Traditions = Good Times

This past year has been the year to declare traditions. At Christmas we have decided on the parade followed by Bangkok Thai, at Halloween we have decided on a Sydney sleepover that includes smores and a hot dog roast, Josh has decided the end of March will be his annual 4x4 camping trip. Well the new summer tradition we have decided on is the Virginia Derby. Josh and I along with several friends attended this glorious event last Saturday. It was a blast to say the least.

Upon arriving I was nervous, not sure why I just get that way when I try new things. Over the past year I had started following horse racing, so I was very much looking forward to this event. There were so many people, and so many of them were dressed to the nines. I definitely represented the "southern belle" category with my bright yellow flowered dress, red shoes, red sunglasses, pearls and last but not least thanks to Jenna Quann my huge red hat.

We decided to reserve a covered umbrella table right next to the track and it was definitely a good choice, though we may do finish line seats next year! Overall we saw every race clearly and it was a good time. There were five big stake races and we tried our hand in betting on those, $2 here, $5 there. We won a few and lost a lot, but overall it is an experience like I had never had before. It is so hard to put how it felt and what fun I had into words. I literally have not stopped talking about it.

Needless to say we will be going next year. Let the horse studying and over the top outfitting begin, Virginia Derby 2012 here we come.

So Far, So Good

June has been a whirlwind of a month. I feel this way mostly due to directing VBS at my church. Quite the endeavor, I have a new found respect for those who have been directing VBS for years. That is besides the point though, June has flown by along with Ainsley's 9 month mark, Josh's first fathers day and last but not least my 30th birthday.

The day of my birthday I was thinking back over my life and to be honest Satan was getting the best of me. I felt unaccomplished, worthless, small and that my life had left no "real" impact. However, God had other plans for me that day. I eventually was reminded that I am a child of God and the lies I was hearing all that morning began to fade away.

Josh was up to something the day of my birthday. I knew he had some type of party planned, due to him spilling the beans. However, all I knew other than that was that I needed to be out of the house and then to my parents house by 4pm. So Ainsley and I ventured out to attend a retirement party of my former boss at Bethany. It was a joy to see all my old co-workers at Bethany, catching up and seeing the progress Bethany is making. I was reminded that Bethany was an amazing ministry that I had the privilege of being apart of for the past 7 years of my life. I had the opportunity to minister to hundreds of women who were contemplating aborting their children and others being desperate to find an adoptive family for their precious ones. God in his mercy and grace allowed "little" me to be a part of helping women and children in that very vulnerable time of their life. However, I was also quickly reminded of the new ministry He had given me to care for and Shepard my own child. My beautiful baby girl Ainsley what a blessing to be able to stay home with her. I told you the lies quickly started to fade away.

So after the retirement party I headed home to rest briefly before heading to my parents house. Josh was home and said he wanted to go with me so he could see my face, whatever that meant at that time I did not know. However, once we got to my parents I knew very much so what it meant. Upon arriving at my parents house it was full of family and friends, friends traveled from North Carolina and Ohio to be at my "little" me, my birthday party. Yet again I was reminded of how many people God has blessed me with in my life. People who love and care for me, people who I meant enough to for them to take a day out of their life or for them to travel so far to make my 30th birthday special.

Then lastly, I was reminded of one of the biggest blessings in my life. Josh! Josh had gone way beyond himself with planning this party. My husband is the spur of the moment, let it be guy. However, he had been planning this party since January 2011 and it showed. Every detail was perfect, from the decorations, my gluten free pizza, my mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, the guest list all the way to my amazing gift of one on one photography lessons!!! It was an amazing day, I was humbled by the thoughtfulness and generosity everyone showed to me. As I looked over the party attenders I could not look at one person without seeing how God had placed them in my life at the perfect time. For those who couldn't make it you were missed. Needless to say by days end the lies had completely faded and 30 is so far, so good!

Note: My parents gave me a pinata at the party and it was one of my favorite parts. I so enjoyed seeing my friends and family enjoy the party and the pinata made it to where their kids enjoyed the party too! It was a big HIT with the kids!

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.