Time to Reflect

With Thanksgiving and Nick and I's 4 year anniversary right around the corner, I have been looking back at all of the blessings that have occurred in our lives over the past 4 years.

Nov '04 - Nov '05 Year 1- During our first year of marriage we were blessed with our oldest daughter, Ally on April 20, 2005! What a blessing she was that day and every day since then! Then in May, Nick accepted a new job that was willing to work around his school schedule! Towards the end of the first year, we welcomed our nephew, Ganon to our family!

Nov '05 - Nov '06 Year 2- Year two began with the welcoming of yet another niece, Haylee! This year was also Ally's first Christmas! I was just looking at older videos and came across this awesome memory. She was sitting up but not yet crawling! January marked the beginning of our Small Group-Bible Study. What a wonderful group of people that we have gotten to know! We started out as friends and now feel more like family! April and May of 2006 were very busy months for us! We closed on our new house on April 10th and immediately started the renovation project! We celebrated Ally's 1st birthday and a few days later, we moved into our new house! In May, Nick graduated from college and to celebrate, he and I took our first over night trip away from Ally and went to the Lake of the Ozarks! We then took our first family trip to Gatlinburg, TN in September. October brought one of the greatest blessings of all...I was able to quit my job and become a stay at home mommy!

Nov ' 06 - Nov '07 Year 3- Our third year together began with our first Christmas in our new house! I began taking classes in January 2007 to finish up my degree in Elementary Education and Psychology. We were able to celebrate two very special birthdays this year, my Grandma Moreland and Nick's Grandma Vitale both celebrated their 80th birthdays! There is so much to be thankful for in just these 4 years that I am looking at...I can only imagine the blessings God has given these ladies over the past 8 decades! November 2007, we welcomed our FOURTH niece, Natalee and learned just 3 days later that we would be expecting Baby #2 in July '08!

Nov '07 - Nov '08 Year 4- This past year has flown by so fast and has been full of God's grace and love! Our youngest daughter, Mya was born on July 8, 2008! Ally is so proud of her sister and we are so proud of both of them! Ally started preschool and dance class in September 2008! Just a few more blinks and she will be off to kindergarten!

I haven't even scratched the surface of all of the highlights and I could go on and on...maybe one day I'll write a book! :o) These past four years have been filled with love, smiles, tears of joy and of sorrow but most importantly they have been full of God's love and grace! Sure there have been rainy days but if you keep your head down, you'll miss the rainbow!