11 Years Later

My favorite wedding picture

Today is my 11th anniversary.

I'm not sure how that happened - 11 years is a LONG time! I feel like I'm not old enough to have been married 11 years, but here we are.

As I spent some time thinking about our 11 years together, it amazed me to think about how much our love has changed. When we started dating 14 (what!?) years ago, we were so young. 16 & 19. We were best friends, but so in love. In our wedding pictures 3 years later, we look like babies! I didn't feel young then, but now I think back on it & realize that we were just beginning our lives. Many people thought we were too young to build a marriage that would last. We had no life experience. We just knew that we were in love & wanted to get married as soon as possible. That love was strong & passionate, full of young dreams.

Most of the wedding party before the reception.

Now, 11 years later, the love is still there, but it is different. It is so much deeper now. While Derrick & I are still best friends, we are now also partners in life. We are each other's other half. We work together so well. We are each other's cheerleader, support, counselor. When we committed to "To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health" 11 years ago, we didn't know how much of that would be true. Life has not always been roses & rainbows. Marriage is hard work, even when it is with your best friend. Feelings get hurt, money runs out, people get sick. Sometimes God reroutes your plans right in the middle of your comfortable life. No matter what the future holds, Derrick & I are commited to each other.

Spring 2007 (I think)

One of the things that Derrick mentioned about our wedding was that he loved something that was part of my vows. We didn't write our own vows, but just let Pastor Bill do whatever he normally did. I don't remember all of my vows, but one line was "You are the husband of my choosing." 11 years later, it is still true. Derrick is the husband of my choosing. I don't know if I love him more than I did the day we were married, but the love now is so much stronger than it was then. As we are headed out into a new adventure together with our boys, I am excited to see how God uses us as we do what he has called us to! We are in this together, until death shall part us - and that is an exciting place to be!

Fall 2014

Quotes from the Boys

One fun reason to have kids is so you can hear the crazy (& hilarious!) things they say. I'm sure I've missed some, but these are some good ones! Dylan's are always great, but Andrew is finally starting to get in on the action!

Dylan:

January 2015

"My cold is getting badder." (We thought he said "better.")

"Wow, this is a fancy restaurant!" - while eating dinner at Chipotle.

While playing Life -
Dylan: "What's this say?"
Derrick: "Tutor."
Dylan: "Toot-er! My house is the Toot-er!" Laughs hysterically!

April 2015

Dylan has always had a good grasp on speech & grammar. He was never one of those kids who said things like, "Me want juice." Even when he was tiny, I was always shocked at the way he could put sentences together appropriately. The other day our friends shared a story about Dylan & his friends with us & I laughed so hard that I thought I needed to write it down.

Our dear friends Jenny & Steve teach Dylan's class at church on Wednesday nights. The class is 1st & 2nd graders & they LOVE to chat with each other. Jenny says that she tries not to intervene in their conversations as much as possible. The kids were talking about pets & one of the little boys was telling a story about how he knows someone who "dyed" their dog pink. Dylan responded with "I think you mean 'killed.'" He knew that we didn't "die" things, we "killed" them. The child insisted that, no, he meant "dyed." Dylan continued to argue with him about if he meant "dyed" or "killed." Sometimes in person communication isn't better than text messages & emails!

"When I grow up, I'm going to get a car just like this. Only a convertible." While riding in our mini van. 

Dylan - "How do the weather people know the weather?"

Derrick - "Well, they study it & can figure out what's going on."

Dylan - "Oh. Maybe they just watch the news."

Andrew:

For some reason, Andrew calls all the grandparents "Baca." We have no idea why or where it came from, but that's what he prefers. So goofy!

May 2015

Andrew's favorite song is Jesus (There's Something About that Name). He loves it & we sing it almost every night. He has started singing it on his own & it is adorable. Also, hilarious! The song goes "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus..." Andrew's version goes, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Some name. Masser, Freezer, Jesus!"

What Happens After Graduation?

Many of you have been asking what we are doing after Derrick graduates at the end of the month. Are we coming to Iowa? Are we staying in Colorado? We decided that we would share with you where we are at & what is next. Since Derrick started sending his resume out to Nazarene church districts in March, he has had several conversations with District Superintendents either about specific churches or just about the district in general. Nothing really jumped out at us. Then Derrick, on a whim, sent his resume to the Prairie Lakes district at the beginning of April. We have a couple friends on the district, including our former youth pastor/best man/good friend/mentor to Derrick, Dave. We thought it would be awesome to be close to him. Before I go any farther, I need to say - Prairie Lakes is a big district. It is all of Minnesota, North Dakota, & South Dakota. As Derrick was sending out his resume, I said the thing you should NEVER say when going into ministry, “I just don’t want to go to some tiny town in North Dakota. No one lives in North Dakota!”

So the next day (or something), Derrick gets an email. The District Superintendent of the Prairie Lakes district wanted to meet with him. He just “happened” to be in Colorado Springs for a few days. So they met for lunch. And Derrick texted me - “The DS is nice...he wants us to consider a ‘really nice church’...in Beulah, North Dakota.”

I immediately started sobbing. North Dakota, God? For real? Not only was it not really closer to Iowa (12 hours vs. the 14 now), it wasn’t really near our friend Dave, either (still 6 hours to his house). I texted my dear best friend, Amy, who is really good at talking me down from my crazy. After me telling her what was going on & many messages back & forth, she finally said, “Okay, but what is your gut reaction?” Aside from the sobbing...my gut reaction was to allow the DS to give our resume to the Beulah church & see where that goes. After talking to Derrick that night & finding that he had the same gut reaction, we contacted the DS & told him he could give the church our information. We have been telling God “wherever you want us,” so this was our first BIG step out in faith.

And then we waited. And as we waited, we researched. Derrick may have accused me of being a stalker. We searched the town, the people, the church. We found that the town was super tiny - 3000 people. No Walmart, McDonald’s, Sam’s...but they do have Derrick’s favorite - Subway! Seeing all that they don’t have made me really nervous. The more I looked & thought, though, the more I liked the idea of a small town. No major distractions. More places for my boys to be outside & run & be boys. It really started to feel like it could be home. We began to get more & more excited. And more & more nervous. It felt like they would never contact us, so we thought maybe they decided to go a different direction. And then one day a couple weeks later, Derrick got a call. They wanted to Skype interview us.

I was so distracted waiting for that interview. I was so excited & scared. We interviewed. The church board was super nice & have a great idea about where they want their church to go. We had a really nice interview. And then we waited, again. Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was really only a few days, they contacted us, inviting us to come visit & for Derrick to preach. We are so thrilled! It feels like God has been leading through this whole situation. Whether or not we are called to the Beulah church, we know that going to interview there is from God.

So pray for us. We are excited, but very nervous - this would be a major change for us. We are currently attending a decent sized church & we live in a town that has almost anything you would want. Our boys have grown up here in Colorado Springs & it would be hard to take them from what they are so used to. It would be hard to leave our dear friends here who have become like family. Pray for the Beulah church - this is a time of transition for them & they are trying to discern what God has for them. Maybe it is us...but maybe it’s not. Most of all, pray that we would all look for God’s will in this. We all want to do what God is telling us to do. We want what is best for ourselves, but we also want what is best for the Beulah church. Being in the center of God’s will is an awesome place to be & we want to spend as much time there as possible!

Long Overdue Update

I have been kind of avoiding writing this post. It has been a rough few months for me & I wasn't sure that I was willing to share what's been going on. But, then I remembered that I want to be honest on this blog & that maybe my trials will help someone else to have the freedom to talk about what it going on in their lives.

In October, I had another miscarriage. Very few people actually know that it happened. This was miscarriage #4. Everything seemed to be going so well with the pregnancy - lots of nausea, lots of fatigue. I was doing all the things I should have been doing, including taking a supplement to help the placenta grow. One day I started spotting & things when downhill from there. I saw my doctor & we did an ultrasound. Just as I've had in the past, there was a sac, but no baby. We planned to repeat the ultrasound in a couple weeks to see if I was just not as far along as we thought. Before the next scheduled appointment, I miscarried at home. We went in to confirm that my uterus was empty & it was, so we headed home with expected, but very sad news.

It was very hard to make it through those few weeks surrounding the miscarriage. Trying to carry on like all was okay & normal when it very much wasn't. Trying to care for my boys & household while feeling awful, both physically & emotionally. Working at the church in the nursery & with the kids. It was painful to even be there. Several friends has little babies & I couldn't bring myself to hold those sweet babies that I had been so excited about just weeks before. My heart was absolutely broken because my baby was taken away.

Unless you have had a miscarriage, you don't really understand. When my dear best friend miscarried before I had any little ones, I didn't know what to say to her. I was super sad for her, but I had no idea what she was going through. Now I have had 4, so I know painfully well what she was feeling. You find out you are pregnant & are so excited...you have dreams & plans for this baby. Is it a boy or a girl? What will we name it? Who will it look like? Who will this baby grow up to be? And then, in an instant, all those dreams are ripped away as your body, created to protect this growing life, fails, & you are left to make sense of it. Having struggled to get pregnant with both boys, but also experiencing miscarriages - I'd rather just not get pregnant than get my hopes up.

We hope & pray to have more little ones in our home. We don't know if they will be biological, adopted, foster. Dylan asks almost daily for a baby sister. Maybe that will happen one day. We are working through our foster care applications & classes. I check adoptions sites several times a day. I have been advocating for several little ones and their (soon-to-be) families because even if I can't bring those little ones home, they still need a family. At this point we are just trying to trust that God has a plan bigger than us & that we just don't understand it yet. I take comfort in knowing that one day in heaven I will understand the plan God has been working out through our lives.

Crochet Project

Starting today, I am running a fundraiser for a fantastic family! Kami & Chris are adopting a sweet girl from eastern Europe & I want to see her get home!

Throughout December, 25% of all proceeds from crochet orders will go to benefit their adoption! I am super excited to see how much money we can raise! If you don't need anything crocheted, you can still donate to their fund at http://reecesrainbow.org/76470/sponsorladybug

Here are some examples of what I can do. All orders are custom made unless otherwise indicated, so please contact me if there is something you would like but don't see on my page. I will be taking orders & getting them out as quickly as I can, but I may need to stop orders if I get too many...I hope I can reach the "too many" limit! (Local orders can be picked up or delivered. Non-local orders will have a $2 shipping charge.)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151876311376031.1073741826.515621030&type=1&l=f25e8243a2

Please contact me with any questions! Thank you for all your support! You are making a difference for a real little girl on the other side of the world & her family is so grateful!

What's With All The Orphan Talk?

So I am sure some of you are wondering why the subject of orphans has been coming up from me so much recently. I have always had a heart for children, especially those who had a rough life. I think I learned that from my mom. She worked at different schools when I was growing up & she always developed relationships with those "hard to love" kids - the ones who were always in trouble & causing a ruckus.

When I was in high school I worked at an after school program at an elementary school. Many of the kids grew up in homes at or below the poverty level, didn't have appropriate amounts of supervision, & were generally just trouble. I just loved them. I loved being able to love on them while they were at the program & I wanted to be a person they could trust when so many people around them were just not that trustworthy. That job was probably my favorite job I've ever had & I've had some pretty decent jobs!

So back to orphans...why are they so important to me? Here's the deal: Most of these orphans have no one to love them...not even a high school junior who could do very little for their situation. Many of the orphans have special needs - spina bifida, HIV positive, cerebral palsy, limb differences, down syndrome - & they were abandoned by their parents because they either couldn't, or didn't want to, raise a child that needed extra care. Many of these kids are abandoned because it is shameful to have a child who isn't perfect. It's just a sad, sad situation.

So the kids grow up in an orphanage, with no Mama & Daddy to love them. If they aren't adopted, they either die in an orphanage or institution, or they age out of the orphanage & are released out into the world with no guidance, and just waiting to be victims of slave traders or sex traffickers. I look at the sweet little faces of children who are available for adoption & wonder how we can let that happen to them. I've decided that I can't. I can't sit by & take care of my boys & live my comfortable life & then turn my back on these little ones who have no one. As a Christian & a human being, I can't continue to pretend this kind of thing isn't happening.

I can't adopt right now, but I can make a difference for these kids. Here are some families I'd love to be able to make a difference for! They are each adopting at least one child internationally & are rescuing those kids from a lifetime of heartache!

 Ladybug & her family: I shared about them on Friday. Awesome family. I can't wait to see them bring their sweet little girl home.  http://learningfromthefruitofthespirit.blogspot.com/2014/11/ladybug.html?showComment=1416843973789#c3942118155656667187

 Lenny & the Nap family: The Naps are adopting a deaf, preteen boy from China. They have several children, but they SAW Lenny and are so excited to bring him home!  http://reecesrainbow.org/76385/sponsornap http://www.napclan.com/

The next 2 are a little bittersweet for me. They both include sweet little girls that we were very interested in, but were just unable to make a commitment to. I am so excited that they both have families & I can't wait to see them growing as I follow their families blogs.

 Alda & the Bowling family: Sweet Alda has cerebral palsy...and she's adorable! The Bowling family is a large family, so I know these little ones are going to have tons of love! Her parents are traveling TODAY to meet their new family members! http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=bowling   http://thebowlingfamilyadopts.blogspot.com/

  Kitt & the Davis family: Adorable little Kitt! How could you not just want to scoop her up?! Her family travels in December to meet her. They have a ton of adoption experience, but are really struggling right now. I would love to be able to encourage them & help them get their sweet little ones home soon! http://reecesrainbow.org/76036/sponsordavis-7   http://bringinghomealittleangel.blogspot.com/

If you can, show these families some love by making a donation to their adoption fund. Even if you can't donate, I'd love to have you share this post & pray for these families. They are doing a fantastic thing & I want them to feel loved and encouraged throughout this process. I can't wait to see pictures of them all home with their families!

Ladybug

So I haven't blogged much lately. Honestly, life has been very overwhelming & I haven't quite known how to put it into words. Maybe I will soon. But today I want to share about something that has been on my heart & that I do know how to put into words.

This is my friend Kami & her family. Kami & I met in a Facebook group & then realized we lived kind of near each other (about 90 minutes apart), so we met up. She is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Her little girls are adorable & while I've never met her husband, I'm sure he's fantastic, too.



Kami & I connected as Christian mamas, but also as mamas who were looking into pursuing an international adoption. For us, that international adoption is just not possible at this time, but for Kami & her family, it is. The fact that I can't go snatch up one of those sweet babies from a life in a crib or institution (or worse) breaks my heart. But while I can't physically rescue one of those little ones, I can sure help out those who can.

Kami & Chris are adopting Ladybug (not her real name). I can't show you her picture right now, but I can tell you - she is CUTE! She has an adorable sweet face... pretty brown hair...big gorgeous eyes! She is an orphan with special needs in Eastern Europe, but hopefully not for long! Kami & her family are in the process of adopting her! They are hoping to travel to meet her in early spring, but they need to get funding together first.

See, here's the thing: Most families who want to adopt would have no problem providing for the extra child or children they are planning to adopt. The issue comes with all the fees associated with the adoption. Many international adoptions cost between $20,000 & $30,000. There are fees for homestudies, background checks, travel expenses, agency costs, orphanage "donations" & on & on. It costs so much to bring these kids home.

As time goes on I'll be sharing more about Kami & Chris's adoption, but for now, I'll leave you with this: I want to see this little girl come home. Doesn't she deserve to have a family of her own? To have a Daddy to snuggle her, a Mama to care for her, sisters to play with? I think she does & I want to help. So I am sending a plea to you, readers, to make a donation to her adoption. You can donate at http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=ladybug Even if you are not able to donate, I know the family would appreciate your prayers through this process. Pray that Ladybug will be safe & feel God's love surround her. Pray that Kami & Chris can get through the piles of paperwork quickly so they can travel soon. Pray that the adoption will be approved by Ladybug's country. Pray that this family will soon be all together.

I appreciate your love & support for this family! Let's get this sweet girl home as soon as possible!