June 25, 2012

Oh the joys of pregnancy


I am not going to lie, this pregnancy has not been a fun one. “They” say it just gets harder with age, and I have to agree with “them”. 

I also don’t want to complain. I know what it is like to lose a baby and all of these little pregnancy signs give me hope that this baby is growing and thriving. I try to be thankful in those moments when I feel awful. 

Here’s my list of pregnancy related funness:
  • Two words: MORNING all day SICKNESS…make that 3. I did not know what I was missing with Tay and Noah. I had a couple of days of feeling sick and then it was smooth sailing. This kid on the other hand is really giving me a run for my money.
  • Tay and Noah are happy campers though. They get to watch movies WAY more than normal. Some days it is all I can do to put a movie in the VCR (yes, I said VCR) and lay on the couch with them
  • Mark and I just celebrated an anniversary and I had to get up 4 times to go pee! Seriously, how does that even happen? The hostess who saw me pass by every time must have thought something was wrong with me. 
  • Speaking of having to pee, uninterrupted sleep never happens. I am up ALOT. 
  • Nap time is no longer just for the children in the house. They go down, I go down. Every day. No questions.
  • You thought your grandma went to bed early? If I am up past 9:30, it is a big deal! I mean HUGE!
 Oh the joys of pregnancy :) But these little ones are so worth it!

June 23, 2012

5 years

Five years ago I said "I do" to my best friend. Every year with him gets better!

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June 17, 2012

Hold up. I’m what?

To start this post I need to take you back about 2 ½ months. Our adoption agency called about a new country program in Africa. We would be good candidates for the program because of our family size and years of marriage. Our agency told us a little about the country, that there where children available, and that there were not any children on the horizon in Uganda.
Mark and I briefly discussed and prayed about the call, but decided that we wanted to stay in Uganda. We were OK with waiting. 

Fast forward about 2 weeks. We received an email from our agency that left us feeling defeated. For reasons (which we completely agree with) our agency needed to be more selective in the children who they were willing to accept into their Ugandan program. This decision would cause the number of children available for adoption to drastically decrease. AND in addition to this (here is the big one), they were uncertain about the stability of the program.

We had a hard time with this. We already switched countries from Ethiopia to Uganda. We did not want to switch again. But we also did not want to stay in a program that we felt would ultimately be a dead end.
For weeks, we prayed about a decision. We spoke numerous times with our adoption agency about the specifics of the new program and what it would mean for our adoption. 

I am not one to “hear” God, but I really wanted a clear answer on this one. I needed to know that whatever decision we made was completely His. 

Over these weeks, I began to lean towards switching programs. I could not shake the idea that Uganda was going to be a long road with no end in sight. I was beginning to feel a strong desire for our third child. So, I made my decision, I wanted to switch. 

BUT Mark was not ready yet. He felt that we would ultimately switch, but was sort of dragging his feet. So, I waited (and waited, and waited) on him to make a final decision. 

The time finally came where Mark had made his choice. The night before he was going to tell me he was ready to switch countries, we found out I was pregnant. Wait, stop the bus. What? Yep, I am pregnant!

I know, we were shocked too (and super excited!). I chart my cycle and (this may be TMI) I can feel when I ovulate. I have NO idea how I am pregnant. Well, that’s a lie; I do understand how it happens. But based on when I ovulated and when we, well you know, it just seems impossible.  

God gave me my answer. It was not what I thought it would be, but it is an answer. He wants us to wait. 

What does this mean for our adoption? We are going to stay in the Uganda program and reevaluate what it looks like in about 6 months. Only God knows what this program holds and for now, we are going to wait (some more). 

Baby Elliott is due on January 11th, 2013, which puts me at about 10 weeks pregnant! Praising the Lord for this precious child!

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June 8, 2012

touch a truck

What kid would not love a bunch of trucks and tractors to climb in and blow the horn? Today was "touch a truck" in Franklin. Since the only movie Noah will sit through is "Lots and Lots of Trucks", we thought this would be the perfect opportunity for him to see real deal. Oh, you have never seen that movie? Don't worry, unless you are a two year old boy you are not missing much anything at all.

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Let's hope this is as close as either of my children will ever get to riding in an ambulance. But when you have a Noah, chances are we may see the back of one of these again.
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You know this girly girl wanted to climb up in the pink car!
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June 7, 2012

extra kids = extra craziness!

Every once in a while I watch my brother's kiddos. We basically work in survival mode seeing as there are 5 kids 5 and under.
And today, my friend also came over. Add her two kids to the mix and and we had a full blown day care over here!

Note to self: if chalk is out do not also fill water guns. The result is one HUGE mess and a hose down for all kids involved.

They sure are cute through, aren't they?

June 2, 2012

ben-YAY's!!

Beignets, what a wonderful (and completely unhealthy) way to start our weekend. Happy Saturday!

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