Family Photos 2009

Way overdue, but feel the need to document this here...

The whole world already knows this as of now, but I wanted to put it on here too....

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!!!! :) Miss Elena Joy, due on February 1st, 2010.





can't wait to see her sweet face!

From a mother's heart...

To my little boy...
You won't be little forever, so I'll hold you in my arms while I can.
I'll snuggle with you while you still think Mommy is the greatest person alive.
I'll get as many sloppy kisses from you as I can while you still willingly give them.
I'll rejoice every time you grab my leg and beg me not to leave the room...I know it won't always be that way.

Someday, you'll want to hang out with your friends more than Mom. You'll be busy with school and sports and homework and all the things that encompass growing up. But know that I will be treasuring each moment in my heart. I'll keep track of these years as they roll too quickly by and hang little mementos and memories on the walls of my heart to remind me just how blessed I am.

Not that I really need to be reminded. Everytime I look in your big blue eyes I am bombarded with the fact that God blessed me with you out of the blue. In the midst of a season of mourning in my life, He gave me you! My little blonde haired, blue eyed miracle.

I will never forget what your first little kicks inside me felt like, or the joy I knew when the doctors told us we were having a boy! Your name was chosen with care and though I may speak it in frustration sometimes, please know that you are loved beyond measure. I would NEVER trade any "hard" day for a day without you...

you are my precious gift, my miracle kid, my reflection of God's grace. I pray that He will grow you into a strong man of God who is a witness of immeasurable proportion. I can't wait for the day I hear you say that Jesus lives in your heart...

Thanks for making me the most proud Mommy ever. I know that my name won't always be "Mommy" and that someday it will morph into just Mom... but somewhere in the corners of my heart will always be the echo of that tiny voice I now hear say "mama".

I treasure you, my son, and hope you know just how much my life has been changed because of you and how I wouldn't change it for the world.

See the pic... enough said. :)

Coming down the homestretch!

Nathan has been away longer than I'd like to add up right now, and I'm so happy that he's coming home sooooon! :) As of right now, (if weather holds, and training doesn't get disrupted for anything else), he will be back most likely on April 17th, at the latest the 18th!

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that he'll be home and we can start settling into normalcy again. (whatever that means! haha) The biggest prayer request is that he'll be able to get a job. He doesn't have a civilian job to come home to, and we'll be relegated to living off savings if we can't get something lined up quickly. God has never let us go hungry and the bills have always been paid, so I KNOW that something will work out. If you read this, please pray with us that we will be patient as we wait for God's perfect timing!

My hilarious boy!

I just looooove his belly laugh!

Single parenting is hard...

I give total props to all those single parents out there. My stint as a "single" parent these last few months has been one of the most exhausting experiences of my life. It is so incredibly draining to fulfill the role of both Mommy and Daddy for a child. I KNOW that Christian can feel the absence of his Daddy, and I cannot WAIT for Nathan to get home! I've learned a few things about myself and this parenting thing through this process:

1. I took for granted the moment when Nathan would walk through the door after work each day. He didn't even have to DO anything, but there was such a sense of relief (HA!) when I knew there was another parent to help take the reigns if needed. :)

2. There is NO DOUBT in my mind the role of a father in the life of a child, especially that of a little boy. Christian does much better all around when Nathan is home. Even at 14 months, he knows when the family isn't complete.

3. I have a harder time sleeping at night when Nathan isn't here. I don't know why... I mean, I have the WHOLE bed to myself. :) I think somewhere in the back of my mind I must feel like I can't sleep deeply for fear that I won't hear Christian if he needs me. The irony to this point is that Nathan sleeps like a rock when he is here and most nights doesn't hear Christian AT ALL. :)

4. It is seventeen times harder to make it to church by myself. I either have to shower the night before or not shower at all. And Christian HATES the nursery, so it's a bazillion trips back and forth to calm a screaming baby. Not much from the sermon gets a chance to get through many times.

5. The longer Nathan is away, the more attached Christian becomes to me--quite literally. There is a small fear in my mind that this will continue after Nathan gets back... but I'm hoping that's not the case.


Suffice it to say, this has been a good learning experience for all! :) I am so ready, though, to have the complete family back together. I truly believe that God did not design in his perfect plan for us to "go it alone". I will never condemn anyone who is walking the single parent life---in fact, I commend you many times over. But, I understand the importance even more now of the bond that God designed between husband and wife and "mom and dad".