Gloria.

I got a phone call from my mother on Sunday afternoon, shortly after we got home from church, that my grandmother, Gloria, had passed away earlier that morning.  My Mawmaw was 89 years old, and although she lived a very long and full life, it was really shocking to get the call that she was gone.  She had been doing very lately, better than she had in a long time.  I spoke with her on the phone on Thanksgiving Day, and she was in such good spirits, laughing and asking about the kids, the new baby, and Jonathan's family.  I thought for certain we would be seeing her in just a few short weeks as Jonathan, the kids, and I make our way down to New Orleans for Christmas.

Alas, God numbered her days just perfectly, and He decided the best day to call her home.  I do believe that my Mawmaw is in heaven today, and I am so thankful for that!  I fly to New Orleans this afternoon (in crazy weather), to spend the next few days with my Momma, my Daddy, and my two sisters.  The kids will be staying with Jonathan's folks.  Once again, they are so good to us and drop everything to care for us and the children. I am truly blessed!  Jonathan is staying here to work because being just three weeks into the new business, he really needs to stay and work.  Although I wish we could all go, I do think the time I will have will be sweet and undistracted and filled with good memories as we celebrate her life.

Please keep me in your prayers as I travel.  I don't like to fly alone, and I get nervous about missing flights, running haphazardly through airports, etc. 

Family Photo Teaser

Guys, we had the privilege of getting our family pictures taken by Lillian Prince again this year. She is so unbelievably talented, and we just love her work! I cannot stop ooh-ing and aah-ing over our pictures, and there are just so many good ones that I want to post. But, until then.....I thought I'd leave you this little teaser to show you how things went that day with Liam.

He was SO over having his pictures taken and was well-enough ready for naptime by this point. However, Lillian (a wonderful Momma of two little ones), got some great shots of our boy and was ever-patient with him (and us). Look forward to more....they're good. Real good!

Pregnancy #3 So Far

I am 10.5 weeks pregnant with Baby Bradshaw #3, and since I haven't really blogged much about how things are going with the pregnancy, I thought I would share some of the crazy pregnancy thoughts that have been floating around in my head lately. 

1.  It feels like this pregnancy is going by soooooo.slllooowwwwwwww.....  With Liam, I feel like I blinked and he was here.  Nine months=gone.  Baby=here.  Pronto.  It think this one is going by so slow because I found out I was pregnant so early!  According to my due date, when I tested I was just over three weeks pregnant.  With my other two, I was between 4-6 weeks when I found out.  So, I definitely think I should at least be at the start of my second trimester.  Who's with me!?

2.  Thank the Lord, I have had another great pregnancy so far.  After my body adjusted to the Prometrium, I have had no trouble with nausea or dry-heaving, etc.  In fact, these past few weeks as we have been super busy getting the office ready for opening and this week with long days and Jonathan working really hard, I (shhh!) sometimes FORGET I'm pregnant.  I think it's the whole "keeping up with two other kids, one who is 18 months old, moving 90 miles an hour, into everything under the sun" thing.

3.  I have spells where I am really not very hungry.  And then all of a sudden, I am starved!  Must.Eat.Now.  In food news, it appears that I have finally gotten over my egg aversion.  Ever since I was pregnant with Nora (about 4 years ago now), eggs--mostly scrambled--have completely grossed me out.  I couldn't handle the smell, the cooking of them, and most definitely the cleaning up after them.  YUCK!  But, in the past few weeks, Nora has shown a major interest in eating scrambled eggs for breakfast.  I think that is a great thing to add to our breakfast repertoire, so I have been more than happy to whip some up for her.  Well, what do you know!?  Momma likes them too.  I've been putting cheese on them, eating some bacon, making myself some toast.  Just like Cracker Barrel.

4.  Food confessions:  I am addicted to Nora's fruit snacks.  When Nora goes #2 on the potty, she is rewarded with 1 little piece of a fruit snack pack.  She sometimes goes several times a day, so I don't want the kid eating a whole box of fruit snacks in a 24 hour period.  One little snack bite keeps her happy, so we're good.  EXCEPT, that lately I have not been able to exhibit self-control when it comes to the remainder of the pack.  They taste so stinking good.  I think I need to buy the cheap, funky kind so I can nip this habit in the butt.

Also, I was REALLY craving Poppy Seed Chicken the other day.  So, I fixed it for dinner and it was delicious!  Then, yesterday morning I got STARVING around 10:30 am, so I figured I could just go ahead and eat an early lunch, right?  Poppy Seed Chicken.  Yum.  Then, this morning when I woke up, guess what I was craving again?  Yes, I officially had poppy seed chicken for breakfast.  There's one serving left.  Hmmmm...I wonder when I will eat that!?  Pregnancy.  It does weird things, people.

5.  I'll only say this once.  I don't know if people realize it, but pregnancy belly #3 is not the same as pregnancy belly #2 or #1.  I seem to be showing earlier this time than last time, and several people have commented about it.  I don't know if they are trying to be nice or what, but I'm not even out of my first trimester.  Please don't tell me how big I am!  Love you, thanks!

6.  I really have no idea what the gender of the baby is.  I go back and forth, but I seriously don't have a leaning either way.  Jonathan and Nora are both leaning toward girl.  I think either one would be a fun addition, but so far, I don't have that motherly instinct swinging one way or another.

7.  I absolutely love being pregnant, and I get so excited at the thought that it's not too long before I'll be able to feel this precious life moving inside of me.  It is such a miracle!

For The Beauty of the Earth

I have been singing this song in my head for the past few days and thought I would share the lyrics.  They are beautiful and are a great meditation for this time of Thanksgiving.

For the beauty of the earth, 

For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For thy Church which evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

Heritage Family Dentistry: DURING AND AFTER

Here are the DURING and AFTER shots. We visited the office many days to watch it all come together and we tried to remember our camera each time we went. Once the sheetrock was up and the paint got on the walls, things really started to take on a whole new look. Jonathan and I had a fun time deciding on colors, but I must give credit to my hubby who made the final call. I think it turned out great!

Our first looks at paint on the walls.

A view of the new receptionist area looking out into the parking lot and front door.

Where the new operatories will eventually be.  The partitions show the four different operatory rooms.

Standing in the Waiting Room area looking at the front door entrance and soon to be receptionist's desk.

Standing at the receptionist desk looking to the back of the office.

The new sign is up!  It's getting to be official.

Bad picture, but there is Dr. Bradshaw!

NOW we have some floors!  Aren't they gorgeous!

The kids and I checking out the new equipment and cabinetry.

The new lab!  Much more storage!

Updated bathroom.

Receptionist area with countertops.

New dental cabinets in the process of being installed.  The one you are looking at will serve as a divider between the operatories.  They are so nice!

More dental cabinets and equipment.

Nora and Liam playing in the "play pen" or receptionist area.  They love going in there and shutting the door.

New sterilization area.  Although it looks different now after making some changes.

The following pictures were taken the Saturday before we opened.  Almost everything was installed and ready to go, but there were still lots more things to be done.  I tried to take some pics of the operatories.

Davin: Our amazing computer genius who set up all of the computers and server and other technological things that I don't know anything about.  Thank GOD for him and his hard work.

These last three pics I took from Jeannie, our receptionist. She snapped just a few pics yesterday of the final product. We still have lots of little details to add, like some more artwork and decor and things like that, but since I didn't manage to take any pics, these will do for now!

Here is Jonathan seeing his very first patient in his new practice!  What a great picture idea!

The waiting room area!  We still need to add some lamps, artwork, etc.

Front desk.


Jonathan's first day was absolutely crazy, but all together it went great.  He saw several new patients, put out lots of fires, and worked really hard.  We are thankful for the three ladies that work as our hygienist, dental assistant, and receptionist.  They have been true troopers over the past few months and I know they will have to continue to be as they all adjust to the new practice.  I pray that the Lord blesses this practice and uses it to help people and build relationships in the community.  We are so excited to see what the future holds.  Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

Heritage Family Dentistry: BEFORE

Okay, I know these are way over due, but I am just now getting to upload these pics onto my computer. We have tried to document the entire renovation project for Jonathan's new office, so I thought I'd begin with a post on the BEFORE and the first part of the reconstruction.

Here is what the outside sign looked like.  Isn't the smiley face hilarious!?

No, we did not keep that up there, and once I get a picture of the final new sign, I'll post it.

 

The Shop-Vac.  It's a really long story, but believe this is LONG GONE!

The other Dr.'s office.  This is now the break room/office for Jonathan.

 

An operatory.

The suction that ran along the floors and along the windows. We now have plumbing below the flooring.

Sterilization Area

Bathroom.

Waiting Area.

Front Desk/Receptionist Space

The day that Jonathan closed on the practice, we had the help of several strong, male friends to help us completely empty the practice.  We threw lots of stuff away, but everything we kept went into a pod in the parking lot to be used after the renovations.  The next day, the construction crew came in and completely demo-ed the place.  They took down old ceiling tiles, tore down old walls and sheetrock, removed old cabinetry, etc.

We went in afterward to survey the changes.  Here are Jonathan and his dad looking over the new plans.

The day after the initial demo, we went back in to see the framing for the new walls and where the concrete slab had been drilled for new plumbing. This was a big project and was SOOOO messy, but well worth it!

Andrew checking out the plans.  Mr. Construction Project Manager himself!

Okay, so that's the BEFORE post!  There are so many more pictures and details we have in this part, but I am just showing you the basics.  We were so blessed with a construction crew and contractor who worked very hard within our deadline.  God truly took care of us.