Beautiful Song

This video features my favorite song about adoption.  It's called Delivery by Cheri Call.  It's on a beautiful CD about adoption called Chosen.  When we were in the initial process of getting approved for adoption a dear and sweet friend sent us this CD and I probably listen to it at least once a week.  It is a beautiful CD for anyone touched by adoption including adoptive couples, birth parents, and adopted children.

on a few random updates

Life has been a little busy over here but I wanted to give a few updates on us and what we're up to!

1.  A few months ago we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary!  Woot Woot!  We didn't do anything exciting but had a fun and quiet day at home together.  We watched a BYU game, went out for dinner, and did some shopping at our favorite store:  Target!  

2.  We bought a crib for the nursery!  I will post pictures of it soon!  It is beautiful and I love it! 

3.  We celebrated St. Patrick's day in style with green desserts at a dessert party.  

4.  Currently we are a bunch of sickies.  Richard and I are both sick and the poor puppy threw up this morning.  But on the upside:  I didn't have to work this week anyways since it is my spring break!  

5.  It is my spring break!  Yay!  I have big plans to sit on the couch...and probably do some fun projects.  Oh and a few not so fun projects like clean out the car and organize the files.  

6.  We went to a used book sale at the library and came home with a few new books...and pink eye.  

7.  We have been working in our garden and we planted a strawberry plant!  I love it!  

8.  We had a water fight in the kitchen after Richard scared me when I was getting a drink.  To get him back I proceeded to dump my drink on his head...which may have led to a water fight in the kitchen.  :)    

on faith.

It takes faith to do most things.  

Faith to leave home, faith to follow a dream, faith to start a new career, 

and faith to start a family.  

President Monson says "your future is as bright as your faith."  

And I believe that.  I believe that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us.  

A beautiful, wonderful, amazing plan.

I feel like our little family's faith has been tested time and time again.  

First we had to have the faith to start our family.  

Then we had to have the faith to keep trying when things were hard and not working.  

We had to have faith to go to the doctors and to find out bad news.  

We had to have faith to start looking into adoption.  

We continue to have faith in adoption.  

I feel like our faith has had to grow and expand and become stronger.  

I've always had faith in the gospel and in my Heavenly Father and in my Savior.  

But now it has been tough.  

It is sometimes a challenge to keep the faith when so many prayers seemingly go unanswered.  

But I think it's saying something that we continue to offer those prayers and we continue to not only believe, but know, that all our prayers are and will be answered. 

I know our faith and our testimonies are being tested. 
Because it's for our good. 

It is Better to Look Up {our nursery pictures}.

"Experience has taught me that if we, like President Monson, exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life. We will not feel incapable of doing what we are called to do or need to do. We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled with peace and joy. We will come to realize that most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance—and if it is, the Lord will help us. But we must have the faith to look up and the courage to follow His direction."

- Carl B. Cook (It is Better to Look Up Ensign November 2011) 

When Richard and I first moved into our new place the room we had picked out for a nursery just held a few random things.  We were still going through a grieving process and while hopeful for the future, we were apprehensive and sad.  But over time I started to place things in the nursery.  First a black chair that we had originally bought for a nursery back in 2007.  Then a few toys and dolls.  And then when we were getting closer to getting approved we got a few things from a yard sale. 

  After getting officially approved I decided I wanted to really decorate and get our nursery ready.  Even though we don't know how much longer we will be waiting.  I wanted to be ready.  I wanted to have a little nursery full of light and happiness.  And so I decided on a bird theme.  A blue bird theme.  The blue bird of happiness.  And because my mom loves birds.  She has a beautiful bird garden in her backyard and is helping me to do the same in my backyard.  I also picked the colors blue, green, and  yellow for our nursery.  To me they seem to say sky, grass, and sunshine.  And so we've been decorating and lovingly filling our nursery with happy things.  It's not done yet.  We don't even have a crib yet and we don't have pictures or things on the walls yet but we're getting closer. 

 Because we're trying to remember that it is better to look up. 

"it will all work out"

"it will all work out"  

- President Gordon B. Hinckley

I love President Hinckley and his optimism.  I've been thinking a lot lately about that word:  optimism. 

I have a quote hanging in our bathroom that says: 

The gospel is a thing of joy.  It provides us with a reason for gladness.  Of course there are times of sorrow.  Of course there are hours of concern and anxiety.  We all worry.  but the Lord has told us to life our hearts and rejoice.  I so so many people who never seem to see the sunshine but who constantly walk with storms under cloudy skies.  Cultivate an attitude of happiness.  Cultivate a spirit of optimism.  Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine."  

- President Gordon B. Hinckley

This year I really want to work on being more optimistic.  I know I murmur and complain way too much.  I need to do better with looking on the bright side of things.  In all situations.  Wherever I am and whoever I am with.  

So here is to an optimistic Tuesday!  

1)  I just got off the phone with one of my most dear friends, Whitney!  It was so lovely to chat with her!  She is an incredible example of optimism! 

2)  It is sunny outside!  Yay!  

3)  I have been working on cute little valentines for my little people in my kindergarten class.  

4)  I have a husband and puppy who love me and love for me to be happy.  

5)  We have a dinner date with our neighbors next door tomorrow night!  

6)  My brother described me today as:  always happy and having fun even in simple situations

7)  I have lots of people who love me!  

8)  I started a new scripture study program and reading the scriptures makes me so happy! 

9)  I was safe yesterday driving in the ice on my way to work.  

10)  Richard is coming home from school soon! 

Our Adoption Video

Holiday Traditions

Our little family has a lot of holiday traditions.  I love traditions.  I love that they are something that we look forward to and that they link generations to generations.  As a child I always looked forward to and relied on our family traditions, such as going to the beach every summer and making monkey bread together as a family on Christmas morning.  Since getting married Richard and I have continued many of our own families' traditions and we have also had fun starting up a few traditions for our little family!  Two of the traditions that we have started in our family are making a grateful chain for our Christmas tree and making Christmas tree pizza! 

our grateful chain around the tre

This is the first grateful chain we ever made!  We started this tradition three Christmas' ago.  We start this tradition at the beginning of November each year.  Using Christmas themed paper we cut little slips of paper.  Then throughout the month of November we start things we are grateful for on the slips of paper.  The weekend of Thanksgiving we read all the things we are grateful for and use the paper slips to make a paper chain to go around our Christmas tree!  I love this tradition and how it helps us tie gratefulness into the Christmas season.   And it really helps us focus on being grateful!  

Our second holiday tradition that we have started is making Christmas tree pizza!  This tradition actually started way back during our first Christmas.  We were hanging out with my youngest brother, Stephen, and we all decided to make homemade pizza!  After that Stephen really loved making pizza and would make it all the time.  He then came out to BYU (and we were already there) and that December we decided we would all get together and make a Christmas tree pizza!  We dye the cheese green with food coloring (looks gross but tastes fine!) and use pepperoni as ornaments on the tree. We cut the dough to resemble a Christmas tree and often do wreaths and stars too.  We then watch the movie "Elf" while we eat the pizzas!  So we did that the first year with Stephen at BYU, the next two Christmases on our own, and then this Christmas we had my two brothers, Charles and Stephen (who were home from BYU and BYU-I), over to have a Christmas tree pizza party!  We had fun making the pizzas, watching "Elf", and playing board games!  Richard and I LOVE this fun tradition and love making homemade pizza together all the time!  We can't wait to make Christmas tree pizzas with our kids!  Sometimes we like to extend this tradition to other holidays and we have been known to make turkey pizzas and jack o'lantern pizzas too! 

Charles, Stephen, and Richard being goofy.  Their usual selves.  :) 

Emily with the finished pizzas!

Finished Christmas tree pizzas!  Look kind of gross but taste so yummy!

playing board games!