A day in the life of the Daniels

Their personalities in a picture. Jane=excited and silly, Atlas=focused and serious.

I thought it would be fun to go through what a normal day is like at this point with our family. I did this when Jane was around a year old and since we've added a kid and Jane is a 2 year old now, things have changed a bit. So I'd say it's time for an update.

Everyone that has a child and especially more than one child can probably agree that kids don't follow a routine perfectly day in and day out. So obviously this post will not reflect how every day of our week goes. But if things go relatively smoothly that day and we don't have plans to go anywhere then this is how our day progresses.

Jane gave us all headbands to wear. :D

On a normal weekday I start to wake up around 6:30am. I hit the snooze button a couple of times while I nurse Atlas before I get out of bed. (He always ends up in my bed sometime in the night before 6am, but he starts out in his rock & play) I try to get up and out of bed around 6:40-7am. I grab a breakfast snack and head straight to my desk to work. Sam also gets up sometime between 6:30 and 7am and heads to work. We give each other a head nod or a grunt goodbye. We're not morning people...

I work as much as I can before Jane wakes up.  Jane will wake up on a normal day anywhere from 6:30-7:30am. Once Jane is awake I change her diaper and get her dressed. She usually asks for some milk and to watch a show or a movie. Right now, The Lego Movie is Jane's favorite movie! I get her settled and go back to work until I get somewhere between 1 to 1 1/2 hours of work in for the morning or until Atlas wakes up, whichever comes first. Atlas will sometimes wake up before 8am, but usually he sleeps until 8:30-9am. He is definitely a night owl. I'll get to that later. Anyway, I either change his diaper and get him dressed or nurse him first depending on how hungry he seems.

Jane just loves to bring Atlas toys! 

Now that both of the kids are awake and dressed and relatively happy, I finally get myself dressed and looking presentable! Mom's know that we put ourselves last on the list. ;) I fix myself and the kids breakfast. Atlas has started solids so he gets to have whatever puree I made the day before. Jane and I have a variety of things. She never eats much for breakfast though. Normally yogurt, cereal, fruit, or toast. Oatmeal with fruit, scrambled eggs or a green smoothie are my go-to's with the occasional pop tart or cereal.

With breakfast behind us we head out on our morning walk. The kids LOVE going for a walk. Both of them could be in a weird mood, but once we get started on our walk they are both serene and start taking in the world around them. It's great exercise for me! I just lost the last of my baby weight from Atlas! Woohoo! It's only about a 20 minute walk, but it's so relaxing for me and I get a few minutes of peace and quiet to pray and think calmly. I'm thinking of stretching it longer since we all love it so much.

They are awesome shoppers too!! First time at our new HEB!

By the time we get back from our walk it's around 11am or so and Atlas is ready for his first nap. I'll nurse him a bit and he'll go right to sleep. If Jane wakes up before 7am she'll take a nap then too, but if she woke up after 7am she isn't sleepy enough yet and waits to nap until Atlas's second nap around 3-4pm. (Update, Jane is transitioning out of naps and if she doesn't nap early, she doesn't nap at all most days)

Whenever Jane and Atlas are napping at the same time I go back to work. Depending on the length of their nap and how much work I have to do I'll work 30 minutes to an hour. If I'm lucky I'll get more than an hour. That gives me somewhere between 2-3 hours of work for the day.

I'm sure this it the first of many bowls of popcorn together!

We have lunch sometime between 12-2pm, whenever the kids are content and not napping. Atlas loves jumping in his doorway jumper while he watches me fix myself a sandwich. Jane loves to help cook or she tries to entertain Atlas which normally ends up with him getting upset, but at least her heart was in the right place. ;)

Between all the meals, naps and work, we play in the backyard once or twice a day. Atlas loves to sit on a beach towel with his toys and watch Jane and I jump on the trampoline, play tag, race or swing on the tire swing. It's the best. I can't wait until Atlas can join in and run around the yard with us. We also spend a good amount of time in Atlas and Jane's rooms playing with toys or reading books together.

We love our backyard!!

It's not all sunshine and rainbows. There is lots of crying and whining. Atlas is teething and needing more cuddles but then Jane feels left out and says, "hold me, hold me, hold me!!" Balancing the attention is always a challenge. But I'm so blessed to have two amazing kids to give me that challenge. I'm a better person because of them.

Our Trampoline is the best!

Around 5pm we are done with naps and work and we have some time to fill before Sam gets home and starting on dinner. A lot of the time we end up watching some Netflix. Jane's current favorite show is the Storybots! There are two different series, Storybots Super Songs and Ask the Storybots. Only eleven 20 minute episodes between the two series makes for a lot of repeat watching, but I really enjoy the storybots too, so that's a plus. I'm waiting intently for more seasons!! The Storybots were actually an App first so she can take them with her and it really helps at a sit down restaurant. If the weather is nice and the mosquitoes aren't insane then we'll go outside again for a little while.

Inside is fun too! :D

Sam gets home from work around 6-6:30pm. If I have a more labor/time intensive meal I'll get started before he gets home, if not I'll wait until he gets home to start. I shoot for about a 7pm dinner time. That way we can be done eating and cleaning up by 8pm. While I'm cooking, Atlas will hang out in the jumper and Jane will play with Sam. It works out really well most nights. If Atlas is extra fussy I'll wear him while I cook or clean up. Some times Jane will wash dishes with me, other times she'll choose to go play with Sam again after dinner. Sam is such a great dad and Jane really looks forward to playing with him every day. If Sam has to work late and we have to eat dinner without him Jane will ask, "My dad??" I'll tell her he had to work extra hard for us today. She'll be disappointed for a minute, but usually perks right back up and goes about the rest of her day as her joyful self.

I know it's hard to see, but Sam is reading to Jane

Finally, around 8pm, we begin our bedtime routine. I help the kids get their jammies and night time diaper on. I would like to say bath time is part of our routine, but it is not a daily occurrence. And most of the time it doesn't happen around bedtime either. I never seem to be able to fit bath time for two kids right before bed with out it getting super past their bedtime. Maybe one day...  A girl can dream. ;) After they're all snuggly in their jammies, I nurse Atlas and Jane gets to play a few educational games on my iPod. Atlas is not super great at his bedtime routine and that's probably my fault... But anyway, sometimes he falls asleep around 8:30pm, other times he waits until after I put Jane to bed.

Happy boy!

At 8:30-9pm Jane and I brush her teeth, tell Atlas and Dad goodnight and head off to read a few books together. Jane will not let anyone else put her to bed other than me if I am home. In fact, if she is being reluctant to go to bed our threat ends up being, "Does Dad need to put you to bed??" She'll say, "No! Mommy do!" and rushes off with me. Jane loves her Usborne books!! Her current favorites are "My Owie book" (AKA All Better) and You Choose. I adore reading books to Jane at bedtime! It's our special mom and Jane time. I also think that's why she won't let anyone else put her to bed. It's just tough when I'm sick. Normally, we tell Jane mom is sick and you have to help. So she does exactly I say right away and I power through it. After a couple of books, I say it's time for bed. We turn off the light, I hold her while we say a prayer. I put her in bed and say goodnight. Only recently she has started to come out of her room at night. She gets right back in bed and I tell her I love her, but she still needs to go to sleep. It only takes a time or two and she goes to sleep. Some nights she won't come out at all. Only on rare occasions will she wake up in the middle of the night.

I know I'm biased, but man, my kids are cute!! ;)

Atlas still wakes up a couple of times a night, but he goes straight back to sleep every time. Plus I co-sleep with him part of the night so I don't become a zombie. So I barely notice that he wakes up. Just this last month Atlas dropped his third nap and has started to go to bed at a decent hour. Before it was 11pm-Midnight!! But now by 9:30pm most nights he's asleep. I'd still like to push it earlier and we're working on it.

Ahhh... It's 10pm and the kids are asleep. What do I do? Well, I need to fit in a shower some nights. Weeknights, I need to make Sam's lunch for the next day. I also have to get myself ready for bed at some point. In between all of that I try to give myself at least 30 min to sit down and do whatever I want. A lot of the time I watch TV and scroll through Facebook. Other times I blog about the kids, back up and look through the pictures of the kids or I work on one of kids baby books. So even when they're asleep I'm usually doing something that pertains to them. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We're still here!

I wanted to write a quick post to let y'all know I haven't given up on my blog! Things have been busy around here. The company that I had been working for for the last 4 years filed for bankruptcy and dissolved last month. God was good and gave me a new job so that I could continue to work from home and I get to work for my old boss that I love! Anyway, that has been keeping me busy, not to mention the kids! Jane is getting old enough now that I'm getting her involved in more events, outings and play dates. She's waking up at 6:30am now... Also, she had her first ear infection this past week and her fever got up to about 105. Scary! Atlas is getting mobile and is taking shorter naps and is still a night owl. So the blog has once again been put on the back burner for a little while.

Oh you know, just Atlas with holding up the world. :D

I can't believe it's already the end of September!! Time is flying by! Seriously though!  I thought having one kid made time go by faster. Goodness, having two makes a month feel like a week! I didn't even realize how long it had been since my last blog post. So I wanted to give you a little update and a little sneak peek of posts to come. (At least posts that I hope I have time to write.) we're all doing good! We are still enjoying our family of 4, the easy and hard days too. Sam is working hard and getting a fair amount of overtime. We are hoping for a promotion for him soon. In addition to my accounting job I am going to become a consultant for Usborne books and More! I absolutely love their books and I want to share them with everyone! So if you are wanting some fun, educational and interactive books for your kids let me know! They make awesome Christmas presents! (I have a few wrapped up for Atlas and Jane already.) ok, that's all for now. Oh and we love fall!!

Dad was grilling some delicious burgers!

Posts to come!

Day in the life of the Daniels

Don't worry, they aren't always this picture perfect. ;)

Summer recap

Babyhoodies!

The Houston Zoo!

Jane had to brush every goat!

Christy and Sam: The Love Story - Part 3

Spoiler Alert! We get married. ;)

If you haven't read Part 1 and Part 2 you might want to click on those and read through them real quick so the rest of this post makes sense. Now, without further ado, here is conclusion of our love story.

We were faced with a dilemma 

Once we arrived back at Tejas after our heartfelt highway chat, one of us said, "What now?" "How about we go somewhere and figure it out?" We headed to the dining hall because no one was there and it was a public place. I explained to Sam that the reason I was hesitant to admit my feelings to him was because I hadn't let myself consider him as more than a friend. Mostly because I was trying not to focus on guys at that point and also because I was afraid of another failed relationship. I really valued his friendship and didn't want to lose it. He understood, but he felt it was worth the risk to figure it out. We also both believed in dating with the intention of it leading marriage. We weren't doing it just for fun. I remember calling and asking my dad for advise, because I think it's important for dads to protect their daughter's from bad relationships if they can. My dad asked me, "Do you really like him?" I said, "Yes, I do." He said, "Then you owe it to yourself and to him to see where it goes." 

Intern buddies! This was at a Camp wedding we went to together.

Here was the issue. Camp Tejas didn't allow relationships between interns or summer staff and since I was going to be a full time employee soon and Sam was planning to work the summer and probably the next internship, we were in quite the pickle. We both saw ourselves working at Tejas for the foreseeable future, but we both wanted a relationship with each other to be in that future too. We went to our boss the next day to ask for permission to date. He asked us to put our relationship on hold until after the summer. Ok... So it's the beginning of March and the summer isn't over until the middle of August. That's almost half a year! But we agreed to wait because the only options given to us were waiting until August or one of us had to stop working at Tejas right then. Our boss did say he didn't want to get in the way of us still getting to know each other. I don't really like to talk about all the dissension and disagreements that happened because of this. Just know there was a lot of it between us and the leadership at Tejas. 

Sam found this sticky note and put in on my door for me to find.
He definitely lifted my spirits on a difficult day.

In our defense I don't think "put it on hold" was ever really explained. (I guess we should have asked for clarification.) What were we supposed to do? Stop liking each other? Impossible. Stop talking to each other? That could never work.  We tried not to talk or even be around to each other very much in public through the summer(note how there aren't any pictures of us together in this segment of the post) and of course we didn't go on dates or anything. We did know we were supposed to keep the fact that we liked each other a secret. The problem with that was we had already told a few of our close friends who were planning on working the summer before we knew we weren't supposed to tell anyone. So it couldn't be a complete secret already. Also, a couple of people who knew us both from previous summers asked us straight out about it and I wasn't going to lie to them.

Basically it was doomed before it even began. It all happened for a reason because I had recently said to a co-worker, "As long as God doesn't do something crazy, I plan to be here for the next 5 years." God obviously had other plans for us and if everything hadn't happened in the bond breaking way it did I wasn't going to leave Tejas anytime soon. We were not innocent, we held hands and gave a hugs a couple times in secret, but we were never alone together more than a couple of minutes. We could have handled it better, but I feel like there was a much better way for the Tejas leadership to have handled it too. All has since been forgiven and, although obviously not forgotten, is behind us and doesn't harbor any ill feelings. I mean our old boss did the inspection of the first home Sam and I bought together.)

I'm grateful for flowers and forgiveness.
(a walk I took through the appropriately named Tejas Meadows)

At the very end of June, the Tejas leadership brought us into the office and told us it wasn't working out. Too many people were finding out and they couldn't allow us both to continue to work there if we saw a future with our relationship. They gave us a day to decide what we wanted to do. I remember going back to my apartment(located on the camp) and screaming, falling on the groud and crying the hardest I can ever remember crying. I kept asking God, "why?!". Sure, call me dramatic, but it felt like such a failure, like my little world was falling apart. I either had to give up Sam or Tejas. The choice was clear to both of us. Our relationship was more important than being at Tejas. It doesn't mean it wasn't hard for me to give it up. I loved working at Tejas with all my heart.

We both agreed that Sam should be the one to leave Tejas at that point, in the middle of the summer camp season, and I would finish out my full time duties for the summer and take my leave as soon as the summer was over. The next question was, "Where do we go?" I called my parents and asked if Sam could live with them until we figured things out. They said yes! (Thank you sooo much Mom and Dad!)

The next day the summer camp staff had a schedule meeting like we would always do before the new set of campers come in. At the end of the meeting Sam and I stood at the front and Sam told everyone he was leaving because, "Me and this little lady have been become pretty close and it has become too difficult for us to keep our relationship on hold any longer. So we think it's best for us and the camp that I leave now." I remember someone shouting, "Where's the camera??" because the staff would sometimes do "acts" during summer camp for our end of the year slideshow and he thought it was for that. We said, "Nope this is real." Pretty much the people we had already told were the only ones that had suspected us at all. We were/are a very unlikely couple. Most people have a hard time understanding why we are together. (maybe this story has shed some light on that point!) Well, like I've already said, opposites attract right? I'd like to add that opposites that have the same goals and values in life don't only attract, but also stay attached and can't be pulled apart. That's what we are.

First picture as a couple

We fell in love

Through all of the discord Sam and I grew closer. We found that through the rough patches we could rely on each other and when everything was changing around us we were solid ground for each other. While Sam and I were still working at the camp we exchanged text messages during our off time and talked only when necessary during work. Once Sam left we got to talk almost every night on the phone. It was so wonderful to have it all in the open! I could talk about him and to him! I've heard some people in secret relationships feel the attraction of the relationship wears off once it's in the open. Definitely the opposite for us. It finally felt right. 

I went home to visit him a few times before the summer was over and each time I was more convinced I wanted to marry him. I had told him that I didn't want him to tell me he loved me until he could back it up with a commitment because I felt like saying I love you was a very serious thing and I didn't want it to lose its meaning. I also told him I didn't want him to kiss me until we were engaged. On August 7th 2010, I was home because I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding. That night we watched some Lost (we had made a deal back when we were interns that if I watched Lost he would watch the 5 hour Pride and Prejudice with me. :D) and before I headed back Sam was being all jittery and nervous again. He said something like, "I feel like I need to tell you something, but I'm not sure you want to hear it yet." I said, "Go ahead." He said, "I love you." And of course, I said, "I love you too!" Because saying I love you was such a big deal to us, it was like a pre-engagement for us.

The night he said "I love you."

I went back to camp and finished out my last week and a half of working at Camp Tejas. I moved back to my parent's house(Sam and I were in different rooms!). Finally getting to be in the same place and free to be in a relationship was so nice! We kept getting to know each other. We talked about just about everything, our thoughts about the world, where we wanted to live, if/when we wanted kids and if we would want to home school, our dream jobs, what was most important in our lives and so on and so forth. We found that the most important thing to both of us was to put God first and to do His will.

Everything was lining up. It was becoming evident to both of us where this relationship was heading. 

We got engaged

Fun engagement shoot picture. Not our actual engagement.
Not even close to a reenactment either. ;)

There wasn't a big conversation or declaration of love, but sometime in September of 2010 we started talking about getting married and if there was anything holding us back. Of course we both still needed jobs and we wouldn't get married while we were living in my parent's house. But we thought there wasn't any reason why we couldn't get engaged now. I told Sam he had to ask my dad for permission to marry me. I know, very old fashioned, but I love it. 

We were upstairs in my room while we were talking about this. So Sam said, "Ok." Then he walked down stairs and asked my dad if he could marry me and my dad said, "If she's ok with it then I'm ok with it, but you have to get a job before you get engaged." We felt like that was a reasonable request. I mean every good father wants his daughter to be taken care of and provided for.

So Sam kept looking for a job for the next couple of weeks. On September 25, 2010, a day before my 22nd birthday, Sam got a job at Best Buy. (It wasn't the ideal job, but it was a start!) As soon as Sam found out he took me upstairs, got a little box out of his drawer and came over to me and said, "So are we getting married or what?" I laughed and said, "YES!" Then he kissed me to seal the deal. It was our first kiss not only with each other but with anyone. It was special. Our engagement wasn't a big production, it was simple and real and I think that represents us as a couple pretty well. It was perfect.

So us.

3 months later Sam moved in to our apartment and a month after that, on January 22, 2011 we got married, I moved in and we began our life together.

YAY We're Married!!

5 years later, even with all of life's challenges, we're still happily married and have added 2 kids to our family so far. Now, our love story isn't really finished yet since we are falling more in love with each other with each passing year. I would say every passing day, but that's not the truth. The truth is, I can't tell that I love him more day to day, but each year I look back and realize I love, appreciate and respect him more than I did the year before. God is so good. I am so grateful that he lead us to each other. Honestly, I couldn't imagine my life without Sam in it.

It's amazing how love grows!

Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Christy and Sam: The Love story - Part 2

If you haven't read part 1 click here so you can get caught up! Ok, now you may continue on. :)

We fell in "like"

Both of us can barely remember when we started liking each other. "It has been coming on so gradually, I hardly know when it began! But I believe I must date it from my first hearing him sing and play the guitar." ;) (Fans of Pride and Prejudice will get that quote, Sam is my Mr. Darcy! And my Shikamaru, oh and my Luke Danes as I've recently been realizing.) But seriously, it probably first started when he went to visit his family in Africa for the holidays in November of 2009. 

We had been working closely together for several months and when he left... I realized pretty quickly that I missed him... like... a lot. He was gone all of November and December. During that time I noticed he was a big reason why interning had been so fun. While he was gone a fellow Tejas SMT and I drew this picture of Sam.

We had way too much fun

Yep, definitely missed him. I confided this information to my mom. I also remember telling her that I felt like I would want to give him a hug when he got back, but I had never given him a hug before... would it be weird? At that point I still thought of him as just a good friend, nothing more. I believe my mom began to suspect a greater attachment than I knew myself. Sam got back at the beginning of the year during our Summer Ministry Team reunion party. There was a bunch of people around him when I said hi and he didn't seem overly excited to see me, so I decided on no hug. (I commented on him barely acknowledging me when he got back much later on and he said he was jet lagged and really out of it and doesn't even remember me saying hi)

The intern buddies!

During the spring internship there were only 3 of us, me, Sam and Beau(our good friend to this day, thanks for being our wing man dude!). Also, I was training to become a full time employee at Camp Tejas. I started working more in the office, but I still was doing some intern stuff with the guys too. During the fall internship we barely spent any of our off time together, not sure why. So why did we become good friends in the spring? Well, here are some of the reasons why.

While I was on Christmas break I purchased myself a nice, big TV, because well, I love movies and video games. :D So one day I suggested we start a weekly dinner/movie night where I would cook the guys dinner and then we would watch a movie or play a video game. We had some good times! We would watch the credits of the movie all the way to the end just to find people with funny names and laugh at them. Sam made us dinner once. Chicken Fried Steak and Mashed Potatoes and it was delicious. I literally kicked Sam off the couch one day during a spirited game of Super Mario Bros. Wii. I also specifically remember a zombie game of ping pong where I laughed the most probably in my life. 

He's cuddling a tiny puppy!!
You can see some of the mats we were cleaning in the background

After each retreat weekend we would do a thorough cleaning of the dining hall. One of the tasks was to spray out and wash the kitchen floor mats. It took two people and most people didn't like to do it. It took a couple hours and it was messy, wet and a lot of times pretty cold outside. But just about every weekend Sam and I would volunteer and do the task together and talk the whole time. We got to know a lot about each other during those times. He called me the golden child and I called him a rebel. Opposites attract right?

Every month the full time staff and interns would have a potluck. After each potluck we would all stick around the dining hall for a while. Sam would play his guitar and sometimes sing for us, while Beau and I would do puzzles.

I have no idea what we were saying.

After one of the potlucks, my boss asked, "Soooo... you and Sam huh?" I said, "What?? Why would you say that?" He said, "I guess because y'all looked all nice and dressed up sitting next to each other last night." (dressed up, meaning wearing something different than a camp shirt and shorts.) I responded. "There's nothing going on, we're just good friends." That was the truth! I promise. Like I said earlier I was not thinking of guys romantically at all.

Taking pictures of each other :)

He's cute

Sometime in February the interns had a few days off together. We took a trip back to my parents house. We played some old atari video games, watched some late night winter olympics(curling to be exact) and went horseback riding. We also all bought toms and wrote Camp Tejas Interns on the back. (Also, I haven't mentioned that my parents were less than thrilled about my first boyfriend, but when my dad met Sam for the first time he burned him an Eagles CD. :D) Sam and I talked the whole way to Kingwood and back. My mom and my dad were not fooled. They knew we liked each other before I even realized it. I was talking to my mom soon after the trip and she commented saying, "Sooo, you and Sam seem pretty close." I said, "Really? You think so?"

The intern toms

Yeah... we're cool. 

Later that month it was Sam's birthday and it snowed. (Bah! Just realized a Gilmore Girls reference here. It's magical when it snows!...and I just got asked by Netflix if I was still watching Gilmore Girls...) We had a snowball fight and made tiny snowmen together. We watched the Wizard of Oz that night. I think it was right around then I finally realized... I think I like Sam... more than a friend. When/how did that happen?? I had been praying for a while for a kindred spirit who lived close to me. I never expected it to be Sam. Sam was talking about me to his mom and she said "Sounds like you found a kindred spirit." There was a time when he would count how many times I shook my head at him and I would count how many times he rolled his eyes at me. And I tried hard to think of inventive ways to get him to say the word cute because he said it wasn't part of his vocabulary. We would even chat on Facebook at night after we had worked together all day... Yeah, there was no avoiding the truth, I was falling for him.

Snowball target!

I don't think I've ever seen flakes so big!

Still one of my favorite pictures of us

I think I only told my mom and my covenant partner at Tejas, Kristi, about my attachment. I remember Kristi commenting and said she had been thinking, "I wonder why Sam has been so happy lately, maybe he's in love with Christy!" I wouldn't let myself believe that because I didn't want to be disappointed if it wasn't true.

During a retreat weekend in early March 2010, Sam, unbeknownst to me, asked for advice from two of our mutual friends that worked the weekend with us, about telling me about his feelings. One of them said "Go for it man, Christy doesn't act like that with anyone else." Sam asked our other friend if she was sure I was over my previous relationship. Once she assured him I was, his mind was made up. He was going to tell me how he felt.

It was Sunday March 7th, 2010 (Here's where every guy is like, "How do women remember these details??") Normally Sam, Beau and I would drive to church in the evening and have some fast food together after. (There was a backflipping burrito one night) Well, Beau had gone home for his next couple of days off. So it was just me and Sam. After church I asked Sam, "Do you still want to get some fast food?" He said something like, "Yeah, we always do don't we?" We went to Whataburger and the whole time we were eating Sam was jittery, didn't say much and didn't even finish his burger. I thought, "He's acting weird... OH! Maybe he does like me and is going to tell me!" He didn't end up saying anything, so we started driving back to Camp. I thought, "I was being silly, I guess he doesn't like me." Then out of nowhere while I was driving down the highway he says, "Ok, here's how it's going to go down, we're going to have an adult conversation." (He knew he needed to clarify this because he wanted to be certain I knew he was serious since we joked around a lot) I said, "Uh... Ok." He continued with, "I think you know what I'm going to tell you. It's pretty obvious.... I've become quite fond of you and I kinda need to know if you feel the same way." I said, "OH!...." I paused and didn't say anything for probably what seemed like an eternity to Sam. I think he said something like, "Well...?" I said, "I don't know..." Still very cool and collected Sam said, "Alright, that's fine." I snapped out of my indecisiveness because I really knew how I felt. I said, "No, I mean I do. I do like you." I think he responded with, "Cool." 

To be concluded...

Proverbs 18:24
A man of too many friends comes to ruin,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Christy and Sam: The Love Story - Part 1

I wanted to take a break from writing about the kids for a couple of posts and go back to the very beginning of our family and tell the story of how Sam and I fell in love. There would be no Jane and Atlas without Christy and Sam (and God of course.) I haven't really written out our love story. I would really love to put it down on paper or digital paper at least to remember and read it for myself. I hope you enjoy it too.

We met

I decided to work at Camp Tejas, a Christian summer camp/retreat center, the summer of 2008. I had been going to Camp Tejas for a weekend every summer since I was 3. I always thought of it as my fun place not a work place. So the decision to work at Tejas was definitely a God thing. At that point of my life I was very fearful of anything new and working at a summer camp where everything I would be doing would be new, including the place I would live, was way out of my comfort zone. I felt strongly that God told me, "Some things will be hard, other things will be easy, but it will all be good!" That gave me the courage to go work at Camp Tejas and be assured that it was going to be good for me even if there was a lot of learning and difficult things that came along with it.

Sam had recently moved back to the US after being a missionary kid in Kenya for 6 years. He had gone to college for a semester or so and decided it wasn't for him. His parents were still missionaries in Kenya, so he didn't exactly have anywhere to go for the summer. Someone he met when he lived in Kenya was now working at Camp Tejas full time and told him it would be a great place to work and live for the summer. He decided sure, why not.

The day we met and our first picture together! (Look for the non-green shirts)

So we met in May of 2008 when we were both 19, but other than maybe a couple of small, pretty much meaningless, conversations (because neither of us can remember them) and becoming Facebook friends, we barely noticed each other. I always thought Sam was funny and Sam always thought I was pretty, but nothing even close to love at first sight. (which neither of us believe in anyway) We both a great time working at Tejas, but totally missed out on getting to know each other that summer. That was about it for our first summer of working together. Very uneventful. We were both distracted by other people that summer, but nothing came of it.

Summer Camp season ended in August and we went back to our regular lives. I went back home to my parent's house and worked as shelving clerk at my local library (a job I still look back on with fondness, maybe one day I will get to work at a library again.) Sam went to Dallas (his hometown) and lived with his older brother.

We became friends

I wasn't sure if I was going back to Tejas to work the summer of 2009. I loved my library job and it was a job that I interviewed twice for and was hard to get. If I left now I probably wouldn't get to work at a library again for a long time, if at all. I got a call from my boss at Tejas asking me to come back as a supervisor for the 2009 summer. After much thought and prayer I decided Tejas was more important to me than my library job. 

Sam began to feel like the life he had been living in Dallas didn't have a future and wasn't very meaningful. He started working at Tejas again in March during the retreat season as an intern and continued to work for the summer of 2009.

Working together and starting to be friends

So here we were back together again at Tejas and now I was Sam's boss. :D During the 2008 summer I was a regular SMT(Summer Ministry Team worker) and I worked as a lifeguard and in recreation, Sam was a Team Leader and mostly worked in the kitchen and and some recreation. So he was an expert in the kitchen and I was supposed to supervise the kitchen now with never having worked in it before... I was very intimidated. I worked in the kitchen on a few retreats before the summer started and because Sam was there as an intern I learned from him and he taught me the ways of the kitchen. The first week of the summer I was assigned to supervise the kitchen, Sam and his team were assigned to work the kitchen along with another team. Their team colors were Green and Purple. We called ourselves team Barney. :) The Food Service manager of the camp said we were the best combination of people to work the kitchen. All of us loved working together. You can tell!

Good times!!

Green and Purple teams, AKA Team Barney!!

Sam was so nice to me during that time. He kept me sane with his knowledge of the kitchen and random funniness. But I still didn't think of him in a romantic way at all. He was just a friend. He felt the same way about me. It had taken us a year after we met to become friends, but it finally happened!

Working the top of the wall together

The summer of 2009 was one of the greatest times of my life. Such an awesome group of people. So much fun was had! Many friends were made that I still have to this day. I thought to myself why would I want to leave?? I didn't have a job or school to go back to, so why not!? So I decided to be an intern during the retreat season. Sam didn't have anything that he would rather do at the time, so he stayed on as an intern after the summer as well.

Being an intern during retreat season is pretty different than working the summer. During the summer you are working with about 60+ other people split up into about 10 teams, all rotating jobs through the summer. There is only one team during retreat season, the interns. There were 5 of us in the fall and we worked all the jobs and we did it together. You basically have no choice, but to get to know each other pretty well.

Remodeling a conference room

One thing got in the way of me thinking of Sam as anything other than a friend at the beginning of our internship was that I had my first boyfriend right after the summer of 2009 was over. He had worked at the Camp the last two summers as well. It didn't last long. After about a month we realized we weren't right for each other and broke up. It took me a couple months to feel over it. Not because I was heart broken or wanted to get back together or anything, but because it felt like such a failure to me. I guess I really wanted/expected my first relationship to be the one that worked. I was not one to rush into a relationship or did I think lightly of it. I mean I was 20 before I had my first boyfriend. God was good to protect me and kept my heart fully in tact.

God sees me, God knows me, God loves me.

One day, I read some passages that reminded me that God wanted to romance me. Specifically Zephaniah 3:17. As soon as I finished reading, I looked down and there was a beautiful lone flower right in front of me. I needed that. I thought "Ok God, I hear you. I will focus on you." That was just the beginning of many beautiful flowers and sunsets that I felt were meant for me. I had always wanted to get married, but I at times I had let it become more important than my relationship with God.

SOOO many beautiful sunsets.

Once I saw the break up as helping me understand better what I wanted/needed in a guy and that it allowed me to deepen my relationship with God, I didn't see it as a failure anymore and was able to move on completely. Now refocused with God as my most important relationship, I didn't even feel the need to look at guys in a romantic way at all. I thought, "This will be the year of no boyfriends and not even any "crushes". I'm not going to let guys distract me! I mean there's only two guys my age here and I know I won't date either of them. They're my friends and that's all." God's like "Ok, now let me surprise you!"

Random beaver we found under a dock and named Doug

No one can convince me that God doesn't have a sense of humor. I remember there was this one time while I was still dating my first boyfriend, the interns and some weekend workers were sitting in the dinning hall talking after dinner. I was texting my boyfriend and he asked what we were doing. I texted "Oh Sam is just making everyone laugh like always." He responded with "Don't let him steal your heart!" I said "Haha! Very funny! You don't have to worry about that." Little did I know...

To be continued...

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God in your midst,
 The Mighty One will save; 
He will rejoice over you with gladness, 
He will quiet you with his love, 
He will rejoice over you with singing.

Moments of Motherhood

This post is a compilation of random thoughts or dilemmas I've had recently.

Oh motherhood! It's crazy but it's also the best!

I'll start off with my thought that Jane could have some potential to be a comedian. Here's why. She loves to be the center of attention. And nothing makes her happier than when she is making people laugh. Also, when she gets in trouble (and it drives me crazy!) she will just laugh at me almost every time! I will be trying to explain to her in a very serious and stern voice how what she did was not acceptable and she just laughs in my face. I don't think she is trying to spite me or thinks disobedience is funny. I think it's how she deals with uncomfortable situations, she doesn't know what else to do, so she laughs about it.  I guess it's better than lashing out and getting angry. :)

My little comedian

The other day I had finally gotten both kids down for their afternoon nap and was about to get some work done and then I heard some rustling.... What is that??? Then I see a huge roach crawling across my hallway. 😬 Bah!!! I hate roaches by the way, ask my husband. It's pretty much the only thing that makes me turn into a screaming little girl and I then proceed to jump up on the nearest elevated surface. 😅 Anyway, I thought, "How am I going to kill this thing and not make a huge racket that will wake up both kids?!" I can't let it get out of sight! If I do then I will be paranoid until I find it and kill it. As quickly as I can I find the roach spray and go back to find it. It hasn't gotten far, thank goodness! I killed it with the spray and then used the opportunity to mop my floor. Crisis averted!

Jane wanted to pretend to nap next to Atlas

Why is it that as soon as Atlas is napping and it's Jane's nap time she wants to do everything I've been asking her to do all day. She finally wants to play with her puzzles instead of watch a movie or she'll run off and entertain herself with her toys, while I lie there on the couch and think to myself, "That is exactly what I wanted you to do this morning, so I could get some work done..." Finally I get her to calm down and lie down on the couch with me and she is just about to fall asleep and then Atlas starts crying. Uggg... Some days nothing seems to go right. But then I nurse Atlas and he falls back to sleep and Jane falls asleep right afterwards and they both end up taking a great nap. So when I was stressing out about things not going just right, it was for absolutely no reason. I hope I can remember this lesson for the future and roll with the changes in schedule that having two kids brings at times. It will help me enjoy every day more.

Don't let worrying about the little things
make you miss moments like this.

One of the best feelings in the world is having your kids cuddled up on each side of you and sleeping peacefully. I wish I could bottle it up and keep it with me and open it when I need a pick me up. When everything is wrong with the world for that one moment everything feels right.

I think this was near the end of a 3 hour nap for both of them.

I hear a lot of parents say, "I just need a break from my kids." And then, as soon as they aren't with their kids, they say they miss them! I'm not one of those parents. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids! But when I get a break, I don't miss them. My husband and I enjoy the breaks we get, even if it's just one less kid than normal! I actually have a hard time understanding when parents say they miss their kids when it's only been less than a day since they have seen them last. When I know my kids are with someone that will take care of them and give them the attention they need, I barely think of them at all. Every so often it will feel strange when they are away, like something is missing. But it's not the same as missing them. Because I'm not wishing they were here instead of there, it's just different than my normal. Atlas hasn't been away from me longer than 30 minutes and Jane has never been away longer than 24 hours. Don't worry. I'm sure when they've been gone longer than a day or so I would start to miss them. ;) And when Jane comes home after a sleepover at grandma's house I am very happy to see her! And somehow she always looks so much older after just one day of not seeing her.

When did she grow up??

And how is he already outgrowing 6 month clothes!

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.