The 3 Mitchells

Forever!

2012-01-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

It's been FOREVER since I have blogged. I feel like there is SO much to write and yet I can't get my thoughts together to put it all here. Josiah turns 16 months tomorrow. I seriously can NOT believe how big my little baby is! He is definitely not so much a baby anymore but more like a sweet sweet little boy. He loves life and has so much fun! He is also really really smart. He knows about 4 different animal sounds if you ask him, what the animal says he will answer with the appropriate sound.He loves to build with blocks, catch bubbles that I blow, and play with his "vroom vroom's". His absolute FAVORITE thing to do is to play under a blanket. I tell ya he will sit on the couch with a blanket over him for an hour. We think it's because I have built him some forts a few times and he thinks he has his own little fort under the blanket. He also knows what he wants and is not afraid to ask for it. He can't get the words out yet to express, but he will show you what he wants by pointing and fussing, until you figure out which thing he is talking about. He LOVES books! He is definitely his father's son in that aspect. Sometimes I realize it is suddenly quiet in the house and when I go to find him I will find him in his room in the rocking chair flipping through pages of a book. I have been reading to him every night since he was 3 months old and I definitely think it was a good idea that I did.
He has also gotten quite picky about food. It used to be he would eat pretty much anything, but these days he knows what he wants to eat and what he does not. I have heard that toddlers can be really picky about foods, so I am not worried. There is so much more I could say about my sweet boy at this age but I am having a hard time thinking right now. He remains the joy of my life andI have so much FUN every day takng care of him. I am so proud to be his Momma. Happy 16 months sweet boy!

Motherly thoughts

2011-10-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

So Josiah is now 13 months old. The biggest thing I have learned these past 13 months is to stop worrying about what other people think. For 12 months I rocked my baby, held him while he slept, and on occasion nursed him to sleep. I was sooooo worried that he was going to need to be rocked or nursed to sleep for forever. I worried because of what other people said and because of what " the books" say to do. I always had a hard time with what others would say. When Josiah was around 9 months old I realized I needed to stop worrying and just do whatever it was I felt I needed to do for myself and for my baby. I am happy to say that at 13 months old Josiah puts himself to sleep for both of his naps and at bedtime. Occasionally he still needs to be rocked if he isn't feeling well or he is teething, but he pretty much does it all the time. And you know what?!?! I miss rocking him! Sometimes I still do just because I love it. I also love when he wakes up and wants to snuggle with me. He is SUCH a snuggler and I LOVE it! I can honestly say I have no regrets on how much I held my baby or rocked him. I believe a big reason why Josiah is so sweet is due to how much love I showed him these past 12 months. I pray God continues to give me wisdom to know how else I can show him love now that he is getting older. I love to play and spend time with him. I love taking him places and watching him explore. He is SO FUN!
It is also so amazing to see how much he learns in such a short amount of time. Things that I feel like I don't even necessarily teach him, he knows. For instance, he picks up my hair brush and starts brushing his hair or brushing his teeth. He attempts to eat with a fork, just because we do. He also copies things that I say. The other day before putting him down for his nap, I said " it's time to go night night now bub bub" He then put his head on my shoulder and said " nigh nigh". He is just the sweetest, smartest, little baby I have ever had the priviledge of knowing. I am so grateful to God that He gave me such a sweet boy! I am so blessed to be his Momma. ( P.S. Please excuse how short his pants look in this pic, they just hike up when he sits down :))

1 year!

2011-09-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe its been 3 months since I last posted. For some reason blogger acts funny now on our computer and I just don't have the energy to deal with it anymore. I wrote this post and saved it a while back until I asked Josh how to post it. Anyway, Josiah is now one year old! We had a good sized party for him at my parents house. I ended up doing a baby whale theme since the focus was around my parents' pool. We had lots of fun. Josiah was definitely not shy at diving into his cake... the boy loves sweets! It was really great to have the Mitchell side of the family here including, Josiah's 3 baby cousins. We had 7 babies under age one total that came to the party. I had an idea that I wanted all babies in party hats sitting in a row for a picture and I got it! I was so stoked! Josiah is growing so fast and I am constantly amazed whenever he does something new. His newest thing is that he is walking! It is so cute to see him toddle around. He loves to eat and play and he is saying more words and using his baby sign language. It is so great that he understands a lot of what I say to him now. We took him to the doctor yesterday for 6 shots :( He is still a little peanut, just shy of 19 pounds, but I am sort of happy that he doesn't break my back every time I pick him up! He still loves to snuggle and rock, but I have pretty much gotten him to where he will go to sleep on his own now most of the time. He developed a low fever from his shots and has not been feeling well, so it has been a nice treat to snuggle and rock him this morning. Its so awesome to hear other people say , "wow you have the sweetest little boy". He will hug anyone and loves to be held. I am truly blessed by my little guy and each day while he is learning, he is also teaching me things. I feel that this past year I have become more patient, understanding, and less self- centered. I am learning what it means to " have faith like a child" and I am so thankful to my heavenly Father for blessing me with a son to love and learn from.

9 months

2011-07-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since I have blogged... we have been busy and our computer has been on the fritz. I am currently taking a break from my parents pool to write this post :) At the end of May we celebrated Josh turning 32, he went on a trip for a week to New Mexico for work while Josiah and I stayed home. My parents moved into their new house and they have been keeping busy unpacking and getting things organized. At the beginning of June we went to Charleston for a weekend with some of our good friends, Brian and Melody and their daughter Bree, who is only 2 weeks younger than Josiah. There we celebrated Josiah turning 9 months old, went to the Citadel Beach House for a work function for Josh, took a horse and carriage ride tour, went to the SC Aquarium and ate some delicious food at Magnolias. The next weekend we had a visit from Josh's sister Elise, her son Micah and Josh's parents. Most of our time was spent eating delicious food such as thai food, ice cream and my specialty, homemade Low Country Shrimp and Grits yum :) We went blueberry picking and I made a homemade cobbler with them. Micah and Josiah had a great time together and it was fun seeing the boy cousins interact with each other! Now, Josiah is 9 and a half months old. He is currently crawling and cruising ( walking while holding onto things ) He is into EVERYTHING! We are constantly saying the word "no", but he is still SO much fun! He also has 5 teeth fully in, and working on 4 more as we speak. The teething process has never quit since he started with his first tooth, so we are hoping after these last 4 come in, he will be done for a while! It has made for some rough nights/ early mornings , but overall he is handling the new teeth like a little trooper. With his new teeth he is also able to eat all kinds of foods. I have resorted to one jar of baby food at meal times and then just giving him small pieces of whatever we eat for the rest of his meal. He LOVES fruit,meatloaf, bread, and cheese but has not really turned away anything I have given him. As always he is a joy and a huge blessing to our family! Oh how we love him so!

Mother's Day

2011-05-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Obviously Mother's Day was a special day for me this year. Josh and I say technically it is my second Mother's Day because I was pregnant with Josiah last year, but this was my first real Mother's Day. My first Mother's Day of knowing some of what it takes to be a good mother. This day was so special for many reasons but mostly because it is just a wonderful reminder of how truly blessed I am not only to be able to be a mother, but especially to be a mother to a wonderful little boy. Being a mom was something I always dreamed of. When I was growing up and people would ask me what I wanted to be I always said I just want to be a wife and a mom. I wanted to be the woman that was home with the kids, that made dinner for her husband every night, that decorated her home, and was crafty. I have to tell you that some days are much better than others. That the house is not always clean and sometimes we settle for fast food or a night out instead of a home cooked meal,that baby toys have now taken over my living room making it impossible to really look clean, but not a day goes by where I am not truly thankful for the life that I live and for the blessings I have. I am so thankful that God sees the "little" things as BIG things and cares enough for me to grant my hearts desires.

On Saturday morning Josh got up and brought me Josiah to nurse, once he was finished I got up and headed for the kitchen to feed him his breakfast. I was quickly told to return back to bed for breakfast. However I had to pump and the dog needed to go out and Josiah needed his cereal. I sat down he handed me the plate and then I went to the kitchen to go back to what I intended to do. It was the thought that counts, but it was a reminder that life will never be the same. No more days of sleeping in and breakfast in bed, but I am ok with that :) Sunday Josh took me to lunch and bought me some roses. He also gave me a big fancy beach hat and a HUGE towel that Josh, Josiah and myself can all fit on at the beach. I feel honored and blessed to be Josh's wife and Josiah's mom. I might not always do things perfectly, but I hope I will always try to give my best.

Blessed

2011-04-21T07:14:00.001-07:00

Over and over again the Lord continues to remind me, when you do what He has called you to do, you will never be without. Since I am a stay at home mom, I obviously am not bringing in a consistent income into our home. I used to always be so concerned about not having enough money. I learned about tithing early on in life and I have been a consitent tither since I had my first job. Whenever I make money I always tithe on it. I believe we have never been without anything because we have always been faithful to tithe. Sometimes it seems like so much to give that ten percent that the Lord asks, but time and time again I have received so much more in return. I have waay too many examples, but lately I have just been so blessed by the Lord. He has revealed himself to me in so many ways, but a big way is with our finances. The people I had been nannying for last month told me that they were getting divorced and were not sure how often they would need me. Hair jobs were slow and I was worried about having money to buy the "extras". By extras I mean things that are not neccessarily in our monthly budget to use with Josh's income. Essentially being anything other than our monthly bills and gas... I began to get overwhelmed and torn because as previously mentioned in other posts, Josh and I both feel very strongly about the mom being home with the kids. In those financial crunch times its easy to think, well I could have my mom watch him so that I can get those new shoes I have been wanting or that new pair of jeans. But because I have been called to be Josiah's mom for now, I put my wants behind me. Can I just tell you that this month I have made more money than I have in over a year! Suddenly, I got busy with hair clients, got a couple days of babysitting in,and photographed a beach wedding! I also have plans to start nannying a little boy right in my home starting the first week of May. The Lord continues to show me constantly who is in charge and when you do things His way, even when they don't seem in the cards for you, He ALWAYS makes things great. " His mercies are new every morning, GREAT is His Faithfulness" I feel so priviledged to be a follower of Jesus and to know that He has my best interest at heart. How awesome is that!

7 months old!

2011-04-15T09:52:00.001-07:00

Josiah is now 7 months old and still as sweet as can be. We celebrated his 7 month birthday by taking a day to go to the beach, which turned out to be not too nice of a day so we decided to just go for a walk on the beach and boardwalk. Josiah received his first tooth popping through his gums on his 7 month birthday, tried some chicken for the first time and attempted a little crawling. He is still not a crawler yet but he won't be long! I am still making all of his baby food, but I have to tell you now that he is on stage 2 foods, it is getting a little harder. I decided I am going to take one day out of the week to prepare Josiah's food for the whole week. I have been doing it just at his dinner time which also is the time that I have to make dinner for Josh and I so it has been getting a little overwhelming trying to make Josiah's dinner, our dinner and feed Josiah all at the same time. In order to make dinner time less hectic I am going to make his just one day a week.

Also, our time of separation anxiety seems to be gone now. Josiah has been putting himself to sleep again at night and doing the same now for most of his naps. Occasionally I have to rock him sometimes at nap time but I don't mind :) His behavior has just totally confirmed Josh and my beliefs that you should not leave your baby to cry it out. It seems to be really popular lately and I know everyone has their own way of doing things, we just feel like it is wrong. I always aim to comfort Josiah in his time of need and I have never felt he has cried just to cry, there has always been a reason even if I didn't see one at the time. I know a lot of people let their babies cry when they go through the separation anxiety thing, but isn't that going to make them feel even more insecure to be left crying? I read a statement in our bible study book that we were going through at church. It is on marriage and family... It basically said that age 0-5 is the MOST critical and influential time in a child's life. WOW! Josh and I always want to be parents that are there for our children unconditionally. No matter how tired or emotionally spent we are. I feel so honored that the Lord has entrusted me with the responsibility of raising a child to give Him glory.

On another note the weather here in the deep south has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Josiah and I have been taking a lot of walks lately which has been great or we will just sit outside on a blanket with some toys. He already loves the outdoors which I am so thankful for. I am also super excited for this weekend. Josh is taking me to dinner at one of my favorite places, Indochine, for some Thai food. Tomorrow I have a hair client and friends coming over for dinner, and Josh has off Monday so I think we are going to go strawberry picking :) I have been really busy this month with a bunch of different things: mostly hair, some photography, and a little nannying as well. Thank you God for your continued blessings!

A week away...

2011-03-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

I think our bout with the separation anxiety is over... it's hard to tell, but I am pretty sure :) Josiah and I have been staying with my parents at the beach while Josh is out of town, so it is hard to tell since he has been up anyway since he is not sleeping in his bed like he is used to. Also, Josiah had his first fever the other day. He had a fever and a stuffy nose. He still has a little bit of a stuffy nose but it does seem like it is finally going away after almost a week of it, poor little guy. Even though he has been sick he is still a happy little camper, I tell ya I continue to count my blessings on this little one! I never knew I could have this much love growing inside me for someone. I am soooo thankful that I get to be home with him to see him grow and change everyday, even though we do without some things since I am not bringing in any income. Josh works hard, drives a ridiculously long commute, and still has energy to come home and play with Josiah and spend some time with me before hitting the pillow. He also helps tremendously on the weekends, so that I can have a little time to myself. I have such a great hubby and I am so blessed by his dedication to our family and the love he has for Josiah and I. This week while he has been gone has been a huge reminder of how special and rare a man like Josh is. God is so good for bringing us together! P.s. this post is kind of scattered, I am trying to write with a million things going on in the back ground. Just wanted to share some of my current thoughts :)

Separation Anxiety?

2011-03-24T17:18:00.001-07:00

Now that Josiah is 6 and a half months there have been some things coming into action.
First, off Josiah has been a sleeping through the night baby 95 percent of the time since
he was 12 weeks old. We also had our nightly routine of getting him dressed for bed, nursed, and read a book then put him to bed awake and he would put himself to sleep. Since turning 6 months he has started waking up in the middle of the night just wanting to be held and rocked and we can no longer put him to bed awake without him screaming. I was looking over our paper that we got from our pediatrician the other day while I was wondering what the heck is going on with my well behaved baby. The paper said that at this age babies tend to have separation anxiety kick in. Ahhhh, now it makes sense! So for now we have resorted to rocking Josiah to sleep at night and cuddling him and rocking if he happens to wake up in the middle of the night too, which thankfully he has been waking around 5:30 for that which is not aweful I suppose.... I guess for now we will just wait it out and pray that this phase will go away soon. I never want my baby to feel insecure or worried that mommy or daddy will not be there for him when he needs us. In other news, Josiah continues to be a joy to all. I really thought that people just stop and stare at babies when they are newborns because they are small and cute and well, who doesn't love a nice new baby? However, whenever we are out Josiah continues to atract attention wherever we are. He is starting to raise his hands when he wants to be picked up, is eating more and more solid foods and my new favorite thing he does is says " rooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar" when asked " what does the bear say?" He is such a joy and I am constantly learning so much from him about life. I just want him to stay my sweet, innocent, little boy for forever :)

Roly Poly | Salisbury MD Baby Photographer

2011-03-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

Take a look at Josiah's 6 month pictures we had done when we went to MD to see all of his new cousins:

We think they are really great!

Roly Poly Salisbury MD Baby Photographer

Josiah is 5 months old!

2011-02-17T06:45:00.000-08:00

Josiah turned 5 months old last week... He has started becoming very interested in things and anything his little hands can reach he is after them. It is so fun watching him see things for the first time. About 2 weeks ago he found his feet for the first time and was really interested in them. He had his jammies on and they had monkeys on the feet. He about fell over going after the monkeys. He loves to play and thankfully with the weather being so nice lately we have been outside quite a bit. We have been going for walks in the park, and laying outside on a blanket with some toys. He has started eating more solid foods now and I have really enjoyed making them for him. I know I am saving so much money by making it and I know its better for him too. So far he has had peas, sweet potatoes, rice cereal, and prunes. He loves them all. I was going to wait a while before introducing fruits to his diet, but we have noticed with the introduction to solids it has made him a little constipated, so I decided to add in some prunes with his breakfast or dinner to help keep him regular. The things you talk about after you have a baby is amazing :) Any way, we are seriously enjoying all seasons of this little boy's life. He continues to be a joy and a constant blessing. You don't know how many compliments we constantly get that our baby is " the happiest baby we have ever seen" and " he is just the cutest baby". Obviously it flatters us very much that other people also love our precious little one. I feel very blessed to have such a good ,happy baby. Trust me he does have his moments where I want to pull my hair out, but 9 times out of 10 he is truly amazing. I feel so overwhelmed at the love that I have for my little boy. There is no love like the love of a mother and her baby and that I am sure! It is a constant reminder of how much my heavenly father loves each of us. There is nothing that my baby can do to make me not love him. No hair pulling, spit up, or poopie diapers are ever a burden and nothing that I wouldn't do to help him when he is upset. If having a baby doesn't draw you closer to the Lord then I don't know what will. I continue to be so very thankful for my little one and hope I never complain about anything that Josiah does that does not fit into my perfect little box. There are so many people out there that don't have the priviledge of having their own children and I never want to take that for granted. On another note, for Valentines Day my boys and I went on a walk around Greenfield Lake, and out to dinner to our friend's restaraunt. It was delish!

My 25th Birthday!

2011-02-07T05:39:00.000-08:00

On January 28th, I turned 25 :) I always get excited for birthdays, but this one was super special. Not only am I now a quarter of a century year old, but I have been married to an amazing man for 3 and a half years, and now have a beautiful baby boy. I am sooooooooo blessed! Because 25 is sort of a big year, and I really feel like this is a land mark year beacuse of all I have, we decided to celebrate big! On my birthday my hubby made me a delicious dinner and surprised me with beautiful diamond earrings, something I have always wanted! Then we went out for dessert with some great friends. Then this weekend we had a big bash! I decided I wanted to have an excuse to dress up, so I decided on " A night on the red carpet" theme. We all dressed up as someone in Hollywood and went to " The Little Dipper" for some delicious fondue! The night was fabulous, we had a visit from some Spice Girls, Elton John, Audrey Hepburn, Magnum P.I. and June Cleaver.... fun was had by all! I feel so blessed to be 25 and to be where I am at in life. Here are some pics of the night...

more snow pics!

2011-01-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

For some reason blogger was acting funny when I went to go load pics on my post... here are more from our snow day!

SNOW DAY

2011-01-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we actually got snow in Wilmington. Our house got about 3 inches! So we decided to take Josiah out in the snow for his first snow day! We made snow cream and gave him a little taste... of course he loved it and kept licking his lips :) I decided to take his Bumbo chair out in the snow and see what he would do... he ended up digging his hand in the snow and kept trying to eat it. It was too funny! Josh also tried to show him how to build a snow man but of course Josiah was too into eating the snow to be into anything else. We had a good day!

Josiah also turned 4 months old today. I know I say this every month, but it is seriously amazing to me how fast time flies. Every day is always something new. His new things right now are grabbing at things, playing in his new exersaucer and the boy is still amazed by the t.v. He gets to watch his Baby Einstein and Sesame Street when I am doing laundry or other house hold chores. Josiah has been doing great on his schedule and I am going to start introducing him foods after his 4 month well check on Monday. I can't wait to find out how much more he has grown! The downer of course is getting his shots :(

I am super excited about 2011, there are going to hopefully be some good changes occuring in our life this year and of course we are so excited to see Josiah change and grow as well. Every day I am so thankful for the ability and opportunity to be able to stay home with Josiah. Josiah laughed for the first time 2 weeks ago and I almost missed it! I went grocery shopping and Josh was taking care of him. Thankfully, I made it and got to see and hear that glorious sound, but I began thinking about how I never want to miss a moment like that. I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed Josh with a stable job. Even if he has a long commute, there are so many families where both mom and dad have to work. I am truly blessed to be able to spend my days taking care of Josiah. A lot of people ask me if I miss working in a salon. Honestly, I do some times, because I do love making people beautiful, but NOTHING could compare to the satisfaction and fulfillment I get from being Josiah's mom. It constantly makes me think how much the Lord must care for us.

There are a few things that if you read this, would you please pray with us for? One thing is that we would really like Josh to be able to get a transfer back to Wilmington! Also, he is supposed to be getting a pretty significant raise in June, so if we could also pray that he gets that as well, it will really help out a lot! Also, I have the opportunity to nanny full time, in my home. We are working out a fee, but pray that we both can come to a reasonable compromise on both parts. It's great, because Paige is easy to take care of and both her and Josiah get a kick out of each other. May you have a blessed new year!

3 Months Old!

2010-12-14T16:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, how much does time fly?!?!?!?!?

Josiah turned 3 months old on the 11th. The past 3 months have just gone so fast, I can't believe it. At 3 months old, Josiah is full of smiles and coos. His smile brings us joy daily. He likes to rock in the rocking chair, play with his toy that lights up when he kicks it, and watch "Baby Einstein". You might think to yourself, a 3 month old baby does not watch t.v. but let me tell you, he does! He sits in his bouncie seat and he will watch all 30 min of it straight through. It's the most amazing thing to watch. He is getting to be such a fun little boy and we can't wait to see all the new things he does.

He had his dedication the Sunday after Thanksgiving and Josh wrote a song that we sang to him. Afterwards we had friends and family over for a luncheon. It was a really great time.

We feel so blessed to be given this little boy to call our own. Isn't he the cutest?!?!?

2 months old

2010-11-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

Josiah is 2 months old today! Happy 2 month birthday Josiah, we love you!

Halloween

2010-11-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

This was obviously Josiah's first Halloween and I was quite excited to get him all dressed up for the occassion! We were invited to our friends the Laniers for a Halloween bash. There were lots of people and lots of kids, but we had the youngest little one. I purchased Josiah's pea pod costume a long time ago, but Josh came up with the idea for us to go together as the " black eyed peas". We were a hit, it was fun! Isn't he the cutest little pea pod you have ever seen?!?!?!

Busy Busy

2010-10-22T09:54:00.001-07:00

So I have been wanting to write another post for some time now, but life has been quite busy. I am finally taking a few minutes while Josiah is asleep in his swing to write. Josiah will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. I can't believe how big he has gotten already! I took him to the doctor this week, because he keeps spitting up and I was concerned that he was not getting enough nutrition from all of the spitting up. We were surprised to find out that he has gained 3 pounds since birth. He now weighs 9 and a half pounds which puts him above the 50th percentile, for his age. I commonly refer to him as my little chub chub. He is still just as sweet as ever, but my baby that never cried has now gotten a voice. He does not cry often, but definitely has some moments now where he is fussy... and just wanting to be heard probably. He is still so sweet and I find myself spending lots of time holding him and giving him kisses. I want to cherish this special time, while he is little and lets me kiss him often. Josh said to me the other day as I was giving him a kiss, " you're not going to do that when he is 15 are you?"... To that I say, why not he is my son! Ha ha, I am sure he will love that...

We have been priviledged to have a lot of visitors and we are now looking forward to my brother Shawn coming for a visit in the beginning of November. He has never been to our house since we moved to Wilmington, so we are excited for him to come and see out house and meet Josiah! The pic above is one that I took on Sunday as we were getting ready to leave for church... he is just so cute I can't stand it!

Motherhood....

2010-10-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

So Josiah will be 4 weeks old in 2 days. I have been sitting here thinking about motherhood and how much my life has changed since Josiah has come into our lives. He is a great baby and I am so thrilled to be his mom. It has definitely been a very busy time, laundry never ends, Josh and I rarely go to bed at the same time or are in bed at the same time, and I am quite tired but things seem to be going well. I look forward to the weekends when Josh is off and can help out some at night... Obviously I am the only one who can feed him, since I am strictly nursing but Josh helps out so much on the weekends if he gets fussy at night and wants to be held. Josh has been such a great daddy! During the week, I take over completely at night and during the day... Surprisingly I keep pretty busy with the day to day tasks at home, running errands and an attempt at a little exercise... trying to get these pregnancy pounds off! I have my 4 week ob appointment tomorrow and I am hoping that the doctor tells me I have healed enough to start really working out. Matt and Sarah are coming in for a visit this weekend and to meet Josiah. We are excited, also its supposed to be sunny and in the 80's! Needless to say we will be spending some time outside! Also, more news.... my parents are going to be moving to Wilmington! Of course, we are all excited about this news. The Lord has opened up some doors for them to make a move close to some family, come January. Josiah is excited to have his grammy and grampy be close to spoil him. Of course there are a lot of details to work out but my parents feel called to move on from full time ministry into more of retirement type jobs... Keep them in your prayers as this is a time of transition for all!

More About Josiah...

2010-10-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting more on this awesome little boy... I have been extremely busy the past three weeks with changing, feeding, cleaning, bathing, changing, feeding, cleaning, bathing, changing, feeding, etc... you get the picture. Motherhood is FABULOUS. I am loving every minute of it despite how incredibly tired I am. For a while Josiah had his days and nights confused and now he sleeps at night, but keeps me awake with all of his noises. I am constantly getting up out of bed to make sure he is ok. Josh has been a great father so far, he has been a huge help and I have been totally shocked with how involved he is in every aspect of this child's life. We have been super blessed with an awesome baby. He rarely cries except for when he is really hungry and when he gets changed... he does not like to be nakey. Other than that he never cries and is a constant joy in our lives. We have had the priviledge of having lots of visitors. My parents have come, Josh's parents, and Aunt Elise. Matt and Sarah are coming for a visit this weekend which we are excited about! Also, Elise is pregnant with a boy, and Sarah with twin girls, that makes for 2 boys and 2 girls for the Mitchell side! We are all excited about babies and the gift of life. Babies are blessings for sure!

Josiah pictures

2010-09-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Thought I would share some pictures of Josiah for those of you who are non facebook users... We think he is perfect :)

Josiah Kaleo Mitchell is Here!

2010-09-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Josiah Kaleo Mitchell was born on Saturday, September 11th at 2:13 pm. Weighing in at 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long. He is super cute, super sweet and we are so blessed! I will update more once I have some more time, little man sure keeps his momma and daddy busy!

Contractions...

2010-09-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today I started having contractions. I have had them all day, however they have not been consistent at all in their timing... We will see what happens I guess... other than that, I have been trying to keep myself busy with organizing, cleaning, and just preparing for little man Mitchell. So far, all the baby's clothes are washed and put in their proper place, the hospital bag is packed,and we have everything we need for him. I am starting to get nervous about giving birth, especially after experiencing these contractions, but I am very excited. I can't wait to be a mom and to hold that little boy in my arms. What a joy he is going to be! Other than the excitement of the baby coming, we spent some time in North Topsail Beach with my family, while they were on vacation. My parents and my brother and his wife all rented some condo's on the beach. We had a blast. The boys played lots of bocce and a lot of time was spent relaxing in the sun, and walking on the beach. Fun was had by all! And I even got compliments from several people on still wearing my bikini!

This is for Elise...

2010-09-01T17:07:00.001-07:00

35 weeks.... yes, my butt is getting bigger too... prob time to cut back on all the choc chip cookie dough ice cream!

Baby's room

2010-08-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Please excuse how blurry these pictures are... a new camera is on the list before I go into labor! Also, it's not fully complete yet. I am having a script printed for the wall behind the crib and going to put up some blue polka dots!

33 weeks!

2010-08-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I do not want to get any bigger!

Hot Hot Hot!

2010-08-06T19:19:00.001-07:00

I would just like to share that the scene from Father of the Bride 2 is running through my head... the one where the dad and son have their winter coats on because they have the a/c so cold, and the preggo women are super hot. Well, that's me right now. Josh and I are watching t.v. and he is sitting here with sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt on. While I am in shorts and a tank top. We have the a/c and 2 fans going... finally after Josh set up the 2nd fan, I am now cool. Thanks Hubby!

Bye, bye sugar!

2010-08-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

I went to the doctor yesterday and found out that my blood sugar levels are sky high.
I passed my glucose test for gestational diabetes a few weeks back, but for some reason
my levels were really high when I went in yesterday. I think its because I have been seriously kicking back the sweets! Before I got pregnant I would have sweets every so often, now that I am pregnant it has been a different story. I have been really sluggish lately, also and have not been working out like I used to. So, the doctor told me to cut out eating sugar this week and to come back in next week and see if the levels have gone down. I really don't want to have a big big baby, so I am listening! It is day 2 of no sugar and can I tell you I already have more energy! I got up this morning and actually worked out and even though it is a little more difficult now that I am getting bigger I feel so much better! It's amazing what just a little bit of a difference can do. I love my sweets, but if cutting them out makes me feel this much better than I am glad I was told to do this! Also, I never shared what Josh and I did for our anniversary. He took me to a romantic dinner at a place called River Boat Landing. It's down town on the river and we had our own private balcony. We watched the sunset on the Cape Fear and ate AMAZING food! It was a lovely night!

HAPPY 3 YEARS!

2010-07-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Today is our three year anniversary! It all seems so sureal! The Lord has brought us through so many things and I am so excited about our marriage. I am so happy that no matter what challenges we go through we go through them together! I have to admit that it has been hard at times, but mostly really easy... I think the real challenges are about to come soon though, now that we have little man on the way. However, I also think it our lives are going to become even more joyful and more fulfilled. I am excited about our future! Josh has something special planned for us this evening but I don't know what it is yet, I will be sure to post the events of the evening later. Cheers to three years!

30 weeks!

2010-07-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am officially 30 weeks preggo as of today...

I seriously can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is going!

I am still feeling pretty darn good considering I only have 10 weeks or less left

of carrying this baby. This week has started some serious heart burn, but that is probably my fault. I actually wanted to have heart burn because I am so desperate for this baby to have hair ! ha ha!

Josh and I attended a few birthing classes, so we know some of what to expect when its time for this little man to make his grand entrance. I have to admit that I am a bit nervous about labor, but I keep telling myself that everyone has a mom, so thats a lot of women that have gone through labor themselves!

Josh took the time a couple weeks ago to paint the baby's room and its starting to look really great! I have a few things that still need to be done and once we do that I will be sure to post pictures of his nursery.

I am still nannying, however the oldest has gone to school, so for the most part its just me and the 17 month old. She is as sweet as sweet can be and we enjoy going to the pool and when its not too hot , going for walks.

Baby Shower and July 4th Weekend!

2010-07-10T04:41:00.000-07:00

For the weekend of the 4th, we decided to take a little trip back home to Salisbury. We asked our friends Brian and Melody to come with us. They have never been to the eastern shore of Maryland before so we decided we had to give them a true eastern shore experience! We had an extrememly busy bust fun weekend. We got there on Friday and spent some time with my family having burgers, dogs, and my favorite.... strawberry pretzel salad, YUM! We also enjoyed a visit from Elise and Bryan. Then on Saturday, Josh and I went for our maternity photos( check a few out at www.bluebugphotography.com go to blog and scroll down til you see me! ), then the boys were off to play disc golf and eat yummy Mexican food and the girls were off to my baby shower. It was a great time. Both of the grandmas put the shower together and it was fabulous. The food was amazing and the presents were awesome. I am sooooooooooooo blessed! After the shower we wanted to take Melody and Brian to Assateague Island to hit the beach and see some ponies. It was perfect, ponies walked right up onto the beach. Then we hit up Hooper's Crab House with the Mitchell clan for a good ol' eastern shore meal! Mel loved the crabs, Brian however, not so much ha ha. The evening ended with a few games of Nertz and some brownie sundaes yum!
The next day we had church and hit up Zia's then Ocean City for some fireworks. The crowd was nuts, but thankfully we took all backroads to get there and didn't hit too much traffic at all! It ended up being a long weekend, but a great one and an experience to share with friends! Also, Matt and Sarah got engaged! Congrats you two!

Repeat

2010-06-21T04:24:00.001-07:00

Please excuse the fact that I repeated myself in my last 2 blogs....
I think being preggo makes you lose your mind sometimes! I was re-reading my blogs the other
day and realized I wrote the exact same thing on my last 2 entries. Well, if you can't tell,
I am shocked by how fast this is moving... in just a few short months he will be here!
By the way, I went blueberry picking the other day and I now have $19.00 worth of blueberries in my freezer. If you don't know this, that is a LOT of blueberries! So far I have made muffins and eaten them on my cereal, gonna try out my first cobbler this weekend when we have some friends over for dinner! Have a great week everyone!

24 weeks...

2010-06-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

Here is my 24 week picture... I can't believe I am already 6 months along! My how time flies!

The boy is a Kickin'

2010-06-15T08:31:00.001-07:00

So I am now 24 weeks along, I can't believe I am already 6 months preggo!
My how time flies! I have been feeling the baby move for quite some time now, however now
the kicks are getting more fierce and more frequent. I am beginning to think this boy does not like to sit. I feel him most when I am sitting or laying down. It is quite amazing to feel that little person inside of you. Josh felt the baby kick for the first time while we were on the cruise, since then he has felt him multiple times and so have others. Josh's parents came down for a visit 2 weekends ago and unfortunately I got the flu :( ,But Momma M did get to feel little bean kick.
It is quite magical to feel him inside and I usually chuckle a little bit when I feel him. It is truly a miracle, growing a baby inside of you and I feel so honored that the Lord has given me this gift. I can't wait to see and hold this little boy, I am thinking one day he is going to be a soccer player! P.s. I love being preggo in the summer! I was telling my friend Jen that came to visit me this weekend that if I can plan to have all of our kids around this same time I will, I feel like its been perfect because next summer he will be old enough to take to the beach! Can't wait!

Baby Moon

2010-06-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Josh and I had the opportunity to go on a " baby moon" aka, vacation before your first baby comes. We decided to go on a cruise, because the prices are so much better for what you get, than if we booked flights and got a hotel and rented a car and the whole bit. It was 7 days of AMAZING weather to and from the Bahamas. We had 3 days at sea, 3 days on islands of the Bahamas, and way way too much food! Other than the fact that I did not sleep very well on the boat, due to its rocking nature we had a FABULOUS time! Our first stop at port was to Nassau, there we got to take a glass bottom boat to Pleasure Island and take a tour of the Atlantis Resort. I have wanted to go to the Atlantis since middle school, so this was part of a dream come true. They are known for the fact that they have the largest lagoons/ aquariums in the world. It was really neat to see all the sharks , fish, and sting rays. We also got to do a little shopping in town and went to the straw market and talked to some of the Bahama Mamas ha ha.

Our 2nd stop at port was Half Moon Cay. This was amazing, Half moon is an island owned and operated by Carnival. So only people who are on the cruise get to go, the water is crystal clear and warm. They have their own facilities and the grounds are beautiful. The cooks from the ship came to the island to cook all of us lunch, it was great!

Our 3rd port was to Grand Turk. Grand Turk was probably my favorite day. Yet another day being lazy in beautiful waters, but also a trip to Margaritaville. If I was not preggo I would have tasted one of their 58 margaritas, but instead I settled for a virgin strawberry daiquiri and we had lunch there also - delish! On this day, I also was one of 4 people picked to sing in the talent show that night. I got to sing with the ship's band, in front of over 900 people. It was a lot of fun and makes dream bigger dreams for life. I sang Whitney Houston's " I will always love you" and was surprised at how many people were clapping and cheering. I felt like a diva for a night, it was truly a special moment. This trip will definitely be one we remember and if you have a chance to go on a cruise I definitely suggest it! They are truly grand.

Oh and p.s. I LOVED how every night the room steward would put chocolate mints and a towel animal on your bed... it's the little things I guess :)

Half way done!

2010-05-19T10:58:00.001-07:00

So I am officially half way done with my pregnancy if I go full term.

It is a great feeling to be where I am in this stage of pregnancy. I feel good most of the time,

people can tell I am pregnant now and not just a little chubby, and I am feeling the little guy move around. No one else has had the priviledge of getting to feel him kicking yet, but I am sure it won't be long. For now, I am just enjoying this amazing time all to myself! The nesting stage has also gotten a hold of me. I have been putting people to work around the house. This weekend we organized and did a makeover on our office/ music room. It has been driving me nuts for quite some time now. I think I might be driving Josh a little nuts though, because I keep adding to the list of things to do in the house before baby boy gets here. I have decided that I want to re- paint my kitchen a different color already. We also need to have both bathrooms painted and the master bedroom and the babies room. We have our work cut out for us, but I have decided if we don't get to all of it before he gets here, its ok I just want to make sure we at least get his room done. We installed double hangers in the closet so I have 2 shelvings and places to hang his clothes. This is a really fun time and I will be sure to keep you updated on the continued progression of me, the house, and baby boy.... Here is a 20 week belly shot, and some before and after shots of our office. P.s. Please excuse the fact that the after pics are before the before pics, I could not figure out how to switch the pics around...

It's A......

2010-05-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

BOY!!!!!! Yup, there is a little man in there! We are super excited. We found out on Friday and Saturday we decided to head down to Myrtle Beach outlets to do a little bit of shopping for him.
We got a few outfits, and when we were on our way home decided to hit up a yard sale. We ended up getting a pack n play out of it for a great deal and it looks brand new! Yes we have come up with his name, but we decided to keep it a secret until he comes.
Other news is that Josh was offered a permanent position with the Army Corps of Engineers! The only draw back is that it is about an hour and 20 min away from our house. He will be in Conway, South Carolina. He has quite a commute, but we are hoping he will be able to go for other positions once he starts at Conway, and get in with Wilmington office again. It's too much trouble to sell our house, leave our church, and our friends. So we are going to make due with what the Lord is giving us. Good knowing He never gives us what we can't handle!
Also, we are going on a baby moon... that's right a baby moon. What is this you ask? Well for us its a vacation before the baby comes. One that we might not be able to take after we start having kids, because lets me honest... they are expensive and we might not have the extra money for such things. We leave May 23rd for a 7 day cruise in the Bahamas. We are totally excited about this time to relax. We just found out, that cell phone use on the boat is very expensive, so it will be like a 2nd honeymoon! I am excited to proudly show off my baby bump in a bathing suit and be able to eat whatever I want without feeling guilty! Life is gooooooood!

Judas Betrays Jesus

2010-04-26T04:14:00.000-07:00

This Sunday at church our pastor preached on Matthew 26:14-16.
This is such a short passage, however I learned SO much from just these 2 verses. This passage is about how Judas was offered 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus. Our pastor shared with us another passage in Zechariah where a man was offered the same amount of money to betray as well. The consequences were not good. He said that as a Jewish man Judas would have known this and he did it any way. So Judas knowingly betrayed Jesus. He knew exactly what would happen. Any way, he said all of that to say this... How in our lives do we betray Jesus? We may not turn our backs on Him completely, but we definitely do not always trust in Him. This hit me so hard because for Josh and I there are so many things that are up in the air right now.
I recently quit my job as a stylist at a salon due to several reasons but mostly because the business was simply not being run well. I have been wondering what in the world I am going to do. I am going to have a baby in 6 months, we have drained our savings account buying things for the house, and oh yeah Josh's job runs out September 30th! That's 5 days before our baby is due! It's easy to not have faith and to " betray" the Lord. Then it hit me. The Lord has never failed us! He has always supplied us with jobs, food, clothing, and everything else we need and to be completely honest most everything we want. How can we be so blessed?!?!? He is awesome that's all I have to say! The Lord is already showing me that everything is going to be ok. I received a nanny job that is 2 days a week, I have been busier doing hair in my home than I ever was in the salon, and Josh has 2 leads on a permanent position with the Army Corps of Engineers. It is awesome to see how the Lord opens doors, just when you think they are all caving in. My hope and prayer is that my future child always sees our willingness to follow and obey the Lord, because in return He ALWAYS takes care of us!

Spring has Sprung!

2010-04-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

I love Spring! I love Spring especially here in the South. I love it when my bradford pear tree blooms those white big blossoms, and my bright pink azaleas come back to life. I also love the fact that we have our own home to landscape and to plant a vegetable garden. I have never done a vegetable garden before but I am so stoked! I have to admit that Josh has been the one doing most of the work outside. Some because I am pregnant, some because I can't bend and mulch and do those sorts of things, but mostly because I do not know what I am doing! I do enjoy it though. I enjoy seeing the beauty of God's creation after a cold winter and I look forward to seeing my veggies come up! I love getting outside and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and warmth and getting beach days in before tourist season hits. This past weekend we got to go strawberry picking with some friends. I think everyone else thought it was kind of silly, but strawberries are my fave and its so much cheaper to pick them yourself. Plus they taste even better! We went with our friends Mel and Brian they are preggo too, one week ahead of me. We have a great time with them!

Bean is growing.... and so is belly!

2010-04-06T17:24:00.001-07:00

Here I am at 14 weeks... as you can see the baby bump is growing and so is the baby.

I read this morning on my reminder that the baby weighs about an ounce and is the size of

your fist. Pretty cool stuff! We find out in 3 weeks what the sex of the baby is going to be and we are super excited! I am already bursting at the seams to start buying baby stuff!

This weekend Josh and I got to go home to Salisbury for Easter weekend. We celebrated Elise's birthday, got some sun, and some visits from the Easter bunny! I love that even though we are "grown" and out of the house , we still get easter baskets! How awesome is that?!?!? We hope everyone had a great Easter as well... remember HE IS RISEN!

BEAN!

2010-03-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes it is true... we are having a baby!
Josh and I have resorted to calling our baby, BEAN.
The reason is because when we went for our first ultrasound, the baby was the size of a little lima bean. The name has just kind of stuck with us. As you can imagine we are absolutely thrilled with the news of an expectant little baby. We have had 2 ultra sounds so far, due to the fact that I have to see a specialist. I had heart surgery as a baby and they wanted to make sure everything is ok with our little one. Good news... the baby looks great! We got to hear the heart beat the other day and it was absolutely amazing!I will also be seeing a cardiologist, just to make sure I will be able to handle a normal delivery with the baby, but I am not worried. When the Lord heals, He heals! Here are some pictures of the baby and the belly! I am currently 11 weeks along.....

Wilmington

2009-10-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

So Josh and I finally are settled in Wilmington,NC. Josh has been working for the army corps of engineers and has been really enjoying it. I am still in search of a job here in Wilmington, although I have been working at my job in Raleigh, twice a month. This week is my last week doing that and will officially be unemployed. I have resume's out at almost every salon/ spa in town and I believe its just a matter of time before I receive an offer. I believe the Lord has been trying to teach us patience , which for me is never easy. I am not a naturally patient person, so this has been a total learning experience for me.

We were however, able to purchase our first home! We live 45 min from the South Carolina border and are about a 15 minute drive to one of the best beaches in North Carolina. Our home is a quaint 3 bed / 2 bath and I have enjoyed having some time off so that I could decorate and make the house a home. We are thrilled to be in this area, though there are a lot of challenges with moving to a new area. We went to a church this week that we believe we will be our church home and hope to be able to be used in their ministry. Now that we are back into more of a routine Josh has started writing more songs and we are looking forward to being able to use our gifts together once again. Pray that we get linked in with friends and others to support us in our journey of life! Thank you for your prayers and constant support! Josh and Tiffany~

New Job, New Decisions

2009-08-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a great summer here in North Carolina. Josh has been working a couple different jobs to try to pass the time and make a few dollars. He landscaped the neighbors' yard and took a job framing artwork, and is researching and listing 18th and 19th century newspapers to be sold on Ebay for commission. He has gotten really involved in the local disc golf community and started a singles round on Saturday and has been playing quite a bit.

Tiffany has been working a lot doing hair and nails at La Therapie Spa and Salon and has been very busy throughout the week. Most of her time has been spent there and commuting back and forth (45 minutes each way). On days off, we either hang out by our Aunt and Uncle's pool, adventure out to find new places to hang out and shop, or high tail it to the beach for a day in the sun.

At the end of June we found a church that we really like and have been very excited to get more involved. We met with the worship pastor and auditioned for the worship team at the beginning of August. Hopefully soon we will be worked in, as there are dozens of talented people who are already involved in the worship ministry. Tiffany has been helping out with the nursery once a month.

At the beginning of August, we went back to Salisbury to collect some more items we will need for the fall, and hit the beach (Ocean City) and we bought a 2005 Jeep Liberty! It is awesome! Great price, excellent condition! It is like it is brand new! Check it out:

So, getting to the new job, new decisions part...Josh received a job offer last week, which he took, from the Army Corp of Engineers in Wilmington, NC. He starts work on Monday, August 31 and is very excited. He will be a Regulatory Specialist, which is right up his alley with all of the environmental and engineering work he has done for the past 5 years. Tiffany is still working in Cary, which is a little over 2 hours away. Here are some pics of Wilmington:

Josh was able to find a room to rent in Wilmington, to stay a couple days a week and Tiffany will be staying in Fuquay-Varina through the month of September...until we can figure out what is next. It is definitely going to be interesting.

Wilmington is a beautiful place, and here is a picture of Josh bodyboarding at Wrightsville Beach during our recent visit:

More news on its way!

Kauai and the Big Move

2009-06-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

So I have finally gotten the chance to sit down and write a new blog. It has been a bunch of craziness for the past few weeks as we moved out of our condo, went to Kauai, moved back to the east coast, and I started my new job.

First off, Kauai... it was totally AMAZING! Our favorite island so far! We can finally say we have seen all the major islands of Hawaii... I didn't want to leave. It was absolutely fabulous... Here are the highlights: Hiking the Na Pali Coast ( 8 very treacherous long miles) to a Beautiful waterfall with a massive deep freezing pool of water that we got to swim in. ( While shaking uncontrolably.. we later found out it was the coldest waterfall on the island), Going on a Catamaran tour of the Na Pali Coast, seeing dolphins, swimming with a reef shark, and going to Hanalei Bay, rated number one beach of the United States right now! It was absolutely amazing!

After our trip there we came home packed up our stuff , celebrated Josh's 30th, and moved to NC. I then started my new job 2 days later! I LOVE it!!! I am already getting booked and very busy and am getting the priviledge to work at one of the BEST spas in NC. Its amazing. I thank God so much for His blessings. So far Josh still does not have a job, but has been able to do some landscaping on the side, he has been searching continually for new jobs advertised, so hopefully soon he will find something. For now, we are thankful for friends who have taken us in and let us stay witht them until we can afford to move back on our own. The Lord continues to bless and we are so thankful! Here are Kauai pics!!!!

MOVING ON

2009-05-12T17:58:00.000-07:00

So it is official.

Josh and I are moving.

God has opened up some doors for us to move to Raleigh, NC.

It is an exciting time and a scary time. It's exciting because we feel the Lord is moving us on and He has given me an awesome job at an Aveda hair salon. I am excited and very nervous about this job. I just hope that I will be able to do well and make people happy. It is scary, because we are venturing into once again a new territory. Josh does not yet have a job lined up and we are still praying about that. But we feel the Lord has made it clear that this is what we are supposed to do. As I was just reading Elise and Bryan's blog, the Lord reminded me how sometimes we just need to step out in faith and let the Lord take care of the rest. Its of course much easier said than done, but I am working on it! We are looking forward to the things that God has in store for us. Josh was able to raise up another guy from church to take over the role as worship leader. His first Sunday was last week and he did very well. We hope to be able to continue being used in our musical gifts as we move on. I am definitely going to miss it here. The beauty, the warm weather, the beach in the winter time! I will so miss it! But I so look forward to the things that lie ahead and to the awesome plans God has in store. Our last day on the big island is May 31st. Then we are going to Kauai for a couple of days, the last of the islands we have left to see... Then I start my new job June 6th! Of course your prayers are always welcomed and appreciated! Also, I will post pictures from our hike in Polulu valley. Josh and I did this hike 2 weeks ago in a town called Hawi ( pronounced Ha V). It was absolutely beautiful and after I got over the fact that I ruined my sneakers in mud, I had a really good time!

Maryland in March

2009-05-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

Aloha to all who read our blog!

It is 6:15 AM on a Saturday morning and Tiffany wants me to come back to bed, but it is beautiful and sunny today and I am so excited because we are going up to the Hawi side (Northern Coast) of our island and going hiking. After that we are going to chill out on the beach and then have a nice dinner. I am sure we will get lots of pictures and may even have a neat story to tell about it.

A lot has happened since our last Blog of February 10th. In early March, we returned to the mainland in Maryland and visited first my parents, then Tiffany's parents. When living so far from home, sometimes special occasions are the motivation to buy those $$$ plane tickets and take off work. The special occasion was Tiffany's dad's 60th Birthday.

First off, we received a warm reception from BOTH of my sisters at the airport in DC. Elise flew in from Oregon to surprise us and it went off without a hitch! We were blown away that she was here.

I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with my dad as we played disc golf, took the dogs walking and frisbee on the beach, and generally just driving around. My mom made fantastic dinners and amazing breakfasts and we played games as a family. It was a wonderful time! Also, Tiffany did my mom, Sarah, and Elise's hair all at once and they had a great time doing "girl stuff." We introduced my family to Tyler Perry movies and laughed and cried together.

Next we drove down to Raleigh, NC to visit Tiffany's Aunt and Uncle and also visit some friends. We had a very relaxing time down there, and went to Tiffany's favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory.

After that we drove up to Williamsburg to stay at this place called Great Wolf Lodge which has an indoor water park. We spent a day and a half there celebrating the birthday! Shawn and Kara drove in from Ohio and we came back into Salisbury on Saturday night. We got to spend three more days in Salisbury, then went up to Cockeysville to stay overnight with Jon and Shannon before returning back to Hilo.

The whole time we were gone in Hilo, it rained EVERYDAY! It wasn't a downpour, but a steady drizzle for 24 hours a day. March had 31 inches of rain! We are glad that we missed all of that rain.

We are just now coming out of the rainy season and the sun is so beautiful!!! For some reason this thing won't let me upload any pictures...I will try again later!

Birthday Fun!

2009-02-10T16:31:00.001-08:00

Josh and I decided to take advantage of the low inner island flight rates... and the convenience of it being so close to my birthday so, we went off to Oahu for some shopping, food, and a chance to get out of our Hilo Rainfall! It was a short trip, but we had a blast! The weekend that we were there, happened to also be the weekend of the Pro Bowl. Well we stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village right in Waikiki and there were HUGE football players everywhere! It was exciting. Unfortunately, Josh and I had no idea who any of them were. However, when we were sitting on the beach, I thought for sure I saw Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo! I was stoked. I love Jess! But I was too nervous to go up close and see if it was really them... I don't think it was though, I think I jsut wanted it to be them ... ha ha! Any way , we had a really great time and we had a lot of fun just hanging out, relaxing, and of course eating good food! P.S. the pictures below are from us on Waikiki, Diamond Head Volcano, and they had PENGUINS at the resort! They were too cute! This has been and continues to be a journey of a lifetime!

Some Shaky Business

2009-02-02T18:33:00.000-08:00

So Josh and I have officially been in an earthquake! Our Island has over 200 earthquakes per day, however they are usually so small that we don't feel them. Well, on Friday night Josh and I were hanging out in our condo and all of a sudden our building swayed. It lasted a few seconds then, a few minutes later, yet another one happened. Josh wa excited that he got to be in one. I however, just wanted to get out of the building. I mean for all I know it could collapse right?!?!? But it didn't and after a trip to Ken's House of Pancakes for some hot Pineapple Upside Down Cake , I was good to go. I am thankful for the experience , for yet another story of Hawaii to share, but mostly for the Lord continuing to protect. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support as we are on this incredible journey!

Christmas Weekend at the Waikoloa Marriot

2009-01-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

So I am a little behind on writing this blog...

Christmas has come and gone, but Josh and I have been really busy lately, but still wanted to share some pictures. Josh's company really blessed us this year.... The weekend before Christmas they took us on an all expenses paid weekend trip to a resort in Waikoloa ( other side of the island, about and hour and a half away). This place was beautiful and we were in our glory, sitting pool side with any amount of food and drinks that we wanted. They also took us to a fabulous dinner at Roy's. Again, this was such a great time for us , wonderful food, something that we could never afford, and bonding time with Josh's co-workers. Over all the weekend was great and so was our Christmas! I made Christmas dinner and had our pastor and his wife over. I made a spiral ham and trimmings, it was delish if I do say so myself! We pray that you all enjoyed your Christmas season as much as we did ! Hau'oli Makahiki Hou ! ( Happy New Year!)

Mitchell Parents' Visit

2008-12-11T23:34:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving Josh and I had the priviledge of having Momma and Papa Mitchell here. They stayed for 10 days and we had so much fun! We got to do some fun things and had the opportunity to have quite a bit of time off so we could show them the island. It was fun going to waterfalls, taking them to our favorite beach, (which by the way is considered number 1 as the best beach in the United States), eating at some great restaurants, and taking a boat ride to go see hot lava. Did you know that where we live is the only place in the world where you can get right next to hot flowing lava?!?! How cool is that!?!? Here's to you Mitchell parents for a week of fun!

2 years ago today!

2008-12-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

Two years ago today Josh did this......

My husband is so amazing! Josh propsed in a horse and carriage in Central Park, NYC. It was such and amazing day ! I will never forget the beautiful Christmas tree at the Rockefellar center, the dinner in Little Italy, playing at FAO Shwartz, and the amazing ending of a great day.... being asked to be Mrs. Mitchell.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

These past couple weeks I have been thinking a lot about what I am most thankful for. Of course there are tons of things to be thankful for. I am thankful for so many things, but I have been thinking of things that I am most thankful for specifically about this year. And I must say, I am thankful for moving to Hawaii.

It was a year ago this week that Josh and I moved here. Now, it has been extremely hard and difficult. Especially living so far from family and the price of my grocery bill each week, but I am thankful. I am thankful for the opportunity to live in such an amazing place, and to be able to spend the first year of my marriage with just Josh and I. No friends, no family. We have been able to grow close and he has truly become my best friend. We have learned to depend solely upon each other and the Lord.

The next thing that I am thankful for is the fact that I can find a beautiful beach to go to at any point during the year. Most other people who live in the U.S. can not say that. Unless of course you live in Florida or California. I must say I miss my stylish winter clothes and knee high boots.... and all of the cute fall clothes that are out right now that I see in magazines, I can not take part in. However, the weather here is quite amazing!

This weekend Josh and I spent both Saturday and Sunday at the beach. It must sound like that is what we do all the time and I have to say.... we do! Any time there is sunshine and we have off, its a tradition we like to follow. The waves this week have been quite large so Josh has been doing some body boarding while I relax and read magazines...Fabulous!

I am also thankful for the days when I take Josh to work and I look out the window and this beautiful HUGE mountain can be seen. So big and clear, in the winter if we're lucky we can see the snow on the peaks, and in the evening when the sun sets behind the mountain and the beautiful moutain tops peek through. I am thankful that God chooses to reveal himself through the beauty of creation. I am reminded of a song by Bethany Dillon, when I hear it I think of this amazing place that for now, I can call home.... here is a line " mountain tops peak through, this is where I see you, I've never seen a clearer blue, this is where I see you" May I always remember to be thankful for the clear blue waters and the beautiful mountain tops! Thank you Lord!

Hilton Waikoloa and Dolphin Fun!

2008-09-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Josh and I are home now from a wonderful 3 days on the other side of the island. We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa which was like a dream! The resort covers 66 acres of land and is just so much fun! There are a couple different pools with water slides, hot tubs, and water falls. It is right on the water over looking the beautiful Kona waters... I just LOVE it there! We had a really great time just relaxing and getting some sun. We started off our little vacation with some wonderful malasadas on the way ( they are donut like pastries with fillings inside and are warm... so yummy for breaksfast! ) , then we went to my favorite beach , Mauna Kea Beach, and then went and checked into our hotel. The rest of the time we were there we lazed about hanging out at the pool and just relaxing. I did however, get to swim with the dolphins! They have a little beach that you can watch them just playing and swimming around, its so neat. There was a baby too! I got to play with 3 of the 8 dolphins there.... Helea ( the baby , 10 months old), Kona ( the mama), and Lono ( the father of 6 of the dolphins). I learned so much about dolphins and wish i could be a dolphin trainer! It was so neat just getting to play with them and swim with them, they are such amazing creatures! This experience was one I will certainly never forget and was a dream come true! We had a great time and are blessed by the opportunities we have.

Vacation

2008-09-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

So Josh has 2 days of vacation that he had to use before October, so we are going to the other side of the island on Thursday and are going to be staying at the Hilton Waikoloa! I am so excited! Josh and I had dinner there once at one of the restarants, but we have never stayed there.... We are looking forward to relaxing by the pool, playing some tennis, possibly playing with the dolphins( they have dolphin quest there, its the only place on the whole island that you can actually swim with dolphins... as much as I want to swim with them, its expensive, so I am content to just watch! ), eat some good food and HOPEFULLY get to go to the beaches over there! They have had the beaches over in Kona shut down, because of Tiger Shark sightings.... kind of scary I guess, but I figure they are always there, no need to close the beaches, but any way, we are looking forward to a nice LONG weekend of relaxation and some fun! Pictures will come after our trip!

New Job

2008-09-01T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I now have another job.... I am babysitting on my day off once a week. His name is Mason and he is 15 months old. I wanted to babysit, because I missed it. I used to be a nanny and I had so much fun and the kids were so cute. I thought it would be a piece of cake. I am used to running errands and having babies with me and taking care of them. Well, little did I know just how hard it would be to manage a 35-40 hour per week job, worship practice, church on sunday, dance class, and grocery shopping , laundry, cleaning, and a baby! Holy Cow I am tired!!!! I did it before but that was my only job! After a couple weeks, I have finally gotten it down. When grocery shopping put baby in big part of cart so he can still stand up and not get hurt also give food or a toy while shopping, lay beside baby when he takes a nap so he does not wake up, take baby swimming, to the beach, to the park in the morning so you tire him out and he sleeps in the afternoon! Wow I have learned all this in two weeks, I can't imagine what I am going to learn when I am actually a mom! It's been hard and I can't wait til Saturday... its my first real day off in 2 weeks .I am so excited! I am learning a lot though, and its fun having a baby around to play with!

Recipe for the Week

2008-09-01T11:41:00.001-07:00

So this week we are mostly doing stuff on the grill for dinner.... steak, pork chops, etc.... the 2 recipes that I have are for home made strombolli and pesto chicken ....

Strombolli :

1 package pillsbury pizza dough
1 can pizza sauce
1 package mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
any fillings u like ( pepperoni, onion, green pepper, etc)

roll dough out and fill with cheese and toppings roll up so all corners are tucked in and brush with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 min or until dough is slightly brown. Delish!!!!

Pesto Chicken:

1 lb boneless chicken breasts
5T pesto
2T sour cream
2T mayo
2T parmesan
2T pine nuts

Combine pesto sour cream and mayo and brush on chicken then take parm, and pine nuts and sprinkle on top. Arrange in a single layer pan . 450 degrees for 20 min. Serve with pasta tossed with a little bit more pesto.

Please Pray

2008-08-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Prayer Request:

The church that we meet at on Sunday mornings has their service on Saturday night, which is how our church gets to use it on Sundays... Any way, back in December the pastor and his wife of the Elevate church were hiking in a spot in town where the wife fell 68 feet I believe, for a while they did not know if she would make it... she was rushed to Honolulu and miraculously she was healed. She was completely fine and has been ever since... Well 2 nights ago, she passed away in her sleep. This is just totally crazy! She was only 23 years old! Please pray for her husband who has been struggling about her fall ever since. I can't imagine how devastating this is for him to have his wife be fine and wake up in the morning and she is gone! Please pray for their church and her family and friends as well!

Menu for the Week

2008-08-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so for those of you who like to cook like I do here is my menu for this week.... if ya'll really are not interested in my menu please let me know and I will stop posting it....

1.) Pork chops, apple sauce, and squash casserole ( if I can find squash at a decent price, if not just veggie casserole or a salad)

2.) Chicken Coconut Curry with rice and salad with papaya dressing the recipe for the coconut curry can be found at www.hillbillyhousewife.com

3.) Chicken enchiladas recipe from www.southernliving.com of course there are tons of ways to make them! this one is really easy.

4.) Beef and Brocolli with rice this is also on the hillbilly house wife web site but I am going to try making it in the crock pot.

To save on time I did not post recipes but if any one is interested in any of them let me know and I will post!

Menu for the Week

2008-08-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at blogs that other people have been writing and I noticed that some woman write their menu's and post them on their blog. I thought this was such a great idea because I always do a menu too! It saves on money and constantly having to go back to the store. I always try to go to the store just once a week unless they didn't have something that I needed or if there is a sale later on.... I work some nights so i don't make dinner or we eat leftovers but here it goes....

1.) Old Bay Shrimp salad in wraps, and fresh white pineapple ( I got my recipe for the Shrimp salad off of Southernliving.com)

2.) Broiled Mahi Mahi , greek cous cous and salad ( For the mahi mahi I just marinate then spray with pam and put some bread crumbs on top then broil for a few minutes) Also the cous cous, I had at a cook out the other week and it was quite tasty, the recipe is actually on the box.

3.) Meatloaf, green bean bundles, mandarin orange salad, mashed potatoes, and my mom's jello dessert ...

My meatloaf is really good... not to brag but it is! My husband loves it!

Meat loaf:
I take lean ground beef , mix with bread crumbs, one egg, some chopped onion and pepper. And bake at 350 degrees until almost done.When it's almost done( about 30 min.) I pull it out and top with a mixture of ketchup and brown sugar ( just eye ball it, I'm not much of a measurer when I cook) and pour on top, then bake til finished.

Green Bean Bundles :
you take canned WHOLE green beans, must be the Whole kind and wrap in a piece of bacon cut in half then a dab of brown sugar, bake until bacon is done! I got this recipe from my mom in law!

Mandarin Orange Salad:

Romaine lettuce, feta, pepper, mandarin oranges ( canned) slivered almonds, sugar, butter

Mix all ingredients together accept almonds and sugar and butter.... take them and put in a non stick skillet about 1 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp sugar and mix until browned . let cool then break apart with a fork , put on salad.

Dressing:
1/4 c veggie oil
1 tbsp sugar
1tbsp vinegar

I got this one from my mom in law too! Delic!

Mom's Jello Dessert:
Make Jello according to package then let harden...For topping take 1 package cool whip, one package cream cheese, and a half a packet of dried jello, then mix with hand mixer. Spread on top and refrigerate... I use sugar free everything, so it makes it nice for low carb or a diabetic diet!
The rest of the week we will have leftovers and I am going to but some other stuff to make sandwiches on the nights that I work!
" She is like merchant ships . bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still dark , providing food for her family.... " Prov.31 I have to admit I don't usually get up before dark, since it gets light here about 5:30 , but I enjoy making food for my hubby and friends!

Dance Lessons

2008-08-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

So as I stated in a previous blog Josh and I started taking ballroom dance lessons. Vietnese Waltz, night club two step, and the Samba to be exact. It's a lot of fun and Josh is starting to get the hang of it. It has been something fun and new that we can do together. I must admit though, that it can be hard. I used to dance, I have always loved dancing. I danced for a few years taking ballet, jazz, and tap, and I also used to be a cheerleader and did praise dance at church. When I was in Master's Commission, I danced hip hop. So, naturally I am a pretty good dancer, I think.
Well, a very import lesson in dancing with a partner is that you must let the man lead! No matter what! If he messes up you follow, and you mess up to. If he wants to move left and you know you are supposed to go right, you move left, if he wants to spin you and you don't feel like being spun, guess what you better get your turn on! So, needless to say it was quite hard for me to let Josh lead when of course I am a WAAAAAAAAY better dancer. " I have years of experience " I thought to myself. " I don't have to let him lead right?!?!?" WRONG! And it was in my dance class that I truly have begun to learn submission. Of course I have always known that " wives must submit to their husbands as to the Lord" but I must admit sometimes it just stinks! I so did not want to move to Hawaii and Josh really felt called. I was so stubborn and could have almost missed out on the great plans that God had and still has for us here. Not to mention all the fun we have had and the things we have done!
It was hard learning to adjust to life here and not having friends and no family, but it has been so rewarding to share this with my husband! God never ceases to amaze, even in dance class!

Anniversary Photo

2008-08-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

My friend Nina is a wonderful photographer... you can check out her site at http://www.ninabrav.com/

She will travel anywhere to take pictures. Any way, the radio station that the church has ,had an anniversary party this weekend. It was a black and white party which was a lot of fun, and Josh and I got to do some of his songs.... good times! Here is the anniversary photo Nina took of us that evening in our black and white get up!

Our 1st Anniversary

2008-07-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

As I wrote in a previous blog the 28th was our first anniversary and we went to Maui for the weekend. We left on Saturday morning and and was supposed to come back on Monday afternoon, but we ended up staying an extra day because we were just having too much fun!

Our highlights from the trip include: breakfast at Kihei Cafe',

a sunset dinner cruise,

krispy kreme doughnuts,

the Hana Highway, getting a shower from the Nakalele' blow hole, and hiking down to jump into a waterfall! We will have so many great memories from this trip. It was such a good time for us to get away and just remember the commitment we made to one another one year ago!

There was however, a quite dramatic experience that happened on Monday, the day of our anniversary. Josh and I had decided to hike down to a waterfall that had a pool at the end that you could jump into.... We get down to the bottom and there was a tour guide who told us where and how to jump.... Josh was so excited!!!

So Josh climbs to the top and jumps in.... when he came up his first words are " Tiffany you are going to kill me" ( not exactly what I was expecting him to say after fulfilling one of his adventurous dreams) he said that he lost his wedding band. At first I thought I was hearing him wrong and the realization that he had just lost his wedding band in a dark pool of water on our first anniversary really got to me. I started to bawl. I was bawling so hard it was uncontrollable.( Josh's band is custom made with hebrew writing on it that says " I am my beloved's and she is mine" ) People got their snorkels out and tried to look for it, but after a heavy rain you could not see through the murky water. I was so upset and so was my poor husband.

There was a nice local guy there with his wife who were prawn fishing. The guy kept looking but had no luck, the woman asked for my number and said if he found it she would call me. Josh and I left to go call a metal detecting company. As we entered town in search of a phone book the woman called me. She said " Tiffany, we found your husband's ring" . I could not believe it. Josh and I had both been praying but it was just too good to be true. So we drove back up the mountain to meet the people with the ring.

The guy said that he got out of the water and he prayed that the Lord would help him find the ring for us. Then suddenly he felt the Lord telling him to go to the deepest part of the water. So he dove down deep and there was something shining through all the mud. He said "God placed it in his hand" He was so happy that he found it and so were we!!!!! After we left them they called shortly after to ask what the writing on the ring meant and to wish us a happy anniversary and many more! This may sound small to you but to us, it was a miracle. And such and amazing testimony of God's love for us and the power of prayer! 3 days away, yet so many lessons learned! Thank you Lord for your continued faithfulness!

" You are my sunshine, my only sunshine"

2008-07-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

Josh and I woke up this morning to this.... We looked out our window and this is what we saw!

What a wonderful thing to wake up to!

A day at Green Sand

2008-07-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend Josh and I went with some girl friends of mine to a beach called Green Sand....

Yes, it is called that because the sand is actually green. The day that we went the sand was not as green as some days. It was a bit over cast , thus the sand was not going to have the green ness it usually has, still it was really cool to go there. The beach is about 2 hours from where we live, the furthest point on the island away from where we live. It is located at south point, which got its name because, yes it is the southern most part of the united states. South point itself is pretty cool, there are cliffs you can do cliff jumping off of and also a hole that you can jump down into. I personally think that anyone who does jump down into that little hole is not very smart, because there were tons and tons of rocks down there, but to each is own I suppose. Any way , to get to the actual green sand beach you have to take a four wheel drive vehicle , so we rode in my friend's jeep. It is about a 3 mile drive on terrain that is just unbelievably bumby, rocky,and rough. It was a lot of fun though, bumping around.... when I wasn't scared that we were going to flip the jeep over! Josh and I are getting really excited! Our one year anniversay is coming up on the 28th! And to celebrate we are going to Maui for the weekend! I am so excited about this! How many people do you know get to go to Maui for their first anniversary!?!?!?!?! We are looking forward to this opportunity to explore and celebrate, but most of all to thank the Lord for blessing us with a hard, but GREAT first year of marriage. My, how blessed we are!

The Wise Visitors

2008-07-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the priviledge to have my parents come and visit! They stayed for a week and we got the opportunity to do a lot of fun things.... things that we don't get to do on a normal basis, because of money but my parents were able to bless us with some fun adventures!

Thankfully the weather was beautiful the whole time they were here!

The highlights of the visit were, horse back riding in Waipio Valley and a Luau in Kona at the King Kamehameha Resort! On Saturday we journeyed to Waipio Valley... The drive alone was worth the money! We had an excellent tour guide who drove us deep into the belly of the valley, he had us laughing and a little bit nervous the whole time... there were no guard rails and the drive down was 33 percent grade. For those of you who do not know what that means... thats STEEP!!! Once we got down into the valley he brought us to the barn after driving through a RIVER, to introduce us to our horses. The trail ride was so much fun and Josh and I realized how much we love to ride horses and hope to get the opportunity to do it again. We got to trot through rivers and streams and it was a ball!

The next day was Sunday, so after church we packed up and headed over to Kona, for the Luau. Josh and I have been to a luau before but this one was really special. This particular one is known as the best on the island, but the cool part was that the entire luau was Christian based. The people who worked there were all Christians, we could see them before they went out to perform all in a circle praying. It was really neat. Also, before we ate dinner the host of the evening said an awesome prayer over our food and the food was great too! We had lau lau ( pork wrapped in banana leaves) ,kahlua pig, poke ( which is raw fish with spices I don't prefer this dish! ) , poi ( ground taro made into a pudding like substance ), and so many more delicious things! My favorite part of the whole evening was they did a hula to " More love, More power " in Hawaiian, then they sang it in English . It was so beautiful and it has inspired me to learn Hula. So, I have been searching for a place to take classes.

The newest news we have is that Josh and I are going to be starting to take Ball room dancing classes! I am so excited about this! I have been wanting to do it for a long time and Josh finally agreed! Maybe I will post some pics up of our dances! As you can tell we have had a lot of exciting things happening. It can be hard living here, especially with the cost of everything. But, the Lord always continues to be faithful and we have learned when you give up everything to serve Him , He will bless you in more ways than you can ever imagine! We are so thankful for the many opportunities that He has given us! Thanks for reading!

Pictures from this weekend's waterfall

2008-05-22T10:40:00.001-07:00

These are the pics from when we hiked to the waterfall in our town.... ( Pe'e Pe'e Falls) it was so beautiful!

Friends and more fun days!

2008-05-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Last week my best friend and maid of honor in our wedding , Shelby and her boyfriend Cody came from Dallas to visit us. We had a good time and did lots of fun things.... More kayaking on Kealekekua Bay and snorkeling at Captain Cook Monument ( the best snorkeling on the islands), watching dolphins spin and swim next to us while kayaking, laying out on the beach, watching the sunset, going 14,000 feet high to the top of a dormant volcano to watch the sun set high above the clouds! , good food at Bubba Gump and so much more. Its always fun to have friends visit so they can get a sneak peak of where we live! It's also nice having couple's come and visit, to have someone to do things with. Living here is fun but hard because we don't have any people our age to hang out with so its always a good time when we have visitors!

After Cody and Shelby left we went back to our work week then this weekend we had some more fun. The weather this weekend was just awesome, maybe even possibly the best weather we have had here thus far. Bright and sunny a slight breeze.... just beautiful! Saturday started with going to i hop for breakfast yum! then, off to do a short hike up to a waterfall.... just amazing! Then off to the farmer's market for some yummy fruit and veggies, then to Richardson's Beach park for body boarding and some good laying out. Then,

Sunday church then back to the beach for some more relaxing and tanning! What a great weekend! The Lord has really blessed us with letting us see and experience His wonderful and glorious creations! The sunrises, sunsets, clear blue skies, and turquoise waters! How awesome is He! Picutres from this weekend will be posted shortly, after I get them up loaded!

For cousin Lisa

2008-04-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

Lisa,

This is for you.... Pictures of my "Posh" bob.... the pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago and I have gone a bit more drastic since then on the angle of the bob, but I have not taken pics yet.... and as always you can always see more pictures on my myspace page! Thanks for the comments... more blogs from the both of us to come!

2008-04-14T13:27:00.001-07:00

Oahu and More!!!

2008-04-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well it has been quite a while since Josh and I have written a blog.... we just seem to not be able to find the time now a days ... A lot has happened since our last blog.... here are a few highlights from the past couple of months: I finally started my job in January and I love it. I work at Regis hair salon in the mall. Not a place I want to be at for forever , but I have already learned so much and am slowly building up my clientele. Plus everyone I work with is really nice. I am the youngest of them all by 20 or 30 years but they all act really young and hip so its cool. I also decided to get rid of all my long hair and try something a little more stylish so I had my hair cut into a cute inverted bob. Josh is doing really well at his job and has completed and had approved several projects. One off the top of my head was a hospice. His boss could not believe how fast he got things approved so thats good! He is also working on many other projects.

Jon and Shannon Nelson came to visit us for a week in March. We had a lot of fun with them and did a lot of adventurous things.... Then the first weekend in April we went to Oahu.... our first experience on another island! We had so much fun. Where we live there are not many restaraunts so the weekend consisted of a lot of food and a lot of shopping and a lot of time on the beaches. We got to go to the North Shore and watch a surf competition on Sunset Beach. Josh got to fulfill one of his child hood dreams of being able to go to Waimea Bay, a big body boarding place. He could not body board because the waves were really dangerous the day we were there, but it was cool for him to be there. We also attempted surfing in Waikiki.... I did not last very long my board was big and heavy and I was having a hard time standing up. Josh however did well and caught a couple of waves. It was really crowded there but the island is fun and there was lots to do. Also they didn't have any economy cars in so we got a free upgrade on our rental car to a 2008 Sebbring Convertible. God is so good!!!!!

We have also started having a regular worship practice with a few people who are interested in joining the team. It is going well so far. Please pray that more people will be willing to use their gifts and talents in worship as well and as always your continued prayers and support are always needed! Thanks for reading!

Mele Kalikimaka...

2007-12-24T16:07:00.000-08:00

...is the hawaiian way to say Merry Christmas to you!! Well, a lot has happened since the last blog! Tiffany and I moved into a new condo at Hilo Bayshore Towers, a bayfront 15 story condominium on the north side of downtown Hilo. We live on the 7th floor and the view is spectacular! We are still waiting for our first view of the whales that are supposed to be coming in for the winter months.

Josh has been hard at work at Engineering Partners and Tiffany has been really working hard to make the condo more like "home." That means tons of decorations and cleaning and cooking.

This past weekend we were given a weekend away on the Kohala Coast near Kona at a resort called the Fairmont Orchid. We had a lot of fun! We went snorkeling and found sea turtles. Josh had a bright idea to grab a sea urchin, but then it stung him and he got prickels stuck in his finger. Ouch... but it was kind of funny. We had a lot of fun with his co workers and was just a great and relaxing weekend. We are thankful for the opportunity and we are so blesseed!

We are looking forward to spending Christmas here in Hawaii. We have had packages arriving from our loved ones and are excited about opening presents and having Christmas breakfast! We are going to have breakfast tacos! Its kind-of a Mitchell tradition that we are trying to continue!

We will also be going to sing Christmas carols at the hospital and then spend some time for Christmas dinner with some of our local friends here. We are looking forward to that too!

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Josh and Tiffany

Hanukkah in Hilo

2007-12-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

So, a lot has happened since our last blog. Last weekend, we bought a car! We have named it "Queen B" or just "B" for short. Why, you say? Because it is a BLESSING, because it is BEAUTIFUL, because it is not the "A" car that we wanted...but oh well. It is a 2000 Subaru Legacy Wagon with 172,000 miles on it...WOO HOO!!! We just want to keep it moving!

Also, this week is Hanukkah and on the first night we celebrated with Pastor Ron and Judy and Wilke and her boyfriend Brandon. It was fun! Tiffany made Hanukkah cookies and Judy and Wilke made Matsa Ball Soup and Potato Pancakes. Wilke sang a blessing in Hebrew and then lit the Menorrah and then we sat around talking for a while in its glow. Also, Judy decorated the house with Hanukkah things and even put up the star of David in Christmas lights in the window. It was pretty.

The other great news we have is that in two days we are moving into a condo! It is right on Hilo Bay on the 7th floor with a beautiful view of the entire Bay, Ocean, and Downtown. The Lord has really blessed us and it came just in time, as Ron's daughter moves back to Hilo on that day. We will have to upload some pictures once we get it decorated!

We miss everyone back in Maryland and elsewhere...we really feel so far away with the distance and the time difference. We thank everyone for the weather reports (SNOW!!!) and the holiday cheer and hope that everyone is doing well and is excited about celebrating Jesus' birthday!

Until next time,

Aloha!

Tiffany and Josh Mitchell

Adjusting to Island Living

2007-11-25T20:30:00.000-08:00

Today Josh made a joke in church, saying that this is the first time he's ever lived out of a suitcase and not been on vacation! We have been here for almost two weeks and are still living at the Pastor's house with his wife and another "roommate" named Wilkie, who is in and out and spends most of her day internet surfing or real surfing. We had another possible roommate earlier...its shown on the left...Josh picked it up and moved it away from the shoes on the front porch. Tiffany was the one that first found it, and it really scared her...but then, like she does with most furry animals, she fell in love with it and wanted to keep it...oh dear. Josh had to let it go though...

Last Friday, the 16th, we got our boxes in that we had shipped in. It was wonderous that it only took a day...THANKS PETE!!!! It arrived in time for Tiffany to take out her Thanksgiving decorations and add them to Pastor Ron and Judy's decorations at their house for Thanksgiving.

We led worship at the church on Sunday for the first time since our visit in August. The people were really appreciative to have worship at the church and they had a welcoming potluck for us and everyone was eager to get to know us. They brought in a Big Island Pizza which was the biggest pizza we had ever seen! It was as big as the table!

Josh started his job on Monday and had a short week...work til Wednesday then off for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Our Thanksgiving was really nice because we were invited to Josh's office secretary's house for appetizers where we got to know some local people. When we say local, we mean people that live here, but only moved here within the past 5 years or so. Most of the Mainlanders we have met have only recently moved here. The host of the party is an astronomical engineer who works on the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea. Their house was really nice!

From there we left and went back to Ron and Judy's and proceeded to prepare for our Thanksgiving feast. There wasn't much Hawaiian about it - lots of good ole Thanksgiving food. Tiffany made green bean bundles that would make Mama Mitchell proud and apple dumplings that would make Mama Wise proud! Josh brought some sparkling cider...hooray!

On Black Friday we bought a Christmas Tree! Yes, that's it tied to the top of Ron and Judy's Suzuki...Josh felt it was quite an accomplishment getting it back to the house in one piece. Its temporary home is on the front porch until we find a place to live. Hopefully it will be happy there. It was crazy at Walmart and Sears and Macy's so we decided not to shop. We went car shopping and checked out a couple more places to live.

On Saturday we went to the Hilo Christmas Parade. It was about 20 minutes long but it was exciting...and different. Mostly it was high school bands, community groups, and the fire department with Santa Clause. The greatest thing to watch was all the Hawaiian kids and how excited they were. Tiffany fell in love with one in particular. She was a little girl who was really excited to be there and kept clapping her hands.

After the parade we went to the beach. It was really nice and Josh got to swim with the turtles.

We finally made a decision on a car and will be getting it tomorrow, a nice little 5-speed Toyota Corolla. We will show pictures on our next blog. We will continue house hunting this week and we are hoping to be in something by December 1st.

white boy in the ocean!

Mahalo (thank you) for reading our blog...

A hui ho (goodbye for now),

Josh and Tiffany Mitchell

You can't take it with you...

2007-11-16T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hi! This is Josh and Tiffany and this is our first blog together. There are many things that you talk about doing after a major life event, like marriage, or moving...this was one of the ones that we FINALLY are doing together. We are excited at the prospect that people may actually read this! Who knows?

So today is our third day in Hilo, Hawaii. It has been a long road to get here. It started in March, when we were praying for the Lord's direction and guidance upon their lives. We both felt that Salisbury was not where the Lord wanted us but didn't know where to go. The Lord brought an opportunity to lead worship in Hilo, Hawaii at Calvary Chapel Hilo. After a lot of research, we decided that the only way that we could make it is if Josh were to find a full-time job and be able to provide...the cost of living is much higher than Salisbury, Maryland. After months of applications, resume sending, and phone interviews, Josh got an invitation to come to Hawaii for an interview.

We got married on July 28, 2007 and after a week of honeymoon in Mazatlan, Mexico, we flew directly to Hilo and began looking at the place where we may be calling home in a few months. The landscape is beautiful but most of the actual city is old and deteriorated. Most people do not have much money, and the culture is varied. The city itself has been wiped out by tsunamis (big waves) in the past a couple of times. It is on the side of Mauna Kea, the largest volcano in the world. It is 20 miles from Kilauia, one of the most active volcanoes on earth. Daily, they say there can be as many as 200 minor earthquakes.

Why are we here again? Oh yeah, because the church was in need of worship leaders. The church has been without one for 6 months now, and this Sunday we will be starting to lead that ministry. We are hoping to not only provide worship for the church, but to also invest ourselves into those with musical talents and see the Lord raise them into leadership positions.

We moved to Hilo on November 13th and have been searching for a place to call home and a car to drive. Reestablishing to a new state in the middle of the ocean is really tough! We have 10 small boxes of our most necessary stuff coming in today (hopefully) and then we will need to find a place to put it! All of the other stuff that we had accumulated over the years is either in storage or was given away before we left...even our dogs, Austin and Scout! That is really sad, we know. Hopefully we will reunite in the future! Maybe they will be become Hawaiian dogs...who knows? Well, that is all for now. We will keep you updated as to our progress and maybe post some pictures in the future!

Thanks for stopping by,

Josh and Tiffany