Dec 22 is Christmas!

Today is Christmas!!!!
Okay so for those of you that are thinking Laura has lost it, I do realize that if you look at the calendar - it doesn't list Dec 22nd as Christmas but TODAY is MY Christmas. Let me explain...
Growing up we might be at our house for Christmas, or at my grandparents house but wherever we were on Christmas morning, we'd wake up, open presents and PLAY all day long. Well we might have done other things like eat lunch and stuff but what I remember about the best part was just being at home with family all day. We never went anywhere, we just had family time.
As an adult life has changed a bit, since I got married we have traveled on Christmas Eve and Christmas day - it's just not the same. So this year, my amazing husband is giving me the best gift ever - a whole day, just us, to hang out as a family.
I am so excited, I feel like a little kid. I woke up at 5 am and couldn't go back to sleep! I'm still waiting for everyone else to wake up. I'll add more and pics later today!

Mary Beth video (5 months)

I'll let the video speak for itself! (You can ignore Oprah's voice in the background - it has nothing to do with the video)

Busy December

[You may have noticed a lack of posts lately - December has flown by! We have had a very busy month but I'll try to get you all caught up.]

As a family, we decided to make our new family tradition to eat Thanksgiving dinner and then decorate our house for Christmas. Mary Beth enjoyed seeing all the lights on the trees. We enjoyed decorating to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The first weekend in December we traveled to Dublin, GA to visit my Granny for her 90th birthday. She is an amazing woman who has been blessed with many years to enjoy life. My mom and aunt threw a huge birthday bash and they sent out about a million invitations. About 250 people came to honor her and wish her a happy birthday. It was a great time! It was also a great blessing to see my brother Eddie for the first time in a long time and Mary Beth got to meet her uncle. (She'll have him wrapped around her finger in no time) Here are a couple pics for you...

After we got back to Spartanburg, Stephen went to Louisville for a week for a class. (Only one more class to go! I can't wait until graduation in May!)

With Stephen back home this week, we have finished our shopping and are ready for Christmas!

There has also been lots of parties and Christmas programs at church - what a wonderful way to celebrate the birth and life of our Lord! Instead of having a big Christmas party for the youth, they packed up the party and took it to a homeless rescue mission in town. It was a wonderful way to serve others and party at the same time. Our youth choir, DAY 6, performed their Christmas concert, Bucky spoke, and then they had plenty of time to fellowship and visit with people at the shelter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. This year was our first thanksgiving on our own. We have always traveled on Thanksgiving but this year we thought it was time to start our own family traditions. Our student ministry sells fried turkeys as a fundraiser, so we joined Stephen at the church and Mary Beth was the cutest little mascot.

After we finished up at the church we came home to finish cooking our Thanksgiving meal. Thankfully, I didn't have to cook the turkey or dressing, just heat them up. Once we got everything on the table we realized that the turkey was as big as Mary Beth - all 14 pounds of it. We have lots of leftovers!

As always, we have so much to thank God for: our family, our church, our friends, our relationship with Christ, and all the provisions the Lord has made for us. To him be the glory!

We hope that you are your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Finally!

Day 1 - 45 minutes of sleep

Day 2 - an hour and a half

Day 3 - 2 hours

Getting 8 hours of sleep on Day 123 -

PRICELESS

Okay so I know that was a little cheesy, but in all seriousness thanks to everyone who has been praying for us (and our lack of sleep) the last 4 months. Hopefully last night was not be a one time occurance but a trend that will continue. We are so proud of our precious little one.

Eating - Day 2

Okay, so I promise that I wont start posting everyday with pictures of Mary Beth eating, but today I turned the camera on Stephen while he fed her. Stephen says that I'm like a professional (after every bite cleaning up what has come out) but he is an amature and just trys to get as much in as he can - then worries about cleaning up later. It made for some really cute pictures!

Our Baby is Growing Up

Today Mary Beth took her first few bites of a somewhat solid substance. We heard that it takes them a few days to learn to actually just take it in rather than spit it right back out.



She is looking so big and we have mixed feelings about her growth. We are excited to see new steps but we are also holding on so tight to our newborn baby girl.

Halloween Happenings

Here are some pictures of our little pumpkin on her first halloween.

(The excitement wore her out in less than an hour)

The Retreat Formerly Known as Awanita (TRFKAA)

The Fall retreat was awesome! We had a whole lot of fun the entire weekend. God showed up in a big way touching down into the lives of our students, leaders and myself. We were all challenged to not let the weekend go by without impacting our daily life. Too many times, retreats leave us with a great emotional high but lack to impact us for the long haul. If you're reading this please pray for us to take our love for Christ to the world and into our day to day thoughts and actions.

Parent/Church Dedication and Baby Recognition

Stephen and I had the privilege of being part of a baby dedication ceremony at our church. Our pastor, DJ is awesome at explaining the purpose of dedicating ourselves as parents to the Lord and the importance of the church committing to support parents in their role. He also clarifies that unlike other denominations, we are not making any sort of spiritual decision on behalf of our child, thus the title Parent/Church Dedication and Baby Recognition was very fitting.

The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deut 6:4-9