Life Unexpected

This week Nate and I have been in Rodanthe, North Carolina, finishing up our 3 weeks of vacation. It has been so nice to be away from our crazy busy life and just rest. We are staying at a campground right on the beach and have been spoiled because of that. We have spent our days laying in the sun, riding our beach cruisers, cooking some sweet breakfasts, ghost crabbing at night, eating ice cream, gazing at stars, and of course surfing. I had heard that the Outer Banks services some of the best surfing on the East Coast (not that I am a pro or anything), so I was excited to see what it was like. For some reason, the first day we were here, all I heard about was the vast amount of sharks. It's funny, because 2 weeks before I was telling my brother in law how I am more afraid of being in deep water than I am of sharks. This week the tides turned, and I developed quickly this immense fear of the sharks in the Outer Banks. I had read articles, seen pictures of the sharks that we...

Last week I made two discoveries while on vacation with Nate's family in New Hampshire. One, nephews are totally different than nieces and two, I know very little about boys! I made these discoveries the very first day as I found myself in the bathroom with my youngest nephew Isaac, who is only 3. Nate and I, had taken Isaac with us to drop off our other nephews, Noah (age 9) and Joshua (age 7), to a kids program that was taking place in the campground tabernacle. As Nate helped the boys get settled in, Isaac and I sat in the back very back. After a few minutes of sitting, Isaac decided he wanted to throw the football around inside the tabernacle. I knew that was NOT a good idea, so being the good Auntie that I am, I decided to take him outside. We ventured outside, and after a few minutes he set the football down, blurted out, "I have to go potty," and started taking off toward the bathroom. This is when the panic set in. I quickly realized I had never taken a 3...

Last week I was on vacation with my family in Stone Harbor, NJ. It was the first leg of a much needed three part vacation that Nate and I will be on the next few weeks. My family has been vacationing in Stone Harbor since before I was born. I am getting ready to turn 32 this fall, so that is a pretty long time! My uncle owns a beautiful beach house which he so graciously allows our family to invade for a couple of weeks. This year Nate and I were only able to be there for 6 days, due to a youth event that was going on during the available dates, but those 6 days were packed in! Vacation tends to be a time where we create memories that last a lifetime. We are family that is rich in tradition, so we tend to do the same routine when we are in Stone Harbor. We get up, ride bikes on the boardwalk, go to a few stores, fix lunch (with the same kind of rolls every year), pack up our beach stuff, head to the beach for a few hours, come home, fix dinner, and head out for the night to eith...

The past month, I have felt myself incredibly anxious to receive the call that we have been matched with our children. This week marks a milestone, in that we have been on the wait list for 5 months. Our agency has told us that most referrals (that is the match with our children), happen between 6-12 months. That means that we are officially entering that time period where the chances of getting matched get higher. Every morning I wake up, I feel myself longing for our children. I want to know what age they will be, what they will look like, and what their unique personalities will bring into our life. I long to create traditions...to find an ebb and flow of what it means to have a family...to start the next chapter of our life. I can't wait to be a family! In the mean time, Nate and I are attempting to steward the precious time of "waiting" as best as we can together as a couple. We are putting away money (adoption bills are coming quick), spending as much time to...