Friday, July 27, 2012

My Home [Grateful Journey: Day 2 - July 26th]

Day 2 of My Grateful Journey..

I am thankful for my home. For shelter. 

It's hard for me to fathom that there are people in this world that do not have a home. They don't have a roof over their head every single night. It's heartbreaking and it makes me realize how truly blessed I really am! 

I am thankful that I have a hard-working husband that took the time to purchase our first home. He goes to work every single day so that I can stay home with my daughter, take care of our house, etc. I wouldn't want my life any other way and I am thankful that he has provided this life for us... in OUR home. 

God is truly good to us! Don't you agree?


This is a photo of our living room. One of my favorite parts of the house-- the fire place. (This is an older picture, obviously, haha! The front of the fire place is tiled now!) 

What are you grateful for today?





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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

My Husband and Daughter [Grateful Journey: Day 1- July 25th]


Oh, did you think I would start with anything else ;)

First and foremost, I want to thank God for my husband and my daughter. 

I met Ethan in 2009. I like to think it was meant to be. My brother had been Ethan's friend for years. Who knows why I'd never met him before... actually, never even heard of him! Hilarious. Anyways- one night my brother called me to validate a story he was telling. While telling all of the men in the room, 'Yes, he's right,' I hear someone say, 'Who is that, Brad?' Brad replies, "It's my sister." And then I proceed to hear the phone being passed around... and Ethan says, "Hey-- you want to discuss all of this over dinner sometime?" I LAUGHED. And I was a butt-head. I said, 'Dude, you sound like you're 12.' HAHA! What a jerk, huh? ;) He then said, 'I'm 19. And I have my own apartment!' I told him if he could find my phone number, he could call me. (Duh! He'd just get it out of my brother's phone.. Not my smartest move!) So, he called me about 4 minutes later..

We talked the entire night.

Not kidding.

And we finally met for a date on December 26th, 2009.. only 3 days later :) 

I am not afraid to tell you that it was love at first sight. I've never felt that way before. That instant, breath-taking moment where you think... 

This person is going to be my best friend forever.

We started dating that day. And we have been absolutely inseparable since. He is the love of my life. Of course, he drives me crazy on occasion, but he is SUCH a blessing to me! I know it's cheesy to say, but I really couldn't imagine my world without him in it. Sure, I have to ask him fourteen times to take out the trash. What wife doesn't? But, I don't even have to ask him for a hug on a bad day. I don't have to ask him to tell me I'm beautiful. He just does it. I have such a kind man. So giving. So uplifting. He always tells me how pretty he thinks I am. He always compliments my cooking. He always loves on me. He even kisses me in public. I'd like to think he's a keeper! ;)

We were married on December 28th, 2010. Almost exactly one year later.

I was 7 months pregnant with our sweet baby girl, Tayler. Yea, yea.. do the math. We went fast, but it was worth every single bit of it! She is THEE MOST important things in our lives. She makes us laugh on a daily basis. She has such a personality.

Tayler came in to our lives on March 31st, 2011 at 2:22AM. That little booger.. she's always been calling the shots. 

My water broke at 8:30AM on March 30th. I was admitted in to the hospital at 12:30PM. I was dilated 2. Shortly after, I was not dilating, so they started my pitocin. And guess what? At 12:00AM on March 31st... I was STILL only dilated 2. I was on my second bag of pitocin just praying for something. I wasn't allowed to have an epidural yet.. no food... just banana popsicles, contractions, and 'The Office.' At 1AM, they came in to check me and sure enough-- I was dilated a 5! WHOOHOOO. That meant an epidural was coming to save me! 

However, Tayler had different plans.

I started to tell my mom I felt like I had to push. Everyone kept saying, 'Hunny, you'll know when you have to push. You're only a 5.' So guess what? I pushed LOL! I HAD to. The nurse ran over and checked me... I remember her yelling, 'She's CLEAR!' I said, "What does that mean??' She said, 'You're a 10 and we're having this baby!'

My doctor had went home because they had schedule my c-section for 6AM at midnight when I was making no progress. I couldn't get the epidural because... they took to long.. or maybe it's because my daughter decided she wanted to come... NOW. HAHA! Either way-- I remember everyone walked out of the room when the nurse announced I was getting an epidural. I think they thought it was going to get ugly. It wasn't. I simply stated, "Well, lets get this baby out!'

I started pushing at 1:20AM. My doctor walked through the door at 2:00AM just laughing. At 2:22AM, Tayler was born. A gorgeous 6lb 3oz, 20" baby girl. I was in love at that first second. And I've been in love ever since. That little girl has my entire heart. Isn't it crazy how you fall in love with someone when you see those 2 blue lines on your pregnancy test? And you fall even more in love when you hold them for the first time. She is such a blessing to us. I am SO very thankful for my family! 

Thank You, Jesus for Your blessings on my life! You didn't have to do this for me, but You did and I am grateful for it!


This is us when Tayler was 3 weeks old. This photo was taken by Jessica Barber Photography. Check her out on Facebook! :)




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My Grateful Journey


Hey everyone! :) It has been a few months. How have you all been? Fill me in on your lives! :) I have missed everyone so much, but I had to take a bit of a break.

 I stopped doing my Project 365 because I started baby sitting full time and it was just too much on my plate. I wanted to do the Project 365 for enjoyment-- but unfortunately, I started dreading it and thinking of it as a chore. So... it was time for a change. 

I've been waiting for something to 'spark' within me... something to blog about, but nothing has....

UNTIL NOW.

I found an idea on Pinterest (thank you Amber) about a 'Grateful Journal' and I decided to take that idea and run with it.. in the blog-o-sphere.

Every day... from now until July 25th, 2013, I want to blog about ONE thing I am thankful for EVERY day and take a picture of that item/person along with it! (Might as well practice my photography while I'm at it, right?) It's going to be something different each day (therein lies the struggle...) We are so accustomed to thinking of the MAIN things we are thankful for: Our family, food, shelter, etc. that we often forget the things we have that are merely 'ehs' in our life. 'Eh, I have a cell-phone. Doesn't everyone?' 'Eh, I have a blanket to stay warm with at night. Doesn't everyone?' 

And the truth is-- no. Everyone doesn't.

I want to stop taking for granted the 'little things' in life! I'll, of course, jot down my thoughts on the 'main things' as well (They're too great not to!) But I think finding 365 different things to be thankful for will take some work! 

So here it comes..

MY GRATEFUL JOURNEY.



August 13th Journal Prompt: Anger.

 The journal prompt of the day is: How do you deal with your anger? I bottle a lot of my emotions up inside. If I feel anger- it may show on...