New Year

Wow, I can't believe its 2011 already! Jim and I have now been married 18 months, and known each other for 5.5 years. What a wild ride its been!

This year has been one of incredible ups and downs! God has done so much in our lives this year.


Jim and I started the year on a really rough note. Not knowing how we were going to make it through financially. I stopped working in September 2009 because of tendinitis in my wrist and elbow. The pain was awful, I couldn't do much of anything without shooting pains from my fingers into my shoulder. And its nearly impossible to find a job that you don't have to use your arms.

In February, between my employer finally giving me disability for the previous 5 months and our tax credit for buying the house we were able to pay off three of our four student loans, buy some new furniture to fill up our home

In May a lot of wonderful things began happening, and was probably the turning point of my year.

At the beginning of the month, I started watching my cousin's daughter on Tuesday's and Thursday's. I adore kids, I always have. And Paige is no exception. At the time she was 11 months old, and talking well beyond what she should have been. She is now 18 months old, and her doctor says cognitively she is at least a year ahead. The girl never ceases to amaze me. And brought so much light into my life. I'm so lucky to get to spend a couple days a week with her :)

May 22nd my best friend married her soul mate. It was a beautiful wedding. And I was so blessed to be standing next to her as her and Steve got married. Steve is a wonderful man and has brought so much into Amanda's life. I couldn't have been happier for them!

May 23rd (the next day!) Jim and I celebrated our first year of marriage. In some ways, I can't believe we've been married over a year, in others, I can't believe it's only been a year. I am incredibly blessed to have Jim. (My friends mom reminded me of that a few weeks ago. How incredibly blessed I am. And how wonderful it is that We have grown so much in our faith. Thank's for the reminder Debbie <3>

In June I began fundraising for my friends to adopt a baby from Taiwan. I never expected to raise the amount of money for them that I did. And I am so incredibly blessed to have been able to do that for them. Now, if only they had a little one in their arms!

Jim and I also made a last minute trip out to Ct to visit my brother. It was crazy spur of the moment. Our car was packed to go to an event at our church, but my brother had just told us him and his wife were separating, and he was alone, and not sure what to do next. Jim and I changed our plans within 5 minutes, and left for CT Friday night, staying with a friend in Albany, and went onto CT Saturday morning. We got to spend a lot of time with Tim and even see the kids briefly.

July was an absolutely life changing month for me. I went to the Christ in Youth conference in Scranton, PA as a youth advisor with the youth group. What a blessing that was. The youth learned about grace, truth, Godliness, Influence and endurance . It was awesome to spend so much time with the girls, and to get to know them. I am so excited to be a bigger part of the youth group this year, and to help lead these girls closer to God.

The rest of the year, I was insanely busy with my photography business. Doing multiple fundraisers where I gave Danielle and TC 100% of the profits, and spending a lot of time editing pictures. I absolutely loved how busy I was, and how many new people I met during that time.

In November, Jim and I went on the trip of a lifetime with 9 wonderful friends. We went on a Carnival cruise from Tampa to Grand Cayman to Cozumel and back to Tampa. There are a ton of pictures of our wonderful experience on facebook! :) Check 'em out!

Then, three and a half weeks ago I had my 4th surgery on my arm in four years, this time on my elbow. It has been a much more painful surgery than any of my other three, and a much more frustrating recovery. With my first three surgeries, I was driving within 3-4 days when I was off the higher doses of pain medication. I have just started driving again in the last week, but I'm not driving much yet, the pain when I'm driving is terrible. But, every day I am able to do something I couldn't do the day before, and everyday I improve slightly.

Jim was in our church musical this year, and even had a little singing role to himself, just a couple lines in a song. But I was so proud of him, and watched the play from the audience 8 nights in a row :) (I have the DVD of last year, and will be getting this years as well if anyone who didn't see it wants to!) :)

Jim and I rang in the new year by sleeping through the ball drop! Yep! We're just that exciting! :P We drove to CT yesterday, and spent some time with my niece and nephew so my brother was able to take his girlfriend out on the town for new years. I had a blast spoiling the kids and playing board games, puzzles, watching movies, and cuddling on the couch.

Though Jim and I have had a lot of personal struggles this year, we have so much to be thankful for. And we are very much looking forward digging deeper in our faith in God, and growing closer to each other.