June.. already?

Well, this time last year I was already "over" being pregnant, and ready to meet our precious little man, but still had a full 3 months of pregnancy ahead of me- ha! He was born in perfect timing though (literally, right smack dab on his due date) and we are so very thankful for the blessing he is to our life's! I just wanted to start with that, because quite frankly, it's so hard to believe how fast this year has gone! We're just T-3 months to Ayden's first birthday, and it's so bittersweet! :( He is changing so fast at this age (I should add, he's always changed fast- it's just that this past month has been full of some pretty big milestones for him)! He recently started going from the laying position to the sitting position, and then back and forth. I had no idea this meant a whole new "can of worms" was opening though. Starting Saturday, we put Ayden down for his morning nap around 9 as usual, and about 10 minutes later we heard what sounded like him blowing raspberries in his crib- so of course, we went to check it out.. he was sitting up, looking at the door, crying & blowing raspberries in-between breaths. Funniest thing I've seen in a LONG time.. (funny until we realized that this actually means he's charge of when he really falls asleep now.) His 2nd nap was just as interesting, and his 3rd he chose to skip all-together. If we've ever seen our life's change before our eyes, it was then!!! He's testing our patience, and slowly (but surely) learning what the word "NO" means! We have a very determined little man on our hands, and I really hope he carries this remarkable trait all through his life!

Other news on Ayden: his 9 month check is right around the corner, which means, more shots.. but also means we get to see how much he weighs, etc. and that's always exciting! Lets see, he's not crawling yet, but he gets on all 4's and scoots backwards/stumbles forward- so I have no doubt that we're super close to the real thing. He's MUCH happier than he's ever been before with this new found sense of independence! Ayden really enjoys playing with his friends- Kyle Pannabecker & him are best buds, OH, and Emma Pannabecker is his girlfriend (they've been on 2 dinner dates already, and even though I love her.. I think they need to slow things down a bit)! It's so cute to watch the boys interact though. It's amazing how different they are with only 5 1/2 months in-between them (which someday, will be like nothing)!

We had the Pannabeckers over for supper on Saturday night, and the boys just loved playing (Emma enjoyed watching, of course)! Kyle throws things at Ayden out of excitement, and Ayden, in return, attempts to rip every part of Kyle's face off- it's a healthy relationship, I'd say! ;) (for those of you reading and wondering why on earth we'd allow our babies to do this- Kyle is just over one year old, and Ayden is about 9 months- so really, they don't know any better yet. Either way, we can't wait to tell them how they treated each-other when they were babies.. right, Crystal?) We're thankful for Brandon & Crystal and the friendship we share with them. It's a huge blessing to have friends in the same stage of life living so close to us- literally, a 10 minute trip down the road instead of 2,000 miles away-HUGE blessing! We love you guys!

Sunday we had our Church community outreach carnival- it was loads of fun! There was all sorts of food, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, kids running around everywhere, live music, etc. etc. etc.! Ayden got the privelage of going on his very first horsie ride with his momma (I'll post pictures on facebook soon of all of Ayden's "firsts" this weekend- ((driving the car, his first lick of ice-cream, putting his toes in the pool, and playing in his crib while he's supposed to be sleeping)) so much fun)! He was hesitant at first, but once we got up there and started moving around, he had the time of his life. I think this means we have to buy a horse..! ;) We had a great turnout too, so I hope we'll be seeing more faces at Cedar Road in the weeks to come. Good work to everyone that pitched in!

Another thing I'll blog about this time: how incredibly powerful our Lord is.

I feel blessed to say that I've been "in a relationship" with God since I was in Kindergarten- ha! However, just in recent months, my relationship with Him has really deepened, and is exactly where I want it to be. There is nothing more rewarding then a DEEP relationship with our Savior, friends. I've learned recently (always known, but recently have learned), that sometimes, He will allow us to fall to our very lowest point, just to lift us to the highest & make us stronger than we ever were before. I've also learned that you have to ASK Him for help, and not just assume that He will help. Not because He doesn't know our needs (He's God, of course He knows what we need), but because He wants us to acknowledge that we can't do it without Him, and specifically ask for His help. It's amazing how quickly He intervenes on our behalf's when we admit we can't do it on our own. God works in funny ways, and I'm so very thankful for His humor!

Friends, I really do have the best husband in this whole world. I don't deserve Jaymes, yet God has given me the privelage of being his wife here on earth, and I couldn't be more honored! He rarely thinks of himself first, and is always doing cute little things for me when I need a "spirit lift". I had a horrible day with Ayden a few weeks ago, and he came home from work with a rose in his mouth.. for me! This past week, yet another horrible day, and he walked through the door with a candle and insisted I stop what I was doing immediately, and go take a relaxing bubble bath by candlelight. Seriously, SO blessed I am- he never focuses on how hard, or long his day was, and always makes sure I get enough "me time".. which is CRUCIAL as a momma!! I couldn't have picked a better daddy for my son, either. Ayden will never know how much that man loves him, and how far he would go to make sure he has the best life possible. Thank you, Lord, for placing Jaymes in our life's!

I'll end with the lyrics to this beautiful song, "Love never fails" by Brandon Heath. It's made a huge impact on my life recently, and I hope it does the same for you.

Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won’t make a sound
When I can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

The Heares :)

Bettering HIS Kingdom, new job, Ayden update, and living the green life!

Good morning friends!

Ayden just went down for his first nap, so I'm hoping that gives me a few minutes to post this much needed blog.. (fingers crossed!)

Well, it's almost April! Which is INSANE! Jaymes & I have almost been married for 2 years! I think I can speak for both of us when I say that these have been the craziest, most amazing, most rewarding, 2 years of our life's to date. Time is a fast moving thing.. very fast. I sometimes, well, most of the time, wish I had the "super power" to slow it down. :) All that being said, here's what's going on with us these days:

Jaymes has a job, Ayden's almost 7 months old, we found a Church, and I'm on a "living GREEN" spree! I guess this means I have to elaborate on everything? Probably the fair thing to do!

Jaymes has just completed his first full week of work (aside from his week of training in Indianapolis.) He's enjoying it! There's lots to learn, but he already knows so much from his experience in the Corps, so the odd's are in his favor! He's working with some pretty neat people, AND he has normal hours (which spoils us because we never had a "schedule" to rely on in the Military!) I will never fully understand what he does, because quite frankly, I'm not that smart in the "technology" part of life.. and that's okay with me! :) This job like I've said before, is a huge blessing. It's allowing me to stay home with our baby boy, and really, there isn't a job more rewarding in this world! I'm planning on doing this until it's time for pre-school. Thank you Lord, for making this possible!!!!

Okay, "living GREEN".. I LOVE IT! I've been on a mission for some time now to better the well-being of my family, and I'm just now getting "serious" about it. This includes making my own home cleaners that are free of chemicals, switching to cloth diapers, making all of Ayden's baby food, and changing the things Jaymes & I are eating as well. Right now I'm focusing on making the cleaners. I'm personally not comfortable with any of the traditional cleaners you can buy at the store. Clorox, Lysol, "green" works, (which is not green, by the way!), and everything else they sell out there. They all have harmful chemicals and that marvelous "WARNING: Keep away from children, if ingested, call poison control immediately, etc. etc. label on them!!!" WHY ON EARTH would I want to clean my home with these things? I have a little boy who's working hard on crawling, and putting his mouth on EVERYTHING! I want to know that what I'm cleaning with, will NOT harm him! So, that's my main motivation for doing this. I know everyone has their own opinion on this sort of thing, and that's fine. But mine is this: if I can make something better, healthier, and more safe for my family, I'm going to. I'll blog about the rest of my "Green spree" later! :)

Ayden will be 7 months old on the 7th of April. He is SO much fun! I love my job, because I get to stay at home with him and play all day. It doesn't get better than that. :) He's experimenting with all sorts of fruits & veggies! So far he's tried butternut squash, peas, plums, pears, and avocado. This week we'll be trying sweet potato, and apricots! I LOVE making his food for him, and he loves it too! Let's see, he's a blink away from crawling.. literally. He knows how to pick his butt up and turn in the direction he wishes to be in, but he's still working on the scooting part of it. Once he figures that out, he'll be off!! He's also learning how to give kisses, sitting up perfectly on his own, saying "da-da" all of the time, and starting to high five. This boy learns at the speed of light! Jaymes & I are blessed beyond words to have Ayden in our life's, he truly completes us.

Well, I saved the most exciting news for last. Jaymes & I have chosen a Church, and we are completely confident that this is where the Lord wants us- Cedar Road Missionary Church! This was by far one of the most difficult decisions we've ever made, and I'm glad it's over with! We're very excited about the ways that God is going to use our "gifts" here. When we made this decision we had 2 main things to focus on: where we could be used the most to better His Kingdom, and obviously, what would be best for our family. Both of the Churches we were choosing from were GREAT Churches, which made the decision that much more difficult. One of them appealed to us a little more than the other for a number of reasons- there were more people our age, more children Ayden's age, more things to plug into right away, etc. However, we didn't want to take the "easy" way out with this choice. God didn't tell us ONCE in the Bible that serving Him would be easy, actually, He told us the opposite. And for that reason alone, we chose Cedar Road. Because we know that God NEEDS us there, and that our family can do great things through this Church, for Him. We have some great friends that attend there along with us, and we're so excited to worship, and serve there along side of them! It's our hope that we can help the Church to grow & start some really exciting things there. God is faithful, friends!

That is all for now. Ayden will be up soon, and I have other things to accomplish before then!!

God Bless!

New beginnings in March!

It's March- isn't that exciting? That means one step closer to beautiful weather, which means: one day closer to playing OUTSIDE with my baby! Hallelujah!!!!! I was about ready to book our tickets back to Cali.. ;)

Well, we have some really exciting news this month.. (No, I am NOT pregnant again! You won't be seeing that exciting news for a few years, friends.)! Jaymes got a job!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's been hired by the "AME Group" (Advanced Microelectronics) in South Bend as their network engineer! He starts on the 14th with a week long training course in Indianapolis. After all that's said and done, he'll be working out of their South Bend office. This job is such a huge blessing to our family. It's full time, with full benefits.. and that's exactly what we needed. Now, I'll be able to stay home with little Ayden until it's time for him to start school, just as planned. We are blessed, and SO thankful for God's provision in our life's! Thank you to everyone who prayed for this job to come along, we cannot explain how much we appreciate it!

Since this blogging thing doesn't happen very often anymore- I suppose I'll update on the rest too.

Ayden James will be 6 months old in T-3 days. Excuse my language, but HOLY CRAP. That's his HALF birthday. That makes him HALF of a year old. That means only 6 more months until he IS 1 year old. Really, I'm still trying to figure out where the past 6 months have gone. He is learning at the speed of lightning! He's sitting up almost perfectly, learning lots of new emotions, and within the next month he will be crawling. He is beautiful, he is healthy, and he is happy (when he isn't teething)! We really couldn't have asked for a more perfect child! Thank you, Lord, for Ayden.

I just have to add a little paragraph or so on how amazing my friends are. I have such a great group of friends that encourage me daily! Recently, a dear friend sent me SUCH a sweet message about how much she looks up to me & how she thinks I'm such a great mother/wife/woman. I think she must have sent the message to the wrong person, because I fall short SO many times (if only she knew!) I'm so happy that I, also, encourage my friends. THAT is what friendship is about.

Last but not least: we've been on the hunt for a good church in this state for the past few months. We're happy to say that we have it narrowed down to 2 churches and will have a final decision by Sunday, March 13th! God is in very the center of this decision- we're not basing it off of who wants us where, not even necessarily what we feel would be easiest for us, but by where HE can use us the most. With all of that said, this will not be an easy choice & your prayers for us as we decide would be greatly appreciated as well!

Time for bed, hope you all enjoyed :)

God bless!

SLOW DOWN!

It's 10:45 pm and Ayden is sound asleep.. I should be too, but my mind is just racing tonight. I cannot believe how fast my little boy is growing up. I want it to slow down SO bad, but we all know that's not going to happen.. so I'm embracing every little moment. Every precious kiss, every perfect smile, every little coo, EVERYTHING. It was just a few months ago that we were leaving the hospital with this helpless little being. I just want to crawl into a bottle that freezes time with him.. is that too much to ask? :/

-Momma

Re-cap of the past 5 months!

Hello friends! After a 5 month break from blogging, we're back! Our "blog" is currently under construction (as you can surely see) but it's been made aware to me that we NEED to post a new one... so, here it is!

Well, the past 5 months have been nothing short of beautiful for Jaymes & I! I'm going to put a re-cap on the events of September-now as best I can. Starting with.... *drum roll* the birth of our baby boy!!!!!! Ayden James Heare was born on September 7th, 2010 (his due date) at 12:52 pm weighing in at 8lbs 1 oz. 20.5 inches long. He is perfectly healthy & absolutely breathtaking. We are so blessed to be his parents & thank God every day for blessing us with such a beautiful opportunity here on earth. I can speak for both of us when I say that we didn't think it was possible to love someone (other than each other) SO much. Ayden is our world. Being "mommy & daddy" has changed us for the better, and we are learning new things about life everyday. Family really is everything!

Fast-forward to November where our next big event took place. Jaymes' EAS ("end of active service" for you civilian folks) was on the 28th. However, his last day of "work" was the 3rd-ish. (I don't recall the exact date because it changed a dozen times.) I'd be lying if I said that I didn't shed a few tears while watching Jaymes walk out of our little apartment in his uniform for the last time. The Marine Corps has been such a HUGE factor in our relationship since the beginning. It was kind of like watching a part of our life's walk away. *sigh* But... once a Marine, always a Marine. OORAH!

On to the next: The move.

So we packed up & moved back to Indiana at the end of November. We are currently staying with my parents who have so kindly loaned us their basement until Jaymes finds a job, or until we save up enough to purchase our first home. Not exactly ideal for newlyweds, but it's what works for now & we are THANKFUL for their generosity! :)

And here we are, in the not so warm state of Indiana.. waiting for work to come along, and looking into our other options if nothing does. God is in control, and what a comforting truth to relax in.

This is short. But it's all we have time for right now!

Blessings to you all!

Jaymes, Abby, and our newest addition.. Ayden :)

Hello, September! (:

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!!!!!

Ahh we're excited for this month!

I really hope the summer treated everyone well.. it really flew by, didn't it?

Okay, so this is the last time we'll be updating this blog for awhile, (internet time will start to dwindle when we have a little baby to take care of!) but we promise to TRY and update again as soon as possible! Probably after the first few weeks.. maybe early October.

Soo on that note, there's lots of things to cover in this update.

Let me start by saying that my (Abby's) grammar will probably be horrible in this post because I'm absolutely exhausted, hope it's still read-able. ha!

Friends & family, there are FIVE days until 'Baby Heare's' due date.. (we're just dying to tell everyone his precious name)!! We've had lots of "predicted due dates" which have been fun to anticipate, but so far no one's been spot-on! Surprise, surprise! Babies come when THEY are ready, not when we are... (but wouldn't it be nice...)! Anyhow, we're very ready, so now we just have to wait for him to be also! It was very frustrating to go into our 39 week appointment with high hopes & hear, "Nope, he's still very comfy in there.." but on our way home I got to thinking about this, "We are VERY blessed to have a healthy baby on the way, and complaining because he's not here quite yet is incredibly selfish! Some people would do anything to be in our position, so NO MORE WHINING, ABBY!" It sort of smacked me in the face.. but I'm thankful for it! (Thanks God!!!!) So even though we are beyond ready for this next stage in life, we're enjoying the one we're in now while we still have time to.

On to the next..

As most of you know, our plan has been for quite some time to come back to Indiana in November when Jaymes is done with his active service. We were planning on moving in with my parents for a little while until we found a job/had enough money saved up to get our own place. Well, that's still an option! However, recently Jaymes was offered an IT position as a Civilian on Camp Pendelton. If he took this job, he'd be working at the same place he does now, but instead of going into work in cammies.. he'd be going in his civilian attire. He'd also have REGULAR hours, no barracks duty, a lunch break, a promised weekend, etc. It would bring in more than enough money for us & we'd be covered (all 3 of us) health care wise. Which is HUGE, because as of now we won't be upon moving back to Indiana.. and as you know, babies need to go to the doctor frequently.

So, is this what we really WANT? Mmm, probably not.. our main support base is back in Indiana & we would LOVE to be close to everyone again. However, we're at a point in our "journey" where it's not just about "us" anymore. We have a son to care for and provide for as well! Moving back to Indiana at this point would place us with a lot of "unknowns", & even though that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it would be silly to pass up an opportunity where we'd have lots of "knowns". (work with me people, I'm tired. haha!) Anyhow, this is not a decision we can make on our own.. it will shape the next few years of life for us. We're praying very hard that God would direct us to make the right decision. If you'd pray for us as well, we'd appreciate it!

Another update:

We just purchased a new vehicle which is actually a really neat story.. which I will try to make as short & sweet as possible! We sold our Lancer last month to a guy that Jaymes works with, and we were left with our truck! Well, we started to think about how the truck isn't really "family friendly".. it's more of a man machine. So we talked for awhile about trying to find something that would be easy to travel in with ALL of us. We have a friend who works at a dealership in a near by town that specializes in selling cars to Marines, so we went to see what they have! Well, we test drove a REALLY cool 2006 Dodge Durango. 3 rows of seats, (the 3rd row had the ability to fold down and turn into the perfect space for Dozer!) air, tonnnnnssss of space (perfect for traveling anywhere with a baby), and many other appealing features. Well, we talked with the owner because we were interested in doing an even trade in for our truck. There was a little problem though, he was selling the durango for 17 something & we only had 10ish left on our loan for the truck. We told him sorry, but we weren't trying to leave with extra debt, just a new car with the same amount of debt. ha!

He asked us to hang tight for a few minutes, so we did. He came back and told us that he REALLY needed our truck because he had customers looking for that type of vehicle all the time. The majority of his customers are single Marines looking for man-machines, not family sized vehicles such as the durango. So he said he'd give us the durango as an even trade in!!! How amazing, what a blessing, wow! We just had close to 8 grand dropped off the original price.. WE TOOK IT! So now we have a much better vehicle for our "family" & we aren't paying anything more than we were for the truck.. must be a God thing! (;

Well, that should be enough for now!

Prayer requests:

***That Abby would have a smooth labor & delivery/ that our baby boy would be perfectly healthy!

***That we'll be guided to make the right decision on job & location!

If you're praying for us, we thank you very much!!

Getting there..

Well it's been awhile since the last update, so here's another one!

Jaymes, baby, Dozer, and myself are doing pretty good. Not too much is new, we're on the real countdown to baby's birthday with just 32 days left! Just about everything is assembled & ready for him & his first few months of life.. there's a few more things we need to run & get, but all of the big things are in place so we can breathe. The pregnancy is going as smooth as it can at this point.. baby is healthy & that's what matters. Mommy, however, is exhausted with little sleep under her belt & lots of aches, pains, headaches, and swelling. Daddy is getting impatient as well & is ready for his little boy to come on out! At the last doctor appointment, we were informed that I was measuring in a week further along than originally thought. Doc decided to keep the due date of September 7th though, however, he could very well come at the end of this month.. we'll see what happens! And call me crazy, but I think he'll be here on August 31st. That's my prediction. Our next appointment is this Tuesday (the 10th) & we'll be finding out what position he's in for the big day!

Other areas of life: Jaymes is almost a civilian.. (but he'll always be my Marine!) He's pretty excited. He's ready to have some normal hours that don't vary from week to week, and so am I. It's just crazy to think how much our lifes are about to change! Going from being just the 2 of us, to the 3 of us. Going from living a Military lifestyle, to a civilian lifestyle. Going from one side of the Country, to the other.. it can be a little overwhelming. I never thought I'd say that I'm going to miss California, but I will. Not because it's better than Indiana, but because this is Jaymes & I's first home together.. the place our son will be born.. where we celebrated our 1st Anniversary, Christmas, Valentines day, birthdays (etc. )together. This place holds a million memories & firsts for us. We will definitley be visiting again someday.

Well, it's 10:40.. way past this lady's bedtime. I just thought some of you would appreciate a quick-ish update on where we are in life.

God Bless!