A weekend of first's

It has been over two months since my last post. That is way too long, so much has happened I can't begin to recap. I will briefly hit a few highlights. Josh went four wheel drive camping the end of March and had a great time, we celebrated Ainsley's first Easter and then my first Mother's Day and oh did I mention my baby girl will be 9 months old tomorrow. I can't believe it.

Ok now onto this weekends festivities. Memorial Day weekend 2011, those who know us well will remember last year at this time consisted of me being 5 months pregnant walking all of D.C. in the blistering heat pouring water all over my bare pregnant belly. I survived though! This year Memorial Day weekend was just as busy and just as memorable.

Friday Night: The GOP Lincoln - Regan Fundraiser dinner. This was an awesome experience being able to support the Stafford GOP, as well as Jason Pelt (Stafford Commonwealth Attorney Candidate), along with hearing VA Governor and Congressman Wittman. I was slightly nervous when Josh asked me what would I give him if when he met the governor he said, "ello govnah" with a British accent? I told him I would leave the dinner immediately knowing he was completely capable of pulling this off straight faced.

Saturday Night: First fish fry of the year. A childhood memory that will always be connected to my dad. Going fishing, dad coming home cleaning meticulously and removing every bone yes I said every and then us having a huge fish fry.

Sunday: Josh's cousins annual Memorial Day cook out. We had a great time relaxing and swimming and Josh's cousins house. Ainsley was able to test out her frog floaty for the first time in a BIG swimming pool. She loved it of course.

Monday: My, yest Jadey's first 5K. I have been working up slowly to running further and further and I finally committed and showed up to my first 5K. I had awesome support from Hannah and Hannah and of course Josh and Ainsley. Everyone was so patient and encouraging. I run very slow, so for these individuals to be willing to run/walk with me each step of the way was a sacrifice. I ran all but half a mile and I finished in 47 minutes. Which is not great but for someone who last year at this time was not running at all that is pretty good as far as I am concerned. Monday concluded with an awesome cookout at the Hendrix home with wonderful friends and family.

Josh and I can not begin to tell you how God has blessed us with a wonderful baby girl, great friends, wonderful church family and wonderful local family who babysit for us and support us each step of the way. We are truly grateful and thankful for each of you and ultimately thankful for God's grace and mercy.

A weekend of first

You will be missed

Being five years older than your only sibling often makes you feel like an only child. Growing up my brother and I were not very close, he was the pesky little brother who came in from playing outside and was sweaty and stunk! However, as we got older we grew closer and we did more things together. Most of the things were me driving Caleb around because I could drive and he could not. Upon graduating college I moved back home and that allowed my brother and I to get a lot closer. Getting closer with Caleb also caused me to get closer with his friends. Caleb has had many friends through the years that have been dear to my heart. One friend in particular though was a very nice guy, all around good person and a person who would do anything for you. This one friend was Phillip. Phillip attended several Kearns family vacations, hung out at the house a lot, attended my and Josh's Bible study on occasion and was one of my brothers very good friends. All of these reasons are reasons why Phillip was a good friend and reasons why Phillip will be missed. On Saturday Phillip passed away, my heart is shocked and grieves. However, I am overjoyed and I have hope. I had not seen Phillip in a while and about two months ago I was visiting my parents and he was there hanging out. Phillip shared with me how he had recently accepted Christ and he shared his testimony with me. It was sweet to hear his story then, but now with this unexpected passing his story is much, much sweeter. Phillip you will be missed, but I look forward to seeing you again.

One down, two to go!

Yesterday once Josh got home from work we prepared for a run. It had been almost a week since I had run last so I was slightly anxious. With Josh pushing the jogging stroller we headed out for our plotted out 1.2 mile course. I started out strong and by the time I came upon my usual stop and walk point I still had energy, so I kept on running. I was getting a little mentally side tracked so I put in my head phones and turned on the ipod. I got mildly annoyed once I realized that my ipod was set to switch songs every time it was shaken. Therefore my song was changing every 3 sec as I was running, boo! I stopped long enough to trade my phone for the old school ipod that I knew would not switch songs on me. After the switch I kept on running and running and running. I felt so great once I reached the end of the 1.2 miles, I had run the entire thing. This is a great accomplishment for me, I haven't run a mile since P.E. class in the 8th grade. I was very proud and Josh was proud of me too. Now I have two more miles to go before my 1st race April 9, 2011. CASA Superhero race here I come.....

Party Girl

Ainsley was recently invited to her cousin Gavin's 1st birthday party. All in all it was a fun experience. Ainsley enjoyed wearing her party hat and she sat patiently and watched Gavin open his presents. Periodically while Gavin was preoccupied with opening other presents, Ainsley would grab and start playing with the present Gavin had just finished opening. It was cute. She participated in all the activities, except eating cake we will save that for her 1st birthday of course.

Look who is 6 months old today

I seriously have blinked and it is Ainsley's 6 month marker. She is still a little peanut, but growing every day. She is a true joy and I love her so much. Josh and I are constantly saying to one another we can not believe how much we enjoy being parents. The ways she does things, turns her head, studies everyone she meets, smiles, her bright blue eyes are just some of the wonderful things about Ainsley. She is truly living up to her name Ainsley (a calm or peaceful place) and Claire (full of light). She is very much both of those things and we thank God for her presence every day. She is right now anxiously awaiting the rest of her breakfast so I better wrap this up. Happy 6 months Ainsley Claire.

68 years

Today I got out of the house to go running with Ainsley in the jogger. It is definitely easier to run without that thing. I did fairly well, though I must say I like running with Josh much better. On my way home I stopped to speak with a neighbor on my street whose husband recently passed away. It encouraged me so much and reminded me of God's blessings in my life. As I spoke with this lady you could definitely see her grief, but she kept repeating that she and her husband had a wonderful life together. She shared with me a time that she could remember being her maddest at him, but then also shared some great memories. My conversation with her prompted me to think to not take any days for granted and to be thankful for the time God gives you with those that you love. She and her husband had been married for 68 years. I often think what will Josh and I be like in 10 years, but 68 whoa. I hope however at the end I can be like my neighbor and say that Josh and I had a happy, blessed life. When I think back over all the memories I have of Josh and I together the good definitely out weigh the bad. I am definitely looking forward to the next 63 years with my best friend.