2 Year Anniversary

Mark and I celebrated 2 years of marriage yesterday. We actually celebrated all weekend. Friday night we went to Cullman and ate at one of our favorite places there, Sweet Peppers. We then went to the movies and saw Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. It was good. Saturday we spent the day in Huntsville. We met my friend Laura for lunch who is home visiting from China. We had a good visit and then Mark and I set off to find a rocking chair for our nursery. (This was our anniversary gift to each other.) We went to a few furniture stores and ended up at Babies R Us to make a decision about the chair we originally picked out. After reading some not so good reviews and sitting in it again we decided that maybe we should keep looking. We then went down the street to La-Z-Boy. Believe it or not we found what we wanted there. We ended up getting a La-Z-Boy recliner.



We love it and think it will be perfect for rocking lots and even sleeping if the baby is sick or just needs Mommy or Daddy. It actually ended up being on sale which made it cheaper than the chair and ottoman we had picked out at Babies R Us. (We're all about saving some money!)

We had planned on staying and eating dinner in Huntsville but after all the running around we were both tired and not ready for dinner so we headed back to Hartselle. We got our new chair in and then went to Alfonso's for dinner. Sunday we had Super Sunday at church and had an early afternoon service so we went and celebrated our anniversary and Mark's brother's birthday at Red Lobster that evening. We got Visa gift cards to go towards a video camera to capture all the special baby moments and a Cracker Barrel gift card and goodies (pancake mix, apple butter, and a candle). We had a good evening with the Reynolds. Yesterday (our actual anniversary) was pretty uneventful. Mark had to work for a few hours so I pampered myself and got a haircut and then we went to the new O'Bryans in Hartselle for dinner. We ended our evening at the ballpark watching our church team play softball.

We have had a wonderful 2 years together and are hoping for 60+ more. God definitely had a hand in us finding each other and I am thankful for that! Mark is an amazing husband and I am sure he is going to be an awesome daddy to our little Marshall in just a few short months!

First Baby Shower

We had a wonderful weekend in Olive Branch, MS with Mark's family. We had a family reunion on Saturday and our first baby shower on Sunday. We had a great time! His Aunt Amy is always so sweet to host bridal and baby showers for the family.

Here is the precious table she put together...



The cake...



The Diaper Cake...



One of the games was for the guys, they had to put a balloon under their shirt and the first person to get both shoes tied won. Mark's dad won...pretty hilarious!



The gifts...

Sad Week...

This week we lost a long time family friend and minister. Mike Nix at the young age of 55 went to be with the Lord on Saturday, June 25th. If you didn't have the pleasure of knowing Mike you missed out. From the attendance at his visitation and funeral (approx. 1400 at funeral) one could quickly tell he was an amazing man and had touched many lives. He truly lived a Christlike life daily and was there for everyone.

Mike has touched my life many times throughout the years especially in the past 10 years or so. He always had a hug to give and he always said "I love you girl". While I was in college at Freed-Hardeman University, Mike often visited the campus. He always made it a point to find me, give me a hug, and make sure all was well. He made everyone feel special. After college I went to China to teach and do mission work and Mike was always SO interested in my work there. He had a great love for missions and was always excited about what was going on in the many mission fields across the world. He talked my dad in to getting up and speaking at church about "Letting Your Child Go" which for those of you who know my dad, public speaking in front of large crowds is not one of his favorite things. But, who can say no to Mike and Dad did a great job from what I hear. Mike talked about that for months after and when I came home from China he was so excited telling me what a great job Dad did.

In 2009 Mike and Philip Hines married Mark and I. We wanted both of our preachers to be involved in our marriage and what a wonderful ceremony they performed. He made every wedding ceremony he performed personal. I remember in the middle of our marriage counseling he had an "idea" moment and some of the elders were meeting at the same time. He went and got them and had them come in to hear his idea of having older couples from the church mentor newlyweds. He then had them stay in the room with us and have a prayer for our upcoming marriage. Very special moment. In 2010 when we lost our baby and I was in the hospital for a few days. Mike visited everyday to talk and pray with us. That meant so much to us in our time of grief. He was always thinking of others and as many have said he always found a way to be in multiple places at once.

I could go on and on about ways my family and I have been touched by Mike from letters, phone calls, visits, meals together, etc. He and his family are very special and are always thinking of others first. His wife Mary Lynn and daughter Natalie are amazing examples of faith and trust and have probably touched just as many lives as Mike. Mary Lynn has a special place in the hearts of my family as she put me in my parent's arms for the first time when I was adopted. She is definitely the virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31. Even in her time of loss and grief she was interested in consoling others that were hurting in her husband's death. What a lady. When I talked to her at visitation and was telling her how sorry I was, that I loved her, and was praying for her, she was talking about how excited she was about our baby and how she couldn't wait for it to get here...WOW!

In our time of sadness here on earth there is great rejoicing in heaven and I know Mike is so happy! What motivation that is for us to join him one day! I will end with a couple of Mike quotes...

‎"Turn pain into possibilities, problems into projects, obstacles into opportunities, stumbling blocks into stepping stones, tragedies into triumphs, and harvest fruit from frustration. You don't have to be a victim because of your circumstances. You can be a victor in spite of your circumstances. God is not a pampering God, He is a perfecting God." -Mike Nix

‎"It only takes a moment to say hello, but a lifetime to say goodbye. We must say goodbye in order to meet again and we CAN BE certain we will meet again."
-Mike Nix

Until we meet again...

It's a Boy!

Well we went to the doctor this morning full of water and McDonald's Sweet Tea hoping Baby Reynolds would cooperate. At first he was not wanting to let us get a good look and the umbilical cord was between his legs so it was difficult to make a prediction but our fabulous ultrasound tech was determined that we weren't going to leave the office without finding out what we were having. She had me sit up to try to get him moving and I told her I had a Mountain Dew in my purse just in case this happened so she told me to start drinking it. I downed about half of it and we went back to looking. This time the baby was a wiggle worm and the cord had moved. After a few minutes she got a good look and said IT'S A BOY! We couldn't believe it but were so excited! Our little Marshall Abraham is a whooping 14 ounces which the doctor says is the 95th percentile for this stage! She was unable to get good measurements of organs and such today but will try again at 28 weeks. As soon as the appointment was over we headed to Cracker Barrel to meet both our families to reveal the gender. We had framed and wrapped an ultrasound picture for his mom and my mom with the baby's name on it.

Everyone was anxious to see what they were opening.



The Reynolds clan figured it out a little quicker than mine.



It took a little explaining for my mom. :)



Once she figured it out she was surprised!



Meager and Grammy showing off their grandson to be...




My nephew Wyatt is SO excited that he is finally getting another boy in the family to play with...he is the only boy so far.



All in all it's been a great day and now we can start planning for our precious little Marshall!

12 Week Ultrasound

This is our baby at 12 weeks. It's already sucking it's thumb! Can't wait to hold him/her!

We're Expecting!

I guess it's time to get more in to the blogging world to keep family and friends updated on our lives since we are expecting our first baby in early November! We are so excited! After losing a baby last summer due to an Ectopic (tubal) pregnancy we were scared we wouldn't be able to have a child of our own. We had already started looking in to adoption and filling out paperwork when we found out in February that we were pregnant! We were hesitant to get too excited at first but 4 ultrasounds later and at 19 weeks we are starting to breathe a little easier. Yes, I still get nervous with every pain that I feel and will never be completely at ease with the pregnancy but am trusting that God will take care of us and that in November we will have a healthy baby. We find out on Monday what we are having and that will make it even more real. We can't wait!! Stay tuned for the revealing of the gender and soon after the baby room decor.

Our First Christmas 2009