Rachel Callahan

spring in alabama

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Spring weekends are so fun – it’s when the weather is JUST right for getting outside and enjoying the beautiful new colors. We’ve had lots of fun biking and going to the zoo and all sorts of things the past two weekends. I’m not back to my full blogging self yet, so here are our last two weekends in pictures (besides the spend-the-night party / zoo, of which of course has its own blog). Hopefully, something more bloggable will happen tomorrow!!! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the pics!

Ali enjoying the pool at Gramamma’s – she conned my Mom into letting her stay “oudi” (outside) ALL day long.

Learning to splish splash! Such fun! Ali last Sunday all dressed up in her new dress from Great Aunt Linda

Exhausted, Ali ate her whole dinner laying down. A true sign of a fun weekend!
This weekend – some of my second cousins playing in my Granddad’s Model T – Dad was giving rides and driving lessons. I actually learned to drive it when I was 5 and soloed driving when I was 6 or 7. Only problem – it really confused me when I learned how to drive a real car, because there was no reverse pedal, and the gas controls weren’t on the steering wheel.We took Ali on her second bike ride yesterday – her helmet is forward facing this time – she loved it! She liked holding onto the handlebars to help Daddy steer.
Long bike ride – much need for water!!! I thought this would make a great Cahaba Cycles ad.
After our bike ride, we went to Guthrie’s. Ali L-O-V-E-S to dip her food (taking after Aunt Lindsay, of course), and so made a complete Guthrie’s sauce mess of herself by the time she was done, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Notice the piece of chicken in her left hand? I think it had been dipped about 10 times – she was marinating, not dipping!!
Well, that sums up our fun for the weekend. I have a couple of new weekend projects waiting in the wings for life to slow down a bit – such as finger painting!! And sidewalk chalk!! And a baby-pool-fountain-squirter thingy!! More excitement to come. Toddlers are so much fun!!

like mommy, like daughter

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Uncategorized
I had a bunch of heavy, long-winded posts last week, so I was in the mood for something a little more light, with just fun pictures.

A month ago when I was going through my baby album looking for a 15 month photo of myself to post next to Ali, I noticed that there were a lot of pictures of me doing things that I had pictures of Ali doing. Now that could be because Ali and I like the same things and looked alike when we were babies, or it could be because we have about 8000 pictures of Ali’s 16 months. You be the judge. Anyway, here were some of my favorite similar pictures.

Ali and I with pigtails:
Scrunching up our noses:

Enjoying our rocking chairs:

. . .and our first chocolate bunnies:


And kissing our babies:

Please vote for my photo – I’m in the finals!!

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I entered this photo/story about Ali and her Great Grandma in a Mother’s Day Photo contest at 5 Minutes for Mom, and it is one of the 15 finalists! Or maybe 20 finalists. . .I think they couldn’t narrow it down. Anyway, please, please, please go to the site and vote for us! Down at the bottom it has a place to choose which blog you’re voting for, and just vote for “Grasping for the Objectivity in Subjective Life”.
Be sure to look at the other pictures too – they’re really awesome. . . just vote for us ;)
Thanks!!

Wisdom in the Hands

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This is a picture of Ali holding Chris’ Grandma’s hand on her 90th birthday – when Ali was less than 8 weeks old. This was her first Great-Grandchild, something she had anticipated for a long time. She passed away 5 months later. This picture is so precious to me because it represents the passing down of wisdom and love from one generation to the next.

This photo made it into the finals!!! Please go vote for “Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life” at http://www.5minutesformom.com/3364/mothers-day-photo-finalists/ !!!
Thank you!!!!

Victorious

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories James Price

I thought I was done blogging about our tragedy this week, but I can’t leave it without writing about the grace of God to finish it with victory. Today was the funeral, and it was a hard funeral to go to. I’ve only ever been to funerals of elderly people, and to go to a funeral of someone who was younger than me – well, it was hard. However, I was dumbfounded, stunned, and humbled by what happened at that funeral.

Several people spoke – James and Ashlie’s former youth pastor, James’ best friend, then James and Ashlie’s Pastor. Their Pastor was talking about victory in death, and then he said he would like to invite a victor forward to speak, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when, across the aisle from me, the 22 year old widow, Ashlie, stood up and walked forward to address the hundreds of people at her husband’s funeral.

Here is the first part of what she said, as best as I can remember it:

I prayed all morning I could get through this. But I know that James would want me to get up here and tell his family how very much he loved you, and his friends how much he loved you, and his church family how much he loved you. But most of all, he would want me to tell you how much Jesus loves you. If you do not know Jesus, today is the day for you to accept him.

She went on to read Romans 5:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

She finished by saying that James had given us all much joy and love, and that he would want nothing more than for the guests at his funeral to accept Jesus that day. She spoke with courage, with authority, with love, and with conviction.

I am so humbled by Ashlie’s strength and bravery, by her conviction and her grasp of what is truly important – eternally important. I know that people got saved today, and I smiled during the prayer, knowing that James and Jesus were rejoicing in heaven, and I wondered if Jesus even let James write a name or two in the Book of Life.

Thank you, God, for giving Ashlie the strength to show her conviction in Your eternal life and Your power to save all who call out to You! Thank you for leading her to make it completely clear what is really important in life and to make her husband’s funeral about You instead of about her loss and tragedy, which would have been completely understandable. I am at a loss for words at how amazed I am by Your grace shown through her today.

Ashlie, you are my hero.

And now for something completely normal. . .

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I stopped by Sephora yesterday to pick up some makeup, and the ladies in the store were swooning all over Ali. They gave her a catalog, of which she has been obsessed with ever since. It cracks me up. I guess all the faces in it make it fun to look at, but it also makes some great pictures.

She has been a little more vain this week than usual – she says “bow” alllll the time, and if she doesn’t have a bow on her head, she pats her head all over, and in a very worried voice, says “bow!! bow!!!” I guess the Sephora catalog is just going to add to it. :)

Divine Appointment

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories James Price
I was sitting on the couch last night not watching American Idol, thinking about all of the “if only’s”. If only someone else had gone down with James this past weekend like they had been the weekends before, he wouldn’t have been riding his motorcycle. If only he had been a minute later leaving. If only he had been a minute earlier leaving. If only the car in front of him hadn’t broken down. If only he had been in another lane. Then I realized something – God could have done any of a million things to prevent that wreck from happening. It would have been so easy to tweak just one little thing and keep it all from happening. In fact, it would have been much easier to PREVENT it than to let it happen. So I realized: it wasn’t that God had turned His head for a split second and the wreck just “happened” – it was a divine appointment. It was actually in God’s plans – and, as terrible as this feels to say, God orchestrated events to allow it to happen. God had a meeting with James Sunday afternoon that He wasn’t going to let him miss. For some reason, that was very comforting to me. Before that point, I knew that God was in charge of everything and that everything fit into His plan, but that was the moment that I realized that this WAS His plan. And that makes it all okay. I mean, it doesn’t in the short term, but it does in the long term. God knows what He is doing. He knows what He is doing much better than we know what we are doing. I can trust that God knows why this is in His plans, and rest in that knowledge.

Proverbs 16:9

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Psalm 20:7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

James Price

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories James Price

For those of you who are following this and praying for the Price’s, here is the obituary from today’s paper:

PRICE, JAMES RANDALL, JR., age 21, of Pell City, passed away on April 27, 2008. James was a wonderful Christian man, a terrific husband, a great son, the best brother, and you would never find a more loyal friend. He loved his dog Bama. He was employed by Engle and Associates in Birmingham and was loved by all of his co-workers. He was a member of New Hope Baptist Church where he taught Sunday School. He graduated from Pell City High School in 2004 and was attending Jeff State. James is survived by his wife, Ashlie Brooke Price; parents, James (Randy) and Edna Price, Sr., and Maria Price; grandparents, Arlen and Peggy Price, John Fox and Martha Ann Wheatley, Lucille and Louie Jones; sister, Angela Lynne Price; sisters-in-law, Andrea Mitchell, Amie Mitchell, and Briana Hunt; brother-in-law, Trey Hunt; special family friends, Leo and Kitty Engle; 2 honorary brothers, Matt Pope and Garett Pesnell; father and mother-in-law, Charles and Leslie Hunt; and a host of aunts, uncles, extended family and many friends who loved him very much. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 from 6 to 9 p.m. at New Hope Baptist Church. Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 2 p.m. at New Hope Baptist Church with burial to follow in Boykin-Truitt Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Matthew Pope, Garett Pesnell, Dax Davies, Chris Callahan, Andrew Whitehead, Miles Franklin, Tommy Sykes, and Michael Price, Jr. Kilgroe Funeral Home- Pell City will direct. Published in The Birmingham News on 4/30/2008.
Note: I have a lot of people googling James and Ashlie and finding my blog, so I also wanted to post on here that there is a Memorial Fund in place for James to benefit Ashlie at Metro Bank in Pell City.

a time for everything under the sun

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories James Price

I don’t know what to say, but it seems like it should be therapeutic to blog right now. I’m not sure that anything can be truly therapeutic though. James Price, one of my husband’s best friends and co-workers, was killed in a motorcycle accident yesterday. He was only 21 years old. He had been married for 7 months to a precious girl, Ashlie. We spent a good part of the day at Ashlie’s house grieving with her. I can’t imagine her pain right now – I really can’t. Life just seems so unfair at times – it is hard to see God’s hand, but I know it’s there. They were so happy and giddy-in-love – they were perfect for each other, and met each other’s needs so perfectly.

James was an awesome guy. He had one of the biggest servant-hearts I have ever seen. He would do anything for anyone at any time. I remember us all going to the beach at Kitty and Leo’s, and the rest of us would be planning a leisurely day on the beach or around town, and James would have volunteered to go cut the grass for Kitty and spend all morning pushing that lawnmower in the sweltering heat. He was so unselfish. He even brought Kitty to the hospital when I was giving birth to Ali and spent who knows how many hours in the waiting room visiting with my family and entertaining everyone. Speaking of, he was one of the goofiest, most hilariously out-there people ever. He was so hyper and so silly and so upbeat. He was HAPPY. He knew Jesus and He knew that Jesus had blessed him, and it radiated from him. He had been constantly teasing me for the last few weeks as I called up to work to talk to Chris all the time as I have been taking over their accounting – he would rag me about calling too much – and so I would remind him that I wrote his paychecks and he better not complain. :) We had the same dialogue at least once every day.

We prayed on the way up there that we could do something to bless Ashlie and help her in a practical way, and God was gracious to us. Besides grieving with Ashlie, I was able to line up all of her insurance, bank accounts, etc through the company for her, and we also had the opportunity to go into James’ office for a couple of hours and figure out exactly what was going on with all their bills and bank accounts (all of which he handled by himself). We were SO grateful to be able to do something practical for her. I plan to go back tomorrow to be with her, and then next week to continue to help her with her finances and all the paperwork on insurance, etc. Please pray for us as we seek to minister to Ashlie in the coming days and weeks.

I have seen my husband cry all of four times in the almost ten years that I’ve known him, and both he and I have been crying on and off for 2 days. Especially and most of all for Ashlie, a 22 year old widow. My heart hurts for her more than I can express. I cannot conceive of losing Chris – I don’t think I would be handling it as well as she is. Please pray for her, and for all of James’ family, as they grieve this sudden and tragic loss.

I listened to Ashlie quote Jeremiah 29:11 this morning – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Thank God for promises like that, Thank God that James is rejoicing with Jesus right now, and Thank God that He gives Ashlie something to put her hope in even in the most hopeless circumstance imaginable.
If you read this, thanks so much for being my therapist for a few minutes.

Related Posts:

James Price

Divine Appointment

Victorious

bike riding and belly laughs

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Uncategorized
When Ali woke up from her AWESOME-post-sleepover nap yesterday (awesome because it was long and therefore allowed us to recover from all the excitement ourselves), of course the first thing she said was “AJ? AJ!!” We had to tell her that AJ went home, which she was sad about, but she recovered.

And, because the Callahan family just hadn’t had enough new experiences and excitement for one weekend, we decided to take Ali out for her first bicycle ride. Chris and I absolutely LOVE biking – we did a ton of it before Ali was born, and we haven’t had the opportunity to bike much except on vacations since. So I had ordered her a cool bike seat off of Amazon (it got the best reviews I have ever seen for anything on Amazon!!), and we were ready to try it out! We weren’t sure how she would do, because she loves swinging and being thrown in the air, but on the other hand, she has gotten a little more cautious lately. We parked at Brookwood Mall to take the Lakeshore trail (a good easy paved trip for her first ride), and Chris unloaded the bicycles while I got her helmet strapped on (which takes longer than you think – first to figure out which way is the front, and then to get it strapped on before she pulls it off, and then to get it tightened while she wiggles to try and get out from under it). I took her around the side of the truck where the bikes were, and when she saw the baby seat on it, much like the camels at the zoo, immediately started shaking her head and saying “uh uh – uh uh”. Chris got on the bike, and I strapped her a million ways into the seat, and all the while she was moaning and expressing her fear and discontent in every way she could think of. We finally got her all strapped in, got her helmet out of her eyes, and the second Chris took off on the bike with her, she quit fussing. Just a few minutes into our bike ride, she was making her “bbbbdinn” noises that she does when she sees my Dad’s motorcycle (hmm. . . maybe Dad DID take her for a ride on the motorcycle. . . .). Anyway, she loved it. I think it will definitely become a Callahan Family regular weekend activity! By the way, when we were in the car leaving, I happened to look inside her helmet, and there was a big, red “Front —>” sticker – and yes, I did have her helmet on backwards. After all that time trying to figure out which was was the front.

Today, Ali has been very giggly. I love it! She is not normally a big laugher, but every now and then she gets the giggles. In fact, right now as I blog, she is hiding behind the curtains (I say, “where’s Ali?”), popping out and laughing. We weren’t having lunch with my family today, so we went through Arby’s after church. On the way home, she was wanting our french fries as usual (anytime we go through a drive-thru of any kind, she immediately starts saying “pleeeeeease” – even if its the bank line), and to keep her new Elmo (a gift from AJ for letting her spend the night!!) from getting greasy, Chris stuck him up in my sunglasses holder in the ceiling of the car, where he was staring down at Ali. She found this HILARIOUS. She kept pointing at Elmo and laughing – saying “Hey Elmo!” and laughing. Eating her french fries and laughing. Just a lot of laughing. Then, she made us laugh – big belly laughs. She finished her fries and wanted Elmo back, so I gave him to her. She kissed him and played with him for a minute, then “dropped” him. I told her “no drop”, waited a minute, then gave him back to her. She played with him for a minute, kissed him, then THREW him. Then meekly, she pointed and said “uh oh. Please.”. I told her no, that she had dropped him after I told her not to, and that she couldn’t have him back right now. Then Chris and I got into a conversation about the port-a-potty from the oddly named business “Anne’s Cans” that has been, for at least three weeks, in the front yard of one of our neighbors (who, unlike us, happens to reside in Mountain Brook). Of course, the assumption is that they are having work done on their house and they don’t want the construction people using their bathroom, but I go by that house at least twice a day, and have yet to see a construction person anywhere near Anne’s can. So we were discussing the possibilities – my idea was could it be that “Anne” lived there and was just promoting her business? And if that were the case, what WOULD her Mountain Brook neighbors say about that? Chris’ possibility was that maybe they had a septic tank backup and their toilets weren’t working so they had an Anne’s Can for the family’s use? Anyway, obviously we were deep in important discussion and had tuned Ali somewhat out. She had been saying “Hey! Hey!” – then ramped it up since we hadn’t heard her and was yelling “HEY!!! HEY!!!!!”. The last “hey” was a dull roar. We finally turned around and said “yes ma’am?” She meekly points to Elmo in the floor and says “uh oh.”
We laughed and laughed. It was a hilarious moment, and maybe you had to be there to really appreciate the hilarity – you tell me. I did give her Elmo back, with another reminder “no drop OR throw”. Anyway, Ali’s back to giggling again. I think I’ll go play with her.