It's already December!!

Hello to all! Sorry it has been quite a while since our last posting. Man where has time gone? October flew by, then it was Thanksgiving, and now we just got done celebrating Daivney's 1st birthday. Was it a year already?
Thanksgiving was so great! We spent the day with our good friends the Zermeno's. They have a daughter that is 7months names Isabella. She is so adorable, her smile is contagious! She is already crawling, so Daivney had alot of fun playing on the ground and also playing peek-a-boo with her. Nate's sister Ashley and her husband Dusty and their daughter Eve were also there. Eve is I believe almost 4 months. That little girl is a ham...so so cute! You put the camera up to her and immediately a huge smile comes across her face. Then there was also another couple there whose names were Anne and Thomas. They were super nice too. And there was another Air Force guy named LG who was there too. It was such a great day. We all brought a little something. I was in charge of the potatoes, breads, cornbread and pops. I made crock pot potatoes which turned out to be a big hit! Tab made the turkey, stuffing and gravy. Ash made the pies and green beans. And Anne made this super yummy sweet potato side dish that was sooooo good! It can caramelized pecans on the top...oh my delicious! We had a big feast.
Tab and Nate made everyone feel so welcome and basically home away from home for the holiday. It was so nice to be around friends who we consider family and to just share that day with each other. We told stories of what our own families do and also were able to go around the table telling what we are thankful for. It was a wonderful day of relaxation and full tummy's! So thanks again to Nate and Tab for hosting and helping make that day so wonderful for everyone.
On to December....
We got the tree up the night after Thanksgiving. BJ and I had Christmas music playing while we put the ornaments on and got it looking all 'pretty'. There's something about having a Christmas tree in our house at Christmas time..just makes everything much more 'homey'. The next morning we brought Daivney down to surprise her with the fully decorated tree. Her expression was what we were hoping for. She just looked it over top to bottom:) It was great to see how excited she was about it! This year once again we are not able to go home to Iowa to spend it with our families, so we will be Skyping that day. Thank you techies for inventing Skype...it's such a great way to keep in touch with our families!!!
Onto December 3...Daivney's 1st birthday!!!! What a great day. BJ and I got up together that morning and went to get Daivney out of her crib. We serenaded her with 'Happy Birthday to you' and gave her hugs and kisses. She was loving it. We let her wake up a little bit before we dug into the day. Mid morning we brought her presents down and let her dig in. The night before we opened her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Koele over Skype. She got a block set and also a learning toy. She is having lots of fun with both! BJ and I had gotten her a couple outfits, books, kitchen food and a new kitchen set. The kitchen set was by far the best gift. She was so excited. Climbing all over it right away and using her food. She loves to be in the kitchen when I'm in there so we thought this would be a good way for her to be entertained while I'm working around in there. We spent the rest of the morning playing with those toys and then she took a short nap. After that BJ installed her new carseat in the car. That is something wild...seeing your baby girl looking right at you when you turn around! Those big blue smiling eyes just staring right at you:) We took her to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Then ran some errands, and spent the rest of the day at home just enjoying each other.
The night of her birthday she got to open gifts over Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Rounds. She got some clothes from them and some new jammies. That night she sleep like a 'baby'. Such a great day. I'm so thankful the Lord blessed us with such a wonderful daughter. She can make you smile, cry, laugh so hard your cheeks and tummy hurt, and she sure knows how to make you love harder. I love that baby girl.
The next day...Friday....we ate supper at some church friends' house and not more than an 1hr 1/2 later after we were home and she was in bed we heard her 'spill' her supper. BJ and I both ran upstairs to see poor Little covered in the yuck. I felt so bad! BJ grabbed her and stood in the bathtub while she finished. This is her first time being sick ever. It was sad to see her so sad and scared! We got her and her bed cleaned up, got her some water. And I just rocked her for a good 45min while she fell asleep. That night she just moaned and groaned while she slept. I knew she wasn't feeling good. Saturday.....she got sick 2 more times that day. By the way Saturday was the day she was supposed to have her 'big' birthday party. We had to call our friends and cancel..hoping to reschedule later this week. Totally bummed, but we want Daivney feeling top notch and not getting the other little girls sick. So BJ and I spent the day in our jammies too just loving on Daivney. By night time she was doing better...back to her old self. Now she has a bad runny nose and her eye is real watery so I think she is getting close to cutting another tooth. I just hope she gets better soon...I don't like seeing her so sick. We're hoping it was just a food/formula issue. Today is Sunday and she is back to her normal nap and mood too. Thank you Lord for that:)
Other news......
This has been a big month and it is only December 6!!!!!!!!!!! At the beginning of the month I was supposed to take a course for doing in home daycare here on base. Well I attended the 1st day and came home telling BJ that I didn't feel right about it. There were rules and regulations that I didn't agree with and that we didn't want to bring into our home. So if I can't follow the rules I shouldn't be doing it. So we prayed for God to open another door for us and show us that his plan is much greater than ours. That night at 11:45pm BJ came running into the bedroom while I was sleeping, jumped on the bed and said, "I GOT PROMOTED!!!!". Now if that isn't God saying 'Trust me and see what I can do", then I don't know what is. I am so proud of BJ. He has worked really hard at his job and at trying to show his superiors the type of man and worker he is. I am so proud of him. It is so nice to see him be rewarded for his hard work. Thank you Lord for opening that door!
Well....I hope I haven't bored ya'll to death...I suppose if I have you wouldn't have read this far;) That is pretty much all that has been going on with our family! Hoping to get Daivney's 1st birthday celebration in this week...we have 2 cakes sitting in the freezer right now for it and they are calling my name!!!
Thank you Lord for blessing me with a loving healthy family. I realize there are families out there who are struggling because of sickness and I pray that you will heal them. Thank you Lord for placing our friends in our lives as you have, we are so thankful for them. Thank you for blessing us with our families back home and that they support and love us so much too. We LOVE them more than anything. Also thank you Lord for showing me that your plans are much bigger and better than I could ever imagine, I am grateful for you showing that to me/us this week. I also ask that you will be with fellow soldiers that aren't able to go home this Christmas that you will be with them and place somebody in their lives during the holiday that can be their 'family' away from family. <3