Thank God for Friends!

Last year, I met a friend that was originally from my home-town, and then moved here a few years ago for her husbands work. I'm not really a person who comments on people's blogs that I don't even know, but I did and we started commenting back and forth a little bit. Soon she invited me over and we ended up making a whole day of it! Nate came later on and we went to a pumpkin festival together last October. We haven't been able to work it out to get together a whole lot, but when we do we always click instantly and have such a GREAT time! Our kids love each other and our hubby's have a good time too :). Yesterday I finally made it to her house for the first time in a few months and we spent the day together.

We took the kids down to the pool but Brookie would not swim, so this is what she did pretty much the whole time. :)

Sweet Aliya! She's such a happy baby and has gorgeous eyes!

After we ate supper, we all walked down to the creek near their house.

the kids drove in their jeep and Brooke SCREAMED her head off hating every minute of it! I laughed and eventually took her out but not before snapping a bunch of pictures! Of Course! :)

They loved throwing rocks in the water and almost toppled in a couple times. :)

If you want to read my friend Suzi's blog you can click on her name! She's a lot of fun and takes great pictures! :) I'm just so glad that the Lord has given me such great friends here even when I'm so far from home. It's nice when you meet someone from home, too, cause you feel like you can click so well because you were raised in the same town! The Lord is so good to me!

Brookie's birthday/Memorial Day!

Yesterday, my sweet little girl turned 2. I can't believe it's been 2 years since I first held her in my arms, baling my eyes out! Now she's a little toddler, talking more and more every day. She has brought unspeakable joy to my life and I'm soooooooooo thankful for her! She is so well behaved and calm. The Lord knew that I needed an easy child to start off with. :)

We started the day by all going out to breakfast, dressed in patriotic colors, of course!
Eating her birthday muffin :) It was huge and yummy!

My happy girl!

Loving daddy

I love these ones, they are all so sweet!

This space you see here is the entire rest of the day in which I took not ONE picture! We had a wonderful picnic at a huge park with tons of friends! It was very hot out but still lots of fun :)

At the end of the day when we got home she got to open her presents. You can see that she's still hot and sweaty from playing hard outside when it's 95 degrees and humid!

She got a little wagon, cash register, a Bible story book and a cute little skirt. She's having lots of fun with them all. :) Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl!

Also, not to let the day go by without thanking those who have given their lives for our freedom and those who put themselves in harms way every day so we can be safe! We appreciate all that you do for our country! Your sacrifices are not taken for granted! God Bless America!

Thoughts and Fears

We knew what we would name a boy if we were to have one when I first found out I was pregnant.
Our Pastor was on death's door and we knew we would get the call any day that he had gone home to be with the Lord. When I found out I was expecting, it was just 3 days before this occurred. We knew that the middle name of a little boy would be "Hank", after the Pastor that we loved so dearly and that we will forever miss. The name Hank means, "God is gracious."
As for the first name, it will be after my number one hero in the world, my dad, Joseph. (Known to everyone else as Joe :)
The name Joseph means, "God will increase, or enlarge." I hope that the Lord increases what we put into our son. Having a boy to me is very scary. So many boys have such a strong desire to be their own man and see the world for themselves that they end up like the prodigal son, wallowing with the swine and trying to convince those around them that the husks are delicious. I know that girls go wayward too, but I've seen more guys than girls end up in the world.
Our son will be named after 2 godly men of God and I hope that he takes after them. I hope that God is gracious to him and enlarges all the "good' that he does--if that makes sense. I hope he is a preacher or a missionary like the men he will be named after. I hope he has a strong drive to do what is right and to follow in the ways of the Lord. I hope this for my daughter, too, but we all know that it's different with men. They need to be the leaders, the ones who take charge and take a stand in the wicked world we live. I hope that my little Joey will do just that. I hope that our Pastor will look down from Heaven and be proud of the godly man he becomes. I hope that my daddy will admire his grandson for what the Lord does through him. I hope that he uses their examples to help guide him through life. Mostly I hope that Jesus Christ will become his Lord and Saviour and the one who he lives, breathes and dies for.
And if he does choose to chase after the Devils mirage for a little while, I hope that he will return the Lord and say, "My Mom's prayer is what got me through."
So many thoughts and fears run through my head when I think of raising children, but even more so with raising a son. It is a very special responsibility that I don't feel worthy to have been given, but I thank the Lord that he chose to give me such a precious opportunity.
May the Lord find us faithful to produce another solider in his army who will fight tirelessly until his dying day, no matter what the cost.

Sweet Baby J

This was my first baby photo shoot. She was a doll! I love her chubby little legs! She was getting a little big for the basket but we still got some great shots anyway.

Safe in Mommy's arms

I am Addicted!

One of my favorite times of the day is when Brookie is napping, and it involves the following items:

(Except mine are green, but I liked the pink ones better ;)

I'm thankful that my parents have always faithfully worked out and encouraged me, just by doing it. I almost feel like it's ingrained in me. :)

I'm also incorporating more stretches after I'm done because my lower back is really bad when I'm pregnant. These stretches totally relieve the pain I feel when I get done with my routine. My doctor encouraged me to always do it through pregnancy because it drastically helps with fatigue. I have found this to be so true.

What do you do to get yourself moving??

Fun Weekend

This weekend we had 2 graduations to go to, a group from Fairhaven Baptist college in our home for dinner and lots of time spent with friends. Just thought I would share some pictures of our weekend. :)

ABOVE: taken after the college graduation :)

Sunday after church we went out to eat with friends, then all went to Starbucks afterwards. It was a lot of fun! The same group came over after church last night, too. We had a blast together :).

She wanted me but I was busy taking pictures at the graduation! I had so much fun doing my first "big" event!

Anytime Brooke hears music in the car, she bops her head up and down and closes her eyes like she is really getting into it. Nate and I just laugh! I need to get a video of her doing it!

This is the group from the college that ate dinner at our house late Saturday evening. They were a lot of fun and it was so great to see Jenny (front left) from my church again!

One of Jenny and I at church the next morning :)

Crisis at my House

***UPDATE!!!***
My hubby sprayed all of the doorways and entry points so that no more bugs can get in without suffering a horrible death. I KNEW he would come through for me!!! Now I just have to clean out my pantry! :)


Something is living in my pantry.
The other night I opened the door of the pantry and I see a HUGE cockroach crawling around on my syrup, trying to get in and savor the sweetness no doubt. I screamed, shuttered and closed the door. When I finally got up the courage to open the door again and kill the dreaded thing, he was gone.
Every time I open my pantry I am scared to see him again. Or his wife. Or their many, many offspring, relatives and friends that I am SURE are scurrying around in there somewhere.
I need to clean it out to get rid of any temptation that they may have to enter again, but I am SCARED TO DEATH!!!
So I'm hoping that my knight in shining armor will help me, or at least be nearby with a shoe when I clean it.
Pray for me--mainly that this crisis will soon pass and that God would give me the strength to do what I need to do. ;)

Baby Number 2, Month 5!!!

I've made it to the halfway point--20 weeks! I'm so thankful to God for allowing me to come this far and be so healthy. The second trimester is definitely the best for me and I feel great! I get so much done around the house and have lots of energy.
These are the months that I love being pregnant! It's fun to find cute clothes to wear when you are not absolutely huge and fat feeling. I've officially grown out of my first regular skirt, but all of the rest still fit me, along with most of my shirts. I'm still at a weird stage, but I can wear small maternity which is the most comfortable and probably looks way better than regular stuff anyway.
Things that Happened to Me this Month!!!

• Yesterday, I found out that I am having a BOY!!! I was planning on waiting until the delivery like I did last time but I really wanted to find out for Nate, even though I had no desire to. I do regret it and will never find out before-hand again, but there is nothing I can do about it now except start to pick up little boy clothes here and there. :)
  
• My belly grew a lot as you can see in the picture! With Brooke I really started showing around 5-6 months and it seems to be the same with this one.
  
• And of course, always feeling my little one move! What a gift from God that you are able to feel little flutters and kicks. Nate hasn't been able to feel it yet. This one is not as active as Brooke was. She was a crazy girl in the womb, but when she came out she was the calmest baby in the world. This one is more calm....does that mean he will be a wild man??? ;)
  

Brookie was very busy scratching her 3 BIG ant bites that she got playing outside yesterday :(. They are huge and I feel so bad for her! That is one thing that I HATE about this state!!!

I just Love These!

I have to put a plug in for one of my favorite snacks. :) I know how hard it is to find healthy snacks, especially on the go, but these are awesome! Quaker mini rice cakes have become a real staple around here and I can eat them pretty much guilt free! I'll eat the sour creme and onion or cheddar ones with a sandwich at lunch instead of chips. Because they are small, they give you the same crunch and salty flavor you want when you eat a bag of Lays, just WAY better for you! The rice is puffed, so it's way less calories that most other munchies like this that you can get--including pretzels and sun chips. And the great thing is when you want something sweet, they have apple cinnamon, caramel (tastes like caramel popcorn!) and chocolate.

Give them a try and let me know what you think! If you already eat them, let me know your favorite flavor! Mine are sour creme and onion and apple cinnamon!

Anniversary!!!

Today is my wonderful parents 25th wedding anniversary! Before they were married they were together for about 10 years, totalling about 35 years! That is something to be so proud of in this day and age where people can hardly stay together for 35 months. Nate and I are so thankful for the great example they have been of a loving, giving, unselfish marriage that they've shown us. My parents have never been afraid to kiss, flirt, laugh and compliment each other in front of us. They have been careful to keep arguments behind closed doors. I'm so blessed for the wonderful parents God has placed in my life! I love you both so much!

A couple pictures from the past few years....

We were on vacation and everyone got sick! It was horrible! This is a funny picture to us because it brings back so many memories of staying in such a gorgeous vacation home and everyone puking their guts out. :)

On the beautiful ocean on vacation in Florida

Both of these pictures are bitter-sweet. Giving up their daughters! My parents were so good about this, despite it probably being the hardest thing they've ever done--to send their daughters up to 2000 miles away from home.