Happy Halloween

We had an extra fun time on Halloween this year. Randy and Brittany came to Parker for the day and we had a blast on the spookiest day of the year. We watched scary movies (and Hocus Pocus, of course), ate the traditional snake sandwich along with Randy's awsome chilli, carved pumpkins, handed out candy, and ate yummy caramel apples that Brittany made. We love the spookiest day of the year!!

Carving our pumpkins.

Randy working on the "owl" pumpkin.

The "snake"  sandwich. Filled with lots of meat and TONS of cheese!

Our pumpkins all ready for trick-or-treaters.

The amazing caramel apples!

Thankful-Part 2

Today we are so thankful for family. We are so blessed to have two amazing families that love and support us. We are thankful to live close to our parents and get to see them as often as we do. We are thankful that that when we do have children they will grow up near their grandparents and that they will be a huge part of their lives. We are thankful for our brothers and future sister-in-law. We love living so close to Randy and Brittany and having them be such a HUGE part of our lives.
We are thankful for our Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins near and far. We are thankful to have every single one of you in our family. We are thankful for the times we get to share with all of you whether it is in person, on the phone, skyping, or catching up on a blog, email, or facebook.
Today we are especially thankful for the opportunity to go to California for Thanksgiving and spend time with some VERY special family members on the west coast. We are counting down the days till we get see all of you and make some very special memories.
We are both so thankful for growing up in and having loving families. We are also excited to adopt someday and give a home to a child who deserves to grow up in a family that is loving and supportive. We know that someday when we adopt all of you (our family) will be a huge part of our child's life and that they will feel so loved and blessed to be part of this family just as we do!

Thankful

We have SOO much to be thankful for and we take it all for granted so often. So we are going to follow the lead of one of our favorite bloggers and cousin, (Thanks Alane) and spend this month blogging about everything we have to be thankful for. We also want to find ways to give back to those around us as we remember all that we have to be thankful for this season.
Today I am so thankful for my husband. He is the an amazing man of God who puts others before himself, loves me unconditionally, and can make me laugh even when I want to cry. I could go on and on about the reasons I have to be thankful for him.
Today we are also so thankful for our home and the food on our table. Just today as we were reading about the local Union Gospel Mission I couldn't help but think of those who would give anything to have somewhere to call home or to know that they would definitely have food to eat that day. We have so much more than we need and I am reminded how thankful I am for this house that we call home and for the memories we have made and will make here. So today we are going to send a donation to the local mission which will provide meals and a place to stay for someone who needs it.
Thanks to Alane and her blog http://reapingaharvest.blogspot.com/ for motivating us to see how much we have to be thankful for. I am thankful for this desire to see how we can bless others while recognizing all the blessings we have in our lives everday!

I've got the Joy

Lately I spend A LOT of time thinking about how when we are finally blessed with children I will soak up every second of them. Every little thing. The way they look, smile, pout, laugh, cry, everything. The good days and the bad. And I know that this journey we have been on has made my heart so ready to be a mom that when we are having those awful days I will be able to stop and just be overly joyful and thankful for the fact that I am blessed to have children to have those days with.
I am just filled with joy at the thought of where this journey has taken us. I can't explain it to you other than that I know that this journey has been incredible so far (the good and the bad) and that I just know that when we see God's plan play out for us it will be so amazing we won't be able to contain our joy. Tonight my joy is extra strong! I don't know why but I guess it is just the thought that big things are ahead for us and the joy of all that we have had to be thankful for over the last 5 years of hoping to be parents. We have been so many places and done so many amazing things together. I couldn't be happier and I just know when we are blessed with children it will be *perfect* timing.
I'm so thankful for this unexplainable joy in my heart in a situation that could easily frustrate and upset us. I am thankful for faith and knowing that God knows the plan even if I don't! I've definitely got the joy!!

It's Done!!

Our garage is completely done. Can you believe it?? It has been done for a few weeks now and it is simply WONDERFUL!! We even got grass planted in the front and on the side of the garage where the grass got ripped up. Things are really coming together...FINALLY!

Max getting ready to plant some grass!

Personal Weakness

Life has been more than stressful lately for more than a few reasons and I had reached a place of deepest exhaustion both mentally and physically. Some of it came back to that same old struggle of me wanting to be able to control things, fix things, or understand things. While trying to relax tonight I decided to re-read  a book I read a couple years ago called "Grace Walk" by Steve McVey. God knew what he was doing when he put the longing to read this book in my heart tonight. There I was feeling exhausted, confused, and just frustrated asking God what his plan for me was in all of this chaos and what "I" needed to be doing. Feeling like I didn't have the strength to deal with anymore stress anymore. As I started to read the first page of the foreword  I was hit by the powerful truth that God's power shows up best in our personal weakness.
The world is desinged to wear down those of us who rely on our own strength instead of letting God work through us. I can not tell you how much relief I felt hearing that reminder. I don't need to be strong, I just need to let God work through me. The book goes on to explain how God will do more "through us" than we could ever do "for him".
Isn't it both amazing and a relief to know that God is perfect in our weakness? There I was dealing with more stress than I could have ever imagined possible and suddenly I felt less burdened than ever. God will work through me when I give up and give him control. And I have no reason to worry because God understands those things that my mind could never grasp and when I trust him and don't give in to stress and worry things always work themselves out in ways I never could have imagined. Sometimes we need these little reminders of things that seem pretty obvious when we step back and take in the word of God.
I am so thankful for the many blessings in my life and for the peace I have knowing that God has plans in the very worst scenarios and things will work out according to HIS plans.
If you are looking for a great book about grace check out Grace Walk by Steve McVey.
Here is a verse that I have been concentrating on tonight.
2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Happy Thoughts

It feels like the it has been a million years since we blogged about infertility. Life got so crazy the last year that it felt like everything in our little world stopped while the rest of the world just kept flying by. But there wasn't a single day that went by that we weren't thinking about babies. It seems like the "baby fever" has gotten especially worse lately if that is even possible. We have spent the last year going over IVF or adoption first, how will we afford either option, what is God's plan for us in all of this, and a million other things.
But more than anything my thoughts are mostly centered around things like how amazing it will be to see Max with our babies, how great it will feel to hold our baby for the first time, picturing our family growing in the house we have built, and things like that. The struggles make me realize how wonderful it will be when we do start our family and my mind likes to dwell on those happy thoughts.
We are so thankful for the peace we have in God's plan and so thankful for all of you who have been continually praying for us. We hope to be updating again soon on where this journey is taking us next!