Shhh... don't tell Jon :)

Kai was walking all over the house with one of Eliana's purses hung around his neck. He just thought that he was the coolest thing too. Too cute and too funny to not post. Jon didn't even want me to take a picture of him... but somehow with a big sister, I am sure that this is not the last time that Kai will be doing something on the "girly" side.:)

Quick trip to OH

On our way home from PA, we made a slight detour to OH to surprise my Mom with a visit for the 4th of July. I had arranged all of the details with my oldest sister, Amanda, so that we could completely catch my Mom by surprise. We ended up meeting them at Cheesecake Factory. They were already seated and we walked up to my Mom, who had her back to us, and I asked her if she minded if we sat with her. I wish that I could have captured the look on her face on camera. It was PRICELESS! She was so shocked and just stared at us for a while, I think she may have been trying to convince herself that we were real.:) It was so fun! We had dinner and then I called one of my other sisters, who we had also not told, and told her that we would be joining her the next day on the family trip to the waterpark in Cincinnati. Fun times! Eliana had a blast playing with her cousins at the waterpark and in G-ma and G-pa's backyard. I had made all of the kids tie-dye t's for the 4th so it was fun to see them all dressed up in those. We had a great trip, even though it was for such a short time. I will never forget the look on my Mom's face when she saw us.:)

2010 Family Vacation

This year for our family vacation we loaded up the van and drove up to Manns Choice, PA for a week at the OCF retreat center, White Sulphur Springs. We had been invited to attend a family camp called Anchor Points. When we got our invitation we really felt like God was telling us that this was something that we needed to do for several reasons. We have been praying and seeking His guidance in our lives for our future. We both feel like He is leading us on to someplace/something else, possibly the chaplaincy or some other ministry related thing. This invitation literally came out of nowhere... it is based on references that OCF receives from other people within OCF. We have our suspicions of who that was, but why us? We aren't military anymore... haven't been in an OCF group in years since we had to leave our precious Hawaii group. So after praying about it, we just followed the invitation and made plans to use our vacation time in that way. We drove to the camp not knowing what to expect and feeling a little out of place. Jon said it best when he said, "We arrived at the camp and felt very out of place the first couple of days, but by the end of the week, we felt as if we had come home." So true! It was such a blessing to be around military families again. There is just something so unique and comforting about that community, as many of you know.:) We got to sit under great teachers, interact with other believers, and spend some much needed family time together, not to mention how much fun our kids had, especially Eliana! We still really don't know for sure why we were chosen to be there, but we were extremely blessed by our time there and will cherish the memories forever. Here are just a couple pictures from our time there. We had two different theme night dinners, International and Cowboy. Jon and I are dressed in Afghani clothing that he bought while he was on IA, and then the kids are in Chinese outfits that Jon got them on his trip there in May. Eliana absolutely loved playing in the creek looking for crawdads... I have never seen my child so dirty in her entire life.:)

Celebrating 6 years!!!

God is SO good to me!! About 7 years ago He brought this guy named Jon into my life in the coolest way, and nurtured our relationship through emails for several months until we could actually meet in person. I think that before we even saw each other for the first time, we knew that this was something special. It was totally God! He brought us together... even though we only lived miles apart, we had never met until then. Now here we are 6 years later. God continues to be SO good and SO faithful to us in our marriage. Jon is really above and beyond all that I could have asked or imagined. I never dared believe that God would have someone like him for me... oh me of little faith.:) I have learned so much about God's love through the way that Jon loves me. I have learned so much about how God loves as a Father through watching Jon love our two kids. I am just so immensely blessed to be married to this man. Today, and everyday I praise God for him. I look forward to many, many more years as we both fall deeper in love with our Savior, and then that much deeper with each other.

Happy 1st Birthday Kai!!!

It seems like just yesterday that we were heading to the hospital to get ready to meet you for the first time, Little Man. I was so excited and so nervous at the same time. The Doctor's and nurses that delivered you were very nice and made Mommy feel much more calm. Before I knew it they were talking about what a big baby you were and how they didn't know where you had hid all 8 lbs. 6 0z. of you inside of me. Then there were comments about all your dark hair, and then there you were. Daddy was bringing you close so I could get a good look at you. I got really choked up because there you were the amazingly perfect answer to Mommy's very specific prayer. I asked God for a son that would look just like his Daddy... and there you were looking so much like your Daddy and just as I had envisioned you looking when I would pray to God about you. Unfortunately Mommy couldn't hold you then, and it would actually be quite a while later until I would get to hold you for the first time because you were having trouble breathing and the baby nurses had to take very special care of you. I finally got to see you at 2 am the following day, and the nurses even let me hold you. Oh what a moment that was for me!! I will never forget it... Mommy was so overcome with love for you, My Precious Son, but at the same time, so nervous for you as you were still having trouble breathing. It took you a little while but you got better and we got to take you home on Mommy and Daddy's 5th Anniversary. We had a bit of a rough time at the beginning with you learning to eat, but you definitely don't have any trouble with that now. We have had such a wonderful time with you this first year, Kai. Mommy, Daddy, and Eliana all adore you. You bring so much joy to our lives. You are adventurous and never sit still. You are already walking and you love to climb on anything and everything. You can say several words: Mommy, Daddy, Eliana, ball, bye-bye, uh-oh, no no, Aw-ya(that's how you say Maka), and a whole lot of other stuff that we can't really understand right now. You love your Big Sister and she loves you. Mommy loves to see you two together. You are all boy and love to play rough and play with balls and trucks. You really love electronics, like tv remotes, cell phones, the flip, and other things like that, but you can't really play with those. You really just bring us so much joy, my precious boy. Mommy is so grateful for this past year that we have had with you, and she looks forward to so many more years. We love you so much, Kai!! Happy Birthday sweet boy!!

That's my girl!!

So back when I was pregnant with Kai, I was planning on when I would run my first half-marathon. I got on the computer and started searching for some. I came across one that just sounds AWESOME! It is held at Walt Disney World in March, and it is only for woman, and called the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. You run through the park and the princesses are all throughout. You are given pink, ultra-girly running shirts to wear, the whole things is just geared for women. It is a weekend long event, as far as the other activities which include a family fun run of a mile. After reading about it, I told Jon all about it and how I thought it would be so fun to run and that maybe Eliana could do the fun run. Well, Eliana overheard me talking about it, and because of the Princess theme, she has not forgotten it. She says all the time that she is practicing to run the Princess race and that she is going to win it over all the other kids, because she just likes princesses the best.:) She does laps around the house as part of her training. The other day I came across her running around with her water bottle tucked into her pants, but she was complaining because it kept falling out. I went and got her my hydration belt that I used for my long runs when I trained for my half. She was so excited to wear it. She wanted to know what went in the pouch, so I told her that I put my cell phone in it, so she ran to get her pretend cell. She has an old watch that my father-in-law gave her that she pretends is her ipod, so she had that strapped to her arm. Then she was all ready to run! So cute! I love that she is interested in running! Jon and I talk often about how cool it would be if one day her and I ran a race together.:) So these are just some pics of her all geared up for her run.:)

On display

Jon put up the pictures that he had framed for me, and I think that they fit very nicely with our room.:) Please ignore the huge monstrosity in the corner, also known as a Captain's Chair. That part of our room is becoming kind of a workout area. Wish we could put my treadmill there instead of the dreary basement.