Oatsvall Family Adoption Concert

Today we had the wonderful experience to support some friends of ours.  Trevor's high school journalism teacher, Gwen, and her family are adopting a boy from Uganda.  Tonight they had a benefit concert to raise money for his adoption featuring Point of Grace!  Now, I wasn't really into the whole Christian music thing when they were hugely popular, but I do know that they were one of the pioneer groups featuring contemporary christian music!  They were awesome and put on a great show!  It is so awesome how God uses different people and circumstances in our life to bring Him glory.  One of the singers in POG has a couple of sons that go to school where Coach O coaches, and she heard their story and wanted to help.....so they had this concert...how awesome!  We also got to hear from a young woman named Katie who lives in Uganda and runs a non-profit child sponsorship program.  And, she is foster mom to 13....yes 13 Ugandan girls.  Oh and did I mention that she is only 20?!?!?!  How amazing!!!  Here are some pics from the night....

Point of Grace doing their thing!

The Oatsvalls speaking about adoption

Trev and I at the concert

The Castle women all sporting our Ugandan necklaces

It was such a neat experience for Trevor and I because since we started dating and talking about having our own family we have ALWAYS wanted to adopt one day--and this is so encouraging  to see that God will provide.  Now comes the hard part...waiting until the time is right.  I tend to be one of those people who is always living in the "next stage" of life.  I am always thinking about what life will be like when this or that happens.  Thankfully, the Lord is teaching me how to just relax, and live life one day at a time.  I know we will get there one day, but for now I am thankful for where we are in life right now!

If you want to check out the Oatsvall Family's adoption blog go to www.oatsvallteam.blogspot.com

Oh and P.S.  I cant figure out why the last half of this post is underlined blue so sorry!

Vacation to Gulf Shores (Part 2)

Well our second half of vacation was just as fun as the first!  We definitely had our fill of fun in the sun.  By the last day we were sad to leave the beach behind, but also glad to be heading back home to our own house.  There is nothing like coming home from vacation and FINALLY getting to sleep in your own bed again!  Here are some pics from the second half of our trip...

Wednesday we stayed in for the night and had a "shrimp boil."  It was so good....there is nothing better than shrimp, potatoes, corn, and eating by the ocean!

After the shrimp boil we had ice cream :)  The boys loved it!

Then we decided to go hunting for crabs on the beach.  Only Clint had done this before, but we ended up being successful and catching 3 crabs!  Hudson loved it and wanted to make sure that we carried his "friends" with us while we looked for more!

Here are our 3 crabs! (Don't worry we let them go!)

Hudson and I at our last dinner.  We ate at this place called Cosmos and it was delicious!

Photo op on the beach!  Beautiful scenery!

There is this ice cream place in Gulf Shores called "Scoops," and they have the most amazing frozen chocolate covered bananas!  They were so good--maybe I can learn how to make them myself!

Our vacation was great--it was so nice to have a break from the real world!  Now its back to work (for Trev at least, I'm on summer break!!)

Gulf Shores (part 1)

For our vacation this year (and part of our anniversary celebration) we took a trip to gulf shores with part of my mom's side of the family.  The crew included Trevor and I, my mom, my aunt Joan and uncle Randy, my cousins Kristi and Keri, and Keri's family--Clint (her hubby), Hudson (age 3), and Harrison (age 1 1/2)

So far we are having a great time!  It is so nice to be able to just relax and forget about work and all the chores at home that need to be done!  One of my favorite things about this trip has been the ocean.  I am normally not a huge ocean fan, but this time the water was SO clear and beautiful!  Looking at the beauty of the ocean, I don't understand how anyone cannot believe in the Lord--His creation is so marvelous and beautiful!

Here are some pics from our trip so far...

Trevor and I the day we got to the beach

Kristi and Hudson relaxing on the balcony

The first day we were there we went to eat at a place called Calypso Joe's.  The food and atmosphere was wonderful!  I ate the crab cake sandwich-Yum

Me and my mom at Calypso Joe's

Doing oyster shooters at Calypso Joe's!

My cousins: Kristi and Keri

Our second night we went to this great restaurant named Lulu's--its Jimmy Buffett's sisters restaurant.  While we waited Trev had a sno cone and Harrison loved it!  In fact, I think he may have eaten more of it than Trev did--he is like a little birdie!

Hudson and Harrison

The third night we ate at the Oyster House--it was yummy, and they had the BEST oysters I think I have ever tasted--(good thing since the restaurants name is the oyster house)

Hudson and his mom Keri at the Oyster House restaurant.  Isn't Hudson's smile great!

Trevor and I at the Oyster House

The boys in front of the 8 foot alligator at the Oyster House

Our trip is only halfway over and it's been great so far!  More to come!

My attempt to enter the blogging world!

Hello all!  So I decided that for Trevor and I's one year anniversary I would enter the world of blogging.  I have wanted to do this for a while, but I usually think of blogs as something better suited for people who have kids--but Trev convinced me that we could actually blog without yet having kids :)

So, to start off the blog I will post some pics of our one year anniversary.  It was on May 24th 2009, and although we didn't do anything super exciting we did get to spend some quality time together.  It is crazy that our first year of marriage has gone by so quickly.  I never believed it when people said that time flies...but it really does.  We have loved being married and can't wait for even more fun adventures to come our way!

A pic of our little family on our one year anniversary, me, Trev, and our puppy Vandy

Our cake after spending a year in the freezer--it still tasted just as good as it did on our actual wedding day!  Yummy!

For dinner we made one of our favorite meals--filet tips with veggies, rice, and teryaki sauce.  

Well hopefully I will be able to keep this blogging thing up.  As much as I love reading other peoples blogs you would think that I would want to maintain one of my own!  :)