Fall Fun!

I can't express how much I love the FALL! The cooler weather, the warm, cozy, comfort foods, jackets, and scarfs! These are a few of my favorite things! Not to mention the anticipation of the holidays right around the corner! =) This past weekend started out dreary but overnight turned out to be just perfect! We visited our former hometown of Gulf Shores this weekend and celebrated with Gulfway Assembly on the dedication of their new, FABULOUS, facility! So many mixed emotions but we are so excited about all that God has in store for that region! We couldn't dare drive through without a visit to one of my most favorite places...the OUTLET MALLS! We passed by all sorts of cuties in their Halloween costumes, however our little Amelia was the ultimate little cutie pie for halloween! (aka I forgot to buy a costume!) Ah well, life goes on! I did score some cat/hampster ears (you decide!) at a garage sale!! I thought it would do! The whole weekend Amelia carried around her tride and true little rubber duckies! She loves them in the bath and out! She kept them with her everywhere we went and did not want them out of her sight! So, the ducks participated in picture time with us!

Saturday night we went to a fall festival and Matt and I played all the carnival games for Amelia in hopes to win her some candy! All she cared about were the dum-dum suckers! She loves them! So, unfortunately, I was stuck eating all the chocolate! So much fun! We had a great weekend!!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I just had to share this video with all of you! As I was getting dressed one morning I found Amelia in my closet trying on all my shoes! Naturally, she fell in love with my high heels! She is a true girly girl and I love it! Fortunatly, I had the camera close at hand and was able to catch her attempting to walk in her mommy's shoes!

Amelia just turned 17 mo. and she is growing like a weed!! She is so smart and I just love her to pieces! Everyday is a new adventure with her and I can't wait to see what she will discover next!

Lil' Miss Priss

Those three little words are most certainly the best way to describe our dainty beauty! She is 100% GIRL! But I love every bit of her! A couple days ago we decided to take Amelia to the park. The weather outside was finally starting to feel a bit more like fall and we quickly came up with a way to take advantage of it! I made several attempts to swing on the swing-set with Amelia but she was not too fond of that idea. It seemed a little too daring for her I guess! She mostly enjoyed walking around and staring at all the other "big" kids playing! Here are a few pictures and a video that I managed to snap while we were out!

Amelia spotted her daddy sitting on the park bench! Oh the excitment! Listen for her sweet chatter!

What's New With Us!

Hey everyone! I know many of my friends and family have felt kept in the dark this summer! My daily blogging came to a screeching hault after our big move from Alabama to Louisiana! I am so sorry to leave everyone hanging! We have been without internet access and to be perfectly honest, BUSY!! But, I am determined to catch everyone up on our lives and share the latest pictures of our little sweet pea!

Our summer has been crazy, to say the least! But we are hanging in there! We have been living in Hammond praying and trying to figure out what we are supposed to be doing! This summer has flown by it seems and throughout it all, we really feel that God is calling us to step it up and plant a church!! Scary, exciting, overwhelmed....were just a few of the emotions I had about this idea at first! But now I'm full of anticipation and am fully confident that "We can do ALL things through Christ who gives us strength!" God is usually really good about just opening the perfect doors for us and telling us exactly where to go, but this time He has really been stretching our faith and everything has not been "handed down to us on a silver platter" if you will. However, GOD HAS PROVIDED EVERYTHING WE HAVE NEEDED!!! He sold our house in Alabama and exactly the perfect time! He has provided unexpected checks just when we thought we couldn't pay the bills! He has given us perfect health and with no insurance coverage at hand, that really is a blessing!! So I share all this with you to simply say that God is in control! Even though we can't see Him in front of us, we know that He is right beside us! So now our biggest life question is not what we are going to do but where does He want us to do it? We have been praying about several areas in South Louisiana and we are waiting to see where Matt can land a job! I will start teaching music lessons at the first of October again but Matt has applied for several different bank positions and has not heard back from any of them! Please pray we hear something soon! The game plan is to work a job with good hours and have the weekends free so we can work on our church stuff. We have to raise $30,000 before we can launch our church! We plan to launch in Aug. or Sep. of 2010. So please keep us in your prayers!!

So enough about us! I'm sure you are all dying to hear about what Amelia is up to these days! She is 16 months old now and walking...or should I say running... all over the place!! She has a mouth full of teeth and chatter!! This girl could talk to a wall! She has developed a unique little language we like to call Amelese! Some of her latest tricks are counting to 3, she can point to her nose and say "nouse" aka nose, she can give a high five, and she knows all the hand motions to "Itsy, bitsy, spider"!!! She just discovered zippers and is fascinated with them! Luggage, purses, make-up bags...anything that has a zipper she could sit and play with for hours!! I can't believe how fast they grow! She has been our comic relief through much of this stressful time of transition! Here are some recent pictures of her! We will be posting some video of her soon so check back often!

New Adventures Lie Ahead

Proverbs 23:18 says, "For surely you have a future ahead of you. Your hope will not be dissapointed". This is the verse that I am clinging to right now. Recently, we have made our shift from Gulf Shores, Al to Hammond, La. Louisiana is definatly our "home sweet home", however everything seems so new, strange, and unfamilar. It's like we are starting over again! But I choose to look at it as entering a new season, freshness and change!
I can look back and see that God had a devine purpose for us in Alabama. The Lord is bringing us into new and different plans here in Louisiana. We certainly don't have all the answers or understanding, just faith. But that is why I love this scripture verse. It's like a promise from God that let's me know my future, (whatever it may be), will not be dissapointing for me! God cares about my hopes and dreams! How awesome! I just had to share this.

As for our little family of three, we are finally getting settled. Amelia has had a rough time adjusting to all the change, but today has been a good day for her and I think she is starting to adjust! She is almost walking and getting more grown up by the day! I will be posting some updated pictures as soon as I can find my camera! (It's packed away somewhere!?) =)
To all my awesome friends from Gulfway, (You know who you are) WE MISS YOU!!! We will cherish our friendship with you for a lifetime!

The 1st of Many Birthday Blessings

Who knew that one of life's biggest blessings came in the form of tiny fingers and toes. A cute button nose and a smile that is unforgettable! Over the past year, I have realized that the gift of a child is one of life's greatest joys! Yesterday was Amelia's first birthday and it seems like only yesterday I was meeting her face to face for the very first time! I will always cherish that moment. I can't even imagine what life would be like without her in it. This precious baby girl has enriched our lives more than we could have imagined. I never knew my heart had the capacity to love SO much until the day I held her in my arms!

As a little girl my biggest dream was to grow up, get married, and have babies! I wanted to be just like my mom. Giving never-ending love and showing my children how to live a life that pleased God! My mom was the perfect example and for that I am thankful. She instilled in me all the tools that I need to be great mom! (Although, I still have a long way to go). So let this be a birthday promise to you, Amelia.

I, your mommy, promise to love you and smother you with hugs and kisses everyday.

I promise to sing to you and pray over you every night before you go to sleep.

As you get older, I promise, to fix your hair just like mine and let you borrow my lipstick and shoes from time to time.

I promise to paint your nails and paint your toes

I promise to always be a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, and a hand to hold!

I love you Amelia! Happy 1st Birthday!

Amelia Then...

Amelia Now!

( I started taking pictures as soon as she woke up)

Big girl birthday smile!

Just Wanted to Share...

I caught Amelia playing with her new nursery rhyme bear that she got as a birthday present from Grandpa Bob, Crystal, and Meghan! Thanks again! She loves it! Amelia's birthday is tomorrow and I can't believe how much she has grown up in just one year!! We will be celebrating this momentous occasion on Saturday and I think I'm more excited about it than her!! Hope you enjoy the video!

What's new with Amelia at 11 months...

I am so sorry to keep many of you waiting on the newest blog post! Things have been crazy busy on our end. We are gearing up to move back to Louisiana at the end of this month and if you've ever had to pack up and go with a child, you know how stressful life can be! Despite some of our recent anxieties, we have managed to break away and have some fun while we are still here!

Amelia is 11 months and 2 weeks old now! Crazy, I know! Her birthday is quickly approaching and my mind is constantly juggling around different ideas to make her day extra special! All the baby books and magazines say to keep your child's first birthday small and simple! HA...well...I'm pretty sure half of our church congregation will be in attendance to this grand affair! Amelia is a church baby and everybody LOVES Amelia! It's a good thing I rented out the kids park!

Amelia is getting so big and it amazes me how smart she is! She is pulling up on furniture and cruising around. She loves to watch Dora, The wonder pets, Baby Einstein, and Sesame Street....and she actually laughs when they do something funny! It's so cute! She scoots all over the place and her newest accomplishment is pulling herself up to a sitting position from lying on her stomach!!! Now, we are just waiting for her first steps!

She is doing well with feeding herself and loves to eat french fries, strawberries, any kind of bread, and CHEETOS!! I know....what a healthy appetite! She takes after her daddy in that category!

She has also mastered the task of waving "bye-bye" and blowing kisses!

A couple weekends ago we took Amelia to the pool for the first time and she loved it!! Just take a look for yourself!

The water was freezing that day! But she didn't seem to mind a bit! Ah, you gotta love her!

Our "eggstra" special Easter day

Easter is a day that we come together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ! He is alive and well and I know because He lives in me! God loved us so much that He gave His only son to die for all our sins! We didn't deserve that kind of love but He gave it anyway! It's so easy to get caught up in all the easter novelties. The easter basket, candy, new sunday outfits, and of course the perfect easter meal time with friends and family after church!....Guilty as charged! This was Amelia's first easter and you can imagine how ridiculous Matt and I felt picking out our own easter candy at Wal-mart and using Amelia as an excuse to buy it. But since she can't eat it.... bon apetite for us!!!

After a great church service, we headed off to our annual easter eating spot! The perdido beach resort has a fabulous easter buffet and we go every year! I guess we'll have to make a special trip back to Gulf Shores next year = ( When we got there we headed straight for the food! First thing first...get Amelia a plate of mashed potatoes to keep her happy!! She loves potatos! I also managed to mash up some glazed carrots and macaroni and cheese! She LOVED IT!! She is getting so good at feeding herself! She is growing up too fast! However, I'm not too sure how well she did today..... this is pitiful really!

No folks, this is not the latest hair trend.... this is Amelia's mashed potato hair creations!! HAHA!

I was able to clean her up a bit to get a few more pictures in her sweet little dress!

We hope everyone had a blessed and happy Resurrection day!! May the power that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you every day!

I don't know everything but....

I know that God is in control of all the chaos that surrounds.
I know that our life is far too valuable to God for Him not to provide and meet all our needs!
I know that the plans and promises that God has for us are far greater than we can hope for or imagine.

Seasons come and go but God remains the same. Faithful and true! His promises are never-failing!

For those of you reading who don't know, our family is in ministry transition right now. We are moving away from all that we know and have grown accustom to. All that is comfortable. All our dear friends whom we love so dearly! God is moving us in a different direction and we are seeking Him daily to find His perfect will for our lives. Please keep us in prayer!
We are planning on moving back to Louisiana and believing God to open doors for us there!

Times of transition are certainly not easy but we have felt the hand of God and those around us help carry us through each step of the way! Thank you! I will keep you posted on God's progress in our lives! I can't wait to give God the glory for all His faithfulness!

Little Miss Chatterbox

I caught Amelia in action this morning talking up a storm. She loves to play with her little hairbrush and I guess she thought it was necessary to strike up a conversation. I Love listening to her cute little voice! Enjoy the show!

P.S. The musical accompaniment you here in the background is her baby Einstein video that plays continuously in this house! She loves it!

Spring is in the air

The cold days are finally gone and the warm sunshine has been such a pleasant change! This past week was especially gorgeous and we definately took advantage of finding things to do just so we could get out of the house! Mimi came for a visit this week and you know what that means... WE ALL GOT SPOILED!! But that's what Mimi's are for! Thank You Mimi! We went to more shops and restaurants than I can count.

As for our little Amelia, she turned 10 months old this past week! I can't believe it! The time is flying by! The other day she pulled herself up to a standing position!! I think she will just skip the crawling and go straight to walking!

She is a major chatterbox....and likes to talk to her feet!! =) I can't imagine where she gets that from! (Ok... so when I was little I used to do the same thing! Just wait till she gets old enough to name her toes! )

How did I get so blessed with such a perfect little girl!?