Wow a lot has happened since my last post from around Mother's Day... I guess I will start with May since thats where I left off. Right after Mother's Day we celebrated Sam's first birthday!!! I can't believe its been a whole year since my baby was brought into this world! All the excitement and anticipation of his arrival and then the glorious and wonderful first few weeks of his life and now BAM he's a toddler! It goes by so fast! We had a low key party with family and a few close friends. He had a great cake, lots of balloons, great gifts & LOTS of love!! Around the same time school ended and the start of what would be a very hot summer began!! The pool was now open and ready for my boys! Jacob had finished 1st grade and Dylan was done with "preschool" and would be a big "Pre-K"-er the next school year!
June- The second week of June my Mom, me and the boys went to Ohio for the first time in nearly a year to visit with family! Ohio is one of Jacob and Dylan's favorite places to be! They LOVE their cousins and visiting with all of the family. They love staying at Aunt Mary's house and hanging out with Chase and Shane. It was a quick & short (er than usual) but FUN and busy as usual! We flew this time around too which was quite the adventure with three kids! When we got home our crazy busy summer took off! We celebrated Jacob's 7th birthday on the 13th. He had a pool party with family & lots of his friends from school & baseball! It was Star Wars themed, imagine that right?! I can't believe my first born is now SEVEN and starting 2nd grade!! Towards the end of June Jeremy and I committed our family to the church. We dedicated our boys to the Lord in front of our entire congregation. Our friends and family came to witness and celebrate with us afterwards with a brunch which we are truly thankful for!
We kicked off July with none other than Independence Day! This year we went to the lake! We used to celebrate the 4th on the lake all the time and this year came back! We started the day in Marietta walking to the square from my parents new home. We watched the parade and then enjoyed lunch and all the festivities for the day! We left from there and headed to good ole' LaGrange to relax on the lake! Once home the next couple of weeks of July flew past which led us to our next big family vacation to Hilton Head Island! We love it there! We have been going there for years. It was Jacob's very first beach trip at six weeks old & he has been back a few time since! It's a quiet, non-commercialized & very green place to relax! Biking everywhere is the thing to do! Usually we rent a condo but this year we rented a house-a large house! Big enough to house 7 adults and 5 kiddos! We had a blast! We had our own private pool in the backyard and a private path to the beach across the street! We spent everyday going back and forth and taking many awesome bike rides! HH's beach is great for a baby at Sam's age because the beach s mostly hard sand! He was able to crawl and walk around all over without getting a bunch of sand on him. He loved the ocean. He would crawl head first right into the water- far enough that I would have to stop him before the waves took him down! He was fearless! The boys had a blast boogie boarding in the huge waves! We ate in most nights and enjoyed each others company. Half way through the week we split the group- one went deep sea fishing and we went blue crab fishing. We took a boat out saw dolphins and caught blue crabs! It was neat and the boys loved it! We actually won the contest for catching the most crabs and won a t-shirt! We celebrated Mom & Dad's wedding anniversary on our last night there and went to a nice dinner away from the "vacationers" at a place none by mostly locals!
In early August- in the past week or so we celebrated Jeremy and I's 6th anniversary and my 29th birthday! Yowsers! TWENTY-NINE! I am actually not freaking out at all. I am really looking forward to my thirties! I can't wait to continue into another chapter of my life- my life with my wonderful husband and beautiful kids! The Lord has been so good to us! He has blessed us beyond measure and we are so grateful for what we have been given by HIM.
Which leads me to a whole nother ball game.... whats been happening in between all of these other happenings! Our new business adventure! Jeremy and I are opening a Stevi B's Pizza! We have spent our summer with lots of change! Jeremy left his other job with my parents Wendy's and is now changing his career to business owner. He spent many weeks training, testing, meeting, preparing and watching over construction! My Dad has walked beside him in these happenings and has guided him through it all! Thanks Dad!!!! The construction started early June and has made great progress!!! It looks amazing!! I have also had to adjust, as well as the boys, to working! I will maintain the home office and will be doing all of the administrative duties from that office. I have learned quite a bit in the past couple months and am getting used to being a part time working Mom. The hardest part to being a working Mom for me is trying to do it with three kids, one being a toddler and into everything!!! In the beginning of summer we met (& interviewed) about 5 girls for babysitting! We loved them all but in the end started using our angel, Kimberly! She is such a blessing! I truly believe God placed her with us! She is a great addition to our family!!! She is great with the boys and they truly love her! We have used her a lot too which is a major adjustment for us all considering the boys have never really been with a sitter outside of family! Our Stevi B's is opening this coming week, August 12th! We have been so busy getting everything ready for the Grand Opening! We our having a huge VIP event and giving all the proceeds to a local charity that I connected with! It is A Fresh Hope and it a great cause- helping children in need in our local community! We are so excited for the opportunity to help them and to get connected with such great people! We are located in Smyrna which is about 20 minutes from our home. Smyrna is a great community and we are really looking forward to getting involved with everything we can!
This adventure has brought a lot of change to our family. A change God placed in our hands & in our hearts! He knew we could handle it and knew we could do good things with this opportunity! We have met some GREAT people! People we have established great relationships with and will have in our lives forever! We have made new friends and are so excited to be surrounding ourselves with strong, loving and kind beings! The Lord has really guided us and lead us to what was meant for us! We look forward to continuing in this adventure and growing our business further in the surrounding communities! We graciously accept all the God has in store for us and know we are strong enough for His plans for us! He walks with us, in us and all around us! We are so THANKFUL for our family with their helping ways and loving hearts! For my parents and their guidance, their strength, their kindness, their faith in us and their giving hearts! We ask for your prayers in our walk through the next fews weeks, for our health and good will! I pray for you all and thank you all for everything!
"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Isaiah 41:10
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6
