NEWS!

So here is the news!

Tomorrow is John's last day at Briarwood Presbyterian Church. He turned in his notice quite a few weeks ago, and has stuck around as they searched for someone to replace him.

"Why did he decide to close that door?" you ask. Because He decided to close that door.

We are so excited about this new journey that the Lord has called John to begin. It's been quite the journey in the making. God has been preparing John for this since the moment He called him into the graphic design field before college.

John is starting his own business, with a passion for helping The Church, as a whole, to communicate effectively, through branding, website design, video, promotion, on screen media, and his ability to help guide pastors and other ministry leaders as they define who they are as a church or other ministry.

Man, oh man, I have a gifted husband who has a heart for using the talents and abilities God has given him to humbly further the Kingdom of God, and I am honored to stand beside him as this new journey begins!

The name of his business is Kingdom Project Creative. I don't know about you, but that name pumps me up :) I can't wait to see how God uses Kingdom Project to do GREAT things for His Church.

We could surely use your prayers as our family starts this new journey. As of next week, Kingdom Project is a full time job for John!

It would be great if John would write a more detailed blog about it all... in fact, maybe I will make him do it!

As of right now, his web address is still www.johnschluchter.com and you should totally go check out all of his work!! (and pass his name along if you hear a need for it!)

update: grrrr i still can't get my web links to work on blogger. copy and paste John's web address if you want to take a look!

BLAAAHHH and randoms

I bought a scale. I stepped on it. And that's all I want to say about that.

Also, John read my last post and says, "Hey babe, do you realize you titled that last post " 'A' hole" Haha had a good laugh about that. I hope you realized that's not what i was trying to say!

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's last night with the Rosser's and it was a blast! This was Joe's second time to go (first time was just after Noah was born and he wasnt quite old enough to really enjoy it). He loved it! He rode some rides, ate some pizza (which i thought was delicious), played some games, won some tickets, got some prizes, high-fived Chuck E. and on and on.

He LOVED him some Chuck E. (is it Chucky or Chuck E. when you talk about the mouse guy?) when he was a mechanical mouse singing and dancing on the stage, but when he was walking around terrorizing kids- not so much. He worked up enough guts to give him a high five when i was holding them though.

I think Noah would like to live at Chuck E. Cheese's. He was so very content to watch everything that was going on around him, and he looooved some pizza too!

Funniest moment of the night, actually funny isn't the word...I don't know how to describe it. Basically, Sara Beth and I were playing with her daughter Stevie and Joe while John had Noah. John and Gabe were having way too much fun for adults over at ski ball (did i spell that correctly). Well I guess Noah wasn't allowing John to do as well as he would like while holding him, so when Sara Beth and I took the kiddos over to where John and Gabe were focusing intently on their ski ball game, we found poor little Noah sitting strapped in a high chair watching his daddy from behind. he didn't seem to mind at all, but i felt bad for my little guy....

....who is NOT so little anymore! i just realized that he is 11 months old tomorrow. My goodness. It makes since because he is eating big boy food, taking up to 6 steps at a time, and beating up his big brother, but geez, where has the time gone?!?

I've decided that as long as my babies live in my house i am going to slather them down with baby lotion and make them let me rock them or cuddle with them before bed every night. I am so going to miss taking in that precious baby scent as i hold them before bed. :(

Well I'm gonna go spend some time with Noah on his last day of being 10 months old before big bro wakes up.

I'll get together the Palm Springs photos and Chuck E Cheese ones as well!

(and i'm not re reading this post to see if i made any typos, so forget about them if you see one!)

a hole

I don't have Palm Springs pictures for you yet. i can't wait to share them, though, because the boys are so cute. and you haven't seen Noah in forever, so you are in for a BIG surprise!

But, i thought i would let all of you bloggy friends know that I got my nose pierced. Yes, there is a hole in my nose. (you know, besides the 2 that you breathe out of) It's been a couple of months I think, but yes, i did it. I am a wild and crazy rebel! :)

I did it with my awesomely cool friend Sara Beth. John, the boys and I went to the beach with her and her super cool hubby, Gabe, and their beautiful, adorable, sweetie of a girl, Stevie. It was Spring Break, and we decided to act like crazy young non parent kids and get our noses pierced. I'm glad i did it....i've wanted to do it forever!

I don't have a picture where you can see it really well, but i will work on taking one so you can!

I'm hoping that Gabe won't mind me posting a picture or 2 he took of the boys and Stevie. He's a photographer and graphic designer. (I'm so glad John has a good graphic design buddy by the way!) You should check out his work @ gaberosser.com (sorry i can't post the direct link- one of these days i will figure out why blogger has stopped allowing me to do it) AND when you head over there, check out the Stop Motion Video that he and John made together. It is A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

Anyways, here are a couple of pictures...

Beautiful children I must say!

PALM SPRINGS, CA!!

We just got back from vacation! ((Frown.)) Not quite enough time in the beautiful Palm Springs.

We flew, which is really a story of it's own. Flying, with lay overs, a toddler, and a baby, is quite interesting, scary, nerve wrecking, frustrating, and super fun all wrapped up into one!

John's parents have a home out there, and they spend close to half of the year there, so we went for a visit. It was so great to get away and spend time with family in an absolutely beautiful place. We took pictures and I'm working on a Palm Springs picture post with more details of the trip. Be looking for it this week!

Also, our family has some change- a- comin and i will share that too!

I miss blogging. Consider me back.

Guess What!

John bought a new external hard drive (i think that's what you call it!) so i will be able to upload my pictures to blogger soon. Can't wait to share some with you. We have lots to catch up on.

Anyways, everyone is doing great. John is working hard at work and on free lance projects. He has some really great things going on right now and there may be some change in the near future that we are really excited about and praying about. I am enjoying my time being mom more than ever. I have been working out just about every day for the past three weeks and that has made such a difference in the way i feel. I'm hoping to keep it up!

The boys are growing, learning, and changing like crazy. Joe is such a little boy now. Not an ounce of baby is left in him :( so sad. He is picking up some more words, which is great. He is learning his numbers, colors, and alphabet. He is so full of energy and makes me laugh all the time. He loves to dance right now...specifically to Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA. It's hilarious.

Noah is crawling, pulling up on everything, cruising some, and exploring. He is all over the place. He eats like a champ and is getting bigger and bigger. He is my little love chunk. Such a great name, don't you think?? I love to watch them interact with one another. That's one of my favorite parts of being a mom right now. I'm ready for another one! ...John, don't wet yourself. I'm kidding... sort of! I could have another one, but now is not the time. We are however, praying about international adoption and we would love for you to join us in that prayer. We are praying about timing, because, i know the Lord has placed it on my heart, but when to begin the process is the question.

We have some really great friends that are beginning the adoption process and will have a little boy from Ethiopia, probably within a year. We are so excited for them!! It makes me more and more eager to welcome a little one into our family...a child that desperately needs a family. I'm so excited to walk next to them in this journey. They just started a blog and I don't think they'd mind if i told you where it was. www.rosserstory.blogspot.com (i can't post links anymore. i don't know what the deal is, so you will have to copy and paste...sorry!)

Anyways, it's almost the weekend! YAY! Hope you have a good one!!

Miss Alabama- Liz Cochran

Go on over to 'N Vogue Salon and Spa's blog page to read up on the make up Miss Alabama is wearing in the Miss America Pageant on Saturday!! Mention the blog post when you purchase any of the items for 15% off! I love a deal :)

I can't get my links to work. John played with it and there is a glitch for some odd reason. To get my links to work he has to go in and edit the html (i don't understand the html language) and I don't want to bother him with it! So copy and paste, people!

www.nvoguebuzz.blogspot.com

Joe's ears

i know i know. still no pictures. they are still on my camera and not on the computer. And boy oh boy- my boys are cuter than ever (at least i think so!) and I can't wait to share pictures with you! I still have to make room on the hard drive :(. (You can blame this on my husband, I have decided. My computer was formally his, and he is a graphic designer. Therefore, he has lots and lots and lots of stuff still on the hard drive of this computer. He took up all the room, and I'm pretty certain he doesn't need a lot of it anymore. So, yes, it's his fault!) John- you need to make room for me, pretty please! :)

So, I wanted to give you all an update on Joe's ears, speech, etc. Especially for family that have been praying for him. Most of you probably didn't even know anything was going on, but now you will.

Let me start by saying, GOD IS GOOD! Joe turned 2 in November, so he is 26 months old. He still isn't talking a lot. Actually, let me correct myself, he IS talking a lot, just not very clearly. He doesn't have a lot of words yet, at least not that most people would understand. John and I know what he is saying a good bit of the time. Anyways, this made us worried about his hearing. We knew that he could hear, because he follows command and seems to understand a lot of what we say, so we thought he could possibly have fluid affecting his hearing. So Monday of this week he had a hearing test and good news... His hearing is perfect! Praise the Lord! So, Wednesday we saw a speech pathologist to have his speech evaluated to see if he needs therapy. Joe and I played with her for over an hour and she asked me a lot of questions about his speech and his response to speech. Good news again- she didn't seemed worried about him and she did not recommend therapy. She said his cognitive speech (i think that's what she called it), meaning the speech that he understands, is well above his age. (he scored on the level of a 36 month old) His expressive speech (what he verbalizes) scored low- on the level of a 19 month old. She said it was very obvious that he is really trying, so she was confident that he would pick things up on his own. She gave me some activities to do with him at home, that will hopefully help him begin to pick up more words and eventually say them correctly.

I can already tell a difference! In 3 to 4 months, if his vocabulary is not growing, she wants us to call back, and she will set us up with some short term speech therapy.

Thank you, family and friends, who were praying for our little Joe. We are confident that our smart little guy will be talking- with more real words :) - in no time!

I have a new prayer request though! My mom's aunt passed away a couple of days ago, so there is a lot of hurting and heart ache going on in my family right now. Please pray that our God of comfort, hope, and peace will bring healing to my hurting family over the next few days, weeks, and months. Praise Jesus that she is sitting with Him right now, in no pain. I'm sure there is no place she would rather be!

Also, I get the honor to sing at her funeral on Monday, which will be hard. Please pray for my nerves, as this feels like a HUGE responsibility in the midst of this hard circumstance. Thank you all!

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Follow this blog....

Especially all you ladies out there...

My Sister-in-love, Lisa, from Chicago, has a super great blog about fashion and trust me, she knows what she's talking about! You should most definitely take a look at it and become a follower.

Here's a mini description:

stylingstage: translates fashion into everyday styling tips

for women who live on a budget and live for style.

We all need that... I know I do anyway!

Click HERE to visit her!

And in case my link doesn't work (because last time I had a problem linking...always problems!),

the web address is www.stylingstage.blogspot.com

Edit: Just so you know, that link is not working, so copy and paste the web address! What is the deal with me a blogspot these days?!?

Christmas, New Year, and Roll Tide

Sooooo just when I decide to take the time to upload pics, I find that I am out of room on my computer to upload them. Sheesh. But I have lots of great pictures from the holidays to share with you as soon as I spring clean the hard drive. (isn't that right? I need to make room on the hard drive, right?? Good thing John is my husband.) Anyways, we had a great Christmas in Birmingham, then traveled to St Louis (our journey started Christmas night after a delicious dinner at my grandmothers) Remind me to NEVER try to stay over night in a hotel room with Joe unless he has a crib or something to contain him. Our hotel failed to provide cribs, so Noah slept on the floor and did great. Joe was in the bed with us and did not fall asleep until 2:30 or 3. And after that he was tossing and turning and driving me crazy....peeling my eyelids open every time i shut them. It was pretty close to a sleepless night. They did great traveling though. I was very proud of them. St. louis was super fun, and we saw snow 3 different days. We had great family time with John's parents, his brother, sister in love, and our niece Coco. What a precious and super smart girl she is. I'm so thankful that Joe has a cousin his age to grow up with. Hopefully they will be best buddies one day.

We spent a week up in the Lou that consisted of family, yummy food, games, Christmas gifts, a trip to the mall and a carousel ride, a trip to the fire house (we took a tour), a New Years Eve date night for John and I, playing in the snow, and more that my brain is not remembering right now.

Cant wait to share some pictures with you!

Well, it's 2010 (that is totally the first time I have written that...wow, it's weird) and I have two major goals for this year. #1- Spend more time with the Lord on a consistent basis. My time with Him has been lacking, and I could blame it on motherhood and two small babies, but I won't because, if I really tried, I could make the time. #2- I am going to spend time exercising 5 days a week. Once again I have to make the time. Now that Noah is somewhat predictable, it looks like my best bet is to wake up early (like 6 or 6:30) to be able to spend time with the Lord and on myself. It's important to me to be healthy, for my family and myself. I am a much better wife and mom when I feel good about myself. Hold me accountable...I'm asking you.

And

ROLL TIDE!

And

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a CRAWLER!! Noah has hit the ground crawling. (He's been scooting and dragging, and making his way for a few weeks now, but as of today, he's got the real crawl motion down.) Way to go, Noah! To be honest, I'm sad now. He's not going to want to be held all the time anymore. Maybe it's time for another sibling?! (john, don't pass out! I'm not serious. not right now anyway (= )

Good talking to you all!