It's been awhile....

Beautiful beach in Destin!


I was here!


Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long since we've posted! I left for Destin, FL this past Monday for a beach vacation with my family (Mom and Dad Mertz, my sister Michelle and her husband Jay, Jay's daughter Megan, my niece Maddie, and my brother Billy. Also my Aunt Joy and Uncle Gary, cousin Cristal, and her two daughters Maya and Olivia). Poor Josh stayed back in Cincinnati laid up for most of the week, and trying to heal up. I felt bad leaving my hubby, but I had a great time with my family at my favorite place in the whole world...the beach! We had great weather for the most part, and I spent most of my time relaxing on the beach, and swimming in the ocean. I have tons of pictures that I will post when we get home to Elizabethtown. We have decided to stay in Cincinnati for one more week so Josh can continue his therapy here. We will finally head back to Elizabethtown sometime next weekend, and I will upload all my pics as soon as I can after we get home....I have a lot of good ones to share! We hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day weekend!

Rough week

Sorry we haven't posted in a while, we've had a rough week. Josh is still laid up, doing better, but still in a lot of pain. We have also had a death in the family. Josh's grandmother passed away this week. We know she is in a better place, but it has been difficult for the whole family. Please pray for us! I will try to update more next week. Thanks in advance for your prayers and support.

Knee surgery update

Josh made it through surgery today! Praise the Lord! He is in A LOT of pain, though, so please continue to keep him in your prayers. They took a graft of muscle from his hamstring to repair the ACL, and that is what is giving him most of his pain. He is a trooper, though. He's hanging in there and trying to tough it out. Thanks to everyone for their prayers, love, and support!

Josh's Big Day!

We are back in Cincinnati now, and Josh's big day is tomorrow! Knee surgery is bright and early at 6:15 AM! Please keep him in your prayers! I will post again tomorrow to tell how his surgery went.

We had an exciting weekend as well, and I have some pics to post, but those will have to wait until we get back to Ft. Knox and our own computer!

We'll let you know how his surgery turns out!

Pics of Ft. Knox

Bradley (Armored Personnel Carrier)
25 mm Bushmaster Cannon, carries squad-sized element (9-12 men)

Another Bradley (desert camo)


Army Demonstration Trailer


Main Gate Welcome Sign


This is the hospital where Bib will most likely be born!

Another hospital pic

Abrams Tank (desert camo)
120mm M256 smoothbore gun


Another Abrams Tank


We wanted to post some pics of Ft. Knox for our friends and family to see. Ft. Knox is, for the time being, home to the Cavalry and Armor divisions (soon they will be moving to Ft. Benning). There is a ton of history here, and I love seeing all the tanks on post! They had a bunch of tanks sitting out near Skidgel Hall this week, and Josh insisted I take some pics and post them. So, here they are! I will have to ask Josh the names of the tanks and post them later. Enjoy!

Saunders Springs Nature Preserve in Ft. Knox

Josh stumbled upon a great, little nature preserve right outside Ft. Knox last week, and he took me there yesterday when we got home from Cincinnati. It is a beautiful place to go hiking or have a picnic! I had to take some pics to show everyone! If anyone wants to come visit us, we'll take you there! :-)

Sweet Home Cincinnati!

At Mom and Dad Mertz's house

Nice shades, Gabrielle!


My sister, Michelle, and her daughter Maddie


My brother, Billy, with Maddie


Me and my Maddie girl!


Josh and Lisa with Maddie


Our adorable niece, Gabrielle...she's gonna be walking soon!


Well, Josh and I had a very busy weekend, so I have a lot to post today! This weekend, we got to go home to Cincinnati to see our families! This was Josh's first time home since Christmas, and my first time home since March. It was great to be home again and spend time with our loved ones. We missed home a lot! We are only 2 hours away from Cincinnati now, and we were hoping to be able to visit home often, but we found out last week that Ft. Knox has a policy that Josh can't cross state lines without a pass. So, it's going to be a little more difficult for Josh to go home. We got a pass this weekend, though, because the Army is referring Josh to his friend (who is an orthopedic doctor) for his knee surgery. That means that Josh will have his knee surgery in Cincinnati with a phenomonal doctor he knows well and trusts...praise the Lord! That was an answered prayer for us. So, Josh had a doctor's appointment yesterday (Monday) with this doctor, which is why we were able to go home for the weekend. We had an incredible time playing Wii with my family, and Guitar Hero with Josh's family! We got to see our adroable nieces too! They are getting so big! I got to go shopping for maternity clothes at my favorite outlet store in the world...The Gap Outlet! The Gap Outlet in Hebron, KY is a true outlet store, and I got 5 shirts, 4 pairs of pants, one skirt, one dress, and two bathing suits all for $40! No kidding! It was awesome! With my cousin and my two sisters donating maternity clothes, and with what I bought for myself, I am totally set on maternity clothes! Josh got to go watch his cousin train for his big MMA fight while I was shopping. He got to hang out with his buddies at the gym, and see some people he hadn't seen in a while. We also got to go to our home church, Crossroads! They had an amazing baptismal service, and we realized how much we miss going to church there. We both had an amazing weekend!

At Josh's doctor's appointment yesterday, we found out that he is going to be having his knee surgery next Monday, May 12 in Cincinnati. We will probably stay in Cincinnati for a couple of weeks after his surgery so he can recover and be monitored by his doctor (pending the Army allows Josh to stay that long). We are relieved to know when his surgery is taking place, but Josh has a long road to recovery ahead of him! Please keep him in your prayers!

Sorry to our Cincinnati friends and family that we didn't get to see this weekend...hopefully we'll have time to visit everyone else next time we come into town!

Click on the play button to watch this video of Gabrielle crawling and standing up like a pro! She definitely wants to walk soon! :-)

Wedding Band

I am so blessed! I received an early Mother's Day gift! My wonderful hubby got me a beautiful diamond wedding band to go with my engagement ring! I am so thrilled! It is beautiful! Here's a pic of my ring with the new wedding band!