A blessed weekend...

I just wanted to thank all of you, who prayed for the marriage retreat, this past weekend. Alex and I walked away from it feeling so blessed to spend a weekend with these precious couples. There was a couple there who had only been married one week. They were always holding hands and she would sit in his lap. It was the cutest thing. Many shared their stories, their struggles, as well as the miracles God had performed in their marriages. We laughed, we cried, we prayed for one another, we encouraged one another...God definitely showed up and it was a blessed weekend!

When we arrived home on Saturday, we both crashed. We were exhausted on so many levels. It was such an emotional weekend (in a good way) and we needed rest. We took a long nap and just stayed in for the rest of the evening. We also did my first stims injection on Saturday night. This is a pic of the big nasty needle that I get stuck with every evening.



It hurt. I cried. I haven't cried from the pain of a shot in a LONG time. We mixed 8 vials of medicine and put it in one syringe (as directed by the nurse).



It sent my right leg into a charley horse. My hip is still hurting. The second night, Alex lessened the amount of sodium chloride mixed with the meds. It went much better. I may keep taking them in my left side, until my right recovers from that first shot. I go back to the clinic, tomorrow, so we'll see how these new drugs are working. :)

I received an email (over the weekend) that made me cry tears of joy. Another blog friend (that actually goes to my same clinic), just found out that her first IVF worked...she's pregnant!! In regards to my weekend, this news was the cherry on top of my sundae! Several months back, I feel like God told me that my blog is not just a place to share our story. He told me to dedicate special time each day, in praying for others going through IF and to encourage them whenever possible. Since doing so, it has made my journey through infertility so much sweeter. I'm not only waiting in hopeful anticipation for God to answer Alex's and my prayers for a baby...I'm waiting for Him to answer my prayers for you, as well. So get ready...because like my friend, CR said, I'm believing that 2009 is our year, girls! :)

I leave you with pics of this little guy. He makes me smile and I love him to pieces!





Happy Monday!

Love to all,
Jill

Weekend Wrap-Up

Be warned...this is a LONG POST, due to the many pics from the weekend! :)

Saturday was a lovely day. The weather was beautiful...it's making me so ready for spring! Neither Alex nor myself had committments for Saturday, so we were able to spend the entire day, together. It's rare for us to have a day like this, so we tend to turn off the cell phones and concentrate on each other. I love it. We had brunch at Mimi's and ran some errands. That evening, we celebrated the February birthdays (on my side of the family). We always meet downtown at a local bakery and have dessert and coffee. We only have one February birthday and that's Cary...he turned 30!

-The birthday boy-


-Jackson showing his cousin, Kandace, some love-


-Me and Kandace...she is such a good baby!-


-Jackson playing outside the bakery with his Daddy-


-Jackson and Uncle Alex-


-Aunt Joy with Kandace (her shirt says, "Daddy fixed my hair" :)-


-The gang (minus me and Jackson, because we took the pic)-


LATER THAT EVENING...

-Kasie & Cody at The Purple Cow-


-Pryce at The Cow-


-Kandace wanting nothing to do with The Cow...she slept the entire time-


We started our Sunday, as always...with our church family! We've been going through a series called Turning Up The Heat. I've really enjoyed it. Sunday's message was on Turning Up The Heat in your marriage....ooh, la, la! :) God revealed some things that I can do in my marriage, to be a better wife. I've found myself so excited about this! Even in a happy marriage, there's always room for improvement. I want to be the best wife/helpmate that I can be to Alex. This series has certainly opened my eyes to things that I can change in myself. I want the marriage that God desires for us. It may be good now, but I have no doubt...it can be great! After church, we had lunch with Alex's parents...they are always a hoot. :) Pray for my M-I-L, she has a kidney infection and could barely walk Sunday, at church. She has had some issues with her kidneys in the past, so we are just praying that this infection goes away with antibiotics and that she feels better soon.

Sunday evening, we went to the River Market and ate at Gusano's Chicago-Style Pizzeria...yum!! This was our first time to eat there. We ordered way too large of a pizza, but had plenty to bring home and share with Diesel-boy. He's always appreciative of a doggy-bag. Alex likes lots of meat on his pizza. I like cheese. We had half supreme-half cheese/spinach. They put the sauce on top and the cheese on the bottom. It was DE-LISH!

-Our yummy pizza-


-He knows that he has Aunt Jill wrapped around his little finger :)-


-Cary & Sara-


-Drew & Elaina-


-Me & my Sweets-


I feel like we ate our way through the weekend!

Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to go ahead and wrap up the weekend in one post, since it's Tuesday and all.

Love to all,
Jill

TGIF...

I'm so happy it's Friday! We've had a busy week. The first part of the week, I spent preparing for Journey Thanksgiving, which was on Wednesday. It was so much fun! The food was good and the company was even better...

Me and my sweetie.

I went to high school with these two sweet girls! When we get together, we seem to do nothing but laugh at each other! I'm so glad they came!

My little buddy, Jackson. :)

Cary and Sara are moving this weekend, so we have Jackson tonight...here are a few pics from tonight during/after bathtime...he's so precious.

I almost forgot, we went to see these guys last night...it was a great concert. Thanks to my Uncle Kev and Aunt Sandi for the tickets!

Well, I could write more but I'm tired and according to my S-I-L, Jackson gets up around 5am, so I had better get some sleep. :)

Have a great weekend!

Love to all,
Jill

Here Comes Menopause, Here Comes Menopause...

I was thinking of writing new lyrics to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Clause" to tell of my excitement about my 1st injection of Lupron Depot but decided against it. :) I had my first shot today. I'm not looking forward to all of the side effects that go along with this medication but am more than willing to do it, if it will up my chances of a successful pregnancy in Feb '09!

I'm getting ready for my 'weekend away' with my awesome husband! We have tickets to The Rep tonight and then off to dinner and an evening at The Peabody. I have been sick all week (sinus/headcold stuff) and he started feeling icky last night but we are determined to have this weekend, so pray we both feel better in a matter of 2 hours. LOL Even if we don't feel 100%, it will still be a good time. I treasure any time that I have him all to myself. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well!!

Love to all,
Jill

Hanging on to hope...

Alex went into the attic and brought down all of my Christmas boxes last night. Such a good husband. :) Every corner of my living room is filled, as well as a corner in one of my guest rooms. So now I sort through each box and start making a place for it all! Christmas music is officially playing (all day long) in my home. You will all be sick of me and my excitement by the time Christmas actually gets here.

My sweet husband called me this morning with a surprise! Friday night plans are to have dinner at Capriccio and then spend the night at The Peabody. I love getting away, even if it's in the same town that I live in! Weekends are so busy for us, so it's hard to actually leave town - unless for a full week of vacation. We just really need this...he has been working crazy hours on a new project for work and I've been down, due to the fact that my hormones are crazy and this time of year...well, it can be hard. I love the holidays with everything in me and for that reason it makes my infertility even more difficult. I'm ready for Alex and I to have children to shop for, to surprise on Christmas morning, to make our annual gingerbread house with, to read the Christmas story to...I could go on and on. :) Though it's much easier now than it was a year ago, the desire is still there. I still pray on a daily basis that God would open my womb and allow me to have a child or would open the door for us to adopt. I pray with hopeful anticipation...knowing that He will answer this prayer someday.

I receive emails that include a bible verse or devotion for the day. These were my verses for yesterday and today.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
~ Romans 15:13, NLT

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. ~ Hebrews 10:23, NLT

Definition of hope:
1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.
2. To have confidence; trust.

I just love that!

Love to all,
Jill

A little bit of everything...

We had a fun, busy weekend! This little guy showed up on our doorstep early Saturday morning. His parents went house-hunting so we got to spend the day together. :)

Alex worked until noon, so Jackson and I ran some errands...first being the coffee shop and then we headed to Sam's. We went down the toy aisle...he saw Elmo and just lit up. We stood on that aisle for quite a while, just playing with all of the toys.

After Sam's we went to Garden Ridge for a bit and then Alex took us to brunch at Mimi's. He loves him some Uncle Al. :)


My parents came through LR after church, so some of the fam came over to visit. They got a chance to love on their grandbabies. Kandace had her picture taken a lot since she is the newest member of the fam. :)

Granny and Kandace...

She was cheesin' for the camera. :)

Puckering up for a kiss...how cute is this face!?

We had one of my faves for dinner last night...fried chicken, yummy!

I made coffee and cookies for dessert...

And then my sweet husband made us a fire (it is finally cool enough to use the fireplace...yay!)

We turned our phones off, sat by the fire, and just enjoyed each other as well as the books we were each reading...it was a very peaceful evening. I finished this one last night...if you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do. Awesome book!

Well, that was our Saturday, Sunday, Monday! :)

I hope you're having a wonderful week, so far...

Love to all,
Jill