Baby Rays

News is: We have now decidedly begun to call our little Gabriella "Gigi."  Our extended fam does call her Brie and Baby Apple still; and all those names are fine and dandy.  We call her several other nicknames too; we just have centered in on "gigi."  Our sister-in-law, Amy, took these pics with her new camera!

Mamalea and Gigi

We were so excited to see Stephen's Mom in March right before her RETIREMENT!!!!! That's right... after so many years of working full-time & being a mom of 5 wild and crazy boys, Mamalea retires - way to go Mom.  

She came to town to be the Main Speaker at Antioch Wheaton's Women Retreat, and left every woman in tears [i heard it was a good cry :)].  Here are a few pics of Mom holding baby Gigi.  And a video of gigi sucking her thumb. stinkin cute  

A couple brothers / brother-in-law

Hey, this is my brother, Chris Herman (Neelie's bro) and I at our sledding outing during Christmas...

And my other brother, James Mark, his wife Maria, his 2 kids (Mia Praise & Jude Freedom) and a friend Alli McBrayer.

Some of our fam...

Alright so here's a baby

Well, we (more like Neelie) had our little baby! It happened on January 29, 2009 @ 7:17 p.m.  Her name is, as we said before, Gabriella Apple, and she is an awesome little G.  We are sad that all of you can't be here while she grows up - we agree that it takes a village to raise a child...so we hope to keep you in the loop via picture.  We love you guys.  And we hope this blog keeps you updated on our family life.  We will begin to add more ministry stories because a good bit has been happening up here!  God is on the move.

College Cookie Cocoa Crazy Costume Christmas Party

Welp,  that was the name for our College Cmas Party and did we ever live up to its title...!

People swarmed from everywhere and brought cookies of all kinds - as well as a white elephant gift to exchange...all in our basement for this night of long-needed, unadulterated CRAZY FUN.

This pic is of Neelie and I - we were a bowling ball and dirty laundry...you guess from the pic who played what.  Also, here is a pic of our costume winner - for the girls.  Lisa Delamarter came as Neelie - and everyone got a huge laugh out of the fact that she tagged her perfectly.  Neelie had been wearing this exact outfit about 2-3 times per week.  

So, Neels went upstairs and put on the infamous outfit and we captured this moment.  Wish you all could've been there.  

GulleyBand

Cmas Upon Us - Snows

Well, here is our very first Cmas Tree in our new home!  and...what better day to get it all up than on our First Snow of the year.

Snow shovels and snow fallin all day.

Here is our world - GulleyBand