Shelly Family

This comes very overdue as far as updating the blog. We have had a very busy year with lots of changes. Michelle was laid off back in Feb (if you remember we worked at the same place). That was a very hard challenge for me. To many people making jokes about losing their job, when half of them do less work in 8 hrs than Michelle did in the 3.5 - 4 hrs she worked part-time.

God has his ways.
We had recently started visiting a church close by in Collierville. We first visited Grace Crossing back in Dec of 2008. We immediately fell in love with the church and have been attending ever since. We made it official in May and became members. Feb thru mid May... I think I faxed 40 + resumes and emailed about the same for Michelle. She literally had 1 call back the whole time. After we placed membership.... I applied for a job off craigslist which I hadn't had much luck from. Seems like they were all scams on there. None the less, I figured it couldn't be much more than another spam email. As you can guess it was the real deal. It was 2 weeks later that Michelle was starting a new job in a new field. She is now the office manager for Primary Eyecare in Arlington.

Michelle starting back fulltime work was not only a change for her, but for the whole family. Caden started school school (daycare) at Childerns Knowledge Station in Bartlett. Caden really didn't know what to think when he wasn't home with mommy all day. In reality I think it was harder for mommy not to know what to do without Caden all day long. We were blessed with it working out with Michelle being able to be home with him during the day for the first 2 years of his life. Now Caden rides to work with daddy and is dropped off at CKS in the mornings. This is a challenge for me. I have been used to dragging out fo bed... showering and walking out the door without saying 10 words. Now its fighting a 2 yr to get awake, dressed, etc and out the door every morning. Work for me has always been pretty demanding. It seems lately it has been more demanding than ever. I struggle to make sure to give my fulltime to the family when I am home. I am still working on this but I really think that Caden starting school was a good thing. I rarely stay over past 5-5:30pm now. If I do have to login for work I try and wait until after 9pm once it is bedtime for Caden. I may be taking some classes in the near future for CISCO. These will prepare me for the CCNA test for CISCO. I am excited and yet scared at the same time. This is a totally new area for me... but I feel I am up to the task.

This past year has been very hectic and challenging for us. Thru it all we have come together as a stronger family, couple, and parents. We are anxious to see what the future holds for us. We are excited to get back into church and where God will lead our family.

Enjoy a few pics from this past weekend..... If you need a great photographer email me and I'll get Laurie's info to you.... I'll edit this post later with her contact info.