Sweet Home Alabama...

Hello all!

We've been in Alabama for almost 3 months, and we're really loving it! Our new church family has made us SO welcome. Chris is loving his job, and I think staying home with Avery is the best job I could ever have :-). We stay busy, busy, busy, and the days are absolutely flying by. Avery turns 9 months old next week, which just doesn't seem possible!! She's growing like a weed!

Our new home is slowly coming together. Chris started painting the guest room/office today, and I'm excited to get it all set up. Avery's nursery is completely finished, and I LOVE it! We still have to paint our bedroom, 2 bathrooms, and the kitchen needs complete updating. We'll get it all done someday, lol... I'm enjoying finding new ideas on Pinterest. I could waste an entire day playing on that website! Right now I'm in the process of collecting different sizes of black frames and art for a gallery wall in our living room. I can't wait to see it when everything is in place!

Chris & I are excited to have the opportunity to travel to Peru this July on a medical mission trip with our church. I'm really looking forward to using my optometry experience to assist with vision clinics. Please be in prayer for us as we begin to raise the funds for the trip, and especially pray for the hearts of the people we will meet & work with while we're there. How wonderful to be able to go somewhere we've never been to tell others about Jesus!! The only drawback for me is leaving my sweet Avery. I'm trying not to dwell on it!

Maybe I'll actually blog again soon, haha!

Love you all,
Michelle

Our big girl!!!

Alabama - here we come!!

Hello all,

Our family is moving to Alabama at the end of this month! Chris accepted a student/worship pastor position at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa! The senior pastor of the church was on our team during our mission trip to India in 2010. We're SO excited about the church and how God is going to use us to minister there.

So now we're attempting to pack, which I hate doing. And Avery sort of complicates things, haha! We try to get as much done during her naps as we can :-) So far, most of our packed boxes are books - we have a TON!! We found a great house, and we're waiting on our loan to process. Hopefully our closing date will be the 28th, because Chris's 1st Sunday is the 30th!!

Things have been good - but so busy! I wish I could adequately describe to you how much God has provided for us, and how he has taken such great care of us through these past few months & last several years!! It's amazing!!

Well, I'd love to say I'll post again soon....but it will probably be a while, lol!! I'm excited to get to AL and start painting and decorating our new home!! And I'm even more excited to make new friends :-)

Love ya!

Michelle

It's almost Fall!!

Hello all!

The weather is finally starting to calm down a bit. Hopefully our days of temperatures over 100 degrees are over until next Summer.

We're doing well! September has been an extremely busy month for us. First we were able to visit Edisto Island with some families from our church in TN for a week, then we went to TN to visit our families for a week, and this coming weekend we're flying to AL to visit a church! Shoo!! We're very excited to see what God has in store for us, so this weekend is a huge deal to us. I'm nervous about flying with Avery, so if ya'll could pray for us this weekend, we'd really appreciate it :-)

It looks like we're going to be moving somewhere new soon. I'm really hoping to buy a house, and finally have a nursery for sweet Avery! I'm going to have a blast decorating!!

I recently finished helping my office out, and so now I'm home full-time. I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to spend all day with my sweet girl. God has blessed us beyond what we could have ever imagined.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Love always,
Michelle

Happy 4 Months Avery!!

Whoops...

So I haven't done a very good job of updating, have I???

Avery's 3 1/2 months old now & growing like a weed! She already has one tooth :-) She's very use to her routine & is doing so well! She hates napping more than anything, and will scream to keep herself from getting too sleepy, haha. Her 4 month well-check is in 2 weeks, and we can't wait to see how much she's grown since her last visit. We just bought her a Baby Einstein entertainer, & we know she's going to love it! She's obsessed with bright lights & music.

I've been working the last month to help out my office while they train a new tech. So Chris has been on Daddy duty every day, lol. He & Avery have had tons of bonding time. Avery adores her Daddy :-)

We're looking forward to going to the beach next month - Avery's first time!!

I'll post again soon!

Love,

Michelle

Avery's here!

Avery was finally born on 4-26-11 at 4:57pm! We went in to the hospital early that morning, and I had to be induced. She weighed 8 lbs & 2 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches long!

Tomorrow, she'll be 4 weeks old! Can you believe I'm just now updating our blog, haha?? This month has been insane. I really was unprepared for how hard parenthood is. The first few weeks of Avery's life were the hardest of mine. But she's so perfect & beautiful, and I already can't imagine life without her.

I'll try to be better about updating the blog. It's tough when your little one never wants to be put down, lol!

Love to all,
Michelle