Christmas 2010

This Christmas was a lot of fun. Lily had a blast opening her presents and playing with everything she got. She got a ton of stuff this year but she has loves it all.
These are just a few of the fun moments of our Christmas. Hope yours was amazing too.

"30'

So this month I turned 30! At first I didn't really care about turning 30, in fact I never really thought about it. But my the celebration for my 30th birthday started back in October. My great friend Lauren took me away for a weekend to go wine tasting and then to the spa at Peek n Peak. We travel to Erie and Chautauqa New York to go wine tasting. It was an amazing trip and so much fun. I learned all kinds of things about wine and what kinds of wine I really like.

But the celebrations continued later in December. Bobby surprised me by taking me to Nemacolin Woodlands Spa. It was amazing! While I was getting a glorious mud wrap, Bobby enjoyed relaxing by the pool and Lily enjoyed an afternoon at the children's camp. It was an amazing day and though I did start to begin to feel differently about being 30, I decided that after all the fun I had turning 30, that I want to turn 30 every year...and so I shall.

What we have been up to!

This fall has been going by too fast for me. Here is the latest on our lives:

Bob and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary on October 6th. We had a great dinner at home, minus Lily of course.
This fall has also been fun for Lily too! She got a new playhouse...well new to her ;)






Lily has also enjoyed feeding herself....

Lily also enjoyed dressing up for Halloween as our Lady Bug...she was so stinkin cute!!!

So that has been our fall so far. Full of so much fun and laughter. I can't wait to see how the rest of it goes.

As for me...

I have been thinking a lot lately about how it is we serve the Lord. We all are called to serve him in different way. I love that He has called me to serve Him while being a wife and a mother. He has called others to serve him through being labors, or doctors, policemen, farmers, and through service in the military. Yesterday we welcomed home one of our former student from Marine boot camp. It was an exciting time to celebrate a big accomplishment in his life. Jacob was created to be a Marine, this is how he will serve the Lord everyday. Once we find how we are to serve God, there is a joy that comes with that service and you know that if you were to try to serve him in other ways would be a lie.
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15

It goes by too fast...

It's been too long since I have posted anything and yet I don't feel like much has happened in 2 months. But at the same time so much has. Lily is becoming this amazing little person, with her very own personality. She is curious, demanding, funny and smart. She doesn't take "no" for an answer and she always gives kisses. She also has an extreme obsession with bananas! She loves, loves, LOVES animals and screams with joy when she sees one. She is growing more teeth by the day and she loves playing. We are loving our 1 year old so much!

1 Year Later

Yesterday Lily turned 1. It was a very exciting day, a little bitter sweet, but very fun. It is really hard to believe that she is a year old already. Time has gone by so fast. This last year was so much fun. Watching Lily grow and develop in so many new ways makes me so excited for the years to come. Though I really miss her being a tiny baby, I love having a baby who walks and talks...even if I have no idea what she is saying. Here are some stats on Miss Lily- she is 18 lbs and 28 inches long. She enjoys feeding Mercy our dog all the food off of her high chair tray. She loves drinking from my water bottle and she loves goldfish crackers. Her favorite toy is her ball popper and my cell phone, her favorite show is the Backyardagains. Her new favorite word is "Hi" along with "Dadda, Momma, and Baby" She is an amazing little girl and I can't imagine living my life without her.

Our Summer of Service

This summer Bob and I (and Lily for one) served on 2 mission trips. The first trip was to Chattanooga TN with our Jr. High students. They spend that week loving the elderly and playing with a ton of kids at different HeadStart programs throughout the city. It was an incredible week for them to see just how much they can serve and love others like Christ has loved them. They worked so hard and really began to look at what it really means to love and to serve like Jesus. This trip was a great way for them to start to dig deeper into their faith. Plus Chattanooga is GREAT city with a ton of fun things to do and see. Lily and I traveled down for most of the week to be with the team. We didn't do much work but it was fun to be with everyone.




Beautiful Chattanooga!!





Clearly we were hard at work


The second trip was to Logan WV and we just got home last night. Lily stayed home with family and friends for the week and had herself a great little vacation. Bob, myself and 4 other leaders took 20 high school students to a small, very poor town in West Virgina. Logan is not known for very much and nearly 4 weeks ago suffered a flood , but the damage was still evident when we got there. Our week was spent serving the local kids at Kids Club, as well as many work projects at homes; doing things like painting, cleaning and flood clean up. Kids Club was an intense week for our students (most of the guys), the kids there were rude and crazy. At the beginning of the week our students spent time just trying to get them to respect them and to not fight! But by the last day our guys were in tears as they said goodbye to the boys they worked with all week. It was an amazing thing to watch these high school guys melt when talking about the boys they were with. The girls spent the week in the incredible heat ( high 90's or 100) painting houses, picking up trash and working at the Appalachian Dream Center ( a local ministry that serves lunch daily and is working with FEMA and the Red Cross to hand out clean up supplies for the flood). This week was such an great experience for me and for our students. It was a week filled with Christ invading the hearts our our students. To hear them speak every night of what they saw and how He touched their lives, makes me so excited to see how they will continue to seek Christ everyday and always be willing to serve those who the world forgets. And trust me, the world has forgotten about Logan WV. I have never had students ask me to return to the same site before this week. I don't think I can fully describe how AMAZING this week was, God is truly moving in our students lives in a way that I have never seen. Bob and I were so encouraged by this week. We are so lucky to have this job!!!

Sean and Chris at Kids Club




Evan cleaning gutters

Audra In Africa

I have been so lucky that over the past 10 years to be a mentor and friend to Audra. She is one of those students that at the end of your days in ministry, you can look at her life and say "She got it, I'm so proud of her." You can be in ministry and spend time with literally hundreds of kids and maybe only have a few actually get what you have taught them. Well she is one of those students for me. I have watched her grow from a short annoying ( and she knows it!!!) 6th grader who would steal Bobby's hat, to now a beautiful and mature women of God who is a senior at Grove City College and is spending her summer in Sierra Leone Africa teaching. She has far surpassed any dream that I had for her. She has been an amazing servant of God even when it meant doing somethings she didn't want to do. She is a dear friend to me and my family and I cannot imagine my life without her in it.
I tell you all of this so that you can be praying for her while she is in Sierra Leone. Audra has a great opportunity to teach with a program called World Hope International as well as Transformation Education. She will be teaching Biology as well as some personal hygiene classes. She will be there from June 1- July 22. If you are interested in following her blog, Audge Blog, please visit. The internet if very slow there and her time for extra activities is limited.

Lessons From Lily

So I have realized that on numerous occasions Lily teaches me something very important. She teaches me things like when she wants me to hold her she typically has a poopy diaper or if you give her something to eat that she doesn't want she will give it to the dog. Also one of my least favorite things she taught me is that when I sit down to eat she will cry so that I stop eating to feed her...even if she has already eaten. But the most recent lesson she has taught me is that when she eats a bitter biscuit, she MUST be sitting in the high chair so that the bitter biscuit does not end up all over the couch or carpet.

Mother's Day

On Sunday I got to celebrate my very first Mother's Day. It was an amazing day. It started off early and fun. Bobby woke me up with Lily and a card. That's when I noticed that Lily had a purple hand...weird. Then I opened my card and realizes that Bobby had put her hand print in the card. It was so sweet. He also had my favorite picture of Lily and I framed. Then as I was holding Lily I noticed that she was pulling at her pajamas because there was something inside them. I opened her pajamas up and there was a small little box, inside of it I found a beautiful pearl ring. It was such a surprise and so thoughtful of Bobby. When I had Lily, Bobby gave me a beautiful pearl necklace. It was so neat that he thought to continue the theme. We spent the rest of the day at church and brunch with my family and dinner with Bobby's family. It was an amazing day. I think that I understand a whole different level of Mother's Day now. I used to think that mom's really desired the appreciation of their family, but for me at least, I spend my day thinking about how blessed I am to have such a sweet baby girl. She is the most perfect gift I have ever been given. And to think that I was entrusted with her is an honor. God has amazing plans for her and Bob and I get to play a part in that. I could not ask for a better day.

Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday Lily and I went to the zoo with one of my high school girls, Jen. We had such a great time and had several "zoo moments" to speak of. We enjoyed watching and hearing the lion roar, watching the baby elephant play with the big ones, and not only getting to see the sharks swimming but also getting to watch the polar bears swim too!!! It was so fun...Lily's favorite part was the aquarium.

Good Games Gone Bad

We have had an incredible year with our jr. high youth group. It is growing and we are having all kinds of fun at our Wednesday night youth group. We have been playing games based on the TV show Minute to Win it...it has been so fun. Here are a few pictures from "On the Nose" and then one with M& M's.






Then last week we thought it would be fun to play a version of broom ball...but using mops and brooms we bought from the dollar store. Well here is a picture of how dollar store brooms and mops hold up when you use them to play hockey with. Now imagine 30 jr high students swinging broken brooms and mops around at a ball and each other...chaos. But SO fun at the same time. No one was seriously hurt, just a few scratches.

Chicken Pox !

Well...we have it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Lily on Wednesday morning. I called the doctor and made an appointment...meanwhile Bobby was on the computer reading about chicken pox. I was sure she had them but then her dr. confirmed it. Dr. Claire was so shocked to see her with them. We had just been to she her on Monday for Lily's 9 month appointment where she got a clean bill of health. So all we can do now is wait it out. She seems to be dealing with it fine, a fever and some discomfort, but so so good. So Lily is now 9 months old, 16 lbs (8%) and 26 in. (10%) and very healthy. She is enjoying crawling and pulling herself up on everything. We love seeing what new things she will do everyday. Here are a few pictures of Lily with her spots!!! She still is so cute.

Bath Time

Lily enjoys her bath so much we couldn't miss getting some pictures.

Favorite Baby Accessory

Today was the first day that I put Lily in her BabyLegs. They are my new favorite article of clothing. Today is that kind of day where I did not want to have to worry about pants...I am really wishing for more spring weather. So today it's a onesie and her BabyLegs. We got them for Christmas and she is just really growing into them. They are perfect for her now that she is crawling, sometimes her pants just get in the way. You should check out BabyLegs. They aren't expensive at all and they come in so many fun colors and patterns. Today we are wearing our Cinnamon ones and our saving our Cappuccino ones for later! Here is Lily wearing hers!

Play time!

Last week while Maya was spending Thursday with us, Kelly and Liam came over to play. Here are just a few pictures of our day. Having 3 kids around is so much fun.

The reality of Hunger

This weekend our youth group participated in World Visions 30 Hr. Famine. If you haven't heard of World Vision, then it's time to check them out. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian charity organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. They serve nearly 100 million people in over 100 countries. World Vision is doing incredible things to fight hunger, poverty, HIV/AIDS and many other factors the diminishes a person's quality of life. World Vision is giving dignity back to vulnerable people. The 30 Hr. Famine is a chance for our high school students to give up eating for 30 hours to raise money and awareness of the issue of hunger around the world. Everyday 30,000 children die because of malnutrition and diarrhea....both of which are preventable. Over 2 billion people live on less than $2 a day...about the price we pay for a cup of coffee.

I am proud to say that this weekend our youth group as well as the students the attended The Well ( a high school outreach program) raised over $1400. I am so proud of them!!! To learn more about World Vision or how you can support them please visit www.worldvision.org

We have the money and resources to fight hunger around the world and in our own country. Please pray about how you can be part of solution.

New Things

It's been a while since I have posted anything. So here is an update on what you have missed. Lily turned 7 months old!!! She is now crawling and into everything. It has been so amazing to see her growing and learning new things. Plus she is so stinking cute! We got a fun new camera and I have been having too much fun taking pictures...mostly of Lily. I have picked up some fun little side jobs, watching our friends daughter Maya one day a week and then also working for my friend Betsy's business, Ziggle's custom designed chocolate greetings. I really enjoy all these new things in our week, plus all the normal youth group/church stuff. So as you can see we are keeping ourselves VERY busy. And we love it. Here are a few pictures, I will post more soon.