Our JOYFUL gift from God - reflections of ONE year...

It's hard to believe a year ago Sunday that Grace Elizabeth Cullen entered the world at 4:06 am...At times it feels like she's been a part of our life forever, but then on the other hand it seems like yesterday that I held her in my weak arms for the first time...If Blake and I could use one word to describe the gift God blessed us with each day it would be JOY. I know most parents would say their children bring them joy, but with Gracie the characteristic of JOY is a complete picture of who she is on a daily basis. We can be at the grocery store, restaurant or any public place and people will always say the same thing about her - "what a great smile", "that's the happiest baby I've ever seen", "is she always this happy?" - I bet over the past year we've heard these phrases hundreds of times and we feel so blessed everytime to say YES, she is such a happy baby! Don't get me wrong she will have a fussy day or moment here or there, but for the most part she's just a happy little girl that brightens so many peoples days.

On Sunday (her first birthday) we dedicated her to the Lord at church and it was a precious time. For one our church does individual baby dedications which makes it extra special, but our pastor does a great job of personalizing it for each family. First of all, he had the whole congregation (about 300 people) sing her happy birthday - gracie was a little overwhelmed at first - as she was taking it all in - but by the end she was her happy go lucky self! Due to her character of joy, we picked out the verse I Thessalonians 5:16-18 as a life verse for her.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Our prayer for Gracie would be for her to always have the Joy of the Lord fill her up and no matter what life obstacles come her way we pray that she will always look to the Lord through prayer for His joy, strength and direction in her life. We hope this joy will be a testimony to others. We love you sweet Gracie and feel honored God chose us as your parents and we look forward to celebrating you each year!

(The pictures and video below shows her dedication at Woodridge Church in Medina, MN with Pastor Paul Johnson.)

VIDEO: Click play below to watch video:

Gracie TURNS 1!!

It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by and our sweet Gracie turned ONE on Sunday! On Saturday we had a few families come over and celebrate with us (10 adults and 8 kids under the age of 4...). The day consisted of lots of pink and green and POLKA DOTS! Gracie enjoyed her lunch of turkey, cheese and mac n' cheese and explored and ate some of her chocolate cupcake. She had many laughs with her little friends and it will be a day of memories for years to come. Hopefully the pictures below will tell the story...

(Here's the car mommy and daddy got me...I LOVE it!)

(Me and my doll cruising in my car...)

Happy Birthday sweet girl...

A new LOVE...

Well, the past few weeks Gracie has found a new LOVE...the stairs!! She will be playing with her toys and then make a b-line for the stairs as she crawls as fast as she can. Then, she'll turn to see if you're coming (which she knows we are) and then starts to go as fast as you can and just laughs - she loves this game!!

God's creation in our OWN backyard...

I'll have to admit that when we bought our house I didn't have the appreciation for our backyard like I do now. Don't get me wrong, I loved it because there was some privacy and lots of trees unlike Mason, OH - we only had one little tree that we planted. My appreciation started this Fall when we saw some much potential when we pushed the brush line back about 15 feet (we plan to put down grass seed this Spring.) But my true appreciation grew this winter when Gracie and I began have regular visitors in our backyard from our little friends - it seems to always be around 4ish when we see a lot of activity - we've seen the usual squirrel, cardinal and a really FAT rabbit throughout the day (all three seem to enjoy our bird-feeder), but our newest friends consist of a family of three deer, a fox, a wild turkey, AND a woodpecker with a red mowhawk! Aren't they precious?

First Sledding Expedition in Minnesota

Gracie got to truly experience Minnesota's winter by going sledding right before Christmas...She wasn't too sure at first, but once we got her in the sled she liked it. Check it out:

(Our nice neighbor helping us blow off the snow....it saved Blake some time!)

(She wasn't sure about the snow at first...)

(Then she started to like it...)

(Now this is FUN!!)

Gracie's 1st Christmas in Cincinnati

Gracie had her 1st Christmas in Cincinnati and she LOVED it! I mean - it's always fun to tear paper and she was especially interested in the bows...She got a new baby doll that she adores - it's amazing, how she lights up when she sees it and talks in a high pitch voice to her sweet little baby. She loves giving the baby doll a kiss and hug - it's precious! She also loved the stroller from Aunt Melissa and crew...thank you!

Another memorable moment was meeting our newest little niece, Anna - she is just precious and soo tiny! These are the times that you REALLY wish you lived closer, but we enjoyed our time of meeting her when she was only 2 weeks old.

Our time went by WAY too fast, but it was nice to enjoy some mild temperatures for a few days before venturing back into the COLD north! Happy New Year!

(Morning breakfast with Mimi and Papa and playing a little peek-a-boo while she enjoys her cheerios and bananas.)

(Sweet little Anna - only 2 weeks old)

(Another major milestone for Abby during our visit,
she lost her first tooth on the bottom! She was so brave!)

(Sweet Kierstin with Gracie just before heading to MCC for Christmas Eve service)

(The Hillis Crew - poor little Anna, not happy)

(Kierstin is showing me how this stroller and baby doll work...
look at her twins they talk to each other!)

("Uncle Dan you are CRAZY!!")

(I love my baby doll...i love to give her kisses!)

Ok, so now onto my new trick...

(Peek - aaaa....)

(BOO!)

(CHEESE!)

(I'm really too big for this, but I thought I'd play in it one last time...)

(Bye, bye Cincinnati...hello, snowy Minnesota!!)