Christmas 2009...Success!

This Christmas seemed to fly by! It seemed like Adam and I had our schedule jammed packed with shopping, cooking, wrapping, spending time with friends & family, volunteering, etc. It's always fun though because we get to do all this stuff we never do during the year!

It all started a couple of days before Christmas when my Dad's kids all got together to spend time with each other at my Dad's house. I always love doing that because I don't really get to see my brothers and sisters often. Christmas Eve was our church's Christmas Eve service which was amazing! Adam and I were able to volunteer that night and see hundreds of life changes. That night we went over to his parent's house and had Christmas with them. They got Adam and I a very useful, sweet Christmas gift...go here to see it. Christmas day, we woke up and I cooked Adam breakfast with my new waffle maker that his parents gave us. We had breakfast together and then got ready for the day's festivities! We headed off to my mom's side of the family in Rock Hill and then went back to my Mom's house to have Christmas with her. After we left there, we went down to my Dad's side of the family and had Christmas there. It was definitely a packed day, but I loved being able to see all my family that I never really get to see otherwise.

This Christmas was also our last Christmas as just a married couple. Next Christmas it will be me, Adam and Leah! I can't wait! She'll be 10 months old and probably crawling around and able to tear open some presents! I'm so excited for that! Anyway...this Christmas was great and I was so blessed to be able to spend it with the best husband in the world and the best families anyone could ever ask for! Hope everyone else had a very Merry Christmas!

All Done!

Today marks the day we finally finished all of our Christmas shopping! The day before Christmas eve...that's how we do it! And...we've wrapped everything too! Well, Adam wrapped everything...I was the "tape giver outer". Adam has some mad wrapping skills, so I let him do his thing! The next two days are going to be very busy with us. I've got to say that I am truly more excited about Christmas eve than I am Christmas! I cannot wait to go to our church's Christmas Eve service downtown! There has been a lot of talk about this event for months and tomorrow it is actually here! They had one today at 3pm and there are three services tomorrow. The amount of lives that will be changed will be unbelievable and I can't wait to experience it with my own eyes! I'm sure I will have a lot to talk about after the next two days, so until then...Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Something New

I've started something new...well...I've started a couple of things new, but I'll save those for different posts. As you all probably know, Adam and I are expecting our first daughter on February 12, 2010. Throughout my pregnancy I have been writing letters to her telling her what's been going on. So...I thought it would be a great idea to start another blog fully devoted to letters to my precious baby girl. I'm NOT abandoning this blog...I will still be on here to write about everyday things, Elevation, my husband, work, life, etc. I just felt that since Leah is already so special to me I would start something new fully devoted to her. So, please check back here for updates and new posts, but please check out my new blog, "Letters to Leah"! I hope everyone has had a great Monday!

Exciting things to come!

Tomorrow Adam and I are getting something special done. Our last ultrasound of Leah was at about 18 weeks when we found out she was a girl. I have been wanting to get another ultrasound just to see her again and to re-assure myself that she is my little princess. I was told that we wouldn't get another ultrasound unless it was necessary. Some of our close friends in our small group recommended some places to get a 3D ultrasound done. I checked them out and they had some great specials going on (maybe because of Christmas), but we are getting one tomorrow! It's our Christmas present to each other this year and we are both so excited! You get to invite up to 10 family members to come and sit in a theater style room and see the ultrasound on a 100 inch screen. So, Adam's parents, his brother, my mom and dad, and my sister are all coming to see Leah. I couldn't be more excited because if you've ever seen the before and after pictures of these ultrasounds, it's pretty amazing how close they look like their ultrasound picture when they are born! Technology is amazing! I will be sure to post some pictures after we get them!

On another note, I said in my previous post that if I did any Christmas shopping I would update you...well...we did! Saturday we got some of our shopping done, but not all of it. We braved the mall and pushed through our way of the crowded aisles. Adam and I told each other that when we go back, we will definitely be going in the morning.

Today was an exciting day at our church because it was the commitment day for our one year pledge for the building we are building in Blakeney. The leaders of the church gave a couple of weeks ago and the outcome was simply God. 400 leaders gave $1.5 which was the amount we had to have by the end of the year to close on the land. I am so proud to be apart of such a huge move of God and I could not think of something better to give to than a church who is investing in the city of Charlotte and more importantly in the lives of millions of people around the globe. Today we had the privilege of giving away $250,000 to the different outreach ministries we partner with around Charlotte. I'm still in awe of the generosity and faith of our church and Adam and I feel truly blessed to be apart of just a portion of it.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday night...I'm scared to ask this question...Vikings or Panthers?

1 more day...

Yes...just 1 more day until mine and Adam's Christmas break starts! I could not be more excited! Everyone is always asking me how I feel and up until yesterday I've said I feel great! Yesterday it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks! I came home exhausted and took a long nap. It seems like now I am getting more and more tired especially toward the end of the day and when I get home, I just want to crash! I guess being 32 weeks pregnant will do it to ya. So, needless to say, I am looking forward to my Christmas break spending time with Adam and the rest of our family and friends!

As usual, we have not even started on our Christmas shopping (we're last minute shoppers)...we might start tonight, but you never know with us! I will try and keep you updated on our progress, but if you don't see a lot of updates you can probably guess that we haven't gotten very far. Until then...Feliz Navidad!

I understand...

Yes, I understand if I don't have any readers anymore because of me being lazy and not posting more regularly. But for those of you who seem to find your way back to my pitiful little blog I call "2 are better than 1", I appreciate you! I promise to be better about posting in the future because I know all of you are dying to know what's going on in my very eventful life...haha!

Anyway, this post will be kind of random since I haven't posted in a while. I don't have any updated nursery pictures yet (tear), but I will soon. Currently, Leah's room is full of Christmas boxes and some other random things like our vacuum, so I'll wait until we have a place to put those things to let the outside world in on our little girl's sweet bedroom.

Speaking of Christmas, Adam and I went and picked out our Christmas tree the Friday after Thanksgiving. It's a tradition his family has done since he's been little and a new tradition for Adam and I to do together. This year was our third year picking our tree and it was fun just like every year. Next year, we'll have a little girl we'll have to keep bundled up out on the tree farm! Leah and Mom just might have to stay in the car and let Dad do the picking...we might tough it out though! Usually, we put our tree in a corner in our living room. If we did that, we'd have to rearrange all our furniture, which is a lot of work. This year, since I'm 30 weeks pregnant, and Adam's back still isn't all that great, we decided on a different location. I have to say I like it a lot better where we put it! You can see our tree from all angles...from the living room, dining room, hallway, and kitchen (yes, we do have a small, but cozy house). It's great! Adam put the lights on 2 Sunday's ago and we finally decorated it this past Sunday. I love it!





I know that I've also promised you some belly shots. I have to admit, Adam and I haven't done too well on those either. Man, if I'm going to be a Mom in 10 weeks, I better get it together! :) Anyway, I'll give you two pictures of my belly at 29 weeks. Hopefully from here on out, I'll have a picture a week for you to see my sweet baby girl growing!





I'm so in love with her! Have a great Tuesday!