Moving on!

January is almost over and I have been so blessed already this year that I know GOD has great plans for our family this year. I am putting 2008 in the past, all the money problems, health issues and the very painful realization that there are people that we love and care about that just pretend to be our friends but really want nothing to do with us.

While all these things have been painful and a struggle to get through, I am reminded everyday that God is here and very present in my life. He has allowed us to move to a new place where I have an amazing job, my children are the happiest I have ever seen them and my husband is loving life. I am so proud of him and know that God smiles bigtime at what he is doing in his life and the life of others. God has given him the opportunity to teach,coach and witness to teenagers everyday. He leads the FCA at school and the kids love him. Recently the whole school was asked to pick one staff member who has made a positive impact on their life and explain why. While I had a handfull, my husband was in the top 3 of staff members to get the most letters. The most amazing thing was that almost all the kids mentioned that "Coach Sly cares about us and is not afraid to show his faith, he is a Godly man"! Wow, how did I get so lucky?

God has gotten us through so much and I know he is not done working in our lifes yet! We have made wonderful friends here, found an amazing church and while we still haven't sold our house in Florida and have some other issues that we are struggling with, we know GOD is here. My friend Heather has a blog and named it Moving Forward, I won't copy her but that is what the "Sly family" is doing. We are not looking back, we are pressing on toward the goal which God has for us!

I hope you all have a great week!! And before I close I have one more thing to say...

GO STEELERS!!!!!

Down Time

I finally have time to write to you all again, sad to say because I am stuck in bed for a week. After watching a cyst on my ovary they decided that it was "abnormal" and thought it would be best if they just took everything out... So, I was gutted!! I had a total hysterectomy on Wednesday, came home from the hospital on Thursday and have been in bed ever since.. They say it will take a couple weeks to get totally back on my feet but praying all goes well I plan on returning to work next week sometime. So, since I had some downtime I figured I would catch up on my blogging.

Everyone here is doing great. Vinny finished his football season 6-1 and he played really well. The Varsity team finished 8-2 which is amazing for a first year varsity program. Gary was very pleased with the way the teams ended up. Dominique just finished her winter season of soccer and will play a tournament in December before her indoor season starts. Vincent went to his first homecoming and had a great time. Of course I can't believe he is in high school and dating....

Mom was hoping to head back to Florida before the cool weather came in but decided to suck it up and stay here till I am back on my feet. Danielle will be heading up here for Thanksgiving and will be able to spend a week with us. I can't wait to see her and have her do my hair! She is now officially unengaged and is very happy and enjoying her life. Nick is going to try and make it here for Christmas but is loving being back in the states and goes back to South Florida for weekend visits alot.

We still have not sold the house in Florida but are confident that God has a plan. Of course we just wish he would get on with it in our time!

We are busy preparing for Turkey Bowl 2 and will send pictures and updates after Thanksgiving... I hope you all have a great holiday, we all have so much to be Thankful for.

Its been a long time!

Wow, I just realized that it has been 4 months since I have updated you all on the Sly family! Where to begin... Well, we still haven't sold our house in Florida yet but we are still faithful that God will bring someone to buy it soon! This summer turned out to be a little crazy for me. I had my FINAL breast reconstruction surgery in July and while still recovering my friend came to get me out of the house and drive me to watch our girls at soccer when a lady decided to run a red light and hit us at 60mph! God was watching over us and we thank HIM that we are alive today! Of course I gave the paramedics and fireman a good laugh. As soon as they arrived and got to my side of the vehicle (I couldn't move to get out) all I could think to ask them was if my boobs fell out!! Of course they all looked at me like I was crazy but Gary was right there (he and Vinny had been behind us in our car on their way to football practice) to tell them about my recent surgery from breast cancer.. Then they laughed and told me to rest assured they were still there and hadn't fallen out!! They put my friend and I in the same ambulance and that was some ride, I don't think the paramedics will ever be the same!! Of course I couldn't stop there, last week I fell off a curb in front of 250 juniors and seniors on the way to a field trip and broke my ankle!!! Other than that I am doing wonderful!

The kids are back in school and back to their routine. Vinny is in high school now and loving it. He is playing safety for the freshman football team and doing great. Dominique is still playing soccer and in the 7th grade. Of course she thinks she should just skip middle school and come to High School. She turned "13" yesterday and we had a little get together for her over the weekend. Do you think she had alot of her girlfriends over, oh no, my house was full of the high school football players!! Good thing her dad is the coach and they are all very afraid of him!!!
Gary is doing awesome, his classes were the first ones to fill up and all the kids rave about him. This is West Forsyth's first year with a Varsity football team and we are 5-0!! Mom has been here for a few months but the weather is starting to turn a little cooler so I have a feeling she will be heading to Florida soon!! Nick is now stationed in Tampa and glad to be back in the States. He was just up for a long weekend and it was awesome to get to spend time with him. Danielle is doing great and just got engaged!!! Her and Jesse are planning a 2010 wedding and we are very excited for them!

We miss all our friends and family in Florida and are waiting for you all to visit. I have to tell you that while I miss you all, I know we have truly found our home here! We have met the most incredible people who have blessed us in so many ways. This is truly God's country and we are so thankful that we are here!!

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

Well we all made it through our first year of school here in Georgia! Vincent will be heading to West next year for his first year of high school and Dominique will be left by herself in middle school! This year flew, I can't believe that it is over. Of course we still haven't sold the house in Florida yet but we are confident that God has a plan and it will sell soon!! Danielle was up a few weeks ago and had the opportunity to participate in Gary's FCA Dodgeball Tournament! It was a blast, of course the Sylvestri kids really got into the spirit and made shirts, blacked out their eyes and went ready to dodge,dip,dive,duck and dodge!!! Danielle went back to Florida (we are still hoping that she moves up here soon) and just last week we were able to pick Nick up at the airport!! We haven't seen him in 15 months while he has been serving our country in the Air Force over in Turkey! Of course I almost got arrested at the airport for running through the "secured area". But who can blame a mom who hasn't seen her son in that long???? My sister was in Hotlanta for her new position at work and got to come spend the weekend with us! Nick is here with us for 10 days and then he will go to South Florida for a week or two and report to his new base in Tampa! Summer is here and we are ready for football, soccer, sun and fun!!

If any of you get up this way this summer, give us a call!!

Warm Weather Again

Finally the cold weather is gone...I think. We survived our first real winter because winter for us was usually 50 degrees. We saw snow, ice, sleet, hail, had to go to the basement twice for tornado warnings and we are in a drought! I thought hurricanes were bad!

To catch everyone up, we still have not sold our house in Florida but are hopefully that it will happen soon. Gary's parents came up to visit and we had a great time with them. My mom is back up here now that the weather has warmed up and she will stay till June then head to Ohio and then back here for football season! Vinny is growing like a weed, 5'10 150lbs and has started working out with the high school football team. Dominique is kicking butt in soccer, we were just at a tournament in TN and they made it to the semi-finals. Nick comes home from Turkey next month and Danielle is actually flying up for a visit tomorrow! Soccer is in full swing and Spring football starts soon.

We miss everyone back home in South FLA but we do love it up here and have made some great friends. If any of you make it up this way, come visit....

Girls Gone Wild!

I can't remember any time before that Dominique and I have been alone without the rest of the family! Gary and Vinny are out in Oklahoma with my brother Mike and his family for the Jim Thorpe Awards Banquet. For those of you who don't know about that award, it is given out to the best defensive back college football player. My brother happens to be the Director of the Committee and invited Gary and Vinny to go out and be a part of it with him. So that leaves Dominique and I home alone together for the very first time just the two of us. We dropped the boys off at the airport on Sunday and then headed back to Cumming for Dominique's soccer game, which of course they won!! Coach Hepler, Heidi and Frankie came by the game to cheer her on! Our good friends invited over to their house for dinner after the game and then we came home to a very quiet, large and dark house! Of course Dominique slept with me and we tried to stay awake to watch the Grammys but passed out I think as soon as our head hit the pillow. We got up yesterday and went to school and work. After work we went to dinner at a place called Cinco's (great mexican) and then returned the cheering and went and watched Frankie play soccer against North Forsyth. Frankie's team (West Forsyth) beat North 1-0. We came home and again had all intentions of playing DDR, laying in bed, snacking and watching TV and I think we were both asleep within 10 mintues. Tonight Dominique has soccer practice and then we will grab a bite to eat and hopefully be able to stay awake to at least see the rerun of General Hospital on Soapnet! Gary and Vinny come back tomorrow so I guess we will have to settle down a little!! Even though we haven't had the Party Time we thought we would, it has been so nice to get some girl time with my baby! She is growing up way too fast!!

SNOW DAY!

Its Thursday at 1:00 and we are HOME from school and work! Today was our first official "snow day"! Yesterday afternoon about 4:00 we started seeing little snow flurries while we were driving home from school. We got home and within the hour it was really coming down. The funny part was you would have thought there was a Hurricane coming! We ended up with 1.5 inches but when you turned on the TV the newscasters where all over the metro Atlanta area talking about the snow and there were "closings" running across the bottom of the TV screen. I thought "this is it, we moved from Florida to get away from hurricanes and now there must be a blizzard coming"! They closed all the schools in the county for today all of 1.5 inches!

It was awesome though, the kids, Gary and I all went out and had a snow ball fight, made snow angels, we even did hamburgs and hot dogs outside on the grill in the snow!!! I think our neighbors thought we were nuts but we had fun. The kids were so excited because this was their first time seeing snow (we had a few flurries on New Years Day but nothing that stuck) and being able to play in it.

Enjoy some of the pics!

Love and miss you all!