Looking Back on 2009

The folder on our computer where all our 2009 photos are saved is entitled "2009 is the Bestest", the title perfectly describes 2009. My life, our lives, have changed so much in just one year---nearly every life event took place in 2009 for Matthew and I---engagement, marriage, moving across the country, baby, new job, quit a job, birth of a niece....

As a I take a moment to reflect on 2009, I realize how rich, full and blessed our lives are. 2009 brought along changes, surprises, laughter and tears. 2009 was the year I truly realized how important it is to hold the ones we love close (family AND friends) to our hearts, relish each moment with them and appreciate everything about them.

You may think I am a sap as you read all this, but that's ok---maybe I am. Either way, here are some of the highlights and the BLESSINGS associated with them!

Our Wedding: With our engagement on 12.22.08, we rang in the 2009 New Year with wedding planning in full swing. A quick courtship followed by a quick engagement meant all hands were on deck! My mother gets every shred of credit for the absolutely flawless, beautiful, elegant dream wedding she created for us on May 9, 2009 in Natchez, MS. All that mattered to Matthew and I was having our closest family and friends be part of the second most important day of our lives (the first being when we accepted Christ as our savior). We were honored to have each person there. For me, the moment I committed myself to Matthew for the rest of my life---I felt like I was complete. Thank you again to each of you for sharing that day with us, I will cherish it always and will never forget each face I saw as Matthew and I became husband and wife.

• Blessing-a husband grounded in his faith with the most selfless, patient and loving spirit.
• Blessing-our families expanded to include some of the most wonderful people in the world.
  
• Blessing-friends and family who consistently encourage and inspire us.

First Dance

Other Weddings: I do not have any sisters, but my cousins have always felt like sisters to me. Two of my cousins were also married last year--one in March and one in June (and yes--it was all on one side of the family so we were all very busy last spring). I was privileged to be able to attend both weddings and actually be a bridesmaid in one of them. Although they are sisters the weddings were beautifully and wonderfully unique from each other. I enjoyed seeing personalities emerge within the wedding plans.

• Blessing-loving, supportive and diverse family members who always keep a smile on my face!

Caroline McDaniel and Tyler Gray Wedding-March 2009

Ali McDaniel and Will Bolton Wedding-June 2009

Matthew's good friend Chris Evans also got married in June in Clinton, MS. It was wonderful to see his entire crew of friends together again and as groom/groomsmen. Many of Matthew's best friends have been his friends since childhood or high school and I truly enjoy watching them all in one place at one time. Although they are each in different phases of life and live in different places, each time they are together it is like they pick right back up where they left off.

• Blessing-faithful, enduring friendships with a foundation in the Lord.

Kathryn Hullman and Chris Evans Wedding-June 2009

Lyla Claire Burley: On June 18, 2009 Lyla Claire Burley was born to Matthew's sister and brother in law--Tim and Kimberly Burley. We were honored to be present in Mississippi when LC was born. She by far wins the prize for best and most photogenic baby. Matthew and I continue to enjoy pictures of our niece as she grows into a more and more beautiful baby everyday---not to mention marvel at how much she looks like Tim!!!

• Blessing-a precious baby safely born to wonderful Godly parents.
• Blessing-being a witness to God's absolute LOVE for us through miracle of life as LC grows and thrives!!

LC and us in July 2009

SURPRISE! Obviously the biggest shock of our lives this year was at the end of July when we discovered we were pregnant. Most people have a sweet story about how they told their husband they were expecting--well not me. I was in SUCH shock I was a complete nutcase. Matthew's friend Collin was in town staying with us for the evening. I took a test while they were downstairs thinking to myself "I am so silly and paranoid". Well---when the test came up positive in like 2 seconds I called Matthew to the bathroom while poor Collin was alone downstairs. When Matthew arrived I kept saying "ok do not freak out" over and over again. Anyone who knows us knows MATTHEW does not do the freaking out, that's my department. So, I was really trying to tell myself to not freak out. I don't think we believed it until a month or so later :)

Although it was a huge surprise, we can truly give all the glory to God that this was in HIS plan and HIS timing. God has been preparing us for parenthood the last 6 months and it has been an amazing journey! We feel honored that God has given us this little Blessing. We pray each night that we will devote this child to the Lord and lean on him for all the guidance we need as parents.

• Blessing-being part of God's huge and glorious plan. WOW, that is all I can say!

Ultrasound of our "Blessing" in October of 2009--we resisted the temptation to find out the gender; "Blessing" is giving us a THUMBS UP that all is well!

NASA and Regions: Before even finding out we were pregnant, Matthew started his job search since he was expected to graduate in December 2009. He applied for a few federal government positions and did not hear a response for months. Meanwhile, we learn we are pregnant. All in God's perfect timing, in mid-sept---Matthew got a call for an interview with NASA for his DREAM job in Washington D.C. AND I took a temporary job assignment to work for a non-profit on behalf of Regions. We learn the job assignment is through Thanksgiving which will prove to be a huge blessing later on. NASA asked Matthew to begin work before the semester but yet again God had a glorious plan---and worked it out so that Matthew could begin his new career AND finish school. The only downside....Matthew and I would have to live apart for two months.

The two months were challenging for us---Newlyweds, expecting a baby (which equals uncharacteristically emotional Kelly), selling a house AND moving across the country. Matthew was the ROCK through it all. I had a very smooth transition out of my career with Regions as a result of the temporary job assignment and was able to spend Thanksgiving with my family. God had it all perfectly planned.

• Blessing-learning that God's plan does not always unfold when and how we expect but that whatever it is 1) He is faithful and will take care of it and 2) His plan is PERFECT!
• Blessing-Matthew got his dream job
• Blessing-selling the house before leaving Birmingham.
• Blessing-support and prayers of our family, friends and each other as we begin our new adventure in D.C.

Masta Matthew: Even though Matthew had to finish half of his last graduate school semester remotely---he did it successfully! He now has a Masters of Science!

• Blessing-UAB and Matthew's professors worked with him to make this possible, without them he would not have been able to finish at UAB! Their partnership to help graduate is blessing that will keep on giving!

Da Masta Matthew!

Moving to Washington D.C: We found a wonderful suburb and church all in close proximity to the metro! The apartment we ended up selecting was truly discovered on accident and it is the BEST one of all the ones we saw--and we saw about 15 in one weekend!!! Although it is a bit of an adjustment going from a house to an apartment, but it did not take long for us to settle in!

• Blessing-GOD PROVIDES!!!
• Blessing-a church family and friends already!

Overall in 2009 God showed us that he will take care of us and his timing is the perfect timing!

2009 lived up to its name--THE BESTEST, but I know in 2010--it will just keep getting better! So, 2010 will be dubbed "2010, It Just Keeps Getting Better".

Happy New Year to all--I hope and pray this year blesses each of you who read this really long blog!!

Bring on 2010 and the Grant baby!! Love to you all!!

Christmas Fun, Just the Two of Us

I love Christmas time and cannot believe it has already come and gone again. Matthew and I enjoyed our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Grant, just the two of us this year! Even though we missed being in the same place at the same time as our family and friends, webcam chats helped remedy that!

The Grant Family

Christmas Eve: On Christmas Eve Matthew worked half the day from home while I began cooking our Christmas dinner. In year's past my mom and I would cook an extravagant meal together on Christmas Eve but since this was my first solo flight, I picked some fairly simple items. The menu was thyme and honey glazed spiral cut ham, sauteed green beans with portobello mushrooms and almonds, sour cream mashed potatoes and butt rolls. Creme brulee and coffee came later that evening for dessert.

The spread. Since Blessing cannot have wine and I wanted to use the wine glasses---we had fruit punch kool aid instead!

That night we opened our stockings from each other and had a webcam chat with my parents and her family in Memphis, TN---it was fun seeing everyone on camera!

Christmas Day: I could hardly wait for Matthew to wake up because I was so excited about his present! I did good and resisted the temptation to wake him up at 6 AM!!! We made some lattes with the expresso beans Matthew gave me in my stocking and then.....OPENED PRESENTS!!!! We opened gifts from everyone but his parents since we planned to open on webcam with his parents, sister (plus family) and grandmother. Every single gift was special, thoughtful and completely wonderful. "Blessing" even got some gifts!

Piper got a gift from Mommy and Daddy too! She helped open it!

THEN---the moment came when Matthew opened his gift :) tickets to the Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils (NHL) game the next evening!! He LOVES hockey and has not had a chance to attend one yet!

Da Caps tickets

A breakfast of stuffed french toast with cinnamon syurup and bacon concluded the morning. The french toast was stuffed with cream cheese, chocolate chips, bananas, a splash of OJ and a dash of sugar. It was RICH but sooo divine!


That evening we opened gifts via webcam with Matthew's parents, sister (Kimberly), brother-in-law (Tim), niece (LC) and grandmother. It was almost like we were there!! Matthew said watching LC opening gifts made him even more ready for "Blessing" to be here :) I love kids at Christmas---they are almost more interested in the packaging than the gift!! We decided next Christmas we are wrapping newspaper and empty boxes as gifts for the baby. "Blessing" got its first set of Southern Miss attire during this time

Christmas Continues on December 26: On Saturday, we headed downtown to see the National Christmas tree and the state trees. Each state has their own tree. We took pictures of all the trees representing states we have lived in (Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia).
One moment of excitement as we took a photo of the National Christmas Tree with the White House in the background---we saw a sniper on top of the White House!!



THEN we continued onto the hockey game!!! Although our seats were pretty high up in the arena, there are truly no bad seats in the house. It was a good game and we were pleased when the Caps won 4 to 1! The game was so much fun we decided we will be attending more!!!

Christmas was wonderful with the just the two of us but we are both looking forward to our first Christmas at home with "Blessing" next year!!!!

Just click here to view more Christmas photos!

Thus The Third Trimester...

And thus we begin the third trimester this week, 28 weeks--we are two thirds of the way there! I cannot believe how fast it is flying by now. "Blessing" will be here soon and we both could not be more excited! After seeing our niece LC Burley on the Webcam at Christmas and getting a few baby items for Christmas/with Christmas money we are starting to get anxious for the arrival.

Don't forget "Blessing Guessing"; we have a list of "guesses" for "Blessing's" gender, birth weight and birthday posted on facebook. Send me your guesses if you have not already

I will post a blog about our Christmas fun later this week.

Despite the way it looks, the three indicates the third trimester, not the "Westside" sign :)

Doc Visit Results

We had our first doc appt in VA yesterday! All good reports!! I LOVED the midwife that we saw. As you may imagine, they are somewhat like hippies with the whole "natural" mindset, but I really, really like that. I will not lie, I am NOT going to even try to be a hero and do this thing without an epidural, but I like that HOPEFULLY that will be the only drug I have to take---and they will be very supportive of that!!

According to my midwife, the baby is a little on the large size (and are we surprised?? Not at all). She said size wise the baby is about a week and half ahead of the norm. She agreed that it's better it be a little on the big size. The good news? She does NOT think it will be a ten pounder like me :) If the baby gets much further ahead in size, they will do another ultrasound otherwise we will probably not get another one until March.

She said everything is looking and progressing perfectly!!

We go to the doc every two weeks now and the next appointment is the sugar test :)

Our friends Amber and Kenneth recommended the book "On Becoming Babywise" to help us get the baby on a good sleeping and eating schedule---so we just started reading it. I love it already!!!

Blessing and I excited to leave for our doc appt on Friday!

Blessing at 26 Weeks-ish

Here is our "Blessing" at 26 weeks, there is hardly a dull moment with all the moving around "Blessing" does! Now that Matthew is finished with his Masters Degree (I am so proud), we are settled in D.C., we can focus on enjoying each other and getting ready for "Blessing's" arrival in March. We cannot wait to meet the little one' please continue to pray for "Blessing's" safety!!

Home Sweet Home

We are unpacked and settled in; there are a few pictures below to show the new place. Check out facebook to see all of them! This means, we are ready for not only baby, but visitors as well!!!

In other news...

Friends: We have already made some friends here and feel very, very blessed to have found them. They work at the church we have been attending. Finding new friends is always fun and exciting!!

Doctor's Appointment: We have a doctor's appointment on Friday; I am excited to hear about "Blessing's" progress. We have not had an appointment in a while, so it will be fun to hear the heartbeat again. "Blessing" moves just about constantly---rolls, flips, kicks, punches and sometimes a few of those at the same time. It trips me out when you can see "Blessing" moving around through my shirt. I guess "Blessing" got cramped early because I have felt movement for so long! I kinda hope they do an ultrasound on Friday (even though we don't need one) so we can get a better idea of how big this thing is getting!!

Christmas: I LOVE CHRISTMAS :) I am so looking forward to our first Christmas together and beginning our family traditions! I am certain it will include food of some kind since I LOVE cooking! I think one of my fondest Christmas memories growing up was the fancy dinners mom and I used to prepare each Christmas Eve. The menu was full of complicated recipes and included salads, soups, centerpiece rolls, main course, dessert and it was always delicious!! We spent nearly all day on Christmas Eve cooking--it was ALWAYS worth it.



Before Unpacking


Christmas Cheese Log for a party we went to--SO GOOD!


Dressed in our Christmas Reds for a party!


Guest room and BABY room!! That means WE ARE READY FOR VISITORS! Look at all the greens, browns, yellows, etc.--still not finding out that gender! YAY---SO exciting to see this all come together! (PS I know that "mobile" is not supposed to just sit in the crib like that, but there is not a baby yet, so its just for looks now)






Blessing has a stocking now :)

Finished With School...FOREVER

As of Thursday, December 10, 2009----Matthew is finished with school....FOREVER!!! His parents took the pictures below when he finished his last final exam of his life at The University of Alabama at Birmingham!!! I am so proud of him and I am SO glad he went to school in Birmingham, life wouldn't be the same if he hadn't :)

Walking out from the last final with a smile of satisfaction!

No more school!!

I love my husband!!!!! :) :)

Christmas Time Is Coming!!!

For those of you who know me well know, I LOVE Christmas time. There is NOTHING I do not love about it! I especially love all the decorations and this year, I am more focused on unpacking than decorating for Christmas. We will not have a tree this year (I know SAD day), so I did two things:

1) Hung the stockings by the chimney with care
2) Have a reminder of Christmas time jumping around my houses (Piper)

See pictures below...

That middle stocking is actually Piper's (it has some prizes in there for her). I am still trying to decide what to do about "Blessing's" stocking.

Her little dress says "Santa's Favorite" on the back. Its glittery. She is cute, just admit it :) Funny thing is, I like to dress Piper up in cheesy things but I am not sure if I will like dressing our baby up in silly things. We shall see in March!

I am not sure if she really is Santa's favorite, but she sure is MINE :) I love this sweet little "Piper-roni"!!

Blessing at 24 Weeks

Here is our little Blessing at 24 weeks. Supposedly, Blessing is currently over a pound and about the length of a banana. However, I still maintain that our baby is bigger than the average. I could be wrong---but with my family history, I think it will be a porker :) It is crazy to feel Blessing moving around so much; my tummy moves when it rolls around and kicks! I have to say, so far other than being tired and one other thing----pregnancy has not been bad at all. It's borderline fun. I know, I know, I have been lucky by missing the morning sickness and swelling and tremendous weight gain so far.....so....I am blessed!!! By the way, I am LOVING not knowing the gender of the baby; I want to do this for the rest of our kids too!!!!! With so few genuine surprises in life, I would encourage everyone to wait to find out the gender.

In other news.....

MATTHEW: Matthew has finals next week and then hopefully he will be "Masta' Matthew"! I know he is looking forward to being done with school......forever :) He is still enjoying his job and gets to go to the office in Maryland sometimes, so at least that mixes it up a lot.

KELLY'S JOB: I got the job at the hospital starting on 12/14!! YAY!!! Its only 20 hours a week and close by the house. After much back and forth--we decided I should just stick with this job and not take on the additional job at the bookstore for the Christmas season. Again, we are blessed!

SNOW: It snowed from about 10:45 AM until 6:00 PM; accumulation began almost immediately. When we went to church at 6:00 PM, there was about 3 inches of snow piled up on the car. Pictures are below. My dreams of a white Christmas may come true this year :)

Snowing hard!!

Some of the accumulation before the sun went down.

Matthew is even dressed in Christmas colors, how festive is HE :)

Piper running through the snow with her hood on!

Piper recovering from playing in the snow by snuggling up to the fireplace. She is cute, isn't she??

We miss you all!!!

Finally Home

FINALLY, we are one family in D.C.; what a relief!! The drive from Mississippi only took about 15 hours. If the little bit of Thanksgiving traffic had not slowed the drive, we would have made it in about 13.5 to 14! For those of you interested in driving to come visit....I promise it is not a bad drive. My father and I both agreed it did not feel like 15 hours and we enjoyed the Father/Daughter time :)

Although the pictures below do not accurately represent the tremendous amount of unpacking accomplished thus far, these boxes represent about 8-10 boxes slammed full of kitchen and wardrobe items! Still a lot of unpacking to do, but at least we are making progress. I have even put out a few Christmas items!!

In other news, I should hear whether the hospital job is mine later this week or early next week; I am very optimistic. After speaking with the HR manager, I was surprised and impressed by all the fabulous employee benefits and programs available. From on site subsided child care to short term disability benefit---all available for part time associates!!! Keep praying this position works out quickly!!!

Love to all!