Young Life Baby

We had a great trip to Windy Gap this weekend! It was a weekend for leaders and committee (we're on the committee in our area) and it was such a fun weekend spending time with friends and getting to know people in our area better! This was Tucker's first taste of Young Life and that is of course special to us since Young Life has been such an integral part of both of our lives! It's amazing to think that I have been going to Windy Gap since I was 14 and Brad since he was 16--it has such a dear place in our hearts! I can remember being at camp all those years and seeing older people with their kids there and hoping that one day I could take my family to camp! So, it was really fun to be there with our baby! Tucker continues to prove to be pretty flexible... Friday night, we took him to "club" and he seemed to enjoy all the music and fell fast asleep for the speaker without ever making a peep! It was pretty cold so we got to break out his winter coat and other warm clothes which was fun!

There were several times during the weekend that I had the feeling of fulfillment, contentment, and pure joy at what I was experiencing... Like when I was standing in club, holding Tucker and singing worship songs to him as he fell asleep, or like when I got to listen to different Young Life leaders share how the Lord was at work in their lives, or like when I was asked the question, "What are you passionate about in this mission of Young Life right now?", and getting to share how much I love being with and discipling college girls and how I'm so thankful I have the privilege of doing that right now in my life! We are grateful for a weekend where we were refreshed, encouraged, and content to be with our family and our friends... We hope Tucker gets a lot more opportunities to hang out with amazing people like this in amazing places like that!

Enjoy our "bundled up" pictures!

2 years ago...

Today marks the 2 year anniversary that Taylor was diagnosed with Luekemia. For those of you who don't know, Taylor is the youngest of the 4 boys that I took care of these last 4 years. Before that life-altering day, he was just like any other 2 year old going to the doctor to find out why he couldn't get over a winter cold. That day would forever change his life and the life of his family. As I have said so many times before, I had the incredible priviledge of being right in the middle of their family during this crisis and a front row seat to all the ways that God would show himself faithful to this little boy that I love so much!
Taylor is doing great...He is in remission and still undergoing treatment in hopes to remain that way. There are struggles still, especially with all the side effects of the chemo and other medicene that he takes, but he still remains an energetic, happy 4 year old! Although I don't get to see him every day now, we don't go too long without hanging out and he treats Tucker like his little brother, which is precious to me!
Melissa, Taylor's mom, just wrote a recent entry on Taylor's caring bridge page and it is a little update as well as some great perspective on all they have been through. You will be blessed by reading her words!

Taylor and I when I was very pregnant!

3 months!

So many of you like the comparisons, so, here are the last few months!

2 months


1 month

Tucker Weekly

Yesterday we hit 13 weeks and today we're 3 months (3 month picture later today)! But, this past week has been a great week of just being at home (as opposed to traveling)! I'm a creature of routine normally, but especially with a little one, it just feels easier to be in our space, with all our stuff, and on our schedule!

Some things Tucker has been up to...
--blowing "raspberries" (bubbles)
--taking some naps without being swaddled...we're experimenting with this :)
--repeating noises we make/motions with our mouths
--staring at anything with a pattern on it
--starting to have some naps where he wakes up happy and cooing instead of crying
--kicking like a fish in the bathtub!

He is so much fun right now with all the noise he's making and how when he smiles, you can tell he's excited to see us! I'm excited for this upcoming month when he'll start to do a few new things! We have a few trips coming up in the next few weeks, so we'll be sure to document all of that!

Go Davidson!

We live just 10 minutes down the road from Davidson College (for those of you who aren't from around here) and Davidson wasn't too well known until this past basketball season when they surprised/amazed everyone in the tournament! They have been fun to follow and today we went to our first game! They played Samford and it was a sold out game even though students aren't back yet! It is fun to see how much the town gets into it! Our good friends, the Verlanders, went to Samford and were able to get us great tickets, so we sat right behind the bench and had a great time watching the game! It was Tucker's first athletic event! He did great...he was very mesmerized by all the lights and sounds but finally tuned it all out to sleep through the 2nd half! I hang out with Davidson Young Life leaders and a few them gave him a cute little Davidson beanie before he was born, so he was all ready to cheer on the Wildcats! We'll cheer for for Davidson, except for this Wednesday of course, when they play the Blue Devils--GO DUKE! Enjoy these pictures!

Stephen Curry,number 30, is the star of the team



Showing his Davidson Spirit!

Lauren, Ashley and I

Sleeping through all the noise!

Brad, Scott, and Mike

Tucker's buddy, Kit

TOP TEN in '08!

What a year it has been! 2008 was possibly the busiest, fullest, best, craziest year yet! We just thought we'd see how many HUGE things we could pack into one year :) The last few days, we've been compiling this list of the highlights of 2008...here is our "top 10" in the general order they happened!

TEN: GREY
In January, we must have been cooped up in the house and bored when we decided we needed a puppy. We looked up ads in the paper, found a breeder not too far from here, and drove to pick up our Weimaraner. She was 11 pounds and the cutest thing we had ever seen... who knew we would find out we were pregnant 2 weeks later and that the first several months of training and learning how to have a puppy, Brad would do by himself while I played the "pregnant card"...

NINE: PREGNANT!
What a pleasant shock in February when we got that positive test! We thought we were "ready", but certainly had no idea what we were in for. I was sick, tired, hormonal to the nth degree, and Brad was patient, a servant, and a trooper! For the most part, I had a great pregnancy and have fun memories of watching the belly grow and anticipating if we were going to have a girl or a boy!

EIGHT: WE MOVED!
So, we must have gotten bored again in March when we decided to explore the idea of moving. We started the house hunt in March and over the next few months, decided to buy another house in our neighborhood, on our same street, and attempt to sell our house. It sold just after 3 weeks (crazy!) and we moved into out new house in June. Thank goodness we did all this before the market came crashing down!

SEVEN: BLOG
With a baby on the way, we decided to jump on the bandwagon and start our blog! Figured this should make the top 10 since I've spent several hours updating you on our lives, whether you liked it or not :) This is the link to our first post back in May!

SIX: VACATION
Someone had a crazy idea that we should go to HOT Florida, in the middle of July, with a 6 month pregnant woman! Well, that was my mom, and that's what we did... My whole family went to Seaside beach--the cutest, most quaint little beach community! We ate well, relaxed well, and I SWEATED WELL! I don't think I've ever been so hot in my life...thank goodness for the pool that I frequented every 10 minutes!

FIVE: HOUSEGUESTS
When we think of August, we think of the Clarks and Michael Phelps. We lived parallel lives in a lot of ways with our best friends, Ryan and Sharon Clark this year... We both got pregnant within a few weeks of each other, we both put our houses on the market and sold them within a few weeks, we both bought new houses to move into, and we both had little boys! Soon after we moved into our new house, they were doing a ton of work on their new house, so with their daughter Elle, they moved in with us for most of August! This wouldn't work with just anybody, as you can imagine, but this is just what kind of comfortable, great friends we are... Sharon and I were both pretty pregnant at this point and HOT and TIRED most of the time... We laugh about how we spent almost every night they were here... layed out on the couch and watching the Olympics(and with ice cream in hand if we were lucky enough to get someone to make a trip to Baskin Robbins). What great memories we have while we broke in our guestrooms!

FOUR: FOOTBALL SEASON, or lack thereof...
Well, it was a crazy season around here. ECU started off with a bang beating 2 ranked teams to get them in the top 25! It was a roller coaster season after that of some bad losses and ending with a few wins to make them the Conference USA champions! They're off to play in the Liberty Bowl TODAY against Kentucky...GO PIRATES!
And then there's Tennessee...Saturdays were not fun around here people. But, let me just say two words--Lane Kiffin! Brad's anticipating a fresh new start next Fall... KONITIWA Phillip Fulmer!

THREE: END OF MY WORK SEASON
In October, I had the bittersweet experience of finishing up my time working for the Gibbs family. Because I worked for them for 4 years, they are like family to me and those 4 boys were like kids to me since I didn't have any of my own yet! I love them so much and it really was so sad to think about not seeing them on a daily basis. They threw me a "retirement party" of a great dinner and a fun night of hanging out with JD, Melissa, and the boys. I felt appreciated, loved, and bittersweet as it came to an end. Thankfully, we still have seen each other quite often!

TWO: TUCKER BRADLEY FIEHLER
Well, if you've read our blog at all, you pretty much know most of the details of our little boy's life. On October 8, 3 days before his due date and after 12 hours of labor, Tucker Bradley entered the world. We were so excited to find out he was a boy and those first moments with him were the best of our life! He has been such a great baby and it has been such a fun journey, despite the hard times, of learning how to be parents and a family of 3! We love you little guy!

ONE: THE FOG
Well, we will just call October to December "the fog"...full of exhaustion, heightened emotions, new experiences, lots of family, and Tucker, Tucker, Tucker. What a few months it has been! Some of the best and hardest days of my life so far and worth every bit of it for sure. I have learned a few things in my first few months of being a mom...
1. It is amazing how little sleep a person can function on
2. You can love something so much it hurts
3. Just when you get something figured out, it changes
4. At just a few weeks and just a few months old, a person can have so much personality and joy!
I'd go through the fog for you again Tucker...but I must say, I'm really glad we're coming out of it :)

So, this year, if you hear us say we want to move, get another dog, or have another baby, just slap us and remind us of all our great memories in 2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Looking forward to creating the top 10 of 2009...

4 Years of US!

4 Years ago...


Well, it's Happy New Year for all of you, and it's Happy Anniversary to us! In some ways, it's a little weird to have our anniversary on this day, especially since it's the biggest football day of the year (what was I thinking?!?!), so a lot of our day seems to be spent on the couch and we make plans to really celebrate on another day (and we are getting to go out tomorrow night :)... But, it's also a great day because starting a new year is such a great time of reflection on the past and hopes for the future and we love the chance to do that in our marriage as well as in other areas of our life!
It's hard to believe it's been four years... It's also hard to remember life without each other and so much has gone on that it feels like it has to be longer that that! But, something tells me that if we could have guessed or hoped where we'd be in four years on that day that we said "I do", it probably wouldn't be too far off from this... Living in a city we LOVE...surrounded by friends that make us laugh, challenge us spiritually, and share in the deepest parts of life with us...with families that love and support us...settled into a dream house...hanging out with a puppy that loves us to death...and staring into the eyes of our beautiful firstborn son... Life is good--really good... We are blessed beyond measure and God has certainly given us more than we could ever have asked or imagined for!
I'm so thankful for Brad as my husband and my best friend... He is steady, faithful, loyal, an amazing servant, a "jack of all trades", my handyman, a great cook and a great maid :), a great listening ear, my sound of reason and perspective, and the best person to be lazy with on a Sunday afternoon! I love Brad for so many reasons, but lately, I have just loved him so much as I've watched him become a Daddy to Tucker...He is so sweet with him and I cannot hardly wait to watch their relationship grow over the years... Tucker has quite a man to be following in the footsteps of!
Today, we celebrate our life together and look forward to so many more years...Here's to us!

Here is a picture from each year of our marriage...

'05...at the Redskins game with the Gibbs

'06...at Fenway Park on our Boston trip

'07...on the Amalfi Coast in Positano, Italy


'08...5 days after we had Tucker!

Here's to another great year of Mr. and Mrs. Fiehler...