"It's okay, I've got my shoes..."

The five most important things to me that stem from the family reunion..

God
He blessed me with a family who accepts me and supports me just as I am while creating a new one in my home.

Family
A family reunion that altered my life.

Lessons
I taught my father how to drink out of a Camelback water bottle while riding on the boat and enjoying the scenery. I also learned of a new goal that I would like to achieve within the next ten years: adopting a child with a disability.

Blessings
A chance to spend time with my brother whom I have NEVER gotten to spend time with alone. He sure is a good kid!! Laughing so hard until my stomach muscles ached and making memories with people that mean the world to me.

A little girl who has changed my mind and forever captured my heart.
I spent alot of time with Hailley and have discovered my new calling. I am going to adopt a child with a disability after I graduate college. She has arthrogryposis and it causes ALL of her joints to freeze. She is sooooo smart and she reminds me of myself. I was talking to her about her sneakers and how adorable they were. She asked me if we could go play this game with pieces that you put on a game board and I replied, " that game is all the way in the other cabin and that is a long way to walk" and she said to me, "It's okay, I've got my shoes.." I have never had someone snag my heart in such a small amount of time. I love her with my whole heart and I would love to offer another child the love I feel for her..

Darn it all anyways...

I got a not so good phone call from the reproductive endocrinologist. The nurse tried to be gentle but how do you tell someone everything they have done has not helped and their goal is not attainable?

I lost my phone and it is evidently shut off because it goes straight to voicemail, so that is buckets of fun.

I also watched Isaac. He is such a cute little guy, but he likes to NOT take naps and yell at you about it while jumping in his jumperoo and demanding to eat all at the same time.

Yesterday was a hard one. I can only hope today is better.

Oh what changes in one year..

If you want to watch the video you can turn the music off by scrolling all the way down to the bottom of this page and hit the pause button on my ipod...

Last year on the fourth of July I had just gotten out of the hospital from complications from the gastric bypass and was on a strict liquid diet. I cried and cried and cried some more because I was so hungry and the food smelled sooo good and I could not even touch it. Then someone said to me, "just wait, next year you will be sitting here wearing that sundress you always dreamed of and you will eat like the rest of us, only much thinner..." I have held on to that statement and have done exactly what was said. I posted the pics of the dress as well as a video of my favorite firework ever (I go back and get the same one every year).

Today was an amazing day and I do not regret the surgery, my life, or last fourth of July. I would do it again to have the life I have to day.

The funny thing about today was that when I went to shoot off fireworks my mom said, "you should probably change your clothes because you do not want to get small burns on your dress and you can run away from the fire faster..." So I went in to the house and put on my fourteen year old sisters clothes and came back out and continued creating explosions.

Who would have known I could wear HER clothes?!?!?