Carlson's Best Life: 1/10/10

Saturday, January 16, 2010

"I'll Stand by You" Seven Great Years with the Man I Love

Jim and I celebrated 7 great years of marriage on December 28th. It's amazing how quickly time passes. We have had so much happen and it seems that things always happen very quickly for us. For those of you who know us well know that six months after we were married, I unexpectanly got pregnant with our now 5 year old daughter, Alana. She's so stinkin cute, prissy and I'm learing more and more that she has a mind of her own. She was truly a great and unexpeted addition to our family. The plan was once we got married, for me to finish shool in Lakeland at Southeastern University. Little did we know that I would spend the last semester at Southeastern as the ONLY pregnant woman on campus. When I took my last exam, I was due in exaclty 8 weeks. It was a wild time in our lives. When Alana was 6 weeks old, we moved our family from Lakeland to the Florida Panhandle where we have remained in either ful-time or part-time ministry. God has sustained us and built our faith in and incredible way. As we celebrated 7 years of marriage, we both focused on the idea that in Biblical numbering (there probably a better way to say that..lol) the number 7 respresents "God's complete number." So Jim and I have stepped into this new year with faith that God is going to complete what he has started in us. I ask that as you read this that you rember us in prayer daily.

Jim is an amazing man and has become a huge sustainer in my life, second to God. He reminds me of my purpose and to continue in it. He tells me all the time what an awesome wife, mother, friend...ect. that I am. And I remind him of the same. We have been thru a lot. Those of you who know us well, know the things that I am talking about. But we have also grown and moved forward and are continuing to do so. I pray that as we walk out our marriage in the coming years that more than anything, that our Marriage is used as an example of God's sustaining power in a marriage. That you can love someone and cherish someone as long as you live on this earth, just as we said we would the day we committed our lives to eachother. I know this is a long blog, but I just feel that it is vital that I stopped and thank GOD for an awesome man that he placed in my life. It has truly been an AWESOME 7 years. THE BEST IS YET TO COME.

Friday, January 15, 2010

A "TEXAS" Christmas

We had a wonderful time in Texas for Christmas. We arrived around 10:00 pm and visited with Jim's parents and Gramother Carlson before calling it a night. Alana was so excited about Christmas morning. She kept tellingus that she could hear Santa and his reindeer and she even saw his shadow. If you wonder why the pictures of her opening her presents are a little dark, it's because there was no natural lighting as it was still dark outside. Alana woke us all up at 6:00 am to open her gifts. She had already gotten a doll named Lilly that she had really hoped for. My parents gave it to her when we had Christmas in Blountstown. But she was still hoping for a very special horse that she had asked for along with some other gift wishes. She had a great time opening her gifts and cracked us all up with her animation (yes we were all laughing even at 6:00 in the morning.)

Believe it or not, as much as Alana loved her horse and other bigger items; the BIG ITEM of this year happenned to be the little harmonica that her dad had put in her stocking. She drove us all crazy playing it. Actually, Leah was quite entertaining to watch play the harmonica as well.

There was just no convincing Leah that this horse was not for riding. She was so little she could get away with it. She really loved Alana's horse.

Yes, Nana and Pap are the ones who made this all possible. they were great hosts for this year's Christmas and had put a lot of though into making sure this was an awesome Christmas for everyone.

Pap read the Christmas story out of the book of Luke and prepared a great slide show to keep the girls' attention. This is a Carlson tradition. Gary operated the slideshow. That's him in the bacground taking a seat..LOL.

Grandma Carlson recieved many sentimental gifts. I think she cried as she opened up every sing gift (except for the slipplers..lol) and as she left for Ohio, she carried back some very special memories as well.

Nana's Reindeer.

We had a blast no matter what we were doing. And we were probably the only family taking photos in the movie theatre, too bad we couldn't get Gary in the picture. He was our kind photographer. Grandma Carlson treated us all to a movie.

Not much more to post. I think the pictures tell the story of a lot of fun, laughter, sweet moments and fun during our Texas Christmas. This was the first Christmas since the year that Jim and I were married, that all of us had been in one place for Christmas. And it was a wonderful Christmas.

August in Review

August has been a very busy month and we are not quite done yet. Micah turned 5 months on August 16, and is doing so much: sitting on his own, playing every morning and afternoon in his activity saucer for 15 minutes at a time, pushing up on his forearms and getting on his knees when he is on his belly. He has also already cut his two front bottom teeth and appears to be working on cutting a top tooth. I'm thinking we are going to have a crawler very soon. He is growing so quickly and we are totally captivated by his every move.
Alana is getting ready to begin 2nd grade. I just can't believe that my child is going into 2nd grade. Where has all of the time gone? She is full of energy, love and zeal for life. Her typical days in the month of August have consisted of play dates, swimming, riding her bike, Bible School (she attended 5 this summer), traveling and hanging out with the family. I have promised her that we WILL go to the beach before summer ends, so I have two weeks left to make that promise come true.
Jim hashad a busy month so far and we are praising God for his new position/transfer closer to home. He will begin at his new location on the September 1, and we are so happy that he will be closer to home now. We are going to really enjoy meeting him for lunch and getting to kiss and hug him goodbye in the mornings now that he will not be leavign quite so early. God is AWESOME!!!! He always works things out for the good for those who love him (just a little paraphrasing..lol)
I have also had a busy month so far. One of the memorable things I've done this month besides playing the role of mom and giving vocal and piano lessons was being a part of the Royal Tea hosted by the 1st P.H. Church. It was a great experience and the guests speaker, Connie Hale, really spoke a message that penetrated deeply. Her word somewhat revived my heart and reminded me of the quality of life I have as a "Daughter of the King." I have willfully let go every unkind, critical and negative word ever spoken over me. I have determined that I WILL NOT listen to, entertain or accept any opinion of me given by others that is contrary to the words and thoughts of GOD. I am living a more productive and satisfying life because of it.
Below are a few pictures to document this month. I will obviously be adding more pics as the month comes to an end. In the future I will only update this section on a monthly basis.