Year Two

It has been an entire year since my last post. Blogging is definitely on the back burner right now. If there is anyone who still may read the blog or subscribe, I thought I'd post a video that I made for Rebekah's second Gotcha Day anniversary. We've had Rebekah for two years now!! It is very hard to believe. She is doing really well and continues to be a great joy! Enjoy the video of the past year!

Christmas 2008

I hope that everyone enjoyed a great Christmas. Ours was full of traveling and seeing family. We were also very busy the week of New Years. So, things were a little crazier than we'd prefer, but we had a very good time in the midst of it all. I'll again let the pictures do most of the talking.

We did get a few gifts for "Fyodor" - I'm not sure that I've ever mentioned on the blog that this is our nick-name for our little boy. It's kind of a long story, but Jennifer and I were looking at Russian names one day and this one just stuck out for some reason. I was looking it up today to see the correct spelling and realized for the first time that it means "Gift from God." How perfect! We are not planning to name him this, but this is just what we call him now. Anyways....Jennifer picked out the sweetest book and pair of socks for him. They are precious! The book is called "The Runaway Bunny" and it is just perfect for adoption. I can't wait to read it to him.

My dad and Jennifer at our Christmas Eve lunch.

Jennifer and Me. She had to leave Christmas Eve b/c she had to work on Christmas Day. We were very sad to see her go.

Lunch on Christmas day. My Grandmother came over.

Zac and Me. He did a lot of commuting back and forth from Auburn to Birmingham for work. He looks a little tired in this picture.

Gracie came with us to Birmingham. She had to stay outside on the deck at times so we could all stay sane! Doesn't she have the pitiful look down?

On Saturday, we went to Vernon to see Zac's family. Here are Zac's parents opening up their presents.

Georgia and her coke bottle ornament.

Jack opening a gift.

Zac's sweet mom playing Christmas carols on her new clarinova.

Our stockings...hopefully there will be another stocking hanging there next year.

Christmas Tree Decorating

Just like last year, the Smith's came over to help us decorate our Christmas tree. This has become a little tradition that we've now done for the third year in a row. We had fun eating supper, decorating the tree, watching Rudolph and drinking hot chocolate. We just love them!

Jack was "really excited" to be helping. He's getting a little old to find this fun!

Proof that he did put on one ornament.

Georgia helped me tie the tree skirt in the very back of the tree that backs into a tight corner.

The finished product!

November

Wow...We still have a blog?? There have been many things that we could have blogged about this month and just didn't. So, in an attempt to catch you up on November, I'm going to let our pictures do most of the talking. So sorry about the lack of blogging. We want to do better!


At the beginning of November we held our last tailgate for the year for Auburn's homecoming game. Zac's parents were in town for it, too, which was added fun. We really enjoyed tailgating for the first time this year and hope to continue the tradition next season (even though we may not have too much to be excited about...sigh). Here is a link to a few pictures we put on facebook.


The very next weekend we went to Birmingham for my friend Sarah's wedding. Sarah and I went to church together in high school. Many of my other high school friends were in town for her wedding, too, and it was so wonderful to see everyone. It was like a mini-reunion. All of those girls mean so very much to me. It's amazing that we have known each other for so long. It doesn't seem to matter how much time goes by, though; we are always able to pick right back up like no time has passed. It was a very fun evening! Here a link to the pictures.


The weekend before Thanksgiving I went back to Birmingham for my dear friend, Adrian's lingerie shower. She is getting married next weekend. I haven't seen her in three years, so it was so good to catch up. Once again, it seemed as if those three years apart were really just three days. I also got to see my wonderful friend Melissa at the shower, too. The three of us had some very special times together in college and I really enjoyed hanging out with them again. The night was just way too short!


For Thanksgiving we actually stayed home and Zac's family came here. Zac's oldest sister stayed with us and Zac's parents stayed with Natalie. They were here most of last week and it was great fun with lots of chaos, too. We loved seeing our two nephews and our sweet niece that we don't get to see very often. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful second family. Here are two links to more pictures than you'd probably care to see: Zac's and Allison's.

Last, I am not very crafty. But, a couple of my friends got together to make wreaths. I didn't have very high expectations for how mine would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It only cost me $13 to make and really not too much time to create and it looks great! I was a little proud of myself so I had to take a picture:



I hope this helps to keep you updated on our life over the past month. Maybe this month we'll be better bloggers. Hope you are having a great beginning to this special Christmas season.

Garden Report & Sleepover Fun!

I have been meaning to post this week, but haven't gotten around to it until today. I thought I'd report first on our vegetable garden. Because we planted everything a little late, most of our plants are still producing and may continue through September. We were excited to find that when we returned from the beach our tomatoes were FINALLY beginning to turn red. We thought for a while that they were never going to ripen. We picked our first batch last week and they are delicious. I didn't think that I really liked tomatoes, but home-grown ones are so good! They are nothing like the tomatoes you buy in the store.

Our green bell pepper plants are still producing as well, but I think that the chipmunks may be stealing some of them. The interesting thing that we've noticed is that some of the green bell peppers are starting to turn red! What is really strange, though, is that this is happening on the plants furthest from the red pepper plant. I guess there has been a little bit of cross-pollination happening. I'm not really sure if they are green or red peppers - just an interesting combination!

The red bell pepper plant so far has only produced two peppers - one did really great and got very large and very red. I'm hoping to get a few more, though, before it dies. We'll see.

Our squash plants did good for a while, but they have since died. They really didn't have the room they needed to grow properly, so that is probably why they finally bit the dust. We'll have to space them out better next year. Here is a picture of the last good squash that we picked as well as some green peppers:


Last Friday night, we had a great time with Jack and Georgia. I tried to think of some fun things that we could do, so we first made homemade pizzas! Then, their request was to watch the movie Mr. Bean's Holiday. They had already seen it but wanted to watch it again. It was very funny, and we actually enjoyed it too. We also watched an episode of one of their favorite T.V. shows, America's Funniest Home Videos. When it was time for bed, we put their air mattresses in our room and all slept in the same room together! Needless to say, Zac and I didn't sleep much, but it was fun! The next morning we made chocolate chip pancakes and blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and then went shopping until lunch. Jack and Georgia are very special to us and we really had fun together! Here are some pictures from breakfast:

We have some other things we are planning to blog about next week, so stay tuned!

Beach Trip

Last week we were able to enjoy a few days in Gulf Shores. Zac's sister Natalie and her husband Jason graciously invited us to join them for a few days. They were there for the week, and we stayed with them from Wednesday night until Saturday morning. The weather was a little cloudy and raining at times, but we still had a great time. It is always nice to get away and especially to get away to a beautiful beach!

We took a few pictures on the beach. The first one is of us (of course) and then we are with Jack and Georgia. The next picture is a picture of Natalie's family. We took the kids out to eat so that Jason and Natalie could have a date and there are two pictures of us at the restaurant where we ate. The last picture is a picture that Zac took of Georgia, and I just thought she looked so cute in her braided pig-tails! :)

Jack and Georgia are planning to spend the night with us tonight for a fun little sleepover. It's the first time they have done this since moving to Auburn. They have to both start school (Georgia starts kindergarten) next week, so this is kind of a fun way to end the summer. I'm going to try and take a few pictures and post those soon. Sorry it's been a while since the last post. I'll try to get back on track. Have a good weekend!

Charlotte

This past week I went to visit Zac's sister, Amy, and her three kids Bennett, Maddie, and Dalton. Taking care of three kids three and under is quite a challenge! I'm not quite sure how Amy does it every day. We really had a great week, though. It was fun to hang out with Amy and have some good girl time. It was also really great to see and play with the kids. They are precious, super funny, and complete handfuls! :)

I am so thankful to have such precious in-laws. Zac's entire family has always been so welcoming, warm and accepting of me. I truly enjoy any time that I get to spend with them. I'm so glad for their willingness to share their lives and their family with me. They are such blessings!

Here are a few pictures from the week:

Dalton is so precious and a great, happy baby! Here we are out on the deck. (This picture was sized down much smaller than the original, so that is why there is some white.)

Look at that sweet smile!

We played on the deck a lot with water and "suds" as Bennett would say. Bennett loved to "clean" everything. What a cutie!

Sweet Maddie loved it, too!

Maddie has recently begun to like getting her picture taken. I asked her to smile and this is what she did - too cute! Bennett was too busy "cleaning" to even look up.

Sad Goodbyes

Well, we're still here! Sorry that it's been over two weeks since our last post. Just not too much going on that is blog-worthy. I wanted to thank you, though, for your prayers for wisdom that I requested in our last post. The issue has yet to be resolved, so I ask that you please continue to pray for the Lord to lead and guide us in the right direction and for Him to reveal His will to us.
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We truly love living in the Auburn/Opelika area, but one of the downfalls to living in a college town is that many people we get to know are only here for a short while. Auburn is a transitional place for them and not a place where they plan to settle down. It is very hard to see friends come and go, and last weekend we had to do just that as we said good bye to our very dear friends, Nathan and Lesley. They went to Lakeview with us, and I actually worked with Lesley for over two years at Women's Hope. They just moved to Brooklyn, New York as North American Missionaries to pursue church planting. Please pray for them as they begin their new life and ministry.

My friend Martha and I hosted an ice cream farewell party for them last Friday night at Martha's house. Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Yummy ice cream fixins'!

Me with Lesley and Martha

Nathan, Zac and Heath

After the party, Nathan and Lesley and Heath and Martha all came back over to our house to spend the night. We stayed up way too late, but it was fun to all hang out together one last time before the move. Here we are at breakfast:

Martha & Heath, Zac & me, Nathan & Lesley

We then headed to their storage unit and helped load the u-haul. Of course the boys did most of the work. Here they are afterwards very happy that the job was done!:

Jonathan (another friend from Lakeview), Heath, Zac and Nathan

After everything was packed we had to say our goodbyes. It was not easy and there were plenty of bittersweet tears shed. I have decided that I hate having to say goodbye. We are so thankful, though, for all the time that we had with them and for all of the wonderful memories made. They have been such great friends to us, and we will miss them very much.

Lesley and Nathan smiling through the tears.

On another note, Zac and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday!! Over the past five years we have experienced great joys as well as many difficulties, and everything has not turned out quite like we had imagined, but God is sovereign and we can rest in His plans for our lives. We are so thankful to God for blessing us with one another and look forward to celebrating this over the weekend in Savannah!

I thought that it'd be fun to end with a few engagement and wedding pictures. The wedding ones are scanned so they are very poor quality - we don't have any digitals.

Our engagement picture for the paper. Zac still had glasses!

The ceremony

I'll be back next week with pictures from our trip.