Throwback Thursday: Our Amelia Picture

In March of 2009, Andrew and I enjoyed a ten day trip to Washington DC.   It was a busy ten days filled with more walking than you can imagine and lots of sightseeing.

Four days into our trip we were strolling through Arlington National Cemetery in amazement of all the great men and women who have given their life to fight for our country.   As we were standing in front of President's Taft's grave, we received a phone call.

It was Andrew's sister, Jill, calling with some of the greatest news we've ever received.  After several years of TTC and a few rounds of IVF, Jill and Alex were expecting their first baby.  

Andrew and I immediately began to weep tears of joy and thanksgiving.  We hugged each other and we jumped with joy.

In an attempt to share with Jill how excited and happy we were we took our Amelia picture.

Of course at the time we had no idea that it was our sweet, big hearted Amelia that we were celebrating.

This little girl is such a sweet reminder of God's perfect timing as I wait for our own little one.

A few weeks ago when I was having a little bit of a rough day, my mother-in-law reminded me of our Amelia picture.  It is a tangible display of the joy and celebration Andrew and I experienced that day when Jill called.  

How much higher will we jump when it is us sharing the news that we are expecting a little one?  

We continue to wait expectantly for that day.

And you know what?  I wouldn't have it any other way.

His timing is perfect and He is good and faithful ALWAYS.

We've Been Busy

Life has been busy around here lately.  

We are hosting something pretty amazing this weekend and I can't wait to tell you all about it.  Andrew and I have been in full planning mode.  I'm pretty sure we've hosted family and friends more in the past 10 months since we bought our house than we did in the nine years of our marriage before buying this house.  It's my very favorite thing about our house - lots of room for family and friends.  We truly enjoying hosting which isn't something we had a chance to know about ourselves until recently.  We spend hours and hours talking and planning.  We plan differently, but I think we make a pretty good team.  

We leave for vacation soon.  I have started mentally making a list of everything that needs to be packed.  I'm a list maker.  I will write down every single thing that is going in my suitcase.  I've done that since I started packing my own bag.  We also have to make arrangements for the LBs.   It may be silly but I will miss my sweet furbabies while we are gone.

I'm also getting my classroom back together and ready to roll.  Only three more weeks of summer.  I have mixed emotions as always.  I LOVE my summers, but I also LOVE the first day of school.  I have some high expectations for those sixth graders of mine and cannot wait to get started.  Plus I'm kind of loving my new theme: chalkboard and neon.  No more owls.  Well a few of my favorites get to stay.  The others are packed and put away for another time.  

Even with all the business, there is always time for some relaxation on the lake.

Throwback Thursday: A Celebration of Love

Thirty-three years ago today these two kids promised to love each other for the rest of their lives.

Thirty-three years they are still an example of a loving marriage.

Happy Anniversary Momma & Daddy!  

I love you!

Top Ten Vacation Spots

Andrew and I are growing more and more excited about our upcoming trip to the beach with his family.  Long days of lying on the beach, soaking up the sun, reading a good book...Perfection.

While we love a good beach vacation we like a little variety in our vacations.  Maybe because we have a long list of places we want to visit and things we want to see.

Just for fun I'm sharing ten places I want to visit someday.

{one}

Doesn't everyone dream of visiting Hawaii?  Andrew has actually been a couple of times so it doesn't have the same appeal to him as it does to me.  

{two}

Australia....What can I say?  I love an Australian accent.  

{three}

The Grand Canyon....our Father is an amazing artist.

{four}

The Redwood Forest

{five}

Skiing in Colorado...though I'm pretty sure I'd spend most of my time by the fire with a book in hand.

{six}

Six Flags...any of them...I love roller coasters.  Sadly I'm married to someone who doesn't.

{seven}

Charleston, SC.  We've actually been talking about this one quite a bit lately.  It might be next year's vacation destination.  History and beach all one.  It's the perfect mix for us.

{eight}

Niagra Falls

{nine}

London

{ten}

Greece

Have you been to any of these places?  What did you think?  

Where would you like to vacation?

Happy Sunday

Unexplained Infertility

Andrew and I had our follow up appointment with Dr. M last week to discuss our test results and our next step.  I really wasn't sure how the appointment would go since all of our test results came back normal.  We have unexplained infertility meaning he cannot see any medical reason why we have not been able to get pregnant.  It is the best yet most frustrating result.  I am so incredibly thankful that there is nothing major that is wrong with either one of us.  

But where does that leave us?  

We have been trying on our own to get pregnant for over three years now and the only results we have gotten are negative ones.

Dr. M believes that our next step should be IUI.  You can read more about what all that entails here.  

How do we feel about that next step?

Well it is certainly a big decision.  One that we will not make lightly or without prayer.  

We are open to the idea, but we just want to make sure that if we choose to go that route we are making the right decision at the right time.

I'm a little fearful of IUI simply because it already hurts each month when the answer is yet again "not yet".  I can't imagine getting a negative result after going through something as big as IUI.  I know people have done it and have come out on the other side stronger than ever, but right now I just can't imagine that for myself.

For now we are simply trusting God will give us the desire of our hearts in His perfect timing.

4th of July Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend on the lake.

We packed up and headed to The Liberty Belle Friday morning.

I have to admit at first I was a little bummed that it was just us Friday.  It seemed like all our family and friends and plans except us.  

But we really enjoyed our day as a family of four.

The LBs even got some lake time.

One is more adventurous than the other.

Liberty did eventually warm up to the idea of being on the boat.  She just prefers the boat to be anchored rather than moving.

  They both spent some time in the water.  They aren't a fan of swimming, but don't mind being in the water.

Andrew just bought a new grill for the boat so he was able to test it for the first time Friday.

Let me just tell you we had the most AMAZING burgers!!!

We were on the water all day.

Even napped on the water.

All four of us were completely exhausted when we got home.

Other than enjoying a half price shake we went straight to bed.

Saturday we left the LBs at home and Chris & Krystal joined us.

Andrew grilled burgers again and we soaked up some sun for several hours.

Around 6:00 we headed back to the marina and parked the boat in our slip.

Andrew grilled us some chicken for dinner that was just as yummy as the burgers.  

We ate dinner, visited, and then enjoyed  a great fireworks show.

It was a fun weekend.

Made it hard to return to the real world of working yesterday.

Movie in the Park

Every summer movies are shown in the park at the River Market on Wednesday nights.  It's something I've always thought sounded fun but we hadn't ever done.

This past Wednesday night they showed Frozen.

When I saw that this was coming a few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to take our nieces.  Like every other little girl I know, they all LOVE the movie.  I immediately texted my sister-in-laws and started making plans.

Andrew immediately started looking into renting a 15 passenger van.  HA!  We weren't sure how we were going to transport 5 little girls.

Sadly our sweet Millie wasn't able to join us.

We picked up Joylyn and Kandace before the movie.

And Jill dropped Amelia and Sydney off at the park.

How cute is my husband carrying Sydney into the park?

She gave him an earful.  He wasn't sure what she was saying but every sentence started with "My momma told me..."  At one point she claimed her momma told her to eat the cookies.  LOL!

We brought CFA and enjoyed a picnic before the movie.

The girls also enjoyed some pre-movie coloring.

At one point I looked over and Andrew was laying on his stomach coloring with the girls.

I was about to snap a picture when one of the girls decided it was time for a trip to the bathroom.

This is where my plan might not have been as well thought out as I had thought.

One aunt.

Four nieces.

Bathroom trip.

They all quickly discovered how disgusting outdoor bathroom facilities can be.  Amelia checked three different stalls before realizing they were all just as nasty as the previous one and she was going to have to line the toilet with toilet paper.  Kandace refused to let go of her nose because the smell was too much for her.  And Sydney must have been pretty disgusted too because as soon as we got back to our blankets she got her backpack and asked for hand sanitizer.  LOL!!

The movie doesn't start playing until dark.  The girls were so good to keep themselves entertained for the most part.  They love spending time with each other.

Before the movie actually started they put it up on the screen to adjust settings.  They had it on the screen where you can choose to play the movie, choose subtitles, etc.  Sydney didn't understand why they weren't pushing play.  She was getting quite frustrated with them.  She kept saying "Why they not push play?  Just push play?"

And finally when the sun was completely gone they did just that.  They pushed play.

We had a pretty good spot on the grass, though I did overhear Amelia ask her Uncle Andrew why he didn't get us front row seats.

Sydney sat in my lap almost the entire time, which I absolutely LOVED.  I was seriously impressed when the movie started playing.  That little girl knows EVERY SINGLE WORD.  She was saying every word the characters were saying.

By the time the movie started the park was packed.  You couldn't walk anywhere without walking on blankets and stepping over people.  And as you can imagine every kid there sang along with every song throughout the movie.

About half way through the movie Sydney decided she needed to go the bathroom.  So she and I along with Kandace climbed over all the people to go the bathroom.  I decided to take a different route back to our seat and we spotted Anna and Elsa.

Two teenage girls were dressed up and were being so sweet to say hi to all the little girls and even smile for a few pictures.  Of course as soon as we got back that was the first thing out of Kandace's mouth.  She was so excited to have seen them.

By the time we got to the bathroom both Sydney & Kandace decided they didn't really have to use the restroom so it wasn't long before I was taking all four girls back to the bathroom.

I'm not sure if they needed to go to the bathroom or if they wanted to see Anna and Elsa.

They did both.

They even got to see Anna and Elsa "perform" as the two teenage girls sang along with a song in the movie.

We tried to take a picture with them but it was too dark and didn't turn out.

Uncle Andrew may have been sweet talked into buying sno-cones at 10:00 at night after Amelia spotted the sno-cone truck.

Sydney thought it was hilarious that I kept taking a bite of hers.  Poor girl didn't even realize she didn't get her own like the big girls did.

I think the girls had a good time.  They asked if we would bring them back the next time there was a movie in the park.  I know Andrew and I had a good time.

Such sweet memories.