Boom! Pop! Sizzle!

DW and I celebrated the 4th of July with our friends, Daniel and Jessica, and their kids. The city we live in has golf cart paths throughout the community and pretty much everyone owns one that lives here. In fact, at the local high school, the parking lot is filled with more golf carts than cars! We love it here...it's a super active community and you can pretty much get anywhere on a golf cart - grocery store, shopping, and dining. Our community also has a huge tradition for this particular holiday - a "golf cart" parade where people decorate their golf carts in the morning and a huge fireworks display in the evening. People start laying blankets out DAYS before the event and a local Country Club opens up one of their fairways for people to enjoy the display.

It was the best fireworks display I've seen in a long time! Well...make that ever!

The Ward Family in their decorated golf cart:

DW and I waiting on the fireworks to start:

As I sat there watching the kids running on the fairway and playing in the sandtrap while the parents sat on blankets and hung out...it dawned on me that we get to experience such great freedoms because of men like my father and grandfather and the men and women currently serving in the military.

Thank you to those who are protecting my right to live safe and free...

A++ Movie

"I LOVED that movie...I want to own it!" I exclaimed as we are leaving The Proposal on Friday night. It's possibly in my Top-5-favorite-movies-ever list!

"You want to buy it so you can watch it over and over and over?" DW says like he's totally on board but I know he's really teasing me. 99x out of 100, he's the practical one. "I do that!" I defend. "If I love a movie, I WILL watch it over and over!!!" He nods as if he's believing me and then laughs as he says, "Like all the ones you watch over and over right now?" He says the "over and over" part in a high voice resembling one he thinks sounds like mine, knowing full well that all of our movies are currently in a box in the basement.

What can I say? The man knows me.

Fine. But...if I could recommend one movie to go see STAT, this would be the one! It was SO incredibly funny and yet I told DW the actors were all still talented enough to deliver the tender moments of the movie perfectly!!!

Movie Rating: A++ (the extra plus is for casting Ryan Reynolds who was delish! I love an attractive man with a sense of humor!!!)

Short & Sweet

Things have been pretty quiet around here the last several days! DW is working a lot and I've been recovering from my surgery. It's been much more easy than I expected it to be but today was my first true day back at work and I noticed I tire out easier than normal...or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

This past weekend we helped our friends move into their first home of their own - Congrats, Daniel & Krista - and then on Sunday I cleaned like I've never cleaned before in my life. I have no idea what happened, but I found myself vacuuming even the walls in our house. I cleaned every room and I cleaned for hours. Strange. It must have been something I ate!

Over the next several weeks, we've got a lot going on...I'm going on a mission trip with our youth group to Spartanburg, South Carolina. I'm looking forward to it, but I can honestly say I'm not sure what to expect working with high school girls! I'm sure it will be great! After that, hopefully a beach trip somewhere with DW. (Thanks for the suggestions by the way!)

Have a great week!

One Click...

Sufficient Grace Ministries is an organization that works with women and families who have lost a child. One of the things they do is create and deliver "Dreams of You" Memory Baskets to give to grieving mothers, which include: a memory book entitled Dreams of You, written by Kelly Gerken (the ministries founder), which includes places for parents to journal their dreams for their baby, their journey of loss and healing, letters to their baby, pages to record the baby's statistics, memorial service, baptism, footprints, mementos, etc.

They are currently in the process of raising money and have been told that for each comment left on this blog post by Once Upon A Miracle, a $1 will be given in support. It only takes one click to help!

Beach Suggestions

I'm almost positive DW and I are going to the beach in July...which will be the first vacation we've ever taken 100% alone! I'm really excited! Since I've never really been a beach-goer and he LOVES the beach, I'm not sure I should be the person in charge of finding the perfect spot. Then it dawned on me that I could ask for help...

Anyone have any suggestions of their favorite beach or even a condo or house they've rented and just love? I'll take all ideas, locations, links, and most importantly, recommendations!

Help!

(ETA: I should have said we're only going for a long weekend so it's gotta be a quick flight or a days drive away from GA!)

What I Said Is NOT What You Heard...

I'm laying in bed a minute ago, whining about not feeling so good. Last night I experienced hot flashes, cold sweats, the shakes, and my heart was racing...I'm assuming my hormones are trying to figure out what the H is going on with my body at the moment. Today, I'm totally fine but I am feeling pretty worn out.

I say to Dusty, "Um, I've got problems."
"Huh?" he replies, not taking the hint. We don't really talk about bathroom issues, don't do anything bathroom-related around or near each other - it just crosses both of our personal boundaries, so this is a stretch for me to even bring up.
"You know..." I say. "I can't go."
"Ooooooooh....." he replies, understanding now. "Well, what can I do?"
"I'm not sure," I reply awkardly. "The doctor said the only thing I can take if this happens is dulcolax."
"Dook hole wax?" he repeats. I must have looked at him like he had three heads before I turned eleven shades of red and then enunciated, "Dul-co-lax."
DW busts out laughing so hard he's doubled over, holding his side. As is true to form, his lips turn blue when he laughs really hard...but this time they're actually a deep shade of purple.
"Seriously?" I stuttered, still embarrassed.
He finally recovers and stands up, trying to keep a serious face. "Alright, babe..." he says, "I'll go to the store and bring you back some Dook hole wax."

Men! Do they ever really grow up?

The 10,000 Crunch Challenge...

My parents left on Saturday evening and I was sad to see them go...it was really a relief to have them around for the procedure and nice to have people around to care for me! As I mentioned before, the procedure went well and I was feeling pretty good on Friday morning when I blogged about it...in fact, maybe a little too good thanks to the medicine. By Saturday I was feeling like I'd done about 10,000 crunches too many! If you want to know what this procedure feels like, go ahead...try it! ha!

I did find out why my recovery wasn't as bad as I've heard it could be, though...my doctor (Dr. Purloe) used a device which apparently heats and moisturizes the CO2 and it dramatically reduces postop discomfort. I'll say! If any of you are going to do this in the future, I would recommend using a doctor that does this or changing doctors!

A couple pictures with my caretakers:

When we all (including the dogs) got incredibly stir-crazy from sitting around the house so much, we took the dogs to the park to get out some restless energy.

I tried to make it a photo opportunity but Tucker wasn't cooperating...he was determined to be in the picture and kept walking in front of the camera right after we hit "go" on the self-timer. Then DW couldn't get there in time because he had to reset it!

What? Don't you want me in it, too?

The dog butt shot:

He managed to get in it again!

Finally! Well sorta, we were all over it by now!

I love this picture of my Mom and Dad...it SO captures them. My Mom's sweetness and my Dad's total mischieviousness!

Dale and Donna

Finally, headed home with two whipped pups!

Thank you both for coming! It meant a lot to have you there and I love you SO MUCH! Don't worry, Mom, I've barely left the couch all day!

Viva La Vida

My friend, Josh, over at Eye4Media found this video of a pianist that combined Taylor Swift's Love Story and ColdPlay's Viva La Vida for his daughter. One listen and I fell in love...so I thought I would share.

It's pretty neat that two separate songs could blend so well!

The Worst Case Scenario...

Well, let's just say that instead of the worst-case kind of surgery scenario, I had the BEST case kind! Without a doubt, I felt the prayers and support yesterday from people in my real life and from my blog support network. Daniel and Jessica Ward both called and prayed with me on the drive to the hospital, Leigh Anne showed up in the waiting room and was able to come in and pray over me as I sat in my gown and was all hooked up and was ready to go. And then in the room where they administered my IV and "happy meds" and put on my surgery pantyhose...I kept thanking God for each of you as the comments of support and prayers poured in on my blog. With each one, a deeper sense of peace washed over me that I was doing the right thing and that God was in control. So thank you...

No food, no jewelry, no makeup, no lotions later...we arrived at the hospital and checked in. My mom took a (scary) picture of me standing in front of the admissions sign:


And then my Mom embarrassed the crap out of me as she walked up and snapped a picture of me checking in for my procedure. Mom! I exclaimed, in a voice reminiscent of my teenage years. She laughed and shrugged as the nearby nurses and administrators peeled with laughter. "She's a blogger..." she said proudly as I crawled underneath the desk.


DW went in with me first and was put in charge of taking care of gathering my personal belongings and helping soothe my nerves. He's such a strong, solid person and is - without a doubt - my emotional rock. He encourages my walk and dependency on Christ, but is so present for the moments I need him. So when DW looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Thank you for making this sacrifice for us..." I felt like losing it. Here it is - my body - that has caused this long delay in starting our family and beginning this next step in our future...and he's thanking me? I said to him, feeling a little broken "Well, it's my body that's causing this..." and he quickly replies, "Wrong. We're a team."

Funny story: whenever he was saying something sweet to me, my heart rate would start beating faster...and we know this because of the beep beep beep on the monitor next to the bed. I saw him look up at the monitor and then he grinned and starting going, "You're so pretty." "I love your beautiful eyes." "You have great legs." and then laugh as he confirmed, "You really are a words of affirmation girl!" "I told you!" I replied and we laughed. Seriously? God, above all else, thank you for blessing me with this man!

So the surgery went beyond well, as I've already mentioned. Dr. Purloe ending up giving the report to my parents and DW while I was in recovery and said that it went extremely well and that he has a lot of hope for me to have an excellent physical response. He even called me this morning to check in and tell me personally that things went great!

Other than my stomach being swollen and REALLY sore, I feel pretty great. My battle wounds from the "band aid surgery"...I had one other surgical spot just above my pelvic bone:


I'm confident that we're on the right track and I'm also confident that I'm able to sit here, the morning after my surgery, and type out a blog about how great I'm feeling because of all of the prayers and support! Hopefully I'll have more good news for you in the near future...

Thanks again!

D-Day...

My parents got here last night and I began the process of preparing for my surgery...no solid foods after noon the day before (yay, I have an excuse to eat ice cream for dinner) and I had to drink a horrendous concoction of magnesium citrate and begin a course of antibiotics so that I had nothing in my system in case of an accidental knick of the bowels. I've heard that not all surgeons doing this procedure require this, but I'm so thankful that my doctor is taking all precautions, down to the surgical pantyhose to prevent blood clots!

I'm nervous, but I know that God is completely in control. Despite the fact that ovarian failure and early menopause are potential side effects of this surgery, I feel a peace about doing it. This is the second doctor to suggest it due to the severity of my PCOS, my body's non-responsiveness to Clomid, and the risk of injections due to the number of follicles on my ovaries. The first time it was suggested, I didn't feel a peace about doing it...this time, I realize my ovaries aren't working right anyway. So best case, if it works...praise the Lord! If it doesn't, then I've lost nothing.

I'm almost terrified to admit this out loud for fear of having to take it back later, but I really feel good about the future. I truly believe that DW and I are going to have a child of our own...it's just a matter of when God feels the timing is right. Putting aside all fears, negativity, and the desire to never say that out loud for fear of being wrong...I feel it deep in my heart. God created me to be a Mother and every time I look at DW playing with one of our friend's children, the voice deep inside me says, "It will happen...be still."

Easier said than done, but I refuse to give up hope and I will not let my Faith in God's sovereignty be shaken. IF...and I do mean IF...God doesn't bless us with a child of our own, I still see children in our future. Maybe it isn't the way I've planned it my whole life, but if I know God, His plan always ends up better than anything I ever dream up on my own...I just have to trust Him.

Going under...