please pray...

almost two weeks ago, two precious little baby girls were born to our worship pastor, wade joye and his wife, ferris joye. they were born very early at 27 weeks. liana hope joye is the little teeny baby who really needs your prayers right now. she had surgery on saturday and has taken a turn for the worse.

jamil and i do not know wade and ferris very well. but they are a wonderful couple who give so much to elevation church and we love them and are joining them in praying for these baby girls. ferris and i were only a few weeks apart in our due dates. i was actually in the doctor's office and was with them in the waiting room the day they found out through their 18 week ultrasound that they were having twin girls - what a surprise! i left the office before i found out the news - but jamil was at the church office when wade made the announcement! they have a special place in my heart - so i felt compelled and led to write this post on their behalf!

the joyes have been amazing over the last two weeks, their strength and faith in God is what is keeping them going. wade and ferris have prayed and asked us to pray for complete healing for both liana hope and adleigh grace. both feel God has told them that their precious babies will be healthy. they have an amazing story and testimony to the power of God and how He is working in them, in the girls and through this family to other families in the nicu. please read the specifics to their prayers and the complete updates on the girls on their blogs. i can't even begin to rewrite what they are living and feeling right now. so, please read wade and ferris' blogs. and please, please pray for liana and adleigh.

tag...i'm it

i was tagged by my friend, jenny, to do this fun post!!!! thanks jenny for thinking of me!!!

Anyway...here it goes....

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago in May, I graduated from IUP (Indiana University of PA) with a degree in Elem. Ed. At this point in the summer 10 years ago, I was actually in the process of moving here to North Carolina. I had just accepted a teaching position after interviewing with three different school systems in the area, Charlotte-Meck, Union County and Cleveland County/Shelby. I chose to take a 5th grade position in Union County. So I was in the process of moving from PA to Monroe ten years ago!!!

2. My Favorite Snacks

Right now I am eating a lot of fruit (watermelon, cherries, berries... i love good summer fruit) for snacks. When I snack at night it is usually something sweet like ice cream or some kind of desert!!

3. Five things on my to-do list today

Well, I just got back from a trip today where I didn't have a to do list! But we are heading out of town again next weekend, so I am sure these will be on the top of my list when I make it tomorrow night....

1. Visit my friend, Amy and her new baby girls!

2. Laundry

3. Return books to the library

4. Pack

5. Clean the house

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire

First I would tithe 50 % of my earnings to Elevation Church and then I would complete and go above in our Dominate pledge to Elevation. Second I would pay off all of our debt. Third I would buy a larger house or put an addition on our house. Fourth I would buy Jamil a brand new car of his choice. Fifth I would save money for college educations for our four kids. And then I would use the money as needed to help others around me who need it or just deserve it!

5. Five jobs that I've had

1. elementary school & preschool teacher
2.nanny/babysitter
3. sales associate at Limited
4. waitress
5. mary kay sales consultant

6. Five places I've lived
1. Wesley Chapel /Monroe, NC
2. Charlotte, NC
3. Indiana, PA
4. Gettysburg, PA
5. Baltimore, MD

7.Five random things people wouldn't know about me

1. I do not like to wear socks, I love to be barefoot

2. I get really anxious about having to pack and go on trips - I love to travel but getting ready to do so really freaks me out - whether I am going for two days or two weeks. I like order and having things out of their place and in suitcases disrupts the order.

3. I don't like to go to the dentist at all.

4. I have a tattoo.

5. I want to be a labor/delivery nurse, a baby nurse or maybe a doula when I grow up!!

8. Five cds that I'd have to take on a desert island

I honestly wouldn't have five, I would have to take my IPOD it is loaded with the variety of music I like.

9. People I tag are.........

Jess, Kelly, Chelsea, Patti, Erin

jordyn steals the show...

jordyn with mommy and daddy after the show

jordyn with her dance teacher, miss jackie!!

beautiful ballerina!!

jordyn on stage at the rehearsal!

jordyn had her dance recital for masterpiece studios on may 31st! she loved being on stage and did a wonderful job. jordyn danced with her class in a tap performance (i'm a sheep). and then she danced in the finale with the whole studio to the song 'come to jesus'. the tap performance was adorable. the ballet performance brought tears to my eyes, as it did every time i heard the song when they practiced. her ballet teacher, miss jackie, pulled off a surprise and the whole studio danced to the mom song. it was soooo cute. it was a wonderful production!!!

jordyn didn't have any stage fright at all. in fact for the finale she made her way to the front row and of course in my opinion she stole the show! all of the girls in her class did a fabulous job as did the entire studio. it was a wonderful night!

photos really lost...

so tonight i decided to start working on organizing our photos - in preparation to start scrapbooking again. next week, the kids and i are traveling to georgia to visit our friends. stephanie and i plan to do some scrapbooking, like old times!!!! so i wanted to get some things in order to take to her house. i also am ready to look into this digital scrapbooking thing! my plan is to have all the children have an actual scrapbook for their first years. and then for our family albums, i would like to try out the digital scrapbooking thing. i used to be creative memories consultant, and one piece of advice i remember was if/when you get behind, one way to easily catch up is to start working on current pictures and then go backwards.

so, i began looking through our photo cds -- i have been able to locate years 2000 through 2006. i can not find any photos from 2007. and of course, i haven't developed a single picture from that year either at about mid year, 2007, i began to use my laptop to download and save photos. i can not find a photo from before that point on any cd. i also looked on our desktop and can't find any there. i plugged in our little flash drive thing and i thought i had saved some pics on there - no such luck i am so upset that i don't have any photos from 2007 or 2008 to work with. i only have the ones in my camera right now from the last 2 months. when the laptop crashed, i lost two years of photographs and memories. it is just hitting me tonight. i am so devasted about this. all the frustration and tears can't bring those back.

now, i am trying to figure out a better way to download, print, save and preserve our photographs from this point forward. i need a system that works better than what i have done in the past.... any suggestions you can give a really devasted mommy???

pictures lost....

it just seems lately i haven't been able to be a regular blogger at all. and i am going to continue to blame it on my laptop which is crashed and destroyed (sobbing!!!!). we have been able to save some of the hard drive and reload it with new programs/software - but it is like a foreign object to me - it has none of "my stuff" on it. when it crashed i lost EVERYTHING. i lost the last year's worth of pictures -- including trips, birthdays, josh's baptism, you name it - i lost it. so... i am asking you - if you have taken any pics of my kids over the last year - will you please get some copies of them for me ?? -- you can email them, put them on a cd or give me hard copies. i feel so sad about losing all that history - it breaks my heart. it is frustrating and i can't do anything about it.

with summer here, i have lightened my load quite a bit and i am going to focus on having fun with my kids and getting some projects done around the house. one of my projects is to begin working on my scrapbooks again -- i am so far behind and really want to get caught up!

hopefully, once i get my "new" laptop up and running i can download the pictures i have (of course this time backing them up somehow!) taken over the past several weeks and post them on my blog.