First Birthday!!!

Tonight we celebrated Ellie’s First Birthday! It was truly a blast and we can’t believe that we got to celebrate with over 100 family and friends. We had yummy food, cupcakes, and fun in the pool!! And we of course caught most of it on video or on camera for Ellie to see someday…..

We really missed our grandma’s would weren’t able to attend as well as Nonna, Pop-Pop, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Kyle, and Aunt Kelsey who all live in Chicago! We love you a look forward to celebrating many more birthday’s together in the future!

Ellie’s Surgery

On Tuesday the 3rd Ellie had surgery on her umbilical hernia. The surgery only took about 30 minutes and she now has a ‘regular’ belly button. Tuesday was a sad day because I had to take her into the operating room and help put her to sleep…it was much more emotional then you’d think, but the OU Children’s staff were incredible!
In the recovery room she really struggled to come out of the anesthesia…but she was able to go home around 12pm where she slept most of the day. They gave her baby hydrocodone which kinda made her out of it but by the next day she woke up almost 100%! She’s been great ever since and her scare is healing well.
This situation really allowed Adam and I to see how lucky we are…we knew Ellie would come out of surgery healthy but many parents aren’t so lucky…
Here are some hospital pics!

Israel 2010!

Last week Adam took me to Israel for our 6th Anniversary Trip! WOW, what a truly amazing trip, country, and husband. Sadly, our bag never made the trip with us though. Polish Airlines lost our bag and we’re still praying that we see it again some day! However, Adam and I still had the most amazing time together…who needs clothes or tolietries when your traveling the Holy Land with the one you love?!

Here’s a list of places we visited and reccoment to everyone:
The Old City of Jeruselm
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
-location of the crucifixtion, Jesus’ tomb, and stone His body was prepared on
Western Wall/Wailing Wall
City of David
-where Jeruselem was first built
Dome of the Rock/Temple Mount
Mount of Olives
Garden of Gethsemeni
Mary’s Tomb
Ancient Jewish cemetary
Church of the Ascension
-where Jesus ascended to Heaven
Dead Sea Scrolls (Isaiah)
Israel National Museum
City of Jericho
Mount of Jesus’ Temptation
-where Jesus fasted for 40 days and was tempted by Satan
Dead Sea (salt and mud); “Lowest Place on Earth”
Jordan/Israel border
Hezzekiah’s Tunnel
Shalom Pool
Mount Zion
David’s Tomb
Church of the Last Supper
Chamber of Holocaust Museum
Bethlehem
Church of the Nativity (Jesus’ birth place)
Shepherd’s Field (Angel of the Lord appeared to the three wise men)
Jaffe Gate, Damascus Gate, Golden Gate, Lions Gate
Via Dolorosa
Massada
Mediterranean Sea/Tel Aviv

Wow, I can’t believe all we did in just 6 days….Thank you for all your prayers over the last couple months! We plan on staying home the rest of the year!! Pictures to come…

Fourth of July!

Adam and I had a wedding to attend in Chicago on the 4th of July so we spent the weekend with my family! Ellie watched the fireworks with my family and loved every minute of the 30 minute show! She enjoyed the boat and baby pool at Nonna and Pop-Pop’s cottage and of course enjoyed her time with GiGi Pat, Uncle Aaron and Kyle, and Aunt Kelsey.

Enjoy these pics and please pray for us as Adam and I leave for Israel tomorrow. We’ll be apart from Ellie for 8 days but luckily she’ll be at home with Nonna for 5 days and BG 3 days! I’m hoping we enjoy this time together as we celebrate our 6th Anniversary as well as enjoy seeing the Holy Land!!

Philippines 2010 Trip

Praise God! Our trip to the Philippines was great and God moved in amazing ways… Of course our biggest praise is that the Lord returned our passports 4 days after they were stolen in Cebu. Adam’s backpack carrying our money and passports was stolen while we were eating dinner one evening. We were shocked, frustrated and scared but we prayed that God would do His work and provide for us….boy did He!!

Ellie did wonderful on the trip. It was a little long and hot for a 9 month old but for all the circumstances she was a great baby! We helped with a youth camp, slums feedings, church talks, and performed our “Everything” drama. The youth camp lasted three days and we saw a group of students from a neighboring Island come to know Christ for the first time! We performed the Lifehouse drama “Everything” to hundreds of people throughout the time we were there and saw many people awakened to Christ’s love and salvation thru this form of evangelism! We saw the toughest and saddest slums I’ve ever seen and were able to provide physical and spiritual food for those that we hungry there.

Praise the Lord for this awesome opportunity to serve Him on the other side of the world. I hope you enjoy these pictures!

Haiti 2010 Trip!

Our trip to Haiti was absolutely amazing! The poverty was shocking, as always, but the people at Mission of Hope are really helping create hope in many ways. They have a wonderful school with 1,300 students, and church with over 1,500 people, a hospital that serves 250 individuals a week, and a precious orphanage with 62 kids! Ellie did great the whole trip long. She was healthy, happy, and HOT but she did wonderful. The team of 25 people we went with had a truly blessed trip. God really revealed himself to each one of us and taught us to love recklessly and care less about ourselves and more about others!

We appreciate your prayers and hope you’ll really pray for us June 1st-17th while we’re in the Philippines. Enjoy the pictures!!