So much has been going on with us recently that it is about time I update everyone! Right now Mark and I are in the middle of our first cycle of fertility treatments! AH scary! Honestly the whole idea of having to go to a doctor, plan everything to the day, and all the junk that goes with fertility specialists truly freaked me out! But now that we're in the middle of it I'm super excited and confident! Ok so to the beginning. In December I finally had all my health insurance junk in order (oiy pain in the butt) and finally had a check-up/yearly appointment with my new Primary Care Physician who I really liked. She couldn't believe my records, and immediately made a recommendation for an OB/GYN who can get us pregnant and stay with us through the whole pregnancy, bring in Dr Hinton! She's amazing! Smart, dry humor, up front, and was ready to get started immediately! I went in on a Wednesday, was back Friday for an ultra-sound and went over the results right there with her! She put me on oral hormones and that was 10 days ago! Yesterday was my last day of that. So sometime in the next couple days I should have a period, on day 3 blood-work, get put on Clomid, day 21 more blood-work and then I guess I get told to go home and have sex (yes that was Mark's fav part LOL) and if all goes according to plan we should be pregnant by our 3rd wedding anniversary! YAY!!! Of course if things don't go according to plan we'll do a couple more cycles *typically you do up to 6 before other options are explored* and Mark will start taking tests to make sure he is not the problem!
YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY
IN other news we are not giving up on adoption, but we're pretty sure we're giving up on the State of Arkansas adoption! We miss our Bethany Christian Services case worker and the fact that we got no personal connection at the state agency! Which is very important to us. So we're back to BCS we've filled out our initial paperwork which is nice because it was all online here, and have our introduction meeting on Friday. So we're moving full steam ahead on both avenues and God willing we'll be parents soon! We love being Aunt Nicole and Uncle Mark but can't wait to be Mom and Dad!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A New Addition
Yep, that's right, our family has grown....Nope not in the way you're thinking, not yet at least....We got a dog!! We'd been talking about it for a while and had done some preliminary looking, but hadn't made any firm decisions...until New Year's! Friends of ours had rescued a puppy from some not very nice people. But my friend that I work with just DOES NOT like puppies (who does that! Oh well her loss our gain) so they were looking for a new home. We looked and the picture and fell in love! So on Sunday we went over to their house after church and met the pup. He is a boxer-lab mix, very friendly and smart. He's still a puppy so he has a lot of energy and he is going to be pretty big, but he LOVES sleeping on Mark's lap and we're on day 2 and it's going good so far...
When he is old enough we'll be taking him to puppy obedience classes and we're getting recommendations on vets in the area since we aren't lucky enough to have Dr VanDenBrink! So here are a few pictures of my boys!
When he is old enough we'll be taking him to puppy obedience classes and we're getting recommendations on vets in the area since we aren't lucky enough to have Dr VanDenBrink! So here are a few pictures of my boys!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Ah, New Year's
So I don't know if you guys know the story of how me and Mark met...Well officially we met in the 6th grade when Mark was living in Manistique, my best friend at the time had a last name that started with a C and of course that is right next to B, so I spent a lot of time hanging out in front of their lockers (particularly when I realized that my best friend was right next to the cutie from my science/math/english classes :-D) but I actually prefer the story of how we re-met, mostly because of the other characters!
When I was going into 9th grade I had the awesome opportunity to go on a mission trip out to 4 corners (where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico touch). It was a great trip particularly because I met a really awesome person! Her name was Tiffany and she went to school in Newberry. Now after Mark moved at the end of our 6th grade year I always wondered about him, and had heard that he'd moved to Newberry but this was in the age before Facebook or really the idea of social networks, so we really had no way of staying in contact (and he'd left me for another girl so I was pretty mad at him by the end of the school year hehe j/k love! (but really he did leave me for another girl!!)). Since our trip left in June it was not long after school had gotten out and someone from the trip had brought their yearbook...
Well I am not really what you would call a very social or outgoing person, I especially have a hard time in crowds where everyone else already knows each other...this was the case with this trip. a majority of the crowd already knew each other, but Tiffany being the wonderful person that she was found ways to make me feel included. This is how I got in the middle of looking at a yearbook from a school I never attended.....Well there he was, still cute as ever, and I was pretty stunned to say that I actually knew someone in the yearbook! Lo' and behold that someone was Mark and he was good friends with Tiffany!! Fate I know! So that night as we all got into our sleeping bags Tiffany suggested I write Mark and note and that she'd deliver it!
So there it was, I threw out my end of the deal and figured I'd leave it up to fate to decide whether anything would come of it. Well it did, God was very much behind everything that happened! Tiffany did something few people that age do, she followed through, she gave Mark the note! And next thing I knew at the end of the summer I had an email from him. We started conversing and at the first chance I got I went to Newberry (for a reunion trip for our mission trip group) and it is a trip I will never forget. My mom and grandma dropped me off at the church and as we were unloading my stuff my grandma looked up and said 'who is that cute boy?'......bet you'll never guess who it was :-) yep it was Mark, just as shy and nervous as I was! After dinner Tiffany and I took off to the local football game where we met up with Mark and Tiffany's crush Steve. I don't think either Mark or myself really had any idea what we were getting ourselves into, but that was the beginning of US. We talked for the whole game, and then the emailing and chatting continued, every sports game where our teams played each other I was at, phone calls, more emailing and chatting, more trips to see each other, school dances, and lots of memories...
That brings us to New Years. What a bittersweet time for the two of us. Honestly most years we'd be happy to curl up, go to bed early, and completely forget the day. But we also can never forget it because of the good memories...Here is what happened. There was a lock-in (an overnight event where you get 'locked in' and can't leave the specified place until a certain time in the morning) was happening in my community, I invited Mark and Tiffany to come. Mark was able to, Tiffany already had plans. So Mark showed up that night and I think we were both a bundle of nerves because during one of our many conversations we had agreed that we would ring in 2002 with a kiss (our first). Now I was definitely not as experienced with kissing as Mark so I was even more nervous than him! So we spent a night of staying up all night talking, laughing, hanging out with friends and naturally kissing as midnight struck. It was a night dreams are made of! Seriously I've never had a better first kiss than that and I still love kissing him now as much as I did then! Now you may be wondering where the bad comes in, while that's the next day. On the very first day of 2002 our lives were shattered. Tiffany was killed....now this was not in some tragic accident, or disease, or some other understandable (while still horrible) way...no she was torn from our lives in a horrific act of violence that even now I can barely understand. Someone so young, so beautiful, so kind and friendly and wonderful was taken way to early from this life, and I miss her still. But I had no idea what happened until a few days later...so while I was still riding high on my wonderful night with the man of my dreams, my friend, the reason I even knew Mark again was gone.....So you can see why we don't particularly like New Years. This year is the 9 year anniversary of her death, and it still hurts. When you're 14 you really aren't equipped to deal with tragedy in that way, to compound it almost exactly 6 months later my grandma passed away unexpectedly...Let's just say 2002 was not a really good year for me...But I got Mark, and together we have dealt with a lot in the almost 10 years we've been friends (I start counting in August 2001 when we were officially re-introduced) in those 10 years we've dealt with horrible tragedy, moves, various boyfriends and girlfriends, college, high school, graduation, milestone after milestone that brought us closer together. To this day I don't think anyone knows me better than Mark. He's been there through the worse times of my life, and the best. And somehow as we both grew, changed, matured, struggled, and rejoiced we were there for each other....That's pretty rare....a lot of marriages don't last as long as we've been friends.
So while yes, I knew when I was 11/12 years old that I would marry him someday, it wasn't until I was many years older that I realized how much God was behind every decision that brought us together......
Now that we're older, now that we've experienced the many things that have happened in life (proms/graduations/dating/college/moving/apartments/marriage) it becomes harder every year to deal with the harsh anniversary that January 1st represents for us...For some many January 1st is a day to start over, a new beginning, a time for joy, for resolutions, and for happiness. But for us, I don't think there will ever be a January 1st that isn't just a little bitter. Because the reason we re-met, the wonderful friend, sister, daughter, person who was Tiffany is no longer with us...she is forever stuck in our minds as she was in 2001......So here is to 2011, a year hopefully filled with many blessings, lots of laughter, hopefully a baby and the beginning of a successful college career, and many friends and good food and happy memories....here is to getting the chance to spend another year living life to the fullest to honor the memory of one of the best people I ever met.....
Thank you Tiff, I honestly owe you my whole world, I hope we can make you proud
Love,
Nicole and Mark
When I was going into 9th grade I had the awesome opportunity to go on a mission trip out to 4 corners (where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico touch). It was a great trip particularly because I met a really awesome person! Her name was Tiffany and she went to school in Newberry. Now after Mark moved at the end of our 6th grade year I always wondered about him, and had heard that he'd moved to Newberry but this was in the age before Facebook or really the idea of social networks, so we really had no way of staying in contact (and he'd left me for another girl so I was pretty mad at him by the end of the school year hehe j/k love! (but really he did leave me for another girl!!)). Since our trip left in June it was not long after school had gotten out and someone from the trip had brought their yearbook...
Well I am not really what you would call a very social or outgoing person, I especially have a hard time in crowds where everyone else already knows each other...this was the case with this trip. a majority of the crowd already knew each other, but Tiffany being the wonderful person that she was found ways to make me feel included. This is how I got in the middle of looking at a yearbook from a school I never attended.....Well there he was, still cute as ever, and I was pretty stunned to say that I actually knew someone in the yearbook! Lo' and behold that someone was Mark and he was good friends with Tiffany!! Fate I know! So that night as we all got into our sleeping bags Tiffany suggested I write Mark and note and that she'd deliver it!
So there it was, I threw out my end of the deal and figured I'd leave it up to fate to decide whether anything would come of it. Well it did, God was very much behind everything that happened! Tiffany did something few people that age do, she followed through, she gave Mark the note! And next thing I knew at the end of the summer I had an email from him. We started conversing and at the first chance I got I went to Newberry (for a reunion trip for our mission trip group) and it is a trip I will never forget. My mom and grandma dropped me off at the church and as we were unloading my stuff my grandma looked up and said 'who is that cute boy?'......bet you'll never guess who it was :-) yep it was Mark, just as shy and nervous as I was! After dinner Tiffany and I took off to the local football game where we met up with Mark and Tiffany's crush Steve. I don't think either Mark or myself really had any idea what we were getting ourselves into, but that was the beginning of US. We talked for the whole game, and then the emailing and chatting continued, every sports game where our teams played each other I was at, phone calls, more emailing and chatting, more trips to see each other, school dances, and lots of memories...
That brings us to New Years. What a bittersweet time for the two of us. Honestly most years we'd be happy to curl up, go to bed early, and completely forget the day. But we also can never forget it because of the good memories...Here is what happened. There was a lock-in (an overnight event where you get 'locked in' and can't leave the specified place until a certain time in the morning) was happening in my community, I invited Mark and Tiffany to come. Mark was able to, Tiffany already had plans. So Mark showed up that night and I think we were both a bundle of nerves because during one of our many conversations we had agreed that we would ring in 2002 with a kiss (our first). Now I was definitely not as experienced with kissing as Mark so I was even more nervous than him! So we spent a night of staying up all night talking, laughing, hanging out with friends and naturally kissing as midnight struck. It was a night dreams are made of! Seriously I've never had a better first kiss than that and I still love kissing him now as much as I did then! Now you may be wondering where the bad comes in, while that's the next day. On the very first day of 2002 our lives were shattered. Tiffany was killed....now this was not in some tragic accident, or disease, or some other understandable (while still horrible) way...no she was torn from our lives in a horrific act of violence that even now I can barely understand. Someone so young, so beautiful, so kind and friendly and wonderful was taken way to early from this life, and I miss her still. But I had no idea what happened until a few days later...so while I was still riding high on my wonderful night with the man of my dreams, my friend, the reason I even knew Mark again was gone.....So you can see why we don't particularly like New Years. This year is the 9 year anniversary of her death, and it still hurts. When you're 14 you really aren't equipped to deal with tragedy in that way, to compound it almost exactly 6 months later my grandma passed away unexpectedly...Let's just say 2002 was not a really good year for me...But I got Mark, and together we have dealt with a lot in the almost 10 years we've been friends (I start counting in August 2001 when we were officially re-introduced) in those 10 years we've dealt with horrible tragedy, moves, various boyfriends and girlfriends, college, high school, graduation, milestone after milestone that brought us closer together. To this day I don't think anyone knows me better than Mark. He's been there through the worse times of my life, and the best. And somehow as we both grew, changed, matured, struggled, and rejoiced we were there for each other....That's pretty rare....a lot of marriages don't last as long as we've been friends.
So while yes, I knew when I was 11/12 years old that I would marry him someday, it wasn't until I was many years older that I realized how much God was behind every decision that brought us together......
Now that we're older, now that we've experienced the many things that have happened in life (proms/graduations/dating/college/moving/apartments/marriage) it becomes harder every year to deal with the harsh anniversary that January 1st represents for us...For some many January 1st is a day to start over, a new beginning, a time for joy, for resolutions, and for happiness. But for us, I don't think there will ever be a January 1st that isn't just a little bitter. Because the reason we re-met, the wonderful friend, sister, daughter, person who was Tiffany is no longer with us...she is forever stuck in our minds as she was in 2001......So here is to 2011, a year hopefully filled with many blessings, lots of laughter, hopefully a baby and the beginning of a successful college career, and many friends and good food and happy memories....here is to getting the chance to spend another year living life to the fullest to honor the memory of one of the best people I ever met.....
Thank you Tiff, I honestly owe you my whole world, I hope we can make you proud
Love,
Nicole and Mark
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