Favorite Status Updates of 2013

Jan: My beautiful little angel has arrived. Took me 4 pushes and she was out and in our arms. Such a smooth easy birth and instant skin to skin bonding for almost an hour!! Amazing finish to our "having children" chapter of our lives. She is sleeping with a full tummy and I am about to nap. Hunter's attempts at the words "Fork" and "Shirt" have come out a bit...well...pg-13. We will work...

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Today a Firefighter made Hunter's day!

After Jason and I signed my surrogacy contract this morning, we decided to run into Lucky's the grocery store to pick up a few items that I forgot to grab the last time I was there. It was right next door to the Notary so we walked over. I picked out the items we needed, and noticed out of the corner of my eye, the Firefighters from the firehouse across the street were also shopping for some food...

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Why I don't have my $h&% together..and it's perfectly ok.

Tonight I made Shepherds Pie for dinner. It looked PERFECT. I snapped a quick picture and put a filter on it to brighten it a bit, and the background was my stove. The crust of the mashed potatoes were a golden brown that would have made the spirit of my 1940's housewife Great-grandmother proud! It certainly showed nicely. (Tasted good too,) but let me tell you what you didn't see in the picture....

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Gratitude..joy...disbelief.

I have been truly humbled by the grace and love of friends who have come to assist Jason and I as we seek to afford Jason's recovery time after surgery. There are not many occasions where I have been rendered completely speechless, but tonight I sat with my hands over my mouth and tears in my eyes. We have not met our end goal.. but 900.00 will still help out tremendously and we are grateful for every...

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Crying down Highway 237..

This morning I packed the kids in the car to head to Thursday morning work shop at church. Thursday morning workshop is a group of ladies young and older who gather as a supportive bunch to talk and chat while working on various crafts. We happen to be in high gear getting ready for the Annual Craft Fair we host every October to raise funds for the United Methodist Women. I enjoy going every Thursday...

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Today..I wrote my Congressman.

After reading this article today... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/8/shutdown-leaves-families-killed-soldiers-no-funera/ I could not remain silent. I cried. I cried for all of the families who not only have to suffer the loss of their loved ones, but who now suffer further pain because of this Government shutdown. I wrote the following letter to my local Congressman. I don't know if...

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A little slice of Heaven

Jason stayed home from work today. He wasn't feeling too great and hung out on the couch for most of the day being crawled on by babies. I got a LOT of cleaning done however because he was able to keep the kids occupied. Tonight after I put Emma to bed around 7:30 (she was exhausted now that she crawls all over), Jason started a fire in the fireplace. It was a chilly day and we both commented about...

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The Adventures of Hunter's Airplane

A week ago, before Jason left for work, Hunter came running up to him with his toy airplane. He didn't want daddy to leave for work after a morning of playing and wanted daddy to take his toy airplane to work with him. Jason laughed and said "Ok buddy..I'll bring him with me to work today and he can be my helper." Hunter laughed and said "Ok!". Our day after Daddy left for work was pretty normal,...

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Morning Glories in my wake...

When I was a little girl, I had a bedroom in the back of my parents house that faced the back yard. My window looked into the garden my mom had worked tirelessly every spring to prune and weed into a jewel sprinkled rainbow of flowers. One of my favorite morning sights as a young girl was to see the blue and purple morning glories that she planted, bloom as they wrapped around my bedroom window. I...

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Confessions of a "Stay at Home" Mom.

I know every mom has days like today. Days where you look up at the sky/whatever God you pray to, and chant your mantra "I am grateful for my kids, I am grateful for my kids. I am doing a great and wonderful thing by staying home with them." all whilst your two and a half year old screams and kicks the hardwood floor because you wouldn't let him watch "Dinosaurs" for the 3rd time today, and your 7...

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A full nights rest

Jason and I spent Saturday night at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mountain View. It was a mini vacation, but it was so wonderful to really spend one on one time with my husband. We got to the hotel, and I was able to take some pictures of our huge room! :)   Jason and I showered and got ready for our nummy dinner we had reservations for at 6:30. I was actually able to shower without guilt...

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4 amazing years...

The 21st of this month marks Jason and my 4 year anniversary. It has been a crazy rough and tumble 4 years that have brought us stronger in our love and given us two beautiful children. Let me give my readers a very quick overview of our marriage so far.. Jason and I met in 2007, when he and my brother were in the Marine Corps together as roommates. It started out very casual. We were both with...

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Faith and God as I see them..

After many years of spiritual growth and learning I have come to a very comfortable and pleasant understanding of God, and Faith in general that I would like to share. I believe that we existed before we came to earth as souls. I believe that as souls, we were intelligent beings who interacted and decided to come to earth to further our knowledge and experience. I feel that before we came to earth...

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Loving him because he is imperfect.

The other day I posted a status on Facebook about my husband Jason. It read as follows.. "I am so incredibly lucky to have Jason Oestreich as my husband. I NEVER have to ask him to wash dishes, or take out the trash, because he does it before I even notice it needs to be cleaned. He is supportive, loving, hilarious, and now more than ever we have our communication skills honed. He even takes...

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My American Idol experience

I wasn't going to audition. In fact I had always swore never to audition for American Idol because I thought it was a joke. If I was going to become a singer as my career I was going to pursue it the right way, not through reality TV. This year Jason convinced me (took him 4 years before he pulled the "do it for our family" card.) to audition. I decided to sing Hell on Heels by the Pistol Annies....

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Washing windows and falling in love.

When I was young my family took me on lots of road trips. We would drive to Yellowstone, from PA to CA, Canada, and to Fallon NV every summer. We drove thousands and thousands of miles, and during those trips our windshield would get very very dirty. When we stopped for gas, as we often needed to, my Grandpa or my father would step out of the car, and pay for gas. He would stand beside the pump as...

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