8 Days until Christmas

I am so excited to be celebrating Christmas with my family. It has been a wonderful year. Tanner celebrated his first birthday last month and it was so fun having all the family here together and rejoicing in Tanner's first year of life. Billy and I are so proud to be parents and each day we just try to do the best we can by allowing God to lead us and putting him first in our lives. Jesus is our strength. We also celebrated our third wedding anniversary in October and look forward to many more years. We head out tomorrow to see Billy's sister Elaine and our neice Rachel-Kate! We have a long ride ahead of us and look forward to making memories. We have the cameras charged and bags packed. We know there will be challenges along the way but that is all part of it. I am so grateful for all God has given US!

I love fall!!

o.k. so it is about to be my favorite time of the year. Hopefully soon we will have
cooler weather. College football starts in a couple days. Go Noles! We are having a huge garage sale in October which my mom is going to help with. I love decorating and putting up all the fall stuff. I love pumpkin lattes, it getting dark earlier, and Halloween. It is going to be so fun this year to take Tanner trick or treating. We are so excited to be a family and enjoying the gifts God has given us.

Tanner at 9 months!

We have been loving the honeymoon phase of parenthood. You know, when baby sleeps from 7pm-7am, is happy to meet everyone, eats, sleeps, laughs...

Well, we are coming to the other side of that...He is getting mo-bile, and screaming as he scoots!! What a trip. Here are some recent pics. Keep us in your prayers. Tanner has a follow up to see how his left kidney is doing on Wednesday.

God Bless

Convoy of Hope

Quiet time

Well it is 10:00 p.m. and I am usually in bed at this time but I am enjoying some me time while Tanner is asleep and Billy is watching baseball. I am just reflecting on the last few years and wondering where time went. I can look back at my life and see God in the details of everything. I mean who would have guessed I would end up in Ocala Fl with a family. For those of you who don't know Billy and I both are in recovery. Both of us are clean now and I am actually clean for 6 years on Friday and Billy has been clean for 5 and a half. What a miracle. I remember a time when I didn't think i would be able to stay clean for 6 minutes. I am so thankful that Jesus had bigger plans for me. I love where my life is and so peaceful and just so happy to be in the moment. I love having a family and always have been family oriented. I remember when we were little we were always going bike riding and my dad would take us to the park. We hung out at the ball field a lot as all four of my brothers and my sister all played sports. We were always outside and so active. I can not wait to do things like that as a family. I can not wait to go bike riding with Tanner. I love exercising these days and could not feel better. I run three or four times a week and LOVE it. Whatever it is that Tanner wants to do we will encourage him. I know God brought us through what we went through to be better parents to Tanner. I will be keen to any games when he becomes a teenager. Cause I played them all. Ha Ha Well I know that with God's strength we can get through it. I stay pretty busy these days. I pray for wisdom and need all the encouragement and love we can get. God I pray for you to put people in Tanner's life that will lead him in the right direction and pray for us a family unit and be grateful for what we do have. No room for the negative here. If I have learned anything it is to be grateful. I hope we all can be grateful in every situation. WE ALL HAVE SO MUCH TO BE GRATEFUL FOR!! Let us thank God daily for this day. Not complaining about what we aren't getting!! Help us Lord to keep our eyes fixed on you.

Tanner loves water

Tanner and I at home in his kiddie pool. This kid loves the water and we had such a good time just slpashing around. He really is growing and we are enjoying him so much. Fun weekend ahead! Alson is coming!

TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY

So I put up several pictures of our family and our summer with them so far. We are so blessed and I praise God for all our family. Tanner is getting such a personality and he looks a lot like his daddy. i see alot of both our blood lines. It is funny how God answers even our small prayers. I prayed for a little blued eyed boy before I even got pregnant and that is exactly what I got. Tanner and Billy both have gorgeous blue eyes. My two babies. Well Tanner and I have a nice routine. We go to the gym every morning except Sunday unless we have an appt. or something. Thank the Lord for my work out partner Suzanne. She has been a great friend and work out partner. I love exercising and feel it makes me a better mommy. I ran a 5k(3.12 miles) without stopping. I'd love to do a half marathon soon. Tanner is going to keep me running for the next several years so I'd better be able to keep up. Ha HaI look forward to all the years ahead. My husband is such an inspiration to me. Billy really sticks to his committments and he and I are growing in our walk with Christ. I have MANY areas that I am working on and will be until I die. I continue to ask God to help me with my patience and tolerance. I need to be kind and love. Help me to love like you Jesus. Thanks to all our family and the continued love and support you give us.

Summer 2010

Pictures of our summer so far more to come

Billy and Tanner

Hello! It is me Mendy! I actually have a minute to post something. Things are going great and I just LOVE taking care of my boys. Billy and Tanner. Nani too! I am weird I guess but I actually love being home, cooking, working in yard, playing with Tanner, watching a movie with Billy and even cleaning and running the household. We all have had a wonderful summer so far. We spent 4Th of July at the Lake with Rachel-Kate, her friend Caroline, Me Me, and Grampy. We have had fun out there. Been out there a lot the last two weeks. I even got on the knee board this year. So fun. We love hanging out there and Tanner loves his meme and Grampy. Me me got him the cutest swim shirt with a hood and it has a fin on top. It is very appropriate because he LOVES the water. He has been to the lake, the beach, the pool, and papa got him a kiddie pool and he loves that too. He actually gets mad when you try to take him out of the water. A little attitude like BOTH his parents. ha ha Well my mom use to say she hoped I had a kid just like me and I think she just may have got her wish. Scary! Elaine( Billy's sister) was here for a week and that was fun. Cant wait to see the pictures she took. We have been to Lakeland a few time and got to hang with everyone at my aunts pool. My Grannie Janet loved taking Tanner for walks in the stroller and Whitney I got to hang with our sons. Her baby and my baby are only 5 months a part. They will be the best of friends. I am getting my nephew Alson for the weekend and that should be fun and probably will be headed down to Lakeland again soon. I can not wait for our next family outing to the beach. God has really blessed us. However with blessings comes responsibility and he layed on my heart very strongly this morning to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I am so thankful to be Tanner's mommy and I need to turn all my fear and anxiety over to him and it really doesn't matter what people do I am only responsible for me. Thank you God for forgiveness and your love we do not deserve. GRACE!

My intentions...

Look, we have got to stop meeting like this! Mendy and I had a talk this weekend, and we we are going to start updating our blog more often! We are both SO OVER FACEBOOK. We asked ourselves this question: What if I spent that amount of time with THE KING every day? It's funny like that; we got a Smartphone and an app for FB, Twitter, Linkedin, etc, but we seldom take a look at THE Word near as much as we look at THEIR Word. It's a great idea, right? But, I will sat this; my experience shows me that unless my decisions are followed by action, they never last!

Don't be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed-the one who brings destruction.
~2 Thessalonians 2:3

First Road Trip!

We are headed to ATL this coming weekend. It is Tanner's first road trip! I have been joking with my friends-"I should find a good live version of Allman Brothers 'Ramblin' Man' so Tanner will know where he comes from!" I remember taking the road to ATL from FL since I was a baby boy. Many, many memories. I am excited to show Tanner this world through my Father's Eyes. Keep us in your prayers, and we will post pics when we return!

Happy Easter!

He is Alive!!

It has been a minute...Again!

My Grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.
~2 Corinthians 12:9a





We have been so busy loving on this little heart-throb, that we have not posted up! We apologize for not being better stewards of this medium to share our joy with you! We are so grateful for all who have encouraged us to get back in the loop and post some pictures! Tanner is doing awesome since his surgery! He is now eating level one foods and sleeping through the night!

The picture on the left is Tanner at 3 months, my Michelle Foster! He is such a little laughing machine! The one on the right is at 4 months old, chilling with his mommy. We are so blessed! We had baby dedication at Church of Hope this weekend, where Tanner and 11 of his closest friends all gathered to make it public:

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
~Joshua 24:15a

Recovering well

Well Tanner is doing great. We head to the Dr. tomorrow to have his drainage tube removed. His surgery went wonderful and All Children's was so good to us. After Tanner's surgery he slept for the rest of the day and all evening. Mommy slept in the room with him and daddy slept at the Ronald Mcdonald house. What a great place. Well around 7 a.m. He woke up cooing and talking and as soon as I walked over to his bed and said "Good morning Boogie", he just smiled up at me. What a wonderful feeling to know he pulled through so great. So proud. Billy and I have such a wonderful family. We are also so thankful that Mark and Linda came to pray with us. We actually got to come home on Wed. afternoon. I am anxious to see how it goes at the Dr. tomorrow and get back into our routine of meetings, church, Hope Life Group, and the gym. Billy and I love being parents and I am so thankful I get to stay home with him. We will go see his grammy tomorrow and lunch with her. She can not wait to see her heart. We will see Tanner's uncle Seth too. Well we love our family. Look forward to all the things that this year has to offer us as a family. So many memories to build together. Tanner is so fun. I love talking to him and playing with him. What a gift to be a mommy. I was meant to be Tanner's mommy. God's plan is always best. I will put my trust in him and him alone. Love like Jesus.

Tanner's Surgery

Hey everybody!

Tanner did awesome in his surgery. Praise God! Dr. Kolligan was stoked about
how it went. They were able to repair his ureter; doc said it was way twisted. He said the left kidney is a slow functioning kidney; the goal is to preserve its functioning, and doc feels confident that we are headed in the right direction.
We are so grateful to our friends and family. We cannot tell you how special each of you are in our heart! Boogie T is resting well, and we know the Great Physician WAS, IS, and WILL ALWAYS BE loving on the little ones! His presence was so obvious at All Children's Hospital today. Thanks for all of your prayers and support!

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD

Well Tanner is doing much better. He has been congested all week and not sleeping ect. until last night. I fed him at 9:30 and put him in his pak n play at ten and he slept til 7:30. He has been awake all morning just hanging out and I am getting us ready to go and waiting for my handsome husband to get home. I miss him and I know Tanner does too. He should be home anytime. Then we are off to St.Pete. We have to be at the hospital at ten tomorrow. We will keep everyone posted. This morning as I was spending time with our Saviour he layed this verse on my heart, "In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident TRUST." Psalm 4:8 I know my strength comes from him and he is in control. I have felt so close to him through this whole parenthood thing. From trying to conceive all the way to sleepless nights. I would not be able to do it without JESUS and I would not want to. What an amazing thing that I can have a personal relationship with MY KING! He has us in his hands and Tanner will do great! Praise you Lord!

Rainy Day

Well I just got off the phone with my mom and she called to see how her little heart was doing. She took the day off to be with us and I am so thankful for my mom. She is so sweet and it has never taken much to make her happy. She literally gave us anything and she would do without when I was little so we could have. With just one baby to take care of I definately have a new respect for her as she had six to care for. I loved growing up in a big family and even now we are all so close. I love my brothers and sister. I think the most important thing is giving up things to be with Tanner. I know too well that I will turn around and he will be in school and then before I know it he will be getting married and having kids of his own. I want to treasure every moment. He seems to be doing better with the congestion and I have done nothing but hang with him this weekend. We miss Billy but I have truly bonded with my son and I know I will be a great source of comfort to him when he gets out of surgery. We are all packed and leaving tommorrow. My friend Renee came over today and gave us such a nice gift from our hope life group. God is amazing and we are truly blessed. I love our )'(ope Life Group. I can not believe that Tanner is almost three months old already! Take Care of our little boy Lord and give me the strength to be the mommy and wife you need be to be.

Surgery on Monday

Well Tanner and I have been hanging close to the house this week. He is pretty congested and not feeling all that great. We have been doing what the Dr. says and running a humidifier and doing saline drops. He also has been sleeping in his bouncy with mommy on the couch as the bouncy is more upright. Nothing worse than having a 2 month old that doesn't feel well. We had a nice visit from my aunt and uncle from California yesterday. My mom's oldest brother. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family. We are also very thankful to me me and grampy (Billy's mom and dad) for helping take care of our other baby Nani. (our dog) They are so good to him and Molly (Meme and Grampy's dog) just loves when nani comes over because they play and play. They have been so wonderful to us. I feel so blessed to have the best in-laws in the world. Truly they treat me like a daughter. We are so thankful that my parents and siblings and Billy's parents have all made arrangements to come to St. Pete when Tanner has his surgery. We need all the support we can get. I have never even had surgery so to watch my baby go through it will be rough but GOD is in total control and we are trusting fully in him. Thank you all for your continued love and support.

Well I am happy to say that we are finally finding our groove. Tanner is getting on a schedule and structure is important to us as a family. I feel so grateful that my son is so loved. He loves music and being talked to. I started reading to him and he loves it. I know God is in control and Tanner's surgery will go fine. Thanks for all your prayers for us. We are so blessed and I love being a mommy. Tanner is getting little rolls and gaining weight and growing big. He visited with his cousins on sat. and I know Alson can not wait to play with him. I can not wait either. He is so cute. He always calls him baby Tanner. Billy and I are excited to see what the future brings for us as a family. And Tanner sure has a BIG family! Awesome! Well continue to pray for the three of us as we will be praying for you and yours.

Its been a while...

Well, in the words of Bobby Bowden, "...Daddgumm!..." We have had a whirlwind of a 2 months since Tanner arrived! This parenthood deal is an adventure like no other! Tanner is now 9 weeks old! Wow! Praise God!! I think we will set the goal of identifying Tanner's age in weeks until he is, like 5 years old. "yeah, he is 275 weeks now, starting school and all..." LOL . Everything, for the most part, is going well!

The thing about January, was the inevitable tests on his left kidney. We had a series of test on January 5th to figure out why his kidney is retaining fluid. They were able to rule out Reflux, from the bladder to the kidney, and were able to confirm the right kidney is working great. We had another test on January 11th, which gave some more conclusive evidence. So, here is the short version:

In a renal system, the kidneys are designed to do 50/50 of the work. Tanner's appear to be more like 70/30. There also appears to be an obstruction in the left ureter (aka the pipe from the kidney to the bladder). So, what to do? Tanner will have a procedure called pyeloplasty. This is a removal of the obstruction. This will be a procedure with the goal of preserving the functioning of his left kidney. The procedure will be done on February 1, 2010 at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL He will be admitted for 3 to 5 days in the hospital and be discharged home.

So, here we are. Tanner is doing great- he is growing like crazy, smiling, laughing, cooing, and doing what babies do...We are so absolutely blessed to have been chosen by God to be his parents! We are doing great! We are so blessed and fortunate to have a nucleus of friends and family around us that continue to remind us that "it ain't about you!" It is all about the Great Physician, our Counselor, our Wonderful, our Jesus!

We have been praying for Tanner's healing, and it appears God is at work, doing what He does, and answering our prayers! Praise Him! We appreciate your continued prayers for "Boogie," as we will be diligently doing the same for you and yours!

We are so excited to Trust God, Love People, and Invest our Lives! It is an infectious groove, so let's get down!