The Most Wonderful Sound in the World

Today I had my third doctor's appointment. We had our ultrasound on the 15th, so this was my first appointment afterwards. I was able to hear the baby's heartbeat again, and was so excited when they told me that they would listen for it at every appointment from now on. I am 13 weeks, 3 days today. I can't believe how quickly the time is passing. Before I know it, May will be here and this little one will be making his or her debut.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the start of my favorite time of year. I love family get-togethers and this season starts a collection of family times. I also love that Thanksgiving is just a time to be thankful for the blessings God has given us. There are no expectations or presents to buy; it is just time to be with family and friends. This year, Aaron & I are especially thankful for our new bundle of joy that is on the way. We spent our Thanksgiving with family. We had lunch with Aaron's family and dinner with my mom's family. It was a great time of fun and fellowship with each other. I hope you all had a wonderful day as well. Here are some pictures from our day.

Aaron's dad after our wonderful lunch

Amy chilling after dinner

Debra & Mom

Vanessa & Beth

The girls

The guys (and a few girls that didn't want to get up)

Channeling our Inner Grandma

Amy and I went to the new Peebles store in Madison last week. While there we couldn't pass up these wonderful Grandma sweaters. As you can tell we were really working them. Ok, so we didn't purchase them. They weren't really our style. Hope you get a kick out of them anyway.

Remedy

For those of you who know us, you might not know that we are HUGE David Crowder fans. This past Friday night, Aaron, Beth, our friend Dylan, and myself attended the last night of his Remedy tour. It was AWESOME. We attended his concert last year and it was so good that we couldn't pass up seeing him again this year. He was in concert with The Myriad and Phil Wickham. We had never seen Phil Wickham before, but he was awesome. He was a one man band and totally rocked the place. David Crowder's set was great. He sang lots of songs from his new CD remedy, and then several older songs. I can't pick a favorite because every song was awesome. David Crowder even rigged a Guitar Hero guitar and played in during the concert. It was so cool.

During the show David said something that resonated with me. He said "If we lived like we sang, the world would be a different place". I thought that was so profound. As Christians, we sing about God's love, forgiveness, and faithfulness. However, we do little to show His love and our trust in Him to the world around us. If only we could live out the words we sing about, how true it is that the world could be such a different place. I challenge you all during this holiday season to find ways to let the love of Christ show to those around us.

We're Expecting!!

We're Expecting!

Just wanted everyone to know that we are expecting our first child this summer. The little one is scheduled to arrive the first week in June. We would appreciate all your prayers during this time. We are all excited. We had our first ultrasound yesterday and we got to hear the heartbeat! Everything is progressing as it should and we are feeling great.

Christmas Shoeboxes

We participated in the Shoebox Ministry again this year. This is a ministry where we collect shoeboxes and fill them with items for needy children in Mexico. The items we collected are things such as baby dolls, crayons, coloring books, flip flops, socks, toothbrushes and toothpaste, bubbles, soap, and all kinds of toys. Last night we gathered together and put the boxes together and then wrapped them like Christmas presents. They will be collected and taken to Mexico sometime after Thanksgiving. This year we were able to make 300+ boxes! I am so gald that we were able to be apart of this and share God's love with others.

Rich and Beth getting the boxes ready for wrapping

Aaron putting one of the boxes together

Moo wrapping boxes

Mrs. Linda helping get the wrapping done

Jenny make one of the shoeboxes look spectacular

Matt helping load the truck

Beth and Madison showing off one of their boxes

Trunk or Treat

Last night we participated in Trunk or Treat at church. Here is a picture of our truck bed that we decorated for the kids to come "trick or treating." We were really excited about the trunk or treat because it was the first one our church had done. We decorated our trunk with a fall theme. We used lots of pumpkins, scare crows, and leaves to give the fall touch. The weather was so nice. It was just cool enough to feel like fall, but not so cold that being outside was miserable. Just the right "trick or treating" weather.

The night went so well. Everyone at church and the community were invited to eat hotdogs and chili before the "trick or treating" began. So many people brought chili and some yummy desserts. Everything was delicious. After dinner, my dad gave a talk while carving a pumpkin. He talked about how the pumpkin reflects our hearts, and when Jesus comes into our hearts, He cleans us out, carves a smile on our face, and allows His love (the light) to shine through. All this kids were sitted at the foot of the stage watching and listening to his story. After the story, all the kids decorated pumpkins while the adults went out an put finishing touches on their cars. All this kids and adults seemed to have a wonderful time in fellowship. There were so many great costumes, but my ultimate favorite were the Patterson's who were dressed up like the Veggie Tales. Hope you enjoy all the photos .

Kevin & Gincy setting up their trunk for the kids

Ky & Uncle Mike with their decorated golf cart.

My personal favorite - The farmer and his prized cow. Shannon and Travis are hilarious!

Jenny with Matt & Austin

Junior Asapargus & Madame Blueberry

Ky & Moo making a quick getaway

Shannon & Colton

Us after a long evening.

New Toys!

Dodger and Dixie got new toys this week. Aaron and I are always on the lookout for some cheap new toys for our pups. For those of you who don't have dogs you have no idea how expensive they can get, especially if you want them to last for more than a couple of days. Usually are dogs tear into a new toy and they are likely to get torn up pretty quickly - just another reason for them to be cheap. We have purchased several stuffed animals for them, but none have stood the test of time. Usually they play with them so often that they tear holes in them within the week of getting them...especially if them have a squeeker (sp?) in them. This week we found these two cute stuffed dogs on sale. Knowing that they probably wouldn't stand up very long they were so cheap that we figured they were worth it, not to mention we haven't gotten the dogs new toys in a while. Dodger and Dixie loved them. If you don't know already, I'm sure by now you can tell that our dogs are part of our family. Since we don't have any kids yet, they are our kids, so we spoil them all the time.

Daddy playing with Dodger & Dixie

Already fighting over their toys!