Everyday Miracles...

Just over six years ago I wrote this in my journal:

June 11, 2005 (8 a.m.) The day of third IVF egg retrieval.

Last June, I was undergoing my third IUI. At the time, I found a large, broken blue robin's egg in our backyard. I knew it was a bad sign...I just knew at the time that that cycle didn't work.

This year, a robin tried to build a nest on the wreath on our front door. We moved the nest several times and still, that robin kept coming back, trying again to build that nest. When we went to Mexico, she must have been relieved. She had an entire week to build her nest without interuption. It was complete and the day after we returned there was one perfect egg in there. The next day there were two and several days later, three eggs. Now...there are four.

These perfect eggs seem like good omens to me. I love seeing that robin sit on her eggs just as I am preparing mine. That's what mothers-to-be do, I guess...sit on their eggs, waiting, waiting. I'm anxious to see those baby birds. I pray for them and for me. I hope that with the hatching of those birds so, too, comes the good news of a baby for Steve and I.

It is spring.
Anything is possible.


Exactly six years ago today (around the same time that those baby birds were hatching) I found out that I was pregnant. After three years of infertility, three miscarriages, three unsuccessful rounds of IUI, and three rounds of IVF, my tiny miracle was just beginning.

Every year when I see the robins building a nest and I get my first peak at those perfect blue eggs, I am reminded, once again, that miracles happen every day. If you're still waiting...don't give up hope. Your miracle could be just around the corner.

2011...

Let the Year of the Boat begin!

To read more about our maiden voyage, please see a full recap by my bravest friend Sheila. Can I just tell you that Sheila called me a few months ago (long before we had a boat), to tell me that she was in a sporting goods store and the life jackets were buy one get one free, so she was buying four. The girl was pressuring me (or she was in some kind of conspiracy with Steve, trying to ensure that 2011 really did become the Year of the Boat). Looks like she got her way (and she has a super cute pink life jacket that I am going to steal borrow the next time we're on the boat together).

So here's to the Year of the Boat...may it bring wonderful memories to our family (and may it continue to stay afloat)!

The Farmer in the 'Hood...

For the past two weeks, I've been ogling the gardens of others. Like this one. Oh...and this one. I am trying hard not to be jealous of these beautiful and sprawling gardens (because bigger gardens = more weeds, right???). At least that's what I tell myself as I'm trying to slay the "green-eyed monster."

I have been hesistant to show you my whole garden, because I've wondered: Does a really, tiny plot of raised beds count as a garden?

The answer, of course, is YES! To us, spending time in our teenie, tiny garden has felt heavenly. I love to see what's growing, what has flowers on it, what will someday (hopefully) become a delicious part of some salsa or spaghetti sauce or zucchini bread or salad or strawberry pie. You see where my heart is people? It's all about the food!

I suspect that a lot of familes don't garden because they think that they don't have enough space. That's where I come in...the "Farmer in the 'Hood," here to prove that yes, you can have a garden smack dab in the middle of suburbia. As evidence, I present to you Exhibit A: The Farmstead, An Aerial View

Kind of smallish, right? But guess what? We stuffed it with nine tomato plants, seven pepper plants, three strawberry plants, three sweet potato plants, two zuchinni plants, a honeydew plant, a cantalope plant (my husband's idea...they're already getting so big that they'll be flowing out of the bed and into the middle of the yard by next week), beans (we planted 50 bean seeds. Fifty! And they all came up. I had to wipe away a tear as we said farewell and tore out more than half of them this week), carrots, onions, parsely, oregano, basil, and broccoli. All of that, stuffed into that teenie, tiny garden.

We live on a 1/3 acre lot. We have a homeowners association. We have neighbors who probably shake their heads and laugh at the crazy family that measures their tomato plants every night. That's okay, though. Because we're "Farmers in the 'Hood" (stay tuned for a facebook fan page, coming soon). Ha!

In real gardening news, we had to stake up the tomatos again. You all were laughing at me last week, weren't you? We seriously thought those 18" stakes would last all summer, but one week later, we have moved on to the big green monster stakes. Tell me that my tomato plants will not get any bigger than these stakes? If they do, I may not be able to see out my window in a few weeks!

Mostly, I am having a hard time keeping my girls involved in the garden. We watered, and we measured things, and we picked a few strawberries, and we thinned the beans. I think that the excitement of creating the garden and watching the seeds pop up is over and the excitement of picking the veggies hasn't arrived. We're kind of stuck in-between, and I could use some suggestions on how to keep my girls interested (books? craft projects? science experiments?). All ideas are welcome!

But we did have a few garden fairies visit this week, and that was fun. You just never know what will happen when you're farmin' in the 'hood!

Hop on over to The Inadvertent Farmer's KinderGarden post this week (and feel free to ogle the amazing gardens)!

Sneak Peak for Alison and Denise...

This week I had the opportunity to revisit some friends from my past and I had such a great time. I used to babysit Alison, who is now the mom to twin boys. I'm pretty sure that in my mind, she will always be five (and I will always be 17...even when I'm 80, I'll still "see" myself as a 17-year-old girl). Funny, how we never age in our minds, huh? In any case, Alison is all grown up now, married to a soldier who will be deploying in a few weeks, and the mother to two-year-old twin boys. She's gorgeous. Her family is gorgeous. She's definitely not five (and my creaky knees and gray hairs are reminding me that I'm no longer 17, either). Funny how time flies!

When I arrived to take the pictures, this is what I found...
Two sleepy boys, piled on top of their grandma. Don't you love that? I'm not sure that those sleepy boys were in love with the idea of being woken up to have their picture taken. We tried to bribe them with bubbles and cars and trains and finally, we broke out the rainbow lollipops. We played a game of "freeze" and I just tried to get my lens to focus as they zoomed by my camera. Photographing kids can be such a challenge, but I just love it. These sweet little guys have the biggest brown eyes and (on the rare occasion that I saw it), smiles that just light up their whole faces! They are just too cute. Seriously...check out the cuteness....












This last picture could possibly be one of my favorite "real life" family portraits ever. It just makes me smile every time I see it. It looks like the little guy in the blue shirt is doing that "cookoo" sign with his hand (remember that from grade school?). Love it!

Before I took these photos, I just hoped that I could capture some moments that this family would cherish over the next year as they are separated by a deployment. Please pray for Alison and her husband, Ben, in the coming weeks, as I can only imagine how difficult it must be for them to say good-bye for a year.

Alison and Denise...I'm hoping to finish the photos this weekend. I'll let you know as soon as the CD is ready! Thanks, again, for trusting me to take your photos. I hope you love them!

I hope you dance...

Magical

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.
~Elizabeth Lawrence

More to come from this photoshoot. It was truly magical!

The Princess and the Pea (and the tomatos, peppers, carrots....)

This week (on the farmstead), my girly girls have decided that fashion and farming can go together. They have taught me that one should not feel obligated to wear denimn, flannel, and plain old cotton while working the fields. On this farmstead, there are pink leotards, flowing nightgowns, flowered hairbows, and shoes that sparkle in the sunlight.

Notice that my girl has two left feet?

That pretty much sums up how I feel about my gardening knowledge. When it comes to growing things, I have "two left feet." The other day, my parents visited, and I proudly took them on a tour of the farmstead. My dad immediately asked why I didn't "mount" my potatoes.

I smiled and said, "Dad, I am most definitely not the kind of girl to mount her potatoes," to which he shook his head and replied, "Mound...I said mound your potatoes!" Ha! Who knew you had to mound your potatoes? Obviously not this "farmer."

But we did get our tomatoes tied up... (is it tomato or tomatoe?)

And my Kater decided to work her magic in the garden by kissing her hand and rubbing some "love" on each plant. And so, while I did not "mount" my potatoes, Kate has spread a little love around!

In more important farming news, we had our first harvest this week...five, perfectly red strawberries (which were even more delicious than the ones we picked on the real farmstead two weeks ago), our broccoli seeds have sprouted, we have a few bean plants coming up, and thanks to the Farrmer Mom's post last week, I now know the difference between onion and carrot sprouts! I may be a gardening expert before the end of the summer!

On a sour note...I am a little upset that (despite my menacing looks, loud clapping, and crazy bird chasing), the Robins are still eating my sunflower plants. My husband just found some netting, which I'm hoping will save the last six plants. If not, I may just move my bed out there and stand watch all night until the little plantlings can fend for themselves!

I know I sound sarcastic, but I am truly excited about this gardening experiment! I love it! If you don't have a garden, it's not too late. Seriously, just get yourself a little pot, plop a tomato or pepper plant in there, give it a little love (no mounting necessary), water frequently, and call yourself a farmer. You'll feel so proud and your kids will LOVE it!
And at the end of the summer, we can all dress in our finest farming attire and take a bow!

Don't forget to check out all the fun gardening posts this week on the Inadvertent Farmer's KinderGarden post!

Sneak Peak for Miss Angie

Miss Angie used to be a teacher at my girls' daycare. Over the past five years, I'm sure she has changed my girls' diapers many, many times (and probably even cleaned the floor during their difficult and ridiculously long potty training days). Miss Angie has a new job now, so I only get to "see" her on facebook. Can I just tell you how excited I was when she wrote to me a few weeks ago asking me to take pictures of her family? Her sweet little man Camden is perfect and tiny and talkative! He has the biggest blue eyes and the sweetest waves in his soft, blonde hair. I am in love with all of the pictures from this family's photoshoot! Here's just a sneak peak...because I still have at least 50 more to go through and edit (the swings, the drum playing, the slide...). I'll probably post another sneak peak later this week, if I get a chance. Miss Angie - thank you for trusting me to take pictures of your family! I had a great time and I just hope you love the pictures!

Can you hear me now?

Kate has been really good at memorizing her Bible verses from church lately. She usually knows each one before she walks out of the classroom and she repeats them randomly throughout the week. Last week, her verse was, "I listen carefully to what God is saying."

So the other night at prayer time, just after Kate thanked God for her pillows, blankets, butterflies, garden, sister, camera, friends, roly poly,and on and on and on (and I was almost completely tuned out), her voice got firm and serious and she said:

"And God, I've been listening carefully to what you are saying, but I don't think you're talking loud enough because I can't hear you down here." And then she looked at me and giggled.

Oh my goodness, I almost peed my pants.

How many times have I wanted God to just "talk" a little louder? Should I build this house? Should I take this job? Am I ready to have a baby? Why am I not getting pregnant? Why aren't you answering my prayers? Can I please get an epidural the next time around? How can I be a better mother? Should I quit my job? What teacher will be best for Kate? How can I teach Ellie to share more? Should we really buy a boat? Should we try for Baby #3? And my list of questions goes on and on and on. I want answers. I want real, live answers from the One who wrote the entire book of my life.

Sometimes, I just want Him to talk a little louder. I want to be able to say, "Ten four, I heard ya loud and clear...over and out, Good Buddy."

And so the other night I giggled with Kate, realizing that her five-year-old, little girl self isn't all that different from my thirty-five-year-old grown-up self...

We just want to "hear" Him, loud and clear.

It's Official...

We're farmers. At least, according to Kate, we're definitely farmers. I suspect that our new 200 square foot (I'm guessing here, because I really have no idea how big it is) garden will not give us any farmstead tax breaks. And I'm a little concerned that my girl may one day marry a farmer, expecting an easier, simplier, raised-garden kind of lifestyle. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now, we're farmers in charge of a brand-spankin'-new, designed-and-built-by-Steve original, raised garden. I can't stop looking out my morning room window, just to get a peek at my tiny tomato plantlings, the graceful strawberry runners, and the carrots? onions? weeds? sprouting up in a row (I'm not exactly sure what those things are, because I handed the seed packets to the girls and said, "put them in a row, ladies."). Our haphazard planting should make harvest time a little more interesting and I, for one, am looking forward to it.

This gardening thing is such fun. After last year's infamous "overstuffed pot" debaucle, I am excited to have space to plant. But, I guess it is true that no matter how much space you have, you will fill it (or in my case, "overstuff" it). Ha! Let the overstuffing begin....


I'm linking up to the Inadvertent Farmer's KinderGARDENS weekly post. I'm late, as usual. Did you expect otherwise? I think they are five weeks into the gardening posts, while this "farmstead" just got rolling. You know me...curling my hair, changing my clothes (or in this case, nagging my husband to build the garden). But better late than never, right? Check it out...there's tons of great gardening ideas for kids, including a bean teepee, sunflower houses, and so much more.

Edited to add: Kate just asked me when we were going to build a barn for our horse and cows. Let me be clear here...we do not have a horse and cows. I suspect that the gardening thing has led her to believe that we really are farmers. Oh my. I'd love to see the Homeowner's Association reviewing that proposal! We'd be the talk of the neighborhood for sure!

Because She Mattered...

It has been exactly one year since my Grandma died. The other day, I was cleaning our office and I came across a wrinkled piece of hand-written paper that had been erased and rewritten several times. It was the eulogy that I gave at my Grandma's funeral. I wasn't planning to speak, but about two hours before the funeral, I called my mom and asked if anyone was going to talk at the funeral. When she answered "no," I just knew that I had to do it. I think that funerals need to be personal. Take note: When I die, I really hope that one of you will stand up and talk about me. Tell some funny stories. Talk about the time I gave you good advice. Tell the world that I mattered. Because...isn't that what we all want? We want to matter. We want to know that we mattered to someone. And I know, realistically, that it doesn't matter what you say about me at my funeral, because I'm not going to be there to applaud (or to be embarrased or to cry or laugh or feel proud of my accomplishments). I'll be celebrating with the Big Guy, flying with the angels, singing beautifully in the choir (and yes, it will be the first time that I have ever sung beautifully)! I just feel like it's important to eulogize a person at their funeral, and so I got out my pencil and paper 90 minutes before my Grandma's funeral and I wrote her eulogy...because she mattered.

Her name was Norma. But to most us, she was known as Grandma Dell. Our Grandma Dell. She was a strong, tough, stubborn, generous, kind woman, all wrapped up in a teenie, tiny package. At just over 4 and a half feet tall, Grandma stood next to each of us and celebrated as we reached an important family milestone...being taller than her (which most of us accomplished by our teenage years).

But her short stature could not hide her big heart and her love for her family. You couldn't walk into her home without being offered a Coke or a slice of that cheese that she was so good at peeling. She would offer us money...or the last donut in the cupboard. She was a caregiver, a nuturer. At family dinners, she wouldn't eat (or even sit down) until she knew that everyone else was taken care of.

Our Grandma Dell was quick to laugh at our antics and patient enough to let us pull the string on the Christmas bell everytime we visited. Grandma Dell was also a strong, tough lady, enduring the unimaginable loss of her son, and later, her husband, with strength and grace.

Our Grandma Dell set a strong example for all of us. Whether it was a stray cat at the back door or her grandchild knocking on the front door, all were welcomed and cared for in her home.

Two months ago, Grandma told me that she believed in Jesus, but she wondered if she had done enough good things to go to heaven. I assured her that all she had to do was believe, but I know that every one of us could tell of a hundred good things that our Grandma Dell has done for us. I believe with all of my heart that she in heaven with Pappy today, waving at all of us, just as she did every time we left her home.

There is no doubt that she was good enough for heaven.
Her name was Norma...and she was our Grandma Dell.

I miss her. And she definitely mattered.

No Autographs, Please...

A few weeks ago, Steve and I picked up the girls from daycare and surprised them with a trip to a little arcade/go cart place. While we were there, the craziest thing happened. I started talking to this couple who had small children like us. They had just finished miniature golfing and I thought they were brave for handing metal clubs to small children and attemping to golf 18 holes. We have yet to attempt minature golfing with our girls. Anyway, the woman then told me that she recognized me from...my Blog! She even told me she saw Steve in Target a few weeks ago and recognized him while she was there. Isn't that the coolest thing? Someone recognized us from my blog. Ladies and gentleman, I felt like I had finally arrived. It also helped me to convince Steve that yes, there are people (other than me) reading my blog. I'm just bummed about one thing. She didn't ask for my autograph. So, here's a big shout out to Lisa! I hope you didn't stop reading after you met me in real life!

And to make you smile, here's some fabulous pictures of my batting skills. It's been at least 10 years since I've stepped foot in a batting cage, but my athletic ability did not disappoint! Well, there was that one ball that I missed and I was in the slow pitch cage, but let's just keep that among us, okay?

11 Reasons to Get Family Photos...

These times are fleeting.

Those dimpled fingers will soon be grown.

That toothless grin will be replaced with adult teeth before you know it.

Those pigtails will someday be thought of as "uncool."

Those bouncing curls will soon be longer and straighter.

That tiny hand that wraps around your thumb will soon be holding a ball and glove.

Truly, each moment in my girls' lives has passed before I was ready to see it go. I have found that one of the very best ways to remember each stage is to document it with photos.

Now is the perfect time for family photos. I'd love to take your family portraits and help to capture each, sweet stage in your family's life. But if you don't live close to me or you know another fabulous photographer or you have a best friend with a decent camera...get out there and have some family photos taken this summer. You truly will not regret it.

Feel free to contact me to learn more about pricing and to get your family photo shoot on the calendar!