Unless God Gets a Shovel...

and uproots us!

Is my answer to the question: "so, are you staying in Mount Vernon or will you be moving again?"  Mount Vernon is our home, we have taken root, and we are flourishing.  We love our new community and hope that it will be our forever home, but only God knows for sure.

We are still living in the temporary housing, a fourplex, on the edge of campus.  Two of the other apartments are also families, so between the three families we have 8 children!  They are all under 10, our next door neighbors have an 8 yo boy, 6 yo girl, and almost 2 yo girl and our downstairs neighbors have three boys: 5, 3, and 1.  The older kids all play well together, and they love to come over and play with our trains (which were greatly expanded thanks to the generosity of my cousin Chris and his family).  Kaitlyn loves the little boy downstairs and squeals and dances when she see him.  We haven't gotten to spend as much time yet with our next door neighbors, but I'm sure they'll all become really good friends as well.

So, the girls and I are on our first major family road trip since before Kaitlyn was born, it's just the three of us as Josh needed to work.  We started in Mount Vernon and went south a little ways for my cousin's funeral (he was 40 and tragically killed by a semi while working in a construction zone).  Then we headed down to Louisville (KY) to spend time with my parents, sisters, nephew, and brother-in-law.  We even had an early Thanksgiving supper with the whole group--yay!  Then we headed further south to Somerset (KY) to spend time with Josh's parents and brother, and had a very yummy Thanksgiving lupper (our term for a meal eaten somewhere between lunch and supper).  Now we're even further south in Tuscaloosa spending time with my aunt, but soon we'll have to head back home and resume our daily life.  Here's some pics of the girls from our road trip thus far... I've only taken a few via my phone...  Enjoy!

The Cunninghams: 10 Years Later

Ten years ago, as a nation, we were still trying to pick up the pieces from the aftermath of 9-11.  Patriotism was soaring, people were turning to God, and we were striving to find normalcy in our day-to-day lives.  As for the Cunninghams, we were preparing for the first big event of our family, our marriage.  On Saturday, October 6, 2001 at Freeman Lake in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, the Cunningham family was established in a small ceremony by the lake's edge.  Six months later, our family would be transplanted in Colorado where we would stay for over five years. After that, we were transplanted back in Kentucky for a few years and our family expanded to four.  Then a few month ago, we were transplanted, hopefully for the last time, in Ohio.  Through our journey as a family, our love has grown to be more strong, deep, and pure.  The years have been marked by many wonderful friendships, and we want to say "Thank You" for being a part of our lives.  Without those friendships, we wouldn't be the family that we are today.  "Thank You" each for being a part of our journey!

Kaitlyn: A Year in Review

Hard to believe that a year has gone since Kaitlyn entered our world.  She has grown and changed so much during that time.  Here's her first year in pictures....

2 weeks

 

 

2 months

 

1 month



 

3 months



4 months



   


 



5 months





6 months



7 months

 



8 months

 



10 months


 



9 months

 



11 months





12 months



My baby girl is not so much a baby anymore, she's officially moved on to being a toddler.  She can feed herself most foods, knows a few signs, says a dozen or so words (some parental translation needed), and is officially a walker for the last two weeks.  She loves to laugh and smile, adores her family, is full of energy, and a joy to be around. (I'm not at all biased, of course!)  As of a month ago, she's no longer nursing, and as of this week has moved to whole milk.  Her eyes are showing hints of brown, but are still mostly dark gray.  She's gone from being a skinny baby to being our "chunky monkey", weighing in around 23 pounds, if the home scale is right.  She has four teeth and loves to feel around for more--fair warning: don't try to feel them, she'll bite!  She seems to love baby dolls already and enjoys reading.  She's started helping cleaning up at the end of play-time now.  Amazing that one year ago, she was a helpless baby fully dependent on our care and now look at her!