pLeAsE pRaY

for sweet stellan... his heart surgery is tomorrow in boston and he is only five months old. read more here

Boating

our good friends, shaune & ella, have a boat and we all went out to lake lanier on easter weekend. we had a blast and bella thoroughly enjoyed herself! one of her favorite things was leaning over the back and/or side and feeling the water and wind against her face. given that it was quite chilly mommy, ella & bella did not get in the water... but shaune & daddy went tubing which was very entertaining to say the least! we'll definitely be going out more so we can all get in the water!

sweet time with daddy
nothing like snack time in the sun!

bella, ella & shaune
oh, how we love her!!

easter

we had a wonderful easter this year! a few highlights are having our sweet girl to share it with, one of our favorite neighbors, becky, joining us for church & brunch, AMAZING preaching from andy stanley on sunday which was preceded by a good friday service that literally knocked jason & my socks off... click here to see the end (it was finished with phil wickham's song "true love" but that can't be shown for copyright reasons)... and then last but not least, a great afternoon with jason's family...

thank you sweet jesus for choosing to stay on the cross to save us, not because you didn't have the power to remove yourself, but because of the power of your love for your children... thank you for the truth of the resurrection! we are blessed and love you!

sweet expression : )
had a hard time getting bella to look at the camera!
holding marni & pepere's sweet easter gift
feeling sleepy

the zoo

this past week was spring break for bella's cousins so on wednesday teenie & poppa, staci, christian, noah & emerson, and bella & me all headed to the zoo in downtown atlanta... it was our first time and we will definitely go back... bella seemed to enjoy seeing the animals and i am sure will enjoy them even more once she gets older... and she for sure enjoyed having her cousins around! after the zoo we all went to one of our favorite burger places~ five guys~ yum! it was a great day!

mommy & her precious girl
cousins~ christian & bella

noah & bella

new things

bella is changing everyday~ it is so fun to see! and definitely keeps us on our toes : )

anyways, a week or so ago we went and bought new shoes~ stride rite walkers~ she enjoyed the whole experience. she is definitely standing a lot more and taking a lot more "assisted steps"... soon hopefully, although i know friends say i'll bite my tongue once it happens, she'll be taking lots of unassisted steps! : )

another fun thing bella enjoys is "driving"~ no worries she is not taking over the wheel while we are moving... but when the car is parked she thinks it is great fun to sit in the front and push any and every button... jason & i always laugh when we turn the car on and the flashers, blinker, windshield wipers, etc. are all going high speed on a sunny day... 

lastly, she had her first haircut on thursday, march 26th, before we headed to jacksonville. unfortunately i do not have any pictures because it was a bit impossible to take one w/ jason holding her and me cutting : ) next time we will plan better and have a photographer ready & waiting!

look at that cutie patootie driving!
modeling her new shoes!

jetting to jacksonville

last weekend bella & i went to jacksonville with heather, one of my best friends from high school... it is so neat how God has intertwined our lives... we met on the first day of cross country practice in 1996~ our freshman year of high school... heather was a GREAT runner & knew everyone the team because she grew up there... then there is me~ who knows no one (we had just moved to jax a month or so earlier) and can hardly run to save my life... ha! so heather and i became fast friends and have TONS of high school memories... then we both went separate ways to do the "college/after high school" thing... and now we are both married and living in atlanta... so a few months ago we agreed that we should take a road trip w/ bella to jax to visit some friends from high school as well as her parents who are still living in jax. we had a wonderful time! 

bella was a great little traveler. we have a dvd player for the car now so she enjoyed some baby einstein and praise baby videos... while in jax we enjoyed shopping with maressa, one of my other best friends from high school, and her two beautiful children~ makayla & reece. then maressa's husband, ben, cooked us a delicious steak dinner. saturday we met pamela, one of my mom's best friends from jax~ who i have kept in touch with~ for lunch. later in the day, miss nancy, heather's mom, played & played & played with bella~ and they both loved every minute of it! then saturday night, hunter, heather's brother, and his wife, christina, had us over for dinner. sunday bella & i met maressa for one more visit and then we all headed back home... i am so thankful for such wonderful friendships! God is so good to us!

bella, miss nancy & heather
bella, heather & me
at lunch
friends for over 13 years!
bella with precious pamela
makayla & bella~ sweet friends : )

no fear

so our little peanut has NO FEAR!! : ) on saturday jason & i worked in the yard while bella took a 3 hour nap. upon her waking, we worked for another 2 or so hours. then she and i went to pick up dinner at willy's while jason got a shower. when we got home we all ate and then jason had "baby duty" as i went upstairs to shower... after finishing i had walked over to our armoire to find some pjs... i heard pitter patter, pitter patter down the hardwood floor hallway... "jay," i yell from upstairs... "yes?" he says... "do you have bella?!?!" "i think she's in the office, but let me check," jason responds... well needless to say i open our bedroom door all the way and look down the hallway to see our fearless child bounding towards me with the biggest expression of confidence and pride ever! she was thrilled with herself.

jason & i were shocked and quickly made aware of how much more attention we need to pay to our little dare devil... b/c there is no telling what she'll try next! thank you, Lord, for keeping her safe in her adventures!