A New Chapter

I mentioned a few posts back that I might have some exciting news to share soon.
It's true.
About a week ago I accepted a new job as a school nurse! I am incredibly excited about this opportunity, I really cannot wait to get started! I gave my two week notice this past Monday, which means my last day at my current job will be this Friday. It's bittersweet, as most new chapters in life are. I have built so many meaningful relationships and learned so much at Emeritus. It will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will definitely be going back at least monthly to visit my sweet residents who are so very special to me. While it's hard to leave, I also know that I am going to love my new job. I am so excited to get to work with kids, and get more time with my Ruby girl. I'm thankful for the blessing of change, even though it can be hard.
We've been casually looking at houses, which is pretty fun! It's so fun to walk through places and imagine our family growing there, as well as imagining what history the walls of all those rooms hold. We keep going back and forth on "are we really ready for this?", which most likely means we're not. It's still fun to dream, nonetheless. Ruby likes looking at houses, too. Our real estate agent keeps telling us that she is the best house hunting baby she's ever met. She enjoys testing the acoustics in the houses by squealing in each room.
We had our final home visit for our (never-ending) foster care certification (we started in November 2011). Our case-worker said that she thinks that we should be certified by the second week of April. We definitely aren't holding our breath, seeing as though it could take much longer, but are hopeful and excited for that change as well!
Andrew has some neat and exciting things going on at his job as well. He moved into a new office where Ruby loves to visit and help him send emails. Andrew is still enjoying his ministry with our boys, and is starting to work on connecting them with families in our church. It's neat to see his ministry grow and change, and I feel grateful to get to be apart of it.

So, there you have it. That's all of our news in a nutshell.

And here are some Ruby pictures for those of you who come to this blog strictly for that reason.

2012 in Pictures

It's become a tradition around these parts to do a recap of our year in pictures. It's fun for me to look back on all the years I've been doing this, and I'm glad to continue the tradition this year.
What a year it has been! I can say with 100% certainty that this has been the best year Andrew and I have ever had. We grew so much together, and then grew our family by 1 (2 if you count Banjo, which we totally do).
Without further adieu, 2012 in pictures:
(see 2009 here, 2010 here, and 2011 here)

January:
Juju visited and I thought that I was "showing". If only I would have known that my belly still wouldn't look that good 4 months postpartum...

February:

Our (wonderfully) weird friends dressed up and went to see Star Wars. We gladly babysat Nolan while they went. He's so little in these pictures! Sigh, they grow up so fast. 

Taylor's face looks so strange through that mask...

March:
Andrew got to pray at the Hornets game. They happened to be playing the Mavs that night which meant I got to watch Dirk warm up from the side of the court, oh and Jason Terry smiled and waved back at me when I said hi to him. This was also Nolan's first NBA game. What a night!

April:

Easter with our crew and Ruby's first concert (in-utero) at Jazz Fest. 

May:

We met this three crazy pups and chose our boy. 

June:
Celebrated one year of marriage with a baby in my belly, a pup on my hip, and my love by my side.

July:

The boys ended their most successful baseball season to date. We are so proud of the progress (not only in sports) that they have made this year. 

August:

Nothing important happened this month.

JK. We had a baby. Our beautiful, wonderful, sweet, precious, darling girl! 

September:
We spent a lot of time staring at Ruby in awe. Ruby mastered her famous "oh face".

October:

The only pictures I have from this month are random ones of Ruby and Halloween. Halloween was really fun.

November:

Ruby's (and Banjo's) first Thanksgiving and LOTS of sweet smiles. Mama also had her first day back at work and Ruby had her first day of school (saddest day EVER, for me at least). 

December:

Sweetest, most special Christmas ever. 

2012 was a year full of new adventures for us. We feel so very blessed and have full hearts reflecting back on such a special year for our family. We thank God for his faithfulness, provisions and unending love and are looking forward to what 2013 has in store for us. 

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord if my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." -Lamentations 3:22-26

Life these days

It seems like I've taken a slight blogging hiatus unintentionally. I'll catch up on the baby posts soon, it's just that things have been kind of hectic here lately.
Andrew and I are in the middle of making some pretty big, life changing decisions. It's exciting, frustrating, and difficult. Change is always hard, even if its small.
We've kind of started the process of looking for a new place to live, and I've gotten kind of into it. I have this really strong desire to get settled in a place where our sweet girl will be welcomed into a home that has a special space just for her instead of just a bassinet in our room. I know she wont know the difference, but it's important to me for some reason. Nesting this soon? Possibly, except I have absolutely no desire to clean, so probably not. It's probably because I've been on Pinterest way too much when I get home from everything we've been doing these days. I have some pretty fabulous ideas for Little One's nursery (hopefully she'll get one). It is so much fun looking and imagining what it will be like to decorate a space for her.

Baseball season is in full swing. The boys have been SO well behaved. I was thinking about how much they have changed in one year. Last year at baseball practice Andrew and the other coaches spent at least 80% of practice breaking up fights and trying to get them to pay attention for just 5 minutes. This year, it's like a brand new group of boys. While they are still rowdy 9, 10, and 11 year old boys, their attitudes are completely changed. They try hard, are generally pretty respectful, and haven't gotten in ONE fight yet this season. AMAZING. I love them so much, and am grateful to God for placing each one of them in our lives. Since we started ministering to them, 3 of them have accepted Jesus into their hearts. 2 of them were baptized last week, and 1 is getting baptized on Mother's day. It is so special to watch them grow, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm so thankful for the work God is doing in them, and that he's allowed us to be apart of it!

Work is good. I've hit the 6 month mark and still enjoy going to work most days. On the days I'm not that excited to go, I try and remember when I didn't have a job and wanted one so badly and that usually helps. I enjoy my residents, co-workers, and the difference I get to make in people's lives. The good mostly always outweighs the stress.

And that is an update on life as we know it right now.

Glimpse into the future

Today I got a small glimpse of what life may be like in a few years as a little family.
After the Bunny Friend's got stomped at their basketball game, we took Tre out to lunch at Cane's. His top three choices were McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell but after Andrew let him know that I wouldn't go for any of those (he knows me well), Tre caved to Cane's. After some tasty chicken the plan was to take Tre home.
That is until he said "can we go to a pawn shop?"
I looked at Andrew, confused and not really understanding how Tre even knows what a pawn shop is, let alone why he is asking us to go to one.
Andrew said "I took him to a pawn shop...and he loved it."
All I could do was crack up, and think about how this is going to be my life. Driving around to pawn shops with my husband and kids looking through 'treasures' trying to find the perfect ones for us.
So, off we went to the pawn shop!
We looked at games, guitars, huge wrenches (when Tre saw those he asked what they were used for. Andrew replied "Big machinery, like backhoes" Tre thought that was hilarious), we even looked at the sparkly diamonds. His favorite were the games, though.

I loved laughing and spending time with these guys today. It makes me smile to think about future days like this with our growing family. So fun! 

Insta-Friday: Saturday Edition

Didn't take many pictures again this week. Oops! 

I did take one that I happen to be extremely fond of. Please allow me to share it with you: 

Yep, it's what you think it is. 

A picture of me reading my employee handbook at the boys' football practice. 

I am employed, and feeling extremely blessed and taken care of. 

I'll be working at an assisted living facility and am very excited to get started on Monday. It is going to be a very challenging job that will stretch me beyond my comfort zone. I have a lot to learn. 

Andrew and I are both so grateful for your prayers. We are thankful that God provided for us through this time, and that he brought us through it quickly! 

I want a job.
Alright, I got complaining I don't have a job yet out of the way for this post, now we can move onto happier, less annoying things. Like how in 2 days Andrew and I will celebrate 2 months of marriage. Crazy how fast it's gone by. Marriage is such a fun adventure. We're still figuring it all out, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to say that for at least a few more years. 
Robyn visited us, and we had a wonderful time showing her the city, eating some good food, and introducing her to the kids that we love. We had quite the animal filled couple of days. We went to the aquarium AND the zoo. We met some cute little parakeets that hated the sound of the Natches steamboat blowing its horn. 

My slight fear of birds made me a little wary at first but once I was assured that they are pretty harmless I really enjoyed it. And by really enjoyed it, I mean, I couldn't stop smiling. 

We took some cute little ones to the zoo today. I think they had more fun sitting on the statues than seeing the real animals.

They are so fun. 

I really am loving that we get to hang out with these kids so much and invest in their lives. It's special for us, and hopefully them too. 

Well, tomorrow evening is the fantasy football draft...is anyone as excited as I am? Probably not! 

Scared at the swamp

We took the boys to the swamp last week when Allie was in town. They were all pretty excited and were convinced the second we got out of New Orleans (pretty much the only place they know) that we were in Mississippi. After telling them about 10 times that we were still in Louisiana, I gave up, and let them think that we had taken them to a different state.

They were very out of their element to say the least. Every little thing scared them. When the boat sped up and the front rose out of the water a little I had four of them screaming at me "THE BOAT IS COMING UP!!!!!!". After about 30 minutes on the water they all started to calm down a little, but the first gator we saw about did them in...

Love it. 

Interview day

Today I had my first "grown up" job interview. It was for a job that I applied for just yesterday morning. I got a call that afternoon asking me to come in today. It was surreal, considering I have spent months applying for jobs with just one lousy rejection email to prove it, and then out of nowhere I get a call for an interview the SAME DAY I apply for a job?! Unreal. 

Anyway, it went alright I suppose. Definitely not how I expected it to go, which seems to be the theme of life right now. I prepared by getting my profession portfolio all dolled up and ready and didn't even have an opportunity to show it off, and Andrew (so sweetly, and patiently) gave me multitudes of practice interview questions and I only got asked ONE. 

I'll hopefully hear something tomorrow! 

In other news, football season has begun which means I get to laugh at the boys fumbling around in their huge pads and helmets. It's pretty stinking adorable. I can tell that they feel so tough and macho in them, even though they look like strange tiny humans with huge torsos and heads. Again, adorable. 

 I have lost my voice thanks to the cold I mentioned in the previous post. The boys last night acted like it was headline news that I sounded funny, and kept accusing Andrew of getting me sick. They also stole my cough drops. Rude. 

I find myself in this very familiar place, rambling random things on our blog. 

I'm off to eat some grapes and watch Andrew play football on his playstation...jealous?

Allye