Baby Walkup name madness!!!

We thought we would make a little game out of this baby on the way. So
if you've ever filled out a March Madness bracket than you will find
this very easy. The only difference is we have 64 names instead of
teams. There are 32 girl names and 32 boy names. So, It's game time!

We are inviting you to participate in our Baby Walkup
name madness!! We have attached a blank bracket with the 64 names we
are choosing from. On the bottom of the bracket are the game rules and
Greg's contact info for questions and/or help. The deadline for your
entry is August 10.

Every week Greg will e-mail out the updated bracket for each round up until
to the Final 4. There is a $5 buy in per bracket (that also needs to be
turned in by the August 10th deadline). Yes you can turn in multiple
brackets if you want :) The winner takes half the earnings, with the
other half going to baby Walkup. And with that being said....Let the
games begin!

If you are interested in playing this lil' game-leave a comment with your email address and I will send you the bracket :)

Sean Strickland

I've starred at this blank screen now for the last 30 minutes not knowing what to write. Then I closed out the screen and came back to this still blank screen off and on for the last 3 days. But today I realized I need to get this post written. The world is too fast for me. I've been reflecting on a Jars of Clay song that says "To love you - take my world apart, To need you - I am on my knees, To love you - take my world apart, To need you - broken on my knees". That's how I feel right now. I just want God to take my world apart. Make it stop so I can catch up. I lost a very good friend and professional mentor to a car crash last week on Wednesday. I still find I am in shock. I've been through the visitation, funeral, and worked but yet i'm still stuck not accepting whats happened. I took this picture after Sean left North Point as a tribute to him. He was the best manager I had ever had. So he was the best boss (as the coffee cup says)....



I learned a ton from Sean. The biggest thing he taught me was that we may have personality flaws but they are not flaws. They are opportunities to grow. I am not a highly relational person (just like Sean). So he taught me how to be intentional about it. He taught me practical ways to apply this to my professional and personal life. The next biggest thing he taught me was to always put your family first. He modeled this to me which made it easy to follow. Sean loved his wife, Jana and daughter, Gabi with his whole heart. And last but not least, he always made me push for more. He would never let me settle for anything. And I know that shaped the employee, wife, mom to be, and manager I am today.

I was looking through some old emails and ichats the other day and came across a few that were pretty funny and some that were really sweet. It was bittersweet for me. I will miss him immensely, but I'm so happy to know he is chilling with Jesus right now. I really wanted him to meet my child. I pictured him and Jana coming to the hospital to visit me. I had already decided my child will call him Uncle Sean. But now, I know that I can talk to my child about his/her guardian angel Uncle Sean.

Anyway, thanks to listening to me this long post. My heart is heavy and I have a lot of healing to do. I also ask that you pray for his family. The last thing I will leave you with is a newspaper article about him. Go here and read this: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/obits/stories//2009/06/07/sean_strickland_obit.html

Have a blessed day and make sure you tell the people around you that you love them. I've lived 9,901 days today. I want my days to count, because I know that God has an ordained amount of days for me. Who knows when mine or your time is up. So make your time here on earth count!

Much love, Etc (that's what Sean called me)


(Our IT team last year at our retreat)

Baby Walkup's Room

Hey friends,
I know I haven't updated in a while and I have a ton to talk about. But for now, just wanted to post some pictures of the nursery. We have finished it! Once the dresser and crib comes in, it will be complete. Anyway, enjoy the pictures :)



Here's the awesome daddy putting up the border!

The curtain and border

Glider, blanket, curtain...this is the full effect. We are just waiting on the crib and dresser to come in.

Now daddy's tired from his work so he's relaxing with baby blanket and a ninja turtle doll in our new comfy glider.

Love, Rachael