Vacation Part I: Disneyland

Andy and I just returned from the most magical vacation...

We went to Disneyland and California Adventure!

After a long season that seems to be getting longer, we were in need of a break.

Andy went away for a whole month in May, leading his training school on a missions trip overseas, 

so we knew that when he got back, we would need time away together.

We normally would desire to be at a beach or at a fancy hotel...

but I think deep down, we were both needing some good, old-fashioned fun!

SO, off to Anaheim we went!

This is us pulling out of the Tempe Public Library.  We wanted to rent a Harry Potter book or two on cd, but they didn't have any!  What a bummer. But the 5 1/2 hr drive was passed easily.  

We love to talk :)

Here is the border of Cali--almost there!

After we checked into our Holiday Inn, we decided to head down to Downtown Disney, pick up our tickets for the parks, and check out the sites.  Disneyland Drive!  YAY!

 Downtown Disney--we made it!  Vacation, here we come!

Downtown Disney is a fun outdoor mall kind of place, but run by Disney.  

Lots of places to eat and shop.  There were several heavenly caramel popcorn stands and cupcake and cinnamon roll stands that tempted me, but we ended up ordering a pizza from a local place and eating dinner at the hotel.  There were SO many people there... not sure how these people afford to feed their families on those prices!

 So here we are Thursday morning, about to enter the park!  

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

waiting for the park to officially open.  Super excited.

 We booked it to Space Mountain.  Love that ride!

Andy had never been to a Disney park before... so he was ready!

Splash Mountain--I got soaked!

Ok, so of course, knowing me, one of the places that was at the top of my lists of things to do

was to visit Pooh Corner Bakery in Critter Country, just past the Winnie the Pooh ride and Splash Mountain.  Jenny Flake from the Picky Palate blog described this place in such detail,
I had to visit!

Excuse me, look at those delicious treats!

Our first time to visit (yes, we went back on Saturday), we decided to get the Raspberry White Chocolate cookie and the Chocolate Covered S'mores bar.

HELLO, fabulous!  The cookies were HUGE and soft and amazingly delicious.

I even found a copycat recipe for this very cookie and am planning on making them and posting the recipe on my blog.  

Incredible chunks of white chocolate goodness.

The second time we went back, we got the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie and this Chocolate and Toffee covered Mickey brownie.  Both good.  My favorite treats, hands down, were the cookies.

We love bears.  All over Critter Country!

About to go onto the 3D Star Tours ride.

I still love this ride, even though it's for kids!

Ok, another treat on my list that I read on the Picky Palate blog was the Dole Tiki Bar.  

There you can get freshly squeezed pineapple juice or an amazing Dole Whip--frozen yogurt whipped with pineapple juice and tiny chunks of pineapple.

We split a Dole Whip float--the whip on top of juice.  Best of both worlds!  And so refreshing on this hot day.  (Ignore the frizzy, pulled-back hair!)

 Here's Minnie, being the lady that she is!  (Quite short and thin, might I add!)

We LOVE big brass bands, so this was a treat to stumble upon as we were killing time before our hotel shuttle came to pick us up.  So fun!

 The perfect end to our first day at Disneyland!

Though...Yet

Everyday I am reminded of the simple truths that

God's timing is not my own

and 

He is still to be worshipped 

even when our circumstances don't seem good or promising or fair.

These are important truths to learn (and keep learning),

but also hard ones to swallow.

This verse in Habakkuk has been a convicting and encouraging one for me, 

and I challenge anyone else to write their own version when you are faced with a trial or difficulty.

"Though the fig tree does not bud

   and there are no grapes on the vines, 

though the olive crop fails 

   and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

   and no cattle in the stalls, 

yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 

   I will be joyful in God my Savior."

Habakkuk 3:17-18

The truth is, I have experienced more pain and heartbreak 

than I thought I could ever bear

over the past 6 months, 

but though I have many "thoughs"

I am choosing to end my sentences with the "yet"!

I WILL REJOICE!

I will be joyful in the Lord.  

Only He can give me the strength to rejoice, 

but I also must choose this... and it really is the better way.

Mother's Day Weekend

This past weekend I had tons of fun with Andy's mom, Lyn!

I invited her out for Mother's Day weekend for somewhat of a "girls' weekend".

On a whim, I invited my mother in law(love) out, and thankfully, she was able to come!
We had such a good time having quality time together.

We got massages, laid by the pool, went out to eat, 

watched a movie and ate pizza, 

traipsed around Jerome, AZ like tourists,

 and enjoyed a beautiful Mother's Day brunch at a farm.

She was only here for 2 days but we packed it all in!
Thank you for visiting me, Lyn!

out to lunch at The Herb Box

little artist town of Jerome, AZ
Pop. 350

kind of looks like a coastal European city

Can you see me and Lyn?
Wouldn't you know that this tiny little town has a shop
with the "world's largest collection of kaleidoscopes"!

Couldn't really capture the beautiful views in this shot, but they were amazing.

Interesting fellow singing interesting songs.  The dog was such a sweetie.

Lyn opening her cards from us and Ben&Merinda.  They were so clever to mail them to my house!

The Farm at South Mountain puts on an AMAZING brunch for Mother's Day.
It was sooo lovely to eat al fresco under a tree and enjoy the day.
I've never had better bacon in my life.

Cheers to a great weekend!

A Whole New World

I know many of you have followed my blog postings, 

especially since I opened up about our journey into infertility.

Well, since my last post, things look a little (read:  much) different.

I haven't posted everything because I'm not sure 

how open we're ready to be online about our situation, 

but I will share a little more here.

In February, after some earth-shattering results, we were referred to another kind of doctor,
in addition to our Reproductive Endocrinologist (fertility doctor).

To make a long story short, our only chance to have biological children

is through IVF. 

Over this past year and a half, I always talked about IVF as if it were this last resort thing

that we would never have to go to because I didn't believe we had any real issues.

IVF was expensive (still is), involved, scary, overwhelming, 

and just not something we would ever need.

Well, I was wrong.

And now, on this side of things, 

I am so thankful to God for IVF.

I am so thankful that He gifts some men and women with brilliance, intelligence, 

and medical expertise to help couples achieve pregnancy

in cases where they wouldn't be able to on their own.

I fully believe that God has led us here and is with us in this process.

I am aware that there are a slew of opinions and conclusions that people have on this subject, 

but all I want to say is that I am thankful for IVF.

I don't believe we're taking this into "our own hands".

God is still God and still the Giver of Life. 

IVF is not even a "given" or a quick-fix.

We are fully aware that it doesn't always achieve pregnancy.

The statistics are not 100%, so God is still the writer of this story. 

I haven't started my IVF cycle yet (and it lasts 2-3 months), 

but I will soon.

I will soon enter into a world of mail-order drugs, 

multiple, daily injections, 

daily doctors' appointments, bloodwork, ultrasounds...

I've wondered a lot over the past year, 

Have this many pregnant women always existed?

Or am I just more aware of baby bumps because I so long for one?

And now, as we have doven headlong into the acronym-riddled world of infertility, 

I have wondered, 

Have this many Christian women and couples 

struggling with infertility 

and going through IVF

always been here?

Or have I just been enveloped into a different kind of "club"

so now I'm more aware? 

Either way, I'm learning now, more than ever, 

that many, many men and women are diagnosed and faced with infertility.

In fact, 7.3 million in America are, and this week (April 21-28)

happens to be National Infertility Awareness Week.

I have found comfort and hope and encouragement

through many blogs of women who have gone through
and are facing the challenges of infertility and treatments.
It's incredible that there are so so so many others who struggle with this.


It has been and still is an extremely painful journey to be on,
one of dying to many hopes and dreams,
but Andy and I are expectant for a miracle
and
look forward to seeing the glory of God revealed through our suffering.


Love, Emily

Kitchen Creations (lately)

Lately it seems that if I ever have any "free time", it is spent baking something!  (Accept for this extremely rare occasion when I have my legs propped up on Andy's lap and I'm blogging and watching Harry Potter with the hubs.)  From church events to birthdays to weddings...  I love it, of course!  But literally, some days I come home from work, straight in from the garage and proceed to stand at the counter for hours baking and creating.  Andy loves to encourage me in my baking and says I should start my own business.  Ha!  That's going a bit too far.  At least for now, that is an overwhelming idea.

Here are some of the sweets my kitchen has produced over the past couple of months...

Mochaccino Cupcakes for a coworker's birthday

Carrot Cake for our friend Nate's graduation party

Fun sprinkle cake for Ellie's baptism celebration!

Sprinkles!  Just take a handful and smash 'em into the sides.
A little tedious and messy but totally worth the results!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cupcakes,
Triple Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes, and White Wedding Cupcakes
120 in total!  

Another wedding cake!  Andy married the couple and I baked their cake.
We were a dynamic duo, needless to say :)

The Lowest of Lows - The Highest of Highs

One of the many incredible Arizona sunsets.

(There I go again, leaving weeks of silence on this blog.) Thank you to all who read my last post and responded so warmly and lovingly.  I'm thankful for the way God is using our lives to bring people encouragement, hope, and ultimately glory to His name.

The funny (read: ironic) thing is that the day after I wrote that post, we got some "bad" news.  This news led to more testing and, ultimately, even more "bad" news.  Our journey felt (and sometimes still does feel)like it was taking a turn for the worst.  Without getting too specific, Andy and I have found ourselves in a place we never thought we'd be as we long for children.  

We have a lot of praying, listening, waiting, and seeking to do.

In the past week or so, I have experienced all sorts of emotions:

heartbreak, 

heartache, 

fear, 

frustration, 

anger, 

loneliness, 

hope, 

faith, 

despair...

but I can honestly say that God has still been Faithful to me.

He has met me in my pain, felt troubled in His spirit with me, wept with me, 

and still constantly turns to me and says, 

"Emily, if you believe, you will see the glory of God."

What else can I do but believe Him?  At times, I have felt so hurt by God by the way things have turned out that I want to run from Him, 

but at the same time, 

He is the only One who knows me and can comfort me in the way that matters, that 

He is the one I'm running to.

John 11 has been by bread and butter these past few weeks.  It was in that chapter that Martha's brother Lazarus, whom Jesus really loved and cared for, got sick and died.  Martha sent men to tell Jesus that Lazarus was really sick and on his death bed and to please come, but Jesus stayed where He was for 2 days until He made the journey back to Judea (a place where He had been persecuted before).  By the time Jesus got to their home, Lazarus had been dead and in a tomb for 4 days.  Martha and Mary and their family were so sad and grieving the loss of their dear brother.  Martha met Jesus first, and He told her that her brother would rise again (like, in a few moments), and Martha responded, telling Jesus that she believed he would rise again at the resurrection day.  

This is when Jesus says, 

"I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.  Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)

Martha believes.  Then she sends Mary to meet Jesus.  For once, Martha gets it right, but Mary is a little slower to catch up.  

She is obviously distraught that her brother died.

Where were you, Jesus?
I thought you would come!

If only You had been here, Lazarus would be alive right now.

Jesus hears her pain and goes with her to see Lazraus' body.  The scripture actually says that Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled" and He wept with His friends.  

The God of the universe felt human emotion with His grieving friends and wept and mourned with them.  Even when He knew the outcome of the situation!  

That is incredibly amazing to me.  

And that's definitely why I will never run from Him in my pain but instead run to Him.

But the most impactful part about this story to me has been in verse 40.  After Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, He turns to Mary and says, 

"Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

So, I am choosing to believe. Over and over and over again, I'm believing His words.  I'm believing His promises.  I'm choosing to believe even when it doesn't seem possible or logical or fun or easy.

God WILL be glorified in this situation, in our lives, and ultimately in all the earth. 

I feel privileged (at times!) to take part in the suffering of Christ in order that 

His life may be revealed in me.

And I wanted to share something to encouraged you, whoever you are reading this.  God showed me this morning, that He has "high places" for each one of us.  But the only way we know something is a "high place" is if we travel through the valley.  There is usually pain and suffering in the valley, but it is worth it in the end, as God ultimately is victorious and gets the glory.  But the high places He talks of in scripture... I believe there are unique and specific ones that He has created for each of His children.  Read Habakkuk 3:17-19 in the New American Bible Standard version:

Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ The Lord ^[b]God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.

Praying that even though it is extremely painful and sometimes feels like death, 

that you would embrace Jesus in your suffering and find that 

He ultimately is scheming and planning for your GOOD and 

has great heights of love, glory, and blessing to take you to.