Jonah's 4th Birthday!

In the 2+ years that we have lived in Virginia, God has blessed us by putting great friends in our lives. The first ones were the Knausses. I will give you the background story (for those of you who don't already know). We came here in July of 2006 and knew no one. Justin was gone most of the next few months, and then he left for an 8-month deployment in October. I spent a few weeks here, alone, not knowing a single soul...and decided to go back to Nashville and stay with my mom. While it was so nice to be "home" I struggled with finding my purpose there. What I mean by this is that my JOB is being a mommy...and that's pretty much it. Not that I'm playing down that position, because it is a hugely important one to fill! My mom was such an amazing help (Alana was only 2 at the time) and at the same time, I felt like I was simply existing. It's really a much more in depth story, but I don't have the time to write it all out NOR do I want to bore my faithful readers :) Anyways, after the holidays I decided it was best for me to head back to VA and start digging my feet in and finding my place here. The first weekend back I decided to try and find a church. I literally knew nothing about this place, but I did remember that some random person in Target had invited Justin to church once...so that's where I decided to visit. While it was a nice place, I really didn't feel like I fit in. No one spoke to me or welcomed me...It was not helping me feel more secure in my new life in any way. I drove home and as we walked down the sidewalk to our apartment, a little boy ran up to Alana and started talking to her, showing her his toy car. She was shy and a bit hesitant, but glad to see a kid her age at the same time. Enter Marc and Melissa. They were just getting home from church...I guess maybe my Bible in hand, prompted Melissa to ask me if we had a church home. I told her we had visited a church that morning, but I wasn't sure if I would go back. She invited us to come with them to The City Life Church the following week...And we did.

So goes the story of how we met...and the beginning of what I know will be a life-long friendship for me AND Alana!

Sunday after church, Alana and I went to lunch with the Knauss crew, because we hadn't seen them for quite a while. They were in town, we were not...vice versa. Here's a few pictures of Alana and Jonah at the City Center lake. We walked around it--after enchiladas and gelattos we needed it!




It took this many pictures for me to still not get one serious one out of both of them! That's the beauty of these kiddos. So yesterday was Jonah's 4th birthday! His party at the park was moved last minute to a party at their house, thanks to thunderstorms...but it was such a nice time! I think we could've had a church service right there because everyone was there from church, including the pastor haha. Here's a picture of some of the kids that were there...The only ones that could sit still long enough for a picture to be taken...
Happy Birthday, Jonah! And we are so blessed to have you guys as our friends...

Peace, Love and Arranged marriages xo