Our new annual tradition

On Saturday, April 9th, Mike, Daniel & I took a little day trip to the strawberry farm that Daniel & I went to last year.




A lot of these pictures are similar to last year's pictures, but Daniel is just a year older.




A lot of the strawberries were HUGE, and SO sweet and juicy!!










My sisters, Ashley and Laura, and Laura's fiance, Shannon drove up and met us for part of the morning. Daniel was very excited to see them!





This peacock was displaying all his colors for us for a long time, he was so pretty! This is funny to me because my sisters and scuz (our nickname for our cousin who is like a sister to us) tell me that I used to not like peacocks when I was younger...I have no recollection of this dislike. haha, maybe they made it up. :)






Daniel was in love with these baby bunnies, he wanted to pet them for a LONG time!!!
I finally had to make him move on so some other little kid could have a turn.







Daniel had such a FUN time, as did all of us!! We picked 2 pints of big delicious juicy strawberries.



Daniel loves his Aunts so much and they love him too, it makes my heart happy to see them interact with each other.



It was a great day and we want to go back before the season is over. I've made strawberry jam, strawberry shortcake, and this past weekend, made a cake with strawberry buttercream icing. I'll have to post pictures of those soon. Yum, yum, yum!

Happy 35th birthday Mike

The next few pictures are more about the decorations for Mike's birthday celebration. Mike smoked a Boston butt and we had some of our friends from our small group over (which isn't so small anymore). My friend, Kristin, told me about a party planning blog, and oh.my.goodness!!! So the inspiration for Mike's birthday was Reese's Pieces, his favorite candy. I went with the brown, yellow, and orange color scheme and we had a dessert table, which I'm pretty sure my friends wanted to kill me over as that was the first thing you saw as you walked in the door and keeping the kids away from it before dinner was a full time job! Sorry friends. :)



Who wants to eat baby carrots and yellow pepper strips when Reese's Pieces are within reach?!



I found this brown and white polka dot fabric and wide orange rick rack at Joanne's to make the tablecloth. I was just going to hot glue it on but then decided if I did it right, it could be washed and used in the future, I'm glad I sewed it instead of hotglueing it. :)



I already had this polka dot vase which matched the fabric perfectly. With extra fabric I just folded it in thirds to make a table runner.






I've wanted to make one of these cake pennents ever since I saw it on Erika's and Jill's blog.


It was a fun party and we are so greatful we get to celebrate such a wonderful husband, father, and friend! I love you Mike and look forward to seeing what God has in store for you this coming year!

Seaside School 5K & Half Marathon Girls Weekend

I wanted to share just a few of the best pictures from the race weekend. I was so glad to be able to go on this girls weekend even though I couldn't run. The pictures speak for themselves, I love them because they capture the emotion from the day. I am SOOOO proud of these girls!! We had such a wonderful weekend, talked, ate, shopped, and most did a lot of running. (In my mind, the running was just a good excuse for a fabulous getaway girls weekend!)

Brooke, the famous Darby from Flythroughourwindow, Danielle, and I were the cheerleaders and it was COLD while we waited for our friends to cross the finish line!















We were all so greatful to L.A.'s aunt and uncle who allowed all 16 of us to stay in their beautiful beach house!! And I'm happy to report that my back is all better and I have been able to return to my normal activities!!

Not your ordinary Tuesday

Last night when we went to bed we knew some thunderstorms were coming, but we didn't expect what hit. At 3:13am I rembember hearing Daniel cry, like he was scared because of the thunder and Mike jumped out of bed to go get him. While he was in Daniel's room, and I was alone in the bed, I heard what sounded like a slow brush of leaves against the house near the dining room, no major thud. Mike got Daniel and went to look outside, a totally normal thing for Mike to do during a thunderstorm. He calmly came back in and just as calmly said, "a tree fell on our car". It was a long night for all three of us. When we woke up in the morning, this was the view out the dining room window.













On the positive side, we got to have Mike home with us all day, I loved that he took care of all the arrangements necessary when something like this happens. I am so proud of the way he handled it. Our friend, Buckley came over after lunch with his chain saw to help cut up the limbs in smaller more manageable pieces and to get the biggest trunk off the top of the car. Daniel was absolutely fascinated with the chainsaw action. And...we now have a ton of fire wood for the winter, YAY! :-)








We are so thankful for God's protection last night, that we are all safe and that our house was not damaged. Our car is only a thing and it is fixable. We are thankful for our good insurance that will provide a rental car for 30 days, and towing service that towed our Tahoe away (it is driveable but there was a ton of glass inside and no rear windows on left and back). It could have been so much worse and our hearts ache for the families who lost loved ones during this crazy storm. As I was sweeping up the 1000's of pieces of shattered glass I was thinking about the people in Japan, there's really no comparison, yeah this was a mess and took the better part of the afternoon to clean up, but it could be cleaned up! Again, thankful.

My mind tends to wander to the what if's... you may be wondering, why did you park right there instead of inside your garage?! Good question! I was parked there because we are in the long (for us) process of cleaning out the garage and it is in complete disaray and therefore, no room to park in there. But the what if's won't erase what happened, like many people say, "it is what it is". The tow truck guy said, when he came to pick up the car, "wow, I bet you were mad when you woke up this morning to this!"...well, getting mad about it won't do any good, so not really. We are looking forward to a better nights sleep tonight, thankful for God's provision and protection, and thankful to all our friends and neighbors who offered to help in any way, drive me around, and offered their support. Not your ordinary Tuesday and hopefully we won't have to ever go through this again.

Lean not on your own understanding

This is a picture of my Half Marathon training schedule. Back in August of 2010, I was at Marie's baby shower when some of my friends, 2 of whom are runners, started talking about the Half Marathon in Seaside in March of 2011 and how fun it would be if we could get a big group of girls to go. I laughed at this idea and repeatedly told my friend Amy, with her positive peer pressure, that I do not run! I am not a runner, don't enjoy it, won't and can't do it! Somehow on my long walks with Daniel in a jogger stroller and Campbell on a leash, I started doing walkjogs, I would walk a little, then run a little, and so on. My friends were serious about signing up for the race and the night of the baby shower there was a lot of enthusiasm which turned into reality. They even made a yahoo group to send out emails about running together. So one day, back in September, I asked if I could join them at 6:00 am! We all have small children and had to be home so our husbands could go to work. To my surprise, I was able to keep up with them, for the most part, on a 3 mile run. I had to walk some, but never let them get out of my sight, and then would run to catch up with them. So I started meeting with them regularly twice a week at 6am. They kept asking me if I was going to do the race and I half heartedly would say yes, but never registered. One morning on a run, I learned that the race was full and I was so bummed because I knew that registering for that race (and forking over $120)would be the thing that kept me accountable to running! I decided I would still keep running with them in the mornings because my sister's wedding is coming up in May and so that would be my new motivation. On January 18th, 120 more slots opened up for the race, so after Bible study, I went home and signed up! I was nervous and excited! My sister, Ashley, also got in that day too. So from then on, it was serious, I was commited and accountable. Having my running partners, L.A., Caroline, Alicia, and Danielle has been such an encouragement to me! It's like a social hour to start the day, we can talk (in between huffing and puffing) without being distracted by our children. Plans started taking shape to stay at L.A.'s aunt & uncle's beach house close to the race, and make it a girls weekend. FUN FUN!! At one point there were 17 of us going, 9 runners and 8 cheerleaders. I really have enjoyed, MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, the training. The results of the hard work are wonderful! Caroline and I were saying this past Saturday that we are talking crazy talk! To hear ourselves say, "We just ran 10 miles" is crazy! I couldn't even run 1 mile without stopping this past August! It's been challenging too, running in 30 degree weather, running with a cough that's lasted 8 weeks, running gimpishly with my bum knee (that happened after 8 miles). But my attitude changed from I can't and I won't to I can and I'm excited to run this half marathon on Sunday, March 6th!! But God has other plans for me...like I said, I ran 10 miles this past Saturday and felt wonderful Saturday and Sunday, my knee was ok, and I was feeling confidant that I could do the 13.1 without a doubt! But Monday I woke up with my back hurting. I have had back problems off and on since my teens so this is nothing really new for me. I took Ibuprofen around the clock on Monday, ran a bunch of errands, got new running shorts for the race and some enegry goos, but the pain just got progressively worse throughout the day. I laid my running clothes out Monday night for my run on Tuesday morning, but when my alarm went off I could hardly get out of bed and then I couldn't stand up straight or walk, it was excruciating! I laid awake for awhile just waiting until 8:00 when I could call the Doctor. Thank goodness Mike stayed home to take care of me and Daniel, he did everything- dressed me and Daniel, took care of the dog, meals, driving us, everything! After seeing the doctor and the physical therapist on Tuesday, I was advised repeatedly not to run the race this Sunday. And not just not to do it, but that I wouldn't physically be able to do it. I was DEVESTATED!! I cried all day long, everytime someone would text or call me to say how sorry they were or to check on me, I would start crying all over again. Daniel said to me at one point, "It's ok mommy". He was so sweet as I was laying on the floor, he brought me some toys to play with and hold, he helped me drink my coffee from my turvis tumbler with a straw, and gave me lots of hugs and kisses. I don't know why this had to happen the week before the race, but the verses I've been thinking about alot since Tuesday are Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, an he will make your paths straight." So Wednesday I decided that I was going to have a positive attitude and no more pity parties for myself. My goal was to get feeling good enough to still go on the girls weekend and I will cheer on my sister and my friends with gusto! My friends and my husband have been AWESOME helping me with Daniel, picking up prescriptions, tidying up my house, offering to do anything I need, sacrificing their time, they are AMAZING!! Thank you all for your support, encouragement and your prayers! God is answering our prayers, because I do feel much better than Tuesday for sure! There are so many much worse things than not getting to run a race. There will be more races in the future, and I have surprised myself with what I have accomplished, by God's grace!

The Last Discovery space shuttle launch

My husband is a huge fan of all things space related! Ever since I've known him, he has wanted me to see a space shuttle launch, something I've never seen before. For the past 8 years, I've resisted every time he suggests we spontaneously drive down to watch a launch. I can come up with a slew of excuses as to why I can't or we shouldn't go, but as the space shuttle program is coming to a rapid halt I knew it was inevitable and I was going to have to give in. I don't really know what my problem is, I'm not too good at spontaneous for one thing. :) So last week when he proposed the idea of us going to the Discovery's last launch this past Thursday, I relented and said yes. So down to Titusville we drove on Thursday with plans to come right back here that night (it's a four hour drive each way). We got to Titusville with about 2 hours to spare prior to launch time. It took us a while to find a parking spot and walk down to the water where we could get a good view. There were people EVERYWHERE, it was like a HUGE tailgate party! Daniel made friends with an old dog while Mike scoped out the best spot for us to park our stuff.



It was pretty windy where we stood, behind a huge high rise assisted living building right on the water, with a view across the Mosiquito Lagoon part of the Indian River to the 3 launch pads and the vehicle assembly building (read HUGE building!). Daniel was having a blast running around in the parking lot after being cooped up in the car for 4 hours! He is a very good traveler, ate lunch and napped in his car seat!



I could tell everyone around me's excitement was mounting as the clock ticked closer to launch time, and then there was a scare that it may be delayed or canceled due to a computer malfunction but the smart people at NASA must have gotten that taken care of just in the nick of time! And before I knew it, I saw a huge billow of smoke and then next thing I saw was the shuttle off the ground!



I must admit, tears welled up in my eyes as I watched the shuttle climb higher and higher and people all around us were cheering. I was holding Daniel and Mike had the camera. At one point when everyone was cheering, Daniel was clapping and smiling and he said, "We did it!" Love that boy!! In this last picture of the shuttle, you can kind of see the rocket boosters falling away from the shuttle.

I was surprised how quickly it was all over! So we made our way back to the car along with thousands of other people. This is when the fun went in a not so fun direction. :( Our plan was to drive to Orlando for Mike to attend a viewing for one of his donor's wife. But, it took us an hour to go 2.5 miles and we sadly watched the GPS add time to our ETA to Orlando meaning Mike would miss the viewing completely. At this point, it is getting to be dinner time and with a 2 year old, we decided maybe we should turn around and try to go find something to eat. As we drove in the opposite direction, I think both our hearts sunk as we saw the enormous amounts of cars we were passing. I was starting to get huffy and I had to pee, so we pulled ever so slowly into a Walgreens. While I had a moment by myself, I figured, there's no reason to get huffy about being stuck in traffic with 200,000 other people, we're all in the same boat! With a new attitude and on our way again, we came to a carry out Pizza Hut. So we ordered our pizza and played in the parking lot until it was ready. Then we had a little picnic on the steps of the Love Covenant Word church next to a Gun store in a strip shopping center. FUN MEMORIES! Ha ha! It really was fun. 3 hours after the launch, the traffic had finally thinned enough we got back on the road.


We got home at 12:30am, it was a fun, spontaneous trip and I'm glad I got to see the space shuttle launch! Thank you Mike for wanting me to have this experience and see new things! Daniel loved it too!

Joy to the World

I haven't been able to keep up with my blog for many reasons, but I felt compelled to write this post. Below are several of my favorite pictures from this Christmas. I felt so blessed to be surrounded by my parents, in-laws, sisters, & sister's fiance (Shannon), this Christmas. One of my favorite memories about this Christmas was singing Silent Night by candlelight at our church's, Christmas Eve service, with our whole immediate family standing with us.



Mike got stone crab claws for our appetizer for our special Christmas Eve meal.



Chef, Jean Michel (said with a French accent, AKA, my very talented, aspiring chef husband), made AH-MAZING Carolina crab cakes with tomato gravy, roasted garlic smashed red potatoes, and sauteed asparagus for our special dinner. DELISH!!!




My sister, Laura's (and Mike's sister Carol - although she couldn't be with us this year)birthday is on Christmas day, so we had a cake (my prize winning chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and peanut butter and chocolate glaze)for her. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and then to Laura. This is the first time we have sung Happy Birthday to Jesus, but I wanted to do it because Daniel totally understands birthdays, and we have been talking about Christmas day being Jesus' birthday.




My sister's Ashley, and Laura, being silly on Christmas Eve. Ashley gave Laura and me matching pajama pants! Love having my sister's here!! They are so much fun to be around! And they are hilarious!!



Here is Daniel trying out his new scooter from Mimi and Papa.



This year, more than any other year before, I think I grasped a little of the true meaning of Christmas. 2010 has been hard in many ways, emotionally draining, faith stretching and building, and good all at the same time. I will try to give a highlight of some of the good and the hard things I've experienced this past year, probably unintentionally leaving some things out:

Good
Multiple friends had healthy babies
A husband who loves his job
Being able to stay home most of the time with Daniel, working less at the hospital
Celebrating Grandmother's 90th birthday (mom's mom)
Celebrating Grandfather's 80th birthday (dad's dad)
Making new friends
Sister's engagement
Serving at church this Christmas season
Watching our small group generously love a financially hurting family
Baby Jacob coming home from the hospital to spend Christmas at home with his family!

Hard
Friend's baby died, 1st Christmas without him
Friend's divorce
Multiple friends going through financially difficult times
Friend's MIL sudden death from stroke, then FIL hit by a car, remains in critical condition out of town
Watched in-laws close friend's lose their spouses
Our unsuccessful attempt at IVF
(I was going to add that one of our best friend's sister's unborn baby is suspected to have a probable genetic abnormality, possibly incompatible with life, but just received and email right before Christmas, that prenatal labwork and genetic studies point to hopefully good news,either cysts that will resolve on their own, or a rare genetic disorder).

This year I have seen people I love go through incredibly painful circumstances, and I have also gone through a more emotionally draining and disappointing circumstance myself. How can people who have so much hurt have joy at Christmas? It's a celebratory holiday, yet SO many people have SO much pain and hurt in their lives. (I am realizing this more and more the older I get and the more I allow myself to love others).

Our pastor preached a sermon on December 19th that was eye opening to me from Luke 1: 26-33. I will try my best to tell you what I got out of it.

The angel said to Mary, "do not be afraid, there is plenty of joy."
Your life may have much fear and little joy,
the angel brought a "good message"
The angel told Mary her son would be great- greatness is produced by humility, dependence, and service. Phil. 2, He made himself nothing, the road to glory came from laying down his rights.
Out of a place of deep sacrificial love, he poured himself into others, through denial, humility, and sacrifice for others (Phil. 2:5-9, Mark 10:45)
The angel proclaimed: we are hopelessly unable to save ourselves
He instructed Mary to call her baby Jesus...why?
His name signifies his work, He will make a complete purchase of your life, you can't reconcile yourself, he will save his people from their sins. (salvation is not based on good works or merit, it is by Grace)
Much of our anxiety and sadness is because we fail to understand how totally loved and accepted we are by Jesus.
Our pain is proof that we still live in a broken world, not that God has turned his back on me, this is not our eternal home. The world I want is still coming.
His blessing is going to be as extensive as far as the curse is found. (Joy to the world, He comes to make his blessings known as far as the curse if found!).


So even though we celebrate Christmas, Christmas is the sufferers holiday. Christmas guarantees that God has, does, and will continue to address what I'm going through (and everyone who has pain and suffering and hard stuff happen to them). He came to end death. And even though happiness feels good, it is fleeting, but joy can last forever.

All that being said, to be completely honest, I still don't understand/am confused at why hard, terrible, painful stuff happens to people I love, and even to wonderful people I don't even know. I mean I know we live in a broken world, and these things should make me long for my eternal home, but they are still hard, and I think that Jesus understands why I am sad about these things.

So to all of us who are hurting, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13 (This is one of my life verses!)

We have had a wonderful, exhausting Christmas with lots of family and traveling, tons of good food and thoughtful gifts, but I can truly say, I am most thankful for the gift of my salvation, that came from Jesus' life, his death on the cross to pay for my sins, and his Resurrection.