Friday, February 17, 2017

WHERE has the TIME GONE?

OH. My. Goodness.

I cannot even believe it's been so long since I've written on here. History has proven that after I have a baby, I'm MIA on The Clem Clan for quite some time. 2 out of 2 have proven that. So, here I am again--hoping to post weekly (until I have another baby). HAHA.

Now then, let me catch you up to speed on some things.

May 22nd--our SWEET Harper James came into this world. Ohhhhh he has our hearts with his one little dimple. I can't get enough of him!



June 8th-- Liam turned 2! That sweet boy is a mess and an angel all at the same time. He keeps us laughing! Daddy and Liam went to Chuck-E-Cheese's to celebrate his birthday and to get some one on one time. Then he got to enjoy a nice yummy cupcake at home! We wanted him to feel special! We held strong to tradition and went to hibachi with the Meares to celebrate him! This was our last dinner with the Meares (some of our DEAREST friends) before we did this next big thing...






Early June we said a whole lot of "see you laters"...because the next big news: WE'RE MOVING TO TENNESSEE.




June 13th-- We finished loading up the U-HAUL and moved to Tennessee! (Thank you to my mom who packed the whole house). Can we talk about all the mixed emotions?! We grew as a family in Williamston. This became our sweet little home. This is where we established our family. We were just dating when Tyler moved there, so our church family saw us through the dating stage, engagement, newlyweds, first baby, and 3 weeks of our second baby. WOW. The mixed emotions come into play because God brought us a beautiful opportunity to move back to our hometown- Murfreesboro. It's absolutely SURREAL. He could not have confirmed it in our hearts and minds more than He already has. It's definitely been bittersweet, and we CANNOT thank our Calvary family in Williamston more for the amazing love they've shown us and the family they've been to us. They will ALWAYS hold a special place in our hearts. I will definitely be posting a longer post about the whole move, but this will do for now!

The sweet home our church allowed us to live in and bring both boys home from the hospital to. There are some sweet memories here...First smiles. First words. First steps. You were good to us.


Our new Calvary family has been SO PRECIOUS to us. They've welcomed us with loving arms. We are so grateful! (And yes, the church we came from and our current church are both Calvary Baptist Church. AND both pastors' first name's are Mark. God truly has a sense of humor!)


Summer Highlights:

Seeing Aunt Ashley! She was in for a visit from Saudi Arabia. We LOVED it!


Mini golf with our youth! I look at these faces and had no clue who they were at the time, but now I just adore them. So glad you aren't strangers anymore!



We went on quite a few walks with our new friends! We've spent many fun hours getting to know our "village."




At the end of July the Meares came to visit us in ole' Tennessee. It was SO GOOD for our hearts to see them! Plus, these sweet friends are ADOPTING a baby girl, and we cannot wait to meet her! The Meares will always be so dear to us.



Over Labor Day weekend we went with our usual friend crew to South Carolina to this cute little house with a pool! We got to meet the newest member of our crew- Mady! It was such a blast! I'm always refreshed after spending time with these families (And since this picture we've added ANOTHER baby, too! Baby Eli!)



We bought a MINI VAN. Oh yeah. We love it! My MOM MOBILE gives me all the warm fuzzies.


Fall Highlights:

We went on Fall Retreat with our youth! This was an incredible bonding experience for us. There's nothing like a youth trip to allow for quality bonding. Especially when there's a pump involved. Girls-- amiright?



We took a trip with Tyler's family to Gulf Shores in October. This was such a sweet getaway! Liam was a little obsessed with the beach...especially the sand! He's at such a great age for that...until nap time.









One of our family friends-- Ana Lee--  took some SWEET family photos for us. All the heart eyes!

I snapped this before the fun began. My big boy!







We went to a farm for some Fall fun!



On October 23rd we OFFICIALLY dedicated Harper James to the Lord with our new church family! It was extremely special. I especially loved when our family members surrounded us at the end of the dedication and prayed over Harper. Beautiful, indeed.

We love our wonderful supportive families!


We went to our church's Fall Festival and went Trick-or-Treating on Halloween!



We celebrated Thanksgiving! And the fact that we didn't have to travel over a holiday. YES.


Harper had his first taste of baby food--Sweet Potatoes--and LOVED them.

Christmastime Highlights:

We made our way back to Williamston to meet the newest adorable additions to our friend group! Livi Ryan and Eva Kate are dolls! It was so great to see these friends!



Some of our friends came by to catch up...


Our South Carolina grandma came by, too!



We also made our way to Fiesta for Sunday lunch--ALWAYS a tradition when we lived there.


We celebrated Meares/Clem Christmas (a yearly tradition), and it was a blast as usual!



Back in the 'boro--The boys got to meet Santa:


Someone dressed like an elf:


We had Christmas parties with our students and friends!



Ugly Sweater Christmas Party hahaha

We celebrated Christmas with our Calvary family and LOVED it.




Cute Christmas babies:


January Highlights:

December 31st--we closed on our VERY FIRST HOME!!!!! Praise the GOOD Lord. We lived with my parents for 7 months. They were AMAZING, but we're SO grateful for our new home. We love it so much! We spent some time painting the whole house to give it a fresh look. We couldn't love it more! We're so grateful for our miracle home! I'll give a tour once we get things on the walls and curtains hung! 



First meal in our new home!

We threw a baby shower for Cynthia (our college minister's wife and great friend!). We couldn't WAIT to meet baby Easton! Our village is growing! I love these ladies!



And here we are...February. We had a HUGE event with our youth called UNITE. 10 churches across our county came together for a huge Disciple Now type event. We had worship together, did our mission project together, and had separate small groups and host homes. It was an incredible weekend! We love these students and are HONORED to serve alongside them.



We celebrated Harper's first Valentine's Day! "Harper and Liam" (aka daddy) brought me flowers. THEN Tyler also brought me flowers! So, I got two bouquets of beautiful flowers! Ahhhh spoiled. Tyler and I also got to go out for a date night! YAY! It's been incredibly awesome having family in town, but we still need more date nights! This was the first in 5 months. EEEEK.


And yesterday, sweet little Easton was born. It was a flawless, wonderful delivery. Thank the Lord! I'm so glad we got to meet him on his birth day and see Cynthia and Micah doing so well. I really do love our village! Welcome to the world and our crazy clan, Easton Mack!



And for now...that's where I'll leave you. More updates SOON!