I love to craft, blog, design, decorate, and load my plate with DIY projects that will most likely never get done. Mr. Gilbert loves to play disc golf, play fantasy baseball (and real baseball), and escape into the time-consuming world of XBOX live with new games and old friends. And Little Gilbert currently loves to suck his entire fist at once, play with things that make loud noises, and spend time “cooing” and “ahhing” at his reflection in the swing.
We are a new family of three and trying our best to make it look like we know what we are doing or how to function. But it’s only by God’s grace and His multiple blesssings that are we able to do so and spend each new day He gives us as the Gilberts.
It wasn’t until a little storm known as Katrina blew through town that we began spending lots of time together. We both volunteered at a local shelter through our church twice a week for a couple months. Since our volunteer time was the same as two of our best friends, we all rode together and then hung out as a group almost every night.
Those trips and times at the shelter were full of so many great memories. After a while, Joel made the leap and asked me to lunch. We had a great date and both thought it was something we wanted to pursue. And we did--for about a month.
After that we tried the friendship role on for size and tried to pretend this was what we both wanted. It all came to a head that spring when Joel told me he no longer wanted to just be friends. I was hesitant. Mainly because I was comfortable in the friendship role and it was easier than risking getting my heart broken (again).
But as I quickly learned, saying no once was not going to work. For three whole days, he consistently called, showed up unannounced, or texted me trying to change my mind. And my answer was always, “No. We’re just friends.”
Then one night he picked me up and we drove to campus. We were sitting in his truck and he gave me his last and final plea. I knew I couldn’t resist at that point and that I was inevitably going to say yes. (I guess three days were the longest I could bluff.)
He jumped out of his truck, came around to my side and officially asked me to be his girlfriend. It was one of the sweetest and happiest moments.
After that, we both knew that we were it for each other. Two weeks later he told me he loved me. And five months after that we got engaged. Then a year later, we were married and haven’t looked back since.
So that brings us to August of 2007. After we got married, we settled into an 800-sq. ft. apartment and called it home for two years. At that point, we decided that a family was in our future and we wanted to move away from the city that we were becoming less enchanted with as time went on.
In 2009, we bought our first house! It didn’t take long to make this into a home and we have no plans of ever moving. We love it and our little community now as much as the day we moved in (if not more). We can’t wait for our children to grow up in this small, quiet city and see how they transform our home even more.
As we were approaching our four-year anniversary in 2011, we decided that it was time to add to our family. Thankfully, I found out I was pregnant about a month later.
And exactly 10 months later, I gave birth to a healthy and wonderful baby boy on my due date: April 28, 2012.
So that’s us in a nutshell! (So far at least.) I always love reading people’s stories, so if you’ve made it this far you must be like me. And I'm sure one day, I'll make our kids sit down and read it as well. :)
