Welcome Baby Camille!

Sweet baby Camille Cox was born yesterday, November 17th, somewhere around 3pm. Even though she was a little early, both mom and baby are doing great and looking good!

She weighs 4lbs 14oz, and was 18+ inches long.

Congratulations, Laura and Nick!
Camille, you could not have been born to a happier family to have finally you here!
~~~~~~~

Since Camille will have to stay in the NICU for a little while, most of her fans aren't able to see her just yet. While that is a bummer, we all crowded in Laura's room and hung out for a while. Laura looks great, was still very much herself, and had a lot of patience in waiting to see her sweet daughter. Nick had taken some pictures of Camille, and was able to go visit her and give us updates. I may be a little biased, but in my opinion she's the prettiest newborn I've seen! John and I are so excited to get to officially meet our little neice. I have a feeling it'll be quite hard not to spoil this one ;-)

By the way, if you're gonna have a baby, REX is the place to go! The rooms are so large, clean, newly remodled and very modern, and they have flat screen tvs and dvd players(in case you have to stay a little while). They have taken such good care of Laura and Camille so far, and for that we are all grateful. Just a little tip in case you're looking!

Praise the Lord!

As a huge answer to prayer, I(Aya) got a job today with the Baptist State Convention! Thanks to my dear friend Carly, who also started there about a month ago, I found out about the available position and just found out today that I got it!

The Lord has been so faithful throughout this whole process, and I've been reminded the whole time that He is the ultimate Provider whether I had a job or not. I have definitely learned so much about truly trusting in God's plans rather than my own, and learning how to really surrender my worries and just pray for my heart's alignment with Christ's. Even though it's been a hard four weeks, it's also been a very sweet time growing in my relationship with Christ.

God has also blessed me with such a kind and loving husband, who has been such an encouragement and huge supporter during my job search. There were a lot of days for me filled with frustration and tears, but John was so encouraging and sweet, and never once made me feel that my joblessness was a burden or annoyance. God has been so gracious!

So, thank you, everyone who has encouraged us and prayed for us. We really appreciate it so much, and I couldn't wait to share the good news with you!

Job Search

Attention all friends, I, Aya McNeill, need a job.

If you know of any or have any tips, please pass them along!
It would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
love, Aya

Wedding Pictures Are Up!

Finally...our photographer has uploaded some pictures of the wedding onto her website!

cknightphotography.com
click "enter"
then click on the "client proofs" tab
you'll see the "Haddock/McNeill" wedding tab
Click and enjoy!

Virginina vacation pt 1

John and I just got back yesterday from a great vacation to Virginia.
We started off on the coast in Norfolk visiting John's friend, Aaron, who
lives there now working with the Navy. It is so beautiful all around that
area. We ventured to Yorktown from there the next morning. Aaron had to be
up early for work, so John and I were in Yorktown by 7am, so we got to
tour around without any other people around. It was so beautiful and peaceful.These are two pictures of the battlefield in Yorktown.
These are two of the only two pictures that John was able to take
before our camera's battery died.

We headed to Williamsburg after that. We checked into our hotel
(thanks to the great coupons we got at the VA border) and then
headed to Colonial WB for the rest of the afternoon. Here are a
few pics of our afternoon there.



We thought this little guy was pretty humorous. Just some kid
walking around in some colonial gettup. Pretty funny.

We went to Water Country USA the next day, but we didn't bring our
camera along for that. We had a blast there! We got there as soon as it
opened, so we beat the lines for each ride until about 11:30. I think we
made a record of going to all the major rides within the 1st hour. It was
great! Oh, and a little tip, if you are planning to go there or Busch Gardens,
go to any Williamsburg McDonald's and they have some sweet coupons for
$$ off the really expensive rates.

That's all for now. I'll post more pics later.

Vacation time!

So...good news to report: John got a job with UNC in Chapel Hill. Praise the Lord! He'll start on August 24th, so before that, we are going to enjoy a week crusin' the road! Right now, our destination is Williamsburg, VA, however we'll see where the road takes us!

This weekend my little sister, Meredith, becomes a new freshman at NC State. Mom and Dad are coming to move her in on Saturday, and John and I are both really excited that she'll be here.
I wanted to post a few pictures of the precious kids that I take care of every week, Jack and Louisa Weinard. I love this family dearly, however I'll be leaving that job in a few weeks since Ashley(their mother) is now working from home(which I'm so glad for them). But, these two kiddos are so precious, and I've loved every minute that I've ever spent with them. So, here are a few glimpses of the cute/funny things that I have had the joy of experiencing for the past year.


Jack playing with his sister's dress up doll


little Lou changing Baby Bo's diaper

they finished swimming in their little pool, and wanted to dry off. so they laid out!

cute little Lousia putting a little Swimmer over her clothes, and only using one leg hole



Well..that's it for now.

The Past 2 months...

It's hard to believe that it's already been two months since John and I got married. These months have been filled with some tough adjustments to marriage, but overall we have seen how good the Lord is to us, and we've seen how much He's grown us and has been changing our new marriage even just within this last month. Praise the Lord!
Our family has been so encouraging and such a blessing to us in so many ways, too. As I write this, John's sweet and lovely mother, Ms. Patrice McNeill, is experimenting in our kitchen making some delicious strawberry/watermelon smoothies. But before that, she made us a delicious dinner and dessert, and we are stuffed to the max! She has been so sweet and loving towards us, and we have been so blessed by her.
Here are a few pictures to summarize a little of what we've been up to lately:

john and aya at the Durham Bulls game July 3rd

The Providence Softball team won the Championship!



The McNeill and Cox families at the Bulls game

Putt putt in raleigh with my sisters!



















Family beach weekend in Nags Head, NC, July 25th. This picture is of us jumping off the slope of the dunes at Jockey's Ridge.


Well, I guess that's about it for right now.
Thanks for reading!
~Aya McNeill