Sometime Saturday night I lost my glasses. I’ve had glasses since I was about 16 for reading. I ended up making an appointment Monday for an eye exam and to get new glasses.
Well, turns out my eyes have gotten much worse than last time I had an exam. I have to start wearing glasses all of the time, not just for reading! I also found out that I have astigmatism in both eyes.
Anyway, my glasses came in today. Wearing them all day is going to take some getting used to!
It’s been an eventful week. I guess December is always busy, though, so it shouldn’t be a surprise.
Last Wednesday our friends, Dustin and Jenna, hosted a little Christmas dinner party. We had super yummy lasagna, green bean casserole, and pecan pie for dessert. Then we watched Elf… it’s the best!
On Thursday, the same friends, Dustin and Jenna, found out that their baby is a GIRL!!! We are all so excited! She is due in May, and her name is Kindle Elizabeth. So sweet! So of course I had to pick her up a little girly outfit :)
The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back, but then Monday night Justin and I met my sister, Dom, and Ava for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.
We won’t see them for Christmas, so we went ahead and gave Ava her Christmas gifts. We gave her coloring books, crayons, stickers, and clothes. Her very favorite thing was the Dora stickers. By the time we left the place, she had stickers all the way up her arms. haha!
Now we are getting ready to head to LA for Christmas with the rest of the family! Can’t wait!!!!
I haven’t been posting anything about the “baby”, cause there hasn’t been anything to post. But after talking with a friend last night, I’m thinking it might be a good idea to write some of this stuff down. I know I won’t remember it all, but might want to one day.
I want to start off with a few words I’ve gotten from God in the past…
-God is going to put you in dark places where you must depend on Him. He will teach you to trust His voice and not your eyes. (4.11.06)
-God has not forgotten about you. He hasn’t forgotten the promises He’s made you. Keep your faith in Him. Don’t lose trust, don’t lose faith. He will come through. (10.25.06)
-… He’s getting ready to teach you a lesson. He’s going to teach you to live this life of faith… (5.30.09)
-Your family, that baby you have been wanting, it’s coming sooner than you think. (spring/summer 2010)
-Don’t give up hope just yet! My promises are not empty to you! I am the God of faithfulness and I will prove my word to you. I will not let you down! I have a plan! My plan for you has a purpose and that purpose lies in the waiting…. Just hold on a little longer and you will see that you will have not waited in vain. (10.18.10)
Since probably about fall of 2005, all of my dreams have been focused on having a family. I have wanted to become a mother so badly. I finally found my wonderful husband and got married in 2008. Well, he wasn’t ready to start a family just yet. I didn’t understand then, but I do now. We have needed this time together without children. We have both changed so much as individuals and as a couple. We needed time to get to know each other and learn how to be married. Anyway, since fall 2008, it’s been a waiting game. I was just waiting on Justin to be “ready”. Well during the summer of this year, that time finally came! We were very excited, but wanted to make sure we did things in God’s timing. We prayed about it and thought about it, and finally decided to start trying to start a family on a certain day in September.
I must pause here to say that in the two years that I waited on Justin to get ready, countless (probably around 30-40) girls I knew had babies or were pregnant. Many of these pregnancies were not expected. The girls weren’t even trying to have a baby. This somehow made me think that it would be easy for us as well. (I did have a few fears about infertility because my mother dealt with it, but those fears were dealt with over a period of a few months before we began trying. God showed me time after time that I wouldn’t need to worry about infertility. Thank you, Jesus!)
So, September comes and goes.. then October… then November…
Another handful or two of girls I know were announcing pregnancies throughout this time. Some of them their second child.. one even her fourth!
I really didn’t expect a positive test in September. It was our first month, so that negative was easy(er) to deal with. October… that’s a different ballgame. I really FELT pregnant. I just knew I would see two pink lines. But nope. Big fat negative. After that cycle, I got really down. I was so sad. I felt like it was so unfair that everyone around me was being blessed with babies… even when they weren’t desperate for them. Here I was crying out to God for my little one, and all I got was a negative test. We kept trying, but I honestly just started getting bitter. When I would hear yet another announcement, I would get super emotional. It was like I was just being tortured. I wanted to be happy for them, and I was… but at the same time I was so ripped apart inside. It’s been SO HARD. I never would have imagined that so much pain and emotions and grief and stress could come from this.
I can’t wrap my head around what I need to be doing. I sometimes feel like I need to keep praying for our baby to come. That if I’m persistent enough, God will answer me. But sometimes I feel like I don’t need to ask even one more time. He knows my heart’s desires. He’s heard my prayers and promised to answer them. So should I be done with praying and asking? I don’t know.
I have really had to lean hard on God’s promises to me.
I have had to lean hard on my husband. He has had to hold me at the dinner table while I sobbed and big tears dropped onto my plate. He has had to listen to me time after time after time as I try to sort through the feelings and thoughts that go along with all of this.
I have had to lean on two of my best friends. They have been there for me through it all.
Here we sit halfway through December, and I’ve yet to see my positive test. I’m super disappointed. But I’m trying to remember that it’s all for a reason. God is using this time to strengthen my faith in Him. He is using this hard time to strengthen my marriage.
God is going to use my story as a testimony. He is going to use our baby in a mighty way. I just know it!
Sometimes I just want to be selfish. I want to say forget the testimony. Forget that I might be able to help someone else walk through this one day. I just want my baby! But I know that isn’t the right attitude. I have to take control of my feelings and give them back to the Lord. His thoughts and ways are higher than mine.
I cannot wait until the day comes when I get to make an “I’m Pregnant!” post. What a glorious day that will be!!! I pray that it is soon.
**Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.
** Matthew 11:6 Blessed are those who don’t doubt Me.
It’s almost halfway through the last month of 2010. I figured this would be as good a time as any to blog again. I don’t know what it’s going to take for me to be consistent with this thing again….
A few of my favorite things. In a list. In no particular order.
1.) the holiday season. As much as I dislike the freezing cold temps, I love the holidays. I love that I get to see all my family and at least a few good friends twice in two months. Going home rocks! Therefore the holidays rock. I was pretty much camera-ed out this Thanksgiving and didn’t get many pictures. Gotta do better at Christmas! But I love this one of me and my daddy.. I don’t have many pictures with him, so I cherish this one..
2.) my Ava princess. Ava is and always will be one of my very favorite people. She is a living doll. I bought her a princess crown and gave it to her on Thanksgiving day. I told her she was a princess. Her response?? “no, I’m a QUEEN!!”. So there we have it… she is Queen Ava from now on! haha!
3.) my Hubby. He has been my rock here lately. I’m so grateful for him. He makes me laugh when I don’t feel like laughing. He is changing before my eyes.. and the changes are good ones. I feel so blessed!
4.) my job. Although little man has been fussy lately, (He’s been cutting two teeth and dealing with a cold) I couldn’t ask for a better job. Just look at that face…
5.) my furry babies. On cold nights before Justin gets home from work, I love cuddling with my puppy and my kitty. They keep me good company.
6.) caramel brulee fraps. Starbucks knew what they were doing with this one. No words.
7.) my Christmas tree. It is small. But it, along with the stockings hanging from the mantle, does it’s job. It brings me Christmas cheer! I love having the lights on all the time. Christmas is the best!
8.) monster cookies. These things probably deserve their own post… but oh well! A friend, also named Melissa, posted about making these on her blog. I was intrigued! All things good that can go into a cookie are combined together into one cookie!!!! I made half a batch and it was plenty. You must try them….
9.) MY NEW CAMERA AND NEW LENS!!! I almost can’t believe it. I have been wanting to upgrade for a while. I was pushing my xsi to it’s limits at just about every shoot I’ve had here lately. I needed something better. But thought surely it wasn’t possible. With the money from my old gear, my hubby, my wonderful in-laws, some money I’ve had saved, and a photog friend needing to upgrade also…. I’m now the proud owner of a Canon 5d and a 50mm 1.4 lens! No pictures yet, but I had to list it, cause it’s definitely one of my favorite things right now.
10.) The Chronicles of Narnia movies. Justin and I had seen the first two movies before, but when we found out the third was coming out this weekend we decided to have a little marathon. We watched the first one last sunday, the second on wednesday, and went to the new one today! They are all great, but I really enjoyed the newest one. We went with some of our besties, Dustin and Jenna. It was a good time.
My sister has been sending me pictures of Ava on my phone lately, and with each one I am amazed at how beautiful she is… not to mention how grown up she looks. I told her the other day that she better realize how blessed she and Dom are. Ava has been an angel baby for them. So well behaved (most the time), so smart, so gorgeous.. She is so easy to fall in love with.
Anyway, I wanted to post some of the recent pictures.
Oh my goodness. That is too much sweetness for one post!
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
A few weeks ago, I found a purse at a garage sale that I kinda liked. I had been wanting a new bag for a while and figured for a couple bucks, it was worth a try.
Well when I transferred all my stuff and carried my purse out the next day, my wonderful lovely sweet husband told me that my “new” purse looked like a highschool bag. Hmmmmm….
I carried it anyway. Up until today that is. Today I went to the mall with one purpose. Instead of buying what I went after, I ended up with a replacement purse.
Hubby will be so proud :)
Especially once he finds out it was on sale!! Haha
I just realized that I have been taking pictures of random stuff lately with the good intentions to blog, but I haven’t. So now I’m just going to go through the pics on the camera and see what I need to blog about…..
This first picture is from one of our date nights recently. I really can’t even remember what day or what we did! Isn’t that horrible?! Oh well… It’s been a crazy fast month!
It’s the very end of the month, and sadly I’m just now blogging about a birthday gift! My bff, Lacey, made these cards and envelopes for me! She is just too creative and talented. I love them and can’t wait to put them to use.
These next pictures are from my friend, Rachel’s, birthday dinner. We met up with a few other couples and celebrated over sushi. Yummm… Justin and I had been wanting to find a good sushi place here, and now we have!
Rachel’s baby boy should be here sometime within the next week! I’m very excited for her and her hubby, Josh. I’m excited for myself too since I will get to hold him and take pics of his tiny little self :)
Justin’s parents came to Dallas for the weekend last weekend. The weather was kinda gloomy and rainy, so we opted for indoor activities such as shopping and eating. Alot of shopping and eating! haha.. I didn’t take any pictures except for this one when we were riding to an amazing Italian restaurant called Maggiano’s. It is now my fave!
This weekend is Halloween. Justin is working as usual, and I’m hanging out at the house. We went to some garage sales this morning and got some awesome deals! Other than that, our weekend consisted of October Jam. October Jam is an annual event where our church partners with the city of Irving to provide a fun and safe place for the people in Valley Ranch to bring their families. Lots of games, food, blow ups, etc. I took a bunch of pictures throughout the night while Justin volunteered at a booth, but here are just a few…
I just really really cannot believe that October is pretty much over. The holidays will be here before we know it, and to be honest I’m not sure I’m ready for that! I normally love the holiday season, but it can be so stressful at the same time. So for now, I’m just gonna enjoy FALL!!! <3 Best season ever!
I just posted some of my most recent images from a family session I did a couple weeks ago.
seriously… is it really halfway through october?!!! i just cant believe it! i am pretty happy about it though. i LOVE fall. it’s my very favorite season. i wish it would stay fall all year. haha :)
i’ve been feeling pretty “fallish” lately i guess. last night for dinner i made chicken pot pie and then apple pie for dessert. apple pie definitely makes me think of fall…not sure why exactly.
anyway, i thought i would share the recipe i used. this was my first time making apple pie, and it was easy and sooooo yummy.
instead of taking the time and effort to make the crust, i just used a pillsbury refrigerated one. i would never know the difference anyway. and to us, its the stuff in the middle that’s important.
ingredients for filling:
you just mix it all up and throw it inside the crust. (it wasn’t in the recipe, but i added a few chunks of better on top for extra flavor!) then you cover it with the top crust, pinch the edges together, and cut off any excess. put four little slashes in the top with a knife. brush some milk over the top and then sprinkle with sugar. bake at 425 for about 30-40 minutes. check halfway through and put foil over the top if it starts getting too brown.
enjoy!
i got the recipe here.
Today reminds me of one of the best days of my life.. 08.08.08, my wedding day :)
One of my very best friends, Lacey (check out her blog), and I were talking about how we need to get back into blogging. She updated today, so I told her I would too!
I never posted anything about my birthday, so I guess I can do that now.
My birthday was 10/2. I turned 26 years old. I can’t believe that I’m now really closer to 30 than 20. I so do not feel my age. If I just had to guess my age by how old I feel, I would say around 22. The only reason I can come up with for this is because I still don’t have any children. Growing up I always thought I’d have at least 2-3 kids by the time I turned 26. Here I am…still no babies! I am doing my best to remember every single day that it is in God’s hands and His timing is perfect. I wouldn’t mind if anybody wanted to throw some prayers up for us though. The sooner the better for me! :)
Anyways….. back to my birthday! Justin took off for the day, so I got to spend the entire day with him. We did some shopping before going out to dinner with some friends. Then my lovely friend, Jenna, made me a yummy birthday cookie cake. We celebrated with the cake while watching a football game. It was overall a pretty low key day, but it was wonderful! I got lots of texts, calls, and facebook messages from friends and family. I also got some wonderful gifts.
My favorite gift from my hubby was this necklace--
I had been keeping my eye on this necklace from The Vintage Pearl for a while now. I wanted something small and simple that I can wear every day. I also wanted it to be something I can add to as we have children. Right now it has the pearl and the letter “j” for Justin. As we have children, I will get more letters with their initials. I think it will be something fun to do and will always have special meaning to me.
Besides my birthday, not a whole lot has been going on.
My new job is going good. Sometimes I can’t believe I’m getting paid to cuddle with and play with a sweet baby. It seems too easy. I don’t think I could ask for anything better right now.
I had a photoshoot with a family from church this weekend. They are in the process of trying to adopt and needed and updated family portrait for their portfolio. We had lots of fun getting some shots. Hopefully I’ll have a few images to put up in the next few days!
What else….. the weather is awesome right now. I wish with everything in me that it would stay like this all the time. We just leave the windows open and feel the breeze and let the sunshine in. I’ve been wanting to be outside more and more. We have been going to some garage sales on the weekends. It’s always fun to find such cheap treasures! I found a cute little chair the other day for $5 that I’m gonna spray paint and use as a photography prop.
Guess that’s it for now! I’m off to light a candle and enjoy the rest of this day….
I was so excited to spend some time with Candice and Ava. It had been a couple months, and I had been looking forward to our lunch date. We met up at Chickfila around 1:00. After we ate, we figured Ava could play while we talked. Turns out Ava wanted Aunt Lissa to play too… so I ended up crawling up in the tubes and tunnels at Chickfila and sliding down the big slide several times. Only for my Ava! haha :)
As usual I could not believe how much bigger she had gotten in such a short amount of time. I picked her up and her little feet were dangling down around my knees. She now knows all of her colors, so we had fun pointing at random objects and quizzing her. She is so smart and got them all right :)
She also has started working on numbers. Here she is showing me “2”.
I just love my sissy and her baby girl SO much. I cannot wait to see them again.
So, I’m loving my new job so far! But I’m off today. Being off gives me a little free time to play on the computer… so I figured I would participate in the Before and After Blog Hop at Pixel Perfect. (click the link to see many other before and after shots)
Before:
After:
I used a Canon Rebel XSI to shoot the image and CS3 to edit!
Since probably February or March, maybe earlier, I have been looking forward to this day. Today was my last day working at the preschool. I am so happy that my days there are finished. I will absolutely miss some of my co-teachers and some of my kiddos, but overall… I’m thrilled!
One of the sweetest little guys came today with the perfect gift for me. A yummy smelling candle. How did his mommy know I’m a candle person?
I have this candle burning right now, and it’s smell mixed with the smell of freshly cut grass coming in the open windows is perfection. (I forgot to mention that the weather today could not be any better. It is our first little glimpse of fall. And we are loving it! I really hope it sticks around for a while.)
Tomorrow I start a new job. I will be nannying for a precious young family with a 3 month old baby boy named Hudson. I am super excited about this… and a little nervous. This is the job I have been praying for, and I am so very thankful. I think it will be really great.
Other things I’m looking forward to this week: seeing my sister and Ava, date night with my honey, and my BIRTHDAY!
My birthday is Saturday… cannot wait! I have no idea what we will do to celebrate, but I am ready! Justin has given me zero clues about what he has for me, so I’m a little anxious/excited to open my gifts :) Yay for birthdays!
Well it’s half way through September.. guess it’s about time I blog.
I really dislike that I don’t blog anymore. I want to be able to look back on this blog one day and remember all the little things that went on. Kinda like a scrapbook or whatever. I’m really thinking it will pick back up whenever we find out we are expecting our little miracle.
For now, though, I’ll just do another one of my update posts.
First of all—photography. It seems like the business is starting to pick up a tiny bit. By tiny bit I mean I had zero sessions in August and have three this month. Not great progress, but I’ll take it.
I recently did a session for the newest member of my extended family, Khloee Londyn. Her mommy is my cousin, Cassie. She was adorable with a head full of dark hair. She wasn’t crazy about my camera, but I still got some precious shots of her tiny self.
I’m also excited to have a maternity session this weekend. I haven’t had a chance to do many of those yet.. so it will be great experience. Hopefully I’ll remember to post some after I get them finished.
Besides newborns and photography, I have a few other new “loves” in my life.
1- My new custom art piece created by the fabulous Lacey Herring to match my new living room. I love the colors and love that it includes a tiny bit of Truth. Justin and I love to have things with meaning around the home. Scripture verses are a great way to do that in my opinion.
2- My new candle. I have been loving the candles from Bath and Body Works lately. Right now I’m burning (and loving) Peach Bellini. Yum-O.
3- I won’t be needing these candles for too much longer, though. I just placed an order for my first Scentsy warmer! I’m excited to get it in! It’s some sort of special candle wax that melts over the heat of a low watt light bulb. There are tons of amazing scents to choose from. I’m really hoping this will be a cheap alternative to all of my candle buying. Ha! :) This is the one I chose.. called “hope”….
4- It’s halfway through September!!! That means a few things. My birthday is in 2 weeks! Fall weather should be here soon! The holidays will be here before we know it! Many, many, many girls I know are going to be having babies within the next 6 months or so. I can’t wait to see all the new little ones! There is one little one that is on it’s way that I’m extra-specially excited about. Can’t post details yet.. but coming soon! :)
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