5 Year Anniversary // 1 Year Celebration

5 years ago today this happened:

I married my bestie!  

Marriage has been FUN.  Andy is truly my best friend, and I love living life with him by my side.

I am honored to be his wife and partner.

Marriage has also been challenging, humbling, and revealing!  

I can be quite stubborn... these 5 years (and many many more) have allowed God to shape and form me to be a little more like Jesus... but I still have a LONG way to go.

Andy helps me to be more

patient, 

calm, 

trusting, 

joyful.

And we have tons of fun and laughter together.  5 years have flown by.

August 8th will now also forever be another anniversary of sorts.

This day last year, we suited up to go into the OR and have our 3 precious embryos implanted into my womb.  

We were so expectant for God to move in miraculous ways.
This was a day of excitement and hope, 

despite all of the setbacks and pain we had endured leading up to this day.

Here we are waiting and ready :)

Little did we know that these little guys would soon turn into our sweet

Benjamin and Zachary!  

One of the perks of IVF, if you could call it a perk, would be that your baby's 

first photo is taken when they are literally seconds old...

Here are the sweet little embys as they were just nestled into my uterine lining.

Crazy!  I am still in awe of medicine and science and the way God moves in creation.

What a full 5 years we have had... looking forward to many many more!

34 Weeks and other happenings

How Far Along:  34 weeks and 2 days

Weight Gain:  I've gained a total of 30 lbs so far.  No weight gain in the past 2 weeks.   

How Big are the Babies?  Approx. the size of cantaloupes.  Baby A weighed 4 lbs 5 oz and Baby B weighed 4 lbs 13 oz last Friday.  36th %ile and 55th %ile.

Movement:  Less kicking and more shifting around.  Baby A is still head down and seems to enjoy being snug in that position.  He has less fluid to move around in than Baby B does.  Baby B is bigger and has more fluid--what a stinker! :)  Baby B has been enjoying the breech position for the past several weeks.  I'm hoping he flips around when it's go-time, but he may not.  He still sometimes kicks me down below, but he's also more just shifting positions.  I love feeling their body parts pushing out.   
Belly button in or out? It has definitely flattened out and is somewhat an outie, but not quite.  

What I miss:  Nothing!

Milestones:  I have made it this far with them still inside!  I am so thankful they're still growing away inside the womb.  I feel like I could make it to 38 weeks, but my doctor seems to think I won't get that far.

Food Cravings:  WATER.  I can't drink enough of it.  And Diet Cokes from QT.  Food wise?  Nothing really.

Aversions: Not much, just still fried food.

Symptoms: Super tired due to insomnia at night.  I've been taking Benedryl to help me sleep, but I don't want to get too used to that.  I have developed seasonal allergies, too.  Not fun!  I'm not sure if that's just par for the course living in Arizona or pregnancy-related.  

Best Moment this week: My good friend Amy was in town again (just saw her in January) to visit her sister, who lives in Tempe.  It was fun spending time with her.  Also, my doctor said I could let up on bedrest this upcoming Monday, when I'm 35 weeks.  

What I'm looking forward to:  Finishing the nursery!  Installing the carseats (still haven't gotten around to that...).  I'm also definitely looking forward to going for a stroll next week.  I can tell that I've lost some muscle tone or at least energy from lying around and not doing anything.  

Andy and I have been enjoying these last few weeks of our family just being a family of 2.  He is really my best friend, and I can't imagine doing this without him.  I just love spending time with him.  Last week was a lighter work week for him due to Spring Break, so we had a lot more time together, and I was sad when he had to go back to training school this monday!  We keep saying, "Pretty soon, it's not going to just be the two of us!"  We're SO excited to meet our boys, but I'm savoring these last childless days.  

Something I've been enjoying while on bedrest is sitting outside to do my time with the Lord or just sitting in the sun.  This sweet little kitty has started visiting me everyday, and I've fallen in love :)  It doesn't take much for me with animals!  I named her Minerva (after Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter) because my family names our pets after HP characters... hehe.  I call her Minnie, and she is just precious.  Yes, I asked my mom to bring me some cat food so I can feed her, too.  Look at her beautiful blue eyes!  She comes inside the house sometimes, too.  I have no shame.

                             

Lifelong friendships are the best. <3 p="">

Kiki, me, and Amy

What have we been up to?

I haven't been the best blogger this summer!  

But we have kept pretty busy, so maybe I have an excuse ;)

MAY:

Andy was gone, as I've written earlier, during the whole month of May

leading his 2012-2013 Antioch Training School class

on their overseas trip to the Middle East.

They did a tour of 4 different nations and had an amazing time.

Two students felt called to return in some capacity, 

and 5 students were asked to join our church staff here in Tempe.

So I would say that was a successful school year!

I am extremely proud of Andy and the way he has led these folks well.

I'm so thankful that Andy has been able to fully walk out in his teaching gifting...

more on that later.

While he was away, I kept busy.  

My mother in law came out to visit, 

I went home to Boston for my brother's graduation,
had my dad visit,
and worked a lot!

JUNE:  

Andy came back (yay!) and we were in the thick of infertility meds.

By the time he returned home on June 2nd, 

I had been shooting myself up 4x/day with different hormones and meds.

(These were to pump up my ovaries and get them ready to produce multiple eggs.)

My cycle of meds lasted my longer than expected, so I was doing this for about 4 weeks

by the time I had my final ultrasound and got the green light for the egg retrieval procedure.

Andy had to have his own procedure the day before mine, 

so we were both laid up for a couple days recooping.

We also enjoyed an amazing and perfectly-timed (God) trip to Disneyland!

You can read my 2 blog posts on our trip.

JULY:

July seemed like a long month to me.

I was on a break from a lot of the fertility treatments for most of the month, 

and we both just worked.

It has been great to have my dad in town all summer for work, 

so we've spent a good amount of time with him.

That has been sweet!  It's great having family nearby.  

I've never really known that since 

before college!

Here are some pics of things we did in July...

Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a!

My brother Nick came to visit!

Birthday dinner I made for Dad on July 16th

We babysat these little things to give mom, dad, and newborn baby brother a night out.

Date Night!

(end of JULY)/AUGUST:

Finally, our whole church staff drove up to Snowbird, Utah

at the end of July for a 4 day Antioch US Church Planting Conference (USCon).  

It was an amazing time getting together with old and new friends, 

sweet times in worship, 

powerful teachings, 

great scenery, 

and re-envisioning as church leaders and church planters.

We always come away from these conferences refreshed and ready 

to see God do all that He wants to do in our city,

and we come away feeling personally refreshed, too.

It was a sweet time. 

Here are some pics...

I love my Camera+ app on my iPhone.  Gorgeous!

worshipping

Andy and 2 guys on staff, Wil and Steven

Me and Kristen with Emily (L), from Boston, and Maddie (R), from Tempe

Most of our team on the road trip back home... at In N Out, of course!

We also celebrated our 4th anniversary on August 8th!

Wow, time flies.  I'm so thankful to be married to my best friend.  

That was such a fun and beautiful day.

I love looking at my wedding photos...

and I'm excited to see what God has in store for our 5th year of marriage!

Happy Three Years!

Andy and I celebrated our Third Anniversary yesterday! 

August 8, 2009

was the day we said, "I do" 

to committing our lives to one another, 

to uniting as one as a reflection of Jesus' love for His bride, the church, 

to loving one another in sickness, health, good, bad, for richer or poorer, 

to putting each other's needs in front of our own, 

to being separated only by death.

Three years isn't really all that long in the grand scheme of things, 

but I love celebrating each year, no matter how little or how many.

Love triumphs over evil always. 

We pray and hope to have a love for one another

that will conquer evil and bring life and hope to those around us.

We occasionally have to choose this love, 

but we are committed for life and so thankful for our marriage.

I am thankful to have a best friend to walk through life with. 

This past year has been tough at times, 

and Andy has been my champion and my partner in it all.

As we celebrate our three years, 

I am finding myself wanting to cherish the time we have left just

husband and wife;

no kids.

I will take this time as a blessing and enjoy it!

At our dinner out 

(Monday night the 6th because lifegroup is Wednesday nights)

we told each other our favorite moments from the past three years

and what we love about one another.

I thought the conversation might not last very long

because we do this activity every once and awhile, 

but our conversation lasted through dinner.

We have a lot to say about each other.

We have a lot of fun memories together.

I love him!

I'm in love.

kPhotographie

Andy and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary on August 8th.  We still hear from people that our wedding was the best wedding they've been to!  I take that as a compliment, as I had been planning that day for pretty much my whole life :)  Just kidding.  Really though, two years is not that long in the grand scheme of things, but for us, we are thankful and excited for more.  We love being married.

It's easy to love being married when you're married to a wonderful man like Andy.  There are so many great things about him, sometimes I feel bad that he got stuck with ME!  I know I know, there are so many great things about me, too, but this post is about him.  First of all, he is so handsome.  I often tell him that my favorite feature about him is his smile.  Doesn't it just make you happy?  It makes me happy, and when he smiles, his eyes light up and you just feel comfortable.  He is so disarming.  Andy has a way about him that allows people to feel loved, secure, and wanted when he is talking to them.  He is such a good listener, too.  He loves to give people his undivided attention when they're talking.  Often people come to him for advice.  Even some of my girlfriends feel comfortable to talk to him about issues going on because he listens well, but he also is wise and kind.  He works hard on whatever he is doing.  You can expect an A+ worthy product if you ask Andy to do it.  He is an amazing teacher.  I don't just mean stand-in-front-of-the-class teacher, but even when he teaches me things in the day to day.  It can be as simple as "What are clouds?"  (I know, I think I should know that from 2nd grade) to "Tell me what you think about Revelation."  He will ponder your question, search his mind and heart, and explain the answer to you in a way you will understand.

Andy is also goofy... just like me.  Probably only Andy and my immediate family know just how weird I can be.  Definitely Andy knows best...and he is weird right along with me!  I love it.  I obviously wouldn't have married him if I couldn't be myself around him, but I still absolutely love feeling so comfortable and secure around him that I can be weird and have my sense of humor and not fear him running away.  Haha, I think some people would if they knew!  (I'm good for him.  I teach him not to take himself so seriously :)  Andy has a big heart.  I love the way he loves babies and Golden Retrievers.  (Almost equally.)  In fact, the only way I for sure know how to get a tear produced from him is to show him some Youtube video about a loyal dog.  He also has a compassionate heart (although he wouldn't agree), and he cares about people so well. 

He also cares FOR people well, too... mainly me.  I get migraines, and during our first year of marriage, I started getting them once a week for about 3 months.  They were terrible, and there was nothing he could do for me, yet he tried anyway.  He would set me up in bed, with a trashcan at my side, a cold cloth over my forehead, and with Excedrin migraine in my hand.  He just wants to help me.  So sweet.  (Sweet because I'm sometimes screaming and crying in pain, and really there is nothing he can do.)  A more recent example...  2 nights ago I pinched something in my neck and couldn't move it without excruciating pain.  I only got a few hours of sleep that night, and woke up at 4 crying.  He went to CVS around 5 to get me cold packs, heating pads, Bengay, and straws.  He held my hand.  He took me to the Chiropractor.  I mean, he is just a servant.  He serves me without any question.  I love him.

I love this man and can't wait to celebrate more years at his side!

kPhotographie