Shhhh....

....don't tell Jermile I have put this on the blog! I think he might get a little upset! Quick funny story though...yesterday at NewSpring, Perry was giving promises to the church and one included that NewSpring will never play it safe. His message came from Matthew 16 where we see Jesus entering Caesarea Philippi, a very unreligious, unsafe place to go. Jesus was willing to go to unsafe places, as we should be. He did not die so that we could be comfortable and relax in our time here on this earth. He demonstrated this by sitting in a recliner on stage all wrapped up in a Snuggie! He then poked fun at any man who owned one, saying they should probably be shot! (Jokingly of course!). Please, men out there, do not get offended if you own a Snuggie, because the best men in my life own one! Below, my mom has evidence! This was a Christmas gift from my mom to my sweet husband, dad and brother (not pictured!). Enjoy…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A little late, but Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas and got wonderful goodies for sweet Caleb as well as for ourselves. Although he doesn't have a crib or anything else for that matter (I know we are a little behind!), he does have a pack-n-play (thank you mom and Sam), so has somewhere to sleep for a little while! We had such a great time with family and getting to see friends over the Holidays. We celebrated with Jermile's family the weekend before Christmas and headed to Birmingham to hang out with my family on the 23rd and headed back here on the 26th. So we had a great time at home. It was so good to have a few days with my family. I so enjoyed it and had a difficult time getting in the car to leave! I am getting bigger and bigger everyday and yes, I have included a picture of my growing belly (only because so many people have asked for it!) What is it with the fascination of a pregnant belly? I feel like no one looks at me in the eyes anymore, but goes straight to the belly! We went to Miyabi's (yummo!!) for New Year's with Jonathan, Bailey, sweet sweet Emrick, Alyss and Keith. It was such a great time to hang out with friends before life becomes very different! Love to you all!

Some Firsts

Some firsts we have had recently...

Our first Thanksgiving since being married was spent in California. Clemson played in a basketball tournament in Anaheim, so we got to spend our last "getaway" in beautiful California. We missed being with family on Thanksgiving, but enjoyed getting out of Clemson for a bit.

Our first Thankgiving dinner was spent here...

...where we ate here...

Nowhere was opened on Thanksgiving anywhere near Disneyland! We thought for sure with the area being so full of tourists we would be able to find somewhere open, but this is all we could find! So, we enjoyed hamburgers for our Thanksgiving dinner.

Our first Christmas tree..

Caleb's first ornament (thanks mom!)...

Another little ornament awaiting our baby boy...

(Just to make sure you can read what it says.."Born to be an AUBURN tiger!")

A Great Weekend

Last weekend, for the Clemson/FSU game, Kendal, Meredith and their sweet kids Maile and Brayden came to stay with us and we had such a great time with them. It was so good to see them and even better to watch Kendal see himself lighting up the dance floor at the wedding. We played the video for them and it was awesome to show his kids his moves on the dance floor. We had a great day enjoying friends and family and watching a great football game. I had a doctors appointment on Friday and everyday looks good. I am measuring a little behind, but getting fatter by the day, so my weight is just fine! Jermile is starting up with his season, so busy as ever. We head to Anaheim the week of Thanksgiving and will be there for a full week. I am excited to travel with him and spend our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, even though we will be in Anaheim away from family :(

My Very First Posting!!

I have been promising Haley for months that I would actually put a post on the blog, so here we go. I ask that you bear with me, I am new at this blogging thing. So, where do I start. I want to start out by saying how wonderful my wife is. She is a true warrior that I admire so much. As you all know she was very sick for some time and I do not know how she had the strength to get through that. On top of all the sickness she has been taking classes full time, working, and dealing with the realities of being pregnant. I just do not know how she does it every day. Anyways, my Haley is wonderful and I love being married to her. Also, as you all know we are expecting little Caleb in March. How exciting is that!! Haley is now in that phase to where she thinks everyone will say she is fat instead of pregnant. I think that she looks absolutely beautiful as a pregnant woman. It was so amazing to see the 3-D ultrasound. If you have not ever seen one, it's a must. It will blow your mind, and it reminds you how great our God is. I am excited and scared at the same time when I think about being a father. My prayer is that the Lord will prepare our hearts and mind for the future. That we will provide a Godly home for Caleb that demonstrates our faith on a daily basis. OK, I think I am done for now. Hopefully this was not too painful for you to read. I promise to do better next time. Love you guys!!

It's a...

Sweet little boy! I still can't believe it! I thought for sure we were having a girl, but this little one for sure has boy parts! This was such an emotional day and time (well, at least for me!). To be able to see this sweet (well, HE hasn't been so sweet, but I am sure he will be) little boy all curled up and to be able to see his features, feet, nose, ear, hands and boy part :) was amazing. Everything looks good which I am so thankful for. We are not promised anything in this life other than the grace and love of our Savior so to have everything to be going normally is such a relief and blessing. We have so many awesome pictures, but here are just a few!

His daddy's child with his hand in his mouth!

Looking straight at us!

Precious little feet

How in the world can this be comfortable?

Caleb Tucker Brooks

Upate..

I know it has been forever and that seems to be the theme of how I start these blogs. I admittingly just suck at blogging, but I promise I try! Jermile kept saying he was going to update it on his trip to Daytona with the youth group at church so I really can say I was waiting on him to do that! Well, so much to say and so many things have been learned over the past few months. God has truly shown me the love of a wonderful Godly man. I have been sick really since we have been married, in and out of the hospital, not able to eat, blah, blah, blah and Jermile has been so patient and taken such good care of me. He spent about 5 nights layed out on a hard "chair" in the hospital, has been patient with me being worthless and has just loved me unconditionally. God has also taught me that He does not have to explain Himself to us! I have prayed for healing for so long and have really been to the point of begging and crying out to Him that He would just take the pain away. Well, His plans have been different and He has taught me that healing at times is not what He wants. He wants us to glorify Him through pain and circumstances that may seem overwhelming to us. It took me a little bit to even come close to grasping why He chooses pain to show His glory. Paul begged for the thorn to be taken out of his side and God had different intentions. "Each time He said, 'My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me." 2 Cor. 12:9 I have read this verse over and over and it has never meant to me what it does now. Our pastor is going through a sermon series called "Five Lies of the Devil" and the first lie we focused on was "God will never give us more than we can handle." How many times have we said this to each other as encouraging words. Well, it is a lie! God often gives us more than we can handle to stop us from boasting and throw us into Himself. He wants us to get to the point of saying, "Lord, I can't handle this. This situation is bigger than me." We don't have to figure things out, we just have to look to Him.

Ok, well that was my sermon! And now on to other news! We are PREGNANT! What??? Yes, we are 14 weeks, due March 10. This has been a little overwhelming, but I am so thankful. I have finally been able to start eating, which is great. I have been so worried that this precious little one is starving! But, apparently, it will get whatever it needs! My body no longer cares about me! There is something greater to take care of! We went to Auburn last weekend and it was so great to see family and friends. This is the only picture we took all weekend. I forgot my camera! My sweet mom made sure she cooked things I could eat and honestly, it was my turn around weekend! Something in the air at Auburn! Sorry so long, but thats what happens when you don't update a blog in forever!