Wednesday, March 30, 2011

March 31, 2007





...was one of the best days of my life! On Saturday March 31, 2007, I married my best friend and have been trying to figure out how I can possibly love him more and more everyday...but it happens! I remember telling one of my friends who was getting married after me what marriage was like and describing it as getting to have a sleepover every night with your bff, and thats really how I felt then and still feel now...don't get me wrong, some nights our sleepovers are not as fun and for those of you who know us, know we argue as excellent as we love:) BUT, when the day is done, I know I have a husband who loves me, loves the Lord, and loves our son and would do anything for us.



We were talking the other night about our marriage, things we loved and things we needed to work on (always a good idea, theres nothing wrong with a little evaluation! :)) and we were both just in awe of where we are now....what we've been through the past four years, all of the changes and ups and downs, the adventures we've been on and the dreams we've seen realized...and let go. We've had a crazy, amazing, incredible ride - in four years we: got MARRIED, moved down to New Orleans, started grad school, went to Israel, both started two jobs (several different times lol), met lifelong friends, went to Africa, started the application process for a mission organization, ended the application with a mission organization. searched FOREVER for the right mission organization, finally applied with the right mission organization:), saw many friends move all across the country, had a BABY, and the list goes on and on....




I love our life, and even amidst the hard times, I wouldn't trade it for anything...God made Adam just right for me, and gave me His precious gift just at the right time. He is the best man, husband, and father I have ever known, and I can't WAIT to see what the next 79 years have for us:)



...and yes, I posted this a day early because tomorrow is our anniversary so I'll be busy:)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Willard, party of FOUR, your table is ready...

Will we ever get used to hearing those words?? I think not. At least not anytime soon. I guess right now we would just hear, "Two adults and two highchairs?" That's right, TWO highchairs. It's official, Adam and I went to the doctor on Thursday and baby number two is due October 16, 2011! The baby is healthy, I'm healthy, and we made sure there was only one heartbeat in there - Adam was convinced for a little while we were having twins...after all, God does have a sense of humor. But, only one little precious baby playin away for a few more months in my belly! We are super excited and very blessed...to be honest, I keep waiting to feel overwhelmed or upset or scared to death, but so far it hasn't happened. Every once in awhile when Cruz is super hyper and jumping all over the place, I wonder what exactly we got ourselves in to, but even then all I can do is laugh at our sweet bubbly boy and imagine our crazy life in about 7 months. Just to clarify, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering, we weren't planning to be pregnant again this early, but sometimes God has other plans...we were actually about to start the process to adopt a child domestically, or begin planning have another baby by next spring, but our baby didn't want to wait that long - he or she was determined to meet us before all the holiday madness this year:) And another question we've been getting often since we started to broadcast the news - our plans for Africa haven't changed. We figure until we hear otherwise from the Lord, He wants us to follow His originial plan. He gave us another baby, and He is more than able to give us the strength and wisdom to move continents with two little babies:) And Cruz is definitely excited about his baby brother or sister...every time we mention something about the new baby, he grins ear to ear. He's going to be the best big brother! So, ready or not, we are now (at least soon to be) a party of four!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Throw me somethin, Mista!


I thought this picture would sum up our 2011 Mardi Gras season perfectly...Cruz's face is priceless! Needless to say, our Mardi Gras had a much different feel this year since we had a baby in the picture...one of those moments, and yes, even though Cruz is 6 months old I still have them, where I wonder if I'm really in charge of a child - 24/7. Love love love our little fireball, but having him is still a reality check sometimes...everyone needs a good dose of reality every once in awhile!
We made it to one day/night of parades, although Cruz didn't last as long as we hoped...I'm not sure why we thought he would, our son loves to be in the middle of EVERYTHING so of course there was no chance of sleep in the midst of all those lights and sounds! He loved it though, especially at the beginning...and he actually scored some great stuff! Cruz finally landed us some big beads (which Adam and I have been trying to get for years), a spear, some stuffed animals, and other stuff. All in all, it was a great day and everyone had fun...until actual Fat Tuesday, while we were snuggled up at home watching the parades in the rain and eating king cake - I realized this might be our last Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Super sad realization, and I didn't like it. I already asked Adam if we could come back next year since we'll be in the States, so don't be surprised if we show up on your doorstep! Love this city and all it has meant to us the past few years...saying goodbye will be so hard.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

New York, New York!

Well, we finally finished our psychological surveys for AIM and thus basically completed our application process to go overseas! FINALLY! yay! Our tests will of course most likely tell the company we're both crazy, but its ok, they're finished! We are so so so excited to have this part of our journey behind us, we are one step closer to our final destination...it has been a slow crawl, but every inch has been worth it.

As soon as we got the word we were invited to candidate week in New York, where we will be placed in a country and job in Africa, we started looking up plane tickets...and finally purchased them early this week! We'll be gone April 16-23, and we're heading up a week early to get a mini-vacation in...see some sites, maybe rest a little, and take Cruz to his first out of the womb (we went to a Rangers game when I was pregnant) professional baseball game. We're ready...ready to fly, ready to get away, ready to hear where the Lord will have us placed for the next few years at least...just ready. Cruz is coming with us, so it'll be a family affair - we're so excited that he is only 6 months old and already seeing so much of the country. Hopefully he'll catch the travel bug like we have or else he'll have a long long childhood full of airports he doesn't really appreciate...I have a feeling our happy man will enjoy wherever he is in the moment - he is so full of life and love with whoever he meets and wherever he is already, I'm just stoked to watch God grow his little vibrant personality.

We'll start talking to some people soon about different jobs we may feel lead to take, and then officially get word that week in April, so we'll keep you posted!