Catch Up

I uploaded the photos from my camera on to my computer today, and it looks like I have a little catch up to do! We'll start with the 4th of July. Adam and I played it low-key. I had a wedding that day and got home just before dark, so we went over to one of Adam's friends houses (who wasn't home) and used his private beach to relax and watch the festivities. Here was our view.

Adam was in one of his refusing to take a nice picture moods, so this was the best we got. Don't know what the hand's about.

Since Adam's still on summer break, I sometimes get up and leave for work before he's out of bed. One morning I got out of the shower and came into the bedroom to get dressed, and found this hilarity going on. Two of my loves.

Scott is one of our best friends, but we unfortunately go months without seeing him sometimes. We had him over recently for dinner. He looks like the unibomber right now because he stubbornly refuses to shave until Thanksgiving. Ignore that. My favorite part of this picture is the little guy sneaking around the table in the bottom left. :)

Last Sunday, we drove the motorcycle to Newton to have lunch at my parents' house. My dad is the best cook, and we had this awesome spread for lunch. We ate out on their deck and my mom had fresh flowers, placemats, and cold drinks waiting for us. So fun.

I didn't want my picture taken. I had helmet hair. But I put this picture up anyway because it kinda shows their backyard. They have the prettiest backyard. And if you saw before and after photos, it would really surprise you. They've lived in that house since I was 5 and have slowly transformed it to be worthy of a magazine spread! I should go over there and take some nice photos of it some day and submit them to a magazine.

Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yum.

Notice the Harry Potter book? Go Mom. :)

Happy Things

Sunday afternoons.

A clean (or nearly clean) house.

The thought of an appointment-free Monday.

Tuesday's doctor appointment.

A Doberman in my bed on my lap.

A little dog not far away.

Only having eaten half of my calories for today.

Getting to rearrange the bedroom later.

Last night's girls night with Lindsey and Katie.

A fun motorcycle ride to church this morning.

My mom is finally reading Harry Potter. :)

Small Group

Every Friday night, we get together with our small group people. Tonight we had an especially good talk about 1 John, and I'm so thankful for our friends who we can be real with. We talked a lot about how God uses bad circumstances to orchestrate our lives for the greater good. I know that it usually seems that in the end, God used our bad experiences to better our lives, and I'm sure this whole thing will end up that way. It's just difficult when you can't see the big picture yet. I'm not to that point where I can look back on things and see why they happened the way they did.

One of the guys talked about the loss of his dad last summer and how, while it was horrible to go through, there were many things working together the weekend it happened that enabled all the family to be together during that rough time. He also talked about how people would tell him that it would take time to get past it. And while time does make things a little easier, you'll never get "past" it.

It was really good to know that someone else is going through the same things I am. He even made mention that in the healing process you have to "learn to exist again" without the person you lost. I've had that exact feeling so many times. Feeling this way is new to me. I know God says He'll never give us more than we can bear, but at times, losing our baby has felt like more than I can handle. How does one exist after such a tragic loss? Learning to live with this constant weight on my shoulders is hard.

I guess more than anything, I just felt relief (I guess that's the right word?) that someone who'd gone through a completely different situation was having so many of the same feelings that I am. Maybe it was just a reassurance that I'm not crazy!! :) His loss was a year ago, and it's still hard, but he's learned to exist with life being this way, instead of how it was. Our worlds will never be the same.

Here are a couple photos of our awesome small group friends! The wives:

Left to right: Risa, Audra, Melinda, me, Tiffany, Val.

The hubbys:

Top L to R: Adam, Luis (apparently they didn't get the memo this was supposed to be a nice picture)

Bottom L to R: Aaron, Justin, Ryan M., Ryan H.

10 points to the first person that can correctly match all the wives to their husbands! :)

Aww.

I was editing a wedding today and found this photo at the end of my card. I must've taken it when we got home or the next day or something. Adam's glaring at the camera, but don't be fooled, he started laughing after the click.

My boy and my dog.

Just a Quick Hello

Hi! I don't have much to update you with, but I'm not a fan of neglecting my blog(s), so I thought I'd at least say hello.

Nothing new with all the surgery stuff. I've been off pain meds since Wednesday morning and am doing good. We have a post-op appointment with my doctor on August 4th, and I'm looking forward to that because maybe he'll be able to help us put more of a time frame on things. And I just love to plan ahead! :)

Adam and I bought a motorcycle this week. We've had an old '65 Chevy truck since before we got married that Adam and his dad fixed up. It's the orange truck in our wedding photos:

Well, we finally decided to sell it. We didn't drive it that much and it wasn't even at our house most of the time because we didn't have room. So, we sold it last week and Adam had already had his sights set on getting a motorcycle. We had a cruiser vs. crotchrocket debate going on for awhile. I like cruisers, he's not a big fan. We finally compromised somewhere in the middle and got this:

It's a (lemme see if I can get this right) Kawasaki KLR650. It's called an Enduro, which means it's kind of a dirtbike, but can be ridden in town. Most importantly, it's a really pretty blue! :)

We just got done shooting a really great wedding in Hesston, so now I need to go relax. Have a great weekend!

Surgery Update

I went in for surgery yesterday at 1:00pm, and the process went very smoothly. I was checked in, changed, given an IV, and don't remember much after that. The doctor told Adam that things went perfectly, and we went home about 4:00pm that same day. I slept the majority of that evening and til late this morning. I'm on 4 prescriptions, but am pretty pain free, and am only taking the minimum dose of pain meds. We go in for our post-op appointment on August 4th, and I'm looking forward to that for an update.

Thanks for your prayers! 

A Few from Yellowstone

I will make a larger post at some point on my photo blog, but wanted to at least put a couple teasers up that can kinda sum up our trip.

Here's Adam and I on the porch of the cabin we stayed at in Jackson, WY. It was super cute.

Some of the amazing scenery.

Yes, I was as close to this moose as it looks. It had just stopped traffic by crossing the road, and then it walked right past our car. If you can look close, you can see that it's smiling. I think it was laughing at us.