I know...it's about time, right?

Yes, I know. Everyone blogs, right? Blog blog blog blog blog! Yeah...everyone except us! So, here we are...finally joining the real world and beginning our blog...from the bowl! Hope you all enjoy what is to come. I will see how well I do with keeping up with me blogs! So...here it goes:

Hello everyone!! Welcome to our fishbowl! Come on in and pull up a pebble or pirate ship or something you would find in a fishbowl. Right?? Naw...just kidding! Actually, I had a very hard time coming up with a name for our blog. I wanted something neat and different...doesn't everyone?? I started thinking about our life. Our life is surrounded by ministry, church and family. We are always under the microscope...living our life as best we can and hoping all of those watching aren't waiting for us to fall. Rather, we hope they are all watching into our waters so they can see how gracious God is and how good He can be to all of us, even when we don't deserve it!

Life in the Nelson bowl has been great so far! Let me give you a very brief summary of our life so far:

After graduating from college in 1996, I returned home to Foley and began my first and only professional job, teaching hearing impaired children in our local public schools. Kevin and I started dating that very summer. We had known each other all our lives b/c we grew up together at 1st Baptist Church of Foley. We dated for 4 years and he FINALLY proposed! As we dated, Kevin was called to be a minister. God's calling was and is still heavy on his heart. Before we married, Kevin served as youth pastor, children's minister, and other short term roles while attending New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He was called as pastor to a small church right in the heart of where we grew up right before our wedding. We married on November 3, 2001.

A few years later, we had our precious son, Kevin, Jr. My dad jokingly nicknamed him K2 (since he is the second Kevin) after we found out we would be having a boy. The nickname stuck and pretty much everyone calls him that. He WILL NOT carry that name into kindergarten, however! Ha! Kevin was born on October 11. 2004. He came out via c/section with his wides and mouth WIDE OPEN and hasn't shut either since! Our son is a talker, a walker and never slows down till his head hits the pillow. He is the spitting image of his daddy, personality and all! Still, he has momma's heart for sure. Nothing makes my heart warmer than when he says, "Momma...I wanna mawe (marry) you!" His innocence and joy for life renews Kevin and I each day.

We live in the home I grew up in as a child. Sure, it has different walls, floors, and stuff but it still feels the same...it's home. We thank God everyday for letting us purchase this home.

Currently, I still teach in the same place I have since 1996. Kevin is no longer a pastor but rather was called to our home church, 1st Baptist of Foley, as the minister to children and families. He LOVES those kiddos with all of his heart. We have been blessed to serve in our home church where we both grew up. Though it can be tough, we love every minute of our life in ministry.

Our current "hobby" if you can call it that is Disney World! We have been three times since January of 2007. Our last trip ended last week! We just absolutely love the magic and nostalgia that you feel when you step on the monorail and leave the world behind. For us, as a ministry family, this is our "unplug." You will see lots of info on that in the future I am sure!

So, that is our life in a few paragraphs so far. There is tons more but who cares about that! Just keep checking back and you will get the most current flow of our bowl! Thanks for stopping by! Have a nice swim!