Here are some of our special Christmas moments from 2008!

Pajama day at school with Mrs. Laura! She loved it, talked about it, and made us read the Polar Express over and over and over!

she stacked and played with the gifts all week

checking out the stash

MY DAD AT CHURCH! CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

New Christmas Eve PJs

Marley's cup runneth over

Oh look! the obnoxious instruments Marley received from Nana and Papaw!

Nana and Papaw

they are the stars of our citcom life

I love how she is looking at Uncle Kyle

If you ask her what Santa got her for Christmas she will say, " a sucker and a coloring book". She also told me today that Santa was tired and asleep at the mall.

On our way to see Santa (and no that is not a real baby...just Marley's Baby Louie)

It's Christmas Eve!

Today is the day that I freak out on every year. Brent always has to work bc that's just what pastors do I guess. He has to set up church for the Bereavement Service, and prepare for the Candlelight Service. I am left to watch Marley while trying to wrap last minute gifts, cook, and clean the house before the festivities begin tonight. We go to the Candlelight Service and from there we go to Brent's Nana's house. We will get home late as always and then wake up to go to three more houses on Christmas day!!! I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas Eve. It is 8:35am so let's see if I can get started and not freak out. Oh, and I have (or the baby) has screwed up my back. My walk is now officially a waddle. nice.

Here is another annoying pregnancy comment that my hubby keeps saying,

"Amanda, just drop that baby like it's hot."

He thinks that is so hilarious. Poor fella. If he pulls that one out in the delivery room he will have a hand print on his little head.

I like big butts....and bellies

Annoying things people say to you when your pregnant:

You haven't had that baby yet?

My birthday is on the ____ can you have it then?

I'll just sling you on my four wheeler and take you for a bumpy ride. That'll get it out.

You don't look THAT big.

When are you having this thing so I can make plans?

You're pregnant! Eat whatever you want. (that's their way of saying please stay bigger than me)

Not much longer! (When you're forty pounds over weight, every moment is an eternity)

Wow! She's about to Pop!

I received a phone call Wednesday around 8:30 am from my best friend Tessa. She was upset and delivered the horrible news that one of our childhood friends, Charity Worley, was found dead in her drive way around 6 am. Charity has a little boy that is 16 months old. She is married to Jake Worley who is serving in Iraq. Jake and I also went to school together. Charity used to come over to my house and we would get ready for dances together (we did this often:). We would exchange clothes and do each others makeup. Not too many clothes thought bc she was very tiny. I remember when I got my license Tessa, Charity, and I drove to Hendersonville to see Tom Cruise in the first Mission Impossible. It was my first time driving myself and my friends to a movie. I felt so grown up that night. Charity had a rough life, and I regret not spending more time with her since she moved back to Brevard. Her and Jake visited our church several times. I hope that the police find whoever did this to her (foul play is suspected). Please continue to pray for her husband Jake and son Jayden. 

Give the kid a marker and poster board.....you'll be friends for life.

Our Little Stinker

Housing Woes

So, as most of you know we will not be buying the house in Williamson Creek. Things just didn't work out. We are hoping that they are still interested in our house, but if not we are just going to go ahead and list it. The funny thing is that our friends The Snipes, The Burgess, and The Walinski's are all hunting for houses in the same price range. Since I have already lived in a house with built in book shelves (the guys are making fun of us for loving them) I will gladly give up those houses to Laura. I don't care about an open floor plan, so I will give all those houses to Brooke. I just want a house that has a place for a dishwasher:) Buying and selling houses can be a whirlwind of emotions. I just want to make sure that our friends know that they come first and I would pass up any house for them! My prayer is that all of us are faithful with our finances and that we would be joyful no matter where God asks us to lay our heads. I also think that Brooke, Laura, and myself should go on a house hunting date. Let's just map out this little town and find houses and buyers for all of us:)

Well, I got a very disappointing call from the doctor's office today. They said that the hospital is booked up because of Christmas, and that they will induce on the 29th of December. I'm a little annoyed bc the docs keep saying that I need to go a week early, but I just need to stop worrying about what happened before and trust that this is best.  Any way I am a little nervous so say a prayer for me and for Brent bc he has to put up with me:)

Hey Brad! Just wanted to see if you were reading:)

Christmas Parade

I have a little obsession since I have had Marley. It is my goal to make sure she has a crazy amount of life experiences, especially things my parents didn't do with me. With that said, they never really took me to Christmas Parades. Of course that meant that on Saturday Marley had to experience her first Brevard Christmas Parade. We bundled up in the flipping cold weather and waited hours to see this thing. As we watched we saw old cars, skateboarders, fire trucks, rednecks on their tractors, sweet wrinkled old veterans, the BHS band, and Santa poking his head out of a chimney. As we sat there I wondered why I would put my pregnant self through this torture, but after we came home I was reminded. Marley has had a gleam in her eye about seeing the trumpets, tubas, horses, santa, and the candy canes that were chucked at us:) She has talked all about it. I love her. She is worth every freezing minute. Her eyes and expressions are the reason I do all of this crap:)

So, I posted a little joke about selling our house to get out of debt, right?

Well, guess what? The past week has been a surprise and we had someone approach us about buying our house!  Weird! Even better, they are selling a brand spanking new house that is in our price range and has way more square footage! So, we should have a show called House Swap. I'm not hanging the drapes in the new house yet, because our house has to appraise for a certain amount before the deal is done. This move, if it happens, will be incredibly sad and happy. Sad, because East French Broad Street is home to us. We love this house, yard, neighborhood, and especially the memories. Summers are the best at this house. We walk to town, run around in the huge yard and catch lightening bugs with Marley, and swing on the front porch (these are the things lacking at the other house:). It would be a happy time because we would save money every month not having to pay city taxes, it has a big kitchen, and huge basement! We'll see what God brings our way this week. It may happen, it may not (the process of buying a house is always up in the air). All I know is that having a baby and moving at the same time will bring joyful chaos to the Metcalf household. So say a little prayer for us:)

Just a side note:

The Metcalf's need out of debt... so if you or anyone you know would like to buy our house in town for $200 thousand hit me up yo!;)

We had our last "doctor's" appointment with the midwife today! She said my belly is measuring at exactly 34 weeks. I've gained about 26 pounds, which sounds like a ton but compared to the 75-80 I gained with Marley it's fine with me:). On December 5th we start seeing the doctor once a week and they will tell me how I am progressing in birthin' this babe! Marley is all about the baby right now. She touched my belly button today and said, "I will help the doctor get it out! SEE!". She has her baby Louie in the baby's swing dressed in the baby's clothes. On top of that she keeps singing "rocka my bay bay!" to the top of her lungs. She'll change her tune when she has to share attention:)

Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to present my tacky white tree!  It is growing on me and the multicolored lights make me feel like I just jumped into Candy Land!

I haven't blogged in while, I've been enjoying some calm family time (as calm as things can be w/Marley)!

Our Sabatical was wonderful, but at the end of the third week we were ready to get back into the swing of things. Marley is still her little amazing self. To her, life is a song right now. Literally. She makes everything into a song, and will sing to the top of her lungs everywhere we go:).  Brent has been refreshed and is loving being back at church. I have been nesting like a momma bird and driving everyone crazy! We have all of our Christmas decorations out. You can drive by my house at night and see the multi-colored lights. There was an issue with our brand new Christmas tree we bought at the end of the season last year and had to return it. We couldn't afford the new trees so we were in a pickle. My grandmother died this year so we decided to go get her tree. Turns out it is WHITE! Not my taste, but it is free and it was my mamow's so it's all good. 

It is so great to be back and hanging out with our High School and Middle School friends. Brad gave an awesome talk the other day about Community and asked us to assess if we are a healthy community. He used Jesus and His relationship with the disciples are our examples. I asked my girls if they would go out to eat one on one with the person they liked the least in our youth group. Jesus ate with the disciples and had fellowship with them, even Judas.  He loved them despite their different personalities and quirks. So I challenged my girls to mend any relationships that have been broken. Guess What?  THEY DID! I've had a call from one of my girls who got the nerve up to confront someone and mend that relationship! God is amazing!

 What is a Sabbatical?

Brent has been a Student Pastor for nine years now at BCC. We absolutely love it there! However, the past year has run us down physically, mentally, and emotionally. Sometimes, it has been to the detriment of our family. Student Pastors work all the time.  I know in a normal job such as a Police Man you work all the time, but you at least get two consecutive days off here and there, and work clear hours (a start time and stop time).  With being a Student Pastor you can never predict when a teen is going to need counseling, when a funeral will happen, when volunteers want to share ideas, or when someone will need you for a last minute devotion:). All this added onto regular hours and life is a whirl wind.  We have two new families that are on staff with us at BCC that we truly love and adore as friends; Marty and Laura Burgess (college)  and Brad and Brooke Snipes (students). It would just kill us if we were the type of people that sacrificed our family on the alter of ministry, and these new families saw that as their ministry example. The Bible calls us to REST! Unfortunately, we have been terrible in this example. There should be at least one full day of turning off your Blackberry, Facebook, and whatever else links you to your job (even volunteer job:) and resting. Our bodies need rest, they crave rest, they were created to REST!  So, as you can guess Brent is on a sabbatical. He is not on a vacation.  Every day he has parked himself from 8am-4pm in the forest with a number of new books.  He starts his day off reading the Bible, praying, and journaling. The rest of the day he has been reading books about history, marriage, and culture. Then, after reading a full day he comes home to US! We have a actually had six homemade meals in a row!  We have played games every night with our little girl, read her books, and done our bedtime routine TOGETHER! It may sound so common for you to do this, but not for us. At least four nights on a ministry week will be spent either at church, sporting event (HS or MS), or a meeting- all lasting past 8 pm. We rarely have two nights in a row with nothing but just us. I write this hoping that our friends and family realize that our bodies and minds can only take so much. We can do all things through Christ, however, he does not NEED us to do everything for Him.  He wants us to be renewed. So, please renew yourself. Stop thinking you have to do everything for Him. He doesn't really need us, He just wants us to serve Him out of love and desire. We sometimes don't rest bc we think others won't accomplish the task or even do it as well as we do. Ha ha ha! That's just saying you have to be in control at all times and don't trust God to take care of it. Maybe it isn't important as you think it is:). Make sense?

OUR NATURE WALK

My little gal is completely gifted. First, she has the gift of entertaining people. We were at the doctor for hours and Marley pretty much enchanted every nurse and patient there. Of course she had to yell about having to "pooooop!" when it was super quiet. She finds it amusing bc she really doesn't have to, she knows it annoys me and others find it hilarious (ok so do i). Then she asks if the doctor is taking the baby out today? What the heck? Second, she is gifted in the area of tantrums...uncontrollable tantrums...in the most public places. I try to be fun and take her to the playground in the mall after our dr appointment. Wouldn't you know she has to take off her shoes to play there. For those of you who know my child, you know that Marley insists on shoes at all times...for everyone! After around 10 minutes of just sitting there screaming, "I don't want to! Hold me!" she saw another little girl take her shoes off. Marley bent down, took hers off, and shut down the water works in an instant. Sometimes, all you can do is just sit back and let her deal with it in her own time, never mind how loud or how much she is embarressing me:)

Cheesecake

The youth staff and some other leaders in the church went to the Catalyst Conference. There is so much that God has awakened in me, and bc of that I am still processing the information that I heard. So, when I can put it into words I will blog about it! Until then allow me to be completely superficial and express my love for something that has just been introduced to me..... THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY!  They have the most beautiful decor, longest menu, and HELLO! every flipping type of cheese cake your little heart could conjure up! If I could experience this type of dessert every day of my pregnancy it would make me forget how uncomfortable carrying a small human around is:)

at the end of the day we bought our very own grocery store apples and pumpkin:)

Sky Top Orchard

Like every good mom of a toddler I thought we would have a family day and go apple picking and pick out a pumpkin. Fun, right? Flat Rock has a beautiful place called Sky Top Orchard. We went this exact same time last year and it was peaceful with not a lot of people there. As we drove up the mountain we found ourselves in a long line of traffic going up and a steady flow of traffic was going down. When we arrived, it blew our minds! There were cars and people everywhere! Marley couldn't get to any of the play areas bc it was wall to wall kids. We were going to go apple picking, but the line to get a basket and then weigh the apples took about thirty minutes to wait in. So, we decided to go over and get a pumpkin. Wrong! The pumpkins were limited, and the lines for those were super long. Btw, it was super hot today. Marley was exhausted from the late night out at the football game, and she wasn't in her most pleasant behavior. We also had her dressed really cute for pictures with the pumpkins, but every time she sat down there were other children and adults all over her (not to mention their feet were in the pic). One final note on my disappointing family day....I have never seen so many little girls with gigantic hair bows in my life.  Marley wears hair bows, but not the kind that look like they are going to eat her head.  I was able to get some cute pics so I will post them late tonight.

It is 1am and I have no freaking idea why I am on here:)

We just got back from a very eventful day. Our ultrasound was scheduled right at lunch/nap time for Marley and then we had to drive two hours to the football game. The ultrasound went well. My lovely placenta is still low but off of my cervix (didn't you want to know that:). Our little family had an hour to kill before meeting up with Olivia, Allen, Kristen, and Brad at the airport so we went to Target of course! I needed pants, I loath maternity pants btw. They absolutely suck. You can try on one pair in a size and it won't fit, then try on another pair in the same size and they fall off! We met up w/everyone and we all took the church van down to Burns. It was so much fun! Marley is in love w/ Allen. Her new phrase thanks to Kristen is "Silly Gooses!".  My child just has to be the life of the party anywhere she goes. It worries me that she takes anyone by the hand. We are blessed to have teenage friends that love on her and treat her so kind. She adores them. Well, the Devils finally won a game and my chaplain husband  and Brad were able to pray after a win not a loss:).  So now I am off to bed at 1:13. 

I am laying here in bed with my husband who is trying to get me to share emotions after he has watched three hours of HEROS. He says he is being sweet. Oh now he is threatening to shut off the computer. I should get my three hours in now. No, now I'll just check his email for him. He really is precious.

Now, he says I'm just supposed to write about how I spent my day:

*had lunch with Brittany Barrie at Sunrise (forgot my checkbook)

*walked to the park w/Marley and played (she collected leaves on the way)

*took a nap

*went to church and Marley sat in "BIIIIIIG CHURCH". she was too cute... singing and raising her hands:) made me melt.

We had the sweetest night!  Brent and I decided to do a family grocery store run. It is a huge blessing to have help when you are pregnant with a very active toddler! We sat down and made a grocery list, only this time I drew large pictures for Marley of the items we needed (I know, I'm a nerd). She was so excited! Food Lion became the store of choice bc it is small and we can keep up with her easier than Ingles. She carried her little list in so proudly. I taught her how to look at her list and find the apples, etc. She would yell, "THERE DAY AWER!".  I can't even begin to tell you how sweet she was and not to mention the best behaved in the grocery store she has ever been!

Our Week:

 

1. Monday: Natalie, Macy, and Jamison came over to play

2. Tuesday: Marley moved into her "big girl bed" (twin:),

we spent the whole freaking day hunting for gas while we were on E, had frappucinos w/my high school friend Lillie.

3. Wednesday: Marley and I went on a gas free excursion around town. We walked to the Library, ate at the Square Root, and then ended up at OP Taylor (where she screamed, "I DO NOT LIKE THAT MOOSE!" very loud). Then we went to church where Brent and I had nursery. Brent had to clean some runny poop off of this three year old boy.  They bonded after that.

4. Thursday: We went to the JV game at home

5. Friday: Marley and I hung out w/my mom (Nana) at Pescado's. Brent went to the Varsity game at Shelby so Mar and I went to my mom and dad's for some fabulous southern cooking! We got home and Marley threw up all over the both of us! She kept crying, "I got my shoes dirty!!!"

6. Saturday: We all went to eat at Outback w/Kyle and gorged ourselves w/ fattening food:)

At 7:15am a Blue Grass group was on our front porch singing "Rocky Top" while playing banjos!!!! I'm not making this crap up. Turns out that our wonderful friends the Myers ( die hard UT fans ), hired them to play that horrid song. When we opened our front door the whole family; Kevin, Veresa, Brayden, and Kyndal jumped out of the bushes decked out in Tennessee gear with a video camera! Brent and Kevin normally play pranks on each other like the year we lined their long driveway in Florida Gator flags:). Brent wasn't expecting anything this year bc of the passing of our sweet friend Jessie. I got to tell ya, it was funny and lightened up our depressed moods (well maybe not Brent...he sunk lower:). They came on in and I fixed chocolate chip pancakes, yum. Fun morning for everyone except Brent whose pride was alittle hurt. The Florida Gators won the game though!!! That's what really matters:)

Dumb and Dumber

Well, my day started by taking my very snotty toddler to preschool. Ms Laura didn't have to call me to come pick her up so I consider that a plus. Then off I went to the student room with the wonderful intentions of painting. This is where I get gross...my big toe on my right foot was throbbing. Low and behold I looked down and it was purple with puss coming out:0. I said, "puss"! So, I got my big booty over to my doctor in Hendersonville. Get there and the nurse Melissa (that had been trying 4 ever to have a baby) is due on the exact same day I am, and goes to the same OBGYN! Maybe we will be pushing and screaming at the same time. Then in comes my doctor who looks like the old paintings of Jesus (and who plays Jesus at the Mudd Creek Baptist plays) had to dig out my lovely ingrown toenail!!! Super embaressing yet highly entertaining. Now you were waiting on the dumb part of this, well here it comes. I was famished so I went across the street to grab a wrap from a gourmet sandwich shop. The shop is in this little 1920's house (very quaint and elegant). After I place my order to go I run to the banyo. I laid my keys, wallet, and phone on this antique stand and proceed to peep as Marley says. After all is accomplished I reached down and grabbed all of my belongings. When I walked back up to the counter to get my order the woman was bagging my wrap. I looked down at my wallet and noticed that I had taken a big blue can of Lysol out of the bathroom and carried it out in front of all these nurses (I was near the hospital:) in their scrubs!!! While the cashier wasn't looking, although I'm sure the man behind me was, I hid the Lysol behind the menu stand to be found at a later time:). BTW, wraps appear to be a great choice of food to consume while driving, unless they contain large amounts of dressing that oozes out while you chomp into the tightly wrapped sandwich.

Saving Dolla Bills Ya'll

I confess that I am a spoiled American living above my means. Due to this problem Brent and I have decided that we need to start cutting back on certain luxuries before baby Metcalf #2 makes its debut! During my much needed nap yesterday Brent called Dish and got rid of many of our channels. Now I am proud of him for being wise with our money, but when I actually realized that I lost Project Runway I almost wet my pants (not uncommon for this pregnant gal:). Now the only "girly" show that I have on tivo is Top Model (booo tyra gets on my nerves).  I'm just irritated that I am having a hard time letting go of stupid tv channels. This should not bother me! My compassion kid in Kenya starving should bother me! On top of that I need to stop blogging at 12am. Thants all.

So, I finally decided to start a blog about our little, but ever growing family.

I should title this page the Preacher's Wife:)  

We'll see. For once we had a day where we did normal family things.

First, I picked Marley up from Preschool bc she was sick and screaming Laura's head off (Laura is a saint of a teacher). Then, we headed off to the grocery store. Marley was an angel in the grocery store, that's how I know she was sick, not to mention the fact that she looked like Snots the dog from Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Brent finally had a REAL day off (w/NO church activities or people calling).  Every meal we ate was straight from the Metcalf kitchen and not from Pescado's! I did go to church and salvage the rest of the white flowers from Jessie's memorial.  I wanted something in my house from that service.  We are still very emotional about loosing Jessie. I can't imagine what Marilynn will do in her spare time.  She spent a year and a half in and out of hospitals and hotels focusing all her attention on Jessie. We look at Marley now and hang on every little expression, word, and tear.  Jessie bought Marley a tshirt in New York. We found it while I was cleaning today. It still fits. She put it on and was saying Jessie bought this for me. I watch her video now just to hear her voice and laugh.

Sometimes I forget that I am pregnant. I am so stoked that I can actually go through a day without puking! I have only gained around 10-12 pounds which is great compared to the 75 I gained w/ Marley Ruth! I'm sure I will gain at least 20 more considering the fact that I just had more than half of a role of chocolate chip cookie dough:)  btw my health guru of a husband had the rest. He know s how to make my day!