Our Beginning

Over on Kelly's Korner they are doing SUYL: How You Met Your Husband. I realized that not too many people know our "how we met story" and thought it might be interesting to share.
Steve and Veronika briefly visited the Little Rock Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship (MBSF) in the Fall of 2003. Sometime in the next month or two I started visiting/regularly attending the same MBSF...but we never crossed paths. In the Spring of 2005 I started student teaching at David O. Dodd Elementary, just a few miles from the Missionary Baptist Seminary on Stagecoach Road. A father that attended the seminary and attended Marlow MBC mentioned that he thought I should meet a friend of his, a divorced guy with a little girl...but nothing ever came of it. In January of 2006 I joined Match.com and ran across a guy and "winked" at him. I don't necessarily remember what first caught my eye but I do remember what caught my attention. He (Steve) said that he had been a preacher but was divorced and the churches of his denomination didn't allow divorced men to be preachers. "How odd," I thought. Missionary Baptists are about the only denomination that teach that and it was not a common thing to run into a Missionary Baptist guy just by chance. We continued talking by email and phone for a week or two, then on March 3, 2006 we had our first face-to-face date. We didn't date long, we were married on November 17, 2006. Looking back we would've dated a little longer, but with all we have been through I truly believe that he is the one that God was preparing for me...we just had to wait on HIS timing.

Spring 2006

Spring 2010

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Girl!

Violet's 2nd Birthday is this Wednesday, April 14. We have a crazy week ahead of us so I am posting this a little early...

You and Sissy on the night you were born 4/14/08

You are a true Daddy's girl 4/11/10

To My Sweet Baby Violet,

Two years ago my world changed…YOU changed my world! After 30 hours of labor and 2 more hours of pushing I heard Aunt Paula say, “Look down and see your baby.” That moment changed everything, there was life before you and there is life with you. Loving you taught me what true unconditional love is. Loving you allowed me to love Veronika as my own…something I never really knew how to do before you. Loving you taught me to love your Daddy more; there is not a Daddy in the world who is more devoted, involved, and in love with his children. Loving you taught me to love God and Jesus more, I now realize what a sacrifice it was for God to send His precious Jesus into our world to die for our sins. Loving you taught me to love others, everyone means the world to somebody.

There was only one big change in our lives this past year…we welcomed Phoenix into our family! Nothing brings me more joy than listening to you, Phoenix (Bubba or Buddy), and Veronika (Sissy or Ka-Ka) laughing and playing together.

God has given me everything I ever prayed for and more in your Daddy, Veronika, you and Phoenix. There will come a day in your life when you will know what you mean to me…someday, when you are holding your precious new baby…then you will know just how much I love you!

Love,
Mommy

Today you are 2! You wear 2T Clothes and size 6 Shoes. You are not potty-trained and I don’t think you will be for awhile. You act like you want to use the potty but refuse to sit on it…you want it on your terms. You don’t like messes or being dirty and you pick up toys that your brother is still playing with…you are a lot like your mommy! You are a real Daddy’s girl, when you wake up in the morning you ask me, “Daddy work? Daddy money?” because we tell you that Daddy has to go to work to make money so we can have food, clothes, and toys. You are a little momma and you are very thoughtful and loving, but you can also be a bit of a bully. You love your pacifier and we just don’t have the heart to make you give it up yet. You sleep with your baby and two crochet blankets. Every night you listen to your Disney Lullaby CD and watch your Ocean “show” while you go to sleep. You sleep for 11 or 12 hours at night and take a 2 hour nap every day. Your favorite foods are String Cheese, Cutie Oranges, and Pop-Tarts. You love to watch Sesame Street and Barney and you LOVE playing outside.
Evie is your best friend, you two fight like you are sisters but love each other like it too. Your other friends are Rylie, Lily, Abby and Tinsley. You love playing with your sister, brother, Jackson and Tucker and Evie! You change everyday and you never cease to amaze me. I can’t wait to see what your 3rd year brings!

No Training Wheels!

Aunt Paula had the great idea of teaching Jackson to ride without training wheels by starting on a smaller bike, so...after just a few tries Veronika was off!

Violet's 2nd Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Violet Anne's 2nd Birthday! It is hard to believe that this Wednesday will be two years since this little girl entered our world. I can't really imagine life before her but I can't believe how fast the past two years have flown by. We celebrated with a birthday at The WonderPlace, one of Violet's favorite places to play. We all had a blast playing in the play area, playing with play-doh, and eating cupcakes!

Violet recieved this trampoline enclosure from Poppa and Dodi.

My 2 Year Old Birthday Girl!

 

Party Time!

Phoenix is our little waterbug!

Evie

The "Big Kids" Table: Graci, Veronika, Emma and Jackson

The "Baby" Table: Violet, Tucker, Evie, Lily and Abby

Jackson

Tucker and Puppy

My Big Boy

Our Easter

Easter 2010 was a little unusual for us...the Wednesday before Easter Violet came down with a stomach virus, Friday morning Phoenix woke up with fever and an ear infection. Saturday seemed normal until I came down with the dreaded stomach bug Saturday evening. This was the first Easter that I every remember not being in church, we spent the day just relaxing and recouping from a week of blah. Thankfully we were able to celebrate with my family the previous Friday with dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt. Sadly, my children have not been able to be photographed in their beautiful new Easter outfits yet so look for those next week as well as pictures from Violet's 2nd Birthday Party!!