teeth

updates

Hey everyone! sorry we have been MIA lately. first off we just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and well wishes for all of Austin's family over the last few weeks.

We just got back from our little family vacation to myrtle beach on monday. we have not been able to go anywhere as a family due to school for james, so in between his last test we were incredibly blessed by james sister lalena in letting us borrow her beach house for a few days of what we thought would be a relaxing, sun-filled time! :)
Sooooo, it was raining and/or overcast and cold the WHOLE time! bummer...i didn't get a tan...still pasty! my dreams of frolicking in the sun and sand with my family where kinda squashed. so we hung out a lot on the deck at the house and watched the ocean from afar! okay so not that big of a deal..i can deal with the weather.......but then on friday......we got into a car accident!!!! it was pretty bad. everyone is okay, so very thankful for that. someone hit our car on the passenger side where jake and i sit at 50 miles an hour. we were crossing lanes at a stoplight to go into a mcdonalds and a truck driver motioned us over and i guess didn't see the car coming in the turn lane. so bam!!!our car almost flipped over but a van that was going out the entrance saved us from totally flipping onto the roof! anyhow...I'm hurting a little and james is fine . jake is okay too. but that was the worst thing i have ever experienced as a mom was to hear my little baby screaming and not knowing if he was okay. he was just scared. the car seat was secured firmly so that it didn't move that much. we walked away thanking God of his protection on all of us and knowing it could have been much worse. It was really neat to see so much evidences of grace in james and my life that in the past we would have been tempted to ask God ''why us?'' but as we walked away all okay we just were very aware of Gods immense grace and mercy on us!!!

soooo, james made the decision to stick with the vacation and stay and not go home. I'm so glad he did because we got in some very good conversations and caught up with each other during these last 9 months. i loved just being with him for 5 days without meetings, phone calls,and school! it was neat to see jake and james have unlimited time to ''roughhouse''. on the last day we took the golf cart out and ran out of power, so james had to push the golf cart all the way home with us in it ! what a servant!!!! It was actually quite funny(to me anyhow :)

so this vacation didn't go quite how i dreamed it was going to be, but i am learning that maby i should be more flexible with my plans versus God's plans, besides, we got to be a family and spend a lot of time together, not to mention some pretty interesting/exciting memories to look back on!

maby next time we will try charleston!!!!!!!

here are some pics and, oh yeah...jake has two teeth!!!!

Prayers for Austin

This afternoon James and I were informed that his cousin Austin Cloyd, was one of the confirmed dead in the Virginia Tech shooting. Her family was trying to reach her but there was no word until today when her body was identified by family at the morgue. She apparently was shot point blank in the chest. We know no more details than this right now. We ask that you keep our family, especially her parents in your prayers as this is obviously a very heart breaking time for us.

Easter

us on easter sunday
paw-paw playing with jake

Here are some shots from jake's first easter. After church we went to James' mom's for a big easter dinner. The majority of James' family was there. We had a good time eating and napping :)

wedding pics

me and eileen

Last weekend James had the incredible honor of being one of the groomsmen in our friends Andy and Tiffanys wedding. he looked so good in his all black tux! Tiffany was gorgeous, as you can see in the pics! We all had a lot of fun dancing into the very late night hours. Congrats to the newly married couple!!!!

wedding pics

me and tiffany
the wedding party
my fav shot
my friends kristin and katie

My wonderful Hubby!

I think he looks like a politician here


My cherry tree has bloomed!

I have not had very much time to update the blog. In light of trying to use my time more wisely, I have found there are other things that I need to do :) But I do have a moment to post today.

Just an update: James is in his last module at school and will be done in may.For those who don't know, he is taking a 10 month course to have his certified financial planner license. Then he will need to study hard for the BIG test in July. We are in the home stretch! He has done EXCELLENT in school! This is one of the hardest classes and tests to pass and many drop out because of the time commitment it takes to study for or because it requires a lot more smarts than many think going in. And James has one of the best grades in school, exceeding many men who have been in the financial field for a long time. It shows his dedication and work ethic and he would like to say that it is ONLY by God's grace and incredible favor that he has been remotely successful at school. God has given James the ability to balance caring for me so well in this busy season and still being a great daddy to little Jakob. God has been soooooooo kind to our family during this season with evidences of grace abounding every day! Please keep us , especially James in your prayers that he would pass his test in July. Thank you all for your prayers for us and understanding when we have to bow out of things due to school, studying etc.

I love you James!!!!!!!!!!

here are some pics.