Maggie's First Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter this year. I had such a great time dressing her up and getting her Easter Basket ready...and she enjoyed getting into them. Her nana made her a beautiful little dress and her grammy bought her a cute little sweater...and she loved it. She knew how adorable she looked. She enjoyed playing with all her new little toys...especially her new sunglasses!

Now at 6 months, Maggie is so much fun. She has such a great personality. Always happy and always smiling! She just wants to talk and play constantly. And we love it. Just hearing her laugh brings me such great joy. I just can't get enough of her.

Just seeing her smile and hearing her laugh makes me feel so good. Like we must be doing something right. I can honestly say I've never seen a baby so happy all the time. We have been so blessed. This is the great life that God has given us.

God is so Good!!!!!!!

After several months of time-consuming preparation and high stress levels, Tony finally had his interview for commissioning. To his surprise, (but nobody else's) he did very well. You see, we were a little concerned because we were informed that there was a limit to the number of candidates that the Conference could approve. Being commissioned guarantees full-time appointment, however, non-commissioned guarantees nothing. I strongly feel that I am called to be a stay-at-home mom, and that is something that we both really want me to be able to do. However, not being commissioned would greatly reduce that possibility, whereas being commissioned would guarantee that I could stay home!

After continuous prayer we got an answer that we can both live with. On Wednesday night, we were informed that Tony has been approved for commissioning and will officially be commissioned on May 31 at the Annual Conference for the North Indiana Conference of the UMC. This is a huge blessing and an answer to many prayers. Not only does this mean that he is guaranteed a full-time appointment, it also means that I can stay home with Maggie once we move. We are thrilled!

Once again, God has blessed us immensely. To all those who were praying for us in this process, thank you!

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my birthday; and I love recieving birthday greetings, whethter it be a gift, a card, or a simple "happy birthday". While at work on my birthday (and feeling a little depressed abobut that) I recieved this greeting, and it made my day! I do have to say, out of all these 26 years, this tops all other greetings I've ever gotten. I love my little family! They are my world. Thank you for making my day!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

WOW! This holiday season has crept right up on us. Tony is officially done with classes (for good) and will enjoy some time off with Maggie before his CPE (basically an internship) starts. I am still working at the seminary as the Switchboard/Receptionist, not enjoying it quite as much as I'd like, but still grateful and thankful that I have it. We are both really looking forward to his graduation in May. We are both ready to just be settled in what God has called us to...serving in a church for him, and being a stay at home mom for me!

Our newest addition arrived Thursday, September 6, 2007 at 2:06pm, weighing 6 pounds and 3 ounces and 19 incehs long. Magdalene Rae is our pride and joy. She is the new love of my life! I never knew I could love someone so much. My heart still melts everytime I look at her.

Maggie is now 3 months old and has us wrapped around her little finger! She is just the cutest thing and we adore her. It is hard to believe that she has been in this world for three months already. We have so much fun with her. She is now smiling and laughing...it is soo cute! She is such a happy baby...all the time. God has truly blessed us with her. It is amazing what she has taught us. She has taught us more about God and our theology in three months than we have learned over our lifetime. She is such a God-filled little girl. I look at her and I see Christ. It fills my heart with such great joy! We couldn't have asked for a better blessing! We love her so much! But then again, after seeing the pictures, what's not to love!

Baby Time?

Well I am now at 38 weeks, which means I have only two weeks left...if all goes as planned!!! As the time approaches, Tony and I can now rest easy knowing that we are prepared for our daughter's arrival. Well at least in the sense that the nursery is ready and our bags are packed and in the car. As for us actually being ready, I guess we'll find out soon!

In getting the nursery ready, we found ourselves in the midst of some time consuming, and often times, stressful projects. Our projects for the nursery included: refinishing the dresser, building and painting shelves, building and painting the lamp, painting and re-doing the toy box, and making curtains! There were times when we didn't think we would ever get the nursery finished. But we did, and we are very pleased with the final outcome...now all we need is her to finish it off!

Since we are so excited about it, I wanted to share some pictures of the nursery so everyone else can see what we've done. Note in the pictures all our projects I have mentioned...I am so proud of Tony for all his hard work and time that he put into everything! Without his work, the nursery would not look near this good!

Here comes baby!!

Well...as most of you know by now, Melissa and I are expecting our first child. At the present time, Melissa is in the midst of her 12th week and be beginning the 2nd trimester on Saturday (3/3). Needless to say...we are extremely excited and one of us is slightly nauseated...but I should be better soon!

Anyway...we have had two ultrasounds already in this amazingly exciting process. Here is what our baby looked like at 10 weeks, 5 days.
Obviously the image is turned and the baby is on his/her head. Either way...it is a cute little creature...and it is obvious why Melissa has experienced exhaustion and nausea.

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Christmas

Christmas has come and gone...once again. This year we travelled to my parents in Indiana. Unfortunately there was no snow...only rain. But, we had a good time nonetheless. We were there for an entire week so I got to get some of my paperwork and meetings done for my ordination process...which is a relief. I had to take a psych exam as part of the process. That should be interesting.

As always...I failed to take many pictures. I like to enjoy moments rather than see them through the lens of a camera so I often opt not to take pics. I do have some pictures of the Dolphins game that we went on New Year's Eve (thanks to Scott and Nikki - my brother and sister-in-law). During halftime we were able to go underneath the lower deck to a special area for people in our section (we had good seats). There was a long glass wall. On the other side of the glass wall was the Dolphins' locker-room. We were just a few feet from the players. It was really quite awesome.

When you have been a fan for 21 years and are as passionate as I am...being five feet from Jason Taylor, Zack Thomas, Ronnie Brown, and of course Chris Chambers...you are in your own little heaven. Melissa was excited too. She was most excited when Channing Crowder (LB) gave a thumbs up to her through the glass. Here eyes were as wide and as full of life as I have ever seen them. It may sound stupid but it was a time that neither of us will forget.

The pics from the game were taken on my new 35mm camera (better zoom). So hopefully, I will be able to get them developed and posted at a later date.

Here are some pics of Melissa opening her new golf clubs on Christmas morning.