We played with this "snow" that even felt damp! I think Abbi would have stayed at that spot forever!











Hailey wanted to "be" a flower...













Here are all 4 girls: Anna is a cat, Amber a butterfly, Hailey a flower, and Abbi was a cherry pie!










Abbi's personality really comes out in this photo!

Our life seems to follow patterns...for us, each year reveals a theme of lessons God wants us to learn. Last year, the theme seemed to be "how far am I willing to go for the relationships God has given me?" It was a pretty hard year and I didn't like what I saw in myself. Ironically, the answer to that questions is another question, "How far did Christ go for me?" The relationships in our lives will reflect what we believe about the Gospel and what Christ did for us on the cross. We learned so much about relationships last year, how different they are and how to care more for each of them. Some of the tests that came, we passed...and some, we didn't. Every time we failed to respond correctly or invest in someone's life, God brought another opportunity to try again. When we first came in contact with Restoration Ministries, we had no idea how much we needed to change. In the past, I always thought you responded to others by speaking truth, no matter how much it hurt them, BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO! I thought it was my duty, something that I HAD to do if I was "truly godly". I wish I had known then, what I know now about truth. Yes, it may be truth, but will it help that person heal? Does it display how much I care for them or does the truth I have to share just make them hurt all the more? When the Bible tells me to "speak the truth in love", what does that mean? If my only responsibility was to "speak the truth", then that is all He would have said and He wouldn't have bothered specifying that I should do it "in love". We have been so privilaged to sit under the teaching of Restoration Ministries and Caring for the Heart Ministries...it is changing the way we are approaching relationships. Notice, I said, "c-h-a-n-g-i-n-g", and I am not implying that we've got it figured out now. Obviously, this isn't something you just change overnight, it is something we will be working at for the rest of our lives. Living in peace with others is beautiful. It brings so much glory to the Lord when two sinners can get along...it is the proof of the power of Christ in us. Our prayer for this year is that God would help us heal from damage caused by our own past...and that he would go before us as we try to repair relationships...and that he would strengthen the relationships that he has already started to heal! Is there a greater witness to the world than the peace we have with others?

Someone recently asked my sister-in-law why people who have good marriages need counseling. She responded so wisely: "Because we want to keep what we've got!"

Do you have relationships in your life that are hurting? Are YOU hurting? Do you want to know how to HEAL? How to FORGIVE? You might like to look into either of the ministries listed above.

Here's a little story you might like to laugh at...I FORGOT that I had a BLOG? Yes, that's exactly what I did...so, maybe I can do this a little more often...shouldn't be too hard since my last post was in 2006!!! I updated the picture and yes, there is another child, who is almost 2 years old, Abbigail Dawn Gurnsey.

It is so much fun to see the differences between the two girls.

Anna is reserved and cautious like her Daddy and seems to look more like me.(At least for now).

She loves to "read" and sit in her Pooh chair.

She really likes her Uncle Nick.

She is saying more and more words everyday and sometimes really shocks me with a sentence FULL of little words I had no idea she even knew.

Amber looks more like her Daddy but is more outgoing. She even laughs and smiles at everyone.

"Our little Gurnsey `amburger"

Amber had her first bite of cereal on Saturday and a taste of fresh peaches on Sunday.


It has been 8 weeks since we got to spend time with my family and there are two more till we go down again. Needless to say, I am very homesick. We are going to head down there for the air show in Lincoln and maybe stop in at the CEF picnic. It will be so good to spend time with my family after such a long absence. OK, so eight weeks isn't that long for you? Well, it's WAY too long for me.

Welcome to our blog! We hope you enjoy what you read and that we all walk away feeling encouraged and edified...Here it goes!


We met, married, and moved in 7 months.
(not exactly, but it sounded impressive, right?)

We met at Christian Youth in Action in 1996. When we graduated, we went our seperate ways, each hoping our paths would cross again someday.

That, they did. We were married on Aug 2, 2003 after 3 years of waiting for the right time, 4 months of getting to know each other again, and two months of engagement...not so bad, huh?!

Three months later we were expecting. Anna Jo was born on July 19, 2004. God spared our lives that day and kept us through hard days that followed. He walked with us in the valley and helped us start up the mountain-side of recovery.

That was a little over two years ago...we now have another baby, Amber Rose who was born May 24, 2006.

So, a happy, healthy little family of four, are we. I have had a full recovery and Anna is a typical two year old:-) Amber is going on 4 months in a couple of weeks...my, the time does fly. I knew it would.

Today my little Anna helped make banana bread...the famous recipe has now been passed down 4 generations (that I know of). Amber is sleeping peacefully in her swing, and Anna is now singing to herself in her crib...she is supposed to be taking a nap. The bread is done so I need to get a mooooove on! I will try to figure out the rest of the pictures another time.