Relationships...

Jonathan and I have been talking about this for more than a year and it's just heavy on my heart. We've been talking about friendships. It seems over the last year or two we've had a difficult time building strong relationships with other Christians. I feel like we were just beginning to build those relationships again in Charlotte before we moved, but it took A LONG time. It took less time to build strong, real relationships with people we didn't go to church with. Those friends were more willing to be honest with us about their lives. They were quick to tell us when things were not good, quick to tell us when they were fighting with their spouse, quick to tell us when their mother was sick, quick to tell us...well, everything. Why is this? Here's my theory: I think Christians are less willing to "lay it all out there". I think we are afraid of being judged by our peers, other Christians. Shouldn't this be the group we feel most safe with, not the most reserved? How do we change this? Or has this not been your experience? Thoughts?

News...

I know I haven't been posting on here much and those that were checking our blog probably aren't anymore, but just in case I wanted to share some news with you. I posted this on Facebook yesterday, but I know there are some family and friends who either aren't on Facebook or don't check it often. So here is the note I wrote yesterday...



There are many times that Jonathan gets tapped on the shoulder about possible job opportunities. He usually tells them thanks, but he's happy where he is. The tap he received this time was too hard to ignore. We decided he should pursue this one and see what happened. Well, what happened was that he interviewed last Friday, was offered the position the following Thursday and starts his new job on April 13!



He will be the Director of Finance over the physician network practices for a hopsital system. What does that mean exactly? He will be overseeing financials for all the physician practices the system owns. A Charlotte example would be practices like Mid-Carolina Cardiology. Ohio Health has 60+ practices right now and hopes to double that in two years.



Our house, you might be wondering... We have only lived in our current house for a little less than a year and with the market not being prime to sell a house right now, we are looking to rent it. We have some serious possibilities that we are hoping to finalize this week. You can be praying about that! Our specific prayer is that the Lord would put people in the house who have the same passion for this neighborhood that we do. When we get to Columbus, we will be in an apartment short term while we look for a house. Our desire is to be in a neighborhood similar to the neighborhood where we are now.



We are hopeful and encouraged about a church we found and were able to visit the weekend of Jonathan's job! They seem to have a similar vision as the church we attend now.We are hoping to have the movers here 2 weeks from today and then drive up to Ohio on Good Friday. We'd like to have Saturday to settle as much as we can and then attend Easter services Sunday morning.



I would be completely overwhelmed if the company weren't completely moving us (packing our house and everything)! Don't get me wrong! There is still plenty to do!! I have 9 different to do lists!



This is an exciting time for our family! We are DEEPLY saddened to leave Charlotte and everything and everyone that we love here, but we are confident that Columbus is where God would have us for the next chapter in our life. His mercies are new every morning and He has already been preparing hearts and minds for our arrival there!


A little bit of a bomb shell...I know!!



Anyway, there's the scoop!!

"It hurt my heart"...

Right after lunch, I was busy doing something I couldn't stop. I heard loud noises and knew toys were most likely being dumped. When I was able to get to the living room, Emma had pulled every one of her books off the bookshelf. It was obvious I was not happy with her. She was disciplined and we put the books back on the shelf. Not long after that happened, it was time for naps. Emma took a really good nap which means she wakes up happy (this is not an everyday occurance so I'm ALWAYS so thankful when it does happen). She was getting her snack and she said, "I'm sorry I made you sad." I told her I forgave her and asked how she made me sad. Then she said, "It hurt my heart to make you sad." Again, I asked her how she had made me sad. I had forgotten about the book incident. She told me she made me sad when she threw all the books on the floor and it hurt her heart to sin. Of course I told her again that I forgave her. We talked about sin and how God forgives us when we ask Him to. Then she told me that everyone sins. She may have made me sad earlier in the day, but she certainly made my heart smile this afternoon! As hard as it is sometimes around here, it's nice that the Lord gives me some glimpses of Grace through my sweet daughter.

247 emails and 'Kelly Girls'

As of 7 minutes ago, I've received 247 work-related emails this week. The sheer volume of information that comes to me by desk, phone, conversation, email, and text can be staggering at times. This has been one of those weeks.

In addition to all of this, I had an evening meeting on Tuesday, I went to work early on Wednesday, I stayed at work late on Thursday, and as of 5 minutes ago will be working late tonight.

Most weeks aren't like this one, but when I have a week like this, I miss my girls. Belive it or not, I even miss the crying, whining, and misbehavior. I just want to hold them, squeeze them, and kiss them lots. However, I do have something that helps me to keep sane. I have a playlist on my iPod named 'Kelly Girls'. It is a playlist of music that reminds me of my girls. The music is whimsical, alive, happy, and full of joy and love.

247 emails.....but I have the 'Kelly Girls' to help me through. Ooops...248.

Quantities like 'So Much'

Recently, we've been working with Emma to learn about quantities and size. We talk about little things, big things, too much, a lot, and she is learning her numbers from 1-12. She has even begun negotiating how many M&M's we should dole out. I'll say, "I'll give you 2 M&M's". She will then reply with "I want 5 Mns" (she can't quite say M&M's).

So when Emma began to use the quantity 'so much' I was puzzled. Her typical usage is to say 'Tickle me soooo much'. This morning I finally realized why she was using this usage.

Nicole's favorite book to read to Emma is 'Guess How Much I Love You'. It is about Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare and they talk about how much they love one another. To reinforce this, Nicole and I always hug her and tell her 'I love you so much'. Emma now thinks that 'So Much' is a quantity, and it is the maximum possible quantity known to mankind. After all, mommy and daddy tell me that they love me 'So Much' and that is more than anything.....

S L O W . . .

Dear Blog,

I know it's been pretty slow around here lately. Not many posts, hardly any pictures and virtually no comments. It's partly my fault. I'd like to say I am not neglecting you for another, but that would be a lie. The truth is there is another. It's name is Facebook. It's faster and easier to download pictures to, there are more people there I know and there are other fun things besides writing and pictures there. So, I'm not quitting you all together, but most pictures and family updates will be there. So if you are reading this and you haven't jumped on the Facebook band wagon...jump on! It's easy!

Always yours,

Nicole McConnell Kelly (this is how you can find me on Facebook)

One Word Answers

Try using one word to answer each question....here are mine.

1. Where is your cell phone? HOLSTER
2. Where is your significant other? FACEBOOK
3. Your hair? SHORT
4. Your mother? LL BEAN
5. Your father? GOLFER
6. Your favorite thing? FRIENDS
7. Your dream last night? WORK
8. Your dream/goal? WISDOM
9. The room you're in? OFFICE
10. Your hobby? INCENSE
11. Your fear? SPIDERS
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? VACATION
13. Where were you last night? SMALLGROUP
14. What you're not? PASSIVE
16. One of your wish list items? GUITAR
17. Where you grew up? MAINE
18. The last thing you did? SPREADSHEET
19. What are you wearing? SUIT
20. Your TV? VIRUS
21. Your pet? NOPE
22. Your computer? TORTOISE
24. Your mood? ANTSY
25. Missing someone? STEVO
26. Your car? BULLETPROOF
27. Something you're not wearing? MITTENS
28. Favorite store? BARNES & NOBLE
29. Your summer? OVER
30. Love someone? FOREVER
31. Your favorite color? VAN DYKE BROWN
32. When is the last time you laughed? NOW
33. Last time you cried? NOT ENOUGH

Timeout...

Can you guess what Fox in Socks might be doing here? Emma set the timer and told him he could not get up until it went off. Any ideas of who else might be spending a lot of time in timeout?!

Naptime...

This is what Emma did during her nap the other day...I guess my flower wall stickers weren't decorative enough for her... (can you see the line of small pink happy face stickers?)

Halloween...

We took the girls out on Halloween to a few houses in the neighborhood for trick or treating. I think they had a good time, although I'm not sure Emma really "gets it" yet! :-) I had made a skirt for Emma's fairy princess costume, but decided at the last minute that the overall costume looked a little too homemade, if you know what I mean! I went out the morning of halloween and found these two costumes 50% off! I think they turned out great!!

Trip to VA...

My friend Amy, the Queen Blogger, posted on this trip the week after it happened. I'm a little behind - as usual!

About three weeks ago, we went to VA to visit Grammie and Grampie and also got to see our good friends Marc, Amy and Caroline while we were there. Marc was the RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) minister at Texas Tech when we were finishing up graduate school. They also attended the church we helped plant, Providence Presbyterian Church. They recently moved to Lynchburg to do RUF with Liberty University students.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Emma helping Grammie make waffles...

Emma licking the bowl after helping make Stained Glass Windows...

Grammie pushing Emma on the tree swing...
Kate in the tree wing for the first time (she LOVED it)...

Emma pushing Kate...

Amy and Caroline...

Kate and Caroline watching their parents go crazy after Texas Tech scored...

All three girls playing together...

Kate and Caroline...

Emma before church...

Reading "The Paper"...

Have you seen "So I Married an Axe Murderer" with Mike Myers? There's a scene where his mother is referring to a tabloid as "The Paper"...Jonathan refers to the Wall Street Journal as "the paper"...Anyway, here is Emma "reading" "the paper". (OK lots of misused quatation marks in this post!)

"The paper" scene from "So I married an Axe Murderer"

Sisters...

Kate is just getting old/big enough to start really playing with Emma (or maybe I should say that Emma is playing with her..). Anyway, I couldn't resist taking these pictures. It was not long after they woke up one morning, hence the jammas!

Bring the Rain...

is a blog I sometimes visit, especially when I need to be reminded of the undeserved Grace and Mercy God shows towards me everyday. He has been so very good to me, but sometimes I forget just how good. The most recent post on Bring The Rain is one that is too good not to share with all of you. Read it here and may you also be reminded or shown for the first time the freedom and liberation God's Grace truly is.

Stats...

OK...how weird is this?

At 9 months here are the stats for both girls:

Kate
14 pounds 10 ounces
27 inches long
17 inch head circumference

Emma
14 pounds 9 3/4 ounces
27 1/4 inches long
17 inch head circumference

9 months...

Can you believe Kate is 9 months old???? I can't! She weighs 14 pounds 10 ounces and is 27 inches long. She's not crawling yet, but boy is she trying! I think if we had carpet she'd definitely be on the move! She's just started crying when you take a toy away from her, which her sister does often! :-) She's babbling all the time. I'm sure she's got lots to say! She is still such a delight and so laid back. She and Emma are worlds apart, each unique in their own special way. God has TRULY blessed us with these two little girls!!

GOOD friends...

Last week I was able to get together with two of my very best college girlfriends. The three of us haven't been together in over 8 years. I was reminded how important friends like that are. You know - the kind you can tell ANYTHING to, the kind that you can cry with, the kind you can laugh with, the kind you can be stupid with, the kind you can be silly with, the kind you can be REAL with, the kind that love you no matter what. We've vowed to do this every year and have already chosen the weekend for next year. But my hope is that I get to see one or both of these ladies more than once a year. Love and miss you already Trea and Kristin!


The cabin where we stayed...

The fire pit and the pond...

Emma, Bennett, Sutton and Campbell (3 of Trea's kids)...

Quincy (Trea's oldest)...

Me, Kristin and Trea...

Quincy, Trea and Kristin...

Me and Trea...

The foliage...

Like mother like daughter?! :-)

I didn't get the best pictures! You can imagine what she was doing! :-) Hint: It has to do with feeding the baby and it doesn't require a spoon or a bottle! ;-)

Renaissance Festival...

Every year we go to the Carolina Renaissance Festival. We try to go the first weekend it is here, because we can get a killer deal on tickets. It is so much fun and every year Emma seems to enjoy it more and more! We're hoping to go a second time this year! There's so much to do and see that it's impossible to do it all in just one visit!

Emma with a joker...

Watching the jousting...

At the petting zoo..

Riding the butterflies...

Kate...