I have never really known how to start out an intro in a blog. Do I say “Hi” (or more appropriately for me – HEY), do I launch right in or what?! I don’t know. So, forgive my lack of blog knowledge there. I’m hoping to get better at this as time goes by.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnyway…
I’m Kelly and this is my first official public blog. I have wanted to start it for some time now and since the new year is upon us, I figure there is no better time to get this blog started. My basic goal for this blog is to have a gathering place for my thoughts, opinions, introspections and such on the big three Fs in my life – Faith, Family and Friends. I find that those three things encompass most of my interests in this life. Everything I do seems to involve one or more of those at any given time. My 2008 goals mostly revolve around those three components as well. What better way to do that than to blog?
Faith – First and foremost, I am a Christian. The denomination in which we worship is United Methodist. I was raised and baptized in a small Southern Baptist church in Southwest Georgia. In my early 20s, I joined a United Methodist church. For a long time, I never really had a church I could truly call a church home. I attended sporadically and never got too involved anywhere for a long time. When I met Mickey (my husband – details forthcoming in the Family section), he was very involved as a Youth Counselor at a large United Methodist church in metro Atlanta, GA. He told me on our very first date that his church would become my church. I thought then and there “Yea, right…I am not a big church kind of girl” and told him as much. He was unconvinced. I guess the Lord laid that on him because, sure enough, a few months later I found myself involved as a Youth Counselor in that big church and loving every moment of being there. Mickey stood beside me when I joined that big church a few months later and we were married in that same church one year and three days after our first date which was, coincidentally (or DIVINELY) at a co-ed softball game at that church. That big church is our church home. We moved away for a couple of years and when we came back, we came back home to our church. Mickey is employed there as well. Our youngest daughter was baptized there and both our girls attend preschool there. The church means so much to us and is truly our church home. We are blessed to have such a place of worship!
More than being United Methodist, though, we are Christians. We believe that Jesus Christ was born of Mary, the Son of God, the ultimate teacher and healer and the one that took our sins to Calvary. We also believe that He conquered death, rose again and is in Heaven with God the Father. These are the fundamentals to our faith walk.
I sometimes feel like I am a “freshman” in faith. I have my faith, I know what I believe and I do my best to walk the Christian walk. I feel, however, that I need to go deeper. I need to put down more solid roots so that my faith can continue to grow and strengthen. So, one of my goals this year is to read the Bible all the way through. I’m hoping to do that with a Bible that has daily passages that get through the Bible in a year. That seems doable to me. And, I’m enjoying it. We’re also involved in a “life group” (small group) through our church and we meet on Thursday evenings. That group has really been instrumental in stirring my heart and giving me spiritual fuel for growth. Anything I can do that helps me grow as a Christian is something I want to do. I also need to learn what NOT to do and how not to discourage or set back my walk as much as possible. I’m learning every day.
Family – My family means the world to me. Starting at home with my amazing husband, Mickey. We often say that Divine Intervention brought us together. He is from Michigan and I am a Georgia girl, born and raised. We happened to meet when we both worked at the same hospital in Atlanta. We knew each other casually for a couple of years, but finally got to know each other better starting October 24, 2000 when he took me to his co-ed softball game at the church. I was the ONLY person in the bleachers for that 9pm game and knew no one besides Mickey down on the field. I spent a lot of time on my cell phone during the game just to have something to do. (He still kids me about that) That evening when he took me home, we talked until nearly 2 in the morning! We didn’t even kiss on that evening. From that day forward, we were together. And, on October 27, 2001 we were married. Our wedding was just incredible. To feel the hand and peace of God while making a lifetime commitment to the one He intended for you is powerful beyond words.
In the fall of 2002, Mickey was offered a job at a church in Southeast Alabama. He had always wanted a church job, so he took it. A few weeks after we moved and about five days before our first anniversary we found out that we were expecting a baby!! The following February, on Mickey’s 27th birthday, we found out that our firstborn would be a little girl. On July 1, 2003 our beautiful baby girl was born. Macey was 9lbs 4oz at birth and the most beautiful baby either of us had ever seen. I was blessed to be able to be a stay at home mom with her which was a dream fulfilled.
In August of 2004 , we moved back to metro Atlanta. While we mostly enjoyed our time in Southeast Alabama, it just wasn’t working out for us on the whole. We had a townhome in metro Atlanta that hadn’t sold and there were several other signs that just told us that it was time to move back. So, we did. Joyfully. We moved back without Mickey having a job offer, but knowing God had prepared the way for us. Sure enough, Mickey was offered a job with our church shortly after we moved back. We lived in the townhome for almost a year when we put it on the market again to try to sell it. Around that same time we found out that we were expecting baby #2. Our townhome went under contract in October 2005 and we moved out of it in early December. The townhome sale closed without a hitch and we moved into a rental home about 2 miles from the church.
In late December 2005, we had our big ultrasound appointment and that revealed that our second baby was another little girl. Another daughter, what a blessing!! Macey’s baby sister, Mariana, was born on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2006. Macey took to big sisterhood very readily and seeing our two girls together made our hearts overfill with love and joy. God has given us two beautiful girls to raise. And, we are so grateful that He has entrusted them to our care. They are amazing beyond all words and we love them so much.
Our whole family bring us more blessings than we can even count. Mickey and I are so fortunate to the family foundations that we both have. We both have foundations of faith and love that we can always count on and we are so grateful for that. Starting right here at home and extending far and wide across our family, we know we are blessed!
Friends – We have some amazing friends!That is putting it mildly. We have several friends that we have been close to for a long time and we know that they will be there for life. Our friends are very much like family to us and we cannot even begin to appropriately convey their value to us. We thank God so much for the wonderful friends He has given us!
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So, that’s about it for the intro. I got a little long winded, huh? I tend to do that. I’m a talker. But, hey, maybe a talker makes for a good blogger. I guess we’ll see.
For now, I’m signing off.
Blessings,
Kelly