kentucky. one year later.

It is hard to believe we have only been here just over a year. This morning I sit in our kitchen nook, home from church as Evan has been sick the last few days. He is back to his old self, but I don't want to risk getting anyone at church sick. It has been a long weekend, I could go for a glass of red wine. Is 9am too early? I kid, I will settle for my daily dose of coffee which is healing my headache as I type.

As I think about where I was a year ago it amazes me how much can change in one short year. At this time last year, I remember feeling very apprehensive and unsure how I felt about our new home. I was starting to freak out a bit...not that I don't do that occasionally anyway...but that is beside the point.

We had visitors nearly every month, which definitely made us feel loved, missed, and cared for. We truly are so blessed to have such awesome families.

We also had the incredible opportunity to go to the Kentucky Derby. Justin's Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace (who treated us to the amazing event) flew down with Justin's parents and sister Joelle (who babysat) and we had a blast. Who knew horse racing could be so much fun. All the women decked out with fun hats, we had amazing seats, saw Michael Jordan, and our horse even won! We even sipped on a couple mint juleps!

We were getting extremely frustrated in our search for a church home, but in August we finally found the place for us. A place where Gods word is preached and where we have been able to get involved. We have made some awesome lifelong friends. A little shout out to Chad and Mel! We love those two, and their baby girl Juliana. God has blessed us with some awesome friends that we just got along with so well right away. Alright, I gotta share this story.

So, after we had been coming to church for a couple of weeks, Chad and Mel invited us over for dinner.
We had heard that they were amazing cooks. More than one person had ranted and raved about the amazing dinner we would be treated to. We were excited.
The night of our amazingly wonderful, highly anticipated dinner arrives, and as we stepped in the door I took a big whiff expecting to smell some delicious aromas filling their home.
Nothing. Maybe my nose was broken?
I noticed some ridiculous smirks on their faces. It was then that they informed us they had ordered pizza.
PIZZA!!
After all the hype and now we get a lousy delivered pizza.
Alright so Mel was just about to pop out a baby, and they just were tired. I didn't blame them one bit. I probably would have had them make their own pb&j if we had invited them over when I was nine months pregnant.
Now we are known as the couple who got pizza instead of a "real" meal from Chad and Mel. They have treated us to many amazing meals since. They are good to us and we thank God for bringing them into our lives. We rang in the New Year with them playing Nintendo Wii until 2 a.m. when finally Mel and I made the boys shut it off so we could all function in 2008.
Anyway, we became fast friends, and love spending time with them.

Justin has enjoyed his job, they definately keep him busy. He works so hard, and he gets stressed so easily but overall he is liking it. I think both of us are appreciative of the experience he is getting in the field, and he has some hillarious co-workers.

I have really learned a lot about myself, both good and bad. I have been able to stand back and look at how I can be a better wife, friend, daughter, mother. God has really shown me my dire need for him, and although I know I can grow so much more, the things he has taught me this past year have left me in awe of him.

My boys. I can't imagine life with out those two. Different in every way I love them both for who they are. It has been so much fun to watch them grow. It is hard to believe Maxwell will be four this year. This fall we are planning on sending him to pre-school. I never really gave it much thought but have been doing some research and he is eager to go. One of the Pastor's has four children and they send 3 of their 4 (the youngest isn't even a year) children to school once a week and are homeschooled the rest of the time. Anyway, they love going and talk about it every Sunday as they go on Mondays. Max has heard all the hype and is interested. So, we are going to give a go. I think he is really going to love it. He will go on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings. He talks about it all the time, but doesn't realize how far away fall really is. Evan is out of control. That kid. He sure has given me a run for the money, but it is hard to believe he was still a little infant just a year ago. He is now a full-fledged toddler...and has some killer dance moves.

Although both Justin and I were a bit unsure about the whole move, God has been and is good. He has blessed us and drawn us closer to him in unimaginable ways. The move was good for us as a couple, a family, but most of all as children of God.