Eleven Years

Chad and I have been married for eleven years. It makes me feel old to think of the word eleven but I feel like me just met yesterday. I am so glad God made me for him and He made him for me. What a blessing to still be happily married, I can't wait to see what the years ahead have for us.

Here is a little recap of our last eleven years together...

• Met in 1994 at Georgia Southern University. We were next door neighbors and I quickly became friends with all the boys living in his apartment.
• Starting dating in January 1995 after spending our winter break hanging out with each other. All of our friends knew we would be dating before we did.
• On Chad's birthday, August 4, 1997 we became engaged.
• Both of us graduated from GA Southern after winter semester of 1997. I graduated with a degree in special education and Chad with a double degree in Marketing and Logistics.
• We both moved into my parents home in Stone Mountain, GA as we searched for our first "real" job.
• Chad landed his first job at Wells Fargo in April 1998 and I found a job in Gwinnett County School System for the 1998-1999 school year.
• We married July 25, 1998!
• Honeymooned in Orlando, Fl and on a four day cruise.
• Lived our first year in an apartment in Snellville, GA with two long haired Chihuahuas.
• Bought our first home and moved into it November 1999.
• Met some incredible neighbors, Trisha and Daniel. I am eternally grateful for them helping Chad be lead to Christ.
• In fall of 2000, Chad and I felt lead to start a new chapter of our life and help plant a church in Loganville, The Orchard.
• After the 2000-2001 school year I left the teaching field and started work in the ministry field as a part time children's pastor at The Orchard.
• In 2001 added a sweet little puppy mute into our home, Cooper.
• Celebrated five wonderful years of marriage at The Ritz at Lake Oconee.
• Chad left Wells Fargo and started a new job at Lendmark.
• In 2005 added a playful black lab puppy name Erkskin.
• After several years of infertility became pregnant in early summer 2005, announced to the world our good news on our wedding anniversary of 2005.
• Brought our first joy into the word on January 26, 2006.
• In summer of 2006 I went from working mom to stay at home mom. Keeping other kids in the house to help supplement income.
• Brought home another puppy, Copa, a brown lab in 2007.
• Delivered my second daughter on leap year 2008, February 29.
• Enjoyed our 10 year anniversary in Savannah, GA bringing along sweet baby Olivia.
• Chad found a wonderful new job in sales at NaturChem in April 2009.

So here we are at our eleventh anniversary in our same home of almost ten years with two absolutely beautiful sweet little miracles, a wild brown lab, still serving at The Orchard church and loving each other more today then when we meet 15 years ago.

Sweet Olivia

My sweet girl is starting to look more grown up. She is such a little mess and a ham for the camera.

Water Park

We had a wonderful family afternoon this past weekend by heading to Lenora Water Park. We stayed almost three hours enjoying the sun and the water. The girls had a blast. The only complaint was from Grace, she was upset she couldn't go down the BIG slide!

Cow Appreciation Day

Today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. Which means if you dress like a cow you will get free food. So after finding items around the house like cow pjs (thanks Robyn), black scrapbook paper and face paint, we were off to get our free food. About halfway to Chick-fil-a I began to think this could be a bad idea...I have three kids, three years and younger, who are ALL afraid of the Chick-fil-a cow. But with our faces painted and spots on we were not turning around. So the next five minutes of travel I gave a little pep talk about how the big cow is our friends...we will not cry or scream when we see it because we are big boys and girls.


Yummy Free Food!
We were able to get three free kid meals and free combo because even I dressed up with spots on my shirt!

On NO here comes a cow!
I will not panic I can hold all three on my lap if I need to.
Success! We touched the cow and we have no tears!!!
Well at least from the older two!I just had to share this picture because it cracked me up! Do you think she may need to go to the bathroom?

Show Us Where You Live

I have decided to participate in another "Show Us Where You Live" Friday from Kelly's Korner. This week we show our foyer or entryway of our house. At first I thought that was a pretty boring place to show but soon realized it is one of my favorite parts of my house. So here it is...

The walk up the side walk to our front door.

Inside view of our front door. I would really LOVE to replace our front door one day. Hint hint honey!

I love pictures of my family so I love these bookshelves right inside our front door.

My favorite picture hung inside of my house. Not just because they are of my girls but because we had people sign it when they were both first born.

Girls Night Out

Gracie and I had our first true "Girls Night Out". I was excited to have this time with Grace (without Olivia fighting for attention) and to have adult conversation with a friend. We started with dinner out and finished the night painting pottery. It was a great night.

Grace loves hanging out with her friend Erin.

Grace surprised me on how much she enjoyed painting. She took VERY little guidance from me and did a great job. I was impressed on how she picked the colors and areas of the butterfly she was going to paint. She diffidently got this talent from her daddy.

4th of July

The 4th of July was spent at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house. We had a normal fun of swimming, waverunner rides, bike rides, yummy food and golf cart rides. We watched beautiful fireworks over the lake. Grace enjoyed them and Olivia like the first ten seconds of them and then she was ready to go play.



The 4th is also a special day because it is my sister's birthday. This year she turned the big 30!!!