more to come…

I have a lot to post, but thought I would post this picture from July 4th for now!  What a great day!

Happy Independence Day!

I am grateful…

-for this amazing country that the Lord chose to be my home
- for the faithful founding fathers that weren’t afraid to fight for what was right
- for the men and women who have given their lives to secure our freedom
- for the many troops who are risking their lives at this very moment to preserve our liberty
- for the fact that ultimately God is in control of our country
- that the freedom we celebrate today is a reminder of the true FREEDOM we have in Christ

Lord, please bless our country – protect us, help us to turn back to You.  Thank You that our trust isn’t in our government, but in You – the One who is in control!  Help us to be faithful to do our part to bring You glory in this country. In Your name I pray, Amen.

February catch-up

So, I am playing a bit of catch-up on the blog…

Here are some fun things that happened during the month…

Both of our moms celebrated birthdays this month.  I had great intensions of writing about each of them on their birthdays to honor them.  But unfortunately I was sick that week and barely keeping up with life…so it didn’t happen.  But…I still wanted to say how much we love each of you and how grateful we are that God chose us to be your children!  We hope this next year is blessed!

My mom came to Orlando a couple of days before her birthday, so I fixed dinner and a special dessert and we got to celebrate with her in that way.  We went out to dinner for Emily’s birthday (no photos from that night.)  Here are some from my mom’s trip to town…

 

For Valentine’s Day this year, we went to Discovery Cove with our friends, Kyle & Taraleigh!  This is the 3rd year in a row that we have celebrated V-day with them!  It has become a fun tradition!  For those of you that don’t know what Discovery Cove is, it is a small theme park owned by Sea World.  It is an up-close and personal encounter with sea life.  We got to swim with lots of creatures in the reef pool, “swim” with stingrays, enjoy the lazy river, not to mention just soaking in the warm sunshine.  It was SO quiet and relaxing – just what we both needed.  We even got to watch a few couples get engaged out there.  So fun!  We had a great time with our friends and just enjoyed the “day-cation”!  The park closed around dinner time, so we met up with David and the kids at Gator’s Dockside for dinner.  We watched some basketball and had a great time together.  Here are some pics from that day…

More posts to come…

More December photos…

The second weekend of December was VERY busy for us.  Friday night, 12.12 was the BASH.  I was in the Bash, so I couldn’t take my own photos, but here is a link if you want to see what went down!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolifechurch/sets/72157612248567690/

Then on Saturday, we had Dress Rehearsal for the Children’s Musical, which I directed.  The production was on Sunday morning, 12.14.  The kids did an amazing job!  The church seemed to LOVE it!  Again, I couldn’t take my own photos, so check out this link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrolifechurch/sets/72157612225923906/

On that Sunday night, we had our Home Group Christmas party.  We had a very low-key evening at Light Up UCF.  They had outdoor ice skating, a light show, etc.  We all just brought dinner and we ate together outside.  It was a beautiful night.  Everyone was tired from such a busy week, but it was fun to just hang out together.  Here are some photos from that night!

That’s all for this update!

Wow…

Okay, so I am waaaayyy behind in my posts! I can’t believe that December got away from me. I had so much to post about, but no time to post! So, I will be posting some photos and other things from December (now that it is over! ) Ha! There isn’t too much going on right now. We are just getting started back up with school, home group starts back up tonight, etc. So check back for lots of fun posts!
I will start with our search for the perfect Christmas tree!
Enjoy!

update

christmastime is here… we are busy (enjoying the holidays with our family Steph said…) – some new pics…

Thanksgiving is Almost Here!

I am really enjoying this week!  We are out of school for the week and Chris has the week off.  I have been busy, but it has been fun.  I am so excited that it is Thanksgiving week!  I turn into a little kid this time of year!    I love reflecting on all that we have to be thankful for!  The Lord has lavished His kindness on us and I want to express my gratefulness to Him.  How wonderful that we live in a country that has a whole holiday just to do that! 

I have been in the kitchen all morning baking for Thanksgiving!  My assignment was to make corn, green bean casserole, pumpkin apple muffins and apple pie.  The muffins and pie are done and the rest will be finished on Thanksgiving Day.  I can’t wait to gather with our family to celebrate!  Oh, I am so excited!  One of the best parts is that my Granddad and Grandma Gilland will be with us!  I haven’t seen them since we were in Indiana last Christmas!  So, obviously, they haven’t met Ella yet!  They can’t wait!

So, now it is time to go pack!

July 4th weekend

We had a great time in Gainesville visiting my family.  It was a very relaxing time – we really didn’t have to do much, so we just enjoyed our time together.

We drove up on the 3rd and we all went to the fireworks at UF – that was fun!  On the 4th, we just hung around the house and ATE all day!    (I think I am still full!)  We made home made banana ice cream!!!  YUMMY!  That is a family favorite.  We also made peach ice cream, but something wasn’t quite right with that.  ha, ha

The boys weren’t feeling great, so we tried to lay low.  It was a nice change!

Speaking of the boys, they are spending the week up there!  They are starting to feel better and have been able to already do fun things with their aunties!    Check out Angela’s blog here to see some of the fun they are having!

Here are some of the pics from the weekend.  I will probably post a few more once I get them from Angela!

**Happy 4th**

happy 4th

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!

.at home today.

Whew…we have been busy since I last posted!  I am so grateful to be home today!  It is the first day that I haven’t had to be gone during the day in over 2 1/2 weeks!  We aren’t used to that kind of schedule, so it wore us out!    Thankfully, Ella just went with the flow – what a great baby!

Well, let’s see…

Ella had her 2 month appt. on Thursday.  She is 13 lbs, 6 oz. and 24 5/8 in long.  That is the 95th percentile for both height and weight!  CRAZY!  She is just like her big brothers!  She doesn’t really seem chunky (except for her cheeks   ), she is just really long.  Her head was in the 40th percentile which is good.  (We always pay special attention to those measurements, due to Caleb’s hydrocephalus.)  She got 5 vaccine shots and one oral vaccine.  The poor baby!  I felt so bad for her.  She did incredibly well, though.  I just kept tylenol in her every 4 hours and she did okay.

That night was the beginning of the Metro Ladies Retreat.  It was a lot of fun – good fellowship and great teaching.  I really need to go back and listen to the messages again.  I was usually in the nursing mom’s room with Ella, so I am sure I missed a lot.  But everything that I heard was excellent!  Elyse Fitzpatrick was our speaker.  Check out the Metro Mom’s blog (I am a contributing writer!) to hear more about the retreat.  The messages will be online soon, if you would like to listen to them for yourself!  www.metromomsblog.org

 

The boys finished up swimming lessons!  Yay!  They had a great time!  Caleb is now a Barracuda, Alec is a Dolphin!  Thank you, Ms. CoCo!

   

Father’s Day was on Sunday, of course.  After service, we went out to Liki Tiki for the afternoon.  Unfortunately, it rained most of the time we were there.  But we were able to enjoy the pool and jacuzzi once the rain stopped. We had dinner at Cracker Barrel.  It was a relaxing day. 

On that note…Chris, thanks for being such a wonderful daddy to our THREE children!  They are very blessed to have you as their father.  I love seeing you in this role and in your new role as daddy to a little girl!    I love you very much!

I, too, have an amazing daddy!   Thank you, dad, for loving me and caring for me over the years!  I know I wasn’t always easy to love, but that didn’t stop you!  Thank you for providing for me and teaching me how to trust God.    I love you!

Okay, well that is about it for now…it is now officially tomorrow, so I had better hit the bed!