Elianna's 2nd Birthday Invitation

Make a Smilebox invite

Grandma's Here!

This is a video of Elianna in her PJ's right before bedtime. My mother-in-law, Ruth Stevens, just arrived today for a 2 week visit. We are so excited she is here and it's been like second Christmas. We have gotten lots of good food from home like hot chocolate mixes, Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, Candy Corn, and Dr. Pepper. Ellie got a lot of clothes and toys from family members. The pink vest she is wearing is from Ruth's sister, Aunt Janet. It's so soft. Aunt Janet also gave her this interactive book and she LOVES it. I thought this video was cute of her wearing and discovering her new toys from America. Hey family, thanks for all the gifts!! We love them.

Anniversary Pictures

Isn't she cute? Angie took this the night of our Anniversary date. She is in her PJs, ready for bed.










Here we are: The happy couple on their 5th wedding anniversary. Being 25 weeks pregnant, I feel like I look so bloated in this picture! The horror of it all is that my passport needs renewed so Angie was gracious enough to take my head shot that night too. The horror comes in knowing that for the next 10 years the photo on my passport will be me 25 weeks pregnant. Not fair, but praise God for the pregnancy!

Lavishly Loved

For about 3 years, I've had the joy of hosting a expatriate women's bible study in my house. It's a time for us to let down our hair (sometimes literally) and keep spiritually fresh in an environment that isn't always friendly to Christians. We get to support one another in the midst of facing challenges that overseas living can bring. It is just nice to know you aren't the only one walking down this road and the thoughts and feelings you have are normal.

This semester we are in the books of 1,2,3 John. Our passage last week was 1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are....". My friend Jen lead the discussion and she gave us paper crowns to wear to remind us that we are daughters of the KING. She also "lavished" us by bringing a pumpkin shaped and decorated cake made from an American cake mix. Nothing says "lavish" over here like American food products!! We had a really good time and laughed a lot while looking a bit silly in our crowns. For those of us with kids the crowns got put to good use. Elianna loved mine and wore it the next day. It was a little big on her, but that didn't stop my little princess from wearing her crown. Isn't it good to be the daughter/son of the KING!

Here we are wearing our crowns. Only 1/2 showed up that night due to traveling and other issues. Notice the beautiful pumpkin cake:
















Here are a few pictures of my little princess wearing her crown:

Poor thing, she looks so sad. That's what you get when you take pictures early in the morning! A princess needs time to wake-up before the photo shoot begins :). Side note: Look at all that hair and she is still only a one year old. Well she is only a month away from two.

It's been way to long!

About a month after we arrived back in North Africa, I got pregnant and have since fallen off the face of the blogging world. BUT here I am, back again, and ready for more blogging entries. I just have about 6 months to catch-up on!

So maybe I should start with one of our biggest joys this year; we are expecting a baby boy! I'm almost 25 weeks along and the baby is doing great. Some friends of ours have given us some boy clothes (2-4T) and we are slowly getting things ready for his delivery in early-mid Feb. Sometimes I can't believe we will have both a boy and a girl in a few short months, but Justin couldn't be more excited about having boy. It's really neat to see the smile on his face when he puts his hand on my belly to feel his baby boy move. As far as a name goes, we haven't chosen one yet, but hopefully soon. I like Alex or Joel, but Justin likes more modern names like Parker, Carson, or Hunter. You can see we have some work to do to agree on one name together. We both like Justin's middle name, Lance, for the baby's middle name so at least we have that picked out. If any of you have ideas, we are open for suggestions!

Another wonderful event that just happened is that Justin and I just had our 5th wedding anniversary on Oct. 23rd. We went out for a really nice dinner and I played sappy love songs all day in the house. I just love celebrating anniversaries!

Ellie will turn 2 on Nov. 21st and my mother-in-law will be here for that. She is coming to visit in 2 weeks, and I can't wait! It's like second Christmas when she comes and she acts more like a maid than a guest. She really blesses us. This trip we are going to a resort for a few days to give her a taste of relaxation North African style. It will be fun to relax together: without cooking, cleaning, or doing laundry.

A lot of other great things have happened this summer, and more good memories to come. I'm just glad to be back online, journaling (blogging) those memories as they come.

We hope you all are doing well. Let us know what you are up to when time allows. This is one tired mommy signing out for now.

Happy Halloween



Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Our Trip to America

Us on Easter at Justin's mom's house. My mom made Ellie's dress.

Bridesmaids:
Left to Right: Friend of the Bride, Destini Hoyt (Justin's cousin), Suzanne Shaw (Justin's youngest sister)

Justin's sister, Heather: THE BRIDE

We just got back 2 weeks ago from America. We had such a wonderful time seeing family and friends. It was great to see Elianna play and bond with her grandparents. No one loves your children like their grandparents. She also got to play with some really cute kids. Amanda and Christina, your kids are sooo adorable! Thanks for sharing them. Ellie enjoyed getting some kido action.

A quick overview of the trip would be: Justin's sister got married (photos included), we ate way too much food (how can you say "no" to Panara Bread), and stocked-up on things for the next couple years. It's hard to believe we will have been in North Africa for 4 years in Sept. The time has really flown by. BUT, it has taken 4 years to feel comfortable here. For some reason coming home this time feels more like home to me. Maybe it's because we have a child and all her things are here. Maybe it's because we have some amazing friends here. Or maybe it is just because it takes that long to adjust to another world. It's probably all of the above.

Here are some random photos of our trip to America. God Bless America!

Flossie

My brother, Wayne, and his wife have the cutest dog named Flossie. Kaie, my sister-in-law, saw the dog as a puppy abandon beside the road and saved it. It is the tamest dog and Ellie fell in love with her. This is a video of them together. Flossie let Ellie "ride" her and Ellie went a little wild. How did Flossie respond? She turned around a gave Ellie a puppy kiss. Ellie tried to repay the favor (giving Flossie a kiss), but they both ended up rolling on the ground. It was so cute. There is just a special bond between a boy/girl and their dog...even if the dog is a cousin.

A Few New Pics

Hi guys, nothing new is happening here. Decided to post a few new pictures of Elianna. I took them because a new friend of mine told me about this great deal on FREE Valentine Photo cards. So I grabbed my camera and went to town trying to get Ellie to smile while looking at the camera at the same time. This girl doesn't sit still long, so it was a work-out. After about 50 shots I got one or two worth using. The one with chocolate on her face is from our adventure in making chocolate chip cookies together. It was pretty cute so I just had to post it too.

2009 Came Just in Time

I’m now fully convinced the yearly ritual of making goals over New Year's is worth the time. There is something to say about reflecting on the previous year and aiming for higher goals. For example, Justin and I were able to take 2 weeks off from meetings, language lessons, and other appointments to renew our focus on the upcoming year while spending irreplaceable family time together. We spent most of that time sick, but some very wonderful changes in my life were sparked. Looking back on 2008 I realized that having a baby is in-fact a life-altering event. Imagine that! What I didn’t expect was who I had become when life squeezed me like a lemon. “Flesh Woman” had taken over! Maybe it’s better explained to say I found out who I really was without Jesus. It’s amazing how stress can peel back those layers of your inner heart to show you the mess that still waits for some cleaning action from Mr. Clean (aka: Jesus). It should have been obvious that I wasn’t feeding myself enough spiritually. Well, maybe it was obvious to Justin who got a daily flogging from Flesh Woman. Without Jesus working in my life I realized I’m complainer, discontent, moody, testy, bad tempered, horrible mouthed woman. Wow, that is not what I had in mind for my life or the legacy I want to leave behind to my children. I can just imagine Elianna talking about me during my funeral and having a hard time trying to find something nice to say. Praise God we have a Savior; someone who can save us from ourselves. When Paul talks about our flesh in Philippians he wrote: “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh…” Phil 3:3. Those words are life to me now because I know what my fleshly heart looks like and I put NO confidence in what I can do by myself. I need Jesus in my heart leading me, guiding me-especially in motherhood. Left to myself I would make a mess out of everything. 2008 was a tough year, but it was the best lesson I ever learned: “(I) know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Romans 7:17-19. So what do I hope to change in 2009? Everything!

Since I’m really visual when it comes to learning I bought a large white board to put my lifetime and yearly goals on that includes monthly scripture I want to memorize in English and Arabic. Just to remind me what my sinful nature looks like I wrote all the things I struggle with on one side and all the things I hope to be in my lifetime on the other. Those include being content, faithful, loving, compassionate, a good listener, servant-hearted, gracious, etc. Then Justin and I created a family theme for the year, “Time with Jesus”, that I wrote on the top of the board. I tried to keep my yearly goals really simple, so I wouldn’t forget with my “baby brain” and so I would actually get them done in a year (hopefully). Here are a few:
1. Daily time with Jesus by using the The-One-Year Bible I borrowed from a friend
2. Read “Dare to Discipline” by Dobson
3. Memorize a scripture every month in English and Arabic
4. Memorize the sacrifice synopsis to use in evangelism
5. Lose 40 pounds and get pregnant again (some of them are lofty)
6. Be a good wife, mom, and a good friend

The list could go on and on with all the things I want to do, but these are the most important to me and what I think can actually be do-able living in Africa and having a small child. Gotta start somewhere right?

So keep me accountable friends. I have a lot of work to do!

Christmas Overview

Justin and Elianna with some of our friends at our Christmas party

The kids decorating cookies

Ellie and her buddy, Gabby, spreading the love


This is going to be a very uplifting post (just kidding), because this winter has brought a lot of sickness. It started a couple days before Christmas when a friend of ours went to London and came back sick with a virus. I (Veronica) got it first and then passed it on to Justin and probably the rest of our friends unknowingly. We canceled our Christmas day activities with our friends and got together a few days after to celebrate. I’ve included a couple pictures of our time together. We had a blast and Justin and I felt great, but 2 days after our time together a lot of our friends got sick. We’ve been passing around colds, fevers, and stomach flu’s ever since. Guess we need to spend some major time away from each other to get over all this. Part of me wonders if it is a spiritual battle, or if God wants us to learn how to take care of one another in sickness, or if we all just needed a break and the only way we slow down is for Him to allow us to be sick. Maybe it’s a little of all of them. Guess we will never know, but I am ready for a season of health. The silver lining in all of this is the time I’ve had with Justin. You don’t really talk when you are sick, but just having him in the house is nice. Can you tell my love language is time!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

It feels like forever since I have posted something. I have a ton to catch-up on, but I thought I would start with the star of the show and make grandparents happy :). She is the reason they check this blog anyway...right? It's ok, I can't blame you. She is pretty cute.

It has been raining the past several days so Elianna and I made Chocolate Chip Cookies for our man. Justin loves them. Someday she will be great help in the kitchen, but until then I spend just about as much time cleaning up after her as I do preparing the food. It works out great just having one kido. Adding a little time for clean-up is usually no problem. Add a baby and I think plans will change. Better enjoy this time while it lasts. Anyway, Ellie loves chocolate and that was great motivation for her to help. You know how it goes: eat a little, stir a little. She was a real ham for the camera when I took still shots, but I thought you might like to see her skills in person. With a little training she'll be a chef sometime soon...ok, maybe with a LOT of training. Better get the grandmas over here soon to teach her the "right" way :). She'll be in real trouble if I'm her only influence.

OH and here is another little story about Elianna. Usually I do my quiet time in the front room with a cup of black coffee during her morning nap time. Well I guess I forgot to bring the coffee cup in from the living room this morning, because after nap time she found the cup. There must have been some coffee left because when I caught her she had coffee dripping from her mouth with a look of disgust on her face. Guess she is not a coffee drinker yet. It was pretty cute to see her try. I should count my blessings that she didn’t break the cup or pour out the coffee!

Final note here: check out the clump of cookie dough on the wall in the video. We make sure the whole kitchen is covered when we are cooking.