some thoughts

well, I have shown you some cute pictures of Isabella and our family, but I haven't gotten to tell you some things that I have been processing lately. We have been very busy down here in the southern tip of Texas. The cool weather is coming to a close and with that we are seeing that our time here is as well.
We are trying our hardest to live these last four months (that is going to fly by) in a way that we won't regret. It seems like yesterday that we Matt was driving that 26 foot truck and me driving our little saturn over 1500 miles down here. I was barely pregnant and Matt was about to start three years of intensive training. We are now leaving with a beautiful growing little girl, friends that we will have for a lifetime and hopefully a little wiser than we were before.
We still have one more year of medical training before us before in St. Louis before we are done. I say "we" because I am going through this with Matt and it is an ending and beginning for us both.
I can't wait to see what God does with us in St. Louis. He will be challenging us in different way I am sure, but I know that He will get us through like He always has.
I just thought I'd share some of the things that are on my mind these days as we are starting to pack and get ready for this next step in our adventure. If you think of us please be praying for us during this transition into a new city and new people.

Isabella's Birthday

We had Isabella's birthday party and it was a lot of fun. She seemed to have a blast with her friends and the bounce house that we got to borrow from a friend. This was the cake that I made and it turned out really good (I think). You can't tell from this picture, but it was two layers; Elmo is the second layer. It was a lot of fun and a a lot of work to make. Now that I have done it once..it can only get better from here--right??



Isabella love it when people sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She gets this big grin on her face as you can see in the following video. She is all about the "me, me, me."

She did like her cake!!!

Just for Palmer

My nephew, Palmer, loves legos.
Palmer, there is this HUGE lego store in Downtown Disney and I had to take some pictures for you of some things that they built out of legos:

I'm Back

well, everyone I am so sorry that I have neglected the blog the last month (crazy how time flies).
To be honest I can't seem to pull myself away from looking at places to live in St. Louis; craig's list is addictive when you are getting ready to move. We are getting ready to move in four and a half months--I can't believe it! There is a lot to do before then and we are going to make the best of our time left here with our friends.
We just got back from a week in Orlando. It was cold and we weren't too happy about that. No, we didn't go to any of the parks b/c 1. it was too cold 2. it is crazy expensive and 3. Isabella is too young for most of it. I wanted to take her to sea world, but it was too cold and too expensive.

well, anyways.. we did get a few pictures from Walt Disney Downtown.
Isabella loves carousels! After this shot Matt went and put her on a horse.
These next two pictures were taken at the Ghiardelli Chocolate Soda Shop. It was SO good! We don't have to teach Isabella to like sweets--it is in her blood.

Having fun

Isabella has been having a lot of fun playing lately. She loves to put "big people" shoes and walk around the house with them on (see photo below). As these next pictures will tell you she loves her daddies scooter. It is so funny to see her with his helmet on. I also uploaded a video of her of her on it too.

a couple of weeks ago

I thought I had posted these pictures already, but when I actually looked our blog I realized otherwise. I am sorry that I have not kept this up better as of late. Isabella is getting harder to take pictures of because she always just wants to look at the camera's pictures. Here are some pictures of my family in North Carolina. We had a family reunion and all 5 of my cousins were there with their families. It was so fun having everyone together. Great job with the cooking, mom!!

These are all of the kids together. My Nana would have a bunch of great-grands by now if she was still with us.

This is my family. It had been a while since we had a full family photo.


I think this picture might go on our Christmas card.

These are my brother's three kids, Palmer, Gibson, and Brantley. They are getting so big.
Isabella was not happy about taking a family photo. We must have taken 6 or 7. She has a perfect frown.

These are just a few candids that my mom took. She doesn't snuggle like that very often.

Lots o' Pics and stuff about our travels

Alrighty, we are home and getting back to normal. Matt is done with all of his fellowship interviews and about to put in his match list. We will find out in less than 8 weeks where we are heading in 8 months. We are real excited to see where God is leading us for this next year.
Here are pictures from the last two months or so:

Our trip to Tulsa was so much fun. I got to spend a lot of time with Sarah and her kids. Noah (the little boy on the side next to Isabella) loved on Isabella so much while we were there...it was so cute. We think they make a very cute couple!



Sorry this picture got blurred--she was going so fast. She loves to go down slides!
These next two pictures were from the pumpkin patch we got to go to. Isabella had a great time seeing all of the pumpkins and riding this tractor.

St. Louis

We got to go to the zoo (it's free!!). We got so close to some of the animals. Mike Gardner (who we stayed with) and I wanted to feed this really nice animal, but Matt says " The first rule of the zoo is never to feed the animals)..mike and i thought otherwise..then we look down and see the sign right in front of us "Please do not feed the animals!" We thought that was pretty funny.
But look how close we were!!


There were five tiger cubs when we were there; they were so cute playing with each other.
And here is Mr. Mike Gardner. Sorry we didn't have a picture of Jessica (his wife)--she was working.

Matt and I's first time playing this great game. Now we both want one.....anyone want to chip in??


Back at Home!!

Right after we got home my brother and sister-in-law came down to South Padre Island to speak at a Weekend to Remember conference. It was great to go hear Brian speak at a couple of the sessions and spend time with Jen. After the conference was over they stayed with us for an extra couple of days..it was great to have them here and see where we live.


We went down to the Sandcastle days and saw the great big castles. It was amazing!

Isabella loves the bounce houses!! This was at a friends birthday party..I am going to upload a video of her bouncing on the youtube.
This is Ilana Miller. We got to stay with out friends, the Millers, in Waco on our way up to St. Louis and back. It was great to see them and their new residents. Isabella played really well with Ilana and their dog, Moses, who weights 135 lbs--craziness!
This is just a picture of Matt and I on a double date we got to take at the island.