Happy birthday hubby!

Today Andrew is 32 and what a man to celebrate! I have been truly
blessed to have been given such a wonderful and godly husband. He
lives his life with such excellence, always striving to love and
please the Lord. He encourages me daily and I thank God for him! Happy
birthday my love!

California Burning

We are on our way home with this beautiful cloud of smoke to welcome
us! We hope our home isn't smoked out. gotta love our fifth season
here: fire season

Easy to please

You gotta love people who are made happy by the simple pleasures in
life ...a hot shower, an afternoon nap or a giant plate of Nachos!
This describes my hubby. He loves the little things and I love that.
He was so thrilled to eat chicken nachos for dinner and I thought I
was getting off easy. Thank you for being so not high maintenance. Now
I just need to work on that! (filet mignon for dinner tomorrow??)

First smiles

Weston's twin?

Nanni and Papa got out pics of Andrew as a baby and wow, they could be
the same baby! It is hard to see since I took a picture of the
picture, but they look so much alike!!

Cousins

Joy loved lovin on Weston- she will be a great big sister in just a
few weeks! We are so excited

Adventures in Manteca

Nanni added this cute message to Weston's picture and it is how we all
feel! We are so sad to leave!
As always we had a blast with our family this past week. We were so
spoiled- we enjoyed yummy meals and fun times around the table, a
bargain shopping excursion, preaching from my hubby, meeting our new
cousin Luke, staying up late and sleeping in, golf- for Andrew and
much more!
Weston enjoyed every minute of all of the attention, especially the
kisses from his cousin Joy! He let us know his contentment by flashing
us a big toothless smile yesterday for the first time!!! Uncle Ron was
holding him and Aunt Terri was cooing at him, he looked right at her
and grinned! Sooooo precious!

Tiny guy

Ist shoes

He loves it here

Andrew preaching Sunday night

Silly uncle Jon

Dancing with Abby Cadabby

Love from Uncle Brian

Ist road trip!

We are on our way to visit our family in Manteca and are so excited!
Our car is packed full of diapers, blankets burp clothes etc! It took
me two days to pack for a week, I am terrified I will forget something
Weston needs! I think I forgot that there are stores in Manteca and we
will be staying in a house with two nurseries! Oh well :)
So far so good. Weston has been sleeping the whole time besides one
stop in Mcfarland for an awkward nursing session on the side of the
road! Our new life!

Cute new hat!

My new favorite activity!

I love these little baby snuggle moments!

Things I've learned so far

1. I should wear a sign saying "caution new mom , stand back and enjoy
the show! " I feel so clutzy and awkward juggling baby and his milion
contraptions in public!
2. So thankful for good health insurance ! Just got the statement in
the mail for Westons stay in the hospital: $ 117,550.00 !! ( not even
including my surgery!) what we pay: $10.00 so far :) highway robbery!
3. At certain times throughout the day I would bet good money that I
am hearing Weston screaming, when in fact he couldn't be more asleep
and peaceful upon investigation! This is getting creepy! ( has this
happened to anyone else?)
4. It is true what they say... No matter how many beautiful babies I
have seen in my lifetime, Weston surpasses them all by leaps and bounds!
5. Even though I now spend my days at the beck and call of someone the
size of a football, I couldn't be happier!

So kissable

I love windows!

I surrender!

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday we did something that is very hard to do: we said goodbye to our friends. With one way tickets destined for North Carolina we sent off our dear pastor Kurt and his wife Julie and their 6 darling children to their new home. The past week has been a flurry of activities and goodbye parties making the last few days with them fly by. It didn't really hit me that they are gone until we left the airport without them yesterday morning. We are so excited for them and the great opportunity that God has for them as Kurt will be taking his own church! Oh to be there the first Sunday he preaches in his own church for the first time! Despite our excitement for them we can't help but feel a little sorry for ourselves being left behind.

Kurt and Julie have meant so much to us! They were there with us through dating and Kurt married us. Kurt has taken Andrew under his wing for many years now, impacting him and his spiritual walk more than anyone has. Much of who the man Andrew is today is because of what Kurt has poured into him. Julie has been such an example to me of what it means to be a pastor's wife and a godly and loving mother. Julie is someone who makes everyone feel comfortable and loved. She is so real and so honest, being around her is refreshing! We will miss them so much and already feel their absence.

We love you guys and can't wait to see how God uses you to bless the people in Hickory!

Friends

What would we do without good friends? I have been so blessed to not
have good friends, but amazing, wonderful, and great friends! Melissa
and Jenny are two of my most favorite human beings :) I can't put into
words the way both of them have blessed me . They are an extension of
Gods grace in my life! Here we have just finished our baking project
for our other wonderful friend Stacy's baby shower! ( not pictured
here, the other sweet face is a close family friend of Melissa and
Jenny) The four of us have grown very close over the past few of years
as we all walked thru dating, engagement, marriage and now embarking
on babies together! My most favorite memories were the meetings of
"The Excellent Wives Club". The name came from an amazing book we read
together called The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. We met every other
week for a while reading thru great books, cooking dinner and praying
for one another. What a joy! We aspire together to be excellent wives
and content women who trust the Lord in all circumstances! We all live
further apart from eachother now and our formal meetings have ceased
but our bond thru prayer remains and that is the most important!

A friend in the making!

Melissa and Eric pointing to the name of their little baby boy to be
born in December- Cade Jeffrey!

One month old!

I can't believe our baby is already a month old! As u can see he is
becoming more aware of his surroundings and loved the picture on our
wall last night! He continues to grow and is now a whopping 6 lbs 9 oz
and 20 inches long. (as of Thursday ). He was also circumcised this
week , ouch! He was such a big boy and was braver than mommy and daddy
were! We rejoice in the health of our little guy and each day that
passes is another reminder of God's grace. I am beginning to forget
what life was like without Weston here with us!

My boys