Snapfish:Photo:Owned

Snapfish:Photo:Owned

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! To our dear friends that are having a warm and sunny Christmas we miss you horribly and wish that we were at Stanton on Sunday's. One Friday evening Zion and I took the "choo choo" otherwise known as the trolley downtown to meet up with Travis for light up night. We got to see the cities Christmas lights come to life and we saw real reindeer and had lots of fun. As you can see Zion is not a fan of Santa to say the least. This picture is happy compared to the look she had on her face when Trav tried to put her on Santas lap by herself. I had no idea she would be so freaked out.

Here she is at the trolley station with the snowman balloon that she got from a clown. I love this picture. Sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been really crazy for us the past few weeks and we have all been sick at one point...maybe its the cold weather. We are still waiting for our condo to rent which is keeping us from really feeling settled here and from finding our own place to live. Please help us pray for the right people to come along to rent it. We have had some interest but nothing that worked out. It is amazing how many people have bad credit and how bad bad can be. We hope all of you that may read this have a wonderful Christmas! Love from all three of us!

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed he who watches over you will not slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will jeep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

WINTER!!!

Unfortunately then we seem to have gone straight to winter. we got to see a couple days of fall and then FREEZING. Even Travis is cold and he is the type of person that is always hot. I think that it is going to take us awhile to get used to the cold weather again. We are staying inside a lot but hey the cold weather is great for naps. Zion caught a good one here with Grandpa.

It has been fun though to get to see Zion play in the snow. Her aunts and uncles have taken her out to play because we think its too cold and she does not seem to mind she never wants to come in.

My Favorite Season

One of the things that i missed a lot living in Florida was the fall. So it was fun to experience it for the first time with Zion.

And we got to celebrate my moms birthday with her early this month.

Happy Pumpkin Day!

Chef Z..still sick on Halloween but we did get her to dress up and she went to a few of my parents neighbors.

Zion is 2!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Zions 2nd Birtday even though it was a week late, and she was really sick with a fever and all. On her actual birthday when I told her it was her birthday she said "mommy balloons" which at the time made me sad because Travis was not even with us yet and we were not doing anything to celebrate so we made sure to get her some balloons and I think that was her favorite part. We had the same pumpkin cupcakes that we did last year with cinnamon cream cheese frosting because we liked them so much. For dinner we had a special fall salad, homemade macaroni and cheese and pmpkin soup. We really cannot believe how grown up she is and that she is already two. She got some nice warm clothes, blocks, really fun vintage play dishes and a cradle and Travis and I got her a tricycle.

Young Ladies Bible Study

Sadly I will not get to be a part of the new young ladies Bible study that Jamie and I had the vision to start for the youth girls but I am still so excited about it even though I will not physically be there because I know that it is going to be AWESOME and that Jamie with the help of Avi is going to to a terrific job of leading it. I was also so excited to see so many girls want to commit to doing the study and attend the kick off that we had before I left. They are going to be going through the book Lady in Waiting. I am praying for you guys and I hope you have tons of fun!

Surprise!

Our last Sunday at church Travis sang and I danced. That was the first time we have ever done anything like that together. But, afterwards we were surprised by a farewell party. I am very hard to surprise usually but I was really not expecting us. Our church has been our family and who we depended on, learned from, and lived life with ever since we moved there 5 1/2 years ago. We leave so much better because of all that we have learned from and been ministered to by our church family. Thank you for making us feel so special and for all the kind words and encouragement when we so needed it right before we left. Unfortunately we did not think to take pictures until after the party when we were cleaning up but here are a few.

Spa Night

Before we left I got to spend a fun evening with the ladies. Tammie had the great idea of having a spa night and it was a lot of fun. It made me wish that we all would have spent a lot more time just hanging out. Lets not say that it was a goodbye party because thats too sad and its not really goodbye just see you less for now right? I love you all so much, thanks for the fun evening!!

Burghers

Well, we are officially back in Pittsburgh now. You would have thought that the weather might coporate and let us ease back into the whole cold weather thing but the day after Travis got here it snowed. That white dot above is a snow flake. More than the Florida weather however we are missing our friends and out church so much already, that is what has made this move the most difficult. We went to church twice here so far and yesterday we visited a new church and Zion said, "don't want to go to church, want to go to church Florida." When she asks about her friends I tell her that they are in Florida so I guess she figured out that our church is in Florida too. We are getting settled in and Travis starts work on Friday. Right now you can join us in praying that we rent out our condo because that is the major thing that still has to be taken care of. God's presence and care for us has been so evident throughout this whole process. To all our South Florida friends we miss you and love you more than we can express and can't wait to see you soon. Congratulations to Elsie and Andre who had a beautiful baby girl last week!

And so the day approaches

So I would not recommend moving with a toddler if you are looking for something fun to do but we have managed to have some fun during the process and here are some tips for moving with a toddler. #1 Things you usually don't let your toddler do, if its harmless let them do it anyway.
#2. Have fun with boxes and let them decide how they want to get packed for the move.
#3. Make a box fort.
#4. Let them create art work on the boxes as you pack.

#5. Just try to take minutes here and there to take a break and have fun.
All packed and ready to go.

We can hardly believe it but we are moving back to Pittsburgh next week! It has been a whirlwind lately. Once we found out that Travis got a great new job in Pittsburgh we were excited but also very sad and we have been super busy ever since. When we moved down here 5 1/2 years ago we came with just our cars and my parents van full of our stuff. We did not have so much then. Now is another story it is amazing how much boxes there are of baby stuff and Zion's things and all the other things we have accumulated. At times the prospect of moving leaving our friends and taking care of everything from the move itself to renting out our condo has been totally overwhelming but there have been so many ways that we have clearly seen God's hand at work. It has truely been awesome in that sense and we are anticipated what God has for us in this next chapter of our life as a family.

I am not sure that Zion understands what is going on. She has learned to say bicsburgh (Pittsburgh) and keeps talking about Grandpa taking her out for ice cream. The moving truck comes on Monday, Zion and I fly out on Tuesday so we can make it before her birthday so we don't have to buy her a plane ticket and Travis makes the drive starting on Friday after his last day of work. We could use your prayers especialy with dealing with the rental of our condo and finding a good renter that will stick around. We are excited to see all of you in Pittsburgh and already looking forward to our first visit to come back and visit all of our awesome friends here in Florida (we plan on being back to visit as often as possible.)

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Go Canes!

Zion can't stop talking about the Miami Hurricanes, football and the duck since last Saturday when we went to the game with some friends.

Excitement!

Welcome to the World Angelina little SISTER to Kaleb and Joshua and daughter of our dear friends Kenci and Angie. We were so excited to meet her and she is so precious.
Night of Praise was a sucess, all credit due to GOD! The youth ladies have really grown and did a great job. I was so proud of them. It is so exciting that we have had this wonderful opportunity for 5 years! Thanks to everyone that was praying for us.
The whole crew minus Abraham who was doing double duty singing in the choir.
Cutie Z!