Catching Up: June/July 2013

June 2013

Mark usually gets out of school around the middle of June and that is the official start of our summer.   This year we got to spend a few weeks around home at the beginning of June, but ended June with two awesome trips. 

We started out June by celebrating our friend Jen and her soon-to-arrive baby girl Carley!  Her shower was amazing and she got so many awesome gifts...more clothes than I could even keep up with.  That baby is sure to be the best dressed baby girl around!  Although Carley wasn't born till the end of July I've added her picture in here anyway, just because she is too cute not to show off :) 

 Doesn't Jen look beautiful?  Pregnancy looks good on her :)

Hi Carley, welcome to the world!  7/25/2013 

 The first trip we took was a camping/tubing trip with friends in the mountains.  I'm not really one for camping (anyone who knows me probably already knew that), but since everyone else was doing it, I agreed that I could do anything for two nights.  We had bought a "Living Social" deal for the tubing and it was awesome.  We spent all day floating down a river in tubes all linked together.  We couldn't have asked for a better day, it was beautiful and hot and outside!  After the day on the river we headed back to our campsite, cooked hot dogs over the fire, and roasted marshmallows.  Aside from having to sleep outside in the wilderness I actually kinda enjoyed it :) 

 Our tent 

 "Roughing it" 

The crew at breakfast 

The last weekend in June / First week in July we headed to Hilton Head for an annual beach trip with Nick and Nicole.  This is the first year we have been able to go for the whole week; usually we only go for about three or four nights.  We stayed at the same resort as we did last year, only a different condo about 100 yards from the beach.  The weather for the week looked like it was going to be pretty terrible, calling for rain each day.  But we totally lucked out.  Although it did rain each day it only lasted about 20-30 minutes and then the rest of the day was beautiful.  Sometimes it rained before we dragged all of the stuff down to the beach (that was always ideal), other times it rained while we were on the beach (which was sort of a disaster).  Our first day on the beach a huge rain storm moved in shortly after we got there.  We laughed at the people next to us holding down their tent, but it didn't take long for us to realize why...our tent was lifted by the wind, flew about 100 yards away, and got destroyed.  Luckily it did not hit anyone in the process, but it was hilarious to watch all of us run after it completely clueless of what to do.  We were able to salvage the tent and make it work for the rest of the week, but putting it up each day was quite a process (one that we perfected by the end of the week).  When it wasn't storming, it was absolutely beautiful and we had such an enjoyable time hanging out on the beach and spending time with friends! 

 Storm rolling in 

 Everyone huddled under their tents/umbrellas waiting out the storm 

 Ahhh...sitting by the water, enjoying the sunshine, and good company

 Me and Nicole taking a break from the sun 

Nicole and the guys playing tennis after a long day on the beach 

Since we had the whole week and Hilton Head is so close to Savannah we took a day trip. Nick and Nicole had never been to Savannah before, so we took a trolley tour, a ghost tour, and tried out several local restaurants!  Stay tuned for pictures of our Savannah trip!

Finally Catching Up: April/May 2013

In an effort to keep up with the months (and months and months...) of waiting, I want to continue doing a monthly recap.  Not even so much for my readers, but mostly for me so I don't forget :)

April: 
I spent the whole first week/weekend in Disney World having a blast, and Mark spent his Spring Break in Charlotte taking care of his mom.  I know he had  a great time just being with her and being able to help out with her recovery, but he definitely missed being able to get away to a warmer/sunny place during Spring Break.  (Don't worry we made up for it in May with a surprise weekend getaway)

The end of April I took the dogs with me to Hickory to visit my dad and Karin, while Mark went off to a bachelor party for his friend Brian.  The guys had a blast (maybe even too much fun), while I had a nice relaxing weekend with all four dogs

May: 
We knew that May would be a busy month, so the first weekend we stayed around home and spent time with friends.  Our very talented friend Mariela had her artwork at a community festival so we got up bright up and early and helped her set up then hung out for most of the morning.  She sold lots of awesome pieces and we came home with the turtle and whale art below, for the nursery.   That afternoon we headed over to a local park/lake to celebrate a friend's birthday and spend time just catching up with friends.  It was nice to see everyone running around with their kids.

The second weekend in May Mark planned a surprise get-away to Wilmington NC.  It was awesome.  I work in Wilmington once every other month for a day, but I've never actually had time to explore the city of Wilmington.  We stayed at an awesome hotel right on the river and spent all day Saturday wandering up and down the river front and some cute shops not far from the river.  We tried out some awesome restaurants, spent some time just stopping in bars and grabbing a drink, and just some time sitting on the river front eating ice cream.

Third weekend:
Every year our adoption agency hosts a spring picnic at an area park.  The picnic is a really great opportunity for the families who have already adopted to get together and catch up, but its also a good opportunity for waiting families to get some encouragement from those who have been through the process.   This was our second  year going so it was nice to see families who last year were "waiting" and this year had babies.  Although we are excited for everyone who has received a placement, it also makes us a little sad that we are still waiting.  We know that God has an awesome plan for us though and so we have to continue to place our hope and faith in Him.

To end this weekend we celebrated Nicole's 30th birthday early by going to see Sister Act at the DPAC.

The last weekend in May Mark was in his best friend Brian's wedding.  Brian is one of the last guys from Mark's group of high school friends to get married and Mark was honored and excited to be a part of it.   The wedding was a beautiful outside wedding and the reception was a great big party.  Everyone had a great time and we had the opportunity to hang out with friends that we don't get to see very often.  After the wedding we all ventured out on the town to a few more bars before calling our personal taxi (Mark's mom) and heading home.

Look at this goof - ball...he continued to tell us he was "business on the top and party on the bottom"  

Disney World

The first week of April I was lucky enough to attend a four day work conference at Disney World.  I went with my co-worker/friend Jess and we left our husbands (and her son) at home!  Mark was taking care of his mom after her hip surgery and I was having an awesome, I mean boring, time in Florida!

Jess and I arrived early on Tuesday and had all day to sit out in the sun and just enjoy our resort.  Tuesday night we went to the Magic Kingdom, and has so much fun riding rides and just enjoying Disney.  We even managed to catch a parade and see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and a few other characters.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had conference sessions all day long, and like good conference attendees we actually went to almost all of them.  But in the evenings we were able to get away from the resort and spend more time exploring Disney and enjoying delicious food.  We went to the Disney Boardwalk one night and to Downtown Disney two nights.  Our favorite places to eat were Wolfgang Puck,  House of Blues and Ghirardelli

Saturday, sadly we had conference sessions all morning and then had to leave and catch our flight pretty much as soon as it was over.  We did steal 30 minutes in the sun between the end of the sessions and the shuttle to the airport.

It was such a fun week with Jess and a good reminder of why we do the work that we do.  I came back feeling re-energized and with a new commitment to my job and the transplant population!

March 2013

First weekend
Finally a month where we spent (almost) every weekend at home :)  Jenn started out the month with an all day Saturday conference at work, where I actually presented in front of 100 people about the importance of my job!

Second weekend
Another weekend at home to do "normal stuff".  Running errands, buying new patio furniture (an amazing deal at Kohl's), Enjoying Church and a leisurely Sunday lunch with friends, and finally the weather was nice enough that all the neighbors spent the afternoon just hanging out in our backyard!

Third weekend
Yay!  A third weekend "at home".  Spent the day at a local winery with friends, had dessert with some friends who are also "waiting" for their adoption call, and caught up on some housework!

Fourth Weekend
Went to Charlotte to spend Easter with our families.   While there we had the opportunity to hang out with friends and attend a going away party for some good friends who moved to Texas!  Mark's mom had hip replacement surgery planned for the Monday after Easter so Mark stayed in Charlotte to take care of her, while I went to Florida for a conference (pictures and a whole post about that week coming soon)

Nursery Update

After months of procrastinating we finally finished the nursery!  We made a small flip book of the pictures and sent it off to our agency as well, so that it can be shown to the birth moms.  We are really excited about the way that the nursery turned out and we absolutely can not wait until there is a baby sleeping in there!

We still have a few things to do like hang pictures and buy curtains...but for now we are calling it done!  The wall is a light green/blue (you can't really tell from the pictures) and the curtains will incorporate some color from the letters and comforter, we just haven't decided which color yet.

Another Fundraising Party!

So I know its been a while since I've posted...don't worry, you haven't missed much of anything.  Its been a busy couple of weeks with work and a trip to Disney World for a conference (more on that later).  But for now, I wanted to let you all know about another fundraiser we are having.  This weekend we are having a Silpada jewelry party.  Our sweet friend Julie (who sells Silpada) has been offering to throw the party for months and she is going to give us the proceeds that she would normally make from all of the sales, to use toward our adoption fund!  Thanks again Julie!

Here is the link for anyone who would like to do some shopping.  They have awesome jewelry and you might even find some great stuff to use as Mother's Day gifts!!!!

https://mysilpada.com/sites/julie.garber/public/content/jewelry/index.jsf

I'm going to try to get caught up on posts again...so stay tuned there will be some posts about Easter, my trip to Disney, and other "what we do while waiting" posts.  I'm also hoping to reveal the nursery as soon as i get the rest of the pictures uploaded....

On the Tough Days...

If you read my blog often, you know that I typically try to remain really positive, especially when talking about adoption and the adoption process.  I want to make a blog book with all of my posts and I would love to be able to show the book to Baby Harrill one day, and I don't ever want them to hear me say something negative about adoption.  But, I also wouldn't be painting an accurate picture of adoption if I didn't talk about the tough days.

The tough days are those days when you realize how badly you want for your baby to come home.  That there is a spot in your heart just waiting for that baby, and that empty spot physically aches the longer you wait.  With pregnancy there is a count down, you know roughly when your new baby will arrive.  With adoption there is no count down...it could happen today, it could happen  next month, it could happen next year!  The wait can be good, it gives you time to get the nursery ready, pick out a daycare, save money, spend time as just a family of two, and really prepare our hearts to be parents.  But the wait can be hard, it can be excruciating  it can be sad, it can be lonely, but the wait is part of God's plan!

On those tough days, when I'm feeling sorry for myself and wishing that I could control my own destiny, I'm reminded of Jeremiah 29:11.  "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope".  What a blessing to know that I don't need to be anxious about my lack of control in this situation, because I am NOT supposed to be in control.  God is in control, He knows exactly which baby is going to be joining our family and His timing is perfect!  A friend, who is also waiting to adopt, recently reminded me that God had our babies chosen long before we even made the decision to adopt.  I know all of this is True, and although the road is still difficult at times, this gives me peace in the process.

So what do I do on those tough days?  I come home and spend time with my amazing husband and awesome puppies!  That always seems to make everything better :)