Our Other Family Member

Well a couple of blog posts back I told you all alittle bit about us. For this post I thought I would include a couple of pictures of our other family member. Our dog Bella is a beagle and we just happen to think that she is the cutest dog out there of course. She is an AKC registered (pure bred) Beagle. Her AKC registered name is Annabelle Lightning Bolt Jewell. She is very smart and we have worked on training and tricks with her. She can sit, stay, come, watch it, shake, fetch and she is very cuddely. She is now 2 years old and has made it through the puppy stage and she has become very sweet. We have not yet had her "fixed" because we think she would make some very cute puppies but we are not sure if we are ready for the commitment that comes with having 5-10 puppies around. So we're thinking about it. Here are some pictures of our sweet Bella.

My Quest for a "Green Thumb"

About a month ago I decided to plant some flowers around our mailbox and place a stone border around it. I planted some beautiful purple and red tulips. The tulips died a week later and I found out that you are not supposed to transplant tulips from a pot to the ground at this time of year. I guess I will see if the tulips come back next year.

So this is why I am now on take 2 of trying to have beautiful flowers at our mailbox. Today I finished up the stone border, weeded (again), placed 2 bags of garden soil, planted pretty petunias, and placed mulch on top. (Sorry if this is boring to some of you :) I really hope that these flowers live because I have put alot of work into this. Every time I have done this, I end up with back and shoulder pain for which I have been going to the chiropractor. (Guess you can call me a gardening wimp.) Gardening is hard work. The next weekend that I am off I will be pulling weeds in the landscaping and putting mulch down. That will be a huge task because there are a lot of weeds to pull since I didn't get started earlier in the spring before all of the weeds had a chance to grow so much. Here are pictures from the tulips I planted that died and then the last picture is of the petunias I planted today.

Round 1 of Flower Planting 101

Red Tulips and Yellow Daphodils

Round 2 of Flower Planting 101: My Petunias

A Little Bit About Us :)

Well, I have just started this blog and I am very new to this. I thought today that I would share with everyone a little bit about my self, my husband, and my life. I love God, I love going to church and most of all I love learning more and more about God. I am so thankful to have been brought up in a christian home with christian parents who love the Lord and loved me and are still together. God is my source of strength and hope and without Him I don't know how I would make it through this life.

I am also married to the most wonderful husband in the world. We've been married 6 years and 9 months. We began dating in 1998 after meeting him at my 16th birthday party (a mutual friend brought him). So we have essentially been together for 12 years. We have been through alot together. Just starting from when I was sixteen...there are so many changes you go through in life between then and college and so forth. We got married August 16, 2003 and I still had a year and a half of nursing school left. So I finished up nursing school in December of 2004. I currently work full time as a nurse. It can be a very stressful job at times and very rewarding also.

In August of 2006 my husband was working at a certain job (place to remain anonymous) and ended up rupturing two discs in his back. That year was a very difficult year for us as far as stress. Right before he hurt his back our house had got struck by lighting and we were still working on the repairs from that. We were blessed that our house did not catch fire and burn to the ground. So anyways....in November of 2006 my husband had to have back surgery. Let me tell you, I was a basket case when he went back to have his surgery because as a nurse I knew too much and was very worried but the surgery went well. Three months later he went back to work and began having back pain again so we now knew we had to find him desk job with no lifting. We said many prayers and new he would probably have to take a pay cut. You see....the job he has been at paid well, had great benefits and we figured my husband would work there until he retired which would be at about age 50-55 with a pension. Sounds pretty awesome to me. But now looking back, I know that was our plan and not God's plan. So Colby got a new job working with computers and computer networking and is currently going back to school for these exact things. His back issues continue to be issues but he knows his limits and gets through it. So now fast forward to last year....Colby (my husband) fell off the ladder on our back deck. This really threw his back into a lot of pain and let me just say that last year was the hardest year we had ever been through. I HATE to see him in pain. I want him to be able to do activities that he wants to do without wondering if it's going to put him in a lot of pain. He was off work for several months and then finally in December we found a great pain management doctor , Dr. Dunbar. I was at my wits end at this point and looking for nothing short of a miracle. We were actually on our way to the first doctors appointment and I had just been praying and asking God for a miracle so that Colby could be able to do regular everyday activities (or just be able to sit through a whole days work). On the way to the appointment we were behind a semi-truck and on the back of the trailor was written "Trust God". Last year my most favorite verse that I would remember everyday was 'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11. That verse kept me going. Colby had his first epidural in December 2009 and was completely pain free the next day. Now this "epidural" did wear off because that is what they do but the steriod and pain medication helped to reduce the swelling and then his pain was much less. He has his good and bad pain days and that is something he will always deal with. I have never relied on God more that I had during last year. We were both stress out but with God's help we made it through those tough times. The strength of our marriage was tested through all of the tough times we experienced last year and I am happy to say that we made it through by praying together, communicating, relying on God and relying on each other. I may never know in this life why God allows us to go through tough times or trials in our life but I already know this...We have some dear friends that we have been able to help them walk through some similar trials in their life because we have been through them in ours. We have been able to be an encouragment to them or at least I hope we have been and to me that has already been worth it. Sure I would definitely prefer for Colby not to have back pain and I still wish everyday that he didn't have to have back pain but if this is what is given to us then we much not ask why is this happening to us but we must ask how can we glorify God through this. Now I am human so I have had my share of pitty parties last year so please don't think I am trying to act like I am perfect.

So...now on to another subject in our life. We are now praying about starting a family. Now this is something that I have to have patience about. I know it will be in God's timing and that is so hard to wait when you really want something (a blessing like this). So if anyone reads this please lift us up in your prayers. Sorry this was so long but I really wanted to share some bits and pieces of our life story with everyone.

Mother's Day and Brother-in-law Visit

Well, here goes my first real blog post....LOL.
On Saturday Colby and I celebrated Mother's Day with my mom (and dad). We took her out to eat to Texas Roadhouse (paid for my dad also). It was so delish. I got the mushroom jack chicken and green beans. Yummy!!!! Of course I got her two cards...one from me (to make her cry) and the other from Colby and myself. However...I forgot to bring my camera :(. But we all had a great time.
On Sunday we went to church of course and then headed to my mother-in-laws house to celebrate mother's day and my brother-in-law's birthday. We were also celebrating having Colby's brother home for a visit. He's been in the AirForce for 3 or 4 years now I think and we had not seen him in 2 years. Colby's mom was super happy to have him home. We got some family pictures together minus a few family member who did not make it in the pic because I forgot to get pics before they left. I had actually almost forgot to bring the camera but went home and got it after church. Well here are a few pics from this weekend.....

To Blog or Not to Blog....That is the question!!!

So I have been thinking about setting up a blog but not really sure if it is worth doing right now because I don't have kids which is one thing a lot of people blog about. However, I do have a lot of blessings in my life that I could share. So right now I'm just checking out this blog thing and see how it goes. So check back later to see if I actually figure this thing out.