Merry Christmas!!!

Free newsletter design personalized with Smilebox

Bad with the camera

Hello Everyone,
I have not been very good with my camera lately and it seems like every time I go to use it the batteries are dead! (I think my rechargeables have officially died :-( My wonderful brother Zach has been taking pictures though and I thought I would share them with you! He has already gone to all the work of putting them up on the family's blog so I will include the link in case you want to check them out. We had a wonderful time with them when they visited us in TX. Thank you so much for the pictures Zach!

http://reedfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/

Happy 1st Birthday Emma!!!

We celebrated Emma's first birthday with the whole Reed and Horsman clan just recently. Emma's birthday was Nov. 6th but we waited until the whole family was together in Big Sandy, Texas on the 13th. We were celebrating my brother's promotion from basic training at ALERT and had a birthday party too!

We are so grateful for you little Emma and can't imagine life without you. You have been such a blessing to our home with your many smiles, laughter, and sweet personality. We love you SO MUCH!!!

We are so excited that God is blessing us with a little sibling for you! ;-)

Texas Alliance for Life Banquet

Last night Justin and I attended a benefit banquet for Texas Alliance for Life. We had a wonderful evening and it was a great opportunity to learn how we can get involved in stopping abortion here in Texas.

With my handsome man!

CollegPlus! Outing

Last week we had the opportunity to go to a CollegPlus! student gathering for a few days. It was in Justin's region so we were chaperons for the event. We also visited a cavern while we were there.

Here is Emma in her backpack :-)

Emma Joy

Ok, so I know I'm biased....but
sometimes this little munchkin
is just so cute that I can't stand it!

We love you SO MUCH Emma Joy!!!

Houston!

We recently went to Houston for the weekend to attend the big home and garden show. We went with some very dear friends of ours and had a fabulous time! Thanks for going with us Woody and Gina. You guys are the best!

Emma playing with Uncle Woody

My wonderful man!!!!!!!!

Emma and her daddy :-D

The Horsman Trio :-)

Going to church

More pictures from Maine!

Yes, my brothers tried to "kidnap" me and keep me from leaving. I praise the Lord for such special little brothers and look forward to seeing them in November!

Emma with her Great-Grammy Beck

The three sisters, and I am officially the shortest now! :-)

Before Justin and I got married the family was given a giftcard for ice cream. Mom and Dad decided it was time to use it while we were all home. (Sadly Justin was already back in Texas.)

Helping Grammy with the laundry :-)

Enjoying my hubby while he was with us for a few days :-D

I can't believe how quickly my littlest brother is growing up!

Though our paths don't cross as often as when we were both at home all of the time, Leigha is still my very dear friend and sister. We are greatly looking forward to her visit later this fall!

Emma and her Great-Grammy Reed/Moody

Cousin Susan

Cousin Raychelle

Long overdue!

Hello everyone. I guess the Horsman family is long overdue for a blog post. Emma and I have been back in Texas now for 2 1/2 weeks but we have been terribly busy and to be honest with you I just haven't wanted to try sorting through all of the pictures! For the first few days after arriving back at our little home I knew that it would not be a good idea to view the pictures anyway. It was hard enough to say goodbye to the family and I was already battling the "salty floods" :-)

It was SO good to be back in Maine and to have time with the family and our friends. It was a whirlwind trip (even though it was three weeks long you wouldn't believe how crazy it was!) but it was a good trip. I am so grateful for the way God has been blessing us during this new season of life being so far away from the family. I have to say that I am a real homebody and although I love traveling and seeing new places, I LOVE to go home! This move has been a huge challenge on many fronts, but our God is so GOOD!!!

I told my family that I feel like God has, in a sense, gone out of His way to make this move as smooth as possible. He has blessed us with a wonderful church and many precious friends. Several families have really reached out to us and made us feel so welcome. God has been using this move to challenge me to find my joy in Him FIRST, to bloom where He has planted me, to make new friends (if you know me well you know that I like the familiar and my comfort zones!), and to embrace our little family. I have dreamed of being a wife and mother ever since I was a little girl (and I am just LOVING it!) but I never really realized how hard the leaving and cleaving would be. I spent the first 23 (almost 24) years of my life being a Reed, and family = my parents and siblings. But now, even though they are still my family, they are not my primary focus anymore. God has been using this time so far away from those whom I love so dearly and whom have always been my closest family, to really shape and solidify our little family. Justin and I have both sensed it and it has been a beautiful thing to see God at work. Justin and I looked at each other today on the way home from church and commented on how much we LOVE being a family! This doesn't mean that our parents and siblings are no longer a precious, vital part of our lives because they ARE! It just means that they now play a different role in our lives and we in theirs. God has His own exciting plans for the Justin Horsman family and I for one am looking forward to being a part of those plans!

(Wow I didn't plan on that being so long :-)So anyway, here are some pictures from my time in Maine. I may have to do this in a couple different posts because there are so many pictures.

Mother/Daughter Breakfast
(We had to split up because there were so many of us. From left to right are my sister Hannah, Grammy Beck, my mom, my sister Leigha, my cousin Raychelle, and my cousin Anna.)

Here are Emma and I, my cousin Susan, my Grammy Reed-Moody, and my Aunt Debbie.

Going to the Beadin' Path to make jewelry has become one of our summer traditions when my cousins visit from New Jersey.

We also play a TON of card games...

...and a visit to Maine wouldn't be complete without some tubing on the lake!

Emma wasn't a big fan of her lifejacket, but she did enjoy her Grammy!