Thanksgiving Day 4 - Rest

Today I am thankful for the rest the Lord gives us every night, and sometimes during the day! Not only the physical rest, as it helps our bodies to feel restored and ready to take on another day, but the spiritual rest in Him, knowing that He has the whole world in His hands.

I can't imagine how each day would be without getting the proper amount of rest/sleep. Thank you Lord for creating time for our weary bodies and souls to rest!

PS - Even the smallest bodies need plenty of rest....

Thanksgiving Day 3 - My Son, Jackson

On January 15, 2009 we learned that we were expecting this little bundle of joy! What an adventure it has been since he was born September 21, 2009! James Andrew Jackson Ellard (the second officially), was born on 9-21-09 at 8:04am weighing in at 8 lbs 4 oz and was 19.75 inches long. He has been a strong boy since he was born, after having to stay in the NICU for four days before going home. He had a little fluid on his lungs so they wanted to keep him in the NICU to make sure he didn't get an infection from it. Everything checked out great, but it was really hard not having him in the room with me the whole time. Needless to say that his alarming first few days did not slow him down one bit!

He has grown by leaps and bounds and it has been a joy to watch him grow and learn, quickly, new things. With each phase of life so far, we have also learned new things about ourselves. We've mostly learned how much fun it is to let our inner child bloom and have fun with Jackson, but we've also learned in training him up in the way of the Lord, that we were in need of some training ourselves!

I love our little Jackson and am so thankful to have the priviledge of being his mother and hopefully inspiring him to serve the Lord. I love to hear him sing, see him smile, read, jump, run, play in the yard, point to airplaines in the sky, discover new things, learn new words, etc. He has been such a joy to our lives and he is my heart. I love you Jackson!

Thanksgiving Day 2 - My Wonderful Husband

I am so thankful for my husband, Andrew Scott Ellard. We met six years ago and have been married a little over five and a half years now. It is amazing looking back at "our story" and the way we met. I had finally gotten to the point with relationships that I was tired of "looking". I decided to focus all of my time on my relationship with the Lord, and had announced this to a close friend one Wednesday night in September 2005. The very next Sunday I visited Temple Baptist Church with another friend and we went to the dreaded Singles Sunday School class. As we were sitting chatting, a very handsome gentleman walked in the room, came to our table and asked if the chair next to me was taken. I told him it was not and he draped his coat over it, went to get a breakfast snack, and came back. I instantly had a funny feeling about him, and literally looked up at God and said, "You've got to be kidding me!". Anyway, I'll try to skip all the details, but we went to lunch with the class later and he got my phone number; we started dating shortly after that, broke up two weeks later, for half a day, then he proposed to me six short weeks after we met.

We married February 25, 2006, three months later, and now have a two-year-old, James Andrew "Jackson" Ellard, and are expecting our second baby, Katelyn Elizabeth, December 16, 2011.

We have had so many good times together, and of course have worked through some pretty challenging ones as well. Andrew balances me out perfectly because he is much more patient and easy-going than I! I can be too high strung at times and he reminds me that I need to lighten up and laugh a little! He can be very romantic at times, is very handy around the house, and shares a lot of the same dreams I do. He is also a wonderful man of God and father to our son, Jackson.

I am so thankful that God has given me such a wonderful husband to spend the rest of my life with, to make memories and a family, and on a daily basis to share my thoughts, feelings, struggles, joys, dreams, time, hugs, kisses, and snuggles together. Thank you Lord for bringing Andrew into my life six years ago!

30 Days of Thanksgiving!

Ok, so one of my close friends, Kimberly, issued a 30 day challenge to post one thing I am thankful for each day for the next 30 days, and I am going to take her up on that challenge! I think it is always good to be thankful for the things the Lord provides for us and I need to do a better job of this. So, I am going to try to stick to this for the next 30 days.

Day 1 - Thankful for Jesus - Salvation

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Romans 10:9-11

I am so thankful that the Lord loves me so much to have sent his only Son to be the propitiation for my sins. He died the death I should have died and paid a debt I could not pay, and for that I am forever thankful. I am thankful that I have been adopted into the family of God!

Name Change and other news....

So, after much debate over our baby girls name, Andrew finally let me "win" and go with Kaitlyn rather than Katherine for the first name. Now, either 1. baby brain has totally taken over, 2. I totally forgot to mention how I wanted to spell Kaitlyn, or 3. Andrew just wasn't paying attention when I did tell him how I wanted to spell it!! Anywho, I updated my picture album on Facebook several weeks ago revealing our baby girls name as "Kaitlyn Elizabeth Ellard". Then I posted the pictures of the artwork I painted for her room a few weeks ago, and it wasn't until last week when we had friends over for dinner that Andrew "realized" that I wanted to spell her name Kaitlyn......how did he not notice for so long??

So, after being very puzzled over this, we hashed it out and I decided to compromise and spell it Katelyn, rather than the other way. He all but begged me to spell it that way. I figure it's a win-win for both of us! Now after much more discussion, I am proud to announce that we will be spelling her name Katelyn Elizabeth Ellard! There...it's final!

In other news....here are a few recent pics of the pregnancy progress and Katelyn's first trip to a USM football game! As always, I am behind...these pics are when I was 28 and 29 weeks along. The pictures from Mitchelle Farms last week are from when I was 30 weeks, and I am now 32 weeks. Time just keeps flying by!

28 Weeks

29 Weeks before USM game 10-1-11

Before the USM game 10-1-11

At the game...Katelyn's first USM game!

Kaitlyn's Artwork post #2

Ok, so the second attempt got both prints on here. I just finished painting these this past Sunday for Kaitlyn's room. I will post more pics of her room as I finish things up. Her bedding is pink and cream toile fabric and I excited to see how everything will turn out! Everytime Jackson goes in the room he says, "Sister's room...", so cute!

Both prints I painted for Kaitlyn's room....

Artwork for Kaitlyn's Room

I am going to try and post a few more Mitchell Farm pics also....

One of the rare smiles of the day!

One of the paintings I did for Kaitlyn's room. The other says "Unto the Lord" at the top and has bunnies in the topiary.

This is getting very frustrating....it may just be the server here at work, but it "rejected" half of the pictures I was trying to load. Agh! I will try to load the other artwork prints some other time.