Check out this awesome giveaway!!!

This looks like an awesome baby carrier and I hope I win!! She has some gorgeous custom baby gear on her website! Check it out here!!

Happy Anniversary!!! 8 Years & Counting!

Wow, I can hardly believe that 8 years ago today, my husband and I were married! We had a whirlwind romance and were married exactly 6 months to the day from when we began dating! We were engaged on my husband's birthday and planned our entire wedding in just 3 months time! My husband will always remind me that I had picked out my dress before we were even engaged! Yes, it's true, I found the perfect dress and just had to buy it, knowing that I would wear it when I got married someday...I was pretty sure he was going to ask me, so it wasn't that big of a risk! We were so young and so in love...neither of us had been looking for a relationship and that is exactly when God brought us to each other. Funny timing, only God! We've definitely had many ups and downs over the past 8 years, but all in all, we are happily married and working each day to be more like Christ in our marriage. Being married is probably one of the most challenging things in life, but it's also one of the most rewarding when you are able to see things through God's eyes. I am so thankful for my husband and that he has put up with me for all these years. I think God got it right when He gave us to each other...we don't always get along and sometimes we don't even like each other very much, but in the end, we have God at the center and He always pulls us back together. Without God in our marriage, I'm pretty sure we would not have survived the test of time. It's still difficult even with God by our sides, but it would be impossible without Him!

Happy Anniversary to my honey! I cannot wait to see where God leads us over the next 8 years and beyond. He's already blessed us with 2 gorgeous girls and I know that whatever He has planned for our future will be amazing!

Here's my favorite picture from our wedding day, taken by my dear friend Christine! Her pictures were much better than our actual "wedding photographer"!

A Fun Bow Giveaway!!

I have ordered hair bows in the past from Jeanette at Sara Beth Bows and they were AWESOME! She is hosting a bow giveaway at her blog this month...go check it out here and enter to win!

Out from under a rock...

Wow, it has been such a long time since my last blog post...I feel like I've been hiding under a rock lately and life has just sort of been going on around me. Do you ever have those times in your life where you just aren't certain where you're headed or what you should be doing or how to pull yourself out of the monotonous routine that can sometimes be called life? I feel like that is where I've been in recent days, but I'm happy to say that I am no longer stuck under that rock...I feel a newly restored sense of hope and purpose and I am just so thankful for my faith, my family and my friends and I'm even more thankful that God is ever present, even when He feels far away...He's always there right next to me whether I "feel" Him or not. My goal for the coming year is to become more passionate about something and to make a difference through living out that passion. I feel like God has already revealed that passion to my heart, but sometimes it is necessary to wait for God to align the other things and people in our lives with our passion before we are able to move forward. Does that make any sense? Being patient has never been easy for me and I suppose that this is just one more opportunity for me to be patient and to wait on God...His timing is always so much more perfect that mine anyway!

So, in a nutshell, that is my reason for not blogging lately. I'm still not quite sure what God has in store for me, but I know that all will be revealed in time and I'm excited to know that my future is in His hands and I don't have to do it all alone!

I took this picture a few weeks ago while we were out enjoying the sun in our backyard...to me, the butterfly represents new beginnings and the flowers represent life and hope for tomorrow...both reminders of the beauty God has surrounded us with, everywhere we look, He is there!

A Picture Post...

I don't have time to write much at the moment, but thought I'd post a few pictures from the past month. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and many blessings in 2009!

Tis the Season...

Wow, I can hardly believe that Christmas is next week! I feel like this month between Thanksgiving & Christmas has just flown by and all of a sudden Christmas is upon us. I absolutely love this time of year and all of the joy surrounding our celebration of Jesus' birth! It's especially fun this year because both of the girls are really excited and they love to talk about Jesus and His birthday!! I love that they get it and that we are able to teach them the true meaning of Christmas from such a young age!

We've not been up to much lately, other than preparing for Christmas, decorating our house and tree, wrapping gifts and shipping packages to our family out-of-state! We are looking forward to the New Year and all that it may bring and we are looking to God to direct our family in the way that He would have us go.

In other news...Savannah potty trained herself almost 2 months ago!! I LOVE that she did it all by herself and I will admit that I was dreading having to potty train her...it's just not the most fun part about parenting and something totally out of your control. So, we are thankful that Savannah did it all by herself and has only had a few accidents since then!!

A couple of the pictures below are when Mackenzie decided to decorate the tree all by herself. She placed ALL of her little stuffed animals ALL over the tree and she was so proud...she couldn't wait to show her daddy!! It was really adorable and I felt bad that we had to take them down eventually, but we did replace them with our traditional Christmas bears!

Here are a few pictures that were taken recently...the first one is hilarious...Savannah giving Newman a good night snuggle! Then there are a few of the girls by the tree and the last one is just perfect...Savannah was totally posing...I love her glasses and her pouty lips!

HOPE Giveaway!!

Please visit Jacob & Carrie's blog, Signs of Hope, to read about her "HOPE Giveaway"! They have such servants hearts and are serving China's orphans in amazing ways! Please go check out her blog and I promise you will be forever changed!

You also have an opportunity to enter a giveaway of a beautiful sterling silver Chinese character necklace that means "HOPE"! Please spread the word on your blogs and raise awareness for the amazing work they are doing on behalf of China's special needs orphans.