God-Sized Project... Realized!

Today was an amazing amazing day! We had the last service in our church on Henderson and Indiana, and had a processional across town to our new "God-Sized Project". It doesn't seem like it's finally time! It's been a long time in the planning and preparation, and now we have our first service next week! What a wonderful time!

So after service, some of the church members loaded on an old fire truck to go across town. Mostly it was the members of the congregation who had made the last move from Walnut & C about 44 years ago. So Mom and Nana loaded up, and it about killed Brock to let them go, so he jumped on the fire truck for the ride of his life! He thought he was one cool dude! It was so cool!

I have 33 years of memories at the "old church" (for lack of a better name for it!). From childhood, musicals, youth group memories, missions trips, college travel group visits, getting married, Brock & Addi's baptisms, Caylie's dedication, and so many more.... I haven't known anything other than that "church" building. But it's so much more than the building. My church is the people - old friends and new friends - who have made the "Fleischman's" who we are!

We look forward to many wonderful memories at our new church.

So, someday (hopefully no time too soon) we'll look back and be able to say that WE participated in the move from Indiana to Olive, and will always cherish those memories!

Easter 2009

Happy Easter! He is Risen!!!!

We had a great day - starting with Easter service at church, and then the family get together at mom and dad's house! The Colburn's joined us for a low-key afternoon. Lots of good food, good fellowship, and good egg hunt! The kids had a blast!

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe that it's 2009! I was reminded in church last week that just 9 years ago we all freaked out about "Y2K", and now here we are, with a new kind of "scare"... the economy! We have been so blessed these past 3 years with only one income. Troy has been blessed to be at home with Caylie and spending that time with her that he lost with Brock because of his leg and being in different hospitals for so long. It hasn't been easy - I'll be the first to admit that. I hated leaving every day, knowing that they had all that time together. But knowing that my daughter was able to be home with her daddy - that made it all worth-while!

Now, we're just awaiting the news of a new job for Troy - pretty much his dream job! He is applying for a position with the Tulare County Sheriff as the Autopsy Assistant! It's not everyone's dream, but it's something that he really "enjoys" (I say loosely). This really is the perfect job for him and his training. We just really pray that God continues to direct the Sheriff's office toward Troy. It's down to him and another guy. So that's all that stand between him and his job!

Regardless, I am BLESSED to have the most wonderful husband ever. Our life isn't always perfect, and definately not easy, but we have an amazing love that puts everything else into perspective. There's no one who can make me laugh when I'm incredibly upset or sad, and make me forget what I was mad or sad about. There's no one that I could spend 24 hours a day with, and enjoy every minute (although sometimes I just need a little alone time). He gave me wonderful step-children, whome I love so much. He gave me Caylie - enough said. And he gave me complete love!

So, here in 2009, I can definately say I am loved and blessed. God is SO good, and I don't doubt that He will continue to show Himself to the Fleischman family in His amazing timing. I hope that you, as the reader, know that you are blessed as well! No matter where you are in life, know that God is bigger than any of our fears and questions.

Happy New Year from the Fleischmans!

Merry Christmas!

We had a great time celebrating Jesus' birth this year! This was the first time we've had Brock and Addi at our house Christmas Eve night to wake up for Christmas morning. Brock still believes in Santa, so Troy went out on Christmas Eve and made foot prints leading up to our back window (because we don't have a real fireplace, and Brock couldn't figure out how he was going to get in the house!).

We had to wake the kids up on Christmas morning to find the Christmas tree packed with gifts and cards. After cinnamon rolls and milk, we proceeded to have all of our wishes fulfilled through the opening of presents! It was a special time for us together at our house.

After we had played a little bit, we went to my parents' house and enjoyed Christmas traditions there, including "stockings" (in the forms of baskets) and a wonderful meal. We even got to see "Santa", whom we snuck up on as he was finishing up some packages in the shed. He had special gifts for each of us, which was really fun. Brock actually bought the whole bit, even though Santa was a little less than "Round and jolly", and had one of those "double mustaches" (a mustache over a mustache, if you know what I mean). It was very fun, and as always, memorable!

This year we really were reminded the true meaning of Christmas... besides the gift of Jesus to us so many years ago, we learned the gift of giving out of love! It's not always the biggest gifts that mean the most - it's those that were labors of love for someone else.

Merry Christmas to all, and a happy new year in 2009!

My Little Songbird!

Mama's Pride and Joy!
This is one of my favorites... Caylie was taking a bath and we were singing together. She LOVES to sing. Makes a mama happy. Our favorite of late is each time we get in the car, she sings whatever song is on KLUV. Her current favorites are "Empty Me" by Chris Sligh, and the new Toby Mac song with Kirk Franklin and Mandisa... "I don't wanna change the whole world and lose my sooooouuuuulllllll". Someday I'll get that on video. It's a little tricky while driving. I'm not supposed to talk on my cell phone while I'm driving, so I'm guessing that taking a video on my phone isn't allowed either! :)

Enjoy (and pardon the nudity... she is only 20 months old, after all!)
Stacie

Happy Halloween From the Fleischmans

We wanted to share fun some Halloween pictures. We had a great time - Caylie's first official Trick-or-Treating night... we made it about 45 minutes, or half way around our block! We had a blast, though, with Mimi, Papa, Auntie Amy, Uncle Glenn ("LaLaLa" is Caylie's name for Glenn), and Abby-dabby (#1 cousin!). Enjoy the pictures of our wonderful children! We are so blessed!

Addison - Raggedy Ann (13 1/2 years)
Brock - Old School Gangster (8 1/4 years)

Caylie - Little Tutu Elmo (20 1/2 months)

Happy Fall!

We had a good time at the Pumpkin Patch. Caylie wanted to touch all of the pumpkins, but wouldn't stop for a picture. So we tried "Give the pumpkin a hug..." so she proceeded to hug ALL of the pumpkins.

Such a lover! :)