Bidwells In Haiti: 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Top Ten of 2010

10. 7 year wedding anniversary, 10 year dating anniversary
Scott and I celebrated our 7th anniversary of marriage this year, but also our 10th dating annivesary! It was September of 2000 when he and I had our DTR (defining the relationship) talk at Murray State and we became a couple. Seven years of marriage and two kids later, here we are. . .better than ever.

9. A great summer of camp as a family at Cedarmore.
Each summer at camp is special. This year was no different. Lives were changed forever with the hope of the gospel, students were called to full-time ministry, college summer staffers poured their lives into students in the name of Christ, and our family got to be a small part of what God did.

8. Kilee officially became a preschooler.
Yes, it's true. Our firstborn little baby girl started preschool. Children grow up, it happens. She happens to love preschool and looks forward to it each time she goes. We love it that she loves it and we're proud of her. She's so big! That's all we can say about it. Sniffle, sniffle.

7. Josiah's firsts: walking, words, kisses and hugs.
It's been a big year for our little man! His first steps came in July at the tender age of 10 months old, then came his sweet kisses complete with the "MWAH!" sound, and finally the words "da-da", "yeah", "ma-ma", "zi-zi" for sissy, and others. We could just eat him up.

6. Scott's new job.
Scott has been serving at Crossings Ministries since he was just an 18 year old summer staffer and this year marked his 9th summer working for the ministry. It's been neat to watch his transition from summer staffer to assistant program director to program director. Now, he is beginning a new area of service as Director of Operations. I am so proud of him! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

5. Monica's first race ever.
I'm a runner. Well, sort-of. I did my first 5K this past October, running it in its entirety. It's something I never thought I could do. I'm so thankful to my friend Susanne for taking on running with me and coaching me along! Next step, Half Marathon in April.

4. A fun getaway in Nashville!
We don't go on vacations much. It's not that we don't enjoy them, it's just that we're in a place in life where it's not always financially possible. We had just finished camp in August and had the opportunity to take a little weekend getaway, just Scott and me, to Nashville. We had so much fun! For a short vacation, it was fabulous and it's nice to have "couple time" minus the rugrats every now and then.

3. Crossings Camps passed the 10,000 camper mark for 2011!
Now, this is exciting! It's pretty amazing how the Lord has grown this ministry in the past ten years. It's the best camp on the planet -- bar none. If you aren't signed up to come to summer camp yet, you need to get in on this! www.crossingscamps.org

2. Extended family events
Monica's mom retired from teaching, Scott's brother Chris began grad work and his 3rd year as a choir director in Bowling Green, Monica's brother Jeremy proposed to Miss Katie Woods (wedding 7/2/11), Scott's Dad turned the big 5-0, Monica's Dad starred in a community theatre presentation of "A Tuna Christmas", and most recently Scott's mom was proposed to by Mr. Rodney Peach of Owensboro.

1. Our first full year as a family of four!
This has been such a blessed year as we have navigated the adventures of being a family of four! It's been awesome. We have learned many things through the good times, the frustrations, the laughs, and the complete disasters. We pray that God continues to conform us into the image of Christ through the good times, the frustrations, the laughs and the complete disasters in 2011. Happy New Year everybody!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Lovin' the Fall (Part II)

Video of Kilee's Pony Ride at the Pumpkin Patch

She loved every minute of this!

Climbing the mountain of hay bales

Taking a rest.

Josiah LOVED everything about life on the farm.

They had a neat play area for the kids. (He really isn't playing in a culvert.)

The Petting Zoo!

Josiah loved feeding the animals so much, we were afriad he was going to let them eat his fingers! He got so tickled when they nuzzled their noses in his hand.

Miss Piggy

Kilee took a little persuading to feed the goats.

Lovin' the Fall

Josiah's Great Pumpkin

Getting ready to go on a hayride. It was so hot that day!

We like to ride right in the front so the kids can watch the tractor.

The boy can't seem to keep his shoes on!

Smelling a pumpkin patch flower.

She wanted to carry the pumpkin all the way back to the barn!

We ate lunch under the big tent. It is such a cute little farm! (Nice pic, Monica!)

Kilee in her Halloween getup for school. Her shirt says "totally batty for candy."

Kilee does not shirk her pumpkin carving duties!

Josiah, on the other hand, was completely grossed out. He would not touch it!

Fun times!

I love how you can see the silhouette of Kilee's face in this picture.

Our pumpkins

These next pics are from our church's fall festival. The kids are wearing their Halloween garb. Kilee chose to be a mermaid this year, and Josiah was a hunter.

Our little hunter, right down to the camo pacifier.

It's tough keeping up with Josiah these days! We were chasing him across

the parking lot all night!

Kilee loved the bouncies!

Our little mermaid, eating cotton candy and almost asleep on her feet.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Our Beautiful Boy is One-Year Old!

Yes, our beautiful baby boy is now a year old! We had a wonderful time celebrating with family over Labor Day, and then just the 4 of us on his actual birthday when we got back home. Here are some pictures of our special little man!

Having birthday supper at Nana and Papaw's house.

Loving the lemon-blueberry birthday cake Nana made. And it was GF for Scott!

My mom's a genius.

My parents have the most beautiful farm and house. It's so nice to come home to. Kilee loves to play outside there. Here's a pic of her running around the front sidewalk.

Scott and me -- enjoying the most peaceful front porch on earth.

After the first birthday celebration at my parents' house, we went to Scott's mom's house (Mamaw). We had so much fun there. First we had a fish fry and then a birthday brunch the next day. The whole family came! Josiah was pretty excited to be surrounded by so many presents!

Opening a little dog pull-toy.

A birthday tradition! Kilee also had one of these cupcake-shaped cakes from Gigi (Great-Grandma) for her first birthday. He tore into it!

We also visited Scott's Dad and Shelly (Paw-paw and Gamma) while we were there, but I was the forgetful mama and forgot to bring the camera to their place. We had fun playing in the kitchen floor where they had laid out all of Josiah's birthday toys, along with some toys for sissy too. It was fun getting to visit and let the kids run all over. Good times!

Back home again! I dressed Josiah up on his actual birthday. He looked like such a little man!

Josiah's birthday supper!

Josiah's birthday cake!

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

The cutest little boy in the universe.

Ripping open his birthday presents at home, with help from sissy.

Ahh, little boys and cars -- always a hit!

September News

September has been a great month so far! We've had some good times as a family, including going fishing together, attending our church's first ever adoption picnic, playing with friends, and traveling to see family. Things are starting to get busy again now that we've had a month or so of a break since camp ended. One new big event in our family is that we have a preschooler now! Kilee started attending preschool this month on Tuesdays and Thursdays and she loves it! Josiah and I have been able to run errands and I've been trying to be faithful to go to the gym 3 times a week.
We've had a really dry month like everyone else. All of the grass is brown! But as Scott says, "just let it die, it's all crabgrass anyway," so I'm not too worried about it. Hopefully we'll get some cool weather soon.
Enjoy some of our September pics!

Playing on the new playground that Aunt Deb and Uncle Dann gave Josiah for his birthday and Christmas. He loves it!

Playing in the grass

Nothing says summer like a little boy with a hose!

Kilee likes the playground too!

Going for a ride on a sunny day!

We recently got Josiah a new set of shelves with baskets to hold his new big-boy toys from his birthday. I like the way his room turned out with the new piece!