MOVE IN FAITH

Happy Birthday To You....

2008-01-16T21:48:00.000-05:00

Last Friday ( the 11th ), we had the joy of celebrating Elijah's 1st birthday! I can't believe how fast the time has gone! He is walking, eating some "grown up" food, and talking ( mama, dada, and he signs " more" and "all done").

This year we opted to have a family party. Gabe ended up doing a double that day, but he still insisted that we have his "party" on his birthday...so we did - at 10 pm. LOL We put up some decorations, and I had bought the kids some balloons ealier that day, and I baked a cake. The Kids loved it! Here are a couple of pictures of our night....sorry for the quality, our camera went out on us, so these were taken off of our video camera....Praise the Lord we had that :)

SNOW!!!

2008-01-02T20:18:00.001-05:00

Last night it snowed at our house :) ! We woke up to a winter wonderland.... There was only about 1/2 in or so of snow, but it was still beautiful. I bundled the kids up and we played outside for a bit...actually just 3 or 4 minutes. It was soooo cold! I didn't even have time to take a picture of them. Maybe next time. But here are some pictures of our snowy day....

The ally next to our house

This is Elijah when he first woke up. He was probably thinking that I was crazy for wanting to go outside at all!

Kailyn - ready to go!
This is our street.

This is our backyard.

Winter is here! :)

Kailyn's First Movie

2008-01-02T14:19:00.000-05:00

On New Years Day, Gabe took Kailyn out to a movie...her first time ever going to the theater! We told her all about it and she was so excited to go! They got to the theater a little early, bought their ticket, pocorn, M&M's, and sat down to watch the previews ( Gabe's favorite part :) Kailyn did great, until the lights went out...she got a little scared, but still stayed for about 45 mins. When they got home, I asked her how her movie was, and she got a big smile on her face and "told" me all about it. She had a GREAT time with daddy :)

Chrstmas: Part 2

2007-12-27T17:58:00.000-05:00

Christmas day was so fun this year; watching both kids get so excited and opening their gifts. Kailyn finally got the hang of ripping the wrapping off, and seeing what's inside. Elijah was just happy to have a ribbon, and to sit on all the pressents. Here are some pictures of our morning...

Kailyn and Elijah waiting to open their pressents.

"OK, Elijah, I'll show you what to do"

After a long morning of opening and exploring their new gifts....Thanks everyone!!!

Christmas: Part 1

2007-12-27T16:44:00.000-05:00

This Christmas we decided to buy a fake, pre-lit tree. If you know us, that is something that we thought we would NEVER do. However, this year is just like the most logical. Anyways, on Sunday, the 23rd, we st up and decorated the "tree". It was so much fun. This is Kailyn's 3rd Christmas, and Elijah's 1st. They had a blast looking at, playing with, and "decortaing" with the ornaments. Here are a few pictures.

The tree fit on this table which worked our great! Now Elijah ( and Kailyn ) wont be pulling the stuff off the "tree" every 5 minutes ( or less). LOL

After we decorated the tree and ate dinner, we headed out to see some Christmas lights. Every year at Freeman Lake ( which is less than 5 minutes from our house) they decorate the whole park. You drive you car through the park and enjoy the lights. We even let Kailyn out of her car seat and she gets to help Gabe drive the car :) We had gone a few times already this season, but this night was sooo busy. We waited almost 20 minutes just to get into the park! This is Kailyn waiting ever so paitently....Elijah slept thought it this time.

Snack Time

2007-12-27T16:17:00.000-05:00

Elijah is getting to be such a big boy! It is hard to believe that he will be a year old in 2 weeks! He has just started to eat "big people" food. He loves these "snackies" as we call them. The are fruit pufs that disolve easily in your mouth. He has learned how to open the lid and grab his own snack himself. He loves it!

Hello

2007-12-27T15:59:00.000-05:00

Hey guys...here are a few more pictures :) God Bless!

This is Elijah...such a happy boy all the time ( well almost :)These are 2 pictures of Kailyn talking on the phone to Grandma. She loves to talk on the phone...and talk in general. She has had a bit of a slow start with the words, but she is saying so many things now. I counted the words/ phrases she is saying and it was almost 50!

Gabe and the kids are standing to the right of our house in the alley. On Christmas eve we were invited to go to Pastor Mario's house ( he is the pastor of a Calvary Chapel in Louisville) for dinner. It was so fun! We had amazing mexican food for dinner, and great fellowship with friends. What a blessing.

Just a Few Pictures

2007-12-21T18:52:00.001-05:00

Hey Guys, I know it's been a while....Here are just a few pictures :)
God Bless!

Summertime

2007-10-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

This summer has been filled with many exciting things..... Trips to Louisville, Nashville, the lake, friends moving to town, and buying our first home :) Here is a quick picture update.

This is the Louisville Slugger Museum. We went on a tour of their factory, and watched them make some bats. We were given a mini bat as a souvenier :) Below...Gabe is standing with Elijah next to a wall with all the major league ball players signatures they use to imprint the bats.

This is Mandy :) We were blessed to have her com out and stay with us for a few days in July:)
This is a trolley ride we took in Louisville.

This is the Nashville skyline.

The Country Music Hall of Fame.

The Grand Ole Opry House.

Kailyn and Xander at the park.
Kailyn, Bella, Mandy, Zoe, and Xander.

Kailyn and Xander at the Lake
Our first home!
This is a side view of the house, and garage ( with an apt on top of the garage).This is our backyard ( both sides of the wood fence ).

It has been a wonderful summer! Lots of memories and experiences shared!

Our First County Fair

2007-07-18T11:04:00.000-04:00

Last week our family experienced our first county fair. We had a great time and did as much as we could. All week long there were events and contests like the horse show, demolition derby, beauty contest, 4-H, craft show, line dancing, and cow pie bingo. We went on Monday and saw the demolition derby, watched a wrestling match, rode rides, had fresh lemonade, ate cotton candy and funnel cake.

If you want to experience KY and see all the people in one place you have to go to the fair, and the best fair is the state fair coming in August. We're very excited.

A Little History to Our Story

2007-07-12T21:39:00.000-04:00

When Jen and I were married three years ago we committed our marriage, our family, and our lives to the Lord. And we have found there is nothing greater in this world then serving Him and seeing His mighty works. We would never have believed that in three short years we would have two kids, move away from our close friends and family, and end up in Elizabethtown KY. But that is where we are and it is exciting to be apart of the work the Lord is doing here.

As I reflect back it is obvious that we could not have moved here without first taking smaller steps that the Lord was leading us in. I had every intention of living and dying in Yucaipa, CA, because our home Church was there, our family was in the area, and all our good friends were close by. We were living comfortably in a three bedroom house and had no reason to leave. But right before Kailyn was born it was pressed upon my heart to move to Murrieta and attend the Bible College there. This was a big step for us, in someways a harder decision them moving out here. But we moved out in faith, and as difficult as it was to leave the place we felt most safe, we knew it was the right thing to do. Even though we were only an hour drive away it was difficult to keep the closeness with our friends like we had before, and we could not attend our home church Wildwood regularly, and we saw are family less often. All this gave us a greater urgency to trust in the Lord and rely on Him. After a year in Murrieta we realized we could survive outside of Yucaipa and away from all the wonderful people there, and that God had a greater purpose for our lives then we had planned. During this time we began to feel called to move out of state, but didn't know where.

We first began praying about E-town when we heard that the DeWitts were starting Bible study there. We had been praying and talking for awhile about moving out to help, but it wasn't until we heard about Pastor Josh's plans for a church plant did we really get serious about it. After taking a trip to E-town we realized this was the place we needed to be. If I got a job it would be the confirmation we needed. Only a few hours before leaving did I feel God's leading to accept a job at Red Lobster. So we got on the plane full of excitement with only two weeks to move across country. Doors opened for us that could only be from the Lord, and everything came together showing us this was His will for our family. We moved out in faith, and Jen and I have been stretched and challenged unlike ever before, but it has only brought us to a place of complete dependence upon Christ, and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Purpose for this blog

2007-07-12T01:03:00.000-04:00

We have been away from Cali for about 3 months now, so we decided it was time to get everyone update on how our family was doing in E-town KY.