Here are a few cute pictures that Jann, David's aunt, took of us while she was here in March.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Ladies' Retreat
I spent Friday night at a lovely spa resort in the mountains, the Lodge at Cordillera, with my dear friend Kelley & her church. I've been a part of her church's moms' Bible study since the week we moved here and I've gotten to know some awesome godly moms through it. I lead worship at our Bible study and was honored to be able to lead worship at the retreat.
It was different than other retreats I've been to, but I really enjoyed it, and the timing was great for me. With everything going on, it was great to get away to the mountains to spend some time with the Lord and some of His daughters. I was so encouraged by the honesty and vulnerability of the women who shared their testimonies of how God has worked in their lives in the last year. To see what some of these women have gone through is an amazing testament to the Lord and how He carries us.
I was renewed, and reminded of His love for us. Unfortunately, I brought a camera with no memory card (dang it!) and hope to get a few pics from a couple of girls, but for now you can just check out the resort's website if you like; click HERE.
Oh yeah, this was also my first night away from Gigi. She did great with her Daddy, and he did an awesome job of taking care of her. I only got one funny call from him on Saturday morning:
D: "Where do you keep Gigi's shoes?"
N: "In the bottom basket in her changing table."
D: "Oh, she didn't wear shoes yesterday because I couldn't find any."
It was different than other retreats I've been to, but I really enjoyed it, and the timing was great for me. With everything going on, it was great to get away to the mountains to spend some time with the Lord and some of His daughters. I was so encouraged by the honesty and vulnerability of the women who shared their testimonies of how God has worked in their lives in the last year. To see what some of these women have gone through is an amazing testament to the Lord and how He carries us.
I was renewed, and reminded of His love for us. Unfortunately, I brought a camera with no memory card (dang it!) and hope to get a few pics from a couple of girls, but for now you can just check out the resort's website if you like; click HERE.
Oh yeah, this was also my first night away from Gigi. She did great with her Daddy, and he did an awesome job of taking care of her. I only got one funny call from him on Saturday morning:
D: "Where do you keep Gigi's shoes?"
N: "In the bottom basket in her changing table."
D: "Oh, she didn't wear shoes yesterday because I couldn't find any."
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Sometimes life is hard...
I've debated about doing this a few ways... but the truth is, when you are this far removed, geographically speaking, from most of your loved ones, this is the easiest way to do it. And so I'm really sorry to those of you who are thinking, hey, shouldn't I be getting a personal call with this info? It's true, you should be. Normally I would see a lot of you in person and be able to tell you then, but I just haven't been in the mood to explain the situation over the phone multiple times...
Anyways, I was so looking forward to sharing good news with you soon, and now I have to do otherwise. This past week I've had a miscarriage. I should have been about 7 weeks along. It has been a pretty mild process physically speaking, and I am very thankful for that. I completely attribute that to the fact that I've been covered in prayer by my awesome Bible study ladies (and a couple others). As most of you know, this is my third one, and while it is emotionally draining to go through again, it's also a little easier when you know what's going on and know what to expect from experience.
After the initial disappointment has faded a little, we've found ourselves doing what I imagine many of you who have gone through this have done... you think of the "positives"-- the things that you now get to do, which in fact pale in comparison to having a new life growing inside you-- things which nonetheless perk you up a teeny bit, under the circumstances.
Here's the things we've come up with... we get to go camping at Thanksgiving now (this is the best one for us, as our due date in early December would have prevented a trip home in late November)... we can try to come home to CA sooner... I get to eat fried eggs... I don't have to take progesterone 3 times a day anymore... and well, that's about it. I'd give these all up in a heartbeat for the alternative, but they do help a little in consoling us. And yes there are other food benefits to not being pregnant, we just happened to have breakfast for dinner yesterday and I was happy to have runny yolks. :)
I have also felt newly thankful for Gigi this week. It's quite discouraging to think of 3 out of 4 pregnancies ending like this, but Gianna is proof that my body can do it, in God's timing. I know that He has a perfect plan for our family, and I just pray that He allows us to have more babies. And that's my prayer request for our family! So if you think of us, please toss up a prayer sometime asking God to bless us again in the near future! We'll be sure to let you know when it happens.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them
Psalm 127:3-5
Anyways, I was so looking forward to sharing good news with you soon, and now I have to do otherwise. This past week I've had a miscarriage. I should have been about 7 weeks along. It has been a pretty mild process physically speaking, and I am very thankful for that. I completely attribute that to the fact that I've been covered in prayer by my awesome Bible study ladies (and a couple others). As most of you know, this is my third one, and while it is emotionally draining to go through again, it's also a little easier when you know what's going on and know what to expect from experience.
After the initial disappointment has faded a little, we've found ourselves doing what I imagine many of you who have gone through this have done... you think of the "positives"-- the things that you now get to do, which in fact pale in comparison to having a new life growing inside you-- things which nonetheless perk you up a teeny bit, under the circumstances.
Here's the things we've come up with... we get to go camping at Thanksgiving now (this is the best one for us, as our due date in early December would have prevented a trip home in late November)... we can try to come home to CA sooner... I get to eat fried eggs... I don't have to take progesterone 3 times a day anymore... and well, that's about it. I'd give these all up in a heartbeat for the alternative, but they do help a little in consoling us. And yes there are other food benefits to not being pregnant, we just happened to have breakfast for dinner yesterday and I was happy to have runny yolks. :)
I have also felt newly thankful for Gigi this week. It's quite discouraging to think of 3 out of 4 pregnancies ending like this, but Gianna is proof that my body can do it, in God's timing. I know that He has a perfect plan for our family, and I just pray that He allows us to have more babies. And that's my prayer request for our family! So if you think of us, please toss up a prayer sometime asking God to bless us again in the near future! We'll be sure to let you know when it happens.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them
Psalm 127:3-5
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Walk on, Gigi!
That's right, she's walking! Gigi took her first steps on the day we returned from Santa Fe (must be because she was in the car for so long prior :>). She has since gotten a little more brave each day and has even taken one walking marathon from the coffee table to the kitchen gate (probably over 10 feet for those of you that haven't been here).
She still resorts to crawling most of the time, especially since she needs something to use to stand up with, but if she starts out at a piece of furniture she usually will walk until she loses her balance. As proof of this milestone, here is the video showing those unsure & tentative very first steps.
She still resorts to crawling most of the time, especially since she needs something to use to stand up with, but if she starts out at a piece of furniture she usually will walk until she loses her balance. As proof of this milestone, here is the video showing those unsure & tentative very first steps.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Santa Fe-- A Quick Trip
Saturday morning we left for Santa Fe, NM... we stopped to visit the Millers in CO Springs for a bit and then we were on our way. We pulled into downtown Santa Fe in the late afternoon, checked into our hotel (a national historic landmark), and walked around the downtown & plaza area a little. Our hotel was in a great location for walking around. The city is very adobe. We weren't really sure what we were expecting, but maybe something a little more metropolis-like, since it's the state capital. But all in all, it was a very cool city.
We had some good food (Santa Fe is known for its green & red chile-- see The Chile Shop) and saw the sights. Sunday morning we had a delicious crepe breakfast before checking out and heading to our ultimate destination... Trader Joe's! We spent about 45 minutes there (which is a lot for such a small grocery store!) and filled up 2 ice chests and several bags. Mmmm.... totally worth the trip!! Unfortunately for a guy at David's work who asked for some 2-Buck Chuck, in New Mex, they don't sell alcohol before noon on Sundays so we couldn't buy him any! These states and their weird liquor laws... The funniest thing was that our checker said we were her 4th Coloradoan customer that day! And then as we were leaving a lady overheard us and said, "hey, I'm from Colorado too"! So I guess we're not the only crazy ones!! :)
Here are all our pictures from the trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604556298880/
We had some good food (Santa Fe is known for its green & red chile-- see The Chile Shop) and saw the sights. Sunday morning we had a delicious crepe breakfast before checking out and heading to our ultimate destination... Trader Joe's! We spent about 45 minutes there (which is a lot for such a small grocery store!) and filled up 2 ice chests and several bags. Mmmm.... totally worth the trip!! Unfortunately for a guy at David's work who asked for some 2-Buck Chuck, in New Mex, they don't sell alcohol before noon on Sundays so we couldn't buy him any! These states and their weird liquor laws... The funniest thing was that our checker said we were her 4th Coloradoan customer that day! And then as we were leaving a lady overheard us and said, "hey, I'm from Colorado too"! So I guess we're not the only crazy ones!! :)Here are all our pictures from the trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604556298880/
Friday, April 11, 2008
Going outside...
Even though we've had snow the last 2 days, we have had some warmer weather lately and are starting to feel like Spring is creeping toward us. Last weekend we went on a fun hike at a nearby state park with our friends the Matthews. It's really fun getting to know them again as we all went to Cal Poly together, lost touch, and then ended up living just a couple miles from each other here in CO!!
Melody, Kyle, Wyatt & Us
Then this week I spent an afternoon hanging out with my new friend Meredith who is expecting a little girlie of her own to be born any day now. She just happens to be an awesome photographer and she got some great shots of Gigi at the park. I'm happy to report that in her old age, Gigi not only loves to swing, but she's also slowly overcoming her fear of grass!
See all the pictures here: http://flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604495128003/
We're off to Santa Fe, NM tomorrow for the weekend to check out a supposedly cool city and hit up the one and only Trader Joe's (5 1/2 hours away is our closest one). We got a surprise sneak peak at what we will be able to stock up on when we got a few yummy things in the mail from David's aunt Jann today!! :)
Melody, Kyle, Wyatt & UsThen this week I spent an afternoon hanging out with my new friend Meredith who is expecting a little girlie of her own to be born any day now. She just happens to be an awesome photographer and she got some great shots of Gigi at the park. I'm happy to report that in her old age, Gigi not only loves to swing, but she's also slowly overcoming her fear of grass!
See all the pictures here: http://flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604495128003/We're off to Santa Fe, NM tomorrow for the weekend to check out a supposedly cool city and hit up the one and only Trader Joe's (5 1/2 hours away is our closest one). We got a surprise sneak peak at what we will be able to stock up on when we got a few yummy things in the mail from David's aunt Jann today!! :)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Monday, April 07, 2008
A Note for our Subscribers
I just realized that when I post videos, they don't come into the subscription email. So I will try to write "[video included]" at the top of the post so you know to come to the actual blog to see the video(s).
If you haven't been to the blog lately (if you usually just read the posts in your subscription emails), make sure you visit because the post "Playing Around" had 2 fun videos in it!!
Thanks for being our readers! :)
If you haven't been to the blog lately (if you usually just read the posts in your subscription emails), make sure you visit because the post "Playing Around" had 2 fun videos in it!!
Thanks for being our readers! :)
Friday, April 04, 2008
Playing Around: Parts 1 & 2
P.S. On an unrelated note, did you know that on Tuesday, April 8, you can go get a free Jamba "Breakfast" (it's a new thing they have) at Jamba Juice? Go before 10am! Yum!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Crazy March!
March was a crazy month for us. The first two weekends we were in Florida and then we had visitors for the rest of the month (Dears, Jann, Pavones) each weekend. It was a great month though and now we are sad that we have no visitors this month. But hey, at least there's baseball!
Speaking of baseball, we got the MLB package on DirecTV and David is in hog heaven to say the least. We can watch 8 games at once on one channel, and choose the feed for each game which means for the Dodger games we can almost always hear Vin Scully and see the Southern California commercials (those blasted In'n'Out commercials are painful though) so we sort of feel at home. Now the only bummer is that most games don't start until 8pm here which makes them end a little late.
We had a great time with my parents and Gigi's great-grandma. My dad & I went skiing/snowboarding on friday and Gigi did awesome staying home with Yaya & Grandma and poor David had to work. :( Saturday the guys played golf on a beautiful day-- then we woke up the next two mornings with snow!
Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604375408751/
We also had a really fun visit with David's Aunt Jann, who we got to spend Easter with! She and I took Gigi to the Zoo one day and she got to visit some of her other friends in the Denver area too. Here are all the rest of the pictures from March...
Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604261306676/
Speaking of baseball, we got the MLB package on DirecTV and David is in hog heaven to say the least. We can watch 8 games at once on one channel, and choose the feed for each game which means for the Dodger games we can almost always hear Vin Scully and see the Southern California commercials (those blasted In'n'Out commercials are painful though) so we sort of feel at home. Now the only bummer is that most games don't start until 8pm here which makes them end a little late.
We had a great time with my parents and Gigi's great-grandma. My dad & I went skiing/snowboarding on friday and Gigi did awesome staying home with Yaya & Grandma and poor David had to work. :( Saturday the guys played golf on a beautiful day-- then we woke up the next two mornings with snow!Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604375408751/
We also had a really fun visit with David's Aunt Jann, who we got to spend Easter with! She and I took Gigi to the Zoo one day and she got to visit some of her other friends in the Denver area too. Here are all the rest of the pictures from March...
Click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157604261306676/
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