Is there such a thing...

...as a cute fat roll?!? You better believe it! Take a gander at the pics below and you're sure to agree with me! Look at that baby's belly and those chunky legs! I think I've given that poor child more "raspberries" in the past few weeks than he cares to have but I just can't help it. As I've said in previous post, Luke certainly takes after his Aunt Meredith, seein' that he's so darn cute and all. However, I will definitely be teaching him that fat rolls aren't quite as cute when you're 27 years old as they are when you're 7 months old!! :) And you can tell from his little "orange nose" that he's loving those sweet pototoes and carrots. I just love that orange glow that babies start to get when they begin eating baby food. You can't really tell from this pics but this baby is SO going to have dimples. Guess who's ecstatic about that?!?

Speaking of fat rolls on 27 year olds (I'm allowed to say that about myself!) , I had my weigh-in today and lost half a pound this week, bringing my total to 62.8 pounds. I had honestly thought I'd gained this week so you better believe that my half a pound lost was cheered for! :) As far as the rest of my week goes, it's been a good one! Work has been full of pleasant little surprises, such as my having the SWEETEST little four year old boy as one of my patients the other day who "wrote me a song" that went a little something like "...you are so beautiful, I hope you feel better..." According to his grandad, the song was to be sung to the tune of the familiar praise song, "Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord"! This totally made my day. And today, I got a phone call from my friend Mr. T (read a few posts down to learn about him). He was calling in for an antibiotic but before he started in on what was going on with him, of course he asked, "so how's your love life?" I love that man! :) I had the day off yesterday and yes, finally I got to go see the movie I've been wanting to for weeks now, "27 Dresses", with some friends of mine. It was very cute! Hope you're all having a great week as well. "From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another." (John 1:16)

Showers of Blessings!

What a fun day! I threw a baby shower today for one of my very best friends in the world, Sherry. She was definitely "showered" with wonderful things for her soon-to-be baby boy, Jackson. I love to celebrate new life and that's exactly what we did today! I feel like I'm always in the midst of helping to throw a baby shower or a wedding shower (guess it's just that time in my life!), but this never gets old to me. While I might complain at times about it not being my wedding shower or my baby shower, I always come away feeling that I have been showered with blessings in being able to take part in such wonderful seasons of life! Enjoy these fun pictures from today. Have a great weekend! Hot Mama to be, Sherry! Isn't she so pretty? :)

Sweet friends!

This was so fun! If you're planning to throw a baby shower anytime soon, I definitely recommend this! I put together a little "word gift" for Sherry by having her guests write words of encouragement on cards for her. Something she will treasure for a long time! Good times, good friends, fun had by all. :)

All up in my business...

I love older people! I especially have a new found love for one of my sweet patients that visits us every few months. For privacy's sake, we'll call him Mr. Trazenky. (wouldn't that be a cool last name?!?) I first met Mr. T a couple months after I began working at the doctors office and on that particular day of my first meeting with him, he asks me how my love life is. Of course to which I replied, "well, it's lacking." :) I proceeded to tell him that I was single and still waiting on "the right one to come along". I thought to myself, "how strange of him to ask me how my love life is on the first day he's ever met me." (gettin' ALL up in my business!) Now to some, this would be a little creepy, but I found it hard to be creepy as this is one of the sweetest little men I had ever met in my life. I later found out by our head nurse that Mr. T is a retired pastor and he always takes great interest in the lives of those around him so that he can pray for them. Every single time Mr. T comes in he asks me, "how's your love life?". This sweet man is praying for my love life! I can't wait for the day that he comes in and ask me, "so how's your love life?" and I'm able to respond with, "well, let me just tell you!!" :) I want to be more like Mr. T and take more focus off of myself and place more of it on those around me! Just wanted to share that!

Look up!

Happy Sunday, everyone! Most church services were cancelled around here this morning due to icy roads and parking lots but I love the fact that just because we can't "go to church" doesn't mean that we can't "have church" right where we are, at any time. I had such a great time of worship with the Lord this morning as I sat in bed with my Bible, my Bible study book, and a cup of coffee. So much of a great time that I am eager to share with you what He showed me and reminded me of today. The past few days of my Bible study have been focused on the fact that God is my helper and the ultimate authority in my life. I've been reading in the psalms about "lifting my eyes UP to Him because He is where my help comes from" and "lifting my eyes UP to Him, the One enthroned in heaven." I'm learning that the posture of my heart (and even my body at times) is very important when it comes to my relationship with God. A quote that I read this morning was this: "We are not presented with a functional god who will help us out of jams or an entertainment god who will lighten our tedious hours. We are presented with the God of exodus and Easter, the God of Sinai and Calvary. If we want to understand God, we must do it on His terms. If we want to see God the way He really is, we must look to the place of authority - to Scripture and to Jesus Christ. And do we really want it any other way? I don't think so. We would very soon become contemptuous of a god whom we could figure out like a puzzle or learn to use like a tool. No, if God is worth our attention at all, He must be a God we can look up to - a God we must look up to. The moment we look up to God (and not over at Him, or down on Him) we are in the posture of servitude." (Eugene Peterson) I started to think about how many times I must've come before the Lord out of habit and almost a feeling of "have to" and my approach to Him was not one of "up" and of awe in Who He is, but more of a side or a down approach where all I wanted was to use Him like a tool and in a sense make Him a servant to me. Wow..did that really just come out of my mouth?!? The truth most definitely hurts sometimes. My prayer is that I would break free from habit and routine and that I would take my eyes off my circumstances and instead look UP to Him and that this approach toward Him would be filled with much greater impact and productivity. "I lift my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven." Psalm 123:1 I have some more to share but will save it for a later blog. Have a wonderful day!

Burrr...

....it's cold outside!! We got about an inch and a half of snow here in Gainesville this afternoon and when I looked outside just a little while ago before the sun started to go down, it was still snowing! The temps are dropping and roads are expected (if they haven't already started) to become icy this evening. I'll be just fine at home cozy-ing up next to the fire. :) It's been a very lazy Saturday - just what I needed. The only productive thing I did today was exercise and take a shower, only to put my p.j's. back on. Haven't had one of these Saturdays in a LONG time! They are quite nice every now and then. Enjoy this wintry (love that word!) weather! :)

Finally!!!

I have been trying for what feels like forever to make it to my 60 pound weight loss mark. I've been hanging out around 58.8 or 59 pounds for almost a month now. I was very thankful that I maintained during the holidays but was beginning to get a little frustrated that I wasn't making it into a new "bracket". Finally...today it happened! I had lost 4 pounds at today's weigh-in which brought my total to 62.4 pounds. YES!!! It feels good! I really am thankful that things went so well with Weight Watchers this past year and am looking forward to how it will go this year. God is good! Hope you all enjoyed the fun snow! I enjoyed it but wasn't too thrilled when I had to go to work this morning. It was INSANE at the clinic today...insane! Probably the craziest day I've seen since I've worked there. You would have thought it would've been quite the opposite, but no, it wasn't. Myself and one other nurse were the only two nurses there today with both doctors AND our nurse practitioner seeing patients. My day was sweetly rewarded though with a $50 "snow bonus" check for coming in today and not complaining about how short handed we were. What a great unexpected blessing! Again...God is so good! :)

Luke Moment

If I've said it once, I know I've said it a million times...I truly have the sweetest, cutest nephew in the WORLD! There's no way you can look at these pictures and tell me this ain't one good lookin' kid. I can't help it that he takes after me. :) Enjoy these!

Luke is seen here sporting his new sock cap that his Aunt Meredith gave him for Christmas. She's got style!

Trying out the new "round about" that his Mom and Dad gave him for Christmas. It was worth losing a sock over, that's for sure.

He's got the hair of a rock star and definitely the dance moves that go along with it. I love it! Such a sweet baby! :) Thanks for letting me share.

The Ultimate Helper...

"Human help is wonderful, but it's always human." This was one of the sentences from my quiet time today that I underlined and to be honest, it's been a hard pill for me to swallow. I love people! I'm convinced that some of the most incredible human beings that inhabit this earth are friends with me. That's a very humbling thought. The Lord has richly blessed me in SO many ways, but I have to say that the people He's given me and continues to give me to "do life with" is by far one of His greatest blessings to me. As I think about it, I'm pretty sure I rely on human help ALOT! We depend on people all the time for various reasons whether it be to tell us if we look fat in an outfit to providing learned wisdom during a difficult situation. I love that God gave us each other so that we wouldn't have to do things alone! Could you even imagine if the opposite were true - that never, ever could we ask someone else for help?!? I don't even want to think about what my life would look like if that were true. HOWEVER, as much as we love to gloat on all the "HH's" in our lives (Human Heros), we have to remember that that's exactly what we are. Human. We simply can't be everything to everyone and expect our friends to be the same for us. One of the questions posed to me during my time with the Lord today was this, "What are specific ways that God can help you that people simply cannot?" I won't go into my personal answers, but think about that for yourself. We have to be thankful for each other and appreciate the help that we CAN offer to one another, but we must also remember that humans are humans and there will be times (many times) that divine help from our Lord is the only help we can depend on. All that said, I've had a good weekend - did a little traveling to visit with some dear friends, the Wisener's, and had a baby shower and a baby dedication to go to today. I love the people the Lord has placed in my life! :) Hope everyone has a great week!

My friend, JWisener!

This blog post is dedicated to my friends JWisener (James Wisener), and his family...Cathy, Ivey, Graham, and Bekah Grace. Not really so much like having a song dedicated to you over the radio by your boyfriend or girlfriend or having a rose dedicated to you during the last slow skate at the skating rink, but more of just a "I love these people and I want to talk about them for a minute" kind of dedication. James' daddy went to be with the Lord this morning so times are tough right now for him and his family. Pray for them! In a few days when he re-enters the land of blog, he's gonna need a good read. For those of you who don't know, I was very fortunate to serve under James in student ministry for several years in Rome, GA and I consider his family to be my own. Read on. Things I love about JWisener... He has such an incredible heart for students - he loves to see students "get it" - to watch them enter into a loving relationship with the Lord and then watch those same students show other students how it's done! He loves his family more than anything - he's a super husband and dad! He thinks I'm the best student ministry assistant EVER! Joe and Angie are his favorite people. (Joe Mama angie Daddy - Booya!) He loves Point of Grace. He thinks they should tour with DownHere or the like. He's a learner - he allows the Lord to teach him something great - whether the lesson was a tough one or an easy one. He's a visoneer - he loves to dream big and God is all about that! He's a great friend and encourager. He's way ADD...not really sure what I like about this. :) He's just a fun guy! He's much much more, but lastly for today, I love that he does everything with excellence. Not many people do that these days. Especially me. :) Things I love about Cathy (James' wife)... She is a WONDERFUL wife and mother! I don't know how she does it all, but she does, and she truly does it with excellence...just like James. :) She loves students just as much as James! I miss doing Girl's Ministry with her. Her love for the Lord is evident in EVERYTHING she does! She's such a graceful person and I love that about her. She also things I'm the best student ministry assistant EVER! :) She's a great friend and I miss her very much! Things I love about Ivey (James and Cathy's oldest daughter)... She's a GREAT basketball player. She loves the Lord like crazy and is not afraid to tell her friends about Him. She is beautiful...inside and out! She is a prayer warrior - you're still prayin' me up a husband, right Ivey? If anybody can I know you can, girl! :) She has the sweetest heart and cares so much for others. She's an incredible big sister and daughter! Things I love about Graham (James and Cathy's son)... Graham LOVES to show you his newest toys...believe me...the kid has some cool toys. AND he's got a great baseball card collection! He's the BEST little brother to Ivey and the BEST big brother to Becka Grace! He's very handsome. He love Jesus like crazy too and will probably end up a minister like his daddy one day. He's a super friend! Things I love about Becka Grace (James and Cathy's baby girl)... She LOVES her "Nee Nee"...that would be me! She has the sweetest little smile - but don't let her fool you...she's a spit fire! She's loves Jesus too...just like we all should...like a child. She gives super hugs!! I love this family and am praying that I will take all they have taught and continue to teach me and gain great wisdom from it! You guys are the best and I love ya tons. Can't wait to see and hug you all tomorrow. Praying for you!

Happy trails...

"I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-- He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you-- the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-- He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." (Psalm 121) I've been camping out in this passage of scripture for the past two days in my quiet time and I've been overwhelmingly reminded of one of my most favorite characteristics about the Lord - that He is my ever-present help, my ever-present protector. My journey in this life as His child has been and will continue to be filled with "unknown territory". Who knows where He will take me and what kind of ground it will be on? I love that I never have to worry and that I truly can enjoy my journey with Him even on the tough trails because He is always with me, watching over me and guarding each step I take. What a big God and what a comforting promise!

Oh my.

Last night I visited a church called 12 Stone Church (formerly Crossroads) in Buford with my friend Emma. Great church and great service! Well, about halfway through the service, I notice a journal type book being passed around from person to person and people, I assumed, were writing their names down in the book. I thought to myself, "Oh, they must take attendance this way or something." So, I write my name down in the book and then pass it to my friend Emma. Well, Emma hangs on to it for a second and then leans over to me and says, "Meredith, I think you are supposed to write people's names down in the book that you are specifically praying salvation for." Apparently this was mentioned at the start of the service and I just missed it. Needless to say, Emma and I had quite the chuckle over this. :) So, for those of you who read the names in that book and are praying so sweetly for those people, you can put a check mark next to Meredith Hulsey...my name is already in the other Book. :) Craziness!

Weekend in Review

What a busy weekend! But most definitely a fun one. As you know from my last post, I participated in my friend Helen's wedding this weekend in Montgomery, AL. Helen and I have been friends since we were little girls, so for me to get to witness her marriage yesterday was a very special thing. Helen's now husband, Jim, is a super great guy that we gladly welcomed into the "family". :) The Lord couldn't have placed them together more pefectly! Enjoy some fun pictures!

The happy and beautiful bride and groom!

One of my other best friends, Sherry (carrying soon to be Baby Jackson), and Me

The girls...from left to right: Amanda (carrying soon to be Baby ?), Me, Eyes closed Stephanie, and Sherry (again carrying soon to be Baby Jackson)

What a fun day!! :)

14 Dresses

"Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married...". In about an hour I will head out to Montgomery, AL to participate in my dear friend Helen's wedding this weekend. I'm so excited! She's so special to me and she's marrying a pretty special guy so it all works out quite nicely. :) There's a new movie coming out this month called "27 Dresses", a movie about a girl that's a bridesmaid for the 27th time. Apparently the producers weren't thinking when they didn't sign me up for a part in the movie. As of Helen's wedding, I now have 14 Dresses. What can ya do?!? :) Hope everyone has a great weekend! Let me know if you want to join me for the movie when I return. :)

A brand new year!

I love the beginning of a new year, simply because it's so "unknown" to me. I like surprises. Some people hate them, but I love them. I love that I have NO idea the things that are in store for me this year. More than that though, I love that I serve a God Who knows exactly what's in store for me this year...it was planned long before I was even born. How cool is that? So, let's recap a few things that took place in 2007: I became an aunt for the very first time...HIGHLY recommend this...definitely the hightlight of my year. It's the most fun! :) My job at West Rome Baptist ended in June and I moved back home to Gainesville to take on a job in the medical field. I miss SO much about Rome, especially all the fun, crazy people, but I have to say that I'm lovin' being back closer to my family and I thankfully am really enjoying my new job. I got my first speeding ticket...it was a killer...cost me 150 big ones. I was on my way to Raleigh, NC to visit one of my best friends, Abby, who gave birth to sweet Baby Elizabeth in December. I began my weight loss journey and successfully lost 60 pounds this year! Don't worry...I'm not done yet. I jogged my first mile ever!I got in my first "fender bender" and no, it was not my fault. No one was injured, for those of you concerned about my safety. Two of my other best friends became pregnant and will have sweet little ones in 2008. My dear friends Daniel and Rendy were married in September.I traveled to Jasper, FL in October with my buddy Chad Bugg and some of his friends for a Bible study retreat in October. Started this blog and many, many other things that I can't think of right now. 2007 was a great year! The "goods" most certainly outweigh the "bads". :) Some things I would love to see happen in 2008: Continue to lose weight. Deepen my relationships with my family and with Jesus. Jog TWO miles! :) Write more letters. Start dating...hey, I ain't gettin' no younger people! :) Pray more and memorize more scripture than I did in 2007. Start a community Bible study for teenage girls. Share my faith more with my patients at work. Read more. Happy New Year!