Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers day to the most amazing father I know. Thank you for taking on this adventure of parenting with me wholeheartedly. Thank you for loving our little girl with an unconditional love and encouraging her to be who God has created her to be. Thank you for sacrificing all that you have to finish your PhD so quickly while still making time to be with us each day. Thank you for supporting and encouraging me and helping me be the best mom I can be.

I love you so much and feel so blessed to be your wife! 

And to my own daddy, I love you more than I can ever express in words. You mean the world to me and it is because of your love and example that I was able to find a husband as wonderful as Josh. Thank you for showing me your unconditional love and supporting and encouraging me for the last 29 years! Thank you most of all for showing me by example what it means to live my life in relationship with God and using my life to serve His kingdom and His people. I am so proud of all you do and I feel so lucky that God chose me to be your daughter!

So long California...hello Florida!

Well it is official. We are no longer Californians. June 2 movers packed up the Penske truck with all our belongings and Josh and my dad took off on their three day journey across country with all our stuff. 

The days leading up to the move we had  some of our favorite lasts including the best yogart place ever, Cherry on Top and my last Community Bible Study meeting. 

My CBS group! I loved spending time with these women each week!

We also did ALOT of packing and Sophi enjoyed helping us tape up the boxes! 

The guys arrived in Nashville Sunday night, unloaded our things into storage and were in Atlanta Monday night for dinner. My mom, Sophi, Shiloh and I flew out of LAX for the last time Saturday morning and hung out in Atlanta until the boys arrived.

Josh, Sophi, Shiloh and I headed to Florida Wednesday night where we will spend the remainder of our summer. We are LOVING being here, Sophi most of all. She can not get enough of the sand and the water. It is so nice to have a place to relax and get refreshed as we make this big transition! 

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for giving us this opportunity! We couldn't have made this move without you. 

Saying goodbye is so hard

 This is our last week in Pasadena, we pack the truck and head out this Friday! We have already had to say several goodbyes to sweet friends. It is so hard!! We will miss our friends so much.

Today was a special, spend the day with the Flannery's day! Sophi is going to miss her best friend Caroline so much! And I am going to miss her mommy, Ellen, so much too! Our family has been so blessed to know them!

We will miss you dearly! We are so grateful for your friendship and look forward to your many visits to the south! We are anxiously anticipating the day when you guys move back south too!

We love you!

A tribute to our Cali friends

Last night we had the chance to say goodbye to some of our amazing California friends. What precious people they all are! How sad it was for Josh and I to have to think about saying goodbye to them.

Sweet Ellen, my southern friend! What a precious friendship you and I, as well as our daugthers, have been able to share!

One of Sophi and Caroline's first play dates

Look at those girls growing

Sophi and Caroline today, sweet friends!

 We love Lahela!

These friends have walked with us through the entire process of become parents, from the first sonogram pictures to our talkative little girl! We would not have made it through this time of our lives without their love, support and encouragement, meals and free babysitting!!

Life Group Spring 2009

Life Group Summer 2009

Sophi's Shower

Life Group Christmas 2009

Baby Ellie's Shower Spring 2010

Kristi, Sophi and soon to be Baby David Halloween 2010

We love Ben and Natalie!

Can't get enough of Kyle and Lahela!

Each one of you has made a lasting impression on our lives and the life of our little Sophi. We are so grateful for your friendship and look forward to seeing God's plans unfold in each of your lives! Thank you for loving us unconditionally and allowing us to live in community with you over the last three years! We love you guys!!! 

(we missed you Will, Pam and Ellie!)

Way to go Josh!

Congrats to Josh for completing the Pasadena half marathon this morning! Even with jet -lag he had a great run! The race started and finished right outside our front door on Colorado so Sophi and I were able to walk out of the house and cheer him on as he crossed the finish line!

Josh, I am so proud of you for all the you have accomplished over the past several months! You are such an inspiration to me! Love you!

WE ARE MOVING...to Nashville, TN

As I hinted in my previous post, Josh, Sophi and will be leaving Pasadena.  We will be moving to Nashville, TN!! Josh has been offered a full time faculty position at Lipscomb University where he will be an Assistant Professor in their College of Bible. We are SOOOOO excited to have this opportunity, a dream come true, and looking forward to all that God has in store for us there.

Josh does not start teaching until August but because we have sold our house (another HUGE blessing) we have to be out of our Pasadena home in three weeks!

Josh and I, along with the help of my parents and our wonderful realtor, spent the last week scouring Nashville in search of a house for us to call home. After looking at upwards of 15 houses a day for several days straight we were able to narrow down and come a final decision and made an offer, which was accepted! We will be building a new home in a Brentwood area neighborhood called Whetstone. We are ecstatic about our future home and can't wait to watch it grow before our eyes!

(Our Lot)

(What our house will look like when it is completed)

Our new home will not be completed until the end of October so we are preparing to be nomades for the next several months. After moving all of our stuff across the country and into storage we will head down to Florida where we will spend June and July at my parents beach condo (such a hard life, we know!) then we will return to Nashville where we will live in an apartment of some type for the next several months until our home is completed.

Although this week has been exhausting both physically and emotionally we are overjoyed with the outcome and can't help but feel so incredibly blessed. We are so thankful to God for the abundance of blessings He has given to us and look forward to all he has prepared for us in this new chapter of our lives!

We covet your prayers during this time for all members of our family (even little Shiloh) as we make this big transition. We pray for wisdom, grace, peace and joy as we move away from what has become our home and family (the place where we met Sophi for the first time) into the change and newness of our Nashville home. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Disneyland

Josh, Sophi and I spent the day Tuesday at Disneyland for one last California Adventure before our move in June. We had a blast as a family visiting Mickey, Sophi most of all!

The only way I know to fully describe the joy of our day is through pictures! So here it is from start to finish:

 Thanks Mickey for letting us spend the day in your world!