Wednesday, February 27, 2013
STUCK
"STUCK is a new award-winning documentary film, produced by Both Ends Burning that uncovers the personal, real-life stories of children and parents navigating a rollercoaster of bureaucracy on their journeys through the international adoption system, each filled with hope, elation – and sometimes heartbreak." Visit their web site and read more HERE.
Is it coming to a city near you?? Find out HERE. Check it out and maybe sign up to volunteer...if you are in the Indianapolis area mark your calendars for Saturday, April 27th!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Updates
I just updated my About Me page and my Adoption and Orphan Care page. Feel free to go check them out! A lot has changed since I created "What Love Has Done"
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
It's Started...Change
So that year of change I was talking about... it has started, we are in full on change mode for this family! Recently we started talking to our realtor about putting our house on the market, we decided we would wait until March when it started to green up and our neighborhood looked a little more welcoming.
We kept watch over listings, keeping track of our favorites so when the time came we could start looking. We looked at a couple already that we felt we couldn't pass up the opportunity to walk through and see if it was right for us but nothing really felt like we needed to make this happen now. That was until a couple weeks ago when I expanded my search and found an awesome house for sale in my Aunt's neighborhood (she watches our kids, it's literally down the street) and decided we should go take a look.
I emailed the info to our realtor on Saturday, we went to see it on Sunday morning, we put an offer in on Monday night and came to an agreement on Tuesday afternoon.
The inspection is done, the appraisal is done, the closing date is set, we have a few more things regarding the mortgage and it's been really hard and stressful putting everything we need together in order to have two homes. They are way more strict then they were when I bought our house in 2007 on a really awful salary. You can probably thank mortgages like mine for the crash.
If all goes well (because I won't think we are in the clear until I have signed those papers), we will close on our house March 15, take posession on March 20th and my brother will rent our old house from us until it sells.
This home just felt right, it felt warm and welcoming, I could picture our kids running through the kitchen, into the living room and rolling down the hill of a front yard. I could picture finishing the basement and having teenagers over after football and basketball games. I can picture bonfires and cookouts on our deck and curling up with a book in our 3 season room. I want to be the house that is welcoming for our children and their friends, a house that will grow with our family and hold many memories to come. It is not modern, it is not brand new but it has so much character and is well built, it is just right for us!
We kept watch over listings, keeping track of our favorites so when the time came we could start looking. We looked at a couple already that we felt we couldn't pass up the opportunity to walk through and see if it was right for us but nothing really felt like we needed to make this happen now. That was until a couple weeks ago when I expanded my search and found an awesome house for sale in my Aunt's neighborhood (she watches our kids, it's literally down the street) and decided we should go take a look.
I emailed the info to our realtor on Saturday, we went to see it on Sunday morning, we put an offer in on Monday night and came to an agreement on Tuesday afternoon.
The inspection is done, the appraisal is done, the closing date is set, we have a few more things regarding the mortgage and it's been really hard and stressful putting everything we need together in order to have two homes. They are way more strict then they were when I bought our house in 2007 on a really awful salary. You can probably thank mortgages like mine for the crash.
If all goes well (because I won't think we are in the clear until I have signed those papers), we will close on our house March 15, take posession on March 20th and my brother will rent our old house from us until it sells.
This home just felt right, it felt warm and welcoming, I could picture our kids running through the kitchen, into the living room and rolling down the hill of a front yard. I could picture finishing the basement and having teenagers over after football and basketball games. I can picture bonfires and cookouts on our deck and curling up with a book in our 3 season room. I want to be the house that is welcoming for our children and their friends, a house that will grow with our family and hold many memories to come. It is not modern, it is not brand new but it has so much character and is well built, it is just right for us!
 |
| isn't she pretty! |
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Us...
Because this week is Valentines Day and I've seen a lot of other Love Story posts going around it really got me thinking about our story, about what brought us to where we are today.
It started at Purdue University during my Junior year, Matt's Sophomore year. We had a theatre class together, required by the major we had both just switched to. There were introductions and I felt like I knew him from somewhere, I just couldn't put my finger on it. I thought finally after the class was over that I might have an idea so I called my sister and asked about one of her friend's brothers and where he went to school. Sure enough it was her friend and teammates older brother.
So I introduced myself to him the next class, pretty sure I made some fool out of myself because although I was outgoing I was still nervous. We started sitting together in class, we were partners for our first assignment so I had to get his phone number, his screen name (because yes AIM was awesome then) and then we started driving home for basketball games together just talking and getting to know each other. I was in denial, I didn't really think I liked him like that, I think it was the braces, I had never kissed a boy with braces before. haha how naive I was, braces come off and they did barely a year later.
I'm glad we started hanging out I'm also glad that I didn't conform to usual boy kisses girl first because I got impatient and kissed him first :) then crawled up the stairs to tell my roommates because my knees were weak and I knew I liked him.
Matt was my first boyfriend, I loved calling him my boyfriend, I even put him in my phone as boyfriend. We had the same beliefs, we had the same morals, we grew up in very similar family environments. I just went to the public school he went to the private school where my sister and brother switched to. It all fit into place, no awkward meeting of parents and parents meeting parents. It just fell into place, it felt right and God had put us together in that classroom, I am sure of it.
God also gave Matt a fun case of appendicitis where he was forced to call his girlfriend of only a month to come over and take him to the hospital at 2 a.m., I would hand him a bed pan to pee in after drinking the nasty glowing drink and leave the room so he could have privacy. I stayed with him until he went to surgery and went back after he was done. He says that was when he knew he loved me and I guess I knew I loved him too because why else would I stick around a hospital for him if I only kind of liked him. I also knew I loved him because he was not scared of the brewed of boys I ran around with in high school, the ones who were still some of my best friends, he met them without hesitation and they took him in instantly.
He asked me to marry him on a random Tuesday evening (June 26th 2007 to be exact) before he had to head back to school. I had just graduated and he had one year left. Looking back now we were so young, our parents had to be freaked out but at the same time it was just right. We married a year later on June 20, 2008.
He is my best friend, he makes me laugh, he drives me crazy, he calls me beautiful, he is the father of the children that I never knew I wanted and the man I get to spend the rest of my days with. I am so thankful that we both are in this for the long haul, that our marriage is top on the list of our priorities because nothing else works in our family if we don't.
God has blessed us with an amazing 5 years so far, we have experienced tough financial moments, changing of jobs, we have experienced the loss of a pregnancy but the joy of 2 babies being brought into this world, we've shared our dreams for our family and believe in each other.
Our love story is still young, it is still being written and I can't wait to see what comes next.
It started at Purdue University during my Junior year, Matt's Sophomore year. We had a theatre class together, required by the major we had both just switched to. There were introductions and I felt like I knew him from somewhere, I just couldn't put my finger on it. I thought finally after the class was over that I might have an idea so I called my sister and asked about one of her friend's brothers and where he went to school. Sure enough it was her friend and teammates older brother.
 |
| first picture of the two of us |
So I introduced myself to him the next class, pretty sure I made some fool out of myself because although I was outgoing I was still nervous. We started sitting together in class, we were partners for our first assignment so I had to get his phone number, his screen name (because yes AIM was awesome then) and then we started driving home for basketball games together just talking and getting to know each other. I was in denial, I didn't really think I liked him like that, I think it was the braces, I had never kissed a boy with braces before. haha how naive I was, braces come off and they did barely a year later.
I'm glad we started hanging out I'm also glad that I didn't conform to usual boy kisses girl first because I got impatient and kissed him first :) then crawled up the stairs to tell my roommates because my knees were weak and I knew I liked him.
Matt was my first boyfriend, I loved calling him my boyfriend, I even put him in my phone as boyfriend. We had the same beliefs, we had the same morals, we grew up in very similar family environments. I just went to the public school he went to the private school where my sister and brother switched to. It all fit into place, no awkward meeting of parents and parents meeting parents. It just fell into place, it felt right and God had put us together in that classroom, I am sure of it.
God also gave Matt a fun case of appendicitis where he was forced to call his girlfriend of only a month to come over and take him to the hospital at 2 a.m., I would hand him a bed pan to pee in after drinking the nasty glowing drink and leave the room so he could have privacy. I stayed with him until he went to surgery and went back after he was done. He says that was when he knew he loved me and I guess I knew I loved him too because why else would I stick around a hospital for him if I only kind of liked him. I also knew I loved him because he was not scared of the brewed of boys I ran around with in high school, the ones who were still some of my best friends, he met them without hesitation and they took him in instantly.
 |
| right after I said YES |
He asked me to marry him on a random Tuesday evening (June 26th 2007 to be exact) before he had to head back to school. I had just graduated and he had one year left. Looking back now we were so young, our parents had to be freaked out but at the same time it was just right. We married a year later on June 20, 2008.
He is my best friend, he makes me laugh, he drives me crazy, he calls me beautiful, he is the father of the children that I never knew I wanted and the man I get to spend the rest of my days with. I am so thankful that we both are in this for the long haul, that our marriage is top on the list of our priorities because nothing else works in our family if we don't.
God has blessed us with an amazing 5 years so far, we have experienced tough financial moments, changing of jobs, we have experienced the loss of a pregnancy but the joy of 2 babies being brought into this world, we've shared our dreams for our family and believe in each other.
Our love story is still young, it is still being written and I can't wait to see what comes next.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
6 months...1/2 a Year...Shut Up
Garrett,
Sweet amazing son of mine you are half a year old, 6 whole months of time spent with you and we are still learning so much. You are such a chill baby, you love to cuddle and will let us pass you around all day as long as someone is paying attention to you. You hated the pass off when you are a baby but man you love it now, more attention the better.
You love food and are hungry quite often (only a sign of what is to come with a growing boy in the house), you still eat 6oz every 3 hours sometimes more often than that. You are getting baby food at lunch and dinner now. Your favorites are pears and bananas.
You are still not sleeping through the night so we've started the whole crying it out thing and you haven't really gotten the hang of it yet, however you don't hold a grudge and wake up with the biggest smiles and giggles for me in the morning.
You are really starting to get interested in everything going on around you, you want to roll over and go grab things but you still haven't quite gotten the hang of rolling all the way back over onto your tummy so you can prop yourself up again. It's ok though you sure are trying hard and unfortunately I probably set you back a bit when you were sick because you never saw tummy or floor time I wouldn't let you down. I know you will be taking off before we know it so I will just soak up the unmobile stage. You can sit up unassisted for a few minutes until you reach for something and your large head takes you tumbling into a face plant but you just laugh and let us sit you back up. We have even reached the difficult changing table time because you are rolling to look all around and make sure you aren't missing something.
You love your Einstein jumper, your sophie, your links and your blue elephant.
You won't let me change out of my work clothes before you are reaching your arms and screaming for me to come get you. I love you dear boy but let me in some comfy clothes before we settle in for the evening. The new ring sling is our life saver because you love sitting on my hip and doing chores or walking around the house with me.
You have noticed the dogs and love to pet Ellie while you take your bottle if she is near by, you reach around searching for Layla when we put you on the floor and her big nose finds your little face often.
We love you sweet boy, I cannot believe you are 6 months old, I cannot believe that you have been with us for half a year. I still can't believe sometimes that I have kids now (plural) and that I have a son, a little man with cute jeans and polo shirts, playing with trucks and trains. You are so good for us we couldn't imagine life without you and maybe if you could stop growing so fast now that would really make this mommy happy.
Love you forever and ever,
Mommy
Sweet amazing son of mine you are half a year old, 6 whole months of time spent with you and we are still learning so much. You are such a chill baby, you love to cuddle and will let us pass you around all day as long as someone is paying attention to you. You hated the pass off when you are a baby but man you love it now, more attention the better.
You love food and are hungry quite often (only a sign of what is to come with a growing boy in the house), you still eat 6oz every 3 hours sometimes more often than that. You are getting baby food at lunch and dinner now. Your favorites are pears and bananas.
You are still not sleeping through the night so we've started the whole crying it out thing and you haven't really gotten the hang of it yet, however you don't hold a grudge and wake up with the biggest smiles and giggles for me in the morning.
You are really starting to get interested in everything going on around you, you want to roll over and go grab things but you still haven't quite gotten the hang of rolling all the way back over onto your tummy so you can prop yourself up again. It's ok though you sure are trying hard and unfortunately I probably set you back a bit when you were sick because you never saw tummy or floor time I wouldn't let you down. I know you will be taking off before we know it so I will just soak up the unmobile stage. You can sit up unassisted for a few minutes until you reach for something and your large head takes you tumbling into a face plant but you just laugh and let us sit you back up. We have even reached the difficult changing table time because you are rolling to look all around and make sure you aren't missing something.
You love your Einstein jumper, your sophie, your links and your blue elephant.
You won't let me change out of my work clothes before you are reaching your arms and screaming for me to come get you. I love you dear boy but let me in some comfy clothes before we settle in for the evening. The new ring sling is our life saver because you love sitting on my hip and doing chores or walking around the house with me.
You have noticed the dogs and love to pet Ellie while you take your bottle if she is near by, you reach around searching for Layla when we put you on the floor and her big nose finds your little face often.
We love you sweet boy, I cannot believe you are 6 months old, I cannot believe that you have been with us for half a year. I still can't believe sometimes that I have kids now (plural) and that I have a son, a little man with cute jeans and polo shirts, playing with trucks and trains. You are so good for us we couldn't imagine life without you and maybe if you could stop growing so fast now that would really make this mommy happy.
Love you forever and ever,
Mommy
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