Our Birthday Boy

Granny came in town and we ended the weekend with hundreds more pictures, as usual. We can always count on Granny. We had a great time. We had all the Auburn family over for spaghetti (homemade spaghetti c/o chef Todd) and cupcakes. The happy birthday song ended with tears because Micah got burned by the candle :( He got curious and decided to reach for it.

Snow in March!

We woke up to snow on Sunday morning! I think this is only the 4th time I've seen snow. It was sooo cold, but we went out to "play" for a few minutes. Micah and Todd were catching snowflakes with their tongues.

The latest in the Pate house

Micah is almost walking

Micah loves flipping through books

So, there's not much new going on in the Pate house. We put our house in Orlando on the market, so we've been praying for it to sell soon. Micah is almost 1...we can't believe it. Granny is coming in town this weekend and we're having a little party with family. He's been so much fun. He keeps us laughing. He has learned what makes us laugh, so he takes full advantage of it. He has perfected the pig and monkey sounds. It's awesome to see him learn so many things. I'm so thankful that I can stay home with him and experience it all first hand. "Mr. Independent" eats everything by himself now. I've met some other Mom's with babies close to his age and we've scheduled some play dates which has been a lot of fun.

I've decided to be a Mary Kay girl. I've had 1 party so far. It's nice to be able to work a few hours a week when Micah is napping. I have a website which makes me feel very official. (www.marykay.com/kimpate)

I've been teaching English to Internationals in the community at our church on Wed. nights. One of my students decided to be a Christ-follower recently. This has been very exciting for me. She began coming to my class the first day in the Fall. She's from China and discovered she was pregnant right after she got here. Her husband and 4 year old daughter are still in China. I'll put a picture of my class on here soon.

Micah's First Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!!

Granny's house

ahhh palm trees

Gotta love the reindeer antlers

Waving "bye"

Micah did good with Santa-just stared at him and pulled his beard

We visited my (Kim's) Mom and some friends in FL last week. We spent a whole week there. It was wonderful. I've forgotten how much I enjoy warm weather. I was actually comfortable without 3 layers of clothes. We saw her new house and love it. One reason we love seeing Granny is that we always leave with hundreds of good pictures. I don't have the patience. It was great catching up with everyone. I miss everyone so much.

Micah is crawling all over the house and pulling up on everything. He is Mr. Independent at the dinner table. He prefers feeding himself. He is saying "da da da da" and Todd just thinks it's the greatest thing. He's getting good at waving "hi" and "bye."At the 8 1/2 to 9 month mark, it seemed like he was doing something new everyday. He's been the sweetest baby-always smiling and giggling and has a sweet disposition. We are so blessed.

We will stay in town for Christmas with Todd's family. We're probably doing some house projects, which is usually what we do when Todd is off work. We'll be celebrating the New Year with the Europeans! We'll be in bed by 9:00 probably.

The Farm

We had a great time this weekend in north Alabama. Todd's aunt grew up on a farm up there and let us go for the weekend. I've never seen autumn leaves as beautiful as the ones up there. My Mom came with us and took care of Micah for a few hours so we could explore the land and go out for a nice dinner. We had a blast!

Micah would not smile

Micah's latest

Micah has new-found freedom. He is scooting all over the living room. I often find him stirring through a basket of magazines and paper. His newest endeavour is feeding himself. He got mad at dinner last night because I didn't give him anything to feed himself with.



2 years! I can't believe it's been 2 years since we've gotten married. We are excited to head north this weekend to the farm!

I Have A Dream

A recent addition to my "bucket list" is to be apart of a law-changing movement. For those of you who have never seen the movie, "The Bucket List" is a list of things you want to do before you kick the bucket. So I've decided I'm on a mission to see abortion become illegal before I kick the bucket. For those of you who are reading this and are thinking right now that I'm crazy and it could never happen, just hear me out. It is a legitimate argument (although my reasoning is not to argue). I'm not usually a very opinionated person, or even a political person. I don't even like politics in fact. It is just something that has been heavy on my heart and mind lately.

First of all, I just want to say that I am not judging anyone and I have no right to look down my nose at anyone. I am not perfect. I'm not saying that I think I have all the answers. I do understand to some extent. I've been without hope and without any answers. I've been afraid and have had no clue what to do. I understand that desperate times call for desperate measures, but there are so many other options to abortion.

Second of all, think about slavery. No one ever thought it would be illegal. In fact many politicians voted for slavery to continue during the civil rights movements. Whites could do whatever they wanted to blacks, without any consequences. Blacks didn't have rights or a voice, much like babies today. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream and a vision and look at how far African Americans have come.

Thirdly, I am not against women having rights and being able to make choices. I just think that we don't have the right to make that kind of choice. At the moment of conception, it is no longer "your body," it is another human being. If I decided that I no longer wanted to be a parent, or could not be a parent, I could not kill him. I would go straight to jail if I did. So why is it any different for an infant in the womb? Although it is a small life, it is still a life.

Fourthly, I do believe that there are some crazy circumstances people go through that would call for an emergency abortion. But I think that they should be performed in a hospital setting with regular OB/GYN's. Abortion clinics should be permanently closed. From the research that has been done, only 2% of abortions are because of rape or incest and 6% due to the mother or baby's health being at risk. So that leaves 92% of abortions due to the thought that children are an inconvenience, shame on the Mother's part, financial burden or just a lack of desire to be a parent.

And last of all, and most importantly, I believe that abortion should be illegal because it is God's design. It is His perfect creation. He breathed life in us from the beginning. Our culture has taught us to think of ourselves first and then of others. Unfortunately, we have it all backwards. We think about our career, our body, our money and our life without giving any consideration to others around us. On the contrary, so much blessing comes when we think of others first. Life is beautiful. If God decides to put a baby in your womb, He will help you take care of it. In the bible, God even speaks of babies in the womb. He says He formed them.

There are many programs, agencies and churches that are more than willing to help women going through this tough decision-making process. And not to mention adoption, or considering keeping the baby.

These pictures speak for themselves. The cut-off time for abortion is much later than these pictures...

7 weeks...The heart beats steadily

11 weeks... vital organs — including kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver are in place

17 weeks...I could feel Micah kicking well by this point. We also saw that he was a boy at this stage.

The reward! Micah just a few hours old.

After experiencing pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, my perspective on life has completely changed. I cannot imagine life without Micah now. I have a new respect for life and death. What will it take for abortion to become illegal?