dallas girls weekend

I went to dallas a few weekends ago to visit my friend Heather. I first made a stop in Norman, OK to pick up Liz. Well I stayed with her a night, then we headed to see Heather. We were all pi phi's together and lived next door in the house. We are those kind of friends that don't necessarily have to talk every week, but we just pick up wherever we left off and are always there for each other. I have had the privilege of being in both of their weddings and I miss them so very much. I'm so thankful for having amazing friends to walk through life with together. I really wish we could live in the same city, but no, we all live 3-5 hours away from each other! Oh well, maybe someday.

We had a blast! We did lots of eating and shopping. We shopped at the Allen outlets in Allen, TX. It has every store you could want and more! Too bad it was spring break and packed out.

It was so good to see them, I wish I could do it every weekend (or every other, Marc might get a little tired of that if I left him every weekend!)

A week of Babies

This week was full of babies being born! 2 of my best friends had their babies just days apart.

It began tuesday with our friends, the Hartnesses. They welcomed their first baby in this world.
Meet Ellery: She weighed 7.4 and was 20 1/4 in long. We are so excited for them and feel like we are a part of their family. We can't wait to spoil her and then send her home!

She is such a cutie and we love her so much already!

On Friday night we got word that our friends, The Smiths were having their baby. She was in labor and actually having a home birth, so a few of us went over and took some candy, flowers, and balloons to their house. Well my friend Katie and I ended up staying and made a cake since all her family was coming in. She was progressing pretty quickly, so we just decided we would stay until she had him! We actaully got to be around while she had him and it was such an incredible experience. Aubrey was such a trooper and labored without any drugs whatsoever. It was inpressive for sure. It was a really neat experience that I will never forget. He was born at 3:26am and we stayed til about 4:45. Needless to say, everyone is tired!

Meet Shepherd: He weighed 7.14 and was 21in long.

We are super excited for our friends and we are so grateful for healthy babies. They truly are miracles from God. Now we will just continue to wait for our little miracle!


side note- i think blogger is messed up, so if the pictures are not displaying properly click in the box and they should pop up. Sorry, not sure how to fix this.

1 Week

from today I will be hopping on a plane to cold, Colorado! Marc and I spontaneously booked a trip last week. We both LOVE to snow ski and we haven't been since college my sophomore year (2004...yikes I'm getting old). We are basically the same level, so its easy for us to ski together. We are hoping to still have snow once we get there, but the good news is we will have missed all the spring breakers, and hopefully we haven't forgotten how to actually ski!
I'm really looking forward to getting away. This will be so refreshing and it will be the first time Marc and I have gone on a trip by ourselves since our honeymoon!

If you have ever been there, what are some of the best places to eat? A good dinner place is a must for us when we travel!

Latest Book Reads

Recently I have started 2 books, which is kind of a lot considering I'm really not a reader. "Hannah's Hope is about a woman who struggled with infertility for years, several miscarriages, and lots of failed adoption attempts. She now has 2 miracle babies, but goes through the whole experience. She has written several of her thoughts and takes you through Hannah's story in 1 Samuel. I'm  only on chapter 4. but I really love it so far. She also has a section at the end of each chapter called “Burden Bearers” which offers practical suggestions for pastors, family members and friends.

The second one I just started. I know it came out about a year ago and tons of people read it, but nothing beats Beth Moore musings. I'm going through this with a lady i work with at church and I think I will really enjoy it. I mean what girl doesn't have insecurities? Beth's blog is great as well if you have never checked it out. http://blog.lproof.org/

Whenever I finish the 2 above, this one is next on my list. Heaven is for Real.

 I had someone tell me about this and I got chills just listening about it. Here is the blurb from amazon.com:

"A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven.

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "really big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us.

Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle."

It sounds so intriguing to me. I also loved Heaven for Kids by Randy Alcorn so I'm sure this one will be great too.

That is all for now. Anyone else have some good book reads hat they have recently read or heard about?



Tears, Fears, & Doubts

Lets begin with the Tears. Those came this weekend when evil aunt flow showed her face. Lets just say I was less than thrilled. I had slightly gotten my hopes up that this would be the month. I thought maybe if clomid was going to work and be the answer, we would know after the 1st month. I think that was just wishful thinking. I woke up overly sad on Saturday. I think I cried for over 2 hours straight, it was miserable. I feel like I have to grieve each time the dreaded period comes or someone else announces that they are pregnant, which then spirals in making me feel like a ridiculous person...
The tears were all a result from my Fears. I have so many right now. I fear never getting a positive pregnancy test. I fear a miscarriage. I fear being crazy forever. I fear losing my husband from a terrible disease or sudden accident. I fear infertilty for forever. I fear not being able to let go of the control when what I should be doing is trusting God. It has become a constant battle. I try to pray when I start feeling fearful of these things that enter my mind constantly throughout the day. It definitely becomes a viscious cycle each month.
I'm also feeling extremely doubtful right now. I'm doubting if the 2nd round of clomid will work, I'm doubting if an iui will work, i'm also doubting if I will ever have a baby.
These are just all thoughts that I have while coping with being labeled as an "inferile." Sometimes it feels as though I'm walking around with a scarlet letter ("I") on me and it feels awful. I feel that there are only a select few people in my life right now that can truly understand what it feels like and that is hard, but that is a connection and bond that will run deep forever.

This week, I'm clinging to this verse:

2 Cor 12:9

But He said to me, "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

I'm so grateful for God's grace through this process as I wrestle out these fears and doubts. I do want boast about my weakness and show God the glory through it all!

chick-fil-a

This is exactly how I feel on Sundays...

Marc has a twin

A latino twin that is.
Has anyone been watching American Idol this season? There was a guy in the top 24 who looks pretty similar to Marc. I had about 4 people say something to me about how similar they looked.
His name is Jovany Baretto. The facial structure, lips, and build are all about the same. My husband looks like he works out everyday and I assure people he hasnt in about 3 years, but when he does, it takes about 2-4 weeks and he looks like he pumps iron twice a day. It's sick and unfair. They also have the same mannerisms. When he would sing it freaked both of us out. Unfortunately he did not make top 10, but we at least learned that Marc had a twin!



Not the best comprison pics, but I can definitely see it. What do you think?

A great reminder

Don't worry I'm still alive, this week has been pretty crazy at work and it seems like we had something every night this past week.
Okay Enough excuses....

The other day Marc's sweet stepdad, aka my father-in-law called to see if he could bring me something. I was thinking it was going to be food related because he is an amazing cook.
Instead of something food related, it was this:







There is a story that goes along with this coin. He said that Marc's mom gave it to him when he was looking for a job, well he eventually found a job that he really loved and this coin was a great encouragement to him while he was searching. While at this job, he met a guy and him and his wife had trouble getting pregnant and experienced 3 miscarriages. So he decided to pass this coin on to his co-worker while they were experiencing a difficult time. His co-worker's wife kept it in her wallet for years, and every time she opened it up saw this great reminder of Mark 10:27. They now have 2 healthy children.
Well the other day Keith decided to ask him if he still had it, and the guy did. Keith said he had someone in mind to pass it on too, which is me! The guy mailed it to him and Keith brought it over and shared this sweet story with me.
It was so special that he took the time to bring that over to share with me. It is a great reminder for me to have hope in the Lord. I hope someday I can pass that along as well.
Have a great week!