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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A Cold Beginning

This year has started off crazy and cold! Since January 1st I have been home for 3 days!

We rung in the new year with a special occasion. Adam and I had the privilege to be a part of Phil and Kristin Freo's wedding! I was the coordinator (my first time doing it alone- and nothing went wrong so I am very excited!) and Adam officiated the wedding. Adam has known Phil since the early days, and I met Kristin the summer I moved to Jacksonville when she was still in high school. Adam played matchmaker for them the summer after Kristin graduated and now they are MARRIED! :) We love them both very much and it was so wonderful to be able to spend new years celebrating them! These two love Jesus and I can't wait to see what they accomplish for Him with their lives now combined.

On January 2nd Adam and I headed out to Atlanta with the college kids to attend Passion 2012. This was our third time attending Passion. We went for the first time right when we started dating in 2007 then we went in 2010 and now in 2012. In 2010 I was 8 months pregnant and this time I was 6 months pregnant! They DO NOT design Passion for pregnant women that is for sure! :) Lots of walking, standing, sitting in hard seats, sitting on cement floors, LONG lines for bathrooms, and it was VERY cold- but I had a BLAST! It was such a refreshing time to be reminded of truths of the scripture, and get to worship with thousands of other people that love Jesus and want to see His glory spread through out the earth! The group of students we took were fabulous- I enjoyed every moment with them! We left Matthew with his Pops and Milly for a few days and I think he had tons of fun- I was very happy to get home to my baby though!

When we got back from Passion we had just enough time to unpack, do laundry, repack, and spend some quality time with Anthony Alvarez. He was home from England for a very short amount of time- and we wanted as much of that time as he would give us! We got to spend Thursday night, and Friday morning hanging out with Anthony and getting to know his girlfriend Ali. She was SO sweet and it was so exciting to meet someone that we had been hearing about for a while. Of course I shed lots of tears when he had to leave- June seems so far away- but I am very excited that Anthony is getting a chance to study God's word and in such a wonderful setting in England.

Once we had everything repacked we headed out to NC to visit my family. It was time for 2nd Christmas! I missed a few Christmases with my family in college while they lived overseas so I get really excited anytime I get to spend some sort of holiday with them! It was fun for them to experience Matthew doing Christmas. He was such a joy this year with opening gifts, and actually being excited about the things inside- not just the bows! After a few days, and of course a sub sandwich from Sub Station II (my FAVORITE) Adam and I were headed out again. This time Matthew was staying with Grandma and Grandpa (Papa).

We were blessed to be able to go on vacation with friends to Boone, NC. Having time away from Matthew's schedule and any responsibility was very refreshing for me! It was fun to just have time with Adam and friends too. We got to stay in a house on the edge of the mountain that was gorgeous! We even got snow a few of the days we were there which made our mountain trip complete! I ate lots of snow, lots of good food, played lots of games (which I love!), went snow tubing, leaned on the wind at Grandfather Mountain, went on a hike in a beautiful place along a little stream, and got to hang out with friends. It was so FABULOUS! I was bundled up like an Eskimo most of the time because it was so chilly- but it was a great break from the Florida heat.

Adam headed back to Florida yesterday with our friends while I came back to NC to spend some more time with my family and to be back with Matthew. He had a good time with Grandma and Grandpa- and keeps asking for cookies. I don't know what that means! Haha. Adam is headed out to Costa Rica at the end of the this week to check out the place we will be going with the youth group this summer so I figured since he would be gone I would stay here and get to spend some more time with my parents. Matthew and I miss Daddy a lot though.

This morning Matthew and I went on an adventure around Waxhaw- we did a little of each of Matthew's favorite things. We threw lots and lots and lots of rocks into the pond at the JAARS center. Matthew learned how to say the word splash today. I think that kid could "throw" forever and never get sick of it. I was afraid we were going to take so many rocks from the driveway near the pond that a car would get stuck there so we moved on to the next stop of our adventure. We went to look at airplanes at Grandma and Papa's work. Unfortunately no airplanes were flying/landing so it wasn't very exciting- but we still got to see some that were on the ground. After the airplanes we went to swing for a while- that is another thing I think Matthew could do forever! It cracks me up because he LOVES to swing and when it is time to be done it is always a tragedy, but while he is swinging he looks like he zones out and isn't having any fun at all! Just relaxing I guess... We played a little ball after swinging and then it was time to go visit Grandma and Papa's offices. We got to color some pictures there before we came home for lunch. It was a busy, fun, adventuresome morning! So much so- that Matthew went down early for his nap. I guess all of our fun wore him out- MOMMY SUCCESS!

This year has been so much fun already. It is crazy to think about all that has already happened in such a short amount of time. What will the next 348 days hold for me?! One thing I am very much looking forward to is meeting my newest little boy Andrew. This little nugget has been moving around so much the past couple weeks and it is making me antsy to meet him. Only 74 more days until my due date- in certain ways that feels like no time at all- and in other ways it seems like forever! I am so blessed to already have two wonderful guys in my life. I have a husband that loves me so very much and works so hard to provide for our family. He loves me much better than I deserve and I am thankful for the Godly example he is for Matthew and will be for Andrew. I also have a little boy that so far in his life adores me and is so sweet. I thank God all the time for how he created Matthew's personality to fit so snugly right into my heart! I pray often for Andrew and what his personality will be like. I can't wait to watch him develop and learn what makes him unique. I want my boys to live their lives to make much of Jesus and not themselves- and as I pray towards that end I can't wait to see how God answers. God is about HIS glory and nothing can get in the way of that. I am so thankful to be able to live a life of purpose that I know cannot be thwarted. As long as I keep my goal God's goal then I know that I will succeed. That is very reassuring.