Family Pictures!

Here are the rest of our family pictures taken by the amazing Nathan Lawrenson!

This is my first attempt at a slideshow...needs some tweaking, but it turned out pretty good.

So You Think You Can Dance?

I captured this little video of Ethan and his friend, Hayden "dancing" before church on Sunday. Ethan really wanted to make her spin...

Trip Part 1: Meeting the Lawrenson's

David, Ethan and I had a great time on our road trip. We went to Nags Head, NC, Washington D.C., Lynchburg, VA, and Boone, NC. David and I agree that the highlight of our trip was going to Nags Head in the Outer Banks to meet Nate, Tricia, and Gwyneth Rose Lawrenson. It's something I never thought I would get to do. It's an amazing thing meeting people you have read about and prayed for through the blog world.

I first started reading Nate's blog in December of 2007. I came across his blog through another blog friend. The first post I read of Nate's was THIS. I then began reading more and more about Nate's wife, Tricia and learned a lot about Cystic Fibrosis...something I didn't know much about. And we prayed. David and I prayed, my family prayed, friends of mine who had started reading the blog prayed, my small group prayed, even my co-workers prayed. Then on January 8, 2008, a miracle was born. It would take a while to go through Nate's entire blog and catch you up on all that God has done in their lives, but if you would like the short version, click HERE. I never imagined getting to meet the Lawrenson's, but when David and I decided to go on a road trip for vacation this year, we decided this would be a great time to meet them. I've heard great things (mostly from Nate) about the Outer Banks in North Carolina and how beautiful it is there, so this was our first stop on our road trip. We made the long 9 hour drive...

and suddenly we hit this bridge that went on and on and on out over the water....

When you are driving in the OBX (Outer Banks), the GPS makes you feel as though you are literally driving on water (and I guess we kind of were)

We arrived Friday night and then woke up Saturday morning to explore

Then Saturday night we got dressed in our white shirts and blue jeans and headed to the beach to meet Nate. It's a really strange thing meeting someone you've only seen on a computer screen....but someone you feel like you know so well because of the life experience you feel like you shared with them. Nate is into photography like I am and he is also the worship leader at his church just like my hubby is at ours...so we had plenty to talk about.

Here are some of the "sneak peak" photos Nate has sent me from our shoot on the beach...

The necklace I wear every day...it has footprints on the front and on the back it says, "Noah David 7-7-09 3lbs, 60z. 15 inches"

If you are ever in the OBX and want some great family photos, book a session with Nate! His photography website is HERE.

After the photo shoot (where Nate filled up 2 camera cards!), Nate invited us over to their house to meet Tricia and Gwyneth. It was a strange thing as I walked through their door and saw them. I really had to keep myself from bursting into tears and coming off as some crazy lunatic. It's not so much Tricia and Gwyneth that I'm in awe of (though they are so special!), but the awesomeness of my God who has done great things! Tricia is one of the sweetest and most welcoming people I've ever met. Of course Nate talks great about his wife on his blog (as all husbands should of their wives), but to meet her is to know that she really does LOVE people.

And then there's Gwyneth...now 2 years old. A miracle.
And so beautiful...

I told Tricia that Gwyneth must never have a bad hair day!
She has perfect little ringlets...beautiful blonde curls!

Ethan showed off his skills at playing Mario on the Wii
(I wish I could say I was a proud mom for this...but...ahem).

We stayed long enough to watch our 3 year old take down a 15 year old (Nic Nelson who assisted Nate with the photo shoot) in a video game and then said goodnight.

The next day we got up and went to Nags Head Church where we had a great time of worship.

After church we had a nice lunch at Barefoot Bernie's with Nate, Tricia, Gwyneth, Nate's parents and Tricia's parents. Tricia's mother, Agnes was so encouraging and kind to me after we lost Noah. I was really looking forward to meeting her.

It was so great to meet all of them and we hope to go back for another visit soon!
"Vacation Part 2" is coming soon....but for now, it's bedtime!

Ethan's 1st Injury

Ethan isn't a very clumsy kid, but tonight while I was out taking pictures of my friend's daughter, David and Ethan were playing with his soccer ball out in the yard and he fell down the hill. My poor baby....

Vacation...Nags Head to D.C.

David, Ethan, and I are on vacation and having a great time so far. Our first stop...Nags Head, North Carolina. We were lucky enough to get a beachfront hotel with David's discount (who can beat $30/night for beachfront???). We also finally got to meet Nate, Tricia, and Gwyneth Lawrenson. After 2 and 1/2 years of praying for this precious family, we were thrilled to get to hang out with them Saturday and Sunday. Nate did a photo shoot with us on the beach and he brought along a youth from his church who is learning photography as well. Nic Nelson took pictures of Nate while Nate took pics of us. Here is a sneak peek (courtesy of Nic Nelson)...




And here are two that Nate took (these are pics that Nate took with his phone of his computer screen after he uploaded the pics just so I could see a few, so it's a little blurry, but you get the idea...the originals will come later...)

In honor of Noah...

I will have more to tell and more pictures once I get a camera cord! I left mine at home and you know I can't make it the whole trip without uploading some pics! We have left Nags Head and are now in Washington D.C. until Wednesday. I'm sure I'll have a ton of pics for you all on the next post!

Easter & Planting Noah's Tree

Easter. The day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior! Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice! My Noah is in Heaven today because of the price you paid for us.

Today was a great day in the life of our church. We have officially grown large enough to need 2 services on Sunday mornings. So instead of our regular 10:30 service, we started a 9:30 and an 11:00 service. I have to be honest...I was a little worried. I thought we may end up with just a handful of people in the first service and everyone else in the second. God blew my mind today! I had tears in my eyes as I sat up in the sound booth and looked around. Both services were packed! We are just excited to be reaching so many in east Atlanta. Philip gave a great message from God's word and the music was AWESOME!

After church we went to lunch and then we were excited to go pick out Noah's tree. We have
been talking about planting a tree in Noah's honor for quite a while. We were going to wait until his first birthday (July 7th), but that's not a great time to plant a tree. Really now isn't the best time either...but it's better than waiting until July! And today is special since it's Easter and it's also my brother and sister-in-law's 1st wedding anniversary (so it will be an easy date to remember!).

First we stopped by Noah's grave.



My dad was with us. My mom had to be at her church today so she wasn't able to be with us. Dad asked me if he could help me pick out some new flowers for Noah's grave. We still had the fall flowers in his vase and really wanted to put some bright spring flowers in. We left the cemetery and headed to Lowe's to pick out Noah's tree (Yoshino/Cherry Blossom). Then Dad and I went to pick out flowers for Noah's grave.







Then we went home to plant the tree. We decided to plant the tree in our backyard. We are building a deck this summer and wanted to be able to enjoy the tree while sitting on the deck. We chose the Cherry Blossom for several reasons. First of all, it's beautiful! I have always loved these trees. David and I both grew up in Macon and went to the Cherry Blossom festival many times while growing up. Now we live in Conyers and they have a Cherry Blossom festival here
just a mile from our house. There are beautiful trees that line the road that I drive down every day and I really just wanted one of my own.

With a simple google search you can find out some info about the Yoshino (Cherry Blossom) tree...

"The intense beauty and short time span have associated cherry blossoms with spiritual and philosophical ideas such as beauty and the fragility of life."

I think this is the perfect tree to plant in honor of Noah. Just as the blossoms are so very beautiful...so much that they have their own celebration, but are only here for a brief time....so was Noah. Beautiful and fragile. And year after year as the beautiful flowers blossom each spring...

we will remember....