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.