Catch Up

Well it has been a while since I have been on the blog and I am sorry for those who have been waiting. It seems that like is just so busy and that when you work and have kids you have little time to blog. Since my last post we have enjoyed Brittany's turning 13, what a wonderful time this has been. She is just growing into the most amazing young lady. We enjoyed a George Mason Game, Brittany completed a regular season of Basketball and was picked for the All-Star team. Phill was the assistant coach, such a wonderful thing for the both of them. They both really love Basketball. We just ended the season in time for Andrea to start Soccer. She is playing with the same girls that she has played with for the past two years and she is very excited about that. As most of you are aware Phill and I have been trying to have a baby since July of last year. I recently completed all of my testing and I have been given a bill of great health for baby. It has been very hard and trying but our spirits are up. We continue to pray and seeks God's love and support in our journey. We currently have a few family and friends who have been blessed and are expecting. We are excited and happy for each of them, however it does become hard at times to be reminded of what we have yet to be blessed with. We have decided to take almost every one's advise and take a month or two off from ovulation test kits, calendars and temperatures and see if just relaxing will work better. In the mean time it is easier to stay clear of anything baby for a while. (We were so excited about the idea that we started looking at everything baby at stores and online, yes Phill too. He is amazed with all of the strollers out there. Guess that is kinda like being into cars in the baby world, smiles.) Please keep us in your prayers through this time of our life. We will continue to trust in His Will. With keeping in relaxing and taking our minds off of babies, we are looking forward to landscaping our front yard. We plan on taking out the small evergreen trees on either side of our front porch and putting in some flowers. This will be exciting and will keep our minds occupied.

My Birthday

Wow "32" today. It is amazing to me how quickly the year has gone by. I woke this morning to my wonderful husband wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was a much needed make me smile since I had to venture out into the icy world. Boy it was a challenge to get my car cleared off however once it was cleared no problems. I am going to celebrate today at work with my co-workers who all brought in dishes for a luncheon. I am so grateful for each one of them. Tonight I am actually doing what I LOVE to do cooking a big meal for my family. They are the best gift that God has ever given me and making them happy is really all that I need. Tonight should prove to be just a nice relaxing night at home. To each of you reading this You are my gift and I am thankful for you. I will leave each of you with my thought of the day while I am celebrating God's love: "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" (Psalm 139:16) God made me for a reason and planned the days of my life. Today I send praise to His plan for me and each of you who God placed into his plan for my life. I love you all, God Bless!

Too Busy

We enjoyed our weekend; although it was very busy it ended with us watching the Super Bowl, which was an amazing game. It was the first time we sat all weekend. It was much needed. I have two meetings at the girls’ schools this week, always busy times during the week. Phill continues to run every evening and watch his diet. I sure wish I had the drive that he does. By the time I have time to myself each day I am way too tired to run. However I am so proud of him. He really feels great and I love that!! It would be so much easier to have time if I was home more then I am away at work. Crazy how that works. Oh well, I will push through it as always. Maybe things will calm down for the coming weekend, we will see.

Reflection

Last evening we learned that a dear friend of Phill's family, Buddy, passed away from brain cancer. While this is a sad time for those who knew and loved him, it is a glorious day for Buddy who has gone on to spend eternity with the Lord. I have been reading his blog and have been inspired by their Faith which held their family together through this most difficult time in their lives. Even through the darkest of storms their Faith never wavered. It is amazing and inspirational to learn of the Power of The Lord in their family. They have become an inspiration to me. Seeing the strength the Lord has given their family will strengthen our Faith within our own family. Hearing Phill speak of Buddy and his family has warmed my heart. I know because Buddy and his family were a part of his life, they helped to form the wonderful Man, Husband & Father he has become. Today we pray for the Wood family and reflect and appreciate our own family. Everyone gets busy and caught up in life. We must take time to spend with those who mean the most to us and will be there until the end, Our Family. We are all here in His time and must cherish the prized moments which He allows each of us to have together. I am ever grateful that the Lord has given us a most precious and wonderful gift in each member of Our Family. We love each of you so very much.

Where did the year go?

So I know it has been a while for me to post a blog, sorry for that. We have been so busy and this year seems to have slipped away from us. Andrea finished up soccer just in time for Brittany to begin basketball. It was a great season for Andrea and her coach was wonderful. We are hoping that he is going to be coaching again next year since he did such a wonderful job. Brittany is on a team of all girls this year for the first time, no more co-ed and she is loving it. We are so excited for this phase of the girls' lives, it is so much fun!! We had a great Thanksgiving with Phill's family. It was such a blessing and wonderful to catch up with everyone. We missed all of you who were not able to attend. We are busy now getting ready for Christmas. This is such a wonderful time of the year. We are thinking of all of you during this time! I will post pictures soon:-)

Wisdom Teeth out and a bit wiser

So Friday I had the old wisdom tooth removal surgery. Going into this with much reassurance from all of my wonderful family and friends I thought it would be simple. No problems. Well let me say that it started out as expected, lots of rest Friday and Saturday and I expected to be turning the corner to the better side on Sunday. However this was not the case. It seemed that the pain was getting worse not better. Phill was wonderful and taking great care of me, the girls and the house so I knew it was not because I was pushing myself too fast or anything. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain as well so by Sunday night I just did not know how to get the pain to stop. Monday comes and there is no way I can make it to work. To top it off the Surgeon that I went to was very rude to Phill when he called and was the same with me a few hours later. He said there was no way that amount of pain was caused from the tooth, that he thought I was having a stroke and that Phill should take me to the ER. Can you believe this? I hang up in tears and end up talking with my regular dentist who wants to see me first thing in the morning. She tells me to double up my pain meds until then. I do and follow up this morning with her, she is amazing by the way. I go to a different oral surgeon to find out I have a dry socket, let me tell you all I am now the wiser to this condition, which is extremely painful. He fills in the socket with this medication and an hour later I feel so much better, exhausted from little sleep however the pain has now subsided!! Thank goodness for a caring dentist who actually listened and knew what was going on. So it looks like I am back to work tomorrow and I couldn't be any happier about that!!! I chalk this up as a lesson from which Phill and I are both a little bit wiser!!

To help a Friend

A coworker of mine, April Mckee, is walking for a cure for brain cancer in October. She is walking along with her daughter in memory of her husband, Mack, who she lost in 2006 at age 27. I wanted to help by posting up her link for donations toward her walk. If you would like to donate please go to the site below and click Sponsor Us Now.

http://www.firstgiving.com/4mackmckee

First Day of School

We are so excited to be starting our first day of school today!!

Brittany's first day of Middle School

Andrea's first day of Fourth Grade
They are growing up so fast. It is amazing and fun all at the same time!!

We love you both, have fun and be safe.

Love,

Dad (Phill) & Mom

Daytona Beach & Seaworld 2007

Our Trip in Pictures......
Daytona Beach, the view laying out...

The place we lay our heads at night, Oceanwalk Resort, Amazing!!Just wanting to get to the beach or the pool, we are ready!! Lazy river for Lazy days :-) Rock wall climbing across the street from our resort. Go Kart's anyone???

or how about some golf??

We had two mini golf courses right at our resort, what fun!!

I made that shot!!! Yay. I'm ready for the movie...Me too!! The "dive-In" movie, Grease. Loved it!!

The resort had two nights of this, great fun!!

Fireworks after the movie
To the beach the next afternoon. Lets hit some waves. Family Luau Night - Poolside Games, fun times!!While dining, we watched the shuttle launch.

….while dining at this restaurant, just the two of us.
The hotel had kid’s night for the parents to have a night out alone.
They watched the launch from the hotel penthouse roof deck!!

Another wonderful restaurant with a view of the water.
Our menus were custom made to say "Smith Family Vacation 2007".
A perk of our resort concierge service :-)

This was our view, what more could you ask for.....

Caviar for the lady, she loved it!!
It was on the salad bar, amazing.

We are at Seaworld now, boy is it hot!!!!

So we got much needed relief.
Shamu made a BIG splash, Look at these seats!

We were able to pet the dolphins. That was amazing!

And watch them perform. This was our favorite show of the day!!

Inside for the artic animals and some much needed cooling off.

It's time for dinner, we are going to see a show.

The Makahiki Luau Dinner show was so much fun and what beautiful outfits.

Awesome show and day at Seaworld!
"Thanks Mom & Dad" we heard over and over!!
It felt so good to spend this time together with our family!!

We are so very blessed to have had this opportunity to enjoy time together as a family, just the four of us. Those times are precious and we cherish them always!!
This was our first trip with just the four of us so it meant a great deal to us.
We are happy to be able to share this with all of you!!

Growing up

So yesterday I took Brittany to get contacts for the very first time. She just loves them and did so well, no problems. She wanted to get them for middle school. Man they grow up so very fast. It seems like yesterday that she was starting Kindergarten for the first time and now she is going to middle school. She sure is turning out to be such a wonderful young lady, it makes me so very proud of her. I will be posting pictures soon of our vacation that we returned from. So check back.

A long night

It was a long night, Andrea has been running a fever and has a pretty bad headache. Looks like we will be going to the Doctor today since a vigil last night proved to help very little. Please pray for her quick recovery. Hope we can get her well for the 4th. It will not be fun to be sick for such a fun holiday.

Home again

So we are back home again from our weekend in PA. It was a nice time for us to share with family that was not a holiday weekend. Those weekends are always so busy that we really do not have time to enjoy just being together. This was a nice change however it is nice to be home again!! Well here we go to another week of work. At least we have off on Wednesday for the 4th. So exciting. Good Night to you all.

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary

Wow, it has been two wonderful years since Phill & I were married. It was been such a wonderful start to our life together. We are so greatful and happy to have found one another. Today was a great day for just the two of us. We took a day off of work and spent it together just remembering our wedding and honeymoon, while creating new memories. We have spent time looking back over our pictures and remembering just how perfect that day was. We are so blessed to have had this time to share with the most special people in our lives. It makes us so happy that those who are closest to us made such amazing memories with us on that very special day. We look forward to growing old together and making each of those who are special in our lives a part of all of the memories to come. Here's a look back to that day...

The Unity Candle (first time we got to talk)

Vows to the girls.... so proud!!

Mr. & Mrs Phillip Smith

Cake Cutting...
Our First Dance

Meet the Parents

Welcome to Aruba!!!!

Good food...

Even better Times!!!

So in love...

He swept me off my feet & still does!!

Enjoy we love each of you!!

The Girls

Brittany Graduating Elementary School with Friends.

They grow up so quickly.

Andrea's last soccer game of the season.

We won!!

Catching Up

Well things have been so busy for us that I am finally able to get on here and post. I have been busy with my new position and taking all of the classes that I need and just really starting to dig into things. It has been very challenging however very much a rewarding part of my life. Brittany has "graduated" from elementary school this week. She is going to her end of the year party tonight bowling. It is amazing watching your little girl grow into such a lovely little lady. Happy and sad all rolled into one. Andrea finished soccer for the spring season. She was able to make new friends on the team and she really did a great job her first year. We are so happy that summer has arrived and look forward to the warm weather, BBQ's and Swimming. This is our most favorite time of the year!!

Moved by Him

God spoke to me this morning while I was listening to my radio station, WGTS 91.9. They have been doing a fundraiser for three days and it has been tugging at my heart each morning that I can help them to make a difference in other peoples lives. Thinking about how easy it would be for someone to come across their station, hear the praises to the Lord and come to Him really moved me. I was compelled to donate to their fundraiser. My donation was small in the grand total of things however I feel so good about being able to help to support such a wonderful organization who works daily in His name. Today is a beautiful day!

Back to the Grind

After such a wonderful weekend it sure is hard to get back into the swing of the work week!! You would think after three days in a row off of work it would be much easier then it is to get back to the grind. At least we only have three more days!!

Birthday Weekend

This seems like a great way to keep everyone updated and also stay in touch so I thought lets give it a try. Days are long for us and very involved so we will see how well I do with keeping up.

I am sitting here reflecting on our "long weekend", which is now at its third day. Wow how lucky I am to have such an amazing family!! It was Phill's birthday weekend and boy have we had a pleasurable time so far. We enjoyed time with Phill's Mom, Dad, his Brother Steve and Sister Hannah. We had such a good time with all of them. I could not be luckier then to have this wonderful family! We enjoyed great food and time together, who could ask for anything more? We enjoyed time with friends. They were all so nice to come by to see Phill for his Birthday celebration weekend. We went to the pool with the kids and even got to have ice cream from the Good Humor van, what a treat. This time was soooo much fun. Phill swam with the kids and I got to read my book, the water was a bit to cold for me. :-) It was then off to a birthday dinner at Bennigans, which made Phill very happy. We are now on day three and I am sure it is going to be a very nice one!