Just another Monday - or is it

Today is a beautiful day, it's 84 and sunny with no humidity. I ran a mile at work today outside around the trail. It felt so good. I love running outside. It has been so rainy since the temperature became high enough for it not to snow. I have been so down about it raining all the time. The rain has delayed soccer practice and games for my girls. I should be happy that I don't have to run all over creation and spend more money on gas. However that means that the girls are held up inside and are not so happy. Today they can kick the soccer ball outside and get out some energy that has been storing up inside. Today it is not raining :-) So it's not the same Monday that is has been ~ It is a spring Monday & I'm so very happy that it is!!

Finally the Weekend

The week was long. Work has been tough. My boss of the past 5 years retired Friday, I got promoted into his position so that is a plus. It is strange because I didn't think I would be effected by him leaving but I was sad. You get used to having the people around you at work everyday, they become like another family to you. So this is an adjustment in my life. I am excite about the change for me personally but he was my sounding board so it is going to be a very different world come Monday.

I am happy to have this weekend at home enjoying the kids and Phill. I got to go to the Third Day concert last night. It was amazing!! A couple from our small group had an extra ticket and asked me to go along. It kicked off the weekend just the way I needed it to. Keeping me centered in Him and appreciating all that I have been blessed with!!

Happy Weekend everyone ~ Make is a GREAT one!!

Small Group Needs

We meet every Monday night with our small group. They have quickly become like family to us. There are 7 amazing couples with pretty wonderful children. We learn together, laugh together and support one another. It breaks my heart that one of the couples is going through a very troubling time. They are in GREAT need of prayers. We are not sure what the future for their family holds however we ask that you please keep them in your prayers. Their names are Kendra & Tom and their daughter Parker. My heart is breaking for their situation and I pray that God guides me in the way he wishes for me to support them.

Hump Day

Today was a busy day at work. It flew by and I still have a ton of work on my desk for tomorrow... Hoping everyday goes by fast so Friday is here soon! Phill and Britt are excited about going to the basketball game tomorrow. Thanks Alden & Dorian for making it possible. I am planning on taking Andrea & Ayden out for a bit I think since they will not be getting home until bedtime. Looking forward to sitting and relaxing with my wonderful husband tonight. I will post pictures soon.

Forever Friday

I am so happy it is finally Friday!! The weeks seem to take so long and it is forever until Friday gets here again. It is so wonderful to be done with the week and ready to hang out with my wonderful husband and kids :-) Oh happy day!!

Remember the Rain

Rain it is. Today is a rainy day. I always liked rain growing up. I used to run in the rain when I was little. It was simple, peaceful and just plain fun. I would run with my friends in the neighborhood for hours. We would find the deepest puddles that we could and we would run, jump and splash in them. Oh to be a kid again. Carefree and free to get wet and dirty and not worry about a thing. No worries about the fact that you would track water through the house or that there would be more laundry to do. No worries about anything other than trying to catch rain drops on your tongue and spinning in circles with your arms stretched out feeling the rain drops hit your face. Sometimes we forget what it was like to be a kid. For today I will have no worries, I am going to sit with my wonderful kids, enjoying the small things and remembering what it felt like to be a kid running in the rain!!

Family wishes

Family ~ It has always been such an important part of my life however I feel like something is missing. I have an amazing husband and wonderful children who I LOVE spending time with!! Don't get me wrong I appreciate them very much, I just feel like I am missing a piece of something.

My extended family is all so far away and I am sad that I don't have as much time with them as I would if I lived back home. My Mom is amazing and we talk as much as we can. We try to travel to see each other whenever we can. I just find that I am longing for something that I may never have. I have sisters, who I met when I was almost an adult. We didn't grow up together, we don't have that same bond and the situation with our biological father just make things difficult. I wish I had a sister to bond with. I feel so sad sometimes that I don't have that. Lately I really just feel alone. When my cousin Mandy lived here it was the closest I ever felt a "sister like" bond with someone. We loved being together, bringing our kids together to grow up together, Cousins & Friends. I feel like we are all missing out on something special. It makes my heart sad. We planned trips together, we wanted our kids to have one another and to spend time together (not just because it was a holiday or birthday). It was nice to have time together just because we wanted to be together :-)

I long to move back to PA and have an on going sister bond with someone. I want to have girl talks and visits just because we want to be together. I long for fun shopping trips even when we don't have to buy anything. I feel like staying in Virginia I will just lose this dream ~ forever! I try hard not to think about it, stay distracted and busy, however these days it is consuming me.

I'm Back

Ok so I know I have not been on here since I was pregnant. We had the website for a while which was great and once Ayden turned 1 we decided we would no longer keep it. I enjoy reading everyone else's blog's so I figured it was about time that I got back to our families posts. Things are busy these days (not much change there). The girls are finishing up soccer for the fall and getting ready for winter indoor soccer :-) So exciting for them, so busy for me! Andrea will be 13 next month, welcome teen years x2. I am bracing myself for it. Brittany is actively involved in a lot of school activities and is very involved in her small group from Church and enjoys spending time with her friends from church as well. She is such a joy in our lives!! Ayden is all over the place. He is such a "boy". I never knew what that truly meant until now!! He loves cars and balls, running and jumping and getting into everything. He hates to be dirty, which is about the only thing which is not "boy" about him. He is such a blessing to all of us! He will keep Phill and I young for sure. I will have to be sure to post some pictures soon :-)

New Baby Site

OK, as you all know we have been tracking our pregnancy in our online pregnancy journel and I know everyone is wondering what happened to our journal entries. Well my wonderful husband decided that he really wanted something that could continue with the baby after he is born. Soooo, with that said, he has now developed an actual web page for our new bundle of joy. I have moved my entire journal over to the new web page for all of you to enjoy. It also contains family pages, photo albums with the ability for you all to add pictures and save them to your PC, fun polls and quizes (please be sure to give us your input) and also our baby registry info along with any events that we may have. I am replacing the link above the ticker with the new website link. This will be Aydens own personal page once he is born, complete with his first pictures, polls for us to use in making choices (check them out they are fun) and many more fun things to watch him grow. The web addresss is www.aydenphillip.com. Enjoy it please! Don't forget to sign the guest book.

Dad & Daughter's Fishing Date

Andrea has been showing an interest in fishing since the spring. Yesterday morning Phill took the morning off of work and he scheduled a "Fishing Date" with Andrea. It was so much fun. They got their poles ready Monday night and set off first thing Tuesday morning for Burke Lake. It was an amazing time for the both of them. He is such an amazing Daddy. He just continues to bring such amazement and joy to our family. What a blessing. Here are some pictures from that day.

What an amazing time of bonding and fun for Daddy & Daughter!!

Pictures

We have posted pictures to our pregnancy journal from a photo shoot Phill took me on this weekend. The link to our journal is above the baby ticker on the left side of this blog. Enjoy.

Our Beach Trip 2008

Here are some photo's from our beach trip to the outerbanks.

First stop is the farmers market.

Now we are off to the beach!

















Mandy & Jake at Dinner, then off to golf.












Toasting Marshmallow's.... What fun!!






A Night out to Tale of the Whale... Our favorite place to eat!















Final Stop....Go Carts!

Our Anniversary

Today we are celebrating our 3 year wedding anniversary. The time has passed by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday we were getting ready for the big day, all the excitement of planning and registering and celebrating. The wedding was such an amazing event itself with all of the people who we love so very much and the memories that we were blessed enough to make. Now sitting here thinking back to that day it is so exciting for us and to think that we are once again planning and registering and celebrating the next big event in our lives.... Our very first baby! We are so very blessed to have been given this gift. We will spend the day home from work, so exciting, just enjoying one another and remembering that incredible part of our life. We plan on going out to dinner tonight, just the two of us. (Thanks Mandy) We will remember each of you today and the part you played in the memories of June 25, 2005!

Ready for the weekend.

We are so happy that the weekend has arrived. The past few weeks have been wonderful. Andrea finished up soccer with a win of the championship, it was last weekend in the 100 degree weather which was a challange but with lots of tents, water, wet wash clothes and parents armed with spray bottles we managed through it. Two games, hot hot days and one amazing win. I am so proud and happy for her. The girls finished up school for the summer yesterday. So nice!! The girls have begun their daily ritual of hanging at the pool with their friends. They have grown up so fast it is hard to believe. Brittany had her first sleep over two weekends ago. That was so much fun. It was the sleep over for her birthday back in March since it was basketball and she was on all stars she was never able to have her big 13th sleepover so we waited until the pool opened to have it. It was amazing to be a part of and watch. She has made such wonderful friends. I am very proud of the young lady she has become. I continue to update the baby journal often. Things are going great. Please log onto our journal for updates. We have posted our new ultrasound picture from Monday. The baby now looks like a baby, amazing to see!! I also added a baby ticker to count down to the birth both here & on our journal. (Thanks Courtney)

Back to the swing of things

OK I know it has been forever since I posted on here. We have been going through somethings which have been filling our lives. We found out in April that we are expecting a baby. This news was so very exciting for us since we had been trying for 10 months. No sooner did we find out that we were expecting I started spotting which continued up until last Friday. It has been a roller coaster for us so we have just really been focusing on the baby and praying for things to go well. We did start an online pregnancy journal which we would like to share with all of you. The link and all the information for what has been going on is http://www.babycrowd.com/jr/online/ourbabyjourney/welcome.html

I hope each of you will continue to check back on how things are going through our pregnancy. We have our first ultrasound picture posted there as well.

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:-)