Katie's Many Loves

Katie loves to sit in Rosalyn's toddler bed and play....

She loves to swing outside and feel the wind blow her hair....

To rock in her rocking chair....

And to push the bike.

This is one of her favorite faces to make...It's one that she learned at Pop's birthday party, which is where she also got the balloon that has become a fun, fun toy for her.

Nate's Busy Life

I'm going to take time today to let everyone know what Nate is doing. Some of you have emailed and asked so I thought I could take the spotlight off the girls for today and put it on Nate!

• Nate is currently in his 4th year of seminary and it's his last year! He's working on his Masters of Divinity with an emphasis in Counseling. He is the President of Student Body this year, against his better judgement.
• He is the Christian Education Intern at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson. He gets to teach Sunday School each week, every quarter with a new class, which he loves to do. On Wednesday nights, he leads a discipleship group through the book Peacemakers for Families. We've just started this last week but the group seems great and we're excited about it.
• As another part time job, Nate writes for an online magazine. He writes lots of book reviews and some cutural critiques. We'd love for you all to go to the site and check it out. It's www.reformation21.org and his latest book review is at http://www.reformation21.org/Shelf_Life/Shelf_Life/231/vobId__4111/. There's alot of wonderful men that write for this magazine.

So as you can tell, he is a busy man. But he really enjoys everything he does. Teaching, writing, and learning.....what better way to describe the things that Nate loves!

Cute Pics of Katie!!

Katie is 11 months old today!! She has gotten so big so fast. This morning she woke up with her first 2 teeth! We didn't think that they ever come in. She has been fussy for so long. Time has really gone by fast with the second child!

Visiting Great-Grandmother

I thought this pic was adorable. This is my (Christy's) grandmother who has Alzheimer's and does not talk at all. She is such a dear lady and I'm so thankful that my children have the chance to know her.

A Special Message

When we got home on Monday evening, our friends, Kurt and Marty had wrote this on our carport. Rosalyn was so excited.

Rosalyn is 3!!

Rosalyn celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday! I can not believe she is already 3. She had a great time at her party. We invited a few friends and they all colored, fingerpainted, and had fun with a bubble machine.

Rosalyn coloring with sidewalk chalk


All the fingerpaint sheets hanging to dry


Rosalyn loving her cupcake!


Kids playing with bubbles


Rosalyn concentrating very hard on coloring

Aunt Andrea's Rabbits

Rosalyn and Katie have fallen in love with Nate's sisters rabbits, Gracie and Patches. Katie laughes so loud and they go up to her and give her little kisses. Rosalyn loves them and talks about them all the time.

Josie Dog

On early Friday morning, my parents had to put Josie to sleep. She was mine and Nate's first dog. We weren't able to keep her in our townhome we live in now so my parents have had her for the last 3 years. About 4 weeks ago, Josie started acting a little strange and more anxious than normal. On Monday of last week, she began not sleeping and seizures starting occuring. Through several vet visits and tests, they couldn't figure out what was wrong. She seemed like a very healthy dog. But Thursday night, she had a very bad seizure that lasted several minutes and got up from the seizure disoriented and running wild. My parents took her to the EVet that night and chose to put her to sleep. The vet finally said it was probably a brain tumor that was bleeding. I went Friday to stay with my family and clean up Josie's stuff. Trying to explain death to Rosalyn, a (almost) 3 year old, is hard. But she knows we won't see "Josie Dog" again. She asked me if Josie had her toys and friends in her grave. Isn't that sweet? She was making sure Josie was okay.

Rosalyn and Katie

Here's our 2 precious girls...Katie, 9 months and Rosalyn, 2 1/2 years old.

Shurden Family

Here's the four of us!
I can't believe we're all
smiling!

Getting into the Blog World

Hey Everybody! We have finally entered the Blog world. We've really been wanting a way to keep in touch with our friends and family easier and post pictures of the girls for you to see. I'm sure it will take me a while to get this up and going good but I'll give it a try....