Show Us Your Life-Baby Names!

Another Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner! Kelly does one of these just about every week & I don't always get to do them. But this one I knew I had to do! It's Show Us Your Life Baby Names (Present &/or Future)! I mean come on how great is that! So starting with my firstborn...

Samuel Philip

...is my sweet oldest boy who will be 7 in just 2 short weeks! I love the story of how I knew what Sam's name should be! It was actually after I had been dx with Endometriosis & after my 2nd surgery. When I went in for this 2nd surgery we knew that the Endometriosis was bad but we didn't know that I could have to lose one of my ovaries. So when I woke up from surgery I was told by the nurse that they had to take my right ovary. I just remember being so devastated thinking there was no way I would be able to have kids. The GD & I were engaged by this time but I just remember thinking there is no way I can let this man marry me when I probably won't be able to give him any children. Of course he told me that was not the most important thing & if we weren't meant to have our own biological children then we would adopt. But it still ate away at me. The second night I was in the hospital my Mom had gone home & I was alone. Now of course who can sleep in those places! So in the bedside table I found a Gideon Bible. And I immediately went to the story of Hannah & Samuel. I cried & cried reading through Hannah's story knowing it could be similar to mine. I prayed & begged the Lord to allow me to have just 1 child with my husband. I felt a peace wash over me & I knew God was telling me that He would give us a child & were were to name our firstborn Samuel or Hannah. I swear it was as if the Lord himself stood at the end of my hospital bed & told me. It was the middle of the night & I could hardly wait to call my soon-to-be hubby to tell him. I am sure he thought I was crazy at the time but I just knew! When we got married several doctors told us it would take us years to get pregnant IF we could at all! And sure enough in God's timing (and sense of humor I might add) 3 months later we were pregnant! So I knew what his first name should be & I love the idea of family names for middle names so we went with Philip after the GD's Dad! And on May 19th Samuel Philip made his debut!

Andrew James

Unfortunately for Drew he doesn't have quite the story behind his name. However I must say we had a MUCH harder time getting pregnant with our second son. It took 18 months & 3 cycles with Clomid before we finally got the wonderful news that we were expecting again. I must say those 18 months were some of the most trying of my life. There was about 3 or 4 months straight that I kid you not every 2 weeks another lady in our church was announcing her pregnancy. I was beyond heartbroken by the time we finally found out we were pregnant! As far as his name is concerned we had a hard time agreeing on a name. We talked about Caleb, Jeremiah, David, Micah...and on & on & on! Finally one day I saw the name Andrew & I called David at work & asked him & that was it! We knew the middle name would be James after my Dad so we just needed a name that sounded good with that! On March 25th Andrew James was born into our family!

As far as future names, obviously after my total hysterectomy we can no longer have children of our own. But we fully intend on adopting SOON! And yes since we have 2 boys we are hoping to be able to adopt a little girl! We have talked about many names over the years for if we have a girl, of course Hannah. But then there was Rebekah & Ava. However as of right now if we are blessed enough to add a little girl to our family her name would be Addison Faye. Faye is also a family name, my middle name, my Mom's middle name, & my Paw-Paw's middle name (although his is spelled Fay).

So anyway there is my LONG post about names for our sweet babies! I love them so much & am beyond thankful that the Lord blessed us with 2 children. Of course my heart still aches for the baby we lost & I have often wondered if the baby would have been a girl or a boy. But I know that he or she is in heaven causing a ruckus with my bff's 2 babies she lost. Or at least that's what we tell each other! Anyway that's our story!

Cass

My Hubby!

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is doing her Show Us Your Life meme. I have done several of these over the last 6 months or so. This one was a no brainier to do since it's about my hubby! I have talked about him before & how we met but I thought it would be fun to do it again!

Hey it's my blog! :)

The GD & I met at church in the college & career ministry. I don't remember our first meeting, but I do remember the first time God stirred my heart for him. We had a meeting with some of the leaders of the C&C ministry & I was upset about some of the changes that were taking place. After the meeting he came up to me & simply asked me "How are you?" But there was something in his voice that told me he genuinely wanted to know how I was. I remember walking away, after talking to him for at least 30 min, thinking how he was someone special. After that he started helping me with our weekly bible study & afterwords we would go get coffee or get a snack & talk for hours. Long before we were actually dating, people started questioning if we were in fact dating. We even joked about telling people we were getting married & planned out a ceremony! (God was up to something!) Then one night (Feb 22nd to be exact) after bible study we were sitting in my car talking & actually approached the subject of having feelings for each other & what to do about it. We both expressed how we wanted the next person we dated to be the one we were going to marry, which is a little daunting to go into it with those expectations already set up. He was concerned about taking our friendship to that level & if it was worth it. Without skipping a beat, I reached over, held his hand so that our fingers were intertwined & said "I want this."

Ever since that moment when our fingers were first intertwined, I couldn't see where he stopped & I began. 3 months (May 7th) later we were engaged, & married one year later (May 18th)! We became one, working together, loving together, starting a family together & growing together. We have had many challenging times in our relationship, whether is was the possibility of not being able to have children, or when we did have children, or money, or family or so many other things, one thing I know is he is still intertwined with me. He is my other half, my better half. I have learned so much about myself because of him. And I know that I am a better person for knowing & loving him. He has always told me that his heart beats in my chest & I have always said that when I am in his arms the world makes sense again. And it does!

This May we will be married 8 yrs, the best of my life so far! We have 2 beautiful boys & can't wait to see what God has in store for us next!

Show Us Your Life-Christmas Decorations

Another day closer to Christmas means another Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner! This week is Christmas decorations & Kelly has joined up with The Nester to make it even bigger!!! As you have already read from my previous post, I love Christmas! And I love to decorate early! I just love the way my house looks all decorated! So I will give you pics from the main points around my house...

This is the table in my foyer right when you come in the house.
The tree on the table is for Christmas cards!
(Since these pics were taken earlier there aren't cards just yet!)


This is my dining room table! This is actually new this year, found all of this stuff at Hobby Lobby so cheap & I love how it turned out!

This is on my piano not much different than how it looks
year round except with the holly added!

This is the silver tree in the dining room,
other wise known as "Mommy's Tree"!
This is the BIG 9ft family tree in the family room!
This is the quilt rack with my adorable snowman throw!
(I definitely have a lot of snowman stuff!)
This is my pass through window!
My mantel that I absolutely love! You can't see it in the picture but
there are lights in the wreath & in the garland laying on the mantel!
No our stockings don't match. The GD & I found the 2 on each
end in TN, 6 months after we were married, but they only had 2.
We have tried finding more but so far no luck.
So for now we don't quite match! :)

Now my favorite decoration, my nativity scene! My Mom &
Mee-Mee got me this for Christmas a few years back!
I absolutely love Willow Tree's & it's so
special that I have this set!

And now for my bakers rack in the kitchen. The snowman head hanging on the wall was actually painted by my Mom years ago & it was one of my favorite decorations growning up. Since my Mom knew that she gave it me to use when the GD & I got married! His nose winds up & play's "Frosty the Snowman!"

There's an overview of my what my house looks like at Christmas!
Merry Christmas!!!

Show Us Your Life-Christmas Trees

It's that time again...Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner! This week is Show Us Your Christmas Trees! Oh how much fun! I have to tell you I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! Without a doubt my favorite time of the year! I love the weather, the sweaters, the decorations, everything about it! We decorate early around our house...like the first week in November early! This year it was even earlier than that, & it wasn't even my fault this time! The GD loves the house decorated early & this year he decided to go for it even before Halloween! Yes I know we are crazy but who cares, we love it!

So I am blessed enough to have 2 trees! We have a huge 9ft tree in our family room that is the "family tree"! It has the GD & mine ornaments from when we were kids, along with our family ornament that we get every year & the kids ornaments that they get every year! (You can go to this post to see a few of the ornaments that are my favorites!) I just love it...



Then in the dining room is "Mommy's Tree"! It's in all silver ornaments with silver ribbon! I love this one too because it's so elegant! It's right in front of the window so you can see it from the street! See how pretty...


I just love Christmas!!!!!!

Show Us Your Life-Christmas Traditions

Another edition of Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner! This week is show us your Christmas Traditions! If you don't know about SUYL then hop over & join in the fun! As I have stated before I love everything about Christmas (except maybe the crowds)! I just love Christmas & all the family traditions!

We have several traditions we have started over the years. Christmas Eve Service at church followed by snacks at my in-laws house. When we decorate the house (which is early, more on that next week!) & all that goes into it. But my favorite tradition by far is our ornaments! Every year as a child I got a new Christmas ornament, when the GD & I got married my Mom gave me all of my ornaments! The GD's family had a similar tradition & so we have all of our ornaments from growing up! We carried the same tradition on to our family & our kids. Below are just a few from over the years...

This is our family ornament from last year!
This was our family ornament from 2006!

So that's just a few we have so many to fill our 9ft tree! Be sure to check back next week to see our Christmas trees! It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

Show Us Your Life-Pet Edition

So one of my favorite blogs to read about is Kelly's Korner! She has one adorable little princess & she has such a heart for the Lord! She has been doing Show Us Your Life post for awhile, things like decorations in your house, Halloween costumes, cookie recipes, all kinds of things. I haven't really done a lot of them, but she has some good ones coming up I wanted to jump in on. This week is Show Us Your Life Pet Edition!



More than 2 years ago I started bugging asking the GD for a puppy! He wasn't too happy about it, cause he's not really a pet person. Right after we got married a lady at my job was selling Black Lab puppies, for some reason I convinced him to get one. 2 weeks later we found out we were prego with S-Man. Shortly after he was born we had to give Midnight up because she was so wild & into everything. At the time we didn't have our hard fenced in, so poor BIG Midnight was stuck in our house! She is much happier now being able to run free! So you can understand his concern. However this time I knew what I wanted, I grew up with a toy poodle & that is what I wanted. A small lap dog! After he realized he had no chance how much it meant to me, he agreed. For my birthday we went & picked out Bella! She was so tiny & so sweet! Look how little...


Now look at her so cute in the snow we had back in January...

And then the crazy GD put on a build a bear shirt on her...
This Jan 3rd will be Bella's 3rd birthday & in March will be 3 years we have had her! She is such a sweetie (even if she does pee on the carpet when she get's mad with us!) & thinks she is big enough to protect us! She sleeps with D-D every night & those two are attached at the hip. Although I think some of that might have to do with the fact that D-D is the most likely to drop food! I am so glad we have Bella!!!!!!!!

Show Us Your Life-Wedding Dress

Good morning ladies! Thank you all so much for your prayers & love as we enter the adoption process. Please keep praying & I will update throughout the process!!!!
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Kelly over at Kelly's Korner has been doing a Show Us Your House blog carnival for weeks now, but I never joined in. Now she is doing a Show Us Your Life blog carnival with this week being show us your wedding dress.
Sounded so fun so here are a few pics I have...

I like Kelly have no digital pics from the big day, funny how photography has changed in just 7 yrs huh! I love my wedding dress!!!!!! It was the first one I tried one & my favorite! It is strapless with beading & lace covering the top. A long train with beading scattered throughout, my veil was not too long but had a few pearls scattered in it! So pretty!!!!!!!

There is a funny story (well it's funny now!) about my dress I thought I would share! We bought my dress almost a full year before the wedding, by the time wedding time came I had unfortunately gained a little weight. Not much only one size larger, however the bridal shop we bought it from, who shall remain nameless (David's Bridal) refused to let me swap it out. It had no alterations & was exactly the same as when I walked out the store with it. Not cool!! So we were recommended to a lady who did alterations in her home, went to her & she said it would be no problem. As I said the top part of my dress was all lace & beading. So when she let it out in the sides, instead of filling it in completely she left satin hanging out of each side with one strip of lace & few beads right down the middle. It wasn't pretty! In fact it was awful. But I tried to act like it was no big deal, but it was. Now let me stop right here & fill you in on one SMALL detail...we picked the dress up like this 4 days before the wedding!!!!!!!!! Yes you read that right 4 days!!!!!! By this point I just wanted to marry this man & start our lives together. But my Mom & Mee-Mee were horrified & refused to let me get married like that. That night we went straight to the nameless bridal shop (David's bridal) that had a new store in town & bought the exact same dress only one size larger. The manager at this shop was so apologetic & couldn't believe the other store refused to exchange it for us. She didn't charge us for the small alteration that needed to be done on the top & gave me my shoes for free. We literally picked up my finished dress about 2 hrs before the rehearsal dinner Friday night! So in the end I have 2 wedding dresses exactly alike! Trust me then it wasn't funny, but now it's a fun story to tell!!!!! Thankfully this was the only drama that surrounded out day! It was a beautiful, perfect day!!!!