Growing Families

What a crazy summer it has been. I have had so much to say but no time to share it.

Not only is our small family of 2 growing to 3, but my immediate family is growing as well. In the last few months...

My big sister had the most precious baby girl, Everleigh Grace. 

And my not so little sister just married her best friend last weekend.

isn't she beautiful!!!!!!

 My cousin also had an adorable baby girl, Addison in July.

 My other cousin got married the middle of August in Baltimore.

Chris' step sister had a beautiful wedding the end of August.

And in 6 weeks (give or take) Chris and I will bring our baby home... 

This is at our 32 week ultrasound - the baby didn't give us a great picture but we could see the head full of hair!

My sweet parents have been troopers having 2 pregnant daughters and an engaged daughter all summer. Planning 2 baby showers, a bridal shower and a wedding has been very eventful and they have been champs!

                        Annie's wedding shower                                    Jessie's baby shower                                      My baby shower

I for one cannot wait until the holidays when we can just sit around eating lots of yummy food, loving on babies and being together! What a crazy summer!

It is so exciting!

Sincerely, Loo

It is hard to believe that this pregnancy is halfway over... 20 weeks has flown by! Being pregnant is so different than I ever expected. I've learned so much about myself and my hubby...as well as my body, babies, pregnancy, labor, and so much more. 

It's hard not to become emotional and a little bit overwhelmed when I stop and think about the fact that I'm carrying a human being  inside of my body.

In light of Father's Day being this past weekend, I want to brag on my husband. Chris has been the absolute most amazing husband and father already. He has taken such good care of me and the baby. He genuinely thanks me daily for carrying our child. He rubs my feet and back, cooks for us, he goes to every appointment with me, surprises me with treats often, helps me make every decision for the nursery (let's face it, pregnancy has only made me more indecisive), he prays for me and the baby everyday, he keeps me calm and brings peace when the doctor shares hard news, he talks to the baby everyday telling him or her how much we love them, he puts up with my complaining when I just don't feel good or can't get comfortable, he carries all of the laundry to the basement for me, tells me I'm beautiful everyday even when I feel ridiculous in all of my clothes and just want to stay in my pj's under a blanket, and the list could go on forever. He is amazing and has made this pregnancy so much more than I imagined. 

I cannot wait to meet our little 'Reese piece' in a short 20 weeks! Chris has been reading about pregnancy with me and has now asked if we can watch a delivery video so he is more prepared...I love that he wants to know and understand!

my favorite guy!

Although I'm tired, my hips hurt, I miss my old clothes, I have constant heartburn and I now have an outie rather than an innie... the last 20 weeks have been so worth it! To see images of this little human in my belly and to know that we made him or her out of so much love...ah! It's absolutely amazing! And I love that I get to go through all of this with my best friend... thanks Chris!

10 little toes...so perfect!

Sincerely, Loo

Birthday in OBX

It's hard to believe that Chris and I are 28 years old and having a baby... where has the time gone?

I have been blessed with the most amazing husband who always looks for ways to surprise me and spoil me. This year, he surprised me with a trip to the beach. 

I didn't realize how much I would miss living at the beach when we left Savannah.

 

This was our first time in OBX.

 

can you tell how much I love the beach!?

OBX... you did not disappoint!

We explored a lot of the island and visited Jockey's Ridge, where they were having a kite festival... so fun! We went to Bodie Island State Park and walked up all 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse. Then went to the Wright Brothers Memorial which was so cool to see where the first flight took place. 

Of course we couldn't travel to a new place and not eat good local food... we found local coffee, a local breakfast spot that was delicious, and we had to check out 2 of the local restaurants featured on Diner's Drive-In's and Dives... it was so worth it and so yummy (Tortuga's Lie and Cravings)!

happy momma and happy baby!

I even got a birthday from the babe... daddy is the best!

Thank you again for an amazing birthday Chris! You're the best. Love you!

Sincerely, Loo

working from home.

Since being in Maryland, I've been working from home. It's amazing. I really do like it. But sometimes it's hard. I stay home all day by myself, and I miss being around people. I sit on a computer all day and I miss human interaction.

I tried to make my office space fun - not just a boring desk where no one would want to spend their day. 

I've learned a lot about myself and about how to efficiently work from home...

*Always get ready for the day. 

If I don't brush my teeth, wash my face, shower and get dressed, my day is doomed. You have to feel ready for the day and get out of the PJ's!

Some days I even put on makeup & earrings and feel extra special and nice :)

*Take breaks. 

Okay, so I'm still working on this one. But my husband helps me a lot! If you were in an office setting, you would walk to the printer, go to a neighbors office to ask questions, take a lunch break. Don't restrict yourself to the desk all day long. It can be daunting and really bad for your mojo.

*Keep normal hours.

Just because I'm at home with all of my work here does not mean that I can or should work outside of my normal hours. When I first started working from home, I felt like I needed to just 'work a little longer'. This was false, and so not good. I'd say that and sit at my desk way more than the normal 8 hours/day. I was letting work keep me from doing anything else, because it was so easily accessible.

*Get your house stuff done before you go to work. 

I like a clean house. I like everything to be in it's place. And if it's not... I can't stop thinking about and then I'll have to do it anyway before I start working. I clean up the kitchen and pick up around the house before I go to the office. That way if you walk to the bathroom... and see clothes on the floor, or stuff all over the counter, you don't end up cleaning on your potty break. This is hard for me...

*Find something that you love to occupy your time after work hours.

I started stitching... and I love it! Having something to look forward to doing in the evening has been so great. It's nice to have something to look forward to and distract me at the end of the day. I look forward to getting done work so that I can work on my crafts. And it's given me something to do that other people like too. I have already given a few away as gifts and now, I'm considering selling them to make a little extra money on the side. Why not make a profit off something that you love doing?!

Anything else that I should be doing while working from home? 

Sincerely, Loo

Thankful

Where has the time gone? It's already February and it feels like I just left Savannah a few days ago. 

A new year has begun, and it is incredibly overwhelming to stop and think about all that has changed during the last few months. 

After living with my parents for a few weeks, and dealing with the paperwork and stress of buying a home, and Chris commuting an hour and half to and from work, we were able to move into our beautiful home! 

move in day :)

We moved in just in time to celebrate Christmas and New Years, which was so fun. Since we have been married, we've been moving every year at Christmas time, so we had our very first real Christmas tree, and we were able to enjoy our decorations! We had friends and family visiting and even had our dear friend, Amber who was visiting home from Australia come visit and stay with us fro New Years! I was also able to go to Lynchburg, VA (where I went to college) to visit with one of my favorite people who graduated as a nurse! Couldn't be more proud of this woman and the hard work she put in to make her dreams come true!

Congrats Sarah!!! (& so good to see Kelsie & Alli too, love my college roomies!)

Chris did an amazing job cutting down his first real Christmas tree!

enjoying our home and watching Christmas movies.

Baltimore Inner Harbor celebrating 2014 with Amber!

We church shopped for quite a while, and it was honestly pretty discouraging at first. We LOVE our church in Savannah, so we had to pray hard for open hearts and minds as we began our search for a church home here. Well... I think we found it. The Foundry is an amazing place where we have met amazing people. We feel so welcomed every week and fall a little more in love every time we go!

Moving to a new place... even if it is just an hour and a half from home... is really tough. Working from home has been amazing, but it gets lonely. I miss sharing an office with my best friend and having amazing people around me all day. Evenings are my favorite time when Chris comes home. It has been a challenge to not use my family as a crutch and just 'run home' every time I need to be around friends. Don't get me wrong, its amazing to have them so close, but I know that community needs to be built here, in our new home. 

This week has by far been the most overwhelming of the year so far... I thought this was going to be a very lonely, quiet week, with Chris traveling to Chicago for work, however, he has been by my side through a tough time. After driving him to the airport Monday and driving home, he called to say his flight was delayed until Tuesday morning. So I got to spend another night with my amazing hubby...great! Except that Tuesday morning was an icy one. As we drove in the dark to the airport, we were 2 miles out when we hit a patch of ice. This was the most terrifying moment of my life. I had no control of the car... we spun in circles across the highway... into the exit ramp... hit a highway light pole which threw the car into another circle and finally stopped when our car slid backwards up onto a huge highway sign that had been knocked down minutes before by another car. Within seconds after stopping, I looked up and saw another car sliding straight toward our car. Chris leaned across toward me while the other car slammed into the passenger side of the jeep. As we got out of the car and called 911, one after another, cars hit the same icy spot and spun out of control. We would watch one car spin and another car start spinning until they crashed and then moments later another car would start sliding and crash into the other two. It was like a horrible scene you would watch in a movie. There were 11 cars that had to be towed away, and many more that were able to drive away. 

All of this to say, Chris missed his flight... we sat at the scene for 2 hours in the freezing cold. It only looked worse once the sun came up and you could see all of the damage. What a crazy morning! 

*Thankful for our friend Jon who sacrificed being on time for work and came to picked us up and took us home.

 

Thankful... this is the only word that makes sense right now. I am so thankful that after spinning out of control on the highway, and smashing into a light pole, Chris and I walked away from the accident with nothing more than a scrape on the leg and a stiff neck. I cannot stop thanking God for keeping us safe! I miss my car, and I wish I could stop replaying what happened in my mind. But my car can be replaced and memories will remain... but sitting on the couch with my husband last night, with tears running down my face, I tried to put the words together to tell him how much he means to me and all I could say was 'I love you so much'.

It feels like this was just another reminder of how precious each day is and to never take for granted the opportunities we have to love on those closest to us! 

Sincerely, Loo

a new adventure.

This past month has been crazy... And the next month will be even crazier!

We bought our first home...in Baltimore! (what? I never ever in a million years thought I'd live in Baltimore)

We are moving again... back to Maryland... in just 2 1/2 weeks. It's overwhelming when I stop and think about all of the details, and it's very bittersweet to be leaving Savannah, but we are very excited for this adventure.

it's already so cold in Maryland...

We have been praying that we would have peace and direction for our future. After a year and 11 months, our time in Savannah has come to an end and Chris has accepted a job in Baltimore. 

Really cool story, Chris was contacted, interviewed over Skype and after a few days was praying that we would have peace and know what our future was and as he said "amen", the phone rang with the offer. We knew at that point that it was what we had been waiting for.

We found an amazing realtor and drove all over Baltimore county for 2 days and finally found the perfect house! 

We are trading our palm trees for beautiful oak trees in a few short weeks!

Here is a sneak peak of our new home...

Sincerely, Loo

Serving Together

Serving others is one of the most amazing things to do. It is humbling, challenging, and it can be very rewarding. Serving in the church has been a part of my life for a long time. Whether is was taking care of babies, teaching little kids bible stories, singing in choir, cleaning, leading a bible study, or anything else that was needed.

Serving with my friends was always a bonus. 

Change dirty diapers, and talk to my best friend at the same time...

Sing in the choir, and get worship next to my closest friends...

Recently, I've understood the importance of serving with the valuable people in my life more than ever.

This is why I recognize how much of an honor it is to get to serve with my husband!

Serving together has helped us grow and become better people, and better spouses.

We still have our own things that we like to do, he runs sound, while I play with babies.

But we are serving the same God within the same church, and we find opportunities to serve alongside one another and be challenged together.

As we sat in our small group the other night with a bunch of other married couples, I began to realize how blessed I am to get to serve alongside of him, and how much it has impacted our marriage.

Here are 4 things that I've learned about serving with your spouse:

1- Serving together makes you happy

When you are helping other people and teaching others about Jesus, you can't help but be happy. It is one of the most amazing things that we get to do as Christians, is to love others. There is an unexplainable joy, and sharing that with your spouse is incredible. 

When my husband and I get to serve together, and I see his leadership and passion, it puts the biggest smile on my face. I'm already a proud wife, but that takes it to the next level.

2- Serving together helps you learn new things about one another

Even when we think we know a lot about our spouse, there is always more to learn. Serving together stretches us and challenges us, requiring us to be more vulnerable. 

When my husband and I started leading a small group, we both had our own way of doing things, and we had to learn how the other person taught, led and communicated in this type of setting.

3- Serving together makes you fall even more in love

There is a bond that you create when you are depending on a partner in a leadership/servant role. When we serve together, we need each other, and rely on each other. There is a deep connection that cannot be reached any other way. We connect when we are serving together, but also when we are preparing together. We learn together and challenge each other. We see our strengths highlighted, and step in during each others weaknesses. We become ONE in a new way. The way that I love Chris has significantly changed since we began serving together. 

4- Serving together deepens your foundation

When my husband and I traveled to India, we were asked to share with the people everywhere we went, in churches, schools, children's homes, offices... at times, I was nervous, anxious, overwhelmed and scared... but having my husband next to me to pray for me and hold my hand was what helped me remain focused and have the faith I needed.

Our relationship took a huge leap during those 12 days of travel. Our marriage changed drastically during that trip. We experienced each other in a whole new way. We became so focused on God, and the role that He plays in our marriage.

This is a picture from India, when Chris was sharing in a church in Delhi, the capital of India. There were 700 people crammed into a room that was at least 100 degrees, worshiping and praising Jesus, with many hanging in the windows and doors just to hear the words spoken.