Kirk Cameron

Saturday I got to meet Kirk Cameron. I can't believe I can write this and it actually have truth to it. I am still on a high from the event so I have to blog about it....bare with me.

Kirk Cameron came to Marietta to speak on "How to Fireproof Your Marriage". My sweet husband bought me tickets for this event back in April. He even sprung for the VIP seats. I can't tell you how excited I was. This is the best gift Greg's ever given me, coming in 2nd only to getting engaged. (I say this because I consider Kirsten our gift from God)

Let's go back to the mid 80's... I was about 10 or 11 years old. I had no real interest in boys and hadn't reached the stage to where they were attractive to me. This was, until Growing Pains came on TV. To me, Kirk Cameron was not just a boy, he was The Boy. The one all other boys should try to be. His curly mullet and dreamy eyes were perfectly placed on his head and face. My mom probably bought me every Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and Bop magazine that came out with him on the cover. I sent in my $10 to his fan club with a letter claiming that I was his biggest fan. I of course didn't let them know that I was "madly in love" with him because I didn't want to come across as forward. Bop let me know that he wanted a girl that loved him for the person he was on the inside, not because he played Mike Seaver. In return for my $10, I got a thank you letter with Kirk's stamped signature, a centerfold sized poster with a complete background on him to tell me anything they thought I should ever want to know about him. You know, the important stuff like... his favorite color, his height and weight and his favorite food. His posters covered my walls and ceiling like wall paper and paint. I knew that one day I would marry him. I knew this because I would pray for this every night.

I was about 13 or so when the mad crush came to an end. Tiger Beat let me know that Kirk had fallen in love with his co-star, Chelsea Noble, and that they got married. What a way to break up a relationship... by reading it in a magazine. I was happy for him that he was happy, and this way I wouldn't have to tell him that he had been replaced on most of my walls with Jordan Knight and other New Kids on the Block.

I must have shared my Kirk Cameron era with Greg at some point...probably when we watched Fireproof. The movie touched us, as it did many, and taught us a lot about our relationship and our marriage. When Greg heard Kirk was coming to speak on how to Fireproof Your Marriage he was excited to go, and knew I would be too.

Last Friday night it hit me that I was going to get to see Kirk Cameron in person. God was going to give me a blessing, through my husband, to meet the man I thought was "the one" for me, and just rejoice in the fact that he wasn't. I was so extremely excited. When we got to the venue, I realized that Greg and I appeared to be one of the youngest couples there. When Kirk was announced, and came on stage, he received a standing ovation. From the second you saw him, you could tell he was serious and passionate about the message he was about to deliver. In person, he didn't look a day older than he did on Growing Pains. He still has the same sparkly eyes and adorable crooked smile. His skin is flawless and he's just precious. It wasn't his star status at all that gave off this attraction. Honestly, the men would say the exact same thing. It was this glow about him that immediately you knew this was a man whose heart is on fire for God. He did make light of the fact that he was a child star, and he "fed our Seaver fever", as he would say, for a minute. There were lots of camera flashes (and not all mine) in the beginning. It was amazing how in only a few seconds God transformed him from this teen heartthrob to a humble vessel.

Kirk impressed me by how deep in the Word he got with his message. You could tell he dwells in God's Word. He is so in love with God and his wife, Chelsea. It was so awesome how he took specific scenes in Fireproof and explained everything about them. He would go into detail about the message each character was trying to relay, through their words and body language. He would parallel this description with what the Bible says. I could go on and on about how great he was and how he brought things to our attention that we would have never thought of ourselves. I left wanting to be a new wife to Greg, and appreciating things about Greg I never thought to appreciate before. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man for a husband and partner.

After the conference, Kirk stayed around to sign autographs and copies of his book. As we were waiting in line, Greg and I were talking about what I should say to him when I got to the table. I thought about telling him that when I was eleven the color of my room was Kirk Cameron. Then I thought, no, that's dorky. I decided that I wanted to tell him how much admiration I had for him now, and I am so proud of how he's become such a man of God. How he inspired me to go study God's Word at a much deeper level, and I wanted to be a better wife and mother. Then it was my turn. We fumbled with the cameras for what seemed like 10 minutes...how embarrassing. Then Kirk looked at me with those soothing eyes and in the sincerest, softest voice he said, "Hi, how are you?" "What's your name?" I responded with, "You're really great." He smiled, signed my book, posed for a picture and that was about it. Life changing, huh? Whatever... since I couldn't figure out what my name was, I didn't tell him. So, at least he won't know who the star struck fanatic was that couldn't answer a few very simple questions. After all, he is totally going to remember that and me, right?

His book is good, by the way. It's not a Francine Rivers novel, but it is him trying to share his testimony and how he came to know the LORD. It's a way for others to come to know Christ if they don't already, and it's an explanation of how knowing Christ can not only save you, but will change your life.

Preschool

So my baby is going to preschool, and has just completed her first week. She goes 4 days a week to the 3 yr. old program at FBC Powder Springs. Her teachers are precious. The theme for her room is zebra and the class color is pink. LOVE IT!!! There's just not much of anything that is more fabulous in decor than black and white zebra stripes with pink accents.

All summer, I have been looking forward to a few hours a day to myself to run errands, work out, tan, have quiet time, do my Bible study, clean the house, unpack more boxes....my list goes on and on. This also gives Kirsten some time to miss me.

Last Friday, I took her for her "Sneak-a-Peek". On the way there my mind went from excitement to thinking about the fact that from this point on, my child will be in school. She'll be in school until she graduates college, and then she'll probably be on her own, or maybe even married. I started crying and almost couldn't pull myself together to go inside. It hit me all of a sudden that this is the first step I am taking in the letting go process.

Kirsten loved sneak-a-peek and the idea of preschool. She was so excited when Monday rolled around. Kirsten was the only kid in her class that wasn't crying when I dropped her off. She ran up to one little girl and was jumping up and down saying "it's preschool, it's preschool." She wasted no time being upset. Yesterday, the teachers told me they were very proud of her and she was doing great. I hope this continues.

I just read the book Lift by Kelly Corrigan. It's a very sweet book, written by a mother to her young daughters. She wrote stories of their early childhood and explanations for the choices she made. She knew they wouldn't remember those precious moments that are shared between a mother and her child in early childhood. It's such a sweet gesture.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my favorite man! Greg turns 32 today. I think I'll pay him tribute by listing 32 things I love about my man. These are in no particular order.

1. I love how he always knows how to put me in a good mood when I've had a bad day
2. I love how he leaves great first impressions
3. I love his smile
4. He's hilarious...he's got the best 1 liners
5. He's the smartest person in the world...really he is
6. He's awesome at putting people in their place, but doing it with truth and kindness
7. He sets such a great example
8. He loves his girls
9. He's a godly man...with strong faith
10. He looks fabulous in red
11. He helps me so much around the house and with Kirsten
12. Everyday he tells me he appreciates me and what I do for him and Kirsten
13. He never makes or expects me to do anything I don't want to do
14. He's motivating and inspiring
15. He'll watch teeny bopper shows with me
16. He likes my cooking
17. He works hard for our family
18. He puts up with a lot
19. He's patient
20. He smells great
21. He's so neat and clean
22. He's quite easy on the eyes
23. He's the type of man I want my daughter to date and marry
24. He's sincere
25. He's honest
26. He's a man with integrity
27. He doesn't gossip and he doesn't judge
28. He's a great leader
29. I love watching him play with Kirsten
30. He's not high maintenance
31. He's so much fun
32. He's my best friend

Happy Birthday, Greg! I hope it's great. LOVE YOU

Week In Review

This past week has been one of the busiest weeks the Caraways have had in a very long time. However, it was one of the most fun weeks we've had in a really long time as well. As many of you know, my birthday was last Wed., June 30th. And whether you want to or not, if you are a friend or even just an acquaintance of mine, you are expected to celebrate all week long. Especially if my birthday falls in the middle of the week, like it did this year.

My bff, Allison, from MS came in to celebrate with me the weekend prior to my b'day. We had a really good time. I consumed more carbs that weekend than I have all of 2010 combined. Allison made me the cutest birthday present. It's a wooden flower bouquet, and on the back of every flower was gift card. I had gift cards to Bath & Body Works, Subway, and Amazon. I love when someone gives me a gift, and they actually think about me and what I may like. It just makes me feel so special. It's never about the amount of what the gift costs. It's about knowing that you were really thinking of me when you got me something. Allison and my sister, Hayley, are the best present givers ever.

Friday, Allison, Kirsten and I had a girls' day at the mall. We goofed around like we were tweenagers. We shopped every store, ate in the food court, had mall yogurt, made build-a-bears...the whole tween experience.

Sat. night Allison and I went out while Greg babysat. Since I love and miss McAlister's so much, we drove 45 min. to the closest one. We spent the night singing hits from the early 90's. I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I can remember every word to every song Debbie Gibson ever recorded. Allison tried to culture me with some annoying, whiny, off pitch country songs. I hate how people are given recording contracts because they can put a booty call to music. I mean, really...but that's another blog.

Wednesday was my hollyday, so obviously Greg took off of work. Or he planned on it, anyway. He ended up going in about 3:00 that afternoon, then had to work till about 7:00. He felt bad about it so he made it up to me by going 45 min. out of the way to let me eat at McAlister's. Nothing cures the blues like some McAlister's tea.

Friday we finally got our date night. We've had many attempts at a date night since last Nov., but we've been unsuccessful. It was so pleasant to be able to just hang with my man and eat at the same time and have real conversation. We went to dinner at Ted's, then searched what seemed like most of GA for frozen custard. There's no Bop's here and I'm not happy about that. I would have driven to Flowood for Bop's but I didn't think the babysitter would go for that.

Saturday, my family came in and we all went to the Peachtree Road Race fitness expo to pick up our race numbers. The expo was so awesome. They were selling all kinds of running gear for really cheap.

Sunday was the big day. I was so nervous I had to go to the bathroom 4 times before the race started and I thought I was going to miss my heat. Fortunately, I caught up with them just in time to start the race. It was so fun. There were 55,000 runners and tons of spectators all over Peachtree and Piedmont Park. Moe's was shooting t'shirts into the crowd of runners. McDonald's had Smoothie stops. People were passing out coupons for free food. The weather could not have been any nicer. I started at 8:30 and Greg started at 9:00 and the hottest it got was 73 degrees.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first Peachtree Road Race experience. I hope we can start doing this every year. I read the mile markers wrong thinking they were telling me when the mile started instead of when they ended. Since I thought I was a mile behind in my time I slowed down. I got confused when some spectator screamed we were half way done at mile 4 and I got discouraged. Then about 2 min. later an experienced Peachtree participant straightened things out for me, so I started back up again. I probably wasted 2.5 - 3 minutes of my time. Moral to the story...some spectators are idiots so don't listen to them. My finish time was 1:25:09. Greg's was 1:10 even. We were satisfied and excited.

We were home by noon and spent the rest of the afternoon with my parents, Hayley and our GA bff's, Jason and Jennifer. Kirsten and Jacob played on the slip and slide and they had such a blast. This is what holidays are all about. Just quality time with family and friends.

As I mentioned earlier, Hayley is one of the best gift givers. She can spend $5 or $500 and buy the best gifts. She's gifted in that way, and I am blessed to have her in my life. I guess that's our love languages. The big reveal of what she gave me.....a Nook.

Flashback

Yesterday Kirsten and I did our weekly venture into Atlanta. We'll ride in with Greg and spend the day around town, and ride home with him at night. This allows us to not pay for parking and we get to have a good looking lunch date. We spent yesterday at Atlantic Station. We shopped and played, and shopped and played...then we went and read all the magazines we could get our hands on in the Publix magazine aisle.

Kirsten has been asking for watermelon the last few days, and it was right in the front entrance of Publix....seedless, cut up and ready to eat. Since nothing gets past her, she decided she should have some then and there. Greg was working later than we expected, so Kirsten and I decided to treat ourselves to some. I told Kirsten she needed to call her Papaw and ask him to get her a watermelon for the 4th of July. He knows more about picking them out than me, and the ones he gets seem so much bigger than those in the grocery stores. Kirsten loves me telling her about Papaw's big watermelons.

After our long day yesterday, Kirsten crashed on the way home. It was past her bedtime and she was sleeping so soundly in the car. I was in the kitchen when I watched Greg bring her inside. I had a flashback of my dad carrying us in when we all would fall asleep in the car. It's so funny how dads can carry their children with one arm while the other one is used to carry bags and other things. I have a hard time holding Kirsten and my keys at the same time with both arms. Dads have this gift of getting the kids out of the car, putting them in the bed, taking their shoes off and kissing them goodnight without the kids even noticing they've moved. Then it comes....the dreaded decision of whether you wake the sleeping child to bathe them because they are filthy, or do you wait till morning. Of course, this comes with the hope that they'll sleep all night and not realize they've been put to bed with their play clothes on instead of those cute pj's. This decision seems so crucial...it honestly determines the rest of your evening and perhaps whether or not the parents will get a good night's sleep.

I couldn't help but wonder how many times my parents had to make that decision, and how many times they regretted the decision they chose. With 3 kids did they ever get it right or did this sweet memory of mine cause them many not so sweet memories of sleepless nights? Daddies are pretty special. I am blessed to have 2 great daddies to celebrate for Father's Day...mine and my baby's.

Kirsten's B'day weekend

I wanted to share some pics from last weekend. For Kirsten's birthday, both sets of her grandparents came in to see her. She was so excited. We had a Dora the Explorer Adventure party and our friends and neighbors came by for the fiesta.

Greg and Jason hanging the pinata

The kids swinging at the pinata

The candy from the pinata

Some of our family and neighbors

The treat bags...they are supposed to look like Back Pack and Rescue Pack

Some of the food...we served Mexican...tacos, nachos, taquitos, rotel, etc....yummy

Kirsten rolling around with Jacob, her bff

Kirsten playing football with her tinkerbell costume on....perfect mix of Greg and me

Sunday we took Kirsten and her cousin Dylan to Jump 4 Joey. Everyone had a blast.

Sunday night, we set up Kirsten's slip n' slide. It was so funny, the other kids in the neighborhood ranging from 7-12 saw my 3 yr. old and her 18 month old cousin playing on the slip n' slide, and wanted in on the action

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Happy Birthday Kirsten

Today is my baby's 3rd birthday. I can't believe she's 3 years old. Greg has been off of work since last Thursday afternoon and Kirsten and I have really enjoyed having him around to just hang out and spend some quality family time together. Our families came in last weekend for her birthday party and it was a blast. I'll post some pictures of that in my next blog.

This blog is going to be devoted to my Kirsten. We've tried to make sure she got lots of fun "kid" time in while Greg's had off. Since last Saturday we've had a birthday party, gone to Jump 4 Joey, played on the slip-n-slide, gone to Chick-fil-A, played with bubbles, stayed up late, slept late, made her a princess bed, eaten lots of sugar, gone to White Water water park, eaten more sugar, played dress up, and watched lots of Disney and Nickelodeon. She is so awesome, and we've had the best time with her.

Since Kirsten's the big "3" today, I want to list my top 3 things I love about her:

1 - She is the perfect mix of her daddy & me...she has his sense of humor and problem solving skills and she has my creativity and outspoken ways

2- She's so observant... she always remembers the last place she left something, and she catches anything...she's always paying attention even when it seems like she's doing her own thing

3- She's so girly...I love it. She's not afraid to play and hang with the boys, but she'll do it wearing her princess crown and skirt

Happy Birthday Kirsten! I LOVE YOU!!!