From our family, to yours.

I am so thankful to be able to spend Christmas with all of my friends and family who I love. I was having a bit of trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year, simply because of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

And then someone sent me this poem. I was at work when I read it, and I sat there on my lunch break and cried and sobbed. It's sad to think about those children, but something about this poem was just so comforting. Knowing that they are really celebrating the best Christmas EVER.

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
when 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
they could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
they were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.
they remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"this is heaven." declared a small boy. "we're spending Christmas at God's house."
when what to their wondering eyes did appear,
but Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
then He opened His arms and He called them by name.
and in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring
those children all flew into the arms of their King
and as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
one small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
and as if He could read all the questions she had
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."
then He looked down on earth, the world far below
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe
then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"may this country be delivered from the hands of fools"
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"
then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"come now my children, let me show you around."
excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
all displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
and i heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"in the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

I look at my daughter, who has a cold right now and has been such a trooper, and I cry because of how lucky I am. I never thought I would have her. And yet, she is upstairs asleep in her bed right now. How lucky am I?

I know too many people who are struggling with infertility right now. My heart breaks for them. I was there at one time not too long ago. When J and I first met, he said he didn't want kids. My heart was in my throat when I heard him say that because having kids was something I really looked forward to. As our relationship went on, I had resigned myself to the fact that I would not ever be a mother. I loved this man, and I couldn't make him do something he didn't want to do. I loved him so much, that I was willing to keep up my dream. And then one magical January weekend in Philadelphia, a moment changed our lives forever. I asked J the other night if he liked be a dad. His response? "I feel like it was what I was put here on earth to do. I love it more than I ever thought I could." And you can tell, just by watching him with Mackenzie. He is the most wonderful father. I'm not going to lie, it's something I worried about when I was pregnant. We were both young, him being only 19 when we found out I was pregnant. We were still into the partying every weekend lifestyle. I felt SO guilty that I was taking that away from him. I thought he was going to resent me for it. But we have learned to balance family and fun very well.

Just because we have a child, doesn't mean we can't have fun. More planning goes into a "party weekend", but it's not so different. The kiddo goes to bed, and we have some friends over for drinks and board games! And the wonderful part is, our friends have been SO GREAT. We are the first of our group to have kids, but everyone is SO family oriented. They don't mind that we can't just up and go out to dinner on a whim. They don't mind that we can't have music blaring until the wee hours of the morning. We are truly blessed with some great people tonight.

This blog is kind of all over the place, isn't it? I haven't really blogged in a while and I suppose all my thoughts are just spilling out.

I have lots of pictures to put in here, so I guess I will wrap this up!

"And I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sigh: Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

No words.

You all know.....Nothing even needs to be said.

20 babies. 20 precious little angels. Gone. For no reason.

I can't....I really just can't.

I will leave you with 2 thoughts......

And my personal favorite:

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun."
                                                                                -Wayne LaPierre

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I can't believe it's already Christmas again! This time last year, Mackenzie was only 3 months old. She was so tiny. The extent of her skills were smiling, laughing, and explosive poops.

Now she is walking, talking, singing....She is a little person now!

We are keeping it pretty low key for Christmas this year. I have been working like crazy, J has picked up a job for the off season...The schedule is GREAT. The only sucky part is that he will have to work Christmas day. BOOOO! He's only going to be there until March, and the pay is a lot more than he'd be getting with the seasonal worker unemployment, so we are happy!

We took Mackenzie to see Santa a few weeks ago! It is AMAZING to look at her picture from last year, and the one this year. She is so beautiful. I have been so blessed with an amazing little girl!

Our tree is pathetic this year. When we did our spring cleaning last year, J accidentally threw out a couple pieces to our tree. We didn't want to spend the money on a new one this year, because we are saving up to get a new car come February, so I just went to the dollar store and picked up a dinky little 25 dollar tree. Our house isn't huge, so it's actually a much better fit then the old tree. I would love to have a real tree, like I always did growing up. But J and I learned very quickly our first Christmas together, that it wasn't possible. We had picked out a tree, and stuffed it into the back of my little Volkswagon Beatle. All of a sudden, J broke out head to toe in hives, and his throat started to close up! Of course, he was allergic to the Christmas tree, as he is to most trees. Gee, he's in the right profession, isn't he? A professional landscaper who is allergic to grass and trees!

Wedding plans are.....Well...They're going. Somewhat. I have been SO bad about planning. Work has been SO busy and I am beat by the time I get home. I work most weekends so it's hard to get things done. I used my last 2 days off to finally pin down the caterer, get a quote for a DJ, sign the contract with the photographer, and make an appointment with a florist. On top of that, I've been studying and taking training seminars for my certification for work. I take my state boards in January! WOOT!

That's about all to report for now! I leave you with some pictures!

 Mackenzie last year, and Mackenzie this year! What a difference!!!

Our sad, sad little tree.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family, to yours! I hope everyone enjoys their day with their loved ones!

Sorry I have been scarce...I'm back to work full time and also training/studying for my pharmacy boards to become nationally certified. I'll do an update on the job soon!

Wedding planning will be another update. Until then, just enjoy the holiday and remember to give thanks!

God bless the USA

Cause we are surely going to need it!!!

Why so silent?

Another wonderful song from another wonderful (and longest running since CATS closed) broadway show, Phantom of the Opera!

So, people. Why so silent? 42 followers, and a good bit of hits everyday, and no comments! Come on, people! Get involved!

No, no. I'm not an attention whore...I swear! =) I know you have thoughts, so share away!!!

Save the Date!

It's the middle of October, and wedding plans are in full swing!!

We have gotten some big things out of the way.

We set a date! October 26, 2013. I always dreamed of a fall wedding, especially around here with the GORGEOUS mountains we have. 

We booked the venue for the ceremony and reception

It's an old 18th century barn that they turned into a ballroom. It's even prettier in person if you can believe it! It's located on an 167 acre farm and has numerous historic buildings we can utilize for the wedding! My favorite part? The bridal suite is WAY up high, actually right from where this picture was taken from. They have an old train the runs throughout the entire top of the barn, and the groom will usually put a little note on it and they will stop the train in front of the window to the bridal suite. It's cute little touches like that, that really make the day!

We booked our photographer! We have used her before, when we had some pictures done while I was pregnant. She does amazing work and we are so excited she is able to capture our special day! she will also be doing our engagement pictures the first week of November.

Our Save-The-Dates are all addressed and ready to go out! I was so excited when they arrived. It made it all feel very real.

I have been waiting for this moment for so long, and it's actually happening.  I don't think I have ever delved too deep into my prior relationship on this blog....But it is true I was engaged once before. Between the ages of 16-19. I was RIDICULOUS. My poor Mom. She was so gracious, and tried to be happy for me. I know inside she was screaming at me. But she needed for me to make my own decisions, and realize for myself how wrong it was. We were going to get married on April 18, 2008. We even went as far as booking a gorgeous mansion in the area, making plans, etc...Then one day something hit me. And I told him I thought we should postpone it. We continued our relationship, I moved to Florida and then on April 19th 2008, his step-dad, who I was very close to, passed away at the tender age of 40. I remember thinking...."Holy crap. If we had decided to get married yesterday, this would have been all we would be able to associate our marriage with. The death of someone we loved so much." It just reaffirmed my belief that I had made the right decision in calling it off. Throughout the rest of our relationship, we entertained the idea of getting married. Even considered going to the courthouse.We tried having a baby together after suffering a miscarriage from a surprise pregnancy (stupid decision # 2. I was so very blinded by him). We tried for 5 months and could never get pregnant again. There was always *something* that stopped me from committing fully to our relationship. And I truly believe it was God telling me "No, Ashley. Wait. You have a man in Maryland waiting for you who is going to give you a beautiful daughter, and a life you truly deserve." I thank Him everyday for helping me to be strong and for His guidance.

Okay, enough sap! I am a giddy, excited, blushing bride! I need to get a wedding binder. As it stands now, all our wedding plans/paperwork are cluttering up our kitchen table. I can't wait to blog all about the journey of wedding planning! So we will start with this: