Andrew's Adoption Story

I stared at the computer screen. There were nearly two dozen tabs open at the top of my browser about “starting the adoption process”. We were 15 minutes into this whole adoption thing, and I was already feeling overwhelmed. David had his laptop open doing the same Google searches.

“Where do we even start?” He asked me.

“I have no idea” I responded.

When we started dating we discussed adoption the way many couples talk about where they want to live or places they’d like to travel. It was a “someday dream” that we were now trying to make a realistic possibility.

A few months into marriage, we learned that our odds of having children naturally were slim, and were officially in the "infertility" category, so we made the decision to adopt. We already knew it was something we wanted to do, so it was an easy choice. However, I was still jealous of friends who had babies, I was sad that I wouldn’t experience pregnancy, and I was mad that we would have to go through a maze of paperwork to have kids while the crazy lady in line behind me at Walmart had 4 that she couldn’t even keep track of.

Around this time, I started listening to the book “Uninvited” by Lysa TerKeurst. This quote stuck with me: “It is impossible to hold up the banners of victim and victory at the same time.” I felt very convicted about the fact that I was spending a lot of time focusing on "what could have been" rather than what God was calling us to. I finally began embracing infertility as part of my story instead of disparaging it as a cross to bear. By God’s grace, I slowly stopped comparing my story to everyone else’s and started getting excited about the story God was writing for us. I promised I would share God's goodness with anyone who would listen, which is the basis for this post.

After a lot of prayer and research, we decided to pursue a domestic, infant adoption. We were ready to start our home study -- which is the first step. A two-inch thick envelope showed up in our mail, and I set a goal to finish it by my birthday in October, which was 4 months away. October came and went, and we were nowhere near ready. Finally, at the beginning of May 2017 after interviews, trainings, physicals, and more our home study was complete. We could now officially start the process to find a baby to adopt.

In August, we got the phone call that would change everything. A birth mother had chosen us - we were matched! She was due in Mid-September with a baby girl. We were surprised at the quick turn of events, and thrilled that our dreams were becoming a reality. We signed papers on a Thursday, went shopping for a few baby essentials on Saturday, and watched the solar eclipse in our backyard on Monday.

When we came in after watching the eclipse, our expectant mom called me. She had been to the doctor and wanted us to know they were monitoring her closely. She wasn't sure what to expect, but the one thing she was sure about was the baby wasn't a girl - it was a boy! We were shocked and thrilled that we were getting closer to meeting our baby. We packed our bags just in case we got the call, but ultimately knew it was going to be day by day for a while.

That Thursday in the middle of my first class I got the call that our birth mother was going into delivery. I left school in a frenzy, David came and picked me up, and we started our trek to Florida. We got a call on the way down that the baby was here, and we couldn't wait to meet him.

We arrived at the hospital around 11pm. Walking in all I could think was "don't faint." When we got up to the hospital room, we were greeted by his biological family, and baby Andrew was handed to us. He was so handsome with his squished up face and head full of hair. It was surreal - I wish I had the words to describe it. All I can say is our smiles were huge and our hearts were full. Our dreams were coming true right before our eyes, and we were just doing our best to soak it in.

Our little man needed to spend some time in the NICU. We were hoping it would be a 5 day stay, but a few days in we learned we would be there for about 3 weeks. We made hotel arrangements and settled into our new normal. At the 10 day mark, just as my mom was coming into town to stay with us for a few days, Hurricane Irma became a threat. Her path was unknown; the stores' shelves were empty and gas supplies were dwindling. We began preparing to "hunker down" by searching for water and keeping our gas tank full.

Thankfully Andrew was improving faster than anticipated. We learned that he would get discharged after only 13 days in the NICU -- three days before the hurricane was expected to hit. The day of his discharge, we got word that we could leave the state of Florida -- which we weren’t expecting for another few days. All in all, everything came together perfectly for us to get home and out of harm’s way.

Through this whole process I kept going back to the song “Teach Me Lord” based on Isaiah 40:31. My favorite lyrics are as follows:

Teach me, Lord, to wait - down on my knees.
Till in your own good time you'll answer my pleas.
Teach me not to rely on what others do.
But to wait in prayer for an answer from you.

There were so many times that I wanted things to happen in my own way, but I had to wait on the Lord until in His time He answered our prayers.

For instance, David got a new job in 2016, so we had to move and sell our house. When I bought that house in 2009, I was nowhere near getting married or starting a family, but God knew that in 2016, the housing market would be hot. We were able to sell my house in less than 48 hours with enough equity to cover most of the adoption costs thanks to our renovations. Additionally, when we got the call that we were matched, the full payment for the adoption was due within 48 hours. (Ill let you do a Google search for the average price of a domestic adoption). We were about $9,000 short on having the cash on hand. That night, my student loan finances came through and $9,117 was deposited into our bank account.

Also, I got a new job when we moved, so I wasn't eligible for maternity leave until I had been there a year -- which was a couple of weeks before the adoption happened. I had 5 school days to get my curriculum together for my long term sub. She came to shadow me on a Wednesday; our birth mother delivered on Thursday. Furthermore, my curriculum was updated this summer, and it was fully comprehensive and able to just be handed over to the sub. People who are teachers understand what a blessing this was!

My mom came to see us in Florida. Her flight was scheduled to depart the day the hurricane was predicted to hit. She went to the airport on a whim after David and I had safely left, and was able to catch a flight that same night to make it back to Kansas City quickly and safely after being told multiple times there were no flights available. Speaking of the hurricane, Andrew was born 25 days early. He was in the NICU for 13 days. He was discharged 3 days before the hurricane hit. If he had been born at any other time, we would have been caught in the midst of the storm either traveling to him or staying with him.

When we first started our home study, our social worker told us that she firmly believed if God was calling a couple to adopt, He already had the baby planned. We have no doubt that God had Andrew planned for us all along. God's hand was in every single detail, and we can't wait to see what He has planned for this precious boy. We are so grateful for those of you who have been and will continue to be part of his story.

------------------------------------

Photos by Cherish Andrea aka The Best Photographer Ever

We're Adopting!

It's no secret that I love children. In high school, I worked at a daycare where I would rock babies to sleep after school and play with four-year-olds out on the playground. In the summer I would pick up baby sitting jobs and spend all day at the pool playing diving games. I decided to become a teacher, so I could spend all day with kids. When my friends started having babies, I would spend more time with the kids than the adults. So it probably comes at no surprise that David and I are excited to bring children into our family.

We've spent the last ten months working through the home study process, which is the first step in adoption.  On July 20, 2016, we got an envelope that was about two inches thick with all of the paperwork we needed to complete. I optimistically thought I would be able to complete it fairly easily, but starting a new job, finishing my dissertation proposal, and just settling into a new home in a new state got in the way. We got it done at the end of January, and then we had a few interviews, a home inspection, a physical, and background checks. We are now literally licensed to parent! (I have a sinking suspicion that isn't going to make the whole parenting gig much easier.) In other words, the home study portion of the adoption journey is over.

Our next step is to file with agencies - which means more paperwork. The agency will show our profile to expectant parents who are considering adoption, and if an expectant mom chooses us to parent her baby, we will be "matched". At that point, we will have a better idea of when a child could be entering our home. Right now, we are just praying that God will guide us and the birth parents to each other.



We've decided to pursue domestic adoption. Ideally, we will be matched with a healthy infant, but we are open to many possibilities including sibling groups or various health concerns. We are following God's prompting, and we trust that He has the perfect story planned for us. I'm not going to lie. It stresses me out to not know the timeline.  I'm really worried about the finances. I fret about the many unknowns that come with adoption, but we know we can trust in God's plan.

It's like that hymn says, "Tis so sweet to Trust in Jesus, How I've proved Him o'er and o'er." Now we just pray for grace to trust Him more. That's our anthem right now. Trust in Jesus. He called us here, and He will lead us where we need to go.

Feel free to check out our adoption website if you would like to know a little bit more about our story.

2016 Photo Book

When I was in high school, one of my extra-curricular activities was the yearbook. I loved photographing moments, writing about different activities, and putting it all together in a keepsake. I've always wanted to make yearbooks for my actual life, but I've never figured out a system that works. Having all of my photos and memories in one place was a far off goal achieved only by people who could lock themselves into a room for hours on end to complete the task, but in 2016 I found a secret weapon that allowed me to catalog my memories without dedicating my entire life to the process.

Over the years, I've tried several things to keep track of my photos. For a while, I used Chatbooks,  but that wasn't a great solution for me since I don't post most of my photos on social media. I also tried to make digital scrapbooks for special occasions, printing my favorite photos, and just reminiscing via TimeHop, but none of those systems satisfied my desire to have everything contained in one book. It stressed me out to think I was taking dozens of photos a week, and they were just sitting on my phone. I set out to find a way to organize my photos and get them all together in one album.

This led me to the website Modern Photo Solutions, which introduced me to a cell phone app called Project Life, a simple digital scrapbook system. This was a game changer for me because it allowed me to make my a photo book using my phone. I could pull photos from my phone gallery or Google Photos (which is what I use to backup all of my photos, including those from my "real" camera. It is another photo game changer, but I'll leave that for a different post!) Additionally, I found myself using pictures that told the story, rather than ones that would look good on Instagram. The Project Life app let me combine my photos with color and journaling cards to give my book a scrapbook feel that truly captured the event and describe what was going on if I wanted.

I started using Project Life to bring my photos together into layouts that would eventually become pages for my end-of-the-year photo book. I worked on it while waiting for a doctor's appointment, standing in line at Wal-mart, or sitting on the couch watching TV. It is so easy to use - each layout took me about 3 minutes once I got used to the app. Sometimes I would make the pages for a group of photos within 24 hours of the event, and sometimes it was months afterward. Once the page was done, I exported it and saved it in a folder until I was ready to put all the layouts together into one book.

When the year ended, I went back through my photos to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and I uploaded all of the layouts I had been saving to Mixbook to create my 10x10 photo book. Three days later, a beautiful book with all of our memories was at my door.

All of this to say, the Project Life app is the only reason I was able to pull a photo book together this year. My memories are no longer jumbled in a plastic shoebox shoved in our guest closet. Instead they are organized, display worthy, and archived. In fact, my 2017 photo book already has a few pages made.

Week-at-a-glance

For the past month, I've been making a weekly to-do list, cleaning schedule and menu plan. I have pinned several on various Pinterest boards, but I could never find one that was exactly what I wanted, so I made one.

I wanted a place where I could put our weekly calendar items, menu plan, and a cleaning schedule of some sort. I also wanted a to-do list that wasn't locked into certain days of the week. That's how this one was created. I print a new one every Sunday and write/type in what I need.

Menu Plan. When creating the menu, I usually think about what we have in the freezer and go from there. If I need to go grocery shopping, I put that on the chore list, and plan my menu accordingly. I would say we stick to the menu about 85% of the time, which is much better than when we don't have a menu.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule. To start a weekly cleaning plan, I wrote down the chores I felt needed to happen weekly, and then thought about our evenings. For instance, dusting takes the longest for me, so I did put that on Monday night because it's most likely to get done. I chose to put bathrooms on Thursday since they are usually fairly messy from hurriedly getting ready all week. I've seen a lot of different weekly cleaning lists, but so far the only one I've stuck to is the one I created for myself....and even then, I would say I stick to it 70% of the time. I did my best to leave a couple of empty days, so I would have a day when I could catch up or make-up. Additionally, I change it from week to week depending on what needs to be done.

Everyday Things. I also included a section of everyday things. For me this includes Dishes, Laundry, Make Bed, Picking up the House, and Swiffering (the joys of a shedding dog and hardwood floors). I've seen some people include exercise, water intake, emails, and things along those lines in this area.

Calendar. This portion is fairly basic. I simply write down what we've got going on for the week. I used to keep a monthly calendar on the fridge, but my husband never looked at it. Now that we've got the week-at-a-glance on the fridge, he will at least acknowledge that we have activities throughout the week.

Weekly To Do List. I try hard to keep this list to a minimum. My goal is to put things on there that will get crossed off, so I stick to 5-7 things each week (1 per day). If anything needs deep cleaning and it isn't in the weekly cleaning schedule, it goes here.

The week-at-a-glance printable has provided a much needed plan for the week. I don't stick to it perfectly, but it definitely keeps me organized. I also love the feeling I get from just filling it out on Sundays. It makes me feel so put together and with it. If you want to try this layout for yourself, you can get a blank PDF version HERE.

Enjoy!
:j

Erin & Matt

Erin and Matt are a photographer's dream. They are easy-going, fun-loving, and photogenic. I had a lot of fun taking their engagement photos back in October, and I was honored to photograph their wedding. It was a fun day full of spring thunder storms, lots of laughter and of course, dancing. 

Congratulations, Matt & Erin!

:j

Mother's Day

I have to start this post by bragging about my own mother. She has always been my biggest supporter and no one could love me better than she does. She taught me to work hard, be kind, and most of all to depend of the Lord in all circumstances. I think the first verse of The Band Perry's "A Mother Like Mine" says it best...

She's the sky that holds the clouds,
She's the lady of the house,
A blind believer in all I dare to be.
There's no safer place I've found,
Than the shoulder of her white night gown,
I've got the best and the worst of her in me.

This morning I was thinking about everything a woman sacrifices in order to be a mom. As a single girl without children, many people would say I have no idea what the sacrifice for being a mom is, and they are probably right. Although I do have a good idea of exactly what a woman is giving up because I get to live the selfish life of a woman without kids. I can sleep until 10:30 on a Saturday with no one waking me up to get them their breakfast. I can buy 3 new pairs of shoes without worrying about whether or not my children will have shoes. I can go to the grocery store and just buy Lean Cuisines and cereal for a grand total of $28 instead of spending hours meal planning and budgeting to feed hungry mouths. The older I get, the more I realize how selfless a mother must be. I thought I would take a minute to go through the math of a few of the selfless things my mom did for my 2 brothers and me.

• A pregnancy lasts 40 weeks (and I was 2 1/2 weeks late), so mom was pregnant for over 120 weeks of her life or 2 years and 4 months.
• The average baby goes through 5,475 diapers before becoming pottery trained (6 per day for 2 1/2 years. That means my mom changed us 16,425 times
• It takes approximately 2 minutes and 5 seconds to change a baby, which means mom spent 34,218 minutes changing diapers or just over 570 hours. That's nearly a month of time.
• The average mom does 330 loads of laundry per year, so over the course of 18 years, mom did at least 5,940 loads of laundry.
• A middle income family spends approximately $241,080 to raise a child to the age of 18. This does not include college, so my mom (and dad) spent nearly three quarters of a million dollars raising our family.
• Speaking of money, my mom chose to stay home with us, so she didn't work from the time Josh was born until I was in school. Figuring a salary of $36,000 per year for 8 years, she lost out on $288,000 just so she could be the one to take care of us.
• They say new parents lose 2.9 hours of sleep per night during a baby's first year. This means mom missed 1,059 hours per child and 3,176 hours total. That totals to be 4 1/2 months worth of sleep.
• On average a mom drives 1,248 miles per year taking kids to activities, so over the course of a child's life, a mom drives across America 9 times just going to kid-related functions. 

I guess what I'm saying is, moms are pretty selfless. They give up their time, money, and sleep in order to keep their babies happy, safe, and healthy. So much of their sacrifice can't be put into numbers. They listen to kids music instead of their favorite radio station in the car. They allow their house to be a mess for years, so their children can have toys that are easily accessible. They make chicken nuggets for dinner, even though they don't taste that great, because their children love them. It's all an act of love, and one for which I am extremely grateful.

:j

Post Cards

Isaiah 43:1

:j

30 by 30 Update

Today I am soaking up my last day of winter break freedom before heading back to work tomorrow. It's funny how on the first day of a break I have plans and to do lists and on the last day I just mourn the fact that I didn't get any of it done. That's not entirely true. I definitely got a few things done over the last 2 weeks, and thankfully my dear friends, Raylene and Laina helped me get a jump start on my 30 before 30 list. 

I got a text message from Raylene last week telling me to mark January 1st on my calendar because she and Laina had plans for me. I was a bit nervous. You never know with the 2 of them, but everything ended up fine. The day involved eggs, aprons, buttons, blindfolds, Target baskets, photos, and lots of fun. Plus I got to cross a few things off my list! Here is an update on the list.

10. Go on a road trip: Raylene and Laina blindfolded me and attempted to take me on a road trip, but we couldn't quite get to where we were going. Regardless we had a bit of an adventure, but I can't quite cross this one off the list.

 

11. Go to a concert: A month ago, Stephanie and I went to see Keith Urban and Little Big Town, so I'm officially calling this one complete!

13. Sponsor a Child: At the end of October I chose to begin sponsoring a boy named Pervez in Guatamala. He's 5 and adorable.

14. Actually do one of the crafts I have pinned on Pinterest: Raylene and Laina helped me with this one yesterday. We made button bracelets! It was super easy, but super cute. My favorite kind of craft!

 

15. Learn to crack an egg with one hand: I had forgotten that this was on my list, but yesterday I learned how to do this thanks to Ray and Laina and Youtube. It really isn't that difficult, but it is kind of messy.

27. Try a new recipe: We were able to cross a bonus one off the list because we made quiche with a recipe I had never made before. It was delish! I don't have the recipe, but I bet Raylene will blog about it soon.

So now I can go back to work tomorrow feeling like I actually accomplished a few things during my 2 week break. It's a good feeling.

:j

30 Before 30

Today I turn 29. That means in 365 days I will be 30. (2014 isn't a leap year, is it?) So in honor of my 30th birthday, here are my 30 goals before 30. I tried this when I turned 28, and it wasn't the most successful thing, so I'm going to try again.

1. Paint my back porch
2. Get new pictures in my entry way
3. Memorize 10 Bible verses
4. Lose 30 pounds - that number seems fitting!
5. Vacation some place new
6. Make my T-shirts from college and high school into a quilt
7. Learn how to keep my car clean
8. Start taking more photos on a daily basis
9. Run a 5K
10. Go on a road trip
11. Go to a concert Complete! 11/8/2013
12. Go without internet for 48 hours
13. Sponsor a child Complete! 10/30/2013
14. Actually do one of the crafts I have pinned on Pinterest Complete! 1/1/2014
15. Learn to crack an egg with one hand  Complete! 1/1/2014
16. Choose my dissertation topic
17. Learn how to roller skate
18. Do 40 consecutive push-ups
19. Maintain an exercise routine
20. Build a snowman
21. Journal daily for a month
22. Get my recipes organized
23. Organize my linen closet
24. Go 1 month without shopping
25. Complete the Daniel Fast for 21 Days Complete! 12/19/2013
26. Try a new aerobic class
27. Try a new recipe Complete! 1/1/2013
28. Read 10 books
29. Create an address book (on my phone?)
30. Continue to be awesome

Postcards!

Blog Q&A

About 82 6 months ago, my friend Raylene posted in response to a blog award she got, and tagged me to post next. The idea is to post a list of questions that the next blog answers, and you nominate additional blogs to answer questions. Ray picked me, and I'm just now getting around to it. Here are her questions and my answers.

1. If you had a mission statement for your blog... what would it be?

This is the real reason I haven't answered these questions. I don't feel like I have a great answer for this question, and if you can't start strong, then why start at all? This blog started to chronicle my home renovation, but since then it's become more of a blog just about my life. I hope that when people come here they find genuine-ness, grace, and fun. And even though many of my posts don't directly talk about my faith or Christ, I pray that He is glorified through my writing. In my "About Me" section I said, "All I know is that when people look at me, I want them to see Christ. When the talk to me, I want them to hear the Holy Spirit, and when they hang out with me, I pray they find God. Because really, that's what life is all about." And that pretty much sums it up.

2. What is your favorite feature about yourself?

If we're talking physical, it's my red hair. Personality wise, I love how easily I laugh.

3. If you could live in any decade... which would you live in and why?

I think I would make a great pioneer woman -- not like the blogger, although I have a lot in common with her. I'm talking Little House on the Prairie style. Bonnets, long skirts, saloons. It would be good.

4. What are your top 5 favorite things about your spouse?  If you're single... what are the top 5 qualities you are looking for in a future spouse?

If you've been around here for long, you know I'm single. I wrote a whole post about what I'm looking for in a spouse. You can read it here. Ultimately I want whatever the Lord deems is good for me. However, just for fun, here are 5 silly things that I think would be good to have:

1. Not afraid of mice -- I have a huge fear of mice, so it's important that he doesn't.

2. Good taste buds -- I like to cook, so he needs to be able to taste. Important stuff here.

3. The ability to understand taughing -- that's talking + laughing. It's a gift of mine. Ask me to tell you a funny story, and you'll understand what I mean in about 4 seconds -- actually chances are you won't understand me at all.

4. Hair Appreciation - I have a lot of hair. Sometimes it ends up on bathroom floors or in drains, so a nice appreciation of my hair might alleviate any aggravation that could come from finding it everywhere. I mean everywhere.

5. Not Camera Shy - I take a lot of photos. 

5. If you could spend the day with a celebrity... who would it be and why?

Hmmm, I'm not good at staying up with celebrities. I'd choose Miley Cyrus. She's gotten a lot of bad press lately. She could probably use a friend.

6. Favorite disney movie?

Little Mermaid: Red hair, singing, swimming, overly trusting. She's me in Disney form.

7. What is your favorite hobby?

My favorite hobby is baking, but I hate cleaning the kitchen afterward.

8. If you were given the chance... what 1 piece of advice would you give yourself at age 16?

Ooh, this is a difficult one. I think I would tell myself to be as kind as possible to everyone, and take every chance to show Jesus to the people around you.

9. What is your favorite thing about your christian community?

That we actually live life together by eating together, talking about day to day things, and just hanging out with each other.

10. What is your favorite quote?

"Let the things that break the heart of God, break my heart." Thomas A. Kempis

11. What is your biggest weakness and how do you embrace/deal with it?

My biggest weakness is wanting to hit cars in front of me that aren't moving when the light turns green. I deal with it by remembering that my insurance would not pay for me to run over other cars. I also avoid driving a monster truck in an attempt to lessen the temptation.

:j

Happy Housivarsary!

Four years ago today, I closed on my house. It's changed a lot since that day when I put the key in the lock for the first time and walked in to my home. The first thing Momma said was, "you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into." And she was very right. Owning a home means mortgage payments, lawn mowing, bills, cleaning, and all kinds of grown-up things, but I love my house and I am so thankful for it.

When I first bought the house

Since then we've painted it, removed bushes, and added porch furniture.

I started looking at houses in February of 2009. Between February and August I looked at over 60 houses, put an offer on 7, and ended up with the best one. The first time I saw my house online, I called my realtor immediately and told her I wanted to see it mainly because I loved the street it was on. We went to see it the next day.

The kitchen with original stove and scallops

My kitchen remodel might be my favorite -- all for $1200!!

When I first walked in, I was overwhelmed with the amount of stuff in it. The house was well loved, but was in desperate need of updating. Everything in the house was still original from 1951 from the stove to the wallpaper. The family that built the house had lived there for nearly 60 years without changing much. I mentally began painting the walls, relaying the floors, and changing the kitchen. I knew it could be adorable.

My bedroom before - carpet and old drapes

Now -- although I need to get a better photo of it during the day. It's not as dark as it seems.

The next night I took my mom and grandma to see the house with me. We walked through talking about how big the rooms were, what walls could be removed in the kitchen, and how to update the bathrooms. As we were leaving, my realtor called the selling agent to ask a question. It turned out to be an owner/agent meaning that the selling agent was also the owner of the home. In this case, she was the daughter-in-law of the woman who had lived there. My grandmother recognized the name as a family who had adopted a baby from the ministry my grandpa had been part of for years. Grandma told my realtor to ask the agent if she remembered them, and the agent did.

The mudroom before

This is probably the most drastic change. I love the stripes!

I decided that evening to put an offer on the house for $12,000 below the asking price. The next day, my realtor called and said she talked with the family selling the home, and they had received an offer from a contractor for $10,000 over the asking price. This had happened to me multiple times during the house-hunting process, so I was prepared to let go of this house and keep searching.

My living room before - I loved the built in bookshelf, but it didn't get to stay.

New floors, lots of paint, and all new insulation.

This time ended up different though. The family selling the house wanted me to have it after learning that the man who placed their daughter into their family was my grandpa. They said if I could go $4,000 under the asking price, it would be mine. I immediately agreed and started dreaming up ways to decorate and remodel my new home. The sellers gave up $14,000 so that I could have this home.

The office before - that green chair came with the house

That desk is one of my favorite garage sale finds ever!

A month later I was signing papers, getting keys, and becoming the second owner of my house. It's crazy to think that in 62 years, only 2 people have owned 1 home. God's hand is so evident in all of it. I've fed dozens of people within these walls, hosted multiple Bible studies, housed a few youth students, missionaries, and friends who just needed a place to stay. My brother and sister-in-law lived here for 3 weeks, and my other brother lived here for nearly a year. Just about every Wednesday my entire family gathers here for family dinner while my nephews ring the bell on top of the house and build forts in the living room. It is still well loved and I am so thankful for it.

:j

P.S. Today is also my parent's wedding anniversary. 35 years. They are an incredible inspiration of love and faithfulness. God has blessed me beyond measure with the 2 of them.

This is their engagement photo from 1978.

And this is what they look like now. :)