The Beach With No Camera!

I'll blame it on my preggo brain, but we just spent the weekend at the beach with no camera! I totally didn't even think about packing it! Some friends did get some pics so I'm hoping to get those at some point. We were in Seagrove, FL for our end of the year conference with Crusade. It was a lot of fun to catch up with friends and spend time at the beach. We had a condo right on the water and I just loved listening to the ocean. The water was gorgeous and we got to see some dolphins swimming one morning! Ellie Kate and Samuel loved the sand and water. We are now ready to spend most of May back down in Destin, FL for our summer project. We will be helping staff the Greek Summit Project where fraternity and sorority students come to get trained in how to have ministries in their houses. It is a great project and we are really looking forward to our time there. So, now I am running around like a crazy woman trying to unpack, wash clothes, and repack for when we leave on Friday. I will be sure to hopefully remember my camera and post pics while we are in Destin!

I've Been Tagged!

Deborah tagged me so now my lucky readers get to know me a little better! I've never been tagged so I'm weirdly excited about this. Enjoy these useless facts about yours truly...

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was finishing up my freshman year of college at THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA! ROLL TIDE!!!!

5 Things on my To Do List:
-get invitations done for a friend's baby shower
-put clean laundry away
-wash more laundry
-get ready for our staff team dinner tonight
-open a new ING savings account for our tax return:) woo hoo!

5 Snacks I enjoy:
okay so this is a hard one for me since food is not a super fun topic these days:) so I could only come up with 4 snacks that I like right now...
-pretzels
-an apple
-cereal
-mini vanilla wafers

5 Things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
-Give it away to our church and Campus Crusade, some orphanages around the world, and women who need infertility treatments but can't afford it
-Pay off my car and student loan
-Build my dream house
-Go on a fabulous vacation (or 2, or even 3)
-Buy a monogram machine (stole this one from Deb)

5 Bad Habits:
-Watching TV
-Spending too much time on the internet
-Not putting up clean laundry for 2-3 days
-Emotional eating
-leaving cups in the car (again, thanks Deb)

5 Places I've Lived:
-Gadsden, AL
-Alpharetta, GA
-Tuscaloosa, AL
-Hattiesburg, MS
-Athens, GA

5 Jobs I've Had:
-hostess at Stoney River Steakhouse
-server at Chili's
-server at 15th Street Diner
-college minister with Campus Crusade for Christ
-full time mommy (by far my favorite!!!)

Now...Julia, Heather, Haley, and Sarah Warren...TAG, you're it! This means y'all have to copy and paste this little activity into your own blogs, but obviously answer the questions with your own answers!

Ellie Kate

Just some cute pictures of our silly girl. She loves to play with my keys! Her dirty face is after attempting to eat spaghetti...she didn't care for it too much which seems to be the norm now as she has become somewhat of a picky eater. Ellie Kate continues to be super busy and into everything! Her vocabulary is expanding slowly. Right now, she likes to walk around the house saying "no, no...no, no." It's kinda cute except it probably means we are telling her "no" too often...oops! She keeps me laughing all day and has such a lively and fun personality. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of stubbornness and strong will showing up too. She is growing up quick and it really amazes me all that she can do and understand. 13 months is such a fun age!

Enjoying the Outdoors

It has been so beautiful this week! Samuel and Ellie Kate have been playing outside ALOT! Ellie Kate seriously loves it and pitches a fit when we have to go back inside. She loves to follow Samuel around and chase after balls. They play in the sandbox really well together too! Samuel has been finding lots of bugs lately. One of the pictures below is of him showing you one of the worms he found.

Yes, I did change my blog design again. It is addicting and hopefully y'all don't mind too much...I'm just keeping you from getting too bored!

Beautiful!

Today we got to see a beautiful 9 week old baby with a healthy beating heart. It even wiggled a bit for us! We are so thankful and would appreciate continued prayers that everything would keep going well and that this new miracle would grow and join our family in November!

My Angel

"My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:15-16

I can't believe it has been 9 months since I saw those 2 pink lines on a warm August night. It seems weird that the day is finally here...the day I would have had my 3rd child. The day I have pretty much been dreading since September 15, 2007. I had just a few short weeks of dreaming and planning and wondering what this surprise miracle would be like. It was such a short time and yet it was the exact time that the Lord had purposed. I still don't understand or like it, but I love my God and I trust in Him completely. He is holding my baby even now, as I so wish I could be doing today. He has also held me the last 7 months and carried me through the pain. I love the song playing right now on my playlist. It is called "Glory Baby" by Watermark. I think it pretty much sums my feelings up. I will miss this baby every day and I long for the day I get to hold him or her in heaven. I especially like this verse...

Sweet little baby(s), it’s hard to
understand it ‘cause we’re hurting
We are hurting
But there is healing
And we know we’re stronger people through the growing
And in knowing-
That all things work together for our good
And God works His purposes just like He said He would…
Just like He said He would…

God has done so much through this loss. He has opened my eyes to others who have lost someone they loved. He has given me so many others to reach out too and talk about miscarriage with. I have enjoyed praying for my sweet friends who have also had to go through losing a child. I am burdened for them each day. The Lord has been so good to me and I am so thankful for His tender mercies that are new each morning. I did not expect to be pregnant again by this day. I am so grateful as it does ease the pain a bit. I still want my April baby, but I have new hope that I will be holding a new baby in November. I am scared out of my mind, but trusting in His Sovereignty. Today, I am missing my baby but I am thanking God for the 9 1/2 weeks He gave me. I am thanking Him for the pain and the suffering that helps me understand the Cross a little bit more. I am thanking Him for sweet friends and family who have not forgotten this day and who are praying even now.

Ukraine in The News

Last night, a local Birmingham, AL News Station, did a story on Lifeline Children's Services (who we used to adopt Samuel) and some couples who have and are adopting from Ukraine. We actually made the newscast too as they showed a picture of us with Samuel right after we adopted him. They also showed a pic of our friends, the Akers, who were actually in Ukraine with us.

Click Here to go watch it!

I love adoption and am so proud that we were able to add to our family in this amazing way. Whenever I see and hear of other families who have done it or are doing it...I just get so excited. I really hope and pray that the Lord can provide for us to adopt again one day!

Cutest Blog on The Block

Many of you have asked about the backgrounds I have had on my blog. The first background was on Pyzam. They have some really cute stuff, but be careful because when you change it in the HTML code, you lose your widgets and all you sidebar stuff! So, in an effort to find more backgrounds, I found Cutest Blog on The Block via my friend April's blog. Cutest Blog on the Block has some really cute free backgrounds, but she will also do a custom background for a small fee (the cheapest I have seen anywhere). For my header, I found a really cool site called Scrapblog. So, I will probably change around the look of this blog from time to time, cause I think its fun and I get tired of looking at the same thing all the time. I know, I am a dork!

Playing in The Mud!

While we were at my parents this weekend (Jeff was at seminary) Samuel was in heaven on Friday playing in the mud. What it is about boys and getting dirty?

Wedding Shower Fun!

My brother, Ryan is getting married in June to Erin. We are so excited for them! They have been dating for 7 years! Isn't that crazy? I am so happy to have Erin as my future sister-in-law. She is such a fun, sweet girl and she and Ryan are perfect together. I went to a shower for her this past weekend that my Mom's Bible Study group gave her. The food was delicious and it was really fun to see all her fun gifts. It makes me want to go back and register!

Here is a picture of Ryan and Erin at our house on Christmas Eve last year...this was a few days after they got engaged. Aren't they cute?

Walking and a Few Pics

Wow, I am so overwhelmed by all the prayers and encouragement about my pregnancy. Thank you so much! I absolutely LOVE to get comments and I especially love to hear from those of you I don't really know are reading...so thanks to the delurkers!

Here is the video of Ellie Kate walking (it was several days ago so she has actually gotten better and rarely crawls now)...only problem is I can't turn it the right way so you'll have to turn your head. Maybe I can take another one later. Ellie Kate has been a teething mess lately so she hasn't been the best subject. This is mainly for the grandmothers who really want to see EK showing off her new skill.

Samuel is the best big brother. He loves to play with Ellie Kate although he can tend to be a bit rough with her. She is going to be a tough girl that is for sure! I thought this was a cute picture of them watching Veggie Tales (it lasted about one minute).


I had to cut Ellie Kate's hair today. It was hanging down to her nose. I really didn't want to do it but she takes her bows out a lot now and then she can't see with all that hair hanging in her face. I'm not sure I like the bangs, but she is still the cutest girl to me!