I left my heart in Oregon.. but created my purpose in Colorado

I'm not a huge blogger but recent events have brought on the need for reflection and sharing. My last blog was back in September 2011! We just moved to Colorado from Oregon for the purpose of getting Aaron into a nursing program. We didn't know what to expect but we knew we were preparing ourselves for an adventure. We were definitely right about that. 

Colorado started out with us living with our dear friend Peter and our two cats. He graciously let us live with him (including our two cats - to which he is allergic) for four months. During that time we found jobs and began meeting friends through a local church. We were accepted with open hearts to their close knit group of friends, which was such a blessing because my friends are one of the most important thing in my life and I left in Oregon the most precious people to me. 

In December of 2011 we found our own apartment and adopted a new addition to the family; our new puppy Walt. He was so cute and soft and quickly became our baby and king of the apartment. He is such a sweet boy and he loves meeting new people and dogs. It was a great way to ring in the new year and it was helping to prepare us for the next step in the future.

As we were adjusting to life in Colorado, living on our own and working two jobs we began to plan one of the biggest things in our relationship, marriage and lives: a baby.

We knew it would take a while for us to get pregnant so when we traveled to Oregon for Alayna's wedding four months later, we were just assuming it would be just another negative test. We were camping at the Oregon coast with both mine and Aaron's family when we found out we were pregnant. On the morning when I could take the test, I woke up at 5:30 am and went to the campsite bathroom. A little blue line appeared on the strip and I was stunned. I ran back to the tent and woke Aaron up. We decided it was too early to wake everyone else up so we took a walk on the beach together enjoying our own precious moment. We woke up our families and told them all the great news! 

The next nine months were interesting to say the least. The first trimester was filled with excitement,unexpected blessings, nausea and lots of chocolate. The second trimester was the best, we were watching our little one grow in my belly, finding out that we were having a little boy and preparing our lives and apartment for our little guy. Finally we reached the third trimester, and it seemed like it took a year just to get to this point. The pregnancy was very smooth and luckily it was because we were both working two jobs. It wasn't until I reach the 8th month that I began to feel the whoas of pregnancy. I started to get more and more tired, random nausea and my anxiety level was kicked up to full overload. Grandma Netty came to stay with us when I was 35 weeks pregnant to help us fully prepare for Henry and the nursery and be there to help through the labor. Such a blessing to have her come out, put her life on hold and be with us. 

A little before the 39 week mark I began to feel what we figured were pre labor pains while at work. We decided to go home for the day just in case it became actual labor. After being home for a few hours, the pains went away and we figured it was just false labor. The next morning I decided to go to the hospital because I didn't feel Henry for a while and he was very active in my belly. Dad was at work so Mama and Grandma went to the hospital to make sure baby was ok. It turns out he was just fine but they found some symptoms of preclampsia in me. Not enough to induce labor that day but they wanted me to get checked out by my own doctor. The next morning I went in to see my Dr. and she took one look at me and said "well lets have a baby". She didn't want to take any chances. The next evening at 9 pm we were at the hospital getting induced.

After not alot of progress the first 12 hours, they decided to break my water and get things moving along. The progress was almost instant and only 2 hours later I was calling for my epidural (ps best invention ever!) It was one of the most exciting, stressful, joyous thing I have done in my life. Aaron was amazing during the whole process, holding my hand during the IV and epidural, talking me through each contraction and being supportive through each update. He rarely left my side and when he did I had my back-up helper: Grandma Netty. With both of them there it was pure joy waiting for our little buddy to get to us. Almost exactly 24 hours from when we checked in our guy arrived at 9:26 pm. 

He was 6 lbs 6 ounces and completely prefect. I couldn't believe how much I loved him. The past two weeks have definitely had it challenges as we find our rhythm with feedings, sleeping, visitors and enjoying the moments with our new baby. It will be interesting to see what type of person he grows into and what parts of Aaron he has and what parts of me. So far he looks just like his daddy and is calm just like him too. But I know Henry is already looking forward to his first trip to Disneyland :)

Colorado Here We Are...

Last month my husband and I moved from Oregon where we both grew up, have all our friends and family and moved to the Colorado. Why might you ask did we make such a big move?leaving everyone we love behind us? with just a U-Haul full of our belongings.. Well Aaron decided he wants to go into a nursing program. Oregon only had two programs that offered him what he wanted and one of them costs $40Grand+ and one of them is a lottery to get in. He began to look around the US for some appropriate schools (we needs an accelerated program since he already had his bachelors degree in Chemistry, and we didn't want me add to the mountain that is our student loan debt) and he found a cluster of schools in Colorado. I have only been to the big CO for IYC in high school and I didn't remember much of it except that we went to a water park and it was hot. If you know me at all you know I really dislike being hot, but I was willing to go on this adventure with Aaron.

We knew one person in Colorado, Peter, Aaron's roommate in college. He offered to let us stay with him until we got jobs and a place. So with our U-Haul and cats we made the 1,350 mile drive to our new adventure.My dad helped us make the two day drive passing through 5 states which was such a treat for me. I got to spend the time with him in the car testing out audiobooks and eating snacks. But i also didn't have to drive one second! I was really nervous about crashing!

We got the cats sedatives from the vet a few days before we left and I intended to make them stay in their crates the whole way but after about a hundred miles I knew it wasn't going to happen. I let them out while we were driving and they ended up sleeping behind the TV and on top of all the hang up closed in the way back of the car. We would sometimes see their ears poke above the TV as they looked to see if we were their yet, but other then that, they were passed out. We had the litter box out just in case they needed it but only Minnie used it once.


The trip was smooth and we even got to see a giraffe at one of our gas stops! It was traveling to a wild life safari, I think there was something else in the truck but I couldn't see. The giraffe was just a baby and it was really cute!



We stopped in Utah the first night, ate and then went to bed. I had naps in the car but they guys were tired! We finally made it to Colorado Springs after only one minor car problem (of course it was in Denver, only on hop away from our destination). The traffic in Denver was crazy and it took us 3 1/2 hours to go what should of been 1 hour. There was an amazing thunder and lightening storm with the loudest thunder I have heard up until that point in my life and the lightening was right off the freeway. None of the other motorists seems to be phased by this fact, but from what I heard this is a common thing.



Once we were in the springs it was only a few wrong turns and then we pulled into Peter's house. We ended up unloading the U-Haul that night, since I haven't slept on my own bed in about a week. Once we got the cats settled, ate dinner and then passed out, it was a long journey emotionally and physically.

This is the beginning of what I am hoping will be a significant point in Aaron and my lives and I pray that God will show us his will and lay down the paths he has planned for us out here.

I prayed for a few things while we are here:
1.Aaron will finish a nursing program.
2.We will find a home church that has great worship and a love for Jesus. Continue to grow in my walk with the Lord.
3.We will begin our family (hopefully once we get insurance we can start trying)
4.Find friends to share this new adventure with.
5.I can get into some sort of teaching job, substituting or something!

I am happy to report already that we have found a GREAT church!! and a new group of friends that have been so welcoming to us, it really has made the transition so much easier. God has blessed us so much already.

Stay tuned for more adventures from the Springs...

My Inspiration

This is my first blog. It very intimidating to me but I want to give it a try. I have been following one of my good friends blogs for a while and I just love being able to know what she is thinking and what is going on in her life. Even if I don't have a chance to connect with her in person I can always check her blog and get the DL. So I decided to dedicate my first blog to her.

My Amy.



I met Amy when I was in middle school. She was dating/or going to date my brother and I loved her spirit from the beginning. One of my first memories was her brother's funeral. I never met him personally but I went to support Amy and her family. I sat in the very back row of a huge church I have never been to and listened to these amazing stories of this young man's life. And like I said even though I have never met him, I felt a loss of what I was going to be missing when our siblings dated. At the time I did not know how much of an impact Amy and her family would have on my life. I think back even know and wonder what type of relationship we might of had when we saw our siblings off to prom, heard about their collective break-up and watch them grow from award ex's into friends (with their spouses along side).
My next clear memory of Amy is when I was in eighth grade and she invited me to a high school youth group event. I felt so cool hanging with high schoolers. We went up to the mountain and went inner tubing, at the time it was just a really fun trip but it ended up being the moment my life took a huge turn down a path that would shape my friendships, faith and life.
During Amy and Chas' relationship she invited us to her church. The same church I went to her brother's funeral at. I loved it from the first minute I was there. When Chas and I were growing up, we went to church pretty irregularly. Always on Easter and Christmas and them for a few sperts here and there. I was younger and was more interested in the social aspects of it, who could blame a ten year old. I knew of God and of Jesus and I certainly believed in them but that was about the depth of my relationship with them. When we started going to Amy's church, I found my personal relationship with God. I remember loving the feeling of sitting there in church and the pastor would tell a inside joke of one of the church members and the whole congregation would laugh because they understood the joke as well. It was like one big family, and I was slowly becoming a part of that as well. My parents joined us once in a while but not as regular as Chas and I went. I was ok with that, because this was a decision I made on my own and not because I had a parent pulling me out of bed every Sunday morning. One of the bests parts of my new church was I was surrounded by friends who didn't push me to party on weekends but who joined me for Sunday school and Wednesday night youth group. And Amy was right there for all of it. It wasn't just inside church that I was with these friends it was outside of it as well. We went to prom, sleep overs, movie nights, weekend youth trips, so many memories! Amy introduced me to another love of mine: scrap booking.
As these things happen Chas and Amy broke up and they both moved on to their soul mates (interestingly enough it was some ex's of their soul mates own.. i meant "confusingly enough") but we remained close. She was there for me during many confusing relationships and break ups. If I called her to complain about my parents or cry about being lonely she would come over and just simply listen or give me advice. We would hang out in her room and listen to music(Angel of Mine), movies(I've got purple slushy in my ear) and talk for hours. I remember one time we both had the same exact white shoes, and we were handing out in her bed room laying on the floor and she had her feet in the air behind her. I looked at her shoe and said, "I have that same writing on the bottom of my shoe!" and she looked at mine and recognized something else and then we looked at each other and started laughing. We have been wearing the other's shoes for two weeks and didn't even notice. And we don't even have the same size! Our families have also been included in this friendship. Amy is loved like a daughter to my parents; being around for important moments and sharing in trials. Her parents have been such an encouragement to me, whether they know it or not. I have watched them from afar with their glowing love for Christ and the people that surrounded them. They have recently did our pre-martial counseling for Aaron and I and prayed over our communion at our wedding in December. Our families have been interlocking for ten years now and love them like they are just an extension of my family.
As we grew older the experiences we shared have changed but the connection we share has not. We have celebrated high school graduations, college graduations, engagements, watched close friends get married, been bridesmaid's in each other's weddings, and now I am watching her bloom into a mother.

I hope she knows the influence she has had on my life and my faith. Friends may come and go but sisters are forever.



I love you Amy.