and there shall be great news of great joy!

We are so excited that Christmas is just around the corner. We have decorated the house (even though Brian is not happy there are more than 1 Christmas tree in the house), hung the stockings, bought and wrapped the presents. I can't wait to start Christmas cooking...I always have the best time with my mom and sisters, and even some best little girlfriends (Emma, Nat, & AG).

We do have some GREAT NEWS OF GREAT JOY this Christmas Season......

YES...we are having a Baby...July 2012!!!

We are overjoyed and extremely Blessed that God chose us to be this precious "gummy bear"'s parents!!

I can't wait to share what happens as our family grows...so for now

Merry Christmas from our GROWING family to yours!!!

Brian, Michelle, & Baby 

Summer of Hope...continued!

Soooooooooooooooo......our jammed packed July looked a little like this!

We spent Fourth of July with Brian's Family for the 4th (obviously) and Earl's Birthday!

I baked with my mom to create many yummy goodies. We had a great time with my family and Harlie Bea...

I went with our Children from EBC to Centri-Kid and had an amazing time. Our theme was shipwrecked island and our main verse for the weekend was ...and my God will supply all my needs according to His riches and glory. Philippians 4:19! How wonderful to know that God is ALWAYS in control and He will take care of you no matter the problems you face! My mom is always reminding us that GOD IS IN CONTROL!

While I was away at Centri-Kid, Brian was with his family for 15u Babe Ruth State Tournament. Not only is Jonathan (Brian's brother) District 7 Champs, they are also the State Champs as well. 

We spent the next couple weeks after the State tournament working and at Band Camp (I had so much fun with this awesome group of kids). We worked it out to leave for Sarasota, Florida last Friday for the South East Regional Tournament. We had so much watching the boys play. I had a few incidents! :) ...being told to "leave" the dugout, falling over the railing of the bleachers-tearing the tip of my toe off (yea...it still hurts), and dropping my wonderful, delicious cookies and cream milkshake from Chick-fil-a. All in all, our boys did a wonderful job and we are proud of the young men they are On and Off the field. SE Regionals outcome: TOP FOUR!!!!

We are so excited to have such a wonderful summer filled with great memories and great friends and family. We just celebrated 4 fabulous years together and we couldn't be happier! We are looking forward to a Fantastic Fall! can't wait to see what God has in store for us!

My Summer of Hope

I stumbled across this passage a couple of days ago and felt INSPIRED!

1 Peter 1: 3-9: Praise to God for a Living Hope

 ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.




 This past week my best friend of 26 years had her first child. How amazing it was to experience this blessing with her. It was a little bitter sweet to say the least. However, over the last week waiting on Maggie Beth to come home, I have become renewed in my faith, my hope and my purpose. Life has been a TRUE JOY because of this tiny miracle. I love you Amanda and Bryan and our sweet Maggie Beth. 

Our summer has been jammed packed with laying out at the pool to baseball to hanging out with family to  church softball and more..enjoy a few photos of how its going ...

We have a lot going on in July so stayed tuned for more summer of hope!

i wanna love you more...more...more

Someone said recently we needed to continue to be IN LOVE with Jesus. It's just like any other relationship. In order to be IN LOVE, you need to spend time with them. This week at VBS (New York City), we learned all about being IN LOVE with Jesus.

We learned that we should love God because HE loved US FIRST! What an amazing concept...right?

My 5th and 6th graders were amazing this week. We laughed till I cried (literally..haha), learned scripture, created statues with bible stories (pics below), played in water, and ate (we are always eating). Words can hardly describe the feeling when your mom tells you that one of your kids were ready and excited about having Jesus in their heart. Enjoy the pictures of our wonderful and crazy week!