My Season of many "1st Times"

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...

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!

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!

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~

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...

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!!!!!!!

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...

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....

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...

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...

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.

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~

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

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.

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~

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.