About Me

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I'm just a 28 year old woman that married the man of my answered prayers on July 18, 2009. We have our sweet Ella that was born in September of 2010 and our precious Charlotte that was born in February of 2012! On March 24, 2013, our first son was born, Josiah Warner. After a complicated pregnancy, he was born very prematurely and lived less than an hour before going to be with Jesus. Through life's ups and downs, I'm trying to figure out how to follow Jesus. I mean, really follow Jesus. The kind of following where things start to change. It's time to put action to the passion

Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 in Review by Pictures!

I was looking through a lot of old pictures yesterday and then I thought I would look through all of the pictures from 2010! So, here are a few pictures from each month highlighting the craziness that was 2010 :o)

January

We rang in the New Year at Epcot!! This was the first time I started to suspect that I might be pregnant, but I didn't say anything yet. That's probably why I only made it to like 11:30pm before we left, haha! Took a pregnancy test on January 2nd and sure enough, there was a baby on the way! We were so peaceful and thankful that the Lord provided a baby :o)



I saw this picture and cracked up! Sooo, it got really cold in Orlando in January and all of the news stations were saying there might be flurries. I made John get up around 5am while we waited for the flurries to appear. This was all we have to show for it...the top of our car with a little bit of ice, haha

February


John's first ever, homemade chicken pot pie! This whole month (and most of the one before) can be described in one word: vomit. That's right, vomit. I puked like I never knew possible. Therefore, John had to fend for himself when it came to dinner :o) And, out of nowhere (for the first time in forever) I actually felt hungry and only wanted homemade chicken pot pie. And, if I moved from the couch, I would inevitably puke. So, John made it! He learned to make lots of dinners those 9 months and did great!


John's first trip to Sea World! A friend of ours, Katie Headley, was nice enough to give us free tickets to Sea World! This day was last day to use them. We waited until the very last day hoping that I would feel well enough to go! But, no one knew that yet :o) While we had to take lots of breaks and I almost puked on the sidewalk, I was actually momentarily feeling better that day. So, it was such a fun day and we loved getting to explore a new park!

March


My very first time to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta! For years I had heard about how awesome this aquarium is and I had been dying to go. I must say, the hype is true, I loved it! Once again, I was pretty sick the whole time we were there (including a "oh my word, we have to leave right now" drive away, then have to pull over the car so I can puke in the bushes, haha!). But, despite the pukiness, we had lots of fun!



We announced we were pregnant! We were so grateful to have so many friends and family that were excited with us! It was such an awesome thing to announce our baby was on the way and we were so grateful for all of the prayers. I look back over the pregnancy with Ella and am amazed at how we had friends pray for every single doctor's appointment. There were so many encouraging texts, phone calls, emails, and so much more.The Lord used so many people to calm my spirit and bring a peace that surpasses all understanding! 


Ampd Kids! This was John's last event (other than a Sunday morning or Wednesday night) with the student ministry of First Orlando. I wasn't there because I was puking my guts out, BUT, I am so proud to say we were a part of this constant outreach! It was hard to know we were getting ready to leave Orlando when such great things like this were going on. But, God most definitely had a plan for us!

April


Before moving from Orlando, we tried to go to all of the Disney theme parks as much as we could! This was us on the way, for the last time as Orlando residents, to the Magic Kingdom via the ferry. We decided that each park we went to, we were going to things we had never done before and John had never taken the ferry instead of the monorail. So, we went for it! When we got there, we rode the train around the park, which I had never done before :o)


The biggest event of April was that we moved! Here is our home in Peachtree City, Georgia! I was about 19 weeks pregnant when we moved and starting to feel a little better. I never stopped being sick the whole pregnancy, but right about here I started to have better days! And, it was a good thing, because there were a lot of boxes to unpack!

May


Ikea! the beginning of this month was a lot of running around and trying to get our house in order before it was time to get stuff ready for the baby! I had to take frequent breaks because of my ol' pukey self. I think this picture is a pretty accurate portrayal of how I felt most days, haha!


Cinco De Mayo! We hosted a party at our house for all of the tech and media volunteers at Dogwood so we could meet them all! It was lots of fun (despite me taking a break in the comfy chair, looking like I'm about to puke).


John's parents came to visit us at the end of May! And, of course, we had to go to the Varsity. We may or may not have gone twice...haha! 

June


Baby shower in Orlando!! We had so much fun and so many great memories from this trip! (despite the fact that the night before I puked all over our friend, Chad's bathroom, sorry again about that!) At this shower, everyone voted whether they thought we were having a boy or a girl. All of the results were boy, but folks, we're lookin' at lots of pink in the Phillips' house these days!!


Me and John at Vacation Bible School on crazy hat day! My big ol' pregnant behind helped out at VBS with some of the cutest kiddo's around! Little did I know, that somewhere along the way I would sprain one of my ribs. Can you say OUCH?? 


And, now, a baby shower in Texas! Remember that sprained rib I was talking about? Yeah, that pretty much sums up my demeanor at this shower! Haha. I was so sad that I didn't get to scoot around as much as I would have liked to visit with people we don't get to see often enough. I was actually just telling John the other day that I had never experienced any kind of back pain before like I did then! But, regardless of that, we had such a great time and loved celebrating the peanut with Texas family and friends!

July


John and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary!! It was SO much fun! This picture was from our lunch at Red Lobster :o) Then, we had steaks at home and ate the topper to our wedding cake! We had such a good time reflecting on all of the highs and lows of our first year together. I always love looking back on memories and it was so awesome to reflect on such a great first year of marriage!


The first time letting our bunny rabbit run around our new home! She had lots of fun exploring the new digs 

August


My 25th birthday and 34 weeks pregnant! We went to Outback for dinner and had a great evening together! John did so many things this year to make my birthday feel extra special. I sure did marry a thoughtful man!


Baby shower in Georgia! It was so nice to have a baby shower in our new home of Peachtree City. Many ladies were so kind to welcome me and the baby! The shower was at such a perfect time, too. It was about a month before Ella was born and there were a lot of essentials that we still needed that we received!


Our sweet bunny had surgery!! I was full term, had a cold, then our bunny got sick. I was up all night, while she sat on my big belly (and Ella kept trying to kick her off, haha!) and I spoon fed her water. The next morning we took her to the vet and found out she needed surgery. Saying that I was an emotional wreck is an understatement. My sweet bunny had such a good friend to me! So, she had surgery and recovered well! You wouldn't even know anything used to be wrong now! And, the funniest part of the whole thing? I was given paperwork that my bunny was a BOY and after surgery, the vet told us that we in fact had a GIRL bunny rabbit. Haha, so after 2.5 years of saying "he", I think we've finally gotten used to saying "she". Poor bunny...

September


Oh, nothing big from September happened at all...we just met our little GIRL for the first time!! After so much waiting, it was hard to believe that Ella was actually here! And, we found out the gender for the first time that day :o) Which, as hard as the curiousity was sometimes, we were so glad we waited after the awesome experience of the surprise! So many wonderful memories of that day. And, one of them being how little Ella was crying and crying, but when her daddy walked over to see her, she stopped crying! Sweet little girl heard her daddy's voice and all was well with the world. She held his finger and was so much better with her daddy nearby!


First family picture in the hospital! Here are the three Phillips'!

October


Ella's first trip to the pumpkin patch!


Ella's very first Halloween! She was dressed up like the angel that she is :o)


My favorite family picture of us! The Fall Festival wore out little Miss, so we ditched the wings, put on the hairbow and let her sleep some!


November


John's 27th birthday! We got to go on lots of dates that week, thanks to Nana! 

Family picture with Cinderella's Castle at Disney World! Ella's first trip to Disney World was SO much fun! It includes some of our most favorite memories since she's been born :o)


Ella's very first Thanksgiving! Yay!

December


Ella's first time meeting Santa! The coolest part about this day was the fact that it was snowing for the first time of the season! 


Ella's very first Christmas! I can't even tell you how perfect it was to have a precious little girl complete with a beautiful smocked dress and big ol' hairbow this Christmas! She was even more scrumptious than usual on Christmas :o)


It snowed on Christmas day! Ella likes being outside, even if it is freezing!


There's our 2010 in pictures!! More than anything we are so grateful for our big gift of Ella this year. The Lord has taught us so much through the pregnancy and now the life we share with her everyday. We're excited to see what else God has in store for us in the future!










Thursday, December 2, 2010

Ella's First Trip to Disney!!

Family Picture in front of Cinderella's Castle at Disney!
Anyone that knows John and I can you tell you how much we love Disney World! Pretty much the whole beginning of our marriage was spent at Disney, haha. We had annual passes and looked at it as a whole bunch of prepaid dates for us. A lot of times we would eat lunch or dinner at home, then get in the car and head to one of the parks for some already-paid-for fun! Also, it kind of became a safe haven for us after the miscarriage. I mean, it's tough to be sad at Disney World! And, there was most definitely a stretch of time when we didn't really want to be around many people we knew (well-meaning, but you can only take the "I'm so sorry" looks so many times) and Disney is always packed full of a bunch of people you don't know!

On our Thanksgiving trip to Orlando, we knew from the beginning that we would just have to stop off at Disney. We were both really excited and couldn't wait to take our sweet baby there! Well, for anyone that's been to the Magic Kingdom before, you know all about the precious little girls that dress up like their favorite princess (or even get a princess makeover at the park!) and spend the day at Disney walking around all cutesy as can be. I have always told John how if we ever have a little girl, she will most definitely dress up like a princess whenever we go to Disney...and folks, that wish came true! And, the most beautiful part of the whole thing is I thought I would have to wait for Ella to turn 2 years old or so before she'd be big enough to fit in a princess costume. We had never, I mean never, seen a baby dressed up in a princess costume on a regular day at Disney before.

I was searching for a newborn costume for Ella's Halloween get-up one day and lo and behold, there it was....an infant princess costume! I could hardly believe it and went searching for more. And, guess what? It's the only one I could find anywhere! I present to you, the cutest, most adorable baby Snow White...


We had so much fun that day! I really don't believe that there are words to describe all of the most amazing memories we made that day. It may seem silly, but soon after we entered the park I got a little teary eyed. There was something redemptive to me about taking my most beautiful baby to the place that her daddy and mommy escaped many a days to try to get through losing their first baby. And, there we were with the most perfect baby that we get to hold! And, there she was, as beautiful as can be with people constantly stopping to comment on her cuteness factor. People were asking to take pictures with her, workers were going around to get other employees to show them Ella, and on and on. Our whole day people did not stop coming up to us or commenting on our little princess. We were not expecting a reaction like that at all! There were a few moments we really thought we were VIP's or something! Haha! I kept joking with John that we needed to set out a tip jar! Ella did so amazing all day. She barely fussed all day and even got to sneak in a nap here and there. We really couldn't have asked for a better baby to take to Disney (even when it felt like a million degrees out!).

But, one of the most fun parts of the whole entire day was this... the money shot...


Our baby Snow White with the real princess Snow White! I don't ever believe I've waited to meet a character before at any of the parks, but we were so glad to get this picture. I have the feeling this will be the first of many times waiting to get a picture of Ella with a character :o)

And, little Miss went on her very first ride! Since the Phillips family knows how to stick with a theme, can you guess what it was?


That's right! Snow White's Scary Adventures! Have I mentioned that while I am not really a big Snow White fan (although, I'm a little partial now because of our sweet baby Snow White), I became a big fan of this ride before we moved from Orlando? It might be my favorite in the whole FantasyLand area and Ella loved it! Here she is waiting in line soon before getting on the ride...


Right before we left the park in the evening, we changed little Miss Snow White out of her costume. We think she looks awfully cute with or without a costume!



Well, I think I will leave it here for now! Just wanted all of you to have a little glimpse into our super fun day at the Magic Kingdom! I can hardly wait for the trips in the future where Ella can enjoy the parks even more...dressed as a princess, of course ;o)