Bryon and Casey

Bryon spending time with Casey Ray before his deployment. I have a picture of Bryon hanging on my mirror in my bathroom. I often give Casey a bath at night before his bedtime and he sees the picture hanging on the mirror. He quickly begins his nightly routine of saying goodnight to Bryon by saluting him. How cute is that. My sister taught Casey that whenever he sees Bryon is is supposed to salute him and sure enough, somehow it stuck! Now that is Bryon's official sign. I love both of those boys so much.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day to ya!

This is such a fun day, well as long as your wearing green its a fun day. I remember on St. Patrick's Day last year, Bryon said he refused to wear green and that I was not, under any circunstance, allowed to pinch him. Well, of course, that means nothing to me, so I proceed to pinch him as often as possible. Well, he got tired of it and decided to tape a green M&M (his favorite candy) to his shirt so that I would have to stop pinching him. What a goofball! You can see the picture below. Boy was he proud of himself for being so cunning. :)

Aside from that, today is my little sister Mary's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MARY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!! Mary, Nate and Ayden are living in Seminole, Florida with his parents now, while Nate is doing his culinary internship (not sure exactly what its called, but internship sounds good). They will be home soon though and will be moving to Boone (yes, most definately God's country up there, so georgous!)

In addition to all of that, today is the graduation fair at UNCC. What that means is that today, I pick up my cap and gown and hood for graduation. Wow!!! The end is really in site. Sometimes it seems like I've been in school forever. It's only been three years of graduate school but I guess that, plus 4 years undergraduate makes a whole lot of education. The goal, of course, is that I know what I'm doing so that I won't kill anyone. I had my board certification review course all weekend and am so intimidated! It's amazing how complex the human body is and how much there is to know. I will say that both UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Charlotte, together, have prepared me pretty well for being a Family Nurse Practitioner. The one thing I'm sad about is that Bryon won't be able to be at my graduation. Oh well, I'd give that up any day, to have him here when our baby is born.

I pray the luck of the Irish is with you today and the blessings of our Lord abound in your lives. I have two favorite Irish blessings to share with you.


"May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire."

and finally

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Kristen and Josh

If you can stand any more great news, my sweet absolutely brilliant and beautiful cousin Kristen and her fabulous husband Josh are having a baby! And not only that, but one month after ours! I'm so thrilled for both selfish and non-selfish reasons. Selfishly, I'm so glad our little one will have yet another playmate so close in age and that Kristen and I can go through this pregnancy journey together. Non-selfishly, they will really make wonderful parents for this child. Although I don't know Josh's parents that well, Kristen could not have had better parents growing up. My Uncle Tony and Aunt Laura were so loving and generous. I hope this little one takes after them and not Josh ;) KIDDING!

Sometimes it seems like nine months is so long to be pregnant and other times I feel like there is not enough time to learn everything I need to know. I've got all kinds of books about being a mom and then I realized I'm starting with the wrong books. So lately, I've been thinking about places in scripture where children are mentioned and several stand out in my mind. The first is Mark 10: 13-16

"And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them."

Clearly the Lord values children. He even goes as far as to say that we must all come as children to enter into Heaven. What does that mean? Well to answer that, I first think of what the character traits are of children which differentiate them from adults. Things like trusting, honest, innocent, willing, to name just a few. As adults we become so side tracked and we pollute our minds so much with junk from the world. An example of this is the book Oprah is encouraging people to read, "The New Earth". This has been on my mind a lot lately as I have challenged myself to read the book before giving my opinion. Please be cautious if you decide to read the book. I started reading it and was so blessed by the descriptions of the birds and flowers and finding peace in your life. Then I stumbled upon a section asking the question, is there absolute truth. The book goes on to say that when Christ said "I AM the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me" that He actually meant, I AM is the spirit inside of each of us. I tremble even typing this, for this is the OPPOSITE of the teachings of Christ. I AM speaks directly to the divinity of Christ, the sovereignty of God the Father and to slander His teachings in such a ways is very dangerous. This is an example of how we as adults attempt to win our way into Heaven. If we just find the spiritual side of ourselves, we will be ok. We can all create our own truth and everyone goes to heaven. That is the path to destruction. If only, we could look upon the Lord from the eyes of a child and see the beauty, love, purity and faithfulness that embodies Christ. How could we help but to fall down and worship Him.

Sorry for the tangent, I just feel so deeply that as I attempt to bring a child into this world, I want to see myself and this child the way God sees us. He has blessed us with this gift and I want to, in turn, be obedient to Him and show Him, through my life and my heart's cry for Him that He is sovereign in my life.

In addition to the verses above, here are so many other verses, especially in Proverbs that instruct children to obey their parents and verses directed to parents like the one which says "Instruct a child in the way he should go, and when he is grown he will not depart from it." paraphrased. Children are such a special gift from God. A scary and yet exciting gift.

Kristen and Josh, Congrats again! This is the beginning of a long journey with many ups and downs, lots of ditches to fall in and stones to trip over, there may be rain or snow storms blinding the path and sometimes it may seem like it will never end, but guess what there is a beautiful rainbow at the end of the journey and a beautiful child will grow up feeling loved, challenged and cherished. There is nothing anyone could wish for more than that. I love you guys so much.

Ultrasound Pictures

How adorable our little baby is! I had my first prenatal visit on Friday, February 29th and was able to see and hear our little one's heart beating. According to my OBGYN, everything is going well and the baby is growing as planned. I am eight weeks along and my due date is October 3rd, 2008. We are planning a scheduled induction so that Bryon will be able to come home and be there for the delivery without the risk of me going into labor early. The little baby's heart beat was a strong 170 beats per minute. And you will all be glad to know, there is only ONE baby in there! With the history of twins in Bryon's family, we didnt know what to expect!

My next appointment is March 31st. Hope you all enjoy the ultrasound pictures. You can see the baby's little features if you look closely on the blown up version. The head is facing down, you can see the little nose and eye if you look closely. The feet are facing upwards and the spine curved along the lining of the uterus. Please keep our little baby in your prayers.

Trip into the countryside

Bryon was able to take a trip a few weeks ago out into the countryside of Mali as part of a support mission. I dont even know all that he was involved in but that he was gone for several days and worked in support of the crisis in Chad.

During his travels, he took a few pictures of the country side that I wanted to share with you all. As many of you know Mali, alongwith a great deal of Africa, is one of the poorest nations in the world. The Land does not support much sustainable agriculture, the people are hungry and homelessness and disease plagues every nation from South Africa to Egypt, Malawi to Mali. Technology is far behind, the political arena corrupt and religion is a free for all with different tribal groups believing in one version of a certain faith combined with local tribal tales and a little witchcraft here and there.

Upon finding out that Bryon is deployed to Mali, many people have said, "Aren't you glad he isnt in Iraq". My initial answer is "Yes, I'm very glad". Well, I still feel that Mali is a safter place in general than in the middle of a war zone, however, this past month that he has been gone, I have come to know a lot of things. One of those topics that I think of often is the related to the question.. "What is worse, Syphilis crazy or Religious crazy?"

What does that mean you ask? The people in Iraq act out of passion for their Muslim faith, they kill people in the name of Allah and believe they will be rewarded for their faithfulness. In Africa, devotion to one's Muslim faith is there, however, it is a different type of Muslim faith than the faith Iraqi's give their life for. In Africa, when people bomb embassy's, attempt to assassinate dignitaries, raid already impoverished refugee camps, it isnt because of total religious fanaticism but I would say a combination of that plus a syphilis type insanity that is bred from prostitution, STD's and AIDS running rampant and an ugly mix of a lack of respect for the value of human life and extreme poverty. Which then, is worse? Religious crazy or syphilis crazy?

The Bible says to feed the hungry before trying to share your faith with them (paraphrased). Why does it say that? Because you have to meet the basic needs of a person, food, water, clothing, shelter, and safety before they are open to anything theoretical and non-tangeable like faith. In Africa, there are so many orphans from parents who have died of AIDS and are left without any family members. From my time working in Malawi and Kenya, I know that there is a religious battle going on for these orphans. Whichever orphanage gets the child, is the faith the child grows to embrace. If a Christian orphanage claims the child, they will become Christian and if a Muslim orphanage claimis the child, they will become Muslim. What a concept! The group who provides the basic needs in life to the child is the direction the child will then follow. Sounds familiar, eh.

I'm so proud of my husband. The work he is doing is making such an incredible difference on the people in Mali as well as other nations in Western Africa. I wish I could write more and I wish I could know more but that is the plight of a military wife, especially an intelligence analyst's wife. No complians though, I have had a great deal of time with the Lord realizing, my faith and strength must lie in him, not my husband. I was reading my Bible the other day about the story of the prodigal son. It is my opinion that Africa is the prodigal son of the world. The son wandered far away and fell into a life unpleasing to the father, however, the son was not lost. There is salvation to all who seek it and open arms of the Lord awaiting the children of Africa. I pray God's blessings on the people of Mali, especially the orphans and widows and all of our troops who give their lives to help give them a safe place to call home, free from terrorism and hate. I thank God for you men and women and for the sacrifaces you make, trying to keep our nation safe.

Enjoy the pictures!

LETS GO TAR HEELS

No. 3 UNC Rallies to Defeat Clemson in Double Overtime, 103-93

NEED I SAY MORE?????

Well dad, enjoy wearing a beautiful Carolina blue shirt on Christmas Day. Ain't life grand :)

LETS GO TAR HEELS!

Brandon

Ok, this is the cutest picture of little Brandon telling his mommy Diane to get well soon.

AWWWWWWWWWW. I really love this! I bet daddy had something to do with this cuteness!

Brandon in his santa hat at Christmas and Brandon posing with his mommy. We cant wait to meet you little man. Your so handsome! Your aunt Haley, uncle Bryon and everyone reading this love you and send you big kisses!! muah!

Daddy to be

What a beautiful picture of Bryon with my little nephew Ayden only a couple of days after he was born. My sister just sent this to me. What a great daddy he will be!

Now all we need is to meet our other little nephew Brandon (Bryon's sister's little angel) so we can get some pictures of him up here!

We've been thinking about names for our little one. My dad has guessed the sex of all 3 of his grandchildren so far. No one else has guessed correctly every time. So what do ya'll think? A boy or a girl?

New Nephews Collin and Ayden!

Welcome to the world little Ayden Hoke Lyash and Collin Christopher Green!

Great news, my sister Elizabeth had her baby Collin on February 1st, 2008. He weighed 7ibs and 11oz. Healthy and happy and perfect. Elizabeth did so great. She had Collin without any pain medicines all naturally and never complained once! She and Chris are super parents. The other child in the picture is Collin's big brother Casey Ray.

I'm also excited to announce my other new nephew Ayden who was born on January 2nd, 2008. He weighed 6ibs 4oz and is doing great. Despite Ayden being breech, Mary has really been solid and made so many hard decisions all of which have resulted in a healthy beautiful baby boy. I'm so proud of you sister!

Enjoy the pictures!

HAVING A BABY!!!

Boy do I have big news! It seems like one big event after the other. Just the other day, I was writing about our marriage and Bryon's deployment. Now, only 1 month later am writing about other news.

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

Yes, Bryon and I are having a baby! It seems that I am around 4-5 weeks along! My 8 week visit to the OBGYN is February 29th. We are so excited about this unexpected blessing. So many of life's memorable moments are happening now and we are both very grateful.

Please keep the baby in your prayers. It looks like I will be due late September, early October which is before Bryon returns. As you can imagine, this is very hard for us, despite the joy we are feeling, it will be hard going to doctors visits, seeing my tummy grow and experiencing the craziness of pregnancy without him. However, we believe this is God's beautiful and perfect will for us and that He will give us the strength to not only survive but enjoy every moment of the blessed time.

Also, if everyone reading this will please email their mailing address to me at haleymushrush@hotmail.com. I will be sending out our wedding announcements soon and soon thereafter shower invitations and invitations to our reception and want to make sure I dont miss anyone. If you know someone who does not have an email, please send their address as well. I will send out a group email for those who do not get this message later on.

Thank you all for your calls, letters and prayers these past few weeks that Bryon has been gone. As these 9 months progress, Bryon and I both will continue to appreciate your support.

Oh, and in case you cant make out the picture, it is of my pregnancy test, saying "PREGNANT".