Our lil buddy....

I have been a really bad blogger lately; we’ve been so busy with life that I haven’t slowed down enough to write in anything.
Jason and I just got done with our weekend at Tres Dias. Jason went on his weekend October 15th and my weekend was October 22nd. It was the most amazing retreat I’ve ever been, too. I can’t say a lot about it because I wouldn’t want to ruin the experience for anyone else. But, I forgave a lot of past junk, stuff that has affected me since I was 5 years old, up to about a month ago. I have forgiven myself mainly, but forgave A LOT of people who have hurt me, physically, emotional or sexually and now I am FREE! I laid it down and will NEVER pick it back up again, EVER! I truly believe God’s timing is never wrong and Jason and I were meant to go on this particular weekend. I truly believe that our marriage has been improved 100%, and one day when we have our future family, wow what an impact we will have on them! Tres Dias is what it is called here in Tennessee, but it’s also called Walk to Emmaus in Texas. I had several people serving on my weekend who went through Walk to Emmaus in another state. I would recommend to anyone!

I came home from Tres Dias to some pretty horrible news. Our lil buddy Beau was hit by a car Friday afternoon. He and Jason had gone to Jason parents for the weekend to help his brother “S” with his house. Beau loved the mountains. Jason’s parent’s house is on top of a mountain; however his brother’s house is right below it, near a busy road. Jason had let him out to go to the bathroom like we normally do, and Beau is really good about staying right with you without a leash on, well he didn’t know about busy streets, because where we live our street isn’t busy at all. Jason said he was playing right by them, and they bent down to move some scaffolding and Beau was gone. He said he thought he had gone into the house so they were hollering for him, that’s when Jay found him on the highway. What kills me and him both is whoever hit him, didn’t stop. And it was very obvious he was a pet because Jason had his coat on him that day because we had just trimmed him short and it was really cold that day. Anyway, bless Jason’s heart he had to pick him up and bury him at his parents’ home and then drive back home by himself and come home to all of Beau’s toys, bed and blankets. We didn’t have any phone contact while I was at the retreat. He could have called my sponsor, but he said he didn’t want to ruin my weekend experience. When I got home, I was so excited to see beau, I had missed him bad and was ready to play with him. We had started pulling down our street and I reached down to call my Mom really quick. Jason said, please don’t call your mom right now, I need to tell you something when we get in the driveway. Well, I had thought he had wrecked his truck, our house had been robbed, everything but not Beau, Beau never entered my mind. I just kept asking him what happened, what’s going on, are you ok? What happened? I stopped just short of our driveway and said, please tell me what happened. He started to cry and said Beau was hit by a car and killed Friday night, well…… I screamed bloody murder, I’m seriously surprised the cops didn’t show up, because I was screaming and crying and yelling No, no no your lying, you’re lying to me, where is he, all the while trying to get my keys in the lock at the house. Jason started to give me a hug to hold me and I just started beating the crap out of him, blaming him instantly. But, had I not just finished Tres Dias, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive him, in that instant I started to apologize to him, it had hit me, that bless his heart he had been with it by himself for the last two days, he had cleaned up all of Beau’s belongings for me so that I wouldn’t have to see any of it, and he had to pick him up and bury him. And I know for a fact as well as any of you know Jason absolutely worshiped the ground that dog walked on. I quit hitting and gave him a hug and said I am so sorry you’ve had to deal with this by yourself, I’m so sorry that I hit you, I’m sorry that I was mad at you instantly, I’m just hurting. Our home is definitely quiet now, and getting ready in the morning without my little singing buddy is soooooo hard. And then coming home and him not being there at the door with his toy in his mouth squeaking it for me to play with him is definitely hard as well. Each day has gotten a little easier, and we will get another rescue dog once we get home from our trip to Amarillo in November. We didn’t realize how dog dependant we had grown until we lost our lil buddy. He had so much love to give to us. When we first got him, he was emaciated, and covered in tick and flea bites, and I truly thought, holy cow what have we gotten ourselves into? But we feed him, we bathed him and got his skin healed up, and he started to feel secure in our home and just thrived….. He definitely ruled the roost! He had an amazing personality and we loved him. When you don’t have children they sort of become that, because you take care of them, & you love on them. I have had tons of outside dogs, and grieving over them was hard don’t get me wrong, but they were outside, so I didn’t have go out in the back yard if I didn’t want to and nothing in the house reminded me of them so I was good at getting over it. But man o man when you have an indoor dog and they follow you everywhere you go and are in your space 24/7 it’s hard, it’s like losing a family member. Please pray for Jason he’s having a pretty tough time with it.
Sorry for the sad blog….. We pray that we find another rescue dog who we can give a good home to, soon. Hope everyone has a great Halloween…… I wish I was in Texas to see my niece and nephew, they are going as Tinker bell and a rodeo clown….. too stinkin cute! Be safe!

Busy... Busy...

Once again this is just going to be a huge long post with no pictures involved…. Just a lot of news. Well, I started my fertility drugs last week… Jason was gone for a whole week, to be with his Dad; who was having a Triple-bypass surgery. I couldn’t go with him because we needed me to be here in Nashville for other reasons.
Father-in-law’s surgery went really good. It is definitely time for a change in eating habits, and all Jason and I can do is pray that this was a wakeup call. He still hasn’t be released from the hospital, it’s been a week and a day now since his surgery. They are trying to get him out of Atrial Fibrillation by giving him medication. Jason finally got home Wednesday night; we only got to see each other for a quick second before we went into our growth groups at Church. I’m super excited about my growth group and Jason’s growth group. His is separate from mine, he’s with all men and I’m with all women, which is just fun. And then on Thursday nights starting next week we are starting a life group which is small groups of couples who are in our Sunday school class and we dig further in the sermon from the previous Sunday. I can’t wait, not only for the learning, but it’s also a great way to get better connected to the people who are in your class. This past week, I definitely realized that Jason and I have made a large group of genuine friends who would stop at the drop of a hat to be there for support in whatever is going on. I had friends come over and watch movies with me, I had friends call and ask me if I would like to have dinner with them, I had people just texting me or face booking me checking on me , jason and my father-in-law…. I definitely felt loved last week.
As for the clomid (fertility drug) I only take 1 pill for 5 days. I pray that it works and all the symptoms of the pill are all going to be worth it in the end. I can handle ANYTHING if it will give us the baby we’ve dreamed about… Jason and I are definitely trying to keep ourselves busy with projects and Church stuff to keep our minds off of it…. So I am going to be a Project Coordinator for a campaign our company does every year call Caring for the Community. It’s a day that we get to go out and volunteer for a place of our choice and get paid a full day’s pay for it. I will be the Project Coordinator for The Nashville Ballet…. I am going to be leading a team of 10 people, we are going to do some landscaping, painting the lobby, and help build some stage props… I’m pretty excited about it and it’s a big deal here to be recognized as a Project Coordinator for Community Day’s. Stay tuned for pictures from that day….
In October… Jason and I are going to be going on a retreat; each one of us goes on different weekends….. It’s called Tres Dias (3 Days) we will each leave on a Thursday night, and return Sunday evening. It’s kind of secretive, about what goes on during the 3 days because they want everyone’s experience to be brand new and get the most out of it without any expectations. So you have to go with no cell phone, no computers, no TV…. Just you and God for 3 days… We have two amazing friends who are sponsoring Jason and me to go, they have both been through and they said not only did it improve their marriage, but it changed their lives. I’m excited about it. Also in October Mom and Dad are planning a trip here so they can see all the fall colors. We are going to take them to Gatlinburg for a weekend up in the Smoky Mountains… and in the fall there is no place prettier! Can’t wait for that either…. Busy…. Busy… It’s just amazing to me how our life together from this time last year to now has kind of come full circle… we definitely have found a home in Nashville….

Hopeful.....

It’s no shock that I am pretty transparent. I feel that this is a strength in some ways because I feel if I talk about stuff and things that have happened to me in my life, then maybe I am helping someone else in that particular situation. So I have no fear in telling people about seasons of which I have gone through in my life.
So as most of you know Jason and I have had a lot of trouble trying to get pregnant. I’ve had surgery to try and help the situation; it was helpful because it helped us realize that one of my tubes is completely blocked, there for we only have a shot at getting pregnant every other month (so we thought). I have been charting my basal temperature everyday for the last 4 months. Well it was time for my well check after my last surgery in March and my Dr. had said that if we weren’t pregnant in 4 months after the surgery that we then would discuss fertility drugs. So Jason and I went to the Dr. I shared with her my charts from the last 4 months and told her how I was confused by them. They didn’t make sense at all and they didn’t look at all like the “normal” charts that my husband and I had seen… so it was all very confusing until the Dr. saw them and said, “Well sweetie no wonder your confused, you’re for sure only ovulating every other month, but on the months that you are, you are barely.” So on a normal chart your temperature would peak for 2 days and that is when you are most like to get pregnant. On my charts it looked like a heart monitor line…. Up and down every day for the whole month. So in that appointment we discussed Clomid and I will start taking it this month. I am really excited about starting on them, because I feel like she is definitely moving forward with us in this journey and she’s not making us wait any longer…. Because let’s face it…. I’m not getting any younger and we would really like to have a couple of kids. So keep praying for us. We definitely know that we will love every late night, every cry, every smile, and every coo. We will cherish every single moment in our future child’s lives. Because we tried so hard to make this dream come true.
I have also come to realize that there are more women out there than you would think who have problems getting pregnant. It’s sad, it’s especially sad for the ones who want them SO bad, that there are women out there who will look you straight in your eyes and tell you that they didn’t want to be a Mother, they never wanted to have kids, they have 3 and they can’t stand them (Yes as sad as it is to hear, I actually had a lady I work with tell me that word for word)! Or you have people who continue to give their children up for adoption and they get pregnant again in a month…. It’s frustrating, it breaks my heart. And this last year and a half going on 2 years has been a true test. It’s definitely been a test on me. It’s hard every month for the last year and a half to have to go and tell your husband that you’re sorry that we aren’t pregnant and then for it to be my fault we can’t get pregnant. It’s been hard. I know that it can’t be mine to take on, but it’s hard not too…. Jason has been THE MOST supportive husband ever. He’s been my voice of reason for sure. We just pray that this option works. I have had 2 girlfriends who have sat me down and talked to me about them carrying a baby for us… Man…. All I can say is I have some amazing girlfriends…. AMAZING! I pray that we don’t have to go that route….
I’ve rambled as I usually do on this thing…. But please do keep Jason and me in your prayers, this has been a long hard frustrating journey and we absolutely know it will all be worth it in the end when we can hold our future son/daughter in our arms. Children are truly a blessing from God; we pray that we are blessed in the near future.

Our Trip Home

Sunrise in Arkansas
Sunrise on the road

Wall Cloud in Henryetta, Oklahoma. Was not fun driving through that storm....

WAHOO!! I was so excited to see this sign!!

My very first tattoo. aiyh means: Always in Your Heart! It is something my Mom and I started awhile ago when something had happened to me and my parents weren't physically near. My mom will always say, "Where am I when you can't see me?" Answer: "Always In Your Heart"

We had the best time in Texas seeing the kiddos and seeing family. We saw almost everyone on my side except about 6 cousins. It was a much needed vacation and was great to visit with everyone. We are excited about going back in August for my Dad's retirement. He worked for ExxonMobil for 35 years! I'm pretty proud of his accomplishments! And even more excited about getting our family pictures taken while we are there. If everyone gets to make it to my Dad's retirement. All of my Nanny's (Grandmother's) Great Grandchildren will all be there and we can get a picture of them together as well! Can't wait! Knowing that we were going to get to see my family in a couple weeks made it easier to say goodbye.

4th of July 2009

What a weekend! Man… we were on the road a lot this past weekend. All of our friends live in Hendersonville which is about 30 to 40 minutes away give or take with traffic. That is where we attend Church as well. So Friday during the day I went and hung out at the pool with my girlfriend in Mount Juliet. Anyway, that night we went to Hendersonville for their fireworks show with our friends. It was fun to hang out with them; we cooked out, and watched the kids play. Saturday morning we went back to Hendersonville and while Jason and Chad (One of our friends) were building picnic tables for our Church, Kristin (Chad’s wife) and I hung out at the pool. We then went downtown to the Nashville fireworks. Chad’s dad is an attorney downtown and his building is right up against the riverfront, where they set off the fireworks. We sat on the roof and watch the fireworks in the rain. It wasn’t just rain it was buckets of water. We were as wet as we would have been jumping in the pool with our clothes on! It was so much fun, though. We were definitely drenched, but it was so worth it. Nashville’s downtown fireworks show is THE BEST fireworks display I have EVER seen in my life. It was constant fireworks for a total of 25 minutes! Choreographed with the Nashville Symphony, pretty amazing!

Habitat for Humanity Home Dedication....

I got to go to the Habitat for Humanity house, I help build, for the dedication. It was a very emotional, HOT day! HCA also gave her and her family and brand new washer and dryer! It was amazing and pretty neat to walk through it after it was completed. It was great to get to see the family again one more time!

Man O Man.... where is summer going?

It has been a while since I’ve written. I am blessed enough to work for a company who wants you to go out and help the community. So I was able to take a day off of work and go help start a home for Habitat for Humanity! What a blessing, it was amazing, we started with a concrete slab and by the end of the day we had a completely framed out house including the truces for the roof! We worked out lil tails off. It was the most rewarding experience ever doing Community Service. I volunteer at the Rape Crisis Center and I get a lot out of the experience there as well, but the progress takes years sometimes to notice. With the Habitat home, I was driving away looking at what we accomplished and just felt amazing! I fell in love with the family and actually get to go back this Friday to watch the home get dedicated by our CEO. If you ever have an opportunity to start a habitat home instead of finish it… I say DO IT!! You will be so proud of yourself and be amazed at the whole process. Not only that, but you also learn a lot of skills that will help you on your own home or projects.

Lets see, so much has happened in the last couple of weeks. CMA Music Fest was here about 2 weeks ago. My cousin came in for the CMS Music Fest and the CMT Music Awards. We got to hang for a whole week, it was so much fun. And way cooler temperature wise than last years music fest. We started out the week with the City of Hope Celebrity Softball Game, which was a blast. There were so many Artists and Music stars. My cousin got us seats about 4 rows behind home plate, so we got to see all of them up close. The picture is from my iPhone so it seems like its further away than it really is. I have more pictures that I will post later. Then we went and did a couple of tours around Nashville, some of them I hadn’t done since we moved here, so it was fun and a first time for us as well. Saturday night we went to the concert and got to see The Judds play together for the first time I think they said in 10 years. It was awesome. Then Tuesday night, my cousin had an extra ticket for the pit at the CMT Music Awards. I was super excited, that was THE BEST time I have had in a long time! Her and I got on camera for about 2 minutes behind Bill Engall introducing Brad Paisley! It was a blast! We were about 3 people away from the stage and were in the middle of 3 major stages so we got to see everyone there up close and personal as well! Some of them looked like wax figures to me… just almost surreal I guess. It was so much fun.
Mom and Dad are starting to pack up their home in Qatar and will be officially back in the United States FOR GOOD July 1, 2009! The 3 years seemed like it would never pass fast enough and now they are on their way home next week! Woot! Can’t wait! Jason and I are driving back to Texas July 8th, we are not looking forward to the 18 hour trip, but we are sooooo excited to see everyone. We will be going straight to Midland because we are so hungry to see our neice and nephew, brother and sister-in-law. I am planning on meeting up with some of my high school buddies there as well. From there we are going to Lubbock to see my family there, I have a cousin who was born when we moved here and I have yet to see him… and he’s already standing up against things! How time flies! Then off to Amarillo where I will get to see my Best Friend and God Daughter for a couple of days. I am also going to see my buddy who lost his wife right after we moved… I am not looking forward to that reunion because neither one of us has seen each other since she passed away last October. It will be sad, but way WAY overdue! Then off to Pampa where I will stop and see my girlfriend’s (who passed away) kids. From there we are going to see my Nanny (Grandmother), Aunts and Uncles. I haven’t seen them since Christmas. Can’t wait. Then its back to Amarillo to pick up the rest of our stuff we couldn’t fit on the Penske truck when we moved and start back to Nashville. Making a stop in Oklahoma to see my Uncle on the way back. So we will be way exhausted, but are sooooo ready to see family and friends!
Summer has already started to fly by WAAAAY too fast! I can’t believe June is almost over! Crazy! Anyway, stay tuned for more pictures. And I will try my hardest to do better on keeping up.

Yard of The Month... woot woot!

Our hard work on the yard has paid off! Our subdivision has “Yard of The Month,” we knew that they had this, but didn’t realize that there was a perk to getting the sign in your yard. On top of getting recognized in our HOA Newsletter, we also got a $75 Gift Certificate to a nursery, which Jason and I absolutely love. So we get to add $75 worth of new plants and flowers to our yard… Pretty exciting, especially when its free money for something that Jason and I enjoy doing. We have definitely been blessed.

Randomness...

Wow… it’s been about 3 weeks since I wrote an entry. I had my surgery, it took a lot longer to heal this time, or maybe my expectations were too high… I ended up having to stay home for an entire week, it absolutely drove me insane. It wasn’t hard being home, but being home and not being able to do anything while you were sitting there looking at everything that needs or could be done was tough. The weather was nice on most days so I would go sit on the porch while Jay worked in the yard… but sitting there wishing I could do it my way was kind of hard… LOL Jason did get a lot done to the outside while we were home. One day towards the end of my recovery I had to get out of the house or I was going to go nuts. We went to a nursery here that is spread across I think 3 acres… awesome place especially if you love plants and flowers as much as we do. Anyway, we bought a spiral boxwood, two dwarf crepemrytles, a big crepemrytle, two white azalea bushes and a pink azalea bush. Our neighbor works for a landscaping company and he got us some really nice black mulch (which is the thing in Nashville), you can’t really use wood chips here because the termites are awful due to the humidity. Anyway he and our neighbor put that down and our front flower bed looks so much better. When we moved to our home, the front sidewalk was super small. Well, it was the ivy that the prior owners had planted along the sidewalk that took over the sidewalk. We got that cleared out of there and it opened up our porch. It’s one of my favorite places to be now…. AND I go out there to just sit…. No smoking anymore! WAHOO!! RANDOM I know, but… I’ve lost count of days, but I quit November 1st and have not put one in my mouth since! It actually disgusts me now!
I am rambling I know, but there’s tons to tell. So this weekend is Easter and Jason and I decided because we recently joined our Church that we wanted to be here for Easter. Well, Wednesday night I practiced with the Choir for 2 hours and after that Jason and I did our videotaped testimony that will be shown on Easter Sunday to the Church. We did an awesome job, and if it can help someone who might be struggling in this job market or in a rough time in their life then Jason and I did our job. I’m really proud of our story. Our Church is definitely worth it, but it’s about 45 minutes from our house, so we are going to be on the road a lot this weekend, but we are really excited about everything that is going to be happening. I am not only going to be singing in both services, but I am also part of the sermon. We did our cardboard testimonies as well so I can’t wait. For those of you who don’t know what a cardboard testimony is. On the front of this piece of cardboard there are words that you write down describing how your life was without God, and on the back you use words to describe how your life is now with God. Love it, and can’t wait to see what our Pastor does with it. He’s sermons are amazing; he thinks outside the box and makes you want to learn more…. God definitely blessed us with this Church.
It is definitely Spring in Nashville, its beautiful everything is in bloom around here and I love it! Well, I could do without the whole allergies that go along with everything blooming, and the scary storms that come through middle Tennessee during the spring. We have already had two tornadoes touch down here in Nashville this year! NO FUN! The second one was pretty unnerving at work, when the security guard came over the PA system and said we need you all to evacuate to the basement immediately a tornado has touched down by the airport. We will let you know when the storm has passed. Well, first of all…. my family will tell you that I do NOT DO STORMS! I’ve gotten a little better about them… but my grandparents hated it when a storm came through and I was with them…. So being that scared at work with my co-workers was not an option…. It bothered me being away from Jason as well not really knowing what was going on where he was. That night my drive home took me 3 hours, due to I40 being closed down on both side from tractor trailers being flipped over in the storm… so that’s the spring weather in Nashville…. No fun! I was a nervous wreck! The weather this weekend though is supposed to be beautiful… I don’t like that we won’t be with any of our family of course, but I am going to cook my first Easter meal for just me and Jay! I went and bought a WAY TOO BIG ham yesterday and we are going to have all kinds of starchy food…. I’m kind of excited about cooking a big meal for just the two of us. We may end up inviting some friends over because they are away from their family as well. Sorry for the book, but a lot is going on here… its spring and I can’t wait to get out boat out… we may even get it out tomorrow morning! YAY!! This summer is going to be uneventful as far as moving and buying homes, etc… so we will be able to enjoy the 2 lakes we are in between and may even float the Caney fork river a couple of times this year! Can’t wait!!
I pray that all of you and your families have a very BLESSED EASTER! And remember the real reason that we celebrate this holiday! I’m forgiven because He was forsaken!

God's Will....

I will start from the beginning….as my last post went, I was going into have a laparoscopy, hysteroscopy, and another type of procedure I am not sure of the name. This was on March 5, 2008, we went into the hospital I was admitted. I had the IV in my hand and the nurse was about to bring me my meds for the surgery and she went to double check my lab work. She came into the room holding a piece of paper to her chest and said, “honey we are going to have to cancel your procedure, today.” I started to cry because my husband and I with my female history had an idea that this would be the only option to help us to conceive. So I was really upset, like my dreams had just been crushed. Well, she laid the piece of paper on my lap and on there in highlighted marker was a positive pregnancy test. We were ecstatic, we started to cry and laugh all at the same time, and FINALLY we were going to get the baby of our dreams. So I asked the nurse I think 4 times, are you sure? She said, “Yes sweetie!” Its positive… well my family was waiting on Jason to call them once they had taken me back into surgery. So on our way out of the hospital we both called our parents simultaneously to tell them the great news. This would be my parents 3rd grandchild, but Jason’s parents 1st grandchild. Well, as it goes that whole entire day we could not wipe the grins off of our faces! Anyone who knows us knows this has been what we have been dreaming about forever…. I literally believe I knew I wanted to be a Mommy when my brother was born. Anyway, I was to come into the Dr.’s office that next morning to get more blood drawn to see if my pregnancy hormone had doubled since my last blood draw. Well, this was on a Friday so we didn’t get the lab results back until Monday morning. So all weekend we were just ecstatic, we couldn’t help but want to tell all of our families and friends that awesome news. Monday morning, I get a call in the morning saying that my pregnancy hormone had increased but it hadn’t doubled??? Right then and there I started to doubt that this pregnancy was going to make it to baby form. So I asked her at that point, am I pregnant. The nurse said, “The test keeps coming back positive and your levels did increase but didn’t double. We want you to come back in on Tuesday morning to get your blood drawn again to see if they double this time.” My gut told me, that this wasn’t ok to be excited about yet. I got my blood drawn Tuesday morning, yesterday morning on my way to work, I prayed about the outcome of this test. And I just had that feeling that the phone call I would receive in the next couple of hours wouldn’t be a good one. Well the nurse called me and said, Jennifer, sweetie your pregnancy test came back negative. I am so sorry for all of this, I know this whole situation has been very confusing for both you and Jason, but we just couldn’t go through with the surgery if you were possible going to become pregnant. These were just words; I kind of went through the motions of listening to what she had to say. I know it’s not anyone’s fault, but had they presented it to me differently at the hospital, we may not have been so quick to call all of our family and friends. We thought it would be an awesome story for the little booger once they got here.
I am thankful for my faith in God, I am so thankful for all of our friends and families. I am thankful that I didn’t have a whole lot of time to completely get used to the idea. I am thankful that it wasn’t 3 months down the road, and this happen. I know that God can see the “Big Picture,” when I know I can’t. I think in my heart of hearts that my “environment” wasn’t ok to carry a fetus to full-term, yet. It may have been God’s way of letting me know that Jay and I can get pregnant, and we just need a little help with the surgery. I do have a lot of questions, but I’m not questioning God for any of it. He knows whats in our future, Jason and I don’t necessarily. We have started back at square one. I am going back in for surgery next Thursday, March 19, 2009 and pray to God that it will help us get the baby of our dreams. Thank you all for all of your support and love, in the last week, we have felt more love than we have felt in a very long time. We had some of the biggest highs I think you will ever experience, and we have also experienced the lowest of low all within a week’s time. We just have faith that it is all for a reason, and we are thankful for every minute of this last week.

“To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.'
When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.”

30th Birthday...

My 30th Birthday started out awesome! My team, told me to come into one of my boss' offices. I went in there and they had a bouquet of Gerber daisies (one of my favorite flowers), and bagels with a card. I opened the card and in it they bought me a gift certificate to one of the best spas in Nashville. I can't wait to go and have my very first massage. Then I went to my desk and it was covered in really cute confetti and balloons with a super cute box filled dove chocolates!! My girlfriend "A" drove all the way downtown after work to decorate my desk, it made my day....







Then I got an email from my Aunt that had a picture of me when I was a baby, I hadn't seen a baby picture of myself in I can't remember when. My day was so awesome and my friends and co-workers made me feel so loved. When I went home, Jason wouldn't tell me where we were going. To back up a little bit all my girlfriends and their husbands all had plans that night and honest to goodness I didn't think anything about it... They just kept asking me what we were doing, and jay wouldn't tell me. Well he took me to a really really nice Italian restaurant. Well when we got their our hostess grabbed alot of menus and I was thinking well she must have another group behind us. Then she started taking us to the table and there sitting there was 6 of our really good friends! I was so excited and surprised! I love my husband and the fact that he is a romantic and thinks about what would make me smile.... I just adore him and thank God he blessed me with him.
Mom got to come spend a week with us over Valentines day and we celebrated my Birthday then also. Her and Dad bought a lot of new work clothes that I love. Thanks Mom and Dad, love them!
Next Thursday (March 5th) I go in for another laporascopy (3rd one in the last 11 years) for my endometreosis. Jason and I have been trying to have a baby for a year now, and we are praying that this will help the process.... We are both so hungry for a family and have been praying for that for awhile now.... So even though it's surgery, I'm pretty excited for the end result....
We will let you know how the surgery went after it's over... We pray that this is all it will take, but are willing to do whatever it takes to make our dream come true.
May God continue to bless you and your families!

Weekend

Jason's brother came into town this last weekend. Saturday we took him to a live taping of the PBS show Legends & Lyrics, it was free and parking was only $4. So for 2 and 1/2 hours we got to listen to songs by 3 artist/songwriters for $4. We saw a rising star named Jessica Rae, Glen Phillips (Lead singer for Toad the Wet Sprocket), Guy Clark, lead singer from The Byrds (Can't think of his name right now). One of our friends dad's is the Producer of the show. We got in as VIPs and could have sit on the front row and been on TV, but decided we didn't want to think about being on TV so we sat on the third row from the stage. It was great!

Housewarming party

What a weekend! Mom flew in on Thursday afternoon and we have been going non-stop since. Friday, Mom and I literally shut down our little town outside of Nashville. We left my house at around 10am and didn’t get back home until 10:30pm. We shut down Target, but before that I took her to this fun little small town, Mother/Daughter owned shop and we spent some pretty good time in there looking at all their stuff. They have all kinds of fun “girl” things. We then went to our big shopping center here and spent the rest of the day, just going store to store. It was so much fun! Then Saturday, she and I went to my Praise Team try-outs for my Church, so she got to meet a lot of the people I sing with on the weekends. We then had to go back to my lil town and get ready for our house warming party that we were going to have that night! We had a blast! About 25 people showed up, we had so much fun! I loved that Mom got to finally meet everyone I have been talking about over the last year! Jason and I definitely found out we have meet some really sweet, genuine, fun friends since we’ve moved here. Yesterday, we were pooped! So we went to Church and took her to a place here called Steam Boat Billy’s, he is straight out of New Orleans and has all his seafood brought in from New Orleans. It was SO GOOD! And then we went home and hung out on the couch for a little while! Tomorrow night I’m taking her back to my Church to watch them “blend” our praise team, and on Wednesday we are both SO excited, we are having a SPA DAY!! We are both looking forward to it! It will be a nice day off, and just chilling with my Momma!
She will have to fly back to Texas on Sunday so I’m going to try to spend as much quality time with her as I can!!! I can’t wait till they are back in the States for good, so then they can come visit more and bring my Grandmother here to see our new home!
You can't tell in these pictures, but there were about 25 people at our house, I guess I got busy later on in the night and quit taking pictures! We had so much fun, and have truly been blessed with the group of people we have met in the last year!

Galatians 6:7

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Going back to what I love....

I have quit smoking for 3 months and 25 days! I feel so much better since I have quit. And because of that I have started to go back to things I used to love to figure out what my hobbies are. Well, I used to be in Choir and in Band in Wyoming, I loved them both, but quit when it became “uncool” to be in either. I’ve missed playing the saxophone and for those of you who have known me since I was little know that I have ALWAYS loved to sing. Well a couple of weeks ago we got me a saxophone and I am re-teaching myself how to play it again. I’ve missed it, I love it, it’s fun and it’s made me miss my Granddad a lot. He used ask me to play over and over again when we would go visit him. And I’ve just felt called to start playing it again. Now, that I have the lung capacity to do so. I have also started singing in the choir at our church. Well, Sunday I was in front of the choir with about 5 other people on a microphone and sang the entire service. I loved it. I got a lot of compliments after the service and hope to continue to be up front as much as possible. I will be rotating out with another Alto, her name is JM. She is actually the reason Jason and I starting attending BGBC. We absolutely love our Church family and we have found a lot of opportunities for growth there. I will add pictures from this weekend’s Church Service; my husband was kind enough to take pictures of me on stage and recorded a couple of the songs so that I could hear myself to see what and where I needed to work on. Stay tuned for pictures.

This 3 day weekend went super fast

We had a really good weekend. Saturday my unbiological big sister came to Nashville to visit, so we took her to Opryland Hotel, to Music Row, Belle Mead and just hung out for a little while. We had a really good time. Well, after we took her downtown Sunday night so that she could go to her training (the real reason she came) well on our way home the truck starts slippin. So we are familiar with this problem, because my car's transmission has been threatening to go out since we moved here in Nashville. And sure enough Jason took it to the dealership today to get the transmission services and the truck won't go into reverse and they told him that the transmission is going out... So needless to say we went to Car Max this afternoon and got a new ride! I got a 2008 Navy Pathfinder. Jason and I would highly recommend Car Max! That was the easiest process known to man.... it was almost scary it was so easy! We test drove a couple vehicles and from start to finish we were in and out in about 2 hours!! Check it out! These are some pictures we took while M was at our house and my new car!

pictures...

Finally getting rid of that nasty yellow sunroom! Going...

Going....

Gone.... Woo Hoo!

She had so much fun with Elmo!

Couldn't you just eat his lil face!!

Man!!! Is it really the 9th of January ALREADY!!

Well, so much has happened and I feel awful that I sent out our blog address in our Christmas Cards and I haven't had a second to spare to write an entry! The week of Christmas I flew to Lubbock and went to spend Christmas with my family in Perryton, I had so much fun, it was great seeing all of my family and especially my Parents, Niece, Nephew, Goddaughter, my best friend and her fiance'. I realized while I was there how bad I missed "home." I missed being with Jay over Christmas but he and I had our Christmas once we got home, which by the way WAS AWESOME!! We finally UPGRADED from our t.v.'s that he and I have had since high school and bought a brand new flat panel, with a stand, we got that from my parents. Thanks MOM and DADDY-O!! WE LOVE IT!! Then Mine and His Christmas to each other was new cell phones. The night he and I purchased our brand new t.v. and stand, not within 30 minutes of getting home, my cell phone completely died!!! SO.... we went to AT&T the next night, he got a brand new Blackberry and I got an IPhone and HOLY COW... Everyone in the world should have one of these puppies!!! Its a mini computer right at your fingertips! Not to mention it was on one heck of a sale!!
I went to try-out for the Praise Team at our Church and unfortunately the "Choir" director told me and his daughter-in-law the wrong try-out dates, BUT!!! He got to hear me sing with the Praise Team and said that he could definitely use my voice! Woo Hoo!! So I am now on the Praise Team, and Choir for our wonderful Church. We haven't felt at home at a Church since both Jay and I were little bitty people, and we absolutely love our congregation and our Sunday School class. We have met some super sweet people who are genuine and love God as much as Jason and I do. 2009 is going to be a little more low key for Jay and I, no MAJOR moves planned.... we are just wanting to get established in Mount Juliet, & our Church home. Oh, speaking of that, I am on facebook and was on there the other night and found out that about 8 of my childhood friends from Wyoming live within 10 minutes of my house!!! Small World, huh? So I'm super excited to get to see everyone at some point.
I will post some Christmas pictures, and pictures of our final product on the inside of our house soon!!! Yep, you read that right, Jason and I are completely finished with the painting part of the inside of our home.... Now starts the remodeling on the Kitchen, spare bathroom and master bath.... IN TIME OF COURSE!!! In the spring we are going to completely re-do our front and back yard!! I can't wait for that, I have a list going of all the trees, flowers and bushes that grow here in Tennessee already started!!! Can't wait! Not to mention, we run around with a guy who owns his own landscaping company!!! So stay tuned for the final product on that as well in the spring!
Well, I pray that you all are having a great year so far!