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! :-)