The State of Our Union

For as long as I can remember, in the week between Christmas and New Years, my parents would go on a long date and discuss the past year and the goals and expectations of the future. They called this their State of the Union Date and made it a priority. We are following their lead and do the same thing. It's pretty fun actually.

Yesterday, we had a great day and finished it off with our State of the Union meeting. No one can really foresee what a year will hold, but this past year definitely threw us some curve balls. My brother mentioned recently that when one of us (my family members) suffers, we all suffer. So true. We suffered through death, job loss, health issues, hard waiting, financial distress and more that can't be mentioned. There were a lot of tears and many unanswered questions. Basically, it was a tough year! I took great joy in throwing away my 2011 calendar...it had things on it that I didn't want to see or remember. In spite of all those things, it was a good year too. God did not fail us. We have grown in so many ways this year-as a family, as a couple and as individuals. As an added bonus and much to my surprise, we actually achieved a lot of our goals!

2012 will be so different, wonderfully different. For starters, we're adding a baby pretty soon here! Secondly, G is only working 1 job, which actually has career growth and I am not working outside the house. We're moving soon as well! We have a lot of hopes and dreams and goals for 2012. Who knows what will happen this year? I don't, but the One who does has got my back. I plan to enjoy the ride and take things as they come. Goodbye 2011. Bring it on 2012!

Christmas Wrap-Up

This was a truly wonderful Christmas! In addition to marvelling at what God has done, we had some really wonderful festivities with family!!

G had to work until noon on Christmas Eve, so I headed to Ryan and Tiffany's without him. They hosted a wonderful brunch that was full of great food and laughter. JJ stole the show and we all enjoyed being a part of his 1st Christmas. Uncle G and Aunt Bethany gave him (and future foster kids) a play tent with tunnel. I love this picture...that's 5, yes 5 adults putting the tent and tunnel together.

 JJ is a hefty little fellow and none of the 1st Christmas shirts came in his size, so he wore it unbuttoned. It kept sneaking up out of his jeans and looked like a whale tale!! It killed me! The sweet little guy had a blast in the tent (so did Uncle Justin) and loved being the center of attention.

 Once G got off, we enjoyed some relaxing couple time, then joined Mom and Dad and headed to our church for the Christmas Eve service. It was packed, but SO SO wonderful!! My favorite part is when the lights are turned out and one candle starts the lighting of the the thousands! Then, it snows! :)

 Afterwards, it was party time! Christmas Eve at Justin and Kim's! The boys were all looking very dapper.

 And I look fat, instead of pregnant in this pic. Oh well.

 We had so much fun as a family and again, the food was delish! JJ of course, continued to have a captive audience.

 On Christmas morning, G and I opened our gifts and hung out for a bit before heading to my parents'. George is so sweet and thoughtful and really loves to give great gifts. This one is especially sweet. It's a Michael Kors watch that G bought because it looks like and reminds him of the watch I wore when we first met. How flippin' sweet is that?

Aaaaaand, the Coach diaper bag I've had my eye on! I will get LOTS of use out of this!! I'm pretty excited about it!

My dad made a really cool sign for Justin. Notice Dad's new "Pops hat"? Cool, I know.

 This was a small family year for us-only 6 people stayed all day! My mom took advantage of the smaller crowd and SERIOUSLY outdid herself in the food department. The standing rib roast was a huge hit.  

 It was a wonderfully relaxing and restful day!

 We finished our festivities with this KILLER cake! It's chocolate gingerbread with ganache layers and the frosting is ginger infused whipped cream. Like I said, mom outdid herself.

Who knows what next year will be like? I have a feeling that relaxing and restful might not be on top of the list with a little one. ;)

Ready for Christmas!!

I am so looking forward to family time this weekend and all the Christmas festivities!! My dad is off today, so we are gonna head out to lunch and do some last-minute shopping together! :o)

Tomorrow, my sister and her hubby are hosting a Christmas Eve brunch at their house; we have a Christmas Eve service at church (I'm not gonna lie-I will be so mad if we get put in overflow again this year and miss the "snow") and thhhhheeeennnnnn, Christmas Eve, a.k.a PARTY OF THE YEAR at my brother and sister-in-law's house! It's gonna be so fun! G works tomorrow, but only for 3 hours so we can totally deal. :)

In baby news, Cocoapuff is still doing great and his growth is right on target-34 weeks tomorrow! I'm feeling pretty huge lately, but I don't mind. My Dr. mentioned this week that even in-utero boys are stronger (typically bigger), have different muscle-mass and temperaments and really do just kick harder than girls. I feel like Cocoapuff heard her and is trying to prove his manhood lately! Also, my pregnancy giggles have not let up...the latest thing that keeps me laughing is that G calls diapers Baby Panties. I don't know why, but that is SO FUNNY to me!

Merry Christmas! Hopefully I won't be lame this year and I will actually take pictures. :)

Goings on...

I can't believe that Christmas is so close!! It really snuck up on me this year and doesn't quite seem as festive as usual. Weird. I am really looking forward to some time this weekend to enjoy family.

G is doing well in his new job and we are still so thankful for it. I must admit though, that I wasn't quite prepared for all the changes, I thought I was....but I was wrong. The job is great and a much anticipated change, but it still brings some good stress, which is better than bad stress, but stress nonetheless. It's a whole new ballgame for us. Even though he works fewer hours a week and has weekends, it's been a big change. We aren't able to communicate as much throughout the day and I can't just drop by and see him like I used to. I really miss those little interactions! I know this is just an adjustment period, and we have a lot of big changes in life right now. Soon, this will be our new normal...and then that will change as well. :)

Thanks to the new job, we sure are loving our weekends! Unfortunately, this weekend I got siiiiiick (which is kind of freaky when you're pregnant). My hubby sure did step up to the plate though and blessed me so much. Not only did he take care of me, he also did all of the house chores I would have done early this week so that I could just rest. Since I so rarely get sick, I've never really seen this side of G, it was so precious! I sure am blessed. :)

In other news, we are now biological Aunt and Uncle! Cocoapuff's cuz Sophia was born this week! She is so little and pretty! It was surreal to visit them and think, this could be us in just 7 weeks (or less)! Newborns are so amazing, they put life and God into perspective. Yay for a growing family!!



No belly pic this week, because G is so busy! We will take one soon...this dancing baby is getting BIG! :) That baby ticker on the right says we have 47 days till his due date! Holy cow that's close!! I finished the drapes for Cocoapuff's room this week and have sorted his clothes and boxed up his sweet little things so we can set up his room as soon as possible. 47 days seems way closer than the week or month count! Goodness, I have a lot to do!

Quick to judge

I recently had a facebook friend post that they had found a wallet and were going to return it the owner. The next post was that the Coach wallet that had been found had 2 WIC cards in it and that the poster had a problem with that.

I don't know if it's called WIC in other areas, but WIC is State food assistance for pregnant/nursing moms and young children (it's need based). I see several possibilities for a woman to have a Coach wallet AND government assistance cards in said wallet.

• The wallet could be a cheap knock-off.
• The wallet could have been purchased at Goodwill or a garage sale.
• The wallet could have been a gift from someone.
• The wallet could have been purchased during more affluent/better times.
• The wallet could have been won at work for doing a good job.
• The wallet could have been purchased by a woman who can afford it and has WIC cards for her foster kids.

Or possibly, that person with the wallet spends their money unwisely. Possibly they did buy an expensive wallet, while tax payers foot the bill for food for her family. The way I see it though, there are a lot of other possibilities.

Why is it so easy to judge so quickly and to choose to believe the worst about someone, someone we don't even know? This little facebook blip made me sad. It made me sad for the unknown Coach wallet lady and sad that this is so common-judge quickly and harshly. That's just yuck.

Week One

G is headed home from his first week at his new job! It has been quite the busy week. We are so blessed and thankful for this job and George loves it already. I do hope though, that things slow down just a little bit-this was training and orientation week after all.

I'm not sure if I mentioned before the driving aspect of this job. We are so blessed that G's actual work location is in our suburb and only about 15 minutes away. We could not have asked for better. For training however, he had to go to the main office, which is waaaay south. So south, that it requires driving on the interstate for about 24 miles before he even gets to his exit. Before this job, G had never driven this route, or spent that long of a distance on the [poorly planned, over crowded, way too many semis on it] interstate. Monday morning was his first solo run. He turned on the news shortly before leaving for us to find out that the interstate was closed several exits before his due to a terrible accident with fatalities!! Did I mention that it was also hovering around freezing and raining?? My heart sank and tried very hard not to mother my sweet hubby and just to give it to God. We prayed together and he was off. I went back to bed, but just lay there praying for his safety and protection. In record time, G called to say he was there! Apparently they had reopened the road as he left and tons of other commuters had already taken another route. Thank you, Jesus! The driving thing makes me nervous. This week has been a big test for me in who I think my life (and George's) really belongs to. I have to give George back to God over and over again...something I should hurry up and learn since Cocoapuff is coming soon! G has done awesome with the driving and I'm so proud of him!

And since it's my blog, let me just brag on my husband again for 5 seconds. He found out on Monday just how many applicants there were for this position, how many were interviewed and the few that got the job. He is the 1%. Wow! I am very proud of him, but we both also recognize that God is so good to us. I'm excited to see what the future holds.

P.S. I had an awesome baby shower last weekend...I'm still working on a post for that. :)

Walking by faith continued...

Despite how much I do share about our life, there is still a lot I leave off of the blog. There are a lot of reasons for that, one has been keeping discouraging comments/people at bay...so while in the thick of things, I try to just shut up...I'm only successful sometimes. I think it's time to share some of the recent details of our faith walk.

Over the last few months a LOT has been going on, and all at once it seems. Here are the high points. Sorry, this will be long.

Unemployment. All the unemployment stuff was pretty stressful for me...like more stressful than I anticipated. George was a great support and I am so thankful for him! I got through my hearing and found out the next day that I won. I immediately received the judgment from the hearing officer explaining why I won. I felt very confident in the decision, but more importantly, I felt validated. Then, the day after Thanksgiving I found out that my former employer is challenging the appeal! That was pretty upsetting because this crap just keeps dragging on!! Also, if they win this appeal (which is unlikely, but you never know), I have to pay back my unemployment, so it puts us in an odd financial situation. I'm not sure what will happen next and we don't have a timeline. I'm praying the commissioner who makes the decision sticks to the norm and that there is no hearing...just a quick decision in my favor. More practice in just giving the hard and stressful things over to God.

Housing. As you may have guessed, with George's job situation and the unemployment issue, keeping and/or finding a place to live was getting tricky. I had no clue where we would live or where exactly our Cocoapuff was going to sleep. Some days, that was pretty overwhelming. However, God just kept giving us peace and gentle guidance through it all, we are so thankful. We thought of ways to keep our current little 1 bedroom, but then got the lease renewal info and were shocked by the pricing. To keep rent as low as possible (but still a lot higher than what we pay now) we would have to sign on for another long term lease. A whole year here with a third person did not seem like a good idea (our bedroom is too small for a crib, so baby would be in the dining area, which has no real walls or sound barrier). We checked on a bigger apartment here (small, 1 bedroom/study) and that was super pricey as well! Despite the discouragement, we started checking around and looking into other options. We tried to take our wants off the list and just focus on needs- price, space, location and most importantly, SAFETY. That was harder to find than we thought. Except for God. On a whim, I stopped into an apartment G had been interested in-I hadn't gone in before because I knew we couldn't afford it. Much to my surprise, I was wrong!! This was definitely the place God had for us. A week later, and without really knowing how the future would work out (or even being positive we could make ends meet), we signed a lease for a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom. We'll be moving 3 weeks before Cocoapuff's due date. This apartment has not just our needs, but every want that I tried not to think about. God provided above and beyond for us, even the little things...tile floors, huge closets and no vertical blinds! Our God gave us such a wonderful gift in this apartment and we are so blessed and excited to be able to live there.

Job. Goodness, goodness. There is really too much to say on this one. George had a lot of interviews over the past few months. Notably, there was a very hopeful position with another retail company. G had 3 or 4 interviews with them that all went very well. The position was management, salaried, had benefits and we could see it being a good thing for us. George was offered the job. Only the position was not what had been promised. It was a much lower management position; it had benefits, but no one would tell us what they were, how much they cost, or when they went into effect. Oh, and it wasn't a salary, it was an insultingly low hourly rate and he couldn't have another job to make up for the pay cut. All in all, the title of the job was better than what he had, but the income would be less and there was a lot about it that just wasn't right. It was very hard to turn it down (in addition, there was a lot of other outside relational junk going on that made this situation even harder). We felt very confused and discouraged about God's plan for us and what our future might hold. Things were getting very tough and we could see the bottom of the savings account in the not too distant future. Though disappointed, we doubled our job search efforts and tried to keep brave faces. To our cautious delight, one of the literally dozens of jobs applied for got back to G pretty quickly and the ball started rolling on the interview process.

One month, crazy international paperwork drama, several trips to South Austin, 3 interviews and one branch observation later....G was offered the job!! This one, he accepted. :) We are so, so thankful!!!! This job will provide for our family, has great career potential and insurance will kick in shortly after Cocoapuff arrives. For 23 months (longer, possibly) we have been asking God for a career job and He has given it!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!

I have learned a few things from this struggle and process. The biggest thing I've learned is that I cannot know God's timing or reason for allowing/making us wait for things, but that's okay. I've learned to slow down and try to enjoy the wait. I realized that God really does have a plan for us. He has a plan when skies are blue and life is great and He has a plan when we are in the midst of storms and darkness. I have learned we can BOLDLY go to our God with our needs and requests and He really does care-we cannot expect too much of Him. I have learned that obedience and walking by faith can be scary, but it's also wonderful. We try to be wise and to make good decisions-sometimes though, that "wisdom" and "logic" is very earthly. I've learned that the answer is to simply trust in God and follow Him, one scared step at a time. I've learned when you do that, people think you're crazy (and other nasty things).

We want to be very clear that God is our provider, our rock and salvation, in all things and regardless of how we are coping with life's tough times. We trust Him with our eternity and we trust Him with our day to day needs and desires. This job, or any job, is certainly not The Answer. It is however, a wonderful way to receive God's provision and we are thrilled! Over and over again, God takes our impossibles and makes them possible. We are so, so blessed and more grateful than we can express.