Braelyn's 1st Birthday!

The pictures are kinda backwards. They always upload on top of each other so the first are last and the last are first! I'm sure I should be able to fix it, but I'm not sure how. So just enjoy the pics and thanks everyone for helping us celebrate Braelyn's 1st birthday! It was a lot of fun! And thank you everyone for all her presents. She is enjoying all of them.


Braelyn's crazy cousins! Colton, Caryss, and Gavin.




"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward." Psalm 127:3


Braelyn and cousin Mattie. So glad they could all come and celebrate with us!

Don't forget baby Hayden! So cute and smiley all the time.

Great-granddaddy Jones and Aunt Laura. So glad they could come too.






Here are some pics from Braelyn's first bday party last Friday night, the 18th. We had it at a park close to our house and we had a great time. Most of our family was able to come. We missed Sarah and Martin and Daniel and Joanna though. I made Braelyn's little cake for her and some cupcakes for everyone else. She wasn't sure what to do with her cake at first. She played in it for a few minutes and then finally started eating some.

Braelyn had her one year check up Wednesday. She weighed 20 lbs and 15 oz and was 29 inches long. They said she is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. She also got her chicken pox vaccine and did really well. She cried more while the doctor was examining her than when the nurse gave her the shot! We are SO thankful for a healthy baby and praise God for such a wonderful blessing.

We are thinking that we might have found a church. We aren't making a decision for sure yet, but we are going to keep going there for a while and stop visiting other places. Please continue to pray that God will confirm for us that this is where He wants us. Thank you for your prayers. We really appreciate them. I did find a MOPS group, but they only meet once a month. So I am planning on going to the next meeting in Oct. I am in a women's bible study that meets once a week and I am SO thankful for it. I really needed that. God has answered several prayers through that. It is a Kay Arthur study focusing on God's covenant. I have never studied God's covenants through the bible and I am learning a lot already. Maybe I'll try to post later some of what I am learning. Have a good weekend.

"if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you BE RENEWED in the spirit of your mind, and PUT ON the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Ephesians 4:21-24

"So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, PUT ON a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.......Beyond all these things, PUT ON love, which is the perfect bond of unity." Colossians 3: 12-14

Countdown to the big ONE !!

Yes, believe it or not, Braelyn will be turning ONE next Friday!!! I still can't comprehend it, but I am looking forward to celebrating a GREAT first year full of precious memories and amazing blessings. She is so much fun. She has really started trying to talk a lot more lately. I can tell that sometimes she is really trying to repeat what I tell her.....for example she has tried to say "hairbrush", yellow, blue, ball. she CAN say "uh oh", ma ma, da da, and of course, she can bark like a dog. she is starting to understand phrases like "close the door". She loves the Itsy bitsy spider and patty cake. She still loves to sit and look at books and to empty my tupperware cabinet in the kitchen. She is also fascinated with the refrigerator and crawls as fast as she can every time she hears it open! Oh, and SHE HAS A TOOTH!! woohoo! yes, finally, it has arrived. She hasn't really tried taking any steps toward walking by herself yet, but that's fine with me. I know it will happen soon. She likes to walk with us holding her hands. Ok, well, that's a quick update on Braelyn. Aaron and I are doing well also. We are still looking for a church home. We have found a couple that we are interested in visiting more, but still aren't settled yet. I have found a womens bible study at a church down the street that meets once a week during the morning. We are doing a Kay Arthur Precepts study calling Knowing God's Covenant. I have never done a Kay Arthur study before, but I am excited and looking forward to the challenge. It is 11 weeks long, and the first meeting was really good last week. However, I am the only "young" lady there. I am still looking for some young Christian moms to hang out with and fellowship with. That is a prayer request for me. Aaron is enjoying his residency and is learning a lot. He actually delivered a baby ALL BY HIMSELF last week! The lady's doctor got stuck in traffic and the baby was coming out, so Aaron just stepped right up and delivered that baby like a pro. This usually NEVER happens. Ask him about it and he can give you the full story. We thank God for providing the knowledge and skill for him to be able to do that successfully. He is doing OB/GYN and Peds this month and will start MTS(medical teaching service) in Oct for 6 weeks, which is Internal Medicine. ok, I'm going to try and upload a few pics. Enjoy.