Favorite Pictures

My favorite recent pictures (that I actually took myself!) - #1 - blow up of 1/2 of Kiley's face


#2 - Say Cheese!


#3 - She just loves to pose!


#4 - I realize no one's looking at the camera, but this is one of my top favorites - Kiley and Grandma Shirley


#5 - See what I mean?


#6 - This one is occasionally on my desktop at work.


#7 - Playing dollies with Uncle Josh


#8 - This is WAY blurry, but I can't get over the sweet look on her face.


#9 - Lauren is even more beautiful in black/white pictures than color!


#10 - Christmas Eve sunlight


#11 - Christmas Eve sunlight #2 - I swear I'm going to take off the date tag!


#12 - I love that these next few are so in focus! I'm really proud of these.


#13 - Lucy on a lazy day


#14


#15 - What'd I do, Mommy?


#16 - Curious kitty


#17 - My all-time favorite Kiley picture!


#18 - Thanksgiving Shenanigans


#19 - Messin' up the bed!


#20 - OLD picture of Lauren in my Mom' & Dad's pool - this wasn't even my digital camera - this was either my 35mm (which has now gone where cameras go to die) or one of those disposable Kodaks.


#21 - One of our first 100 pictures of Lucy - She was such a little squirt!


#22 - For an amateur, I think the lighting turned out nice on this one - Macy looks so innocent!

The Luckiest Hostage

As most of you know already, Jill Carroll has apparently been released as a hostage. I teared up quite a lot at work when I read this and I don't even know her. I am sure she realizes JUST how lucky she is, since so many hostages were killed over the last 3 years.

This is my "amazing story" of the week.


note: the link to this article is here and in my post title: http://www.wyff4.com/news/8355723/detail.html

Freed Hostage Jill Carroll Says Captors Treated Her Well
POSTED: 6:27 am EST March 30, 2006
UPDATED: 8:56 am EST March 30, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Freelance reporter Jill Carroll has been freed from captivity in Iraq and is said to be in good condition after three months as a hostage.

That word came Thursday from the Christian Science Monitor and from the leader of the Islamic Party in Iraq.

Carroll, 28, was reporting for the Boston-based newspaper when she was kidnapped in Baghdad on Jan. 7 by gunmen who killed her translator.

A police official in Baghdad said Carroll was handed over to the Islamic Party office in Amiriya by an unknown group. The official says she was later turned over to the Americans and is believed to be in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

In an interview on Baghdad television, the Christian Science Monitor reporter said she was treated well but still doesn't know why she was kidnapped. The group holding her threatened twice on videotape to kill her, but Carroll stressed repeatedly that she had been treated very well and her captors never hit her or even threatened to.

She said she’s happy to be free and just wants to be with her family. She said she didn’t know where she had been held, saying she was in a confined space. She said she was only allowed to move between her room and a bathroom to shower and use the facilities. She said she even once got to see a newspaper and another time got to watch a bit of TV.

Carroll's father, Jim, said in a statement Thursday morning that the family is "thrilled and relieved" over his daughter's safe return. He said the family wants to thank all of the people who prayed for her release.

The release came one day after the journalist's twin sister pleaded for her release on Arab television. Katie Carroll said her sister is a "wonderful person" who is an "innocent woman."
At the time of her abduction, she and her translator were heading to an interview with Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq by Feb. 26 and said Carroll would be killed if that didn't happen. The date came and went with no word about her welfare.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking from Germany, said Carroll's release is a "great delight and great relief" for the United States.

New Pid Pics

Macy's new collar - we finally found him a bowtie to go with his tuxedo!

Lucy got a new collar too - pink with bling-bling on it. Note the new playtoy in Josh's hands! They STILL won't leave that thing alone!

Do we? Do we not?

Do we want kids yet? Wow - what a question to ask myself.

I absolutely want children. One of each - not entirely uncommon, I realize. Girl first, boy second. I am unique in the family, poised to potentially carry twins OR triplets. Apparently, that trait skips generations here and both fell right on me. My only maternal female cousin could have twins as well.

With my dear hubby's help, I already have a full girl's name picked out. That name will be revealed when I find out in the distant future that I am pregnant with a girl. As I am not pregnant, and subsequently not having a girl, I won't post the name. I think it's too precious to just give out for anyone to use. I've never heard the combination of names before. Even the middle name Josh contributed has a special meaning to me, though he didn't know it when he suggested it.

I also want to use my maiden name (Meredith) as a middle or first name if we have another girl. Since my bro is having all girls, I want our proud surname to go somewhere. I have always loved my maiden name, and it was hard for me to switch to my married name, though that is no fault of Josh's. I'm glad to be married, and glad to have his name, but having been named Meredith for 28 years, you can appreciate a slight trauma in being suddenly named something different.

So yeah - back to do we or don't we. MY 90% solid answer is not yet. We're just not financially ready. I'll be glad to see the back of the next person who tells me "you'll never be ready financially to have kids." Yeah, well, I want my kids to be in diapers, so a minimum of financial happiness/contentment is necessary.

Funny though - my mom says "are you pregnant yet?" every other time we talk on the phone. She's already such a great Mom-Mom (grandma) to Lauren and Kiley, so I know she will shine as a Mom-Mom to our children. That's where the 10% comes into play. None of us have found the fountain of youth yet, so I don't want to wait too long. I'd hate to be 60 and sending my 15 year old off to camp. It might be good for some people, but that's not what I want. I want to be covered in grandchildren on the front porch at that age, not my children! :)

Oh - my brother and sister-in-law are going to have another girl! I'll post the ultrasound pics when I send them home from work... probably on the family website too. So those of you who read that, you can check out our latest Meredith/Brown/Burgess/Patterson (you're lucky we only have four surnames!) endeavors.

I just finished Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince last night (ticked me off, too, by the way - those of you who have read it can sympathize with me - whaaa!!). I'll have a rant on that at a later date. Now I'm reading a book lent to me by a co-worker (thanks!) called "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. I've only just started it today (I needed something to take my mind off HP!), so I'm only on page 60 or so. It's an easy read so far, obviously.

Short and sweet tonight, but I'm lucky I could even write at all. I've been so busy, as I am once again by myself at work and have no time for anything extra there. So, anything for the next few posts will be nights at home between my heavy reading habit. Later on!