Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Such an exciting time!!!

After struggling with infertility and having extremely difficult pregnancies Joe and I prayed and felt that it would be best for us not to have anymore children of our own. Now that doesn't mean that one day we wouldn't adopt if that was what we felt God wanted us to do but for now, we're done! HOWEVER, I'm so excited! It seems as if everyone around us is either pregnant or adopting. I LOVE IT! What a blessing it is for so many! What a blessing it is for me personally!

Just the other night a sweet friend informed me that they had a daughter (she's adopting!) It's just so exciting to see how God's putting children in people's lives. Earlier that same day, another one of my sweet friends had me confirm her pregnancy test. She and I have so many similiararties with infertilty. We both thought that we would never be able to conceive a child on our own. However, God showed just how incredible His love is and how He is the ultimate physician and when He wants us to have a child, He will allow it to happen. Even when we are uncertain on just about everything.

God's love is so amazing. We don't deserve any of the blessings that He gives to us each day. We deserve death and yet He gives us everything, including life eternally. I serve an awesome God. I'm so excited for my friends! I'm looking forward to going to some baby showers and some welcome home showers soon.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Time slips away

I have constantly wondered if anyone even reads my blog and then I had people ask why I haven't updated it in a while. So this is for them.

Life has been busy. Ethan just earned his purple belt in Karate. Bryce had a piano recital and played "Amazing Grace." We are so proud of both of our boys. School is getting ready to start and they are going into the second grade. I cannot believe my little preemies are growing so fast. They're so different. It's like night and day different. Ethan is ALL BOY! He loves cars, trucks, sports, Bakugan, etc. He loves to fight and try new things. Bryce is more of my intellictual one. He loves books and music. I guess you could say he is more artistic. He loves to draw. He wants to learn how to play the guitar to go along with his piano skills. They were just Baptized on July 10 by our Children's Minister, Pastor Jason. They were given new Bibles to read and study.

Maggie is growing like a weed. She's quite the sassy one. She is a daddy's girl through and through. She will be two next month. She loves Elmo. She is starting to put words together to make sentences. She loves going to her grandparents house and really LOVES being outside. She loves to have her nails and toenails painted and knows that if she leaves the house she has to have a bow in her hair. I love it.

Joe and I are doing great. We were able to go to Italy just a few months ago. We went on a marriage cruise or maybe I should say sailing adventure. It was really awesome. I loved having time to ourselves to enjoy the beauty of Italy and the beauty of marriage. God has blessed us so much more than we deserve. His Grace is enough and yet He still gives us so much more than we could ever imagine. I love my husband very much. I'm so thankful to be married to a man that loves the Lord with all his heart. I know that I can follow him because he follows the Lord.

My friend Shanna and I have recently started a little business. It's called Faithful Stitches. We make all kinds of cute stuff. Bags, bows, appliqued shirts, monogrammed shirts. We do embroidery and even have stuff for the animals. We currently do not have a website but we have a facebook page. I love it. I love being able to work with such a sweet friend as well. She's not only talented but she also has a love for the Lord that is amazing. I'm loving learning how to do new things.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Non stop for 3 days

Ok, I'm guilty. I'm the mom that gets a thrill out of planning my kids birthday. Well earlier this year the boys agreed on having their birthday party at the Karate studio where Ethan takes lessons. It was going to be so cool. They were going to give all the kids a lesson, their own karate uniform, nunchucks and would cut the cake with a real samarai sword (I mean, who wouldn't want that?) Well Bryce decided at the last minute that he didn't want his party there since he didn't take karate lessons. They could never agree on a place (the only downfall of having twins or more than one child) so we had a family day. Joe and I took them to the mall to Build a Bear workshop. We did a little bit of shopping and left. They had a great time picking out their stuffed animals, bathing them, dressing them and of course, loving on them. They filled their bellies on cookies from none other...The Great American Cookie Co. (hehe) and sodas (gotta love Grandparents (: )

We came home long enough to call the other set of Grandparents and made our way to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games. We told the hostess it was their birthday and they made a special announcement and then treated us and my children like we were first priority. They really went above and beyond for a family night of celebrating. They gave my kids free tokens, a hat, candy, and several of the "prizes." They boys said it was their best birthday...yet of course.

Then came Christmas Eve. We went to church for Christmas Eve service. Then afterwards our friends invited us over to their house for dinner. We read the Christmas story to the kids and let them find little people that were set up like the manger scene. We sang a couple of Christmas carols and then enjoyed some magic. The kids opened presents (while Joe and I hid a few under our friends tree for them to enjoy Christmas day) and we made it home just in time to get out the cookies for Santa and pour a nice glass of milk. Bryce left his Bible so Santa could read it before he left.

Christmas morning we woke up and did our traditional singing of Happy Birthday to Jesus. We all came downstairs. This year Santa brought each child 3 presents. Just like Jesus. I was very proud of my boys when they were asked who else got 3 gifts and they correctly answered and even answered with what the 3 gifts were. They boys had a blast playing with their new laptops and Maggie with her new stroller. Each Christmas is so wonderful and precious. One day Joe and I will wake up and there will be no pitter patter of little feet or stinky breath telling us to wake up that Santa has come.

After we opened our presents, Joe's parents came over and we opened more presents. Then Joe and I went to my parents where we enjoyed lunch and played a stealing Santa game. My parents came over a little later to open presents. My boys are seeing more and more how much fun it is to give than to receive. Now don't get me wrong, they love getting gifts but they are truly understanding that Christmas isn't about the laptops, or stockings but rather about the very first gift that was ever wrapped, baby Jesus.