just because

we'll have to backup to last thursday to get the full effect of this past week. we got an email about a baby boy that was due (last saturday, dec 10!)  we were super excited. we quickly overnighted our info to an agency in texas & hoped for the best.  this agency (adoption access) is HANDS DOWN the most amazing agency out there. without being paid a dime they were willing to answer questions, they encouraged us and gave our hearts such peace. i cannot get over how much i love this agency. i hope, hope, hope they are the ones we place with (eventually.)  they emailed us and told us we'd be one of 4 couples being considered & we'd hear something by tuesday. so, like every other time we've been through this we just keep living life & wait. sunday started out with a 15 mile run. believe it or not, i enjoyed the run. most of that is thanks to my running buddy madison. after i finished running though, i felt old all day! it wasn't the best. monday morning

Had a funny moment on my run this morning. Some guy was walking his dog (the little fluffy kind that you know his wife made him take out while she stayed warm at home!) anyway, I was running through a neighborhood and saw them ahead of me. the dog wasn’t on a leash & was running along a pretty good way in front of his owner. So of course when I run by the dog he chases me. well I figured I’d jog there while the owner caught up so the dog didn’t get hit by a car. The guy was trying to run towards us…but he was all jacked up! He was holding a cup of coffee (that I wanted to steal & chug) and was running all kinda awkward. He thanked me & said he’d just finished a spin class at the gym and couldn’t get his legs to work. it cracked me up. I wish I could describe how he was running…think of a bow-legged man, barefoot running on rocks, with coffee in hand… Spin class = hell on earth. I really hate that class. I gave it my best shot. I tried to do it once a week for a while there

for the past week or so i've been kinda "blah." i'm not sure what my deal is. i've been tense, grumpy & sometimes sad. but i love that God is still good, still in love with me and still faithful...even when i'm a grump.  i don't have anything specific to blog about today. i'm just trying to do a better job of posting. so we'll see what happens :) you know i love lists. so i'll start with a list of some things that have made me smile lately. keefee (dr. keefee) & pam hosted a SUPER fun, YUMMY christmas party for the CCC staff last friday. keefee is mean on the grill! thanks to his son aaron, we had some fabulous venison tenderloin and lots of other great stuff. we laughed for 2 hours straight. what a great group of folks. i love christmas. i love lights, decorations and the music. as soon as i get to work i turn on my pandora christmas station. love it.  the guy i work with does not like christmas music though. so i have to keep it t

i realized this morning that this past week has been a week of "firsts" for me. so i thought i'd make a list :) first time i: - roasted cauliflower - returned something to publix. seriously, got a loaf of bread with huge holes all through it...what?? - had thanksgiving with vasa!!! have i mentioned that i'm in love with that kid? - ran 13.1 miles TWICE in one week. - ran with madison!! she's so fun to run with. her & lizzie - my running favs! - had to figure out how to tell the worship team that jay wouldn't be there to lead...ahh! poor sick guy. - booked a hotel on priceline - went riding with jay AND luke. super fun. - rode on a cruiser. i want jay to get one of those instead of a sport bike. - bought a splint for my bunion. (gross i know.) - almost peed in the woods...but THANKFULLY found a lodge :) - went to walmart and kindof enjoyed it - ate cranberry sauce with jalapeno in it. YUM. - bought a book on parenting - had a quiet time in

i feel like i've been kinda grumpy lately. so today is going to be all about the joys in my life! let's start with Jay...  he is hilarious. one simple text from him can keep me laughing all day long. i love it when he dances. it cracks me up. even if i'm crying or trying to be mad at him - if he starts dancing...i'm a goner. soooo dang funny. i love it that he uses every pot/dish in the house when he cooks. i'll never understand it but i love that it's the most annoying thing he does. he is truly the easiest person on the planet to love. i love it that he prays with me and for me. what a gift. now for random things - - i took 2:30 off my time on my 10 mile run this morning. yeeeeet. - dunkin donuts coffee. not from the store but that i make at home. wonderful. - a funny text from dianna yesterday. she called me squirrel nut. i laughed out loud. - a job that allows me to dress however i want and make my own schedule. if i had to wear pantyhose i'd qui

i'm about 3 weeks late blogging about our family trip to the mountains. it was (of course) a fabulous trip. jay couldn't go...which was sad. but i moved things around & went without him! we all left at different times. dad left first. he wanted to get up there and get things settled for us. he also had his amazing chili going when we arrived. yum. mom picked me up and then we got the girls from school. luckily they had a half day so we go to leave right at lunch. we piled in the minivan and went on our way. the girls sang, danced, told jokes and entertained us. they truly are hilarious. about an hour into the trip i switched cars and rode with josh, claire and vasa. oh vasa. i can't get over him. he made me laugh the entire trip. he was eating an ice cream cone from mcdonalds when i first got in the van. he seemed to enjoy it until he saw my apple come out! so we shared my apple while he ate his ice cream cone. that kids LOVES fruit. he was funny taking bites of m

one of my favorite things about my job in TAs is that when we finish our required hours for the month we can take "vacation" time for the days left. this week has been pretty free for me. the retreat & retreat prep kept me working non-stop the first week. so i've enjoyed some time off. i have really, really enjoyed volunteering at the "be the match" campaign for Ben Koon (and the bone marrow registry.) i figured out this week that if i didn't have to work...i'd volunteer all the time. what a blessing! i got to meet some hilarious, precious, loving volunteers and donors. i laughed A LOT. i got to see friends i hadn't seen in years. not to mention an ex-boyfriend that didn't recognize me (and i HID my name tag!!!) i've never met Ben Koon. but i pray that someone will be a match for him. i've also spent my week praying for him during my morning run. especially when i wanted to quit or complain about the run...i'd think to mys

Like I mentioned in my blog earlier this week, I’ve been struggling the past couple weeks. The devil has been after me something fierce. Sometimes I’ve managed to change my thoughts and fight him off…other times haven’t been so easy. But I have been clinging to my Heavenly Father! I have been quoting Scripture, saying His name out loud & doing all I can to stay focused on things that matter. I’m super thankful that I have a relationship with Christ. I’m also beyond thankful for a husband that prays for me. I love it. He has held me & prayed for me all week. Great guy! I thought I’d write about some of the funny/random/typical things that have happened this week. There’s no order to my madness…I just write. My precious dad bought us a dryer. It’s not “new” but it WORKS. I just dried a load of clothes in ONE cycle with zero humidity. Wow. Thanks Norm. I went to hang out with my parents yesterday. I go over there when I have an extra hour or so in my day. They always

so it's my most favorite time of year. here's why: 1. COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2. i love fall 3. i love the weather changing. 4. crockpot is coming out! 5. all of my favorite holidays are coming :) 6. college football 7. fall family extravaganza - cant wait to introduce vasa to smores. 8. TAs kicks off for the year! 9. great running weather 10. college football. i really do love this time of year. i like for september - december to go slowly. i want to savor every minute of the weather, sports, holidays, family, chili, motorcycle rides with jay (new goal!) and more. i have a confession to make. i LOOOOOOOOOOOVE christmas. yes, i am "that girl" that starts celebrating waayyyy early. in october i pull out my christmas music. the DAY after thanksgiving i decorate my house (if not before.) and i am OK with it. here's why. if thanksgiving was in march - we'd ALL start celebrating christmas before the end of november. you know we would!! we just think we have

here are some quotes from the students going on our retreat this weekend. we ask them to "write their heart out." they share expectations for the weekend and struggles. tough stuff. but GOD is bigger! Expectations: i just need to get away so i can relax. i am in a really good place right now and i dont want any stress to mess it up.  I just need to take a break. I would like this retreat to help me get over my shyness and reach out to more people.  I want God to give me boldness. I’ve been having some doubts about God lately.  I mean, in my head I believe in Him and I know He’s there, but something in my heart just isn’t feeling it.  I really hope this retreat will get me back on track in my relationship with Him. I really want God to give me the courage to find new friends and help me talk to my current friends about Jesus.  I need Christian fellowship most of all.  I am hoping this retreat and Teen Advisors will make me feel like I am not the only one choosing to

Wow, what a wild ride. I have wanted to blog for the past month but I’ve been busy…good busy! We have completed our part of our home study. OH. MY. That is a lot of work. I have an entire notebook of forms, fingerprint cards, medical records, etc. on the two of us. I’ve been to the police station several times. Got fingerprinted by a grumpy sheriff and laughed a lot. I did get to see a guy get arrested & handcuffed at gunpoint. That was exciting! Jay has kept me smiling through the entire process. He’s been a good sport. He’s not a big fan of paperwork. I, on the other hand, enjoy checking off boxes and filling out stuff. Weird, I know. I may share way too much about our process. Some people keep this stuff really quiet. Not me. I will share pretty much anything with anybody. So if you care enough to read my blog you can get the inside scoop on our entire journey! A sweet friend told me that the Lord would give me lots of adoption “kicks” along the way…since I wont get to ph

My hilarious, beautiful, fun niece Victoria (who you should never call Vicki) is one of my biggest fans. i’m not sure why she loves me so much but it blesses me and makes me smile. I am super proud to be her aunt & to call her friend. This blogs for her! Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not a “super spiritual” person. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Jesus, but I’m not one of those people you just wanna go run to for comforting. Oh well, I guess that’s why God made us all different. I do love the Lord. I can’t help myself really. I grew up in a Christian home. My dad is a retired pastor and my mom has a precious relationship with God. I am definitely blessed. Growing up we were ALWAYS at church. I loved it. It was kinda like my 2 nd home. Its where all my friends were, I felt safe & happy running around those halls. I’m glad I grew up like that. I gave my life to Jesus when I was 8 years old. I was in Mrs. Rosie Threats’ Sunday school class. My heart has been His ever since.

happy thursday. for our anniversary i thought i'd do a random blog. these are jays favorites. 44 days til college football. amen. i'm beyond ready for cool, fall morning runs. too bad its only july 21. i love sonic happy hour. we keep our house extremely cool  cold at night. i love it. watching our wedding reception video last night makes me excited for heaven. seeing 300ish of my favorite people eating, dancing & having fun has to be kinda like heaven, right? claire is going to help me stay on track with adoption stuff. i'm super thankful for that. i like paperwork but this is ridiculous. jay likes to eat lean pockets for breakfast and i cannot seem to find them anywhere. what in the world? where'd they go? we are celebrating my dads 71 bday on saturday. yay! he's one cool 71 year old. i have to give blood tomorrow. one time after giving platelets i got lightheaded & they tried to make me drink grape juice. i told them i couldn't becaus