We would really appreciate your prayers for Steve's mom, Debbie. Steve got a call from his sister today letting him know that his mom had gone to the doctor because of some stomach pain. The doctor told her that her stomach was dangerously full of fluid and that she needed to go the hospital immediately - it was very serious. She and Dad Crabb have been waiting in the emergency room most of the day. She was just admitted around 4:30 and they were doing blood work and probably going to do a catscan. We really don't know what is wrong - the doctor mentioned the fluid could possibly be caused by a cyst or tumor, but he wasn't sure. Deb has previously had skin cancer which spread to other parts of her body, but she was healed of that a couple of years ago. We are just praying that this has nothing to do with a return of the cancer. Please pray if you think of it...

I will update when we know more. I am so thankful that we serve a sovereign, good and LOVING God. We are trusting him.

For your information...

Brian took Steve and I to lunch today at the new little mexican restaurant Costa Azul on Hanbury in the new Harris Teeter shopping center. I would definately recommend it! It's brand new, clean, has quick and friendly service and delicious food! We were all impressed by it. It has a great ambiance as well with authentic looking furniture and artwork. I liked it better than most of the other mexican restaurants around...

Some of you have probably been there...some of you may not care...but I just thought I'd put in a good word for it.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

to my Grandmer and Daddydon...

These two people, my Grandmer and Daddydon, are very dear to my heart. Even though I don't get to see them but once a year at most, I love them so much and think about and pray for them every day.

Grandmer and Daddydon, I respect the two of you so much!! Thank you for the way you have lived your lives striving to glorify your Savior, love and serve each other well, and raise your family to fear, love and serve God with their lives. The effects of those things go deeper than even you two know or have seen come to fruition. Each of your children is walking with the Lord and seeking to know him better and raise families that reflect Christ and the gospel. Thank you for being faithful to teach and train your family in the ways of the Lord. God has so richly blessed you! His favor shines upon you and the two of you reflect his love and mercy so well!

As this new year is just beginning I have been thinking a lot about the kind of legacy I want to leave behind. What do I want to be remembered for? What should I strive for in this life that will have eternal value? I keep thinking about the two of you and the way your marriage reflects the love and self-sacrifice of our Savior. I keep thinking about the strength and love within your family and how they know that serving our Savior and laying down their lives for his glory and renown is of utmost importance in this life. You both have lived your lives in light of what is most important, and that is what people think of when they think of you. Thank you for being faithful stewards of the gospel. You have sown truth and love into your family and into the lives of all who have known you and that is such a sweet aroma to our Savior, Jesus Christ! I know he is so pleased with you guys. Thank you for keeping the gospel as first importance in your own lives.

I love you both so much and cannot wait until I get to see you! Hopefully it won't be too long. I was so dissapointed that Steve and I couldn't come for Thanksgiving. Know that I am praying for the two of you. Grandmer I will be praying for you and your upcoming knee surgery. I hope you will be feeling good as new very soon ;)

Happy New Year to you all!!

a few of the things we were blessed with...

My parents bought us this sweet knife set and block!! They are so generous to us.

Ok, these are awesome. Rebekah and Brian MADE these for us!! It's wall art to hang in our bedroom. That is really the only room I haven't decorated much, and I haven't been able to find anything I really love to hang on the walls. So Rebekah saw something similar to these online and decided to make them herself. How Cool are they?!

My Parents gave Steve this book. It just so happens to be one of my favorites! yeah! He's looking forward to reading it as well :)


The SGC cookbook from my mom. Steve was excited about this one.

Rachael gave us two of these sweet frames - also for our bedroom! We'll be set!



Steve's clothes from me - except the sweater...that's from my parents.

My clothes from Steve and from my mom. Yay! Been needing some new clothes.

An 'our first christmas together 2007' ornament from my parents! Adorable!

Needless to say, we were extremely blessed this Christmas!! I am so thankful for all of the gifts we received, but much more so for my amazingly wonderful husband and my sweet, loving family. I am so glad we were able to spend Christmas together! Family is a beautiful thing. I thank God for placing me in a loving Christian home and for blessing me with a man who loves his Savior more than anything and loves me so much better than I deserve. I am so excited to build a family together that will, Lord willing, love and serve their Savior and each other for generations to come.

catching up...

Sorry the posts have been few and far between. I know our blog has been a bit boring lately. But now that the craziness of finals and Christmas are over, things should be slowing down a bit and getting back to normal...hopefully I'll be better about posting.

December has been a great month. School wrapped up for me around the 14th with my last final. It was a good semester all in all. I enjoyed all of my classes and got decent grades :) But I'm definately glad it's over with only one more to go. WOOHOO!

Steve's parents, Bob and Deb, flew down from NH on Wednesday the 13th. They came to celebrate an early Christmas with me, Steve and Brian. We had a very enjoyable five days with them. Their visit included a Thanksgiving meal, Steve taking his Dad to work to show him the ropes, Brian taking them around town to show them the sites, hanging out and playing games at the apartment, a traditional Crabb Christmas Eve dinner: Lasagna, and a Christmas celebration which concluded with "ear candling". You know where you stick a long, funneled candle thing in your ear and let it burn down and then rip it open to see how much ear wax it collected. Yep. That's what we did. It was interesting to say the least. (the pic above is us with the ear candles)

They left on the 17th. We had a great time hanging out with Dad and "Beano" (a name that the Crabb kids gave their mom years ago and has stuck around - don't ask. So that's what we call her.) We love you guys!!

The week that followed was spent mainly doing all my Christmas shopping. I wasn't too stressed because I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to get for all family members. Thank goodness, that all went smoothly. I had to battle the malls and Target a good many times, but got it all accomplished with time to spare. We had a WONDERFUL christmas with my family. Steve and I got up Christmas morning, showered, and then ate sweet rolls, coffee and OJ for breakfast (a Myhill tradition). We then opened up our gifts from each other. Steve went all out. He got me a couple sweaters, a sweat shirt, a hat, and a couple things I don't think I'm allowed to mention ;) He is SOO sweet and thoughtful. I got him several shirts, a pair of nice khaki pants (he's ruined all his other ones at work) boxers, candy, and I printed out one of his favorite pictures of me to keep in his truck - which I enclosed in a little love letter :) After our lovely morning we gathered all of our gifts for my family and headed over to their house for round two. We had a great time sharing gifts and then feasting over a table of delicious food. It was a great Christmas celebration!! My family was SO extremely generous to us. We got many great gifts. I'll probably do another post on those because there are some pretty cool ones that I want to show pictures of.

Today it poured rain all day long, so Steve didn't have to work! It was so nice to be able to spend the whole day with him. We ended up running errands together for most of the day - hitting up the malls for a couple returns/exchanges and then bringing coffee to a couple of the managers at his dealerships. We had so much fun hanging out. We're just chillin at home tonight. I have some poppyseed chicken in the oven and we're going to do some reading and cuddling :)

I am so thankful for this time to relax and relflect on the birth of my Savior Jesus Christ!! I hope you all are able to do the same!

tree time!

We got our Christmas tree last night! It was so fun to go and pick it out together, haul it back in our little Chevy Cavalier, and set it up in our crowded apartment :) Hehe. We got the perfect one. It makes our home SO cozy. I love it!

I was such a fun night. I, unfortunately, had been studying all day and most of the evening for finals, so we took a break and went searching for our tree. Then we brought it back and Steve set it up and strung the lights on it as I got out the ornaments and started deckin it out! And of course you can't decorate your Christmas tree without some good ole' hot cocoa.

One of the newest additions to our ornament collection :)

watch this video...

Here's the link to a youtube video of a drama that was done to the Lifehouse song "Everything." It is really powerful! I started watching it thinking it would be some cheesy interpretive thing...but I was wrong. It brought me to tears! It is about God creating man, the fall and redemption. Watch it - you won't be sorry. It's only 5 minutes or so. To me this proves that drama can be very effective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEUVSbD9NF8