Cara's Shower

A couple weeks ago I traveled down to Ohio for the day to visit one of my college roommates, Cara!  She is expecting a baby girl in October and I couldn't be happier for her!  And, I felt so honored when she asked me if I could take her maternity photos so she and her husband could support our adoption.  We decided to take them the morning before her baby shower so that way I could be in town for the pictures and also the shower.  The shower was beautiful and her husband's family planned a majority of the little details.  We had such a great time catching up- I definitely miss that girl!  It felt just like old times as we stayed up late catching up on life and drinking non alcoholic beer lol (except in college we didn't drink real beer OR non alcoholic beer haha)

You can see her maternity pictures at my photography site :)

A Baby Dedication

A couple weeks ago our friend's Lane and Jess dedicated their little guy at church!  I can't believe it's been three years since we dedicated Jake in that exact same room.  I love hearing what verses and name's parents pick out for their kids, and we are so excited that we have the privilege of doing this again soon :)

It's crazy how different my feelings are this time around with our second little guy.  I know parents always feel bad that they don't take as many pictures or they don't plan out every little detail of their second or third child's nursery, but I think there's a different, and dare I say better preparation this time around.  I'm less concerned about the decorations of this baby's nursery and the cuteness of his clothes.  I'm also not reading as many baby books- not because I'm a pro, but because I realized how frustrated I got when Jake wasn't napping as long as he "should" have been according to certain authors!

Maybe it's because it took us a while of trying and a couple miscarriages before we got pregnant that I feel this way, but there is just an overwhelming sense of gratitude I've been feeling.  God has been growing in my heart a sense of thankfulness with every little kick and every month that passes.  And we are SO excited to meet this little guy over here.  And I know you can never fully soak every moment in because they pass by so so fast, but we are excited to try :)

Oh, Miami

A  couple weeks ago we attended a wedding for a friend that we went to college with in Cincinnati.  We stayed with our friends Cynthia and Nate, who we met in college, and decided to visit our alma mater since we were only 30 minutes away.  It is crazy how much a school can change in 7 years!  And while I felt like I was a college student again, I have a feeling the few students that were walking around could tell immediately we were not 18 year olds.  (Maybe our kids gave that away?!)

Dan and I LOVED our time at Miami.  I remember mentors telling us in college not to take the experience for granted because there will never be another time in your life like this- where you literally only have responsibility for yourself and you have hundreds of friends that are all in the exact same life stage as you.  While I wish I could say I listened to their advice, it is definitely true that it's easier to see looking back what a blessing that time in our lives were.  From the friends we made, the experiences we had, and the ability we had to grow spiritually, we had an all around great college experience.  And we loved visiting and reliving all our memories.  I already pray that Jake and our other kids will have the same experience we did!

We stayed with our friends Cynthia and Nate and they have adorable twins and a beautiful home!

Definitely felt old when we realized that they don't have 80's night anymore but it's 90's night! lol we had to take a pic :)

Maybe a future Beta?!

Newly weds :)

our attempt at a group shot lol