Texting on Cell Phones and Lots of Scrapbooking...

*Good job to everyone who guessed "Favorite Things" was the tune for my title! You were right! *

Now, I know I am not the only person who names their posts after song titles...can you guess which song tune my title goes with? I'm not going to tell you - you have to guess!

Today I got a new cell phone! I am usually not too excited about phones...but this one is very cute and has a full keyboard :) Now I can be a texter! And it has a schedule thing so maybe I won't forget everything I'm supposed to do. Maybe.


I have also been doing some scrapbooking lately and thought I'd share a few pages. They're not all embellished or anything, but I think that simple is more me so I'm sticking with that instead of stressing myself out and taking hours on each page. This is much more enjoyable and I have been finishing a page in an hour or under, which is nice. I am still so far behind though!

(Above) These are pictures of Brad's brother's wedding. I love how this one turned out!

(Above) This is about my first 5k race a couple of summers ago. I may have posted this before - I can't remember. Thankfully, now I have a phone that will remind me about everything and I will never forget anything ever again!

I just did this page last night. These are pictures from September when we went to the beach with our friends (one of whom is Rachel from Unexpected Blessings). I am so glad she is my real life friend as well as my bloggy friend :) She's pretty great in real life!

So what do you think - any guesses on the song title?

Favorite Pictures from the Last Few Weeks

My neice, Abbey

Neice Emma

Sweet Daisie

Ferocious Daisie!

Honesty...It Really Is the Best Policy!

Thank you, Wendi, for thinking I am honest on my blog! I try to be :) So now I am supposed to share 10 honest things about myself...this may be more than you ever wanted to know about me!

1. I ate that entire 1 pound chocolate bar by myself in just over a week.

2. For the last three years I have struggled with insomnia. I used to be very afraid of going to bed (I know that sounds crazy but it's true!) because I knew I would just lie there awake for hours. It's starting to get better and usually I can sleep before 1am now.

3. I get sick almost every time I travel. Which is funny because I love to travel! I think I just get all worked up and anxious. Anyway, when she found out we were adopting, my little sister Sarah commented that I had to travel to Korea to pick up our child so that I could throw up in another country! My list to date includes Canada, America, Guatemala, Uganda, England, and almost Mexico but not quite :)

4. My biggest heart-wound ever came from a boy who asked me to marry him and then changed his mind six months later. Ouch! However...the biggest blessing in my life also came from this (also known as Brad!). So I guess I can say...it was worth it :)

5. I am exceedingly hard on myself about anything and everything. I am learning to LET IT GO!

6. I spend way too much time worrying what people think of me.

7. I hate saying no when people ask me to do something for them (because of number 6).

8. I find it hard to trust people (because of number 4) but I am blessed to have found several friends in the last few years who are helping me to get over this fear.

9. Sometimes when I laugh really hard, I snort.

10. Out of my whole life, I am the most content right now with where I am and who I am. Not that I want to stay where I am or who I am...but I'm finally at peace with both :) Most of the time!

I am supposed to pass this award along to 7-10 people, but to be honest, most of the people who's blogs I read have already done this or been tagged! So I'm going to tag my buddy Angela...because I know she'll be honest!

A Completed Project!

Before...

And after!

Empty Containers...

Empty boxes...

I am so glad that is done and I hope I never have to do it again!

It Shouldn't Be This Difficult!

This year I decided to be a grown up and send out some Christmas cards. I have a lot of family in England and Wales as well as friends and family in Canada so I thought I'd write a nice little letter and send a photo card.

Sounds easy enough, right?

That's what I thought too!

My mother-in-law had recently given me a copy of a picture of me and Brad (or is it Brad and I? Please don't judge me because I am bad with grammar!) and it was very nice so I thought that I would use that picture. She emailed it to me, I saved it and went online where I uploaded it to Walmart and ordered 20 copies.

I was pretty disappointed when I picked them up the next day, because they were all blurry! It looked like I had lego blocks for teeth! This would not do. This is probably the only picture of me that some of my relatives have seen in years. I cannot have lego block teeth!

Now I had 20 blurry pictures of me and Brad.

I figured it was because I zoomed in on the picture, so I decided to try again without zooming. This time I ordered from Walgreens (just in case Walmart was the culprit).

An hour later (I was starting to have a time crunch now because these things needed to be in the mail soon to make it to England by Christmas) I rushed to Walgreens to pick them up.

Lego blocks again! What in the world?!?!?!

Now I have 40 blurry pictures of me and Brad.

I decided to try one last time, and this time had my mother-in-law order them from me. I wondered if it had to do with the fact that the picture had been emailed.

This time it turned out fine! My Christmas cards are ready to go and I am sick to death of this picture of me and Brad:



Would anybody like these 40 copies of me with lego block teeth? Maybe I should have a contest and they could be the prize....

Too Long!

I while ago, I was over at a friend’s house for a meal (this friend is also a bloggy friend so she will soon know this story is about her family!). This friend has three darling children who were quite talkative this evening. Our friend came up with a great idea – why don’t we play the quiet game? You know the one – who can go the longest without talking! A favorite of parents everywhere I am sure!

So the game started, and all was quiet. Minutes went by, and suddenly my friend’s eldest daughter burst into tears! We were all kind of surprised, because it was obvious that nothing bad had happened – we’d all been sitting there not talking!

Her dad asked her what happened and why she was crying.

Her response: “It’s been too long!”

I was thinking about this the other day, because it almost perfectly parallels something that happened in my life a week ago. No, I was not making Brad play the quiet game! But I did have my own “It’s been too long!” moment.

For whatever reason, the holiday season has seemed to be particularly difficult for me as I’ve walked this path of infertility. It is a time when more than ever the longing in my heart seems to kick in full strength and my arms just feel especially empty. It is also hard because this time of year is a marker for me – we just reached the three year mark. Overall, these last few months have been so good, my heart has been at peace, I have learned to trust in the Lord and have not struggled too much with the sadness I used to feel.

And then all of a sudden, that was gone. In a moment, the pain was back as fresh as ever, and I found myself crying out to the Lord, “It’s been too long! I can’t wait anymore! When is this going to come to an end?”

How thankful I am that He is the God of all comfort, that I can come to Him with my hurts and find a place of refuge and strength. It has been a difficult week, but it’s good because it has caused me to grasp the hand of my God more tightly. He is good and has given me some very special people in my life who have held me as I’ve cried and who have reminded me of the amazing things God is doing in our lives because of this pain. It is not for nothing – He is using it to change me, and He is leading us down an incredible path to a child who will be our very own!

One last thought – on this difficult day when I was wondering if the Lord knew of the pain in my heart or heard me crying out to Him, a verse stood out to me very clearly as I read:

“The Lord is near.” Phil 4:5

A short verse, but oh so sweet!