A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Webster's Dictionary defines the word "love": To hold dear, Cherish : To Thrive in : To feel affection or experience desire. The Bible describes love as patient, kind, it does not envy, it does not boast. It is not rude, or self-seeking. It is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrong. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. LOVE NEVER FAILS!

Today is Valentine's Day and as I reflect on the true meaning of love I can't help but think about the people in my life that I love the most! I thank God everyday for my precious family. I can look into the sweet face of my little girl and be held in the arms of my husband and experience the love of God in them and through all they do! After all, God IS love!
Here are some pictures of my "Loves" that we took today! Happy Valentine's Day!

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!