Grateful for Unanswered Prayers

When David started applying to graduate schools for his doctorate, one of his top choices was the University of Texas at Austin. They have a fantastic music program and most of David's family lives in Austin. Consequently, we were very excited when UT called David and asked him to come interview for acceptance. The interview went really well and David was very impressed with the program. We were thrilled when David got an e-mail telling him he was accepted.

Several weeks passed and we didn't hear anything more, so we started looking into things. We were devastated to learn that the person who sent David the e-mail was not authorized to make him the offer of acceptance. We didn't know what would happen or what we would do next. That was the beginning of our journey that resulted in our moving to South Carolina.

Today there was a shooting on the UT-Austin campus. Today I am very grateful that David is not anywhere near that campus. It is not the first time I have realized that UT was not the place we were meant to be right now. My heart goes out to those that are affiliated with the school. What a sad day.

Mother of the Year

I decided to make an effort to spend more quality time with my kids, specifically Baylie - making sure I was teaching her and doing more hands-on kinds of things. My sister in law had given her some of these awesome activity folders, so we've been working on numbers, colors and shapes. Baylie loves playing with these folders. (There are more folders, but we're working on these three for now.)

Today we made play clay with a recipe from Family Fun magazine. (You can find the recipe here.) The clay looked awesome - the colors were beautiful. The pink and orange balls were easier to play with. The brown and yellow were a little more stiff. I was really proud of how they turned out. I asked Baylie to smile a "normal" smile for a picture. Below is the result.

And just as I was feeling like I was an awesome mom and had done a great job for the day, I looked up to see this as I was fixing dinner.

Ah, quality family time - even Jalen at just eight months is glued to the t.v. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't try to compete with Disney.

Cruising in Columbia

When we left the zoo yesterday, the kids fell asleep as soon as they hit the car seats. I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to take some pictures of downtown Columbia. I deleted the pictures I stole for my previous post and am now posting my own. I took about 80, so I've just selected some of my favorites and separated them by category. I realize that not many people will even care about these, but I loved taking them - even the ones I had to take while driving or through the window (I know, traffic hazzard, but there is very little traffic on most streets in downtown Columbia).

This post is made of street signs. It seems like almost every street has a historical marker, so I just selected some of my favorites.

Historical Sights

For this section, I'm posting the historical sign (where available) and following it with a picture (if applicable).

(no picture as the building no longer stands)

Other Old (awesome) Homes

Other Fun Buildings

I found these photographically irresistible.

Candy and tobacco shop ...

... complete with wooden Indians (not a great picture since it was taken from inside the car).

I'm guessing this is an old movie theater.

The next few are self-explanatary.

When David and I drove here from Utah, almost every town had some kind of a mill with the name of the town painted on it.

Main Street

Main Street starts (or ends, depending on your perspective) at the State House. This beautiful structure is marked by stars that indicate where Sherman's troops hit the building with cannon fire. We have yet to tour the grounds and actually see these marks, but I'm hoping to do so soon.

I love how the trees reach out over Main Street. The street is divided by a brick walkway.

I love the combination of old-town stores ...

and more elegant architecture, like the Sheraton.

There's even some modern art.