Mrs. E

Ahhh!!! I'm still alive!!!

2009-10-15T12:48:00.003-05:00

Here is a little bit about what's been goin on!!

Baker is the center of our world... He's simply amazing. God has truly blessed us with an incredible little boy! A week ago this past Tuesday, he was 4 months old :) He's talking away now, or so he thinks :) He rolls over all the time, and can't stand it when he can't roll back over! He is still breastfeeding, which is wonderful. I believe it makes the bond so much stronger. Absolutely nothing against someone who doesn't/didn't... but with me, I have to work full time right now. So, I believe it gives Baker and I some time that we wouldn't normally have. So needless to say, since I work full time, I spend every possible minute with him. It's amazing to look at him, and know how long we prayed for him. God answered our prayers with this little miracle, and I just can't get over how blessed we are to have him! (and I hope that I never get over it either!!!)

Phil is doing good. We are praying that his job will either be transfered, (so he doesn't drive so far) or that God will open another opportunity. Phil is also really into hunting this year... I'll include a picture of his "gig" :) It's something he is really enjoying right now, it's like a stress relief to him! :) Please pray with us, we have several decisions to make in the near future and we strongly need God's guidence. Also, My family is going through some rough times right now. Specifically on my Mom's side... My mom's dad, Ray Hamock was diagnosed with Dimencia not that long ago. He moved in with my parents for Mom to be able to take care of him. He has fallen several times, and is just declining at a rapid rate. This afternoon, they are putting him in a nursing home not far from my parents house. He doesn't really open his eyes much anymore, and isn't getting out of bed either. Please pray for my mom as she is with him every day, and just wants to do the best she can to honor him, and take care of him.

I am doing good too. Staying super busy trying to be a Mommy and Wife and all the other many titles I have and still work a full time job. I am really wanting to either work part time, or be able to do something out of my home. Working full time is so hard physically and emotionally while trying to breastfeed and be a mommy... Don't get me wrong. I LOVE being a mom and wouldn't trade it for anything! Seriously, it's the best thing ever! So, maybe one day... God will allow me to be a stay at home mom :)

We are so excited about the many things coming up in the next couple of months! I swear I will try harder to be better at this!!! Facebook is so much easier though... lol (you can catch me there!!!)

Here are some pics for you to enjoy!!! Oops! Just realized what time it is. I’ll try to add more tomorrow!

2 weeks old!

2009-06-23T15:55:00.005-05:00

Click HERE to see all the pics I took :) We had our own little photo shoot!

Baker Riley Hulett

2009-06-20T14:55:00.005-05:00

Baker Riley Hulett:

Born on June 6, 2009 at 12:42 a.m.

Weight: 7lbs 3ozs Height: 19.5 inches

Perfect in every way...

For our birth story and more pictures go to http://www.waitingforapositive.blogspot.com/

Hi Ya'll!!!!

2009-05-05T09:56:00.003-05:00

Holy Cow!!! Things have been crazy 'round here! And to think we are gonna add another person to the mix!!!

Phil has been keeping himself busy doing things at home, but most recently... he's been fishing with his dad! And this is an everyday thing! The other day, they caught a catfish that was at least 8 pounds. It was almost 2 feet long. They were both very excited about it...

I am now 33 weeks pregnant... here's a very odd picture of my belly... lol it's hard to take a picture of yourself! We have pictures on our camera, but I'm too lazy to upload them!

Looks pretty silly, I know... but you get an idea of how big this belly is gettin!!! Just had a doctor appt last Friday, and I am -1 pound! So I haven't gained anything! I've lost!!! Which is probably a good way for you to tell how sick I've been! Speaking of the little rascal himself... This is by far the most precious picture we've had...

For those of you who for some reason can't see it... ;) Top right of the picture is his belly, then his knee and leg which leads down to both of his feet. (Picture it like he's sittin on his butt, and has his legs crossed) I was so tickled to get pictures of his toes!!! Are they not the most precious thing ever?!?!!? We tried so hard to get pictures of his face, but he didn't want us to see him!!! He litterally had his hands like he was boxing right in front of his face...

Probably the most amazing thing about being pregnant, is feeling him move inside me. It's incredible and so very freaky at the same time! Sometimes it feels like he's doing all he can go get out of there! He has always been head down, just flips from side to side. I've felt his foot quite a few times... it's so neat!!! Just think, in less than 7 weeks we'll be holding this little one!!!! Can't wait!!!!

Who says Hulett's can't have fun?!?

2009-03-17T14:55:00.004-05:00

Last night, we had the privilege of spending the evening with Phil's brother Mike, Mike's wife Patti, and their son Sam. We had a wonderful meal of Sketti, Salad and these amazingly good cheese stuffed bread sticks... Mmm. lol It's making me hungry just talking about it! We had a good time just spending time talking and the such... Part of our evening was spent watching Sam play with one of their dogs Jazzy. I just had to put this picture on here... it's it adorable?!?!?

Thanks to the "other Hulett's" for a wonderful evening... We love you guys!

So many other things are going on right now... My dad has been in the hospital for a few days, he's been bleeding internally and they really haven't found a reason why. It's too complicated to explain on here, I'm afraid I would get some details wrong, but please just be sure to pray for him. It looks like he will be in the hospital for another few days.

For the most recent update on our growing little one... check out my other blog here.

We recently made a trip to TN... I'll have to get the pictures downloaded!

God has been so good to us, Phil has been laid off for over six weeks now, and was told the layoff was indefinite. We are really seeking God's wisdom on how long to wait until he finds a new job. They are still paying his insurance, and keeping all of his benefits and such. Phil really wants to do the right thing, and is waiting for God to make it plain. :) Mean while... the nursery is almost completed! Phil has built the entire room almost by himself. I'm so proud of him... it looks amazing. We are so anxious for our little Baker to get here!

Oh, and kudos to my friend Miss A for the new picture above... isn't it cute?!?!? Thanks Ang!

Love from my house to yours... Em

It's a....

2009-02-10T10:37:00.001-06:00

BOY!!!!!!

EEKKKK!!!!!

2009-02-09T13:17:00.003-06:00

Less than 2 hours! Hopefully the baby will be cooperative and let us see! :)

I'll be sure to post as soon as I can!!!

:) Happy Monday!

7 days and counting!!!

2009-02-02T10:20:00.002-06:00

A week from today... we'll find out if we are having...

Baker Riley Hulett

Katherine Dee Hulett (Kate)

We are estactic and can't wait to find out!!! I'll be sure to post the next day...

Things are good so far... I'm still sick alot. I've gotten alot bigger which is supposed to happen I know... lol Finding out the gender will be alot of fun... we are taking both of our parents, and my sister with us to the sono, and then meeting with family that night to announce to them! Phil is ready to find out so that he knows what to look for when we go shopping! I love to browse, he loves to browse with purpose! :)

Please pray for Phil... he was laid of this past week, they are shutting down the factory for a month. Thankfully, he still has his job, but we will have just my income for a while. I know alot of people are going through the same thing, but we would appreciate your prayers!

Have a wonderful day!!!

The New Year

2009-01-07T13:45:00.003-06:00

Hello all!

It's hard to believe that it's already the 7th of January... We are 7 days into the new year! Seems like just a while ago... we were talking about how 2008 being here seemed impossible! Isn't God good though? 2008 was probably one of the roughest years for Phil and I... but it ended up being one of best years of my entire life!

It always amazes me to stop and think of where God has brought me from, and where He has me now... Sometimes I'm so ashamed of where God had to bring me from... how He had to change me to make me what I should be for Him. My attitude towards serving Him has changed dramatically. I know that I'm only 25, but I believe that God gives us more wisdom as we age... We tend to see the more important things in life, rather than the very flippant ones that couldn't be larger than a piece of dust compared to eternity...

I haven't really set a "resolution" this year... they tend to get broken very fast. I know that my walk with God needs to be closer. I want to be the kind of example to my children, that they look at me, and think... "Wow, I want to know God like she does." I want to strive to be the best wife I can be... sometimes I'm unbearable... I work all day, then come home to dishes and cleaning and the devil gets the best of my attitude. I'd like to work on that... I'd like to strive to show God to others more... He means the world to me, do others know that? I have the best husband in the world. Literally. He's so compassionate, and loves the Lord. He takes care of me, and understands me more than any other person. God does that. God makes us one, and I am so thankful for that. He's the most understanding person I know... He lets me speak my mind, because he wants to know what's on my mind. He loves me for who I am... I'd like to show him more that he means the world to me.

I could go on and on... but I must needs to stop typing. So much will happen this year... and I can't wait to drink it all in... God will provide for us, and He will be there with us each step of the way...

Em

Oh by the way... I'm four months pregnant! We find out in a month if it's a boy or a girl! We are so anxious! God is good!

::My Little Mover!::

2008-12-15T15:48:00.003-06:00

Yup! This is my mover! We had a doctor appointment on Friday, and this was actually a huge thing for Phil and I humanly speaking... the miscarriage rate goes down by 90% at 12 weeks. They did a sono to get the heart rate, and I got to see the baby!!! See it's face, and right below that you can see it's arms? They were moving like crazy!!! I was teasing that it might be a boy and be a song leader! She actually had a hard time getting the baby's heart rate because it was moving so much! She kept saying that I have a mover in there! :) It was incredible to see it moving! God is so good... and we are so blessed... please pray for me as we go through the next six months waiting to meet our little one!

Merry Christmas!

P.S. - Aunt Patti... I think the baby might be wavin at you!!! :)

Getting ready for.... Christmas!!!

2008-12-10T13:29:00.003-06:00

So, the first two things that Phil and I do to "get in the spirit" of Christmas... is decorate our tree, the day after Thanksgiving and make our Gingerbread house! We've done this every year since we've been married, and I love it! My favorite part about the house is the chimney and the tree! Both of which were made by me :)

I've hardly begun Christmas shopping yet!!! I have so much to do... and so little time! So... this year, I've resorted to some online shopping :) Some places have the best deals online! Christmas is only 15 days away! I can hardly believe it!

The baby is doing wonderfully... or I'm supposing it is :) I made it past the 12 week mark, which was huge for me. The miscarriage rate goes down by 90%! So now that I'm past that, we are waiting now to be able to feel it flutter in my tummy! The only thing I feel now, is my insides swelling :) sounds lovely does it not? lol

For about the past 4 weeks, I have been incredibly sick... vomiting multiple times a day... you never knew when I was going to get sick. Sometimes, morning, sometimes night. It got old... really fast. I found out there was a pill I could take to help with the vomiting/nausea and really didn't want to take it... I thought the least amount of medicine I'm taking, the better for the baby right? Well, Sunday A.M., I had to go out the back door to get sick three times. All I could do was cry... it was getting seriously old! Well, Monday a.m. came around, and... what do ya know... it happened again. Three times. Two at home, one at work. Finally I gave in and called the doc... She said "oh no hun, people take this all the time" I'm like... so I could have had this four weeks ago? She's like "yeah!" I started crying, people. I was so relieved that I could get some help! Praise the Lord it is working!!! It is now Wednesday, and I haven't been sick once! I've actually started to feel better and feel like doing more. Now I just have to get my house and everything else back in order from being so sick!!! :)

Phil is doing good. He's been such a great help, putting up with me and my being ill. I'm not sure if anyone else is like this but, I whine when I don't feel good. lol He's been such a great listener! I can't wait to see him hold this baby for the first time! You know, I watch those "A baby story" things on TLC, and bawl through the whole thing! I can't wait for it to be my turn!!! I have a doctor appointment this Friday for a check up :) Hopefully I'll get to hear the heartbeat again! It's the most amazing sound ever!

Enjoy this holiday season... and never forget the true meaning of CHRISTmas!!

Baby's first picture!

2008-11-10T13:54:00.002-06:00

Hello all:

I haven't had time to post lately...but I had to show you my precious miracle!!!

Official due date: June 23rd.

Heartbeat was 146 and strong as ever. It was amazing to see the heart fluttering... and to hear it! Oh! God is just wonderful! He has truly answered our prayers...

Please pray for this little one as it grows... and Mommy as so much is changing!! :)

Enjoy...

:: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!! ::

2008-10-28T10:51:00.002-05:00

Baby Hulett!!!

Yes sirree!!! Guess who's gonna have a baby!!?!?!?! After almost four years... of medicine, doctors and waiting on God... We are having a baby!!! Phil and I are ecstatic and can hardly wait for this little miracle to arrive! God has truly blessed us! Thank you for all of your prayers!!!

Summer 2008 - Part 3

2008-10-06T15:03:00.013-05:00

California Baby! At the airport... after really long flights. Our planes landed within 20 minutes of each other... so we all left together...

Dude, this was so neat... We went to Hunington Beach right after we left the airport. It has a really long harbor on it... everyone fishes off the sides! This guy caught this I think it was called a Guitar something. I asked the guy if I could touch it, I bent down, and it flipped out and it's tail went all over my feet! Talk about moving fast... yup the fat lady moved.

Phil and I at the harbor. Kyle says you usually can see at least 20 miles of ocean... it was so foggy you couldn't see 200 feet! I could have washed my hair it was so damp. Gross!
Beautiful scenery....
Getting to see Tasha for the first time. I ran up the stairs, and she ran down... so precious. We screamed... a true side of our family.

Friday night, after the tour of the Phillips residence... we went out to Mexican. There were a ton of us, but it was a blast.

Phil and I... and him being his silly self.
Saturday morning we went to................... Hollywood!!! Traffic was gorgeous!
It amazes me how thier landscaping is so different than ours...
Our best friend during the trip. Verizon Navigator!
N'uff said.
I can now say... I've been there!!! We were coming down the hill from seeing the Hollywood sign... and this was on the side of the road. Like a foot away from me in the car. So we stopped and took a picture. Phil was amazed there was a wolf, in the middle of Hollywood.
mmm hmmm...

The first star I saw on Walk of Fame. It was the best one for me to see... I have TONS of pictues of stars... very neat to be there!

The beautiful bride and her hubby Josh. Aren't they cute?
Being a cake lady... Had to take pics of the cake table!
After a long night of partyin... Us the the newlyweds!
Cinnamon rolls that Phil and I found at a place called Chocolate Cafe. They were amazing! We went and did devotions and spent time together in God's Word before spending the entire day with family... it was perfect.
Me and Tash. I bawled like a baby saying goodbye. She is one of the neatest people you will ever meet. I can't wait for her to bring Josh to Illy!

Phil and I at the wedding...
Dinner on Sunday night... at Soup Plantation. It was yummy! Tiff, Me & Teddy... Look at my skin compared to thiers!!! My allergies were killing me!
Phil at the beach...

Absolutely Beautiful.

I'll share more pics later... hope you enjoy!

Summer 2008 - Part 2

2008-10-06T14:49:00.003-05:00

July 2008July 4th ... at the riverfront. Fun times :)
Kaiden and his cute self... getting so big!
All of our families were together for a weekend... we sang a ton. It was fun. Here is my beautiful niece Audrey... isn't she adorable?!?!?
A better picture of my first fondant cake :)

Summer 2008 - Part 1

2008-10-06T14:21:00.004-05:00

Anniversary Trip - June Me... on a mistle.
This is at a park up by Chicago. My father speaks very highly of it. It was pretty neat... I can remember the name, but I don't want to butcher the spelling...
Phil and I by the main house. Again, of the park I can't spell.
One of my favorite places to eat... and wouldn't you know... it was in Schaumburg!!! Just to show how much I LOVE this place? Our trip was from Thursday to Sunday and we went there twice.
Our hotel room. It was a suite and it was flipping awesome. It helped that I'd adore to have my house decorated like this!

This was the living room, and the tv turned to either the bed or the couch. And the couch was so comfy!!!
Medival Times
Phil has always wanted to go here... we did :)
Had to have this picture in here... we died laughing.
We went miniture golfing. They had two courses. We did the first, and I beat Phil. So of course we had to play the second course and I won that one too. And who is the golfer in our family? And just in case you're wondering... he was keeping score. And we recounted.

We also went to one of Phil's favorite places... Shedd Aquarium. All I'll say is... it will be a while before we go back. The experience was horrible. We ended up paying 30.00 to park for 3 hours and were treated like you know what.
Chocolate... the love of my life.

We went to the "chocolate factory" also a bad experience... lol I expected them to be making chocolate! Complete oposite! Still fun tho... Leaving Chicago...

Phil and I after a long day... but happy to have achieved 4 years of wedded bliss... I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with this guy... he's my everything.

:: My Parents in Cali! ::

2008-10-01T09:12:00.002-05:00

I don't have my pictues on the computer yet, but it's pretty darn easy to put one on that is sent to your phone! ;-) I'll have mine up soon... but I wanted to share this one of my parents... they are still there and will be until the 9th of October. My Aunt has lived out there for like 25 years, and this is thier first time out to see her. They are making good use of thier time! They are sight seein like crazy! Hope you enjoy the pic... more of us and the trip later!

::Lookin cool... :)::

2008-09-22T15:11:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to show you this pic :) I'm not much of a necklace person... but I thought this was cute :) And, it shows my kinda new hair style. I'm getting brown put in tomorrow! Yay!

Happy Monday! Pray for me... work is crazy and we are getting ready for California on Thursday!!

Update coming when we get back... Hope all is well with everyone!

:: Medium Well ::

2008-09-11T09:38:00.001-05:00

I like my steak Medium, but Medium Well is how I'm feeling lately. We've had alot going on in our lives, and staying busy should be our middle names! It's good that we are busy, except my house doesn't stay nearly as clean as I'd like it to. But Phil says it's lived in, and that's how he likes it. I have such a wonderful husband :)

I've been sick for the past week and a half with a serious head cold. And it has stunk. Seriously. I'm so over being sick! I'm on the winning side of it now, so that is great.

Work has been iffy. You never know if it's going to be a good day, or a bad day. Some days I wish all I did was work an assembly line or something like that so it was the same thing every day! But, I wouldn't get paid near what I do now. And that keeps me stinkin my hands back in and diggin a little deeper.

We are going to California in two weeks! I'm so flipping excited to be going away, and to be flying again! It's a very short trip for my cousin's wedding. We'll fly out on Friday, and fly back on Monday. I think we are leaving after spanish class on Thursday though, and getting a hotel in Indy, which is always fun.

Phil's birthday is a week from today. He'll then know what it feels like to be 25. It's old.

This weekend is crazy busy. I am having a card shower for my cousin at 10:30, then our Secret Sister revealing at 3:00 then onto the Pumpkin festival! Yeah! I can't wait to taste that Pumpkin Ice cream... it's to die for. MmMmMmMmMmMm......

......

I'm trying to think what else I need to update on...

Oh, I'm having a out patient test done tomorrow morning. Pray for me.

Today is 9-11. Can you believe it's been 7 years? I remember everything about that day. Pray for the families of the people lost... it has to be hard for them...

Okay, I think I'm done rambling. Oh, I got a new background :) Do you like it?

Pictures!

2008-08-27T14:49:00.002-05:00

Finally! Pictures! :) They are from my phone... so they aren't the best quality... but you get the idea! EnJoY!My latest creation... Wilson from the "Home Improvement Show". This was done for a lady in our church who works in an office. The boss' son worked over the summer, and whenever something would start happening or a deep conversation, this guy would come and watch over the cubicle like Wilson does. So... therefore... a goodbye cake for Wilson. (credit to my husband for making the nose :))
This was my very first try at using fondant. I didn't think I did too bad! And man, where my hands sore from kneading! Fun and different tho!
We had our church picnic last weekend, and Mrs. F wore these sunglasses. I told her I had to take a picture because I had never seen sunglasses that were that ugly! She just laughed. (resembles the Phantom doens't it?)
Here's us girls, bein us :) I love you guys!
And the best picture for last... this is Kaiden! Isn't he getting so big!?!?! He is very much more talkative now... and loves to laugh! I was tickling his chest with his foot... he loved it!

More to come later... Oh, and just in case you don't know..................

My birthday is in four days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm saving all my money for my Cuisinart mixer!!!

I'm just dying to stop using my hand mixer when I make cakes! :)

Thanks for stoppin by!

Sisters

2008-08-14T10:10:00.003-05:00

Hello all: Things are nice n' busy here :) I wanted to share a picture with you... Nom and I at church last night :) We kinda matched with our bright colored shirts, with white accents :) I love you Nom!

August Ramblings...

2008-08-05T09:39:00.004-05:00

Okay, so can you all believe that it is August already?!?!? I can't! However, this is the greatest month in the whole entire year. It's my Birthday Month!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup Yup, in 26 days, I'll be celebrating my birthday! I absolutely LOVE. No, seriously, I LOVE my birthday. So, for everyone that is around me... start expecting reminders!!!

This month we have alot going on! This past week I made a Noah's Ark cake, (pictures to come) which turned out really cute, and my sister loved it, which made it even better! We have a tract attack this Thursday, then Phil and I are goin fishing/camping this weekend! (hopefully if the weather cooperates) Opey is gone this Sunday, him and Renee are in TN on vacation. So I'll be teaching his class. So this Sunday will be busy... but when are Sunday's not busy?!?!?

My dad had a very long day yesterday... Oh, I know what I'm going to do... I'll copy the email that my mom sent to everyone... Here it is:

Just to let some know - Preacher (Steve) had a cardioversion done today - suppose to be done at 7:00 am, but delayed due to wrong info given to the cardiologist and him not getting to the hospital till 8:20 am - by that time, the anesthesiologist had been called to an emergency, so the procedure wasn't done till 12:00 noon - They tried twice to shock his heart back into a normal rhythm - but didn't work either time. When he started to come out of the anesthesia, he couldn't lift his legs, arms, had terrible chest pain when he tried to talk, and sever pain in his back between his shoulders. Cardiologist called a stroke specialist right away and he was right there! He checked everything - then ordered a cat scan to see if there was any bleeding on the brain - I noticed when he returned from his cat scan, he was looking some better - Every test turned out okay - All they can say is he must have had some reaction to the anesthesia - cause as time went by, little by little he could lift his legs, then his fore arms, then his finger to his nose. At first, if he lifted his arm off the bed at all, he could only hold it there for 2-3 seconds, then drop to the bed. He finally was allowed to drink some water, then he ate a banana, muffin, then peanut butter and crackers! He was feeling and looking much better - All was concerned the procedure had thrown a blood clot. He is home and resting - They have added another medication for him to take which they say will put his heart into a reg rhythm, then he will go back in four weeks to try the shock treatment again to retain this reg rhythm, This is all what was told us when we left the hospital about 4:30 pm The cardiologist is putting Steve in contact with a doctor who specializes with the electrical part of the heart, which is where his trouble is - Atrial Fibrilation - As far as we know, from previous testing, his plumbing is fine. He has another EKG on Thursday, and sees the cardio doc. Will try to keep you updated - Thank You for your prayers - We were hoping and praying it would work the first time, but the Lord knows. We love you all! Mrs. Kathy
Ps 28:7

So needless to say, yesterday was a long day... but God took care of everything. Speaking of my dad... right before he went for his procedure, he had Mom and Nom and I come to his side... and he said he's taking us out on a date this month!!! He even looked at me and said he'd gotten permission from my husband! lol That's my dad! I'm excited about this!! I'm sure we'll have a blast, we don't have a specific date yet, but it will be in August. And he wouldn't even give us a clue as to what we were doing!!! (I'll let ya know as soon as it happens!!!)

On the 22nd of this month, I'm having a Pampered Chef partay!!!! All of the female gender are welcome!! Send me an email if you have any questions... It's at 7:00 p.m.! If you need anything from Pampered Chef, I can do outside orders too, and I believe they ship to you!

Then of course, we'll end the month with the greatest day of all... My birthday! :)

Oh, I wanted to post on here... I've started a new blog.
Lord, I believe (link)

Okay, I think that's all... :) Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone! I'll post pictures soon.

hi!

2008-07-07T13:17:00.003-05:00

I know it's been a while... I don't have any pictures... they are all on the camera still.

Here's what's been goin on though!

We went on a mini vacation!!! Yeah! Phil and I celebrated our 4th anniversary with our 1st vacation! Meaning, we weren't going anywhere in particular, and we were by ourselves! It was great, and a much needed rest.

We spent Thursday by going to Cantiny (Wheaton, IL) then went to find a hotel room in Schaumburg, IL. This is where we wanted to spend the bulk of our time. Oh, and we had to stop for supper at PF Changs. I was dying for it! We had these in TN, and it was one of our favorite places. Brought back old memories... with Bill & Meg, and Nat stickin the chopsticks in her nose... oh those were the days! So from there... we went hotel shopping. Because Phil doesn't like to make reservations. We found this SUPER nice hotel... when they said the price, Phil looked at me, and I said.... NOPE! and we walked out... Well, guess who ended up back there an hour later?!?!?! Us. Come to find out, hotels in the suburbs are super high Monday - Thursday, and are cheap on the weekend! Seriously! They have so many corporate people that stay during the week, that they jack their prices up!!! We ended LOVING our room, and staying an extra night! It was very retro, and new... we had a kitchenette fully stocked, a pullout couch with a huge ottoman, and a large flat screen tv!!! It was seriously awesome.

Friday we slept in, then went to IKEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was even better than I expected. Like, OMG, I could have spent all day there. We found our bathroom vanity for 123.00!!! (we had to buy the sinks and faucets) God is so good! That is such a good price! And it's very... us. Okay, so then we went to the famous "Woodfield Mall" which... was... to put it nicely... a crappy mall. They have ONE plus size store! I told my mom, that it would be a nice mall if like I was going Christmas shopping or something... but anyways... after that we went to the hotel and got cleaned up and made our way to Mideval Times. Pretty cool. Food was horrible, but the show and Phil enjoying it made it worth it.

Saturday we slept in a long time, and went and did some shopping around the town... we found a very cool aquarium store and that just made Phil's day. We ended with a movie and PF Changs to go!

Sunday afternoon we went to Shedd Aquarium, then to the Hershey store in downtown... then we headed home. Sunday afternoon ended up being horrible, because Soldier Field parking decks are stupid. We ended up paying 30.00 for parking, and ended with rude people. Then, we get to the Hershey parking deck, and it's 17.00 to park!! Boy are we glad we don't live in Chicago!!! (Hopefully, I'll post pics soon)

We had a garage sale this past weekend and made 200.00!!! yay! Phil is even happier that he has a garage now!

We started a new thing at church that will last eight weeks... It's for the Sunday School hour... Each kid will go to a different class each week, and they have a passport to get stamped in each class! The classrooms are decorated superbly! I'll post pics about that too, it's the coolest thing though, and the kids love it! I'm so proud of my hubby... he has worked so hard to organize it!

Um, we are getting close to the date that we start counting down my birthday.... Just so you know... it's August 31st, and I'll be 25! But, I'm like a kid when it comes to my birthday!!! :)

oh, I found out yesterday that Mike and Kris are coming in two weeks!!! yay! Can't wait to see them!

The best thing: I got to talk to Trey last night... he said "Aunt Emmy, I'm so excited, I asked Jesus to come into my heart" Isn't that awesome! I said "oh Trey! That's so neat! Now you get to go to Heaven!" He said " Yeah, and now when I say something bad...." and his voice trailed off... so I lost something there... lol Congrats to my nephew Trey... on making the greatest decision ever. Here is a pic of him in his honor... I love you Trey!!!

Trey with Uncle Phil and Daddy!

~Piglet~

2008-06-04T09:36:00.004-05:00

okay, I don't have long... but I had to show you our new addition! (of the furry sort) :)

Introducing... Piglet!

Isn't she just precious?!?!?! She's 6 weeks old! We've had her for about a week and a half, and she is doing just great! She loves her bed (last picture) and uses her potty like a good kitty! :) Although, she's having to fight for her food, cause Ginger for some reason, likes it! By the way, if you are wondering... Ginger and Piglet get along great! They play all the time. Seriously, all the time. Then when they are done once in a while, they come and snuggle with us. Anway... just thought I'd share!

Oh, and pray for our friends Bill & Meg Howell and their daughter Shelbie. They are moving back to TN, and are stopping at our house on thier way back!! Can we say excited?!?!?! Please pray for thier safety, and for thier sanity. Meg said Shelbie isn't that big on riding in a car... can you imagine what they are going through? I'm sure she'll be a perfect angel! Also pray that their time with us will go slowly... we miss them so much and want to enjoy every moment we can! :)

G'day and Happy hump day.

Misc Stuff

2008-05-20T11:16:00.003-05:00

This is what's been goin on... On Saturday, we celebrated my grandpa's 85th Birthday! He is big into gardening with my mom... so I made it a garden, and made "dirt" from crushed cookies, then put a sign for all they planted. It was even in order of how they planted them. Gramps thought that was so cool!

(Please forgive my messy table and my shoes on the floor... Noone is allowed in my house when/after I make a cake... it's soooo messy! LOL)

Last night, Phil went and helped my brother Matt do some things in his yard, so I stayed home and cleaned like mad! (We've been fishing the past two weekends and my house has suffered big time!) These two pictures are of Ginger... waiting for her daddy to come home! Every noise she heard, she'd run to the door and look out, then she'd go back to her post in the picture below...

Me and Kaiden! He's gettin so big!!!
Noelle, and young lady in our church... her and her mom are moving to Virginia... so we had a fellowship Sunday night in her honor... I made her this cake... it says -

Noelle

Sending our

Love & Prayers

You can't really see it, but I put tons of flowers varying in type and size all over it. It was yellow, purple and pink... very girlie!

We've caught a total of about 35 catfish over the past two weekends... we now have 3 1/2 gallons of fillets! We're saving up for a big fish fry!! :)

(: (: (: Food :) :) :)

2008-05-08T02:22:00.001-05:00

This was going to be a post about our trip to TN, but I thought that might be too long, so here is the food category from our TN trip :)

Proceed with CAUTION: Pictures might cause hunger pains!!!!

Then there was food, and Emily saw that it was good...

Wasabi Sushi... the best there is. I love sushi! (Thanks to Hayley and all the people at LeBlanc who got me addicted!) (not pictured: Yummi Yummi... the best. period.)
OMG, I crave this just seein the picture. This is a chocolate burrito. It's from a Mexican restaurant. I took the picture too soon, the next bite? Chocolate came pouring out... they take and wrap a chocolate bar with tortilla then fry it!!
Biggest piece of pizza I've ever had. And it was darn good.

Phil just had to have a picture of me stuffing my face with it.

Anybody that knows me, knows that I love candy. Especially chocolate. I'm not big on this kind of candy, but I thought it was a cool picture. There are all kinds of these stores in Gatlinburg... Candy just calling out "eat me! eat me!"

Hope you enjoy... cause I surely did!

Cakes!

2008-04-22T11:35:00.003-05:00

So, this week, I made two cakes :) One I found out about less than 24 hours before it needed to be done, and one I got a couple days... lol you can obviously tell which one is which...

Brad, a guy in our church, celebrated his birthday this week. We had a young adult fellowship after church, this is the one Mr. Opey asked me to make... "quick like" :)
This, is my nephews birthday cake... thier birthday's are all like within three weeks, so they had thier party with thier friends this weekend. Pretty cute huh? I asked them what they wanted and they were like "LLLLLLLEEEEEEEEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSS!!!!!!!!!!! So, guess what Aunt Emmy put on thier cake? Legos! :) I wish you could see the border better, because that was one of the cute parts!
Here they are! Aren't they cute?!?! They loved thier cake! Happy Birthday guys! I love ya!

Sorry the pictures aren't that great, they were taken with camera phones!

Kaiden Paul Anderson

2008-04-10T14:20:00.008-05:00

So... this is another big thing that has happened recently... he now probably holds the world record for having the most pictures on my camera... ;) inside mommy and out! Congrats to Tess... the wonderful mommy that God gave him... Motesem are really excited he's finally here!

Here are some pics I hope you all enjoy.

This is how motessem spent a good part of thier time together... always pushin 'him tellin him to move! :) We had great times doin this...
Awww....

Tessa, and the baby shower cake I made... aren't the feet cute?!?!? So hard to do though!!!
Tess, Mo, Core n' Me!
A very cute picture... I just had to put it on here...

It's the day!!!
Here he is!!!! March 22nd 8:30 p.m.
The little man himself... 8 pds 3oz 21.5 in!
A very cool picture...

Hello World!!!
Kaiden and his wonderful mommy!!! Congrats Tess!

My Calendar of Chocolate

2008-04-08T10:54:00.001-05:00

Self Control: Saving half your box of chocolates until "later".

Update with Pictures!

2008-04-07T13:15:00.006-05:00

So, I know I've been absolutely horrible with updating and pictures... but ya gotta give a busy lady some slack okay? :) I'll just update by pictures....
Last November, Phil and I went to a Sunday School Convention... on the way back we stayed the weekend watching my brother's kids. On Monday morning, they took us to thier schools... here are some of the cutest pics ever... Hope you enjoy Mike N' Kris... We love you all so very much!

More coming!

Me N' Papa...

2008-03-19T11:21:00.002-05:00

So, I can't type a ton right now, but I wanted to put this picture on really quick... This is Papa n' me this past Sunday! Aren't we so cute?!?! I love you Papa!

This is also an okay picture of my hair... you can see where I got 4 inches cut off! :) Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and I'll post more later. I have TONS of pictures to put on!

Love from me...

So, happy new year to you too!

2008-01-21T20:40:00.000-06:00

Holy Cow. So it's been forever since I've posted. And I have alot to catch up on! I haven't had time to clean my house, let alone do a post, so leave me alone!

This is what Phil had a blast doing in the late fall... he made salsa! If you know my husband, you know that he absolutely loves hot stuff. So he made some that is "mild" (in his sence) for me, then he made hot, and extra HOT. He had brought some jalepeno's (I think that's what they were, they were the hottest pepper you can buy) home from work, and we dried them. They looked super cute in my kitchen, but he crushed them up, and added them to his salsa... he had a blast making it!

As many of you know, I LOVE to decorate cakes. Here is one I made last fall for a guy in our church who is a HUGE Star Trek fan. Don't you just love my clouds? :)
Finally! A picture of my hair when it got highlighted! LOL lame, I know... but here it is!

Here is my latest cake creation, I had never used chocolate to decorate with... It was a fun! All you see on this cake, is chocolate. It is a double layer fudge cake, with white chocolate filling, then frosted with double fudge frosting. All the decor you see is made from me melting chocolate, making the designs and then placing them on the cake. Interesting huh? I made it for a girl at work that loves chocolate :)

Here is the Christmas tree from 2007 (notice my red wall... isn't it beautiful?)
So, my best buddie Mo turned 17 on Jan 5th. I picked up her two other best friends and we decorated the car... then we showed up at Mo's house and banged on her door, sang Happy Birthday and off we went!
We spent the day going to Washington Square and of course when mo aand I are together, we have to go to Cato and Walmart! Happy Birthday Mo, I lovers you tons!
Here we are again... seems like we are always posing for pictures :)
Here is the most latest news... We now have a Children's Chior in our church! Phil and I will be working with them... We had our first practice this past Sunday, I had them all gather around the piano for one song... they loved it, and so did I! There are more on the left, but this was the best pic... aren't they cute holding thier hymnals?
And lastly... Phil got us tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra from Christmas!!! It was really fun, and I totally enjoyed it! :) Thanks baby!

Signing off for now... Emily

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2007-11-21T15:50:00.000-06:00

So I wanted to wish everyone a very blessed and safe Thanksgiving! Also, I wanted to share two of my favorite recipes! They are yummylicious!!!!

Love to you all!

Pumpkin Surprise Cake:

Bottom Crust: 1 yellow cake mix (minus 1 cup to be used for crumble)
1 egg
1 stick margerine (melted)
Mix together, and pat into bottom of 9x13 pan

Middle filling: 1 large can Pumpkin pie MIX
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk (I use evaporated milk)
Mix together, and put on top of bottom crust

Top Crumble: 1 cup cake mix
1/4 cup margerine
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Makes a crumble for the top of cake... Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes depending on your oven. Mine usually takes longer.

Cheesy Corn Casserole:

1 can Cream Style Corn
1 can Corn (do not drain)
1 stick margerine (melted)
2 eggs (beaten)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

Mix together, and place in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes. Is done when sides are slightly golden. 5 minutes before it's done, pull out and put as much cheese on top as you want :) This is wonderful and is one of my families "must have's"

:) Em

Guess who's still here?

2007-11-07T13:26:00.001-06:00

Hi all!

I hope everyone is just having a wonderful day, and enjoying the fall weather!

Things have been incredibly busy and I even had three days off of work! The Lord has been so good, and has given us so much to be grateful for.

We were able to go to the Loving and Leading Conference in Milford, OH this past weekend. We left at 5 a.m. on Thursday Morning, and spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday Morning there. You hit the floor running! But I can't even begin to tell you what it did for my heart. We learnt so much, and got so many new idea's, that we just couldn't wait to get home!!! More importantly, God gave me a renewed vision of my heart for Children and also strengthened my walk for Him. Each hour, you had a different session that you could go to, then we would meet back up for a general session a few times a day. One of the sessions I chose to go to, was the Bearing Precious Seed Tour... here are a few pictures... talk about a mind opener... Wow!

This is what you saw when you first walked in. See the white cone lookin thing? That's paper that's about 2 ft wide, and it's been printed on both sides, and this machine folds it. It was unbelievable! This is what was coming out of that machine...
I should have written the numbers down of how many/much/etc... but these are rolls of paper. This is the most expensive part of making the Bibles...
These are the ones that are half done, they just have to be trimmed, then binded. Most of these are John and Romans.

Then... on Saturday afternoon, we met back at my brother's house in Indy, and we adopted 4 kids for the weekend! It was a blast, but so tiring! They are getting so big, and I love them to death! I have a few more pictures, but these are the ones that are off of my phone...

Doesn't her face just say enough??? This is Audrey... and her eyes speak for her... ;) Trey was excited that Phil was there... someone to play Crash with him for hours on end!!!! Doesn't Phil look confused? lol They had a great time together...
Yup, this is Ginger. Boy was she glad we were home! She slept for forever! A huge thank you to Betty and Jason for watching her for us... they were a lifesaver! They have a dog named Libby... and Ginger got played out!!! :) Phil was just as glad as Ginger was to be home, and be able to have his buddy back!

There's a little update! I'll have more pics whenver I can get them off of my camera... I have pictures of me with pink hair!!! ahhh!!! :)

Happy Wednesday!!!

Red

2007-10-23T13:15:00.001-05:00

I have a new email!!!! See link on sidebar...

Happy Tuesday!

I had to share this picture...

2007-10-18T16:09:00.000-05:00

So I have a friend, who's name is Jill... We have been best of friends for like four million years. Actually, since we were like 4 years old. She has a little baby named Chevy Marie. She's ADORABLE. She sent me this picture this morning, and I had to share it with my blog friends....

Doesn't that just make your heart go pitter-patter? Look at that tongue!!! :)

Happy Thursday!

Grrrrr!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-17T13:37:00.000-05:00

For some stupid reason... Blogger won't let me put pictures on! Or change my main picture! I've been trying for the past couple days to do things on my blog... but it won't let me! Anyone have any suggestions?

Life is busy, but good here... I'm starting to teach piano in January, so I'm trying to educate myself on how to teach - sounds like a cliche doesn't it? I'm excited about that.

We got the Study/Piano room painted last week. It is a burnt orange... If you know me, you know that I love color :) oh! Our Church's Weiner Roast and Hayride is this weekend... should be a blast, it's my favorite activity! It means fall is here so break out the Jeans and Sweatshirts!!!! :) Also, Phil and I are going to Tanners Orchard this weekend too! It'll be a blast! Don'tcha wish you were here?!?!!?!?!?!?

Work is going good, kinda slow right now... it's the "off season" for my job... the little Scouts are busy sellin Popcorn though! Hey! Speaking of... have you tried the I think it's called White Gold? It is Popcorn (duh!) covered in white chocolate, with almonds.... it's heavenly!

I just sent an email to the LadiesJOYfellowship email welcoming a girl to the "group" and I just like sent an email telling all about myself! LOL for some really odd reason, I'm super chatty today! Not like a blonde cheerleader chatty, but just chatty :)

Mmmmkkkaaay. I think it's time for me to go... I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Much luvvvv, Red <3

Here's the little treat....

2007-10-04T09:14:00.000-05:00

to satisfy some of you... LOL :) J/K... I have tons of pictures to put up, but just haven't had time to download them from my camera. However, it is so much easier to do with my phone... so here are a few pictures from this morning. Hope you enjoy!

The new hair... it's not a good pic, but you can see the highlights! :) I love them! You can kind of see the cut too... I ended up getting about 6 inches cut off... I'm just now starting to get used to it being shorter again :) Amy, since you asked about 10 times.... this is for you ;)

I got to keep some of my nephews Tuesday night and last night... it was quite an adventure! We did homework and showers at night, and did breakfast and went to school in the morning :) It was a blast and they were awesome. Ginger loved having kids to play with, even though they are scared of her... lol Nick & Ryan were used to her soon after they got there, but Trevor... is a different story... :) They took pictures of themselfves this morning on the way to school... aren't they cute?

Nick is 9...
Ryan is 7...
Trevor (Trevie) is 5...

It made me want kids even more! We took them to church with us last night, and Phil preached (M&D are out of town) and I sat in our pew with three boys and Hopie! :) It was great fun.

Hope you enjoyed the pics... more to come! Happy Thursday!

~Em

She yet liveth...

2007-10-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

Hello all! whew! Has life been crazy!!!! Work has had the most part to do with it... Our big dinner fundraiser was on Friday night, and it went great. I had a huge part in the organization of it. My stress level on Friday night at 11:30 (when I left) went from a 20 to a 2!!! That in and of itself will make you tired! :)

I got home, and went to bed, where Phil told me that his boss called him to do the Iowa route on Saturday. This route leaves at 2 a.m. So usually when Phil runs this route he goes to bed at about 7... well, he went to bed at 11:00, when his boss called him. lol So I, being the wonderful wife that I am... got about 1.5 hours of sleep, then jumped in the huge truck with my hubby... We had a great time together, which is what is important. It's about a 4.5 hour drive up there, but the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is a Chik-fil-a!!! (which we don't have around us...) We got back about 6 p.m. on Saturday. We were exhausted! LOL Phil being the most wonderful husband that he is... took me away for the night. We only went like 30 minutes away, but we stayed in a hotel and ate out. It was wonderful to get some much needed rest.

This week is full of me getting back in the routine of things at work... getting caught up on everything that I got behind on while doing things for the event. Tonight we are making supper for Phil's brother, who's wife just had a hysterectomy. Phil is working like crazy on the bathroom that we are remodeling... wait till you see pics!!! It's gonna be awesome!

Anyways, I have lots of pictures to post, of the event, my hair, our Iowa trip...etc. But you'll have to have a little patience with me... ;)

I hope everyone has great days this week!

Happy Birthday to my sister in law Renee today!

Still alive, and doin her thang... Em

Update...

2007-09-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

There have been a couple of inquiries on the hair thing... There was a little messup with the cut, so I'm going back this Saturday and she will fix it. It will be alot shorter than I wanted to go... I'll explain when I get the pictures.

I hope all is well with everyone. I have a HUGE thing coming up at work, that I do all of the "manual" things for. It's a huge dinner involving about 600 people... I'm getting a little stressed, and it's a week from tomorrow. So needless to say, you won't hear from me till probably the first of October... I will try really hard to post pics of the new cut, but life is super hectic right now... I covet your prayers for my sanity over the next week!!!

Also, there are several people in our church who are not doing well. I can't stress to you enough how important your prayers are. We know God is good, and He will do what He wills is best... But please pray for these people:

Dennis and Diane Lambert - They have had Lizzy since she was 5 weeks old. She is now 41/2 and they have been trying to adopt her. They have adopted her brother, but have been in court with her.... DCFS came in on Monday and took Lizzy out of her home. The Lamberts are having a really rough time. I don't know all that is behind it, but I do know that this is the family that Lizzy knows. Please Pray

Connie Gilroy - Has been fighting cancer for years. Things are not looking good. We love her so much, and she is in so much pain. She needs God's grace and mercy to overflow on her behalf. Please Pray

There are many others that I could list, but these two are very crucial right now.

Thank you for your prayers!

God is good, ALL the time!

Happy Weekend!!!

2007-09-14T16:57:00.000-05:00

Lots of things going on this weekend... I'm getting my hair cut and highlighted, going to a Tremont Football game or a movie tonight, Morton Pumpkin Festival... lots of things!!! So exciting!!! :) I hope you all have a great and safe weekend.

Loves from me!

Em

2007-09-12T13:11:00.000-05:00

Hi ya Friends!

I hope this finds you all in the wonderful grace of God! We are so blessed beyond measure! The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want! He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters!! My cup runneth over!!!! Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever! I was sitting here at work, and those verses keep going in and out of my head, oh the joy we have when we are one of HIS children!

So I have a few pictures to share...

On Opey's birthday, which is the day before mine... Nom, Op, Nae, Phil and I went to Applebee's (one of our fav's) to spend some time together, and wish Opey well on his birthday. I had to share this picture, Morgan and I were texting, and she said... who's with ya'll? So, I sent her this pic. When I went to take the picture, Renee made a funny comment about not liking her picture being taken... lol

If you have ever been out to eat with me, you'll know that I always order water with tons of lemon. (Yes, I make my own lemonade!) Well, in most places, they bring one, maybe two. Yeah, so Applebee's is definately the best at this. Our waiter was awesome.... doesn't it look neat? Everyone kept asking if it was just water... ;0)

So on Labor day, Phil and I went to New Salem and walked around the park that is all about Abe Lincoln. They have the houses and buildings just as they were. I told Phil to take a picture of the only Tavern I was allowed to walk into!!! :) Actually, in those days a tavern was more for a home cooked mean, and a bed to rest. Hardly ever was there liquor involved. Interesting huh?

That's all for now Folks!!! Till next time... Em

3:00 AM

2007-08-31T02:52:00.001-05:00

Hello all: Today is my birthday, it hasn't started off well though... we got a call about 10:00 p.m. last night that a very dear man in our church had had a stroke. We rushed to the hospital, along with most of our church family to be there for his family. It is now 3:00 a.m. and they have transfered him to OSF (he was at Pekin). They have just taken him in for an MRI. At first, he had lost his sight, and alot of other things. Now, he can see better. Praise God! However, he doesn't have very much control of the right side of his body, and his speech is very slurred. But God knows, and He is faithful! There are quite a few of us here... but I'm still really sleepy!

I feel bad being so excited about my birthday... If you really know me, you'd know that I'm like a kid when it comes to Christmas about my birthday.... I love it! Right now though, it's not lookin like it's gonna be such a bright day! But I'm sure we'll make up for it, and celebrate all weekend! I have a feeling that something is going to happen tonight, and it might involve Monicals... but don't tell anyone! ;) I don't think I'm suppose to know! (shhhh!!!)

Pray for me please... I'm seriously considering giving piano lessons, but I lack a thing called self-confidence, or lack of knowledge fear... lol I've had quite a few people ask me about them, and if I would do it. We were just praying about a way to pay off some of this work that we are doing to the house. God knows, and he'll provide! Just pray that I won't be stubborn to His will. Speaking of His will... I have something that I need to write about, but it is very hard for me... I know that alot of people struggle with this thing, but I tend to hide it to myself. But I know that if we have struggles, or things we just don't flipping understand, that for some reason, God gives us people who have expierenced the same thing. And He gives them to us, or puts them in our lives for a purpose, and I don't want my pride of self dignity or whatever you want to call it to get in the way....

God is good, all the time... even though sometimes we just don't see it.

total eclipse of the heart....

2007-08-28T09:15:00.000-05:00

At 4:40 A.M. (that is in caps for emphasis!) Phil and I crawled out of bed to go watch the lunier (sp?) eclipse. We thought that we would have to drive out of town, but we actually were just able to stand in our front yard and watch it happen. It was so neat. I don't have any pictures, because it wouldn't work... but you can search on google and see pictures of other ones. The entire time we were standing there I had "total eclipse of the heart" song in my head... lol Anyway, this is totally a Phil thing... he loves stuff like this. He was practically begging me last night to get up so early with him (I am the farthest thing from a morning person...) and I have to say, it was totally worth it. God is truly amazing! I have a ton of other things to post about, but not a lot of time... hopefully soon! My birthday is in three days! :)

Happy Tuesday!!

Emily

Butter and Flies :)

2007-08-13T13:35:00.000-05:00

Hello all!

Phil and I had a great weekend together... We went to the Illinois State Fair on Saturday. It was cool. I wish I would have had my camera to take more pictures, but I hate to carry stuff around when I'm trying to look at things and eat my favorite "fair gyros" :) I did however, get a few with Phil's phone... I had to share this with my blog friends...

Yup, this is ALL butter!!! Amazing huh? The tallest point was probably 4 1/2 feet tall...

Look at the little kitty cat!! You can't really see them, but hanging from the tree they had made little dragon flies and hung them from string... On this last one, be sure to look at the owl. The detail was incredible!!! It even had little glasses on! And the doggie!!! I could have stood there for hours and just stared at it... but of course as you can see, I wasn't the only one who thought it was cool!

On our way home, we made a pit-stop at our local Wally Word to buy a new pet...errrr plant.

This is our new fly trap plant! If you haven't seen these... they are really neat. I remember having one in our class room when I was in kindygarden... the one that is really out of focus and has a black spot... we got a hold of a fly and put it on the petal... and it closes up around the fly! It was really neat! Naturally, if you just leave the plant alone, the flies land on the petals, and they eat them... it's a live plant!

On Sunday, we had our church picnic... this was different from any other year though, we actually stayed in the basement of the church for most of the activities (eating) and only went back to the pavilion for snow cones (made by none other than the Snow King and Queen... yours truely) and our traditional egg toss. We also had some other games, but people didn't last very long, because it was like almost 100 degrees... it was burning hot.

Anyways, that is an update on the Hulett home... we are good, and God is great!

Camping Trip

2007-07-20T16:48:00.000-05:00

I know, you'll are probably fainting thinking of Emily going on a camping trip... lol. When Phil and I got married, I agreed that I would go with him at least once. He thought I had never had the "true" camping experience... Well, he can say that I did now. LOL We had a blast, here are some details from our camping! (the pictures are taken with my camera phone, because I forgot the camera in the car! Imagine that!) Enjoy!

This was the fire we built! You can't see it too well, but I'm really proud of it because I was the one who went looking for fire wood. Of course I was sure to tell Phil, that I really didn't enjoy this part... Everyone at work thought it was hilarious that I had never built a fire... I work for the Boy Scouts... Of course I replied back with... I'm a girl... :)

This is our tent!!! It was so easy to put up! Phil kept sayin that you aren't suppose to sleep when you go camping... Yes, I know... why did we put it up then???? We ended up staying up until about 5 a.m. then going and taking a nap :) Although, Phil does these trout line things... and we had to go out every two hours to check the lines... oh joy!

This is me with one of the fish I caught! We ended up being able to take back about 5 fish... two were really good size catfish! yum! And give me credit for looking so icky... I'd been up for almost 30 hours with about two hours of sleep and no shower!

Speaking of me looking icky... Ginger went with us... She was filthy!!!! She loved the fish we caught and how they jumped she would just start barkin and growling... it was cute. We wrapped a shirt around her to get her home and walked straight into the bathroom... This was her right before we left. She got hot so she went and laid in the muddy water... Ya just gotta love dogs...

Last but not least... a pic of the hubby and I... he ALWAYS does this in pictures... but ya just gotta love him!

Friends

2007-07-12T13:05:00.001-05:00

Please pray for my friend Hopie. She had her tonsils and adnoids taken out this morning... The surgery went fine, but just pray she heals fast! :) I love you Hopie!!!

Announcing.... Mr & Mrs Jonathan LaBarge!!!!! These are some of Phil and I's dearest friends... We weren't able to make it to the wedding... but I got a picture!!!! Photography by Ryan Keiter

Congrats guys! We love you!!!!

2007-07-10T09:57:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I finally got my camera to my work so that I could download all the pics... I have 205. Ah! But I don't think Blogger would let me post them all on here... So I'm going to pic some of my favorties.... I think I'll have to do two posts to get all the pics in!

Our 1st House!!!! We are homeowners!!!Us, signing our lives away for 30 years...Our Ginger...Bill & Meghan Howell

(they came and spent some time with us before we left :) It was great... we miss them tons!)
Morgie Porgie and I at T-Fest '07!!!! (yes, that is face paint on my cheek...)
Mr & Mrs. Brian Newby :) This is my cousin and her new hubby... they got married in Jamaca in March, and we had a reception for them in Indiana... it made for a nice weekend away!
Phil and I in Indiana at the Esenhaus (sp?) I got to show him where we used to live and where all of my wonderful childhood memories were :)
Amish Buggies!!! I was so excited to see them again!

The house that I grew up in as a kid...

I'll post more pics later...

Three wonderful years...

2007-06-26T13:39:00.000-05:00

So today three years ago, I married my best friend. Three years ago, I would have never dreamed that I could love a person so much. He has given me the life I needed, the love I need, and the encouragement to make it through whatever our future holds. Today, My husband and I celebrate our 3rd Anniversary. God has truly blessed our relationship and our marriage. Of course, like any other couple we have had trials and very few fights (seriously!)... but through it all, we have remained each other's best friends. I couldn't dream of spending my life with anyone else... We have the kind of relationship where we can't wait to get home to each other to see the other, or to talk about our days. I could go on and on about how much my husband means to me, but for sure he is the best thing outside of salvation that has ever happened to me.

I love you more everyday Philip Ryan!

Phil sent me flowers at work... there is a story behind the colors... aren't they beautiful???

The card reads (in his handwriting...): I hope you have a wonderful day and thank you for the 3 years so far and many more to come. Your loving husband

And everyone says.... Awwwww.....

2007-06-20T13:39:00.000-05:00

Hello all.

Yes, I know it's been forever. But so much has drastically changed in my life...

I quit my job in Tennessee where I absolutely loved the people I worked with
We packed our entire home
I ate sushi for the last time at Wasabi while a TN resident
Phil quit his job at McAlisters
I said good-bye to my closest friends on earth
We packed the moving truck with the help of some of our dearest friends
We traveled ALL day to Illinois
We signed on our first house that we own on June 1st at 11:30a.m.
We moved into our new home on June 1st at 12:00p.m.
We unpacked our house and started remodeling the basement
I started my job with BSA in Peoria, IL on June 5th
Phil started his job at CIP in Morton, IL on June 5th
We moved our membership to Bethel Baptist Church on June 17th
We celebrated Fathers Day - another year to celebrate something we aren't
I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting...
Oh, Ginger is now completely potty trained in our new house

So, to alot of you, this might not seem like much.

But right now, it's the biggest struggle I've ever had...

-In memory of truly great pianist-

2007-03-22T11:12:00.000-05:00

So last year, on February 22nd to be exact... A personal hero of mine passed away. Don't get me wrong, he's in a much better place... But I'll never forget the awe that I had when I watched him play the piano. His name was Anthony Burger. The picture below was actually taken on the cruise that he passed away on. I had seen him a few times in concert, but now... I wish I'd gone every chance I had, just to watch him play. He played with such emotion!

Oi, do I wish I could play like him!

Last Saturday another awesome pianist passed away after years of fighting cancer. His name was Roger Bennett. Roger sang/played for the Cathedral Quartet for many years. I remember as a kid going and seeing them in concert multiple times... I even remember when they announced that he had cancer and his many years fighting the disease. A few years ago, after the Cathedrals retired, and Legacy Five was started by Roger and Scott Fowler. We saw them in concert many times too. You can go to www.legacyfive.com to read more about Rogers home going. He had a journal that he kept online for people to read, when he got really bad, his wife was doing entries to inform everyone. It will be weird going to a Legacy Five concert and him not be there playing... Both will be missed!

Southern Gospel has lost two of the most talented musicians ever.

The life of a busy lady...

2007-03-19T08:22:00.000-05:00

I know, I know... it's been forever. Lay off. Life has been crazy! So much is going on, and work will be a little lighter this week, so I decided to take this opportunity and catch whoever reads this never updated blog! BTW: Does anyone read this? If noone does, it's okay... I enjoy typing and pondering all the things that are happening and how much God has blessed us with!

Okay, so one of the big things in my life right now is, Cake Decorating. I have been going to classes, and am acutally in the Advanced Class right now. Holy cow is it hard. Flowers are the main thing in the advanced... so I wanted to share some with you. They aren't perfect by any means, but these are my FIRST try at these!

First is a daisy! The leaves are suppose to have a little bit of space between them, but my icing was a little soft. Not bad for my first try though! This is made with Royal icing, so it gets hard, and looks great on cakes! Also a favorite for the kids to eat! :)

Second, this is suppose to be a pansy, but I didn't have any yellow frosting... this wasn't that hard to make, but when I look at pictures of pansies, even if I would have had yellow frosting, it still wouldn't look like pictures of pansies do... It's super easy though!
Thirdly, this is a violet! These were taken with my cell phone, so I know they aren't great pictures...This was the tiniest flower I've made so far... It's so cute!

Here is a cake that I made in class... on the top is canonilli lace. This was my first try at it, and I kind of stunk on it, but it's so pretty with white on white. It's very poplular for wedding cakes. I did a wider lace on the left, and tighter on the right... I can't decide which I like better...

So, I put this in here because I know that my family will get a kick out of it. So, I'm walking down the isle at Wal-mart, and I'm talking to my sister on the phone... all of the sudden I see this couple walking towards me and I say "No Way" Seriously. I have to be dreaming... "I could swear that I just saw the Smallwoods" I told Nom. I let her go, and put myself in a place where I could see them again (No, I wasn't stalking) I asked them what their last name was, and she said "Smallwood" and looked at me like I was crazy. I said "Holy Cow" "I'm Emily Rowell...ehhh Hulett, well Rowell is what you would know me by" I was totally stumbling over my words I was in so much shock! This is a family that was in our church in Indiana. I played outside with thier kids after church all the time!!! They live like an hour from me, and it was totally by chance that I saw them... It was great. We stood there and talked for forever, and caught up. It was great. I think we concluded that it had been close to 12 years since we had seen each other... Yeah, totally a Wow thing!

Last, but far from the least... We got a new car!!!!!!!!! I was deeply upset... the Malibu gave out on us... it was going to be too much to replace what needed to be replaced, so we traded it and got a great deal! The new one is a 2005 Ford Freestyle. It is a mix between a van and an SUV, with a lot of simularities of a station wagon. I can fit 7 people!!! It will be so nice when we work with churches and travel on deputation and stuff like that... It's so nice! It has 18,000 miles on it. I can't wait to show it to everyone! God is so good! :)

So, this is just a couple of things that are going on... I'll post later about Phil's graduation and moving back to Illinois, and all... Please keep us in your prayers! :)

Red

My Season of many "1st Times"

2006-12-13T08:35:00.000-06:00

Hello all! Yes, I know. It's been forever since I've posted, but good Lord cut me some slack! :) Life has been really hard, but yet wonderful here lately. There are some things that happened that I want to tell you about, and others, you can consider unspoken prayer requests.

So... here we go -

I made my first Candy Sushi! All the girls where I work are crazy about sushi! So, for my boss' birthday, I made her Candy Sushi. It was a blast to make! This is a great idea for kids too. If anyone would like the recipe just let me know!
I don't have pictures, but on October 22nd, Phil's mother went home to be with the Lord. After suffering 4 major heartattacks that left her completely brain dead, Phil watched his mother pass away. God gave Phil strength that I had no idea someone could have. There are so many other details that I could share with you, but let's just sum it up to say, God was with us. Every step of the way, we had His protection and care. God is good.
On October 25th, Yes... three days later, my Grandpa passed away. He had been struggling with his health for a couple of months, on the 20th they decided to take him home. We got to spend alot of time with our family during these days... I was able to be by his side when he passed, he went out hearing - "We love you, dad", "Dad it's okay, we'll be alright" "Grandpa, we love you" "We are so proud of the name you gave us" "Thanks for the family you gave us" There were many tears shed this day... We'll miss Grandpa. But we know he's in Heaven with the Lord. Oh! What a reunion when we get there!!! I can see right now Phil running to his Mom to give her a huge hug, and I long to kiss Grandpa's rough cheek again!

Okay, wiping away tears, and onto happier times!

My Uncle Ed, Aunt Deanne, Tasha (not pictured; Tiffany & Teddy) got to all come to Illinois to see Grandpa, so we got to spend some time with them. Great fun. Tasha is awesome! I swear she's so much like me... ;) This is a bad picture, but you can see where Tasha straightened my hair. It looked so long! Thanks Tasha!I carved my first pumpkin!!!!!!!!!!! it was great fun. Phil and I did this together, and we just loved it. I also had my first trick-or-treaters! :) I gave candy away! It was a blast! It ended up raining, so I didn't get to give away all my candy... but Phil didn't really care about that part...Above is my boss, Kevin Le Blanc... he is a Cajun man!!!! He stuffed the turkey, and fried it!!! This was my first experience with frying a turkey!!! My friend Meghan and her husband Bill had thier first baby... her name is Shelbie Paige... She's so cute! Congrats guys!
So this is probably the biggest news I have... My family came to my house for Thanksgiving!!! That's right, everyone except Mike's family was able to come to Knoxville, TN!!! It was a blast, we had a full house, and like the above picture, this is how we usually were... all sitting around relaxing... it was great. I believe we ended up with 14 people staying at our house! It was great. But probably the best thing was on Wednesday night, most of us stayed up till 3 am waiting on Opey, Renee and Nom to get in.... Well, unbeknownst to me.... My Gram surprised me and came down with them!!!!!!! I bawled. It was the best thing, it was the clostest thing that I have to Grandpa. The Lord is good. He knew exactly what I needed.
She's so cool... I love you Gram! Also, thank you to Dad, Mom, Opey, and Nae for making this happen.... It meant so much to me, that you knew it would mean the world to me.

Yeah, Phil made me do all the work and carry the tree in the house... lol j/k This is me proud of the REAL tree that we picked out... :)

This is our Christmas Tree this year! It's not finished here, as you can see on the right side, Phil is finishing putting the ornaments on... I love Christmas time!

For my last "first" I made my first Gingerbread House!!!! Isn't it adorable??? We had a blast doing it... I don't think I made the frosting thick enough because my ice cicles didn't work that well... Oh well... If you haven't done one, I definately recommend it for getting in the Christmas mood!
I hope you enjoyed all the pictures... Hopefully it won't take me so long next time!
Red

So... I've had 41 million things going on...

2006-10-18T08:32:00.000-05:00

Since the last time I posted, we have been running like chickens with our heads cut off! aahhhh!!! We hit the floor running in the morning, and literally fall into bed at night. But, through it all... God has been gracious and given me the peace that I needed.

Just to give you an idea of the things that have been going on...

My dad celebrated his 50th Birthday! Happy Birthday Papa! So, I and my friend Melissa were going to go to Illinois for the weekend to surprise my dad for his birthday, and to be an encouragement to him. Well, on the Friday we were going to leave, somethings happened (explain later) at home, and I needed to leave alot earlier. Phil got off of work in a hurry, and we packed and drove home. We pulled in at about 12 am slept until 5:30, and went to breakfast at IHOP. (Sidenote: the time was my sisters idea) We were suppose to all meet there at 6 am. All the siblings were to be there to go to breakfast with dad for his birthday. It was so cool. We got there (on time), and of course Mom and Dad were late... So Phil and I went and hid in the back part, and when they walked in, Mom ran to the bathroom and Dad came in and started huggin the other kids. I jumped in line... He got done huggin Opey, and thought he was done, then he saw me. (I'm tearin up just thinking about it!) Lets just say, I got a long hug. It was great. So we spent the morning with Mom and Dad... while the others went their ways. We went and saw Bro. McAdams in the hospital... so very sweet. God has really given them a special place in our heart. So, about 1 pm Phil and I had to keep Dad away from the house. So we went to some yard sales, and went and saw my Grandpa, and then ended up at Wal-Mart. Yup. I made him ride in a wheel chair the whole way. It was kind of nice to pay back all those many years of embarassment from him... He was blushing! He had a button on that said he was "over the hill" (see picture) Anyway, I cold tell you much more about this day, but this is already getting long! It was a good day.

The reason we had to hurry home, was because Grampa Rowell got really bad... On Friday the 6th, they gave him less than 6 months to live. That weekend, it was looking more like days... Then they talked to the doctor on Monday he said he could probably make it a month. This has been so very hard on my family. If you think about it, please say a prayer for them. On Monday, I went in early in the morning in hopes of getting there before anyone else did... I made it! :) I got him ready for the day, and combed and washed his hair and his cleaned his face... Then we sat and I read all the cards to him that everyone had sent... When I didn't know who they were, he would say "Oh, thier from Tremont..." lol it was great times. It was something I needed. I will always have memories, but this was probably the greatest. Grampa never would just tell us he loved us, but we always knew he did. This time however, I would say "Grampa, I love you" and he would come right back with "I love you too, Emily" Oh how precious!

Phil's 23rd Birthday!

2006-09-18T11:34:00.000-05:00

Today is Phil's 23rd Birthday! Yesterday for lunch, I took him to a Mexican place with some friends, and I asked the guy if they did anything for birthday's cause it was Phils. He said very seriously, "no mam". Phil was very happy needless to say... Well, about 5 minutes went by, and they brought out a dessert with about 6-7 guys and sang Happy Birthday in Spanish (or at least I think that's what they sang). Phil blushed like crazy, and couldn't stop smiling. It was great.

So without further ado... Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband! I hope you have a wonderful day! Your the best, and I love you very muchly!

- Your Bride -

My Weekend!

2006-09-11T13:01:00.000-05:00

Besides being ill to my stomach all weekend, we were able to get me out of the house to walk around the fair! You see, Phil knows that above all else... this reminds me of being with my family the most.

I have some awesome memories as a kid, going to the Tractor Pulls and I wanted to share them with you. I thought it was cool when Mike and Matt got jobs... they would buy us drinks :) My favorite used to be the Lemonade drink. I couldn't stay very long, we weren't there even an hour, and I was ready to go home. You see, sometimes I get so homesick for my family, I have to get my mind off of it because the devil knows that this is a good way to get to me... But in other ways, I just wanted to sit there and cry, because I could picture my family around me and could hear Dad reminding Nom and I to keep our ears plugged, and our mouth open just a little bit... This too was a good time to wear my cap... Opey would always "shape" the bill for me and I can remember being so proud that I had a cap just like my brothers. I know, I was a dork. :)

Here's a few that I thought were really cool... Good 'ole camera phone :)
Here is my hubby and I. I look horrible, I look like I've been sick! But it was such a good thing to get to spend time with my hubby. He tries so hard to make me happy. God has truly blessed me with him.
This was a huge freakin' pile of sand!!!!!! They had different things carved into it... this is part of it! It was really neat!
Anyone know who this is? Bettcha can't guess! This is Uncle Kracker. I am by no means promoting him, or his music... I think I know maybe 2? He's known for the song, "Follow me" we heard him singing, so I went to try to get a picture. He's the big white blob in the front :) I thought it was neat to be this close! Oh, and by the way... he doens't look anything like his pictures.

So that was my weekend. We got free tickets, so we are going back this weekend. We heard one rumour of elephant ears (my favorite, not served in the south) and the petting zoo :) I'll have more pictures then! :)

~Cute Kids~

2006-09-07T08:29:00.000-05:00

Last night, I was in the nursery at Temple Baptist Church... I was supposed to be in the newborns... but a worker didn't show up, so I got put in the younger two's. They were so cute... I just had to take some pictures, and they just loved having their picture taken! :) Here we have Tori. She wouldn't smile, so I scrunched up my face in a huge smile, and this is what I got in return. lol I made the mistake of telling the kids to "chill" and Tori walked around the rest of the night going... "chill, chill, chill" It was quite humorous.
This is Sarah Grace. She had this face all evening. Once in a while, huge tears would well up in her eyes, and just spill over... she's very cute though. She was a little mama to lots of little doll babies. She would say things like "where's my baby" "baby lost" "button baby up!" LOL
This is Seth. He's huge. Like seriously... I grunted when picked him up. He wanted to be in every picture I took. He would get so excited that he could see himself in the front of my phone.
And this is alot of the kids over with Amy enjoying her blowing bubles in their faces... It was a good night. Just wanted to share...

2006-08-31T10:54:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, yup... today is my 23rd Birthday!!!!
Leave me a comment! Let's Partay!

It's officially one day until my birthday!!!!!!!

2006-08-30T09:40:00.000-05:00

YAY!!!!!!!!!!

It's only one more day until my birthday...

I got roses this morning from Lisa,

and wanted to share!

They are white with pink tips.

Very Beautiful! :)

The joys of living by the city...

2006-08-29T14:17:00.000-05:00

So... I got stuck in traffic this morning. Really bad. I was like 20 minutes late for work! I took a picture of it and wanted to share... This is the scenic part of my drive, right around the curve is Knoxville. I never got over 10 miles per hour this morning until I got about 3 miles from work. It was very aggrivating... So, here's my pic of the day:
This picture really doesn't do it justice...

Peekin out....

2006-08-28T10:42:00.000-05:00

So, If you have seen the movie "The Benchwarmers"... I feel like the brother who is afraid of the sun, and never comes out of his house! I am at work all day, then I run home to get stuff done around the house... then bed. And we normally aren't in bed until about 11:30!

Just so you know... I have been trying to post, for oh, about three weeks. I had to wait until we moved, so I could find the pictures I needed... but when I went to put them up, there is like 50 pictures, so I was going to make one of those movie things... But for some, dadgum reason... it won't paste into a blog! (If anyone knows how to do this... please let me know!)

So I'm going to TRY to post a couple of my favorite pictures from our trip home.

This is me, of course... enjoying a day spent with Phil and his dad fishing! We had a blast, and I got really sunburnt! We also got to experience the flying fish! They were litterally flying into our boat! I actually have pictures of this...

This is so precious to me... I got to go for lots of 4-wheeler rides with the boys... They are getting so big! The Lord has truly blessed me with some awesome nieces and nephews....I also got to spend time with my Papa. We went ridin on the motorcycle... I took this picture while we were driving, isn't it cool???? I love you Papa!

And now, pictures from the family reunion... like I said, I have what seems like 40 million pictures... but here are my some of my favorites. The picture above is really special to me. I'm so glad that I still have my Grandpa. We have been going through alot with him, and if you know anything about it, you will understand what I mean...

It won't let me post anymore pictures! arugh! I'm gettin really fed up with blogger! Maybe I'll try to make a new post... love -eh

So, don't kill me since it's been forever...

2006-07-24T15:42:00.000-05:00

So, I go home to the Rowell Family Reunion and I'm all like, "check my blog! I change it all the time, and I'll have pictures too!" And it's been one heck of a time since I've gotten home! Here are just some of the "bigger" things that have happened since I last blogged - (sidebar: my camera is packed, so no pictures. ((explained later))

~ "Ginger" has joined our family. She is a three month old Lhasa Apsos. She's so adorable... and I can't tell you how neat it is to know that someone is waiting for me to get home. Usually, Phil is already gone to work, and I come home to an empty house. But now, I have someone that needs me to take care of them. It's awesome.

~ We got to spend a great deal of time with our imediate family. Lord have mercy was it awesome. We got to go fishing with Phil's dad, and experience the "jumping fish". Yes, they literally jump in your boat. I can't count on both hands how many times I almost peed my pants. It was one of the scariest things ever! Phil and Dad had a good laugh over it though.... It was just really neat to be able to stay a while, and see family and church family. Oh, and speaking of church family... I got to play the piano for 2 services when we went home! Speaking of awesome... This was like I was in a dream. See, I LOVE to play the piano, but I also love the piano at Bethel. It was seriously so neat. Thanks Daddy.

~We are moving!!! Which is the biggest reason I have been so scarce on here... It's been crazy at my house! Everything is in boxes, and we are set to move on the 8th of August. We found a 3 bedroom house that is only a little more on rent. It will be so neat! And I'll have a full extra bedroom for guests (hint, hint) for anyone who wants to come! Oh, and I also have a dining room! Where we are now, if we have two people over, it's tight... but now we can have game night at my house! :) So please, pray for us that everything will go smoothly.

~Work has been crazy! We were gone while all of my monthly and quarterly reports were due... it was horrible to come back to! I also had a few meetings that I had to get things ready for... it was just absolultely insane. It was so insane for the staff that they bought us lunch on the company because of it. LOL

So those were the major things... hopefully after we move and get things settled I'll have pictures to put on here also. I hope everyone is doing well... Love ya!

Ponderings...

2006-06-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I just wrote things on here, and didn't share a million pictures.... :) so I just wanted to update on some things that are happening right now in the lives of Phil and Em.

~On June 26th, we will celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. Doesn't seem possible sometimes, and sometimes it feels like it's been 10 years! ;) All in All, it has been wonderful, and the best two years of my life. Funny, when I had one of my showers, my siblings all wrote notes to me. Mike, my eldest brother, wrote not to expect Phil to know what I'm thinking. I have thought of that almost everyday. Becuase it is so true. No matter how much Phil knows me, or thinks he knows me... he can't read my mind. I've learned that communication is a huge part of being married. Which was/is a big lesson for me to learn. I wasn't used to talking, or someone wanting my opinion on things. Phil has been awesome with this. He truly is my soulmate. God overly blessed me when He gave Phil to me. I remember as a kid, praying for my future mate. I would pray and ask God to keep him safe that day, or to just give him a wonderful day, and to let him know that I was praying for him. I can see now, how that has helped me now... I pray for him constantly. He is always on my mind. I love you hottie!

~This past Sunday, was my sister Naomi's 25th Birthday! I wanted so bad to be there to celebrate with her. Hopefully I will make it up by spending some time together in July... :0) Happy Birthday Chick! Love ya!

~About two weeks ago, my brother Opey, opened Yeager Machinery Store... I prolly don't have that right, but it's the gist. Congrats, Op. I'm so proud of you and Nae.

~About a week ago, my mom came to visit me!!!! She was here about five days. I was so encouraged by her being here... she'll never know what it meant for her to be here during that time. God really just knows when you need some "help" and Mama came to my rescue. Thanks Marmy, for everything you do. I miss you, and love you very much!

~This past Sunday was also Fathers Day!!! I called all of the men in my life that are fathers... I'm so proud of my brothers for the Dad's they have become. I can't wait till God gives Phil the opportunity also. God has truly blessed me with an awesome Papa, and Father-in-law. Also to all the Future Fathers... God has a special plan and I know that you will be great dad's.

~WE GET TO GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so freakin excited! We are leaving the evening of June 30th, and staying almost two days with my brother, Mike... Then heading to Illinois until the 9th of July! God so worked this out... I only had to use 3 vacation days to get the week off, so all we have to do is work around Phil being off, as I will get paid as usual. What is even cooler, is that my Aunt Deanne is coming from California for a visit!!! Tia, and Kyle and Aden are coming too! I was extremely excited when I found this out. I haven't seen Tia and Kyle since '01. And it will be really nice to get to see some family for more than a few hours. God has truly answered a prayer...

~Work is going good. It's difficult some days, and some days it's a blast. I'm thankful for the benefits too, again... another answer to prayer. I also get vacation days and such, so I'm really happy.

~Phil is off of school for the summer, but he will start full blast again in August. I'm in shock though, this time next year, we will be moving back to Illinois. Sometimes it's hard to think about it. Because this is where Phil and I have grown together so much. This is where we started our family. We have so many great memories here... But, it will be fun to make new ones wherever God puts us. We will always look back on these days in Tennessee as days that we remember God being with us. There have been so many times that God showed himself to us so strongly. We will never forget. Thank you, Lord for your blessings on me. I love you because you first loved me.

~I have a huge unspoken request... that has been heavily on my heart. God knows, and He knows my heart and the desires of my heart. But please pray for Phil and I as we wait on God. That isn't always the easiest thing to do, our flesh gets in the way (particularly mine) and wants it different. But as it says in Psalms, Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Expecting Possums... Got a cat.

2006-06-09T10:28:00.000-05:00

So, Phil is in a habit of checking the live trap that stays on our deck every morning, in hopes of finding the Possums that have been populating the land that we live on. Phil check it this morning, and just started laughing. He said, guess what we got.... when he said a cat, I was very surprised. LOL we had a good laugh over it though... So of course, I had to have him take pictures so that I could tell all my blog peeps about it. He was really mean though... hissin and pouncing at Phil... I stayed in the house. Not that I'm a wimp, I had to get ready for work of course! :)

~My Weekend~

2006-05-22T09:24:00.000-05:00

So, I have to tell a funny thing about my husband... These last couple weeks he has been all into fishing in the creek by our house. So he's got the fishing line and all of that stuff, well on Friday of this last week, he was down by the creek and texting me. Yup, you guessed it, he dropped the phone... only to see it fall within inches of the creek. So he manuvers down the hill do get it, and slips and falls... only to land on the phone with his foot therefore, shoving the phone into mud, and water. By the way, he fell all the way in the creek, it came up to his waist. :) Isn't that hilarious? Not really that funny, when you have to pay 50.00 for a replacement phone... :)

Onto the good stuff... We woke up Saturday morning, and went to an auction! We had great fun there... Then, one thing that Phil and I enjoy doing is just driving. It was a beautiful day, so we had the windows down, and were just talking. And enjoying being together... Here was the view... this is the very far away look at the Smoky Mountains.

So not really realizing it, we ended up in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg and there we went to the new Bass Pro Shop. Here are some pics from that... I love how they have all the real animals that have been stuffed. This bear is huge, this is the view from the second floor.

And this is me with the huge Moose! this thing was huge, and Phil enjoyed pretending to pick his nose. I wanted to get a picture but for some reason he wouldn't let me...

And finally, Sunday night we had our church service out at the camp. The picture is blurry, I'm sorry... but you get the idea! (That is Bob & Kelly (Chamberlain)Radank and Julie Alcorn who's backs you see)It was great fun, and we had a beautiful day for it. Afterwards we went to Applebees for thier amazing Blondie... mmm... so good.

So this is what I did on my wekend. I'm so thankful that I got to see my husband! God blessed us with some great "together" time this weekend... now back to reality! To work and to interums!

Opey & Renee Rowell

2006-05-17T08:15:00.000-05:00

This is my brother, and his wife Renee... aren't they sweet?

Opey is prolly one of the most encouraging people in our life right now. He gives awesome hugs. He's great friends with Phil, although they never get to spend time together. :) They have the same favorite hobby, golfing. And Renee and I have the same favorite hobby, SHOPPING!!! Just ask our husbands! I also love it that they come and visit us. In competition with my mom, they have came and visited us the most. You guys have no idea what an encouragement that is.

If you are around them for any period of time, this is what you will see. They love to smooch. And you could record it, it's so loud. :) They taught Phil and I all we know ;) I learned alot while chaperoning!
Here is Renee being herself...
And Opey... "Hey babe, do you think I'm a hottie now?" And in honor of Opey, here is a tribute to his favorite restraunt... one of the reasons he comes to visit so often!!! :)

~~I hope you guys know how much Phil and I love you! We can't wait to see you!~~

Goodbye, Chris.

2006-05-11T09:50:00.000-05:00

Yes, the sadest thing happened last night... The hottest guy that has ever been on AI is gone... Chris Daughtry was voted off of American Idol. This is seriously the worst day in the history of American Idol. In memory of Chris... here is some pictures of us to remember him by. Meghan and I will mourn this loss for a long time... lol My vote is now on Taylor!!!

~Several Posts 2~

2006-04-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

Mike & Kristy Rowell & Family This is my brother Mike, and his wife Kristy.
Mike is now the proud pastor at Oaklandon Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is my brother's dream. Phil and I are so proud and happy for them!
This is my new baby niece! Her name is Audrey Joan. This is my first time to see her, so I have a million and one pictures of her. If you want to see more, just email me.
This is the onery one... Derek. Isn't his smile even onery? lol He's adorable!

This is Trey and Gracie... Emmy got them some toys, and we went outside to play with them! I loved spending time with them. I hardly get to see them anymore so this was a very precious time for me.

~Several Posts~

2006-04-20T08:49:00.000-05:00

I have several different things to post about, so make sure you scroll all the way down. I have lots of pictures to put on here, but I want them seperated... so here goes!

NATALIE TAILBY - Natalie came from Corby, England to stay with us for 17 days. We had a blast getting to know her even more. We met Natalie when Phil and I went to England last summer. Here are some pics so you can get to know her a little! Here she is at our family Easter dinner... She got a new dress, isn't the color awesome on her? On Saturday, the church had a bowling activity... she loved it. This was a great time for the church to get to know her better also.
This is her man, Jonathan V. He goes to Crown College with Phil. Jonathan showed up at the airport in Cincinnati to surprise her with a promise ring and a necklace. She screamed so loud, and I was standing right next to her when she saw him. The people at working at the airport were ready to push the "red button" that something was wrong. LOL It was a blast. Congrats to Jonathan and Natalie... we love you both, and pray that God stays in the middle of your relationship and that everything you do, will glorify Him.
One of the things Nat is great doing, is working with kids. By the end of the bowling banquet Nathan had taught them German 1-10 and she had taught them French 1-10. It was great, and very sweet to see her interact with them. This is how we were used to seeing Nat by the time she left. On the phone with Jonathan. LOL Great times. We miss you Nat! We are praying for you, and can't wait to see you again! x-x-x

The McRae's

2006-04-05T12:33:00.000-05:00

So, I have a new favorite song and a new favorite Southern Gospel group... Here's some info.

Interesting Fact:Free and McRae Announce Engagement Ricky Free, of the popular quartet Brian Free & Assurance and Kelly McRae, half of sister duo the McRaes are pleased to announce their engagement. Ricky popped the question on Wednesday, September 28th in Nashville, Tennessee. Ricky said, "God sent me an angel and I just knew that I couldn't let this one go.” Kelly added, “Why God chose to bless me with someone 10 times greater than the person I've prayed for, I will never know…but I thank Him for it!" A private ceremony will be held on May 31st, 2006. Ricky and Kelly will reside in Nashville, TN.
Favorite Song: "He knows my name"
Words and Music by Annie McRae

Verse 1 - He counts the stars one and all
He knows how much sand is on the shores
He sees every sparrow that falls
He made the mountains and the seas
He's in control of everything
Of all creatures great and small
Chorus -
And He knows my name
Every step that I take
Every move that I make
Every tear that I cry
He knows my name
When I'm overwhelmed by the pain
And can't see the light of day
I know I'll be just fine 'Cause He knows my name
Verse 2 - I don't know what tomorrow will bring
I can't tell you what's in store
I don't know a lot of things
I don't have all the answers
To the questions of life
But I know in whom I have believed
Chorus
He knew who I was when He carried my cross
He knew that I would fail Him but He took the loss
Chorus -
Every step that I take
Every move that I make
Every tear that I cry

Isn't that precious? God knows my name!!!! Praise the Lord!
If you would like more info about the McRae's, here's thier web site

My Parents are Flying!!!!

2006-03-28T10:24:00.000-06:00

My phone is on picture overload! :) This is the first picture I recieved this morning... Probably of thier flight from Peoria to Chicago... I'm thinking my Mama is lookin pretty dang good! She was really worried about flying...

This is Bro. Rick, he went on the trip with Mom and Dad too. He's just like a big brother... he's with our family alot. And we like it that way... he ALWAYS is with us on 4th of July... He's cool. Oh yeah, and he went to school with my dad... so he remembers him from the "old days" :)I'm thinking this is on thier flight to New York, Mom had a caption that she chose the window seat! Huge step for her, because she is afraid of heights... just like her father. So, I got this picture last evening... Daddy called me and they were sitting in the airport in New York waiting to board thier flight to Israel. Mama seemed much better now that they were with the "group" that they were traveling with. Here they are sportin their tickets!There might be more to come! Just thought this was cool... Thanks for all of you who are praying for thier safe flights. I will post here when I know for sure that they are there.

Sunshine has moved in!!!

2006-03-20T10:00:00.000-06:00

Sunshine is his name... and playing is his game! :) Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to entroduce you to Sunshine the yellow fish. Electric Yellow Mbuna Cichlid Labidochromis Caeruleus is his official "kind". Isn't he pretty?We had to take him out of our other tank becuase he kept eating all the other fish! He is very territorial. He can pick up almost anything in the tank and move it... He is now on my desk at work, in his own little tank all to himself. :)

Happy 51st Birthday Aunt Sandy!!!!

2006-03-14T15:34:00.000-06:00

So, today was my Aunt Sandy's 51st Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Auntie Sandy... Happy Birthday to you!!!!This is the Rice Crispie/Fruity Pebbles Cake I made for her... :) She was surprised!!!
My Uncle Dan and Aunt Chris came to Tennessee to visit... I was so happy to see them!My Aunt Sandy and Me!!! Being with them made me miss my Mama so much... These are her sisters! The people at work couldn't believe how much I looked like them!
Look at the love birds! And Uncle Dan advertising for Subway... by the way, Uncle Dan and I came to the conclusion that the New HoneyHam Sandwich is awesome! :)

Date Night

2006-03-06T08:57:00.000-06:00

So... about two weeks ago, my hubby took me on a date! We went to eat Mexican food, and then went to see the Icebears play hockey! Hockey was one thing we always did when we were dating. So it brought back alot of memories... So fun! Thank you babe, for being the love of my life, and being the life of our love. Anytime we get to spend together is rare, and very cherished... God has been so good to us and has very much blessed our marriage.

Dr. Ian Paisley was here!

2006-02-27T10:51:00.000-06:00

The Reverend and Right Honourable Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, MP, MLA (born 6 April 1926); also known as Dr. Ian Paisley, is a prominent politician and church leader from Northern Ireland. He is founder and Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, and Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Dr. Paisley came and spoke at our Faithful Men's Conference this past January... We enjoyed so much having him here... I wanted to share some about him. He gave Biblically sound Bible messages, and spoke to my heart in many ways. It was a pleasure to meet and converse with him. May God bless him in many ways for being a blessing to Temple Baptist Church. He also taught us a new song they sing in Ireland... here are some of lyrics... "With eternity's values in view Lord, With eternity's values in view... May I do each days work for Jesus, with eternity's values in view!" Amen! Amen! and Amen!!!!!

Here is what a the local news station said about his visit...

British Parliament member says faith comes first!!

Temple Baptist Church welcomed Dr. Ian Paisley, the Northern Irish leader with a reputation for pitting Protestants against the Catholic church.

For 36 years, Dr. Paisley has used his position in Parliament to block Ireland's attempts to withdraw from British rule.Tuesday morning, the Irish minister's message sounded both familiar and foreign."It's a great thing to serve the Lord," Paisley told about 1,400 people sitting in the Powell church's pews. "It's a thrilling thing to serve the Lord!"

Paisley has perfected his powerful delivery from his seat in Great Britain's Parliament, but he also practices from the pulpit of the Free Presbyterian Church he founded."It's the same message, but the delivery is very powerful and rich and full," Crown College Junior Dan Rolle said. "He'd get on a little Irish role there, and I wasn't sure what he was saying, but for the most part, I got it."

"It's good for those of like, precious faith to come across denominational barriers and stand together in the things they agree on," Dr. Paisley explained that Protestant and Baptist views on gospel ministry, misionary work and helping the poor were similar. Paisley preached Jesus Christ's compassion, at the same time calling on church members to "re-dedicate themselves" and to become militant about their beliefs."I'm just a plain jailbird out of jail for the time being," he told the audience.Paisley says he has taken an uncompromising stand on his convictions. He twice went to prison for leading demonstrations that ended in riots."His determination to keep Northern Ireland as part of the U.K. is what has caused the conflict through the years," Temple Baptist Pastor Dr. Clarence Sexton explained. "He does not compromise.""Because you take one stand, and you don't change that stand, many people are going to say you're controversial," James Daniel, missionary to Puerto Rico, said.

Sexton said he has preached at Paisley's invitation in England and Ireland.He points out the Bible Belt was formed by immigrants from Northern Ireland. He says Paisley came to East Tennessee as an example of how to voice one's Christian convictions."I need to hear preaching like that," he told the congregation."God has called me to preach," Rolle said. "I'm a preacher, and he's given me a very high example of someone to strive for."

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!

2006-02-10T14:56:00.001-06:00

Yeah! We got snow!!!! Wasn't much compared to what I'm used to from living in Indiana/Illinois all my life... but hey, it's white! :)
Here are some pics taken from my phone for your enjoyment...
And God bless us one and all... Emily

Back to normal ~ or trying to be.

2006-01-20T08:56:00.000-06:00

Waaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppp?????????? :) Hi! Yeah, I'm finally trying to get back to a normal schedule and get this updated! So, to update everyone over the last month here's what's going on in the life of Emily Hulett.

December 22, was officially my last day at Farm Bureau in Anderson Co. I was very sad. One of my closest friends works there, and I had to leave her... I got so used to being able to see her everyday and took for granted being able to spill my guts whenever I wanted! I was able to spend some time with her last Saturday and that was truly a blessing.

December 22 PM- We have a stowaway! Yup, Sarah Watt came with us on our trip home to Illinois! It really was fun to have her with us, it seemed like the trip went so fast having someone else with us! Anyway, we made our way home and stayed until December 31st. This truly was a blessed time. We needed to get away and spend some time with family, but more so with each other. We don't see each other hardly at all during the school year, so it was great to catch up on some "together" time. We loved being there for three church services at our home church! It is such a blessing to see the people at home staying faithful. We came away with several burdens to carry, but that is what the fellow Christian friends are to do... help carry a burden. God has been so good to us, it's so hard to explain. I really struggled with being here, I really didn't want to be here whether it was God's Will or not. I can joyfully say that, that has changed! When we go home, Phil and I both can't wait to get back to Tennessee because we know that is where God wants us. It is amazing to me the people that God has put in our lives to encourage us. I will forever be grateful to so many people for helping me stay faithful.

January 1 - Yeah, so we didn't do anything for New Years! LOL and that's okay. I got to see the ball drop, that was fun... last year I fell asleep. It was nice to be home for a couple days to catch up on home chores and relax!

January 3- I started my new job! This week was really hard. I hardly knew anybody, and the atmosphere was so different to what I had been used to! My boss hugged me on my first day. I can honestly say, I have never had a sweeter, most compassionate boss than what I have now. This past Saturday, he had us over for dinner! He made this chicken/sausage gumbo with rice, and we had a whole bunch of cajun food! I had fresh crab dip that he had made out of crab that he brought back from Louisiana. It was so neat. His house is magnificant! Anyway... I am now getting into a grove at my new job, and I know the people for the most part now. Again, God is good. There were a few times I didn't think I could do it. But I'm still here and lovin' it!

January 6- I got a rabbit! His name is Ears! :) He's soooo cute. We had him out last night just letting him go around the livingroom and he was hopping all over the place it was so funny! He loves to eat carrots, it's funny when he eats them because the fur all around his mouth will be orange by the time he's done eating. It's cute. Ears likes to be held and cuddled but he can't figure out why when he pee's he gets thrown in his cage! :)
January 13 - I decided to sell Partylite! :) :) :) I'm so very excited! I'm really hoping that this will help us pay off some things, and even save a little for when the Lord blesses us with children. My first party will be on January 27th! Please pray for me in this... I'm hoping this too will help me get used to speaking in front of people I don't know!

January 17 - I became an aunt again! To a beautiful little redhead baby girl. Her name is Audrey Joan Rowell. She was born at 7:19 a.m. and weighed in at 8.5 pounds and 20 1/2 inches long! Here's a picture of the cutie... If you want to see more you can go to her daddy's blog www.redheadrev.blogspot.com But here is the picture I got on my phone!

January 20- Today. Everyone is gone to a meeting off-site so I'm here by myself! But I just wanted to update this so you knew what's up with me! Hopefully I will get to post more often. Hope you all are doing well and are dwelling in the goodness of the Lord!

Proverbs 30 verse 5
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him

Love in Christ, Emily

I'm not dead!

2005-12-15T17:03:00.000-06:00

Hey... I just wanted everyone to know that I'm not dead. I hardly get a chance to be on the internet, let alone to update my blog. I have some news though, I got a new job!!! I'm so excited, I've been praying for this for a long time. It will be the same pay, but I will have a ton of benefits and a much friendlier place to work in. I will also get to work with a very good friend of mine, Hayley. You can check it out here... www.lg-kfg.com

Other than that, all is good with us... We will be heading home to Illinois for a little break on the 22nd. Please pray for us as we are going through some changes right now with my new job and stuff. God has been so good to us and shown Himself to us so many times here lately.

May we all really know the true meaning of this Season. Jesus. My love to you all, and may you all have a very blessed Holiday Season.

I prolly won't post again till after the first of the year, and I'll be at my new job and on the internet all the time! :) Love, Emily

Hot Days

2005-10-19T15:11:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry it's been so long since I"ve posted, please forgive me... So here's what's on my mind today...

Our air went out at work last Friday, and the guy just came today to fix it. He said he couldn't fix it today, that we would have to wait till tomorrow. It's 85 degrees in here today. Now, it is hot... but there have been a few comments such as... "It's hotter than Hell in here" or, "It's four times as hot as Hell in here". It got me up on my soap box.

How can a place be hotter than Hell? Is that possible? Don't think so... Last night Bro. Pavitt from England was preaching at our World Missions Conference. The title of his message was, Do you have the right view on Hell? He went through 13 points on what Isaiah said on Hell. It brought me to tears just thinking about all the people I know that might be going there... Do I have the right view of Hell? Obviously not, becuase I'm not knocking down those peoples doors warning them of what is to come, if they don't come to know my Saviour. It got me so convicted I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I still am thinking about it. How can someone just not care? They don't have the right view on hell. I'm hopefully going to bring in my notes from the sermon so that I have the verses to go with it. But this has been on my mind all day... Do you have the right view on Hell? Oh, and please pray that our air gets fixed soon... :)

Change again.

2005-08-23T20:34:00.000-05:00

Have you ever just sat down and thought about all the things in your life that have changed? I was doing that today, and here's what I came up with...

Life seemed really simple when I was 12 and we were living in Indiana... My dad had been a pastor there for 9 years. This was all that I knew. I could tell you how to ride on your bike from my house to the church in town. I knew it like the back of my hand. The one thing I remember is, us kids would ride into the church to do our school work, and on the way we had to cross over railroad tracks. It wasn't the part that you could just ride over though, you had to get off your bike and walk over the tracks. Well, I was so little that I couldn't carry my bike and walk over it too... So, my big bro Mike would carry my bike for me, while I made the huge effort to walk over the tracks that came up to my knees (or so it seemed). For some reason, that memory has always stayed with me. I love my brothers and sister very much... We were all each other had growing up... boy, I miss those days.

So, obviously I've grown some since then, I could carry Mike's bike now :)

Mike is now married to Kristy, and has three precious little ones, and one on the way! The day he went off to Bible college was probably one of my hardest days, I was always close to Mike, he's so easy to talk to... whenever we went to theme parks, Mike rode with me. Shopping? I usually tagged along with Mike cause I knew he would look at cool stuff, and he would let me touch something if I wanted to :) He always called me a goon. Mike and I are the one's who have a preppy streak through us too... Mike and I also share a passion for music, we both love acapella.

Matt was the one who stepped on my kitten while he was playing basketball and killed it. :) Matt was the quieter one, usually with Nom when we went to do things. He's the mechanic in the family now. He's married to Corena and they have three of the cutest boys on earth. I hate being so far away and not being able to see Mike and Matt's kids grow up...
Matt's cool now... he likes alot of movies that I do, and we have alot more in common now that we've grown up. Matt would give me his left leg if I asked him for it... he's such a sweet, handsome guy.

Opey on the other hand, is hilarious. He's married to Renee. They are a cool married couple. Opey loves to have things nice, see... Mike and I rubbed off on him about the preppy thing. To Op, if you can't pay top dollar for something, don't get it until you can get the nice one. Op is a tractor salesman. And man can he ever sell those things. Opey is like Mom, he has a very tender heart. Op cries when he hugs me, cause he misses me. We share a love for contemporary music. By the way that reminds me that he has my cd's! Aurgh! Opey also comes and visits me in TN... I love that. I want everyone to see my house!

Naomi is my sister. I only have one, and she's the best you can have. She's the reason I chose to write all of this. Yesterday she went to Bible college. My sister is 24 and not married. I'm so proud of her for making this step. If anyone doesn't like change, it's my sister and me. We were so close after all the boys got married, we did everything together. She would make me buy something more ladylike and I would get her to get something more updated. We evened each other out. We would go to movies together, I would take all her "returns" back to Walmart... I can honestly say, when Phil asked me to marry him, one of the first things I thought of was my sister. What would Nom think, would she be upset, happy? I was the one who didn't want marriage. I wanted to have a career and go to college, now she's the one who's in college and isn't married. I miss our talks, and how close we were. Don't get me wrong, we're still close, it's just different now. And we both know that. I can read my sister too, I know when she's upset, or if I did something wrong, and she can do the same to me.

All I can say is, growing up has changed alot.

Alot of change came for me when I met my husband. I had never felt needed like he needed me before. I saw him almost everyday for the first year that we dated. If I didn't see him, or even if I did... we were on the phone every night. He was the first one I said hi to in the morning and the last to say good night. My husband is my best friend, maybe that's why things changed so much for me and Nom. Phil (that's his name) came in my life at a time when I didn't expect it. He quickly stole my heart. I wanted to be with him all the time. I had never felt this before. I wanted him to know my family, and my family to know him. :) He was afraid of my brothers, and I loved that. (that is what big brothers are for) Although, it was hard for my family to know him, or to know him as my boyfriend because he was so different then people we knew. He grew up totally different than I did. I like that though, because there are things that I learn from him, and things he learns from me. On June 26th of last year, I married him. One of the happiest days of my life. But it also came with a huge amount of change. I now live in Tennessee, I attend Temple Baptist Church, and work at Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. I live 9 hours away from all of my family. What I once knew as everyday life; seeing my family, SMI, Friday nights with Nom, tractor pulls, Bethel, piano... all of that has become an occasion for me. I must say though, with all of the change life has brought me, God has been with me each step of the way. The nights I cried myself to sleep because I missed my family so much, God was right there giving me grace to wait till the next time we got to go home. Life is easier now, I still miss my family just as much, and miss Illinois. But God has given me peace to be here. This is where he has Phil and I in this point in our life. It may not always be what we want, but God will give contentment to those who ask Him for it.

Mondays...

2005-08-15T11:21:00.000-05:00

Today has been crazy at work, they have decided to put me up front by myself, so I am driving myself nutty trying to get all of my work done, then have customers coming in by the minute. It's so wonderful! ;) Um, yeah... so my birthday is in 16 days! I'm going to be the very young age of 22.

Phil is getting ready to start school, his first day is the 31st of August... yup my Birthday!!!!!!! :)

Um, nothing much new to say... Mom and Nom came down for a couple days, that was fun... I got to see Nom for a while and spend some time with her, she will be busy at school but I'm so excited for her.

Natalie, my friend from England is coming to visit us for two weeks in April :) I'm very excited about showing her everything. She has no idea... She's my age and we get along great... you can tell by my phone bill... one call to her for 30 minutes was almost 50.00... she got her phone bill, it was 1.40 in american money. LOL She'll call me from now on... :)

Church is great, all the college kids are starting to come back, so I'm getting excited about seein all of "my girls". I went to Hayley's on Saturday night to play games with her. I was there till 11:30 playin Golf. If you don't know how to play that card game, you should find out cause it's fun...

Oh! I got my cartilage pierced for my birthday... it's cute but kills. The only bad thing is that my hair is getting long, and when it's down, you can't see it! :( Oh well...

Okay, I'm done rambling... :0) Good day!

Will someone dig a hole?????

2005-07-21T11:49:00.000-05:00

and put me in it!!!!!!!!! Ok, just a little airing out here... I was in the newborn nursery last night, was there two minutes and Silas puked all over me... That is just the beginning of my night. We get home, and Phil loves to aggrivate me... to get me mad just cause he thinks it's cute. So he starts doing things he knows makes me tick... So then, guess what? Emily's in a bad mood... so he makes up and we start to enojoy the evening again, THEN!!!!!!! I had to make a Texas Sheet Cake for the Pastor's School at Temple. So I begin doing my wife thing in the kitchen baking, everything is going well, until I start to make the frosting. I had to make it three times before I finally got it right. By this time, I was so frustrated it wasn't funny. So I ask God to make me forget this evening and everything will be fine in the morning. Right?

NOT!!!!!!!!! Thursday morning everything I touched either broke or didn't work. Seriously... It's crazy! I made a customer about have a heart attack because I can't read numbers. I was late to work for the second time this week. On Tuesday the rest of my furniture came while Phil was still in bed, then this morning... I am seriously going to go hybernate soon...

Catching up...

2005-07-19T08:48:00.000-05:00

Man, things have been crazy at my house. We got back from London, and went straight to Illinois to see family and show them the pictures. We had a blast and enjoyed the time spent with our church family. Hopefully soon I can take the time to go through our daily "doins" of when we were in England. Don't have that much time right now though. I would like to post pictures too, but Phil has to help me with that. We'll just leave it at, God did a great thing for us, and worked in our hearts while we were there. We got so close to the church there, that we both cried when we had to leave. There are so many people there who don't know God... Please pray for the missionaries that are there, and for the people to listen and have tender hearts.

So, on a lighter note... life has been good. I dont really know where to start... Deann and her girls came down and spent a week with us. We were able to spend lots of time with them, which was great because Phil and I both needed it. Hopie was my flowergirl and just has a really special spot in Emmy's heart. Not that Deann and Morgan don't.... but ya know. They stayed two nights in a hotel and we went and had a pool party! It was so fun, we had pizza and soda, then swam and swam... It was so much fun! We went to the Dixie Stampede on Thursday night then they had to leave on Friday... So much fun though.

Okay, I have to seriously go to work, but I'll post later today or this week. Love to you all!

Status: London, England - Piccadilly Circus

2005-06-13T11:10:00.000-05:00

Hey all! Yup, yup... I'm in England! Sorry that I haven't been able to write while we have been here, but internet was the last thing on my mind while being here! We were in Corby, England (Northants) for two weeks then today we came by train to London. What would have been a three hour car drive (possibly longer) just to get us to the outside of London, took us one hour by train and to our hotel on Russel Square. We have went all over today looking at the sights... my feet are killing me! :) We have went to....oops guess you will have to wait till I get back to hear about our trip! Phil says it's time to go! :) Love and Prayers to all.... Please pray for us we are here till Wednesday then we drive to Illinois on Thursday!

Ramblings

2005-05-27T14:24:00.000-05:00

So, yeah.... the past couple days have been absolutely crazy! My living room floor is covered in clothes, suitcases, and tons of odd and end stuff. Only an hour and a half left and I will be off of work for three weeks! Kind of a scary thought, but oh well.

I am so excited about this trip, God has worked so much in Phil and I's lives this will be a huge part to add to our stockpile of God's blessings. I'm taking my songbooks so that maybe I can play the piano some over there... I never get to play anymore which makes me sad. I'm praying that someday we will be able to get a full size keyboard so I can take it places with me. I'm also taking two of our family cd's. Then we can say we have cd's in London too!

Ah! I'm doing hair for a wedding tomorrow too! I will be there from 11 in the morning to 6 in the evening! Doesn't help much for my packing schedule but, they are paying me, and I love to do hair so it will be fun anyway. I did the Bride's hair two weeks ago, and she loved it. It turned out awesome! I was so happy! :)

Don't really know why I felt like rambling a whole bunch of stuff... I'm hoping to get to blog while we are in England. It would be cool to type a daily journal in here to remember little details too.

Well, I will post in here later... please pray for us, and pray I won't get sick on the flight.

Love and Prayers from me, Emily "The Redhead"

Our trip!

2005-05-19T10:54:00.000-05:00

So, I choose this post to talk about our trip to London, England. We are leaving on May 30th from Atlanta, Georgia. We will get to Heathrow airport at 7:30 on the morning of the 31st. Bro Pavvit is suppose to have someone there to pick us up and take us to his home in Corbey. We will spend two weeks with him and another missionary starting a church in a near-by town. They have a goal this summer to start two churches, and to be preaching on street corners in London, every saturday. We are so very excited about this but most of all to get an idea of how it will be when we get there to do the same things for our ministry. I am so excited to see the culture and just how they do things there. I know God will also give me a stronger burden for these people because that is what I am praying mostly for.

When we finish our two weeks with the missionaries, we are staying two days in London by ourselves. Phil has been there before and knows how to go places and the really neat things to see. I can't wait to see Big Ben, Zebra Lane and things like that. There are a ton of places we want to go but I can't think of any of the names!!!! aurgh! Then we will fly back into Atlanta and go straight home until the 21st of June.

How exciting is this?????? lol If you could see me now, I've got goosebumps from talking about it! God is so good, and has done so much for us... All the praise and honor goes to him for what He has done, and what He's going to do in and through us while on this trip.

Any questions, suggestions of things to see, or things to be aware of? Let me kn0w! ~ The Redhead.

Hey, Hey, Hey!!!!!!

2005-05-06T14:45:00.000-05:00

So, yeah... I'm here. I am the official Mrs. Emily Christine Rae Rowell Hulett. Noone has a name like me :) Life for me is hectic right now. I work from 8-5 at Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. I am a CSR... basically I do all the dirty work with the customers and keep them happy with thier agents. My husband, Phil, works for McAlisters Deli. If you haven't eaten there, you have to. It's so good. They have 2 pound baked potatoes, with tons of stuff on them. Anyways, he works from 5-11:30 every week night except Wednesday. Needless to say, weekends are a treasure in our home. Well, work calls... I'll blog more important things later.

OH! I can't believe I almost forgot!!!!! I'm going to England in 24 days!! (with my husband of course...) I'll also tell you more about that when I get more serious. This is also a way for me to keep my big bro updated on his lil sis. :0) Love ya dude.

Okay, so ttyl.... The Redhead (At Temple Baptist Church, I'm known as "The Redhead" Even by Mrs. Sexton, the pastors wife.)