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 :)

2012 Recap

 I absolutely can not believe how quickly 2012 flew by.  As I type this we are already 1/2 way through January, 1/2 way through February, 1/2 way through March!!!!.  I really don't know where the time is going.  I am thankful that we have kept ourselves so busy though, because I was afraid the adoption wait would drag, but these past 6 months were gone before we knew it...here's hoping this spring proves to be equally as exciting and busy!

*As you look at the pictures below, if you click on them they will get big enough to see without a magnifying glass :) *

January 2012 
Settling in back from an awesome trip in Las Vegas, Christmas with Jenn's dad, and  praying about a very important decision (hint hint..something we decide in February)

February 2012 
Mark's 30th Birthday, beach trip with friends,  spa weekend for Shannon's 30th birthday (no pictures), and after many prayers we made the decision to attend an adoption information session with our agency!

March 2012 
We decide to move forward with the adoption process and complete our preliminary application, trip to Charlotte to celebrate Mark's mom's birthday and tell our parents that we are starting the adoption process.

April 2012 
Attend our first adoption conference at our agency, visited with friends and family in Charlotte, and managed to catch a Bulls game

May 2012 
Mountain Trip with friends, Charlotte for Mother's Day, Finally some free weekends to work on our massive amounts of adoption paperwork

June 2012 
School wrapped up for Mark, Summer officially started, Jenn took a trip to lake with the girls, Mark to the beach for a Bachelor party, Home Study completed, Trip to MD to visit with Shannon and Brady, and  annual trip with friends to Charleston and Hilton Head.

July 2012
Philadelphia with Catelyn to visit Bryan, Mountains for Jon and Sarah Jean's wedding, Melissa and Eric's wedding in Raleigh

August 2012 
Officially on the adoption waiting list (August 1)!  Trip to NJ to visit with family, School starts back, Summer comes to an end

September 2012 
Fall started off with a bang...our friends threw us an amazing adoption shower Click here  and here  for pictures from a previous blog post.  We hosted our first (and likely only) adoption yard sale Click Here to see pictures from that post.  Then we went to Maryland to spend time with Shannon and Brady and celebrate his 2nd Birthday!  And then we went spent time with Mark's family at Myrtle Beach...Remember? (click here)

October 2012 
Three weekends this month were spent in Charlotte; Girls weekend, wedding weekend, and then our 2nd adoption conference.  The last weekend we got to enjoy a high school football game and some time with family!  Click Here to remember

November 2012 
Flapjack Fundraiser, Panther's Game, Jenn turns 30!!!! and Thanksgiving.
Click Here, Here, and Here

December 2012 
2012 Ended with month full of time with friends and family, Christmas parties, illnesses, and Christmas!
To Remember Click Here  and Here

I know this is a l.o.n.g. post, but I know that when I look back on this blog after a few months I will be so glad that I did a 2012 recap.  It was tough trying to remember what we did each month but so fun to go back and look at pictures and remember all the fun times.  I hope to stay on top of it this year so that I don't have to spend 3 months of 2014 trying to remember what I spent all of 2013 doing!

Charlotte, Ikea, and Snow

The weekend after Mark's birthday we headed to Charlotte to celebrate with the family.  It called for snow all weekend, so I was glad when we woke up on Saturday and there wasn't any snow yet.  We were able to meet up with my parents for breakfast and then head to Ikea to pick up the dresser for the nursery.  I always have so much fun at Ikea and could stay there all day just wandering...but Mark doesn't love big crowds quite the way that I do so luckily we knew exactly what we were looking for and we knew they had it in stock (thank you Ikea website!).  We've started putting it together, but aren't quite done so I'll wait till its finished to post a picture.

Once all of our very important shopping was done I was ready for the snow to start...and right on cue it started coming down around 4:30 and came down fast and hard for a few hours.  The dogs had a blast playing in the snow and Mark hung out on the porch all bundled up in his snow gear drinking a beer.  I guess he is missing the summer time where he could just sit outside, enjoy the weather, and have a beer while he grilled.

Mark's mom LOVES birthdays and so made an absolute celebration out of the evening...complete with ice cream cake - yum!