)

It's really a bittersweet feeling. We'll enjoy being closer to family and making new friends but we'll miss our friends here. So many of you have become like family to us. Luckily we'll only be an hour away! That's not so bad, right?

Well, there's still lots to do so I better get back to packing...and house hunting...and job hunting...*sigh*.

Meet the Pirates

We live in a college town and while it's fun to go to games and lots of events on and around ECU's campus, it's not so enjoyable when it's move-in day or even game day. The traffic is insane and unless there's a life threatening emergency we don't leave the house on those days. :)

This past Saturday we went out to Dowdy Ficklen Stadium to Meet the Pirates. It's a chance to meet the players and coaches of this season's football team. We had never been to this event and Josh is at a good age to really enjoy it.  

There were cheerleaders with pirate tattoos!

He was crushing so hard he wouldn't smile.

Petey the Pirate tattoo

 There were bouncy houses and slides,

Petey the Pirate,

 and even Pirate Steve. He's a real life pirate who comes out of the tunnel just before the players at all of the games. He's pretty cool. Josh met him at Pirate Fest this past summer and was really impressed!

This is the "tunnel" the football team runs out of at the games. Josh things it's "cool awesome" and always asks to go in it when we go to a game. The players have smoke machines and it looks really creepy and cool. Josh was happy to run through over and over.

The guys took turns tackling each other. First Josh tackled Daddy:

Then Daddy tackled Josh:

  Josh really enjoyed it and it was neat to be on the field instead of up in the stands for once. :) We didn't stand in the long lines to get any autographs but Josh doesn't understand all of that anyway so it was fine. We're excited for football season to start. We enjoy the cooler weather and attending a few games a season. GO PIRATES!