deAtH is nOt dYinG

i was introduced to this video through my friend kristin's blog. the other night, clay and i took some time to watch it and all i can say is wow!

i would ask you to take an hour of your time to be challenged by this amazing woman.

rachel is a woman in her 30's, with a husband and two children, and she is dying of cancer. her talk to a group of women at a church event is incredible and oh so challenging.

it has been on my mind for the past couple days and i have been challenged by two different things. the first is that i want to know God deeper. i have been praying that the Lord would make me more passionate for him and deepen my knowledge of who he is.

the other area i have been challenged with is to serve joyfully. not just serve...but serve with a joyful heart. this is more difficult than i would like to admit, but i am praying every day...multiple times a day for this.

so take some time out of your busy schedule to watch death is not dying: a faith that saves.

but be prepared to cry.

i'd love to hear what you think about it and how it is challenging you.

ridLeY mAx

i have a new nephew.

my brother blake and his wife melissa, had their 2nd precious baby boy last night. two and a half weeks early. on my mom's birthday.

he is so stinkin' cute.















don't you think?

are you ready to fall in love with my nephews?

watch this video of emery meeting ridley max for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFsnCWMxj4I

did it work? are you in love?

i know. me too.

meet lucy.













cute, huh?

she joined the fulghum family on saturday and is getting adjusted to life in the city.

this is a story about our first day with lucy.

in order for you to fully appreciate it, you probably need a little background info.

on me.

growing up i had a couple different dogs, but i've never really been a dog person. actually i've never really been an animal person at all. it's not that i didn't like animals. it's just that i didn't like animals to touch me. this viewpoint got me harassed. a lot.

apparently people assume...you don't like animals...you're a horrible person.

well recently, not only have i started allowing dogs to touch me, i've started to like them too. i know. crazy. i learned they really aren't so bad.

so, this leads to the fulghum's getting a dog.

enough of this boring stuff. on to the goodness.

anyways, we pick lucy up on saturday from her breeder, in a small town outside of st. louis. four hours from kansas city.

now, clay and i are both oldest children so obviously there is a lot of planning and organization that goes on in our house.

in preparation for getting a puppy, we read this (thank you assuntos):



















those monks really know what they're talking about. it's good. it's been our puppy bible.

unfortunately we did not follow one very important suggestion the monks made.

"cover your lap and the seating area next to you with a towel or old bedsheet in case the puppy gets carsick."

when we were packing lucy up, the breeder said...and i quote..."doodle's tend to get carsick, so make sure you cover your lap with a towel."

we say our goodbyes, get lucy settled in my lap (without a towel) and hit the road.

clay and i discuss whether or not we should find a wal-mart and stop and get a towel. against our better judgement, we decide we'll be fine. i'm sure she won't get sick.

we stop for gas, oh 10 minutes out of town and lucy jumps from my lap into clay's seat. she is jumping on the door and looking out the window. we get back on the road and she is attempting to jump up onto the dashboard. we keep laughing.



















oh, look how cute lucy is...she wants to see out the window.

she finally settles down in my lap. the next thing i know i feel a warm sensation on my right leg.

lucy urinated. all over me.

and we still have 3 hours and 45 minutes to go.

no worries. just a little pee. nothing i can't handle.

she settles back into my lap.

awww...5 minutes have gone by. this isn't so bad. i can be a dog owner.

lucy goes in for a yawn.

and throws up all over my left leg, the middle console and the seatbelt.

not to be graphic or anything, but there were chunks.

i may have freaked out a little bit. yelled at clay to pull over. insisted that i have no idea how to be a dog owner and refused to be a passenger any longer.

now that my right side is covered in urine and my left side is covered in up chuck. and we have 3 hours and 40 minutes left in our journey.

i will drive. clay can handle lucy.

after she threw up one more time on the floorboard, we stopped at a wal-mart and bought some towels, carpet cleaner and a snack.

and lucy spent the rest of the trip here:















of course, once we had the towels, there were no more accidents. isn't that how it always works.

we finally made it home and the first two nights were rough, but now she is sleeping beautifully and loves it here at the fulghum house...as far as we can tell.

hiAtUs

well folks, i do apologize once again that i have disappeared from the blogging world for quite sometime. i know you have all been on the edge of your seats wondering what in the world the fulghum's have been up to.

well you're in luck. this is the post for you. here's a short list of what's been going on around here.

1. we celebrated our 1st anniversary with a trip to st. louis.















we stayed in a fancy hotel in the central west end, ate tons of delicious food, toured washington university (that's where clay went to undergrad and i had never been), ate lunch at the loop, got harassed on the metro by a bunch of cardinals fans, watched the royals beat the cardinals, ate the best crepe i've ever put in my mouth, saw the arch and so much more!

i can't believe a whole year has passed. it has been filled with so many amazing blessings that i never could have expected and i can't wait to experience so many more with my favorite person in the world.

2. i finished my first year of teaching in kc!















the end of the year was absolutely crazy. the 4th grade had an ice cream sundae shop and raised $700 for children's mercy hospital (we were on the news and in the newspaper), field day was canceled and then rescheduled and i said goodbye to all my little darlings.

it was so busy, but let me tell you...it sure is nice to be done for a few months!

3. and last but definitely not least...we got a puppy!




















how cute is she? her name is lucy and she's 10 weeks old. she is a goldendoodle, which is a golden retreiver and standard poodle. we just picked her up from the breeder yesterday and she is adjusting pretty well.

stay tuned for a great story about our introduction into dog ownership. that's right...it gets its very own post.

well folks, that's my life in a few sentences.

i promise to be around more, post more and comment on your blogs more now that school is out.

i hEaRt spRinG

yes ma'am. those are growing in my backyard.

love it.

tHRee foLd

our weekend was busy, busy, busy. but oh so fun. we got a lot of stuff done and even found time for a few fun things along the way.

part 1

clay was sworn into the kansas bar. we drove to topeka for the ceremony and then stopped in lawrence for a delicious lunch.

part 2

apparently purchasing a home means you have weekend plans for the rest of your life.

clay spent saturday doing this

and putting these together


now our backyard is super cute. here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure.


while clay was making our yard look fabulous, i was busy doing this


making our hallway look fabulous. i had the brilliant idea (thank you domino magazine) to paint stripes in our hallway. i had no stinkin' idea it would take NINE hours! that's right. about six of those nine hours were spent taping it off. clay had to go back to sherwin williams twice to get more tape. yikes! but once the tape came off...it was worth it. i still haven't hung anything yet, but here's a before and after picture.

part 3

sunday we got to hang out with clay's family and celebrate his brother's birthday. jordan just moved back to kc from miami and it is great to have him back! we ate some delicious indian food and played a crazy card game called munchkin.

it was a great weekend. and to make it even better...spring has arrived! flowers are blooming, trees are green and the weather is fabulous (most days). it is so fun to see all of our landscaping blooming and to discover something new all the time. check out these cutie flowers that are blooming on a tree in our front yard.

happy spring everyone!

ouR hoUsE

so in case you missed it, we bought a house. we are moved in, unpacked and are getting settled. because i am worried my mom is going to disown me, i have posted some pics for your viewing pleasure.

i would like to preface this post by saying, we have not hung anything yet and i am not a good photographer...basically it looks much cuter in person and we still have a lot of work to do.

here ya go.

the living room

this is the room you walk directly into when you enter the house. this is actually our "formal" living room. mainly for looks. the room was already a pretty light green color so we didn't have to do anything to it. we just need a rug...if stinkin' pottery barn would ever put the one i want on sale.

the dining room/kitchen

this is one of the areas that really sold us on the house. the kitchen/dining room/family room are all fairly open...as open as a house from 1956 gets. this room was all white and the wall in the dining room was wallpaper. we removed the wallpaper and painted the whole area gray. one of my favorite features of the house is the open shelving so i can show off all my fiestaware! we are planning on redoing the backsplash.

the family room

this room is super comfy. you can't tell from the pics, but the ceiling is a really light turquoise. the room also has a gas fireplace, which i am obsessed with.

the guest bedrooom

this room was a light yellow, with a hideous ceiling fan. my dad changed the ceiling fan and we painted it a dark blue.


the master bedroom/bathroom

this room was already painted a fabulous dark teal shade that we love. the previous owners redid the tiny little bathroom. it has toile wallpaper and great little additions. it's small, but we love it.

we also have a cutie screened in porch and a great patio/backyard that i did not include pictures of. don't worry, once we stop getting random freezes here, we will plant some flowers and i'll post some pics. fortunately for you, i also did not include pictures of the office or the 50's style, pink bathroom. the office turned out a horrible shade of green and it is currently the "throw everything we don't know what to do with" room.

from looking at the pictures, i realize that i really need to hang things on the walls. don't worry, i'm certain that when i tell my mom about new additions to the house, she will hound me to post pictures. so you may just be lucky enough to get to watch as our little home becomes cuter and cuter. i know, you're thrilled.

so there it is. our cozy, little casa. we love it and feel very blessed to be homeowners.