stay tuned!!!!

exciting things are going on around here! stay tuned for some really cool pictures of a historical house being torn down next door to mine, and also updates on my college life.

i have been so busy lately with everything going on with my family members and their individual crises, plus all the studying and testing and writing i've been doing for school. things have been VERY stressful, but i am very pleased to report that i've been maintaining a good attitude and have even managed to lose a little more weight!

i am so grateful to God for every gift He has bestowed upon me and my family. i can't help but wonder, of all the gifts we DO notice, how many more has He showered on us that we failed to notice?

Dear God,
    I want to say thank you, with my deepest and most sincere emotion, for everything you've done to bless me and my family. Especially for the blessings you are pouring out in my home, and on my marriage. Thank you for always providing my needs, and for NEVER EVER letting me down. You are more amazing than I know, and I pray that you will open my eyes further to YOU and let me see more of the work you do for my life, and the lives of others around me, every day. I love you Lord, and I am so very grateful that you love me. Thank you.
-Amen

a long time coming

Life is not a "funny" thing....it's a crazy, mixed up, emotional roller-coaster, poop's creak w/o a paddle, and more...kind of experience.... So where has this prophetic creak been sweeping me off to lately?

Well....for the most part....I have physically been in the same place. But, mentally I have been around the world in record speed. Life has been pummeling me, and my family, over and over and over again. I feel a little bruised....a bit shaky....sick to my stomach....and overall....exhausted..... I feel like I can't feel anymore...

My family has a long and very complex medical history, and on top of that we have our very complex LIFE history to boot. So, naturally we wouldn't be truly ourselves if things did not continue to progress in the same fashion as they always have. It's just that right now this natural "progression" seems to be happening to each and every member of our family all at once. We are being attacked, so to speak, by life.

But the one thing "life" doesn't realize.....we are special.....

AND WE FIGHT BACK!!!!

So watch out life....because no matter what disgusting crap you decide to throw into this aforementioned river with us....we know how to swim...and we know how to hang on....and the second we find a tree branch, shore, or something else to grab onto....we are coming after you with a hunger for destruction that only a true fighter can harbor.....We have been through it all....and we are 

TAKING......             YOU.......               DOWN

Don't forget it.

Dear God,

      I pray right now, in Jesus name, that you will strike down our foes. That you will heap piles of hot coals on the heads of any enemy that dares to go against a child of God. I pray Father God that you will put your hedge of protection around every single member of this family and that NO ONE will have the strength to come against us. In your name God I ask for miraculous healing, I ask for the fulfillment of your promise that you will supply all our needs, just like you've always done. I ask you God to put your armor around every member of this family and that you will hold that armor there, strong and steady as your word, and you will keep us safe God. I beg you to instill fear in the heart of the enemy and that when the enemy looks into the eyes of any one of us, that he will flea immediately. I am praying that you make each and every member of this family into the warrior that you have created us to be, whether that be physically, mentally, prayerfully, or whatever else you intended God. Please put your armor on us and walk with us into this battle. Because that's what this feels like right now God, an all out war being raged against this family and I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!!! In Jesus name I am claiming the VICTORY, AND POWER, AND MAJESTY, AND GLORY that is YOURS Christ Jesus. YOU are the everlasting King and YOU will reign and NO enemy shall stand against us, and YOU within us. In your name, 

-Amen

no strain....no gain

There are so many things pulling our lives in so many different directions every day. How do you find the time to follow each pull, pursue each direction, answer every call.....The simple answer: You don't! You can not possibly do everything, be everything, see everything. It is not humanly possible and not necessarily what God intended for us. The not so simple answer: While each opportunity or responsibility holds a certain value in your life, you need to figure out a way put everything on a priority list. The number one priorities take precedence and must be completed no matter what, then you move on down the line.

   What's pulling me? Drawing me? Calling me? Life. As spring makes its way into the heart of New England, so does it make its way into my consciousness. I feel awakened to new life. Awakened to possibilities. I feel like I'm seeing my world for the first time, again. Each spring brings such an abundance of promise. Spring is a breath of fresh air, cool breezes rustling curtains, new birdsong drifting through open windows, sunshine and rain, growth and new life. Spring brings an awakening to once dormant life. So now that spring is finally on its way, I feel like I've finally woken up from the deep slumber of winter and I am suddenly on the move! School, family, responsibility, plans.....all pulling me in a different direction. It's a little tough to harness all this energy and direct it towards something productive.
   I have just passed the midpoint in my first semester back at college. I received an A in Intro to Accounting 101 and a B in English 101. While I am proud of myself, I know I have to potential to do better. So why did I not DO better?! Because life is constantly pulling and tugging me. I struggle, like seaweed loosely embedded in the coast, getting constantly pushed and pulled by the current, pummeled by happy summer feet, and nibbled on by a frenzy of fish who need sustenance. I am a lonely piece of seaweed in the current of life, not sure if I should dig in my roots and attempt to stay where I am - or if I should let go, pick up my roots like the billowing skirt of a young girl, and run! Well, with school I know the answer.....dig those roots in baby! Don't ever let go! That's the mantra I will repeat until I have no breath left to do so, until I have graduated with a GPA that represents my personal best, until I have achieved everything I set out to achieve. I'm here for the long haul. The problem is trying to figure out how to concentrate when I have time to do so, and how to let go when I need to and concentrate on something else.
   It seems like each time I get a 'free day' where I know I'll have time to study, no matter what I do I cannot force myself to stay at my desk -book in hand- and study. I want to, I try to, I fail. Not always, sometimes I can successfully get a few solid hours of study in. But, it seems like most of the time it's a constant battle of wills. I have the will to succeed pushing me to study, and the will to experience life pushing me to run out the door and come home when I am ready to drop. That said, I have managed to get good grades so far, but I know that if I could push myself to study harder I'd have even better grades. That's what I want, better grades.
   Where else is life pulling me? Well, it's not a simple answer. Lately the top contenders have consistently been school, marriage, God, self improvement and medical concerns. However, we all know it's not as simple as this short list. Each piece of the short list has several pieces that make up the main piece; somehow they all fit together to form a whole.
   That's what we are all striving for, after all. Isn't it? To be a whole, to feel whole. For me it is. For me I am struggling daily to figure out what responsibility should take precedence over another. What is the most important right now? How do you choose, knowing that each choice has an effect on all the other possibilities? It's tough to choose. It's tough to decide what you can live with, or live without. I know I can't live with poor grades, but I also know I can't live without a connection to the 'real world' which involves every other aspect of my life. It's hard because if I want to succeed to the best of my ability in school, I must spend an incredible amount of time devoted to school. I can not simply BS my way through something and 'get by under the radar' as many people can. I would consider that a waste of time and think "what is the point of wasting money and resources if I am not really going to do this?" But, in order to do well -which is what I really want- I have to study so much more than the average student.
   On average, in my accounting class, I spend more than 40 hours a week practicing the problems in my study plan (provided by the lab site we use for the course). I complete hundreds of problems, working each problem as many times as I need to until I get it right. Why? Why would I go to such lengths and drive myself crazy, writing everything in a notebook until the ink runs dry and my fingers are painfully cramped? If I don't, I will not remember anything. My brain is what it is, it is only capable of learning one way. Unfortunately in my case I am a kinesthetic learner. I need to learn hands on, my brain connects memory to physical activity. Remembering what I was doing is directly connected to remembering how to do it. Similarly, physical activity seems to encourage my brain to retain detail. Simply reading the text book and answering a few study problems doesn't work for me. Without the act of practically copying the text word for word, I'd have no idea what I spend several hours studying. Without writing out every problem, every prompt, every explanation of each component of a problem, I wouldn't learn it.
   I am who God created me to be, someone who's life is governed by emotions, adrenaline, need.....  The best tool I have is the ability to understand how I learn, then use that knowledge to aid myself in success. I can not make myself learn the way others do. I can accept myself for the way I am, the way I was created, and figure out how to achieve MY best in the way the I am capable of doing so.

No matter which direction(s) you are feeling pulled in, don't forget to remember who you are, how you operate, who God created you to be. Figure out a way to use the tools that you were given, even if others consider it a negative trait, it doesn't have to be! Something another person considers negative is usually because they don't understand it, and because it's foreign it feels threatening. Don't listen to anyone else. You are who YOU are, not who others think you are. If you take the time to understand yourself you can figure out a way to take the things that make you unique, and use them to get you where you want to go. Go out there and LIVE, breath, experience life through the eyes GOD gave you. Don't attempt to look through someone else's eyes, it's no wonder you don't like what you see ;o)

Dear God, please help me to understand who you created me to be. Thank you for creating me for a purpose, and for leading me towards your purpose for me. I feel like a mule most of the time, I have to constantly remind myself to stop digging in my heels and to just simply follow you. I don't know why I fight your lead most of the time, when inside I know I want exactly what I'm fighting! I hope you can forgive me and continue to lead me. God, thank you for giving me the tools I have in this life and please teach me how to use them to succeed. Thank you for making me unique and teaching me how to love myself. I always struggle with feeling loved. It seems as though who I am does not often mesh with who others are and I don't know how to fix that. But I know that I am here for a purpose, I know you know what you're doing. Thank you for loving me and please help me continue to learn how to love myself.
-Amen

the umbrella effect

We all know that life not only 'can be' stressful, it just plain IS stressful. Sometimes the stress is good, and even motivational. Other times the stress doesn't feel any kind of good. But the stress is there all the same. Lately, the decision of whether or not to start a family right now was sort of - hanging - over my head. The not so good kind of stress…. and I couldn't figure out how to eliminate it. The only option of elimination being: MAKE A DECISION.

   Over the last few weeks my household has been very busy. For the sake of attempting not to write a novel I will tick off a few main points; physical therapy, counseling, several doctor’s appointments,  school tests and reviews (and everything else under the sun), babies being born (Amelia!!), vet appointments, job stress (for the DH, his boss was away so he was running his shop SOLO for the first time ever as well as taking care of the plowing which he has also never done before), and the list goes on. I think you get the idea. So the point is that we've had a lot more than just school and our relationship to deal with lately. Add to all of that the not so good stress of such an important decision to make and you get a not so neat little cocktail of roller coaster emotions and an out of control, runaway train, brain. In times where I should have been concentrating on the task or situation at hand I was, instead, focused on my emotions. I just couldn’t focus on anything else.

   However, the nasty old black umbrella that was affecting all other areas of my life has been ripped out of my greedy little clutches and carried off by the wind.

   Yes, you read correctly. By ‘greedy’ I meant that I have a tendency to dwell on all things emotional. When we dwell we hold on to something like a dying rich man who won’t take his rigid bony fingers off his 24 karat gold wallet. Now I know I am a woman, and women tend to be emotional; but I am who God created me to be and that just happens to be someone who is a little extra focused on all things emotional. The blessing in that is that I experience life to the fullest and when my loved ones need some emotional support I am there for them. Not everyone can be supportive in that way. If I were a super hero I'd probably be an 'empath'. The curse in it? Well, I'm pretty sure if you know me you're already aware of it.

   

   But God is good. He provided a way out from under that old umbrella, like he promises He will do. The stress was actually legitimate and not a figment of my imagination or something I was blowing out of proportion (I'm emotional, it happens..)

   We had a decision to make, that we didn't know how to make, and we felt stuck. There is a lot in life that needs to change if you want to responsibly choose to bring a child into this world. We wanted to make the choice to start our family but we both had conflicting emotions and were unable to settle on a decision. Our hearts were finally ready to say YES YES YES! But our brains were saying OH NO NO NO! We had finally gotten back to a place where we both wanted children, we both wanted to start trying, we both felt ready to be parents….Enter: the ominous 'BUT' looming over our heads in the form of - the previously mentioned ugly black umbrella. Our hearts are in the right place to finally say yes, but our lives are not.

Like I said, God is good. After a few recent events, some of them being doctor's visits among other things, we have been able to finally feel our hearts settle into a plan we both know is right. We know it is right because we can feel it. We have the peace we were looking for, our decision is made, the stress and physical exhaustion that making this decision caused is over with and we can move on. Yay!

   Stay tuned for a new mini-series I’ll be working on called: BAKING BUNNES

Luke 12:25 – “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Dear God,

   I know that you have a plan for our lives, but most of the time I feel so blind to your plan and I can’t help obsessing about finding the place where the plan feels good to me. You tell us not to worry, that it won’t add an hour to our lives, yet worrying is exactly what I do. I can’t help it. I’m sorry Lord and I pray that You will deliver me from worrying. I pray that You will teach me how to trust in You and not to keep trying to take my future in my own hands by willing it to be what I want. You know what is best for me. You know where I need to be in my life and You have known since the creation of time. God, I know that you have a plan and that it will be good if I can learn how to go along with it. I am asking you to keep showing me, don’t stop please, and keep leading me to where I need to be. I know I am a stubborn and ignorant lamb, I know I need you. Please help me follow you, please show me how to do that in a way that pleases you. But most importantly, thank you! Thank you for delivering me from this worry, for showing me that your plan really is the best plan, for leading me to this point in my life even though I keep tripping over my own sin and insecurity. Thank you for loving me, and continuing to open your hand and reach out to me, thank you for showing me who You really are. Thank you so much.

Amen

first....and last...

The birth of my newest niece Amelia was my first actual experience in getting to share to joy of the whole birth experience. With the addition of Amelia I now have 4 nieces and 4 nephews.

   That said, I do not mean to say that I was physically present in the hospital where Amelia was making her entrance into the world, but her birth was the first chance I've had to share in the entire experience with the expectant parents. I sent text messages to my brother and his wife, and jumped every time my phone buzzed or beeped. I got to feel the thrill of anticipation that only comes with something so unpredictable as the birth of a new baby, especially a baby being born into my family.
   Amelia was the first. I know, this may seem confusing, but it's true nonetheless. She is the first baby who entered this family at birth, the first who we got to experience the joys of expectancy with, and also the first leap day baby! How special :o)
     The reason Amelia's birth has made me so emotional is because I didn't get to experience this with any of the other 7 nieces and nephews. So in a way, it feels like she is the first. It's complicated because I don't mean to say that the others are not as important or as much a part of the family. I guess it's that I almost feel like the others have always been there, we just didn't get to meet them until a later point in their journey -after life had already begun. In Amelia's case, she began her journey here....in this very family. Her first moments of life as a MacLean started at 2:30AM, February 29th, 2012 on the day and time she was born. So in this way she was the first. And for A&J (her Pappa and Mamma) she is their very first born child.
   Now I want to make one thing clear; each and every niece and nephew of mine have their own unique place in my life. Each of their complicated and intricate stories play a role in my life that no one else can fulfill. They are all of immeasurable importance to me whether they entered this family at birth or at some other point in their journey. With my other nieces and nephews their arrivals were of a much different kind. Each story is special and different, each child arrived into the arms of our family in a totally unique way, but none of them from birth, leaving us out of the very precious experiencing of watching life begin. Baby A (stein) was the closest, arriving at just under four weeks and under 7lbs. She weighed less than a gallon of milk!
   And now Amelia is nestled into her own little spot in my life. With her own unique story of how she arrived here and where she came from. Her birth has been highly anticipated for a few years now as she was conceived not in her Mamma's womb, but in her Mamma's heart. She was loved before creation by the everlasting God and the parents who waited so patiently for her; parents who were brought to their knees and willing to walk through any fire in order to arrive at this day, February 29th, and the birth of their first baby girl, Amelia.
   The anticipation has really been steadily building since the first announcement that she was on her way, nestled in a warm cocoon and growing every day in preparation for her journey out into the world. Over the last 3 or 4 weeks it became increasingly unbearable at the idea that her birth could actually happen 'any day now'. So we waited, as a family, for the news of her labor.
   I spent the entire night awake, working on a research paper for school that was due today, and waiting to hear the news that my niece had been born. Finally, at 2:30 AM I got the text message that changed everything, Amelia was born! :o) But even despite the 27 hours (and a few thousand miles) that separate us, her birth was something I hope I never forget. It was special and emotional and my first and I am so very blessed that I got to be a part of it all!! I never realized how an experience like this could make me feel, so protective, so in awe, so incredibly happy and blessed to have witnessed (to even this extent) the birth and beginning of new life. I will cherish this memory forever.

So A&J, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for letting me be a part of this incredible experience with you and, Baby Amelia, welcome to a family who loves you more than you know!!

Dear God,
    Thank you for Amelia. Thank you for the journey that brought her to this place and time, for the events that put this adoption into place, for the chance that I have to be Amelia's aunt for however long we are here. God I pray that you would lift Adam and Janel and their new baby Amelia into the palm of your hands. I pray that you would protect them and watch over them in these early stages of Amelia's life and into the future. Lord, you know the plan you have made for them, and we are trusting that you have plans to prosper and not to harm them. I pray that you will wrap this new family in the comfort of your peace, give them knowledge and calm and rest and touch their hearts and minds to raise this little girl in a way that pleases you God. I pray that you will wrap Amelia in a hedge of protection, that her life will be abundantly blessed and that she will come to know you as her personal Lord and Savior. I pray that you will humble her parents, as you have done before, and always remind them of what a beautiful and precious gift she is. Thank you God for your everlasting mercy.
Amen

leap years, midnight madness and lackspiration

Happy leap day! It's officially February 29th and we won't be experiencing this day again for 4 more years! So again I say HAPPY LEAP DAY and I feel like the day is going to be filled with blessings and special happy surprises :o)

   So midnight madness is a term my sister and I use for our random all nighters. Occasionally a situation will arise where I find myself up til the wee hours of the morning facing some type of daunting task. Today is one of those days. I have a four page paper due for my English class. I thought I had until midnight tonight (Feb. 29th) to hand in this paper. However, I was wrong! I have until NOON!!!! The problem with that is that I have appointments all morning today and will not have time to finish up a paper in between. Which leaves me tonight to write all four pages and submit. The good thing? This paper is a rough draft on my final research paper that's due in April. BUT, even though it's a rough draft it IS graded. Sooooo....Why did I wait until now?
   Well, procrastination was not intentional. I am not the type to think, eh...."I work best under pressure." This is SO not true for me, let's face it....We ALL get things done under pressure because we have to. It's not like you have a choice at that point, you have to do it so you just do it. But is the quality of the work as precise as it should be? Are you really giving the best you're capable of when you complete an assignment or fulfil an obligation under the stress of a last minute effort? The answer is no. So we're back to the question of why? So I let my anxiety over wanting to do really really well get in the way of productivity. Also, writing a lengthy paper on the subject of the Industrial Revolution leaves my creative juices wanting. I do not recall ever studying this subject in my early school career, nor do I remember ever discussing this topic with anyone. I did make a trip to our school's library and take out 5 books pertaining to my topic of choice, chartism. But that's as far as I got. *sigh*
   I have tried to get started on this assignment several times over the last week. I have gotten up at 8:30 or 9:00AM every day, gotten showered and dressed, eaten breakfast and taken meds, and sat at my computer wide eyed and bushy tailed. Then, as soon as I open the web browser, you know...so I can get on the school site..., I immediately panic and become filled with anxiety at the thought of producing something impressive enough to warrant an A grade. However, the fact that trying to come up with four pages of awesomeness at the last minute will probably NOT produce an A quality paper did escape me!
   So, I am left here....during midnight madness....while waiting for the birth of my brother's first born child.....writing a blog, when I should be writing my paper......and trying not to go to the kitchen for another bowl of ice cream in attempt to calm my nerves.

Don't allow yourself to fall prey to lackspiration, the opposite of inspiration, just take your life by the horns and GO FOR IT! Inspiration is born out of rambling thought. That's usually when I figure out the hard stuff :o)

Dear God,
     I've been talking to you more lately. I really enjoy it. You listen, even though you already know how I'm feeling and what I need, and you help me to feel more calm. Thank you for being with me even when I'm frantic and stressed. Thank you for blessing me with an opportunity to be home while I figure out my first semester at college since I was a teenager. God, I want to ask your blessing over this time I have to prepare my work. I feel silly asking, because I know there are more important issues going on in my life, but right now this assignment is my biggest source of stress. I know it's pretty last minute but you are bigger than any circumstance, however trivial it may be. God, thank you for answering prayers and providing my needs. I know you will bless me. You always do, I know I can count on you. Thank you for that God.
Amen

she's full of piss and vinegar!!

Ok, so the point of the crass (but funny) title is for two reasons! Today I am full of vigor! I am attacking my home in the best way possible. Armed with baking soda and vinegar I am approaching cleaning with a new attitude. I want natural [CHECK] I want fragrant [CHECK] I want.....

   Well, I want a clean house. And I want that clean house to smell good, not chemical-ish, but just plain good. I also want to live without a nagging thought in the back of my mind that I probably shouldn't be breathing the chemicals that I normally use to clean with. Why the sudden shift?
   Baby brain :o) I need to start preparing my life for baby, as though I have said baby, so that I can get used to said life before baby decides to make his way here!! Also I have been wanting to try cleaning with vinegar for a long time. I feel like the smell of vinegar is refreshing and it just feels so CLEAN and NATURAL to have something God put on this earth covering every surface in my house rather than bleach, ammonia, etc.

*AHH* I am feeling cleaner already!

I love you Lord

And I lift my voice

To worship You

Oh my soul, rejoice

Take joy, my King

In what you hear

May it be a sweet, sweet sound

In your ear

Dear God,

    I love you. Thank you for blessing my husband and I. Thank you for this beautiful sun shine filled day and for giving me the energy to make my home a better place. God, you know my desires. You know every though I have. You tell us to ask so that we may receive, you tell us to be specific Lord. I am doing my best to be honest, specific, thankful, and dependent upon you! I love you Lord, I am thankful for your many blessings. Please continue to bless this home, please continue to bless Will's career and to touch his heart. I am praying specifically for you to cleanse our home so that only you reside here with us. I am asking you to bless our finances, that we may live without worry. I am asking you to bless our bodies, that we may live to glorify you. I am asking you to provide us with a child, so we can truly be a family. God, I am specifically asking you to make me whole, to heal what is broken within me and to perform a miracle. I know you can, and I really hope you will.
Amen

standing at the edge

Lately life seems to be continuously teetering on the edge. 

On the edge of so many different decisions, 

I find myself struggling to catch my balance. 

Feeling the constant pull

Feeling like the waves are unstopable

I stop, I try, Give everything to win the fight and then

I'm losing, not giving up or giving in

the waves are crashing in, disoriented

I feel the pull

swept down by the under tow

I don't know how not to be selfish

Can't help but think of myself first

My world is the one I see and you're only,

A figment of my imagination

Do I wish life could be easy? Sometimes. There's a piece of me that thrives in the midst of a challenge. The problem is that a lot of the challenges I've faced lately are not the kind of challenges I can win on my own. I cannot perform miracles, and that's what it would take to fix what's going on within me.

   It's not a secret that I want to be a mom some day. However, at every opportunity I am offered to embark on that journey, no matter how elated I am by the possibility of "trying", I can't help being consumed by facts. For anyone who deals with any kind of terror..... not just plain, mopey old fear, I'm talking sheer terror......you know how I feel right now.

   Have you stood, shaking, at the top of a building? You look down at the world below you, and the ground you're standing on starts to shift. You can feel your body swaying forward and suddenly you find yourself trying to find the railing that you don't realize you're already white knuckle gripping.

   For a moment you can feel the wind rush by your face while you start to fall, even though the fall is in your mind. But, for that one moment the sensation of your stomach literally rising from your abdomen up....up...up...until it slams into your throat.....in that split second you are completely immobilized. Frozen, you are frozen, frozen in the icy cold grasp of terror. And then panic sets in and you are scrambling like a lunatic to get your trembling hands onto something that isn't catapulting forward off the edge. You realize, as your forehead starts to sweat and dizziness consumes you, that you are already holding onto the railing. You realize this as your knees buckle and your legs go weak. You struggle to stand up straight and try to fight back the ugly beast called terror. As the trembling sets in, the uncontrollable violent shaking you want to cry, you sniffle......hard.....and you take a steadying breath. With legs weak from trembling you try to inch yourself backwards, you feel blind....you can't see that you're only 3 steps away from the inner wall. You fling your arm out in the desperate hope that your hand will fall upon something solid, something that isn't the railing that suddenly seems too wobbly to keep you from going over the edge. You are struggling to keep the tears at bay and suddenly you are shoving through the steel door back into the stairwell that leads to safety. You are safe. You tell yourself that you are safe and hope to God that no one was standing there watching your ordeal while you fought with everything inside of you to get away from the edge and back into the safety of the small, dark hallway.

   Can you feel it? Have you been there? I'm willing to bet that you have. If it wasn't heights, it was a large, black dog. He was running after you while you were riding your bike home from school. He was so close to you, you could feel the hot steamy breath from his snarling mouth against the back of your legs as you tried to pedal faster than humanly possible. Not the dog? Maybe a spider, you woke up in the middle of the night, it's too dark to see. Something tickles your forehead and you untangle your arm from the blanket, you're so sleepy, you reach your hand up to scratch your forehead and are startled by the feel of something there. Something that feels foreign, then the something starts to move. 

   Whatever your fear is, whatever it is that brings you -instantly- to the brink of a nervous breakdown, you know the feeling I am talking about. The point? 

   I am there. Teetering on the edge, not realizing it's an optical illusion. The building is not tipping, the building is so tall that because you can't see the bottom your brain tricks you into thinking that you are leaning forward. I am leaning forward. I am immobilized by the fear inside my mind.

The reason I get so churned up inside lately when I think about someone else, every one else, who is expecting the birth of their child right now.......

   At first, while struggling to put a name to the "face" of my emotions, I called it jealousy. The term didn't sit well with me. I have watched so many women go through the why not me phase. However, I wasn't feeling that. I wasn't sitting around crying and thinking "when will it be my turn?" 

   In my struggle to identify what I was feeling it was easy to use that as an out because we've all seen it. It makes sense. But what I was feeling didn't make any sense. I felt sad, not jealous. I felt hurt, not bitter or angry or envious. I felt confused.

   I finally figured out what has been causing the highly emotional and irrational reaction. It took hours and hours of trying to write a blog the other day. When I finally decided to scrap the entire thing and simply write about my frustration I got my answer. 

   Other people in my life are not spending their time lamenting over the decision on whether or not they should have a baby. It's happening, the baby is on its way and the decision is made. No more trying to decide, no more torturing yourself with the details. Can we afford it? Well, for these people the question is a moot point because they'll have to figure it out. Can we handle it? Again, I guess you'll find out won't you? The questioning is over for you. You are in the thick of it and no matter what your insecurity or doubt is, you will have to figure it out because the fear can no longer hold you back from making a decision. 

   In my situation, I don't have the freedom to just happen to get pregnant. I can't just see what happens. In my situation, each step of the way is going to be a life altering decision just to be prepared to TRY and get pregnant. I am terrified. I don't know what is going to happen if I throw myself into the challenge this time. Failure is not the only consequence I face for making the necessary changes I'll need to make in my life if I want to carry a child.

  It's not the want, the possibility of being pregnant, that scares me. It's the before. It's the possibility of what may happen if I really decide to go for it. It's the change...

  I have decided that if I continue to wait, to let my fear shackle my feet to this spot in the ground, I will be standing here forever. Standing at the railing, feeling the wind rushing around me, with my stomach trying to force itself through my throat. Waiting, indefinitely, for the world to stop tipping. 

  There will never be a "right" time. Life will never be perfect enough for the child who I've waited for a lifetime to meet. I have wanted to be a Mamma since I could form a cognitive thought. I can't ever remember NOT wanting it. Aside from the lie that I honestly thought I believed for a short time over the last couple of years. But I want it. And the part that made me so sad....

   I was the only one holding myself back from that dream. Me. 

All I can do is use the tools I was given in this life, the tools that work for me because they were made for me by the God who created me, and try to make something good. The point that I must emphasize is TRY. If I don't try, I have not failed or succeeded. I have simply managed to exist. And that's just not good enough. 

Dear God,

    You are the only one who truly understands me. You are the one who created me with a purpose and a plan. You have promised me that you will provide, that you will supply everything I need. You are all I need. And I really do need you. I need your help, I need your blessing, I need you to hold me and my little family in your hands. I know I can't keep it together on my own, that's part of the reason I am so scared to let go. But you can keep it all together God. So I am asking you to keep it together. Please watch over me, and Will, and our families. Please help us stay on a good path, even with the changes to come. I want to be a Mamma. If I could put aside all of the facts that make that decision so difficult for me, I wouldn't hesitate for a second. So God I am asking for your help.

Amen

adoptioncy (dear Amelia)

Adoptioncy is a word i just made up to express what an expectant Mamma -to-be goes through during the pregnancy of her soon to be child. The Mamma who is waiting for her baby to be born, the Mamma who googles "stork" to see where this mythical creature lives so she can knock on his door and say "Excuse me, I believe you have my baby? I want her now please." The Mamma who can not carry a child for her own unique reason, everyone has a different one, so she waits for the day when someone else delivers the child that she has been growing in her heart since day one.

  When a woman knows her child is on her way, she goes through "nesting" and anxiety. She experiences joy, fear, excitement, a sense of urgency to prepare her nest for the precious gift that will soon arrive. This sense is no different for a pregnancy than it is for an adoptioncy. I have witnessed this preparation recently and I feel a similar sense of nesting in honor of the home that my niece will soon occupy.
  I have only ever finished one handmade project as a gift for someone else. I made a welcome banner for my Mom a few years ago. With a small mirical and the help of my MIL it was finished by Christmas so I could give this to my Mom. Usually, I get this sense of pride when I make something. It is mine, it is a part of me, and if I actually was able to FINISH something it is because I was moved enough to make it. This is not a mistake, I don't mean motivated (i don't have lack of that!), I mean moved. It has to be important enough to me to actually take the time to focus on it.
  If you remember from a previous post I have ADHD, it takes a lot of energy and will power for me to focus on one thing, especially to be able to finish it. So most of the time I am content to float along life's river and bounce from one bank to the other.
  So where I am going with all of this is that in my own honorary nesting period I felt moved to make something for my baby niece. Knowing that this new precious addition to our family is going to live 27 hours away, and that she may not get the chance to know me as well as my Mass. nieces and nephews know me, I felt moved to create something out of love for her. I want her to know that I love her just as equally as my other nieces and nephews and that she is every ounce as important to me! I want to give her a piece of myself to keep forever. Something I haven't done for anyone else besides my Mamma.
  Lately I have been crocheting again. I started a project several years ago (around 6?) and then put it away in my craft drawer. I pulled it out a few weeks ago and started making a baby blanket for my hope chest. The reason I thought of it was because in reading the blog of my SIL I saw a pic she posted of a hudson bay blanket that she made during her adoptioncy for my soon to be niece! Well, the closer we get to the birth of my newest niece, the more I felt drawn to blessing her parents and doing something special for her too. I decided to make her a travel sized blanky, that can easily be stashed in a diaper bag, car seat, or any other small space. I am making it with yarn that my DH and I spent hours searching for. Up and down the aisle, up and down the shelves, picking, sorting, touching, hugging, and attempting to visualize for this precious bundle. I had to have 100% cotton with a tight weave. I didn't want acrylic or angora or wool or anything of the sort. I didn't want small fibers detatching and getting her all fuzzy and linty, or end up in her mouth! I didn't want a yarn that would cause her newborn skin to become irratated. I didn't want her to have an allergic reaction to wool or alpaca fibers. I wanted pure, American grown and spun, cotton.
  The yarn my DH found is called "Guacamole" how cool is that? It is a gorgeous blend of green, off white, and mustardy/greenish colors. I found a pretty yarn called "Desert rising" that complimets the guacamole colors so wonderfully. I had asked my SIL, mamma to be, what her theme was for her baby. I knew she wouldn't fit the stereotype, she's too creative for that! Her answer was mustard. If you saw all the pretty vintage items in this baby's nursery you would see just how beautiful and girly a vintage mustard can look in a baby girl's room.
  So I have been "yarning" as my little friend Hannah likes to call it (crocheting for real) for a few days. I can't stop thinking about it. I don't want to put it down. I am excited. I can't wait for Amelia to come home to her Mamma and Pappa and forever be my niece :o) This will be the first gift I have made for anyone in a few years and only the second ever that I have made and given away.
  That's how important you are to me Amelia, important enough to give a piece of my heart to. Because everything I make with my hands is just that important to me. And you are more.

Love Aunty JJ

Dear God,
   Thank you for the amazing gift of love you have blessed my family with. Thank you for the blessing of putting each member, birth or in-law, on this earth to knit us together. Thank you for blessing my brother and his wife with the most amazing gift we could all ask for, a baby girl to be our very own. Lord you know my heart, you know the hearts of each member of our family. You know how much we love this girl and she hasn't even taken her first breath yet. I am asking you, pleading with you, to help this girl come into the world healthy and strong. I am asking for your will Lord, and asking that your hand would be in every moment of Amelia's life. I ask that you would fall heavily upon the hearts of each person in the birthing room, each person involved in this pregnancy and adoption God. I ask that you will guide each heart and mind and that your hand would not lift from the life of each person involved. God I pray that Amelia would go safely home with Adam and Janel and that she will be blessed with the home that her birth mother wants for her. I ask that Amelia would always know how very much she is loved and how very real and important YOU are God. I pray for your guidance and for your mercy on all of us. Thank you Lord.
Amen.

Procrasti-Nation

I can't seem to stay away lately.....and subsequently can't seem to get to the library to do research for my 4 page rough draft that's due next Wednesday. I feel a little anxiety every time I think about actually going so I keep happening to find important things that I need to do.

   I am currently a stay at home wife or, as the state prefers to call it, a "displaced worker." I am also a college student. After being out of school for many years I decided to make a change. So, last August I filled out a FAFSA and applied to my local community college. At first I had applied to an out of state school with the intention of taking online classes. Thanks to my brother, who helped me realize that most colleges now offer online courses, I realized that I could save over 50% by going to a community college. So I decided to go for it and see what happens.

  Wouldn't you know that God had a hand in that plan all along? It just happens to be a season in our (my hubby and I) life where our income is the smallest it has ever been. When I received my bill for school, if you can call it that, I was confused by what appeared to be a negative balance. Upon further investigation I realized that not only did I get approved for federal grant funding, I also got approved for state grant funding and am being covered -completely- to go to school!! God and His timing are so very impeccable. The only stipulation for these grants is that I need a GPA of at least 2.0 and I need to be taking at least 1/2 time course load. Can you imagine my delight?! I feel so blessed when I think about this :o)

  So, how does this have anything to do with surfing the net? I'm getting to that. Sooooo....now that I am a stay at home wife, AND college student, my main responsibilities are household chores and school work. Enter: Internet. It seems so much more appealing to me than writing a 4 page paper does. So I am cleaning the bathroom, looking up "how-to" videos, making very very important phone calls, and setting up a filing system for next years taxes.

   Procrasti-Nation is not a great place to live. There are just so many fun things to occupy your time with! I can't remember spending this much time on the computer in years. Life gets so busy, you have so many things to juggle, and honestly.....the internet is pretty boring to me usually. There are only so many times I can check facebook or my email, which I can also do from my phone, so there isn't usually a lot of appeal to sitting around surfing the net. Until now.

Well it's been a lot of fun thinking and sharing part of my college excitement, I guess I really should go get started on that paper......

Don't forget your hardhats ;o)

don't forget your hard hat....

I've spent just about the entire day writing. My intention at first was to respond to the blog post of a friend. When the response I was typing became increasingly long, I copied it into a blog post and deleted it from the response. I decided that since there were so many things suddenly welling up from my soul that I should continue to write, let things work out, and just "blog about it." However, I ran into a snag. A 7 hour long snag.

The original blog post was so long that when I copied it into MSWord, as I often do, it was already a few pages in length. So, for the purpose of shortening and clarifying, I decided to make revisions to it. After several hours and countless revisions I am spent.

"I struggle with feeling ashamed of my emotions. It’s hard to be so happy for other people, when everything you’re happy about is the same thing that’s making you sad." 

This is a line from one of the many paragraphs in the document I've spent the better part of my day revising. The truth is, part of what I am frustrated about is that I just don't know what I feel. I am crying, then I am numb, and the cycle continues. You see.....I've waited my whole life to be somebody's Mamma. But it seems the older I get the more complicated that dream becomes.

I think this is what's the most upsetting. The fact that it can't just be easy. We haven't been able to just make a decision and go with it, for many different reasons. But I just want the fairy tale moment where the baby just appears on the next page and we live happily-ever-after. As unrealistic as it sounds, I spent a large portion of my life believing in the possibility of that fairy tale. Obviously after the age of understand how things "work" I realized the baby doesn't just appear. But I still thought the rest could just sort of happen. But there are so many things to consider when you stop to pick apart your life. Money, time, stress ......

How do I know I will be able to handle it? I don't..... And that scares me enough to bring me to where I'm stuck today. I don't know if I can handle it. So instead of giving up, or trying to find out, I am paralyzed in the fear and unable to make a decision.

That thought is what I have spent my entire afternoon trying to put into words. Wow.

I cry, I blame it on the fact that I see other people having children and it makes me want that too. But what I'm really upset about, why I am really crying when I see these happy expectant mothers, is the fact that they are all DOING it. They aren't stuck where I'm stuck. They're just doing it. And a part of me wants to be there SO bad, I get so close to saying "let's just go for it!", and then I pull myself back again. I am afraid. And to be quite honest, that makes me really mad.

To be continued.....

Hustle and Bustle

Life gets super busy, we all understand how easily someone can get side tracked by just surviving your job, school, kids (yes it's true), and similar stresses of life. You may, or may not, love what’s causing you stress...But I know that the stress itself can sometimes be overwhelming.

  

   In the hustle and bustle you forget the things that make you happy. You might be saying "I don't have time to worry about being happy". Well, if you tried a little, just a few minutes a day, to remember what makes you happy....You might find you have time for a whole lot more. Happiness is like a little seed, plant it, water it, nourish it, and suddenly it's a plant that has taken root in your mind/heart/soul. Let your little seed fall into some rich, glorious soil (your life), and watch how it transforms your grey, lifeless, ball of stress into a lush, green, fruitful garden. Let your seed grow. 

  Take time for happiness. Remember what is really important to you and suddenly your life won't seem so stressful. You won't be soooo focused on the stress that you can't see the love and peacefulness around you.

I took this on vacation to see my Aunt in Vieques, PR. It was with a cellphone, in the middle of the pouring rain, with a  2mp camera, and it's one of my favorite pictures ever. It's simple
It makes me happy

   This week, even though I was SUPER stressed and had a MOUNTAIN of schoolwork to do, I decided to revisit my blog. I tore it down, so to speak, and completely recreated it. Starting with a new name. You may have read a recent post about me wanting a baby. I was wallowing, I know, because I was over focused on that. However, in letting it out, I remembered how important the other people in my life are. How import their joy is to them, and how if I stop focusing on me to focus a little more on them some of that joy might rub off!!! (and it did!)

   I baked some cookies yesterday, I thought about how much I love my husband, how much he does for me. I thought about how much it means to me that I can stay home to focus on school work full time and he is willing to work full time to support our little family. He is also in school, for electrical engineering, and he is a journalist and reviewer in the computer industry. He has a lot on his plate. Add to that plate a well rounded spoonful of me and our puppy and this man is dealing with a WHOLE LOT! I tend to forget that. I tend to focus on me, and what I’m bothered by, what I want. So I baked, and as my husband walked in the door and the timer for that first batch of cookies went off, I felt a huge *ahhhh* in my heart. I could do something, though rare, to make him happy. I could be the “taker-carer” and surprise my Husband with something so basic.

   My DH tells me all the time “you’re awesome baby” and while I am so happy that he’s happy, I don’t feel deserving of such praise. He deals with SO much in one day, more than I usually have to deal with in a whole week (or month?) and yet he thinks I am awesome. I usually just shake my head, or say “I’m not awesome, stop it” but he just smiles and says “yes you are.”

   So, if I let him think I’m awesome, will I start thinking I am awesome? Maybe I will. Either way, I want to say that I am so grateful for my husband, I am so grateful for the journey we are on, I am SO grateful that HE wants to spend his life with ME. And, I am so grateful that whatever it is I’m doing to make him say such nice things to me is enough to make him smile.

I love you baby. I’m so glad you married me. You’re awesome!!

-Love, Your “awesome” wife!!

I. AM. GOING. TO. FOLLOW. THROUGH.

This week has been very hectic. I need to complete one month of school work in 7 days. I am a few days in and the load seems heavier each passing moment. I am trying my best not to drown in the struggle, trying to remember -this too shall pass. My cards in life were dealt early and never changed. No refunds, exchanges, or second chances. I am who I am and the best I can do is use the tools God keeps trying to hand me and learn how to build with what I've got. So I get emotional, on a regular basis, and tend to let the emotions consume me. In this case anxiety is threatening my ability to focus on the task at hand. Thus, I'm here writing a blog to no one in particular because it is easier than cracking down. Here's where it gets good.
  I continue to have interesting opportunities presented to me. Tempting me to stray from the education plan I have set for myself and, oh I don't know....go out to lunch? Go visit a friend? Hang out with my precious and genuinely hilarious nieces and nephews? I can think of a million delightful ways to spend my time, but my head (and honestly my heart too!) WANT to get my work done.
  I need to score a perfect 4.0 to raise my GPA to a 3.15. Why was my GPA so low? Well, at 19 years old I attempted to put myself through college. I was not eligible for any financial aid or student loans. I had 3 jobs and, again, was 19 years old. So I went to the college, I paid $1800 up front for my first semester. I tried, honestly I really did, to stay focused on school and do my best. I failed. I ended up dropping study skills and Spanish because I couldn't afford the books. I passed English by the skin of my teeth (with a D+) because I had started off so well but blew off the final exam. I passed Math for two reasons. 1) Math is my favorite subject, and 2) It was Math 90 because I had no SAT's and didn't do well on the placement test because a room full of gum popping, pencil tapping, sighing teenagers is not a girl with ADHD's best friend!
  So! In effort to raise that dreadful GPA (which at 19 I didn't understand would follow me around for the rest of my life) I need to achieve a 4.0.
  I like to set the bar high. Sometimes, because of my over-achieving personality, I accidentally set the bar so high that I need a spring board and a set of wings to reach it. But, this time, for once, I think I can really do this.
  School started on January 17th and I hit the ground running. A month later, though I have tripped on my insecurities a few times, I am proud to say I have received 100% on every graded assignment or test so far. My English professor called me out in front of the class through a document he posted. Look!

I am elated. I am so nervous about doing well and have managed to stay on task. I am so grateful to God for putting me where I am, because "for such a time as this" actually seems to make sense to me right now. I am here, right now, because God was preparing me and shaping me for the last several years. He was getting me ready to understand how IMPORTANT a college education is, how PROUD of myself I can be when I know I've worked for what I have, how blessed I am to receive 100% funding by state and federal grants. Why? Because I never knew that I could do this. I didn't have the desire, the confidence, or the attention span to be able to follow through.
  I. AM. GOING. TO. FOLLOW. THROUGH.
  I. AM. GOING. TO. FOLLOW. THROUGH.
  I. AM. GOING. TO. FOLLOW. THROUGH.

 Ahhh. There. I said it. Three times, just like my Mamma taught me. Because, when you say something three times it means that you really really MEAN it, and that you will remember it.
 So I mean it. I will follow through, I will succeed, and I will do it with God's blessing and support. Because without Him, the ever present, all consuming Lord and Savior, I am nothing.

 And, since I want a baby so much, I know that I need to be in a position to afford a baby. And, well, I'll have a hard time doing that without a degree or a job!

Matthew 6:27 Says, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

Dear God,
   Thank you for your blessings. I pray that you will continue to bless my house. I need your wisdom and strength. Thank you for giving me peace today, and erasing my sadness of yesterday. Thank you for giving me something to smile about Lord.
Amen

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i just now found blog lovin' !!
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Ugly/Pretty

So I'm putting it out there. I want a baby. Not a baby niece, nephew, or any other extended friend/family kind of baby (even though I love them!). I want my OWN baby. But, even though I want....I know I can't have. I was doing fine with this lately, until within a few weeks of each other several people in my life got pregnant or found out they were having a baby. With each announcement my heart burst with pride and joy, feeling happiness that only the announcement of a baby can bring. After the 5th announcement, the joy felt a little dull. This may sound selfish, but unless you know what it feels like (and i know some of you do) to wait, and wait, and wait, when everyone else around you has exactly what you are waiting for, then please don't judge me. I am trying to to cry. Every time I hear baby talk, it makes me a little less excited, and a little more sad. I had convinced myself, for a time, that I didn't want any children at all. I had convinced myself that being a mother wasn't "for me" and that I was going to live a happy and care free life with my husband. WHY do I lie to myself?! Maybe because it's easier to tell yourself you don't even LIKE cake, when you know you can't have it anyway but everyone else at the party is eating it, talking about how good it tastes, and asking you to admire the statuesque beauty of the magnificent cake they are all enjoying. I just want to scream at them WELL I HATE CAKE ANYWAY! But, I don't hate cake, and I don't want to stand by while someone else groans in pleasure because it's just soooo good. I want my own piece. I want my own baby and it just really SUCKS right now that I can't have it. It's like i'm on a forced diet from parenthood.

24 years ago, at two years old I was asked what I wanted to "be", I said "A Mommy". A few years later my answer changed to "A wife and Mommy", and the answer never changed.

  Now, at 26, after 6 years together with my DH, 3 1/2 years married, and 3 honorary children, we are here.  Two "twenty-somethings" college students. Two no longer newly-weds. Two adults. Two lonely people. Watching our friends and loved ones becoming parents every day. We are wondering when we will be able to share in the joy and excitement of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. We know we have a long way to go and lots to work out in our life together. But, in this moment, we wish it was us getting to experience the excitement of pregnancy.
  For just a moment, we considered giving it a try. But, as soon as the idea took flight, we were reminded of the many many reasons why it wouldn't be a good idea for us to "try" right now. We really (really really) had been happy with waiting.
  For a few years we even considered not ever becoming parents. It was a decision that we had settled in to, and were honestly happy with. Although I know our hearts were never, truly, happy with it. Because even though our minds were made up, I still talked about babies and children and parenting almost daily. I have this innate desire to be someone's Mamma. I thought I had stifled it, but I was so very wrong.
  My sister became a parent in January of 2011. For the last year I have watched her family grow, to 6, in 7 months. Her and her husband have tackled parenthood like they were building a fortune 500 company from the ground up. They started with one brick in one hand, a spatula of mortar in the other, and over the course of a single year they built a family. Simultaneously, over the course of a year, they taught my husband and I that parenthood doesn't have to be only heartache, with only fleeting moments of joy. Parenthood is something to be cherished, something to be earned, and something that is only truly called parenting when you have the love and devotion for your child that F&M have for their children. Our hearts have slowly melted, the protective barrier we put in place after being broken so badly by our previous experience has fallen away (albeit very slowly). We are slowly warming up to the idea that loving a baby doesn't have to hurt, that loving a child just might be a safe idea, and that no matter what we have each other and we can get through anything together.
  So now it's a hurting of a different variety. It's the pain of waiting, and uncertainty and wanting that we are going through. I am sad that after being so excited for the first birth announcement my happiness has been a little more dim with each successive announcement. I am ashamed of myself for feeling the way I do, especially when the wealth of emotions seem to have sprung from no where.
  I lost sight, for a few years, of just how badly I want to be a Mom. I am grateful for that, because I didn't feel the hurt and the yearning and all the ugly/pretty of waiting. However, all the emotions I seem to have been spared from for the last couple of years have come crashing onto me in a big messy heap. And I keep crying, even though I didn't realize I was sad, because I want it to be me. I didn't even know how badly until I finally broke yesterday. And, I just don't know what to do about it. So here I am, pouring my heart out, to nobody in particular. Grasping at straws in an attempt to figure out what exactly I feel. But I am left feeling more sad than before, feeling the hurt of the ugly/pretty of waiting, and hoping that some day it will be my turn. For happiness, health, joy and babies. Until then, it's just the three of us, waiting here for a miracle.



Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper youa nd not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"
So:
Dear God,
Thank you for the blessings you have granted me. Thank you for showing me that only You are sovereign, even though I keep forgetting and trying to take over. Thank you for reminding me that love is not the fairy tale that magically makes everything all better. Love is the hard work and determination of one person, to honor and cherish and respect and be patient with (and all the other qualities) another person. Love is a commitment and a promise. Thank you, God, for always meeting my needs. Thank you for always keeping your promises and always being who you say you are. God, I know you have a plan for me, and it is a plan I can't understand right now, but I know it's your plan. I am doing my best to wait, to try and be patient, to remind myself that what I want is not always what's best. But God? I really really want to know that something is going to work out. I need you to remind me that you are here, that you haven't left me dangling like a tiny thread with no hope of weaving back into a strong, thick rope. I am stressed out and lost and sad because I am struggling. I need you, so if you are listening, could you please help me understand your plan? I'm hoping it will be the comfort I need to get through my circumstances.
-Amen

Its been a while ♥

It's time for a change. This blog was previously neglected and uninspiring. Here's to new beginnings!

I am Rachel, a stay at home wife and mother of one very adorable rescue dog. I am currently 26 and am married to a handsome, hard working, somewhat forgetful but very reliable young man. My American Pitbull Terrier/Mix is the love of my life and my only baby. I like to take pictures and I love to edit them using instagram on my iPhone. I like to paint, draw, sing and play guitar. I like to work out and love to ride bicycles. I have a dinosaur of a motorcycle that hasn't been registered probably since the 90's, but it's mine and I love it. I got my class M license in 2009 and hopefully this summer will be the year that I actually get to spend some quality time with two wheels and the world God created. I love God, and try my best to follow Him. I don't do it well by any standard but I try *my* best, and that's all I can do. I have a lot on my plate right now between college, family, and my health, but I am happy to be where I'm at. I figure it's this way, I am who God created me to be, all I can do is try to be ok with that. And, all I hope of other people is that they will accept me with my faults and failures and stay along for the ride long enough to share in my successes. I want to share my life, even if no one ever reads this. Please remember that my life is always under construction so hard hats and steel toe boots are mandatory.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"