It's official!!

I'm finally able to share officially that Jonathan is now the new head women's basketball coach at Columbus State University. He will finish his contract at Berry College until the end of May and then get started with his new responsibilities. We are very sad to be leaving Rome. We've made some really sweet friends here, love our church and our home, my job, Berry College, Anna's pre-school, etc. However, we have prayed about this for quite some time and know that God is leading us to Columbus. I am so thankful for God's word and the peace he has given me as Jonathan and I have been making this decision. This will be our third move together as a couple and it's always a challenge for me to get readjusted, meet new friends, settle in a church, etc. but each time we've moved the blessings just get better and better so I have no doubt that will be the case again this time. Jonathan and I both graduated from Columbus State with undergraduate and graduate degrees so we are very excited about seeing old faces and reconnecting there again. I'm very proud of Jonathan and all that he has accomplished to get to this point. There are really nice write ups on him on both Berry's website (www.berry.edu) and Columbus's website (www.colstate.edu); both are under athletics and then women's basketball. I will post pictures from his press conference soon. I wish I had a copy of the video of that. He did such a good job of speaking! Anna did great too and sat quietly during the entire speech!! We spent all day today looking at houses. I'm exhausted!! We didn't find much but crossed several areas off of our list so I guess that is progress. Please pray for us as we try to get our house sold here in Rome and find one in Columbus--preferrably quickly since we only have 10 weeks before sweet little Emma gets here (yikes!)!!

Happy Easter 2009!!

What a fun Easter morning! Anna woke up to a trail of easter eggs the Easter bunny left from her crib to her easter basket in the den. She was so excited and really enjoyed looking at all of her goodies this year. We went to church this morning, out to lunch as a family (plus Amy), naptime, and then had egg hunts outside and played this afternoon. It's been a wonderful family day. Of course we haven't forgotten to include Jesus in our Easter tradition. We've tried to make sure Jesus was mentioned just as much, hopefully more, than the easter bunny as we've prepared for today. How thankful we are that we serve a risen Savior--that He lives and we can look forward to eternal life in heaven with Him. We are truly blessed and so grateful for salvation. Thank you Jesus!! The "trail of eggs" started at Anna's crib.
Here she is after picking up the first two eggs!

Checking out her goodies.

I think she was pleased!

Ready for church!

What a cutie!

Me and my girls (can't see the other one yet)!

Daddy's little angel.

Amy tried to get one of all of us.

End of the Year Banquet

Wednesday night we attended the end of the year basketball banquet hosted by Berry's president. The banquet was outside behind Martha Berry's house on the lawn and was catered by the Varsity (french fries, onion rings, hot dogs & burgers). The weather was pretty cool but it was nice to be outside. We toured Martha Berry's house and the grounds which we hadn't done in the 4 years we've been here. It's beautiful especially this time of year with all of the trees and flowers starting to bloom. Anna had a blast playing with the girls and Coach Haarlow's little girl, Molly. The award ceremony was simple but it was nice to get to see the players again after the season. We are going to miss all of them very much! The FOUR of us!
The Lady Vikings

Jeff, Molly & Casey Haarlow.

No more cysts!!!

Emma's brain looked healthy today and the cysts were gone! God is so good and we are very thankful!! She is breech right now but the doctor said there is still time for her to turn. So turn Emma, turn!! I'm 28 weeks so we still have a little while for her to get into position before we have to worry. The 2 week appointments are beginning--can't believe we are getting this close. Thanks for all the prayers up to this point!!

I'm being outsmarted by my 2 1/2 year old!!

I'm laughing tonight at my own failures as a parent but I'm at least doing it while my sweet Anna is asleep. We took the front piece off of her crib last week to convert her bed into a "big girl bed". Ever since it has been a nightmare trying to get her to sleep and stay in her bed. We've tried spankings (she began asking for them last night to get us to stay in her room--don't think that's working too well), reward charts, and finally I thought I had the best idea tonight...making her sleep in a baby bed (the pack and play). I threatened with it last night and she finally calmed down and she went to sleep. Tonight after she got out of bed twice I got up in the attic (with mom's help since Jonny is out of town), took the pack in play in her room and set it up. My thought was that she would be really upset with me and get in her big girl bed for the night. NOT so! She got really excited and gathered her pillow, babies, etc as if we were having a camp out in her room. I continued to set it up and explain that this was not playtime and that she was sleeping in the baby bed tonight b/c she disobeyed...yada, yada, yada...I don't think she soaked any of that up. I told her she didn't earn her sticker tonight for the choo choo train ride and she just said, "that's ok mommy I'll try again tomorrow night". Mom and I laughed hysterically after I came out of her room. She went sound asleep. Not exactly the way I planned but she's sleeping! I think the crib front will be reattached tomorrow. She may just not be ready for becoming a big girl quite yet!