Christmas Cookies

Christmas used to my favorite holiday but working retail has just made Christmas stressful.  Working retail makes it hard to enjoy the holidays.  I miss the days when Christmas was about celebrating with friends and family and focusing on the birth of Jesus.  At some point, Christmas has become about shopping with retail stores working their employees more and more.


We also had our first loss right after the holidays, almost three years ago.  It's hard not to remember that we are seven days away from the 3rd anniversary of our first BFP.  We are so blessed to have our beautiful rainbow.  I'm more thankful and love her more everyday.  She is our miracle baby and this time of year is a great reminder of that.

I want Anne to remember Christmas as a joyous time with friends and family, but that's hard to do when she goes days without seeing her dad because he is working so many hours.  Steve is such a hard worker and I appreciate all the overtime he is working so we can keep our bills paid but I miss him being home.

Today was probably the first day this Christmas season that I truly enjoyed the festivities.  My great friend, Stacey, came over and we spent the day making Christmas cookies.  It was so much fun and we had some great conversations while baking too.  We may have made a mess in the kitchen, but it was worth it.  We made five different kinds of cookies, plus some homemade white chocolate peppermint hot chocolate.  Yum... I'm so thankful for great friends.

Special thank you to my mom for coming over to play with Anne while we baked.  She is sleeping now, like any good baby should be doing at midnight.  Her mommy should be sleeping too.  She had a busy, fun-filled day today.  Tomorrow, more fun in the works, we are traveling to Toledo to spend Christmas with Steve's extended family.
 

 Anne did get to help decorate her own sugar cookie.  She loved it. 

  

“Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?” (or in our case a stove)
~ CS Lewis

Anne at the Zoo

Anne and her friends went to zoo today.  The moms came too. It was such an absolutely beautiful day for the zoo.  Apparently, the rest of Mishawaka agreed with us because they were really busy when we first got there.

 

Anne will be 7 months old this week and she already has a great group of buddies.

A Double Rainbow

Anne is a popular girl.  She had another "play date" last night with her new friend Ben.  Ben's parents, Merry and Joseph, are our friends from Bethel college.  They are pretty amazing.  Ben was born last May really early at just over 2 pounds.  He truly is a miracle baby.  He is also their beautiful rainbow.
We tried to get a picture of the "double rainbow," but the babies didn't seem to want to smile at the same time.

Not only did we drive to Michigan to some friends, but it was also Anne's first time to ride in the truck.  I think she was confused by the new environment.  When we snapped her in, she just kept looking around, then she looked at Steve, then at me.  I think she was wondering why were both in the back seat with her.

She must have felt ok though because she slept almost the whole way there.

We ate dinner and played a new version of Uno involving tiles on a game board.  It took us a bit to figure out exactly how to play, but once we did it was fun.

Anne and Benjamin seemed to be ok with each other. When we first got there, Ben just stared at Anne, especially when Merry was holding her.

 

 This sweet picture is Merry's step-daughter holding Ben introducing him to Anne.

 I got to hold the little guy.  The last time I saw Ben he was in the NICU.  He is so tiny.  He is 5 months older than Anne but they are almost the same size.  He is such a fighter.  It's amazing that he is even here.  Keep growing, Benji-mighty.

 Katana wanted to hold Anne.

 Then the babies played together while the adults played fancy Uno.  Ben was playing nicely on the floor, so I put Anne on her blanket on the floor near him to play also.  Apparently, Ben was not a fan of this idea.  He took one look at Anne playing with his toys and started to cry.  He did warm up to her eventually.  I'm sure they will be great friends in no time.

 

We had a great time hanging out with some great friends.

Hello 2014: Reflection on 2013

Today, I looked at my reflections from 2012.  2012 was a year of pain and growth and 2013 was a
 year of blessings and recovery.  I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us.

 

Anne at 5 weeks with a beautiful heartbeat.

Anne at 12 weeks outside.  We love her so much.

• Anne was definitely the biggest development of 2013.  The first weekend of February, Steve and I found out that Anne was on the way.  We were overjoyed and terrified.  Two weeks later, we heard a heartbeat, her heartbeat, for the first time.  For the next 8 months, I felt her grow and develop inside me.  We celebrated every milestone with excitement.

•  Our Wycliffe ministry continued to grow in 2013.  We love being a part of such an important ministry.  We are a part of ending Bible poverty around the world.  There is still so much more work that needs to be done.
• Steve and I celebrated our 6th wedding Anniversary on May 5th.  I love Steve more and more every day.  He is a great husband and father.

• My sister got married on May 25th and was privileged to be the Matron of Honor.
• On October 9th at 2am, my water broke and we headed to the hospital.  At 4:17pm, our beautiful rainbow entered our world.  She is perfect in every way.  We have loved watching her grow and learn new things.  Today, she is 12 weeks old.

Our Baby's First Rainbow Party

This past Saturday, my mom, sister, and best friend, Shere, hosted our baby's first Baby Shower. I had a great time.  My mom went with a rainbow theme for the party which I absolutely loved.  Thank you to everyone that came and made the day really special.  This baby is seriously blessed to have these wonderful people in his or her life.  Here are just a few pictures that my sister took.

 

Our Baby's First Santa Outfit

The onesie says, "My dad is cooler than your dad." Steve loves it.

Some really soft sleepers. My mom bought one in each color since we don't know the gender.

My best friend's mom handmade this diaper bag for us.  I filled it up so we are now ready to head to the hospital when baby is ready.  She made some great bibs for us too.  Cristal is so incredibly talented.  I love it.

Just a few of the great people that were there.  Seriously, these are the best people that you could ever have in your life.  Our baby is so blessed.

Grammie's baby blanket.  My Grammie (mom's mom) has crocheted a baby blanket for every one of her great-grand kids.  Baby Pitney will be Great-Grandchild #4.

Rainbow cupcakes.  There were so good.

I couldn't post every picture.  We got so many cute little outfits, blankets, toys, and other important things for the baby.  I just can't wait for this baby to make it's grand entrance into the world, so he or she can meet all these special people and wear all the cute clothes.

Visiting Missionaries from Wycliffe

This has been such a fun week for Steve and I.  We hosted a family that is traveling around the country visiting all their ministry partners.  They have been on the road almost continuously for the last 6 months.  We met them in Orlando last April when we went down there for EQUIP training.  They got to our house on Tuesday afternoon and stayed until Thursday morning.

We cooked some BBQ chicken for dinner on Tuesday and took them for a treat to Cold Stone Creamery.  The kids, Jessica and Casey, enjoyed that.

Wednesday, we made homemade lasagna.  It was pretty tasty.

They are serving with Wycliffe and actually spent some years in Cameroon. They are making plans now to serve with JAARS, which is a division of Wycliffe, in North Carolina now.  It was so great to see them again.  They were very encouraging to us as we build our financial team and make plans to serve in Cameroon.  I hope they had a great time.

Fourth of July Celebration/25 Week Update

We had a great 4th of July.  I spent the morning buying some flowers to plant in our front yard and going for a walk around the Mishawaka Riverwalk with Erin, mom, and dad.  I love the Riverwalk. It's so beautiful and peaceful.  It was a very hot morning, so I made sure to drink a lot of water and wear light clothes.  My sister got a great picture of me in the rock garden.

After our walk, my mom came over and planted the flowers I bought in our garden.  With all the rain we have had, the flowers are growing really big.  Last year, we hardly had any rain by this time.  Most places canceled fireworks because we hadn't had rain in more than a month.  This year it seems to rain every week.
 
We were invited to a cookout at our friend's house, so I cut up a watermelon and ate great food with friends and family.  Steve met us there after work and we watched fireworks along with river in Mishawaka.  It was a great day.  The weather was perfect.

How far along?: 25 weeks, 3 days

How big is baby?:

Your baby's the size of a cauliflower!  During month six, the average fetus measures about 13.6 inches to 14.8 inches and weighs about 1.5 to 2.5 pounds.

Any appointments or updates this week?: Our next regular OB appointment is on Monday.  I can't believe I'm this far along all ready.  100 days left!  I have to schedule my glucose test next week.  Oh goody.

Best moment last week?: I can definitely feel movement more than I could last week.  Hopefully, soon we will be able to feel them on the outside so Steve can feel them too.

What I'm looking forward to?: Feeling kicks on the outside and holding my perfect baby.  The answer to this question will probably be pretty consistent.

We are so Blessed

If there is one thing that I have learned in the last year, it would be the value of friendship.  Some friendships come and go but there are some friends that stick with you through the good times and the bad.  Some friends will walk away when things get tough, but others run towards you when you feel like the world around you in falling in.

We know that we are blessed with some amazing friends and a spectacular family.  I'm so glad that we got to spend some time with them this weekend.  The amount of people that have called or emailed us offering to give us things for our baby or for our garage sale or to partner with us in our ministry has been humbling.  It really is humbling to see God use His people to provide for your needs when you feel so unworthy.  This has been a year of a great change and great anxiety, but God has continued to show that He is still there and He continues to provide for everything we have needed.  We have learned new lessons this year about where to put our trust and our hope.  Our trust and our hope is planted firmly in Christ.  We look forward to what's next.

Our beautiful rainbow is going to be so blessed and such a loved baby because of God's amazing people. 

A Refreshing Weekend

Steve and Adrian surprised Erin and I with tickets to the WFRN Friend Fest for our birthday.  He even called my boss at my weekend job to ask her to give me some time off.  Friday, I had to work until 7 so missed Day 1 of the concert, so instead we went to the Mishawaka Summer Fest.  It's not a big festival, but I love that city puts in on every year.  It's a chance to get together with friends for some fair food, games, and fireworks and admission is free. 

We watched some fireworks with my sister and her new husband and my best friend and her beautiful girls.
Happy 7th Birthday to the amazing Cadence!  These girls love Steve so much and he loves them too.
We are so blessed to have such great friends and family around us.  On Saturday, I had to work until 3 then Steve picked me up and we met Erin and Adrian at the WFRN Friend Fest.  Oh my gosh, it was just a great concert.  We got there and ate some tasty food for dinner.  Erin found some great seats and we watched Jamie Grace, then Peter Furler with Phil Joel.  Yes, that really happened.  It was like a Newsboys reunion.  That was definitely the best part of the concert for me.  I grew up listening to the Newsboys, so that was fun.  I'm sure even Baby Pitney was dancing around to the music.  Toby Mac was the headliner and he came on stage at about 9pm.  Toby Mac is definitely a great entertainer.  His music got a little loud at times, but it was still fun to be there dancing and worshiping God with thousands of my "friends."  I was exhausted on the way home, but I woke up this morning so refreshed from the great weekend. 

My First Pinterest Project

Today was such a great day. Steve and I both had the day off, so after church we went to lunch with my best friend, Shere and her wonderful family.  We spent several days trying to decide where to go.  We decided to meet at the South Bend Chocolate Cafe.  Steve and I had had actual food there.  We both had the half sandwich and soup comb.  We both got the Grilled Fajita Pepperjack Sandwich and I got the Lobster Bisque soup and he got the Cheesy Broccoli soup.  Everything I had was spectacular and fresh made.  Shere's girls had a great time playing in the play area while us adults chatted.  There is no better way to end a get-together at the cafe than chocolate.  I got a Hoosier Sundae - Hot Fudge, 1 Scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream, 1 Scoop of Chocolate Ice Cream, Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Pieces, Whipped Cream, a Cherry, and Two of Our Hoosier Candies and the six of us shared it.  Yum!

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Today was such a great day.  I think I said that already, but it's ok to repeat it.  It's been a long time since I have felt this good.  After lunch, I came home and worked out for 30 minutes on our exercise bike and did some house cleaning.  Then I got inspired to organize the kitchen.  I created a Pinterest account several months ago, but I hadn't really done anything with it.  Tonight, I looked up kitchen organizing ideas and came up with this one. I changed to idea a bit based on what I found at Lowes.

Here is the before picture of the small cabinet next to our stove.  We hadn't really used it much, because we couldn't decide what to put in it.  I found something at Lowes that would allow us to put a sliding shelf in the cabinet that fits a small trash can.  Now our trash can doesn't have to sit out in the dining room or kitchen.  It's hidden away.

Here is the after picture.  The trashcan came with the kit.  Steve put this together in about 5 minutes.  He is really good with tools.

 

 Here is the before picture of under the sink.  It was kind of a mess with all our cleaners just thrown under there with no organizational thought.

Here is the after picture.  I cleaned the bottom and put a mat underneath everything to keep it looking nice.  Up on the shelf, I put the dust pan and rubber gloves.  The white basket holds all the miscellaneous cleaners, like oven cleaner, car cleaners, bleach, etc.  Then in the middle there is an area for the trash bags, Febreeze, and swifters.  On the right side, there is a basket for the kitchen and bathroom cleaners.  That shelf slides out and can be removed, so I can pick it up and take the whole thing to the bathroom and bring everything back at the end.

Total Cost for the whole project: $102.84

Game Night with Friends

Steve and I seriously have the greatest friends, ever!  This was a great weekend.  I have to work all weekend, but the time I had off I spent cleaning up the house to get it ready for Game Night.  Sunday night, our friends Merry and Joe came over for a game night.  They brought over some great food.  They planned a potato and salad bar with all sorts of great toppings.

I made the delicious chocolate delights below.  I think they turned out really tasty.  I used Rocky Road as the bottom ice cream layer and Neapolitan as the middle ice cream layer.  I think next time I'll make more of the cheese cake filling and make that layer bigger.  They did not turn out as pretty as the picture with the recipe; they were pretty good though.  Steve likes cheese cake, but he can't have cream cheese. I never thought of making cheesecake filling with cottage cheese before. I found the recipe in a diabetic recipes cookbook.  I used real sugar, not sugar substitute.  I really liked this idea.

Overall, it was a great night with great friends, great conversations, some great games of Clue and Hangman.  We should really get together more often.

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Chocolate Fudge Cheese Cake Parfaits

YIELD Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS

1‑1/2	cups fat-free cottage cheese
4	packets sugar substitute or equivalent of 8 teaspoons sugar
2	teaspoons packed brown sugar
1‑1/2	teaspoons vanilla
2	tablespoons semisweet mini chocolate chips, divided
2	cups fat-free chocolate ice cream or fat-free frozen yogurt
3	tablespoons graham cracker crumbs

PREPARATION:

1. Combine cottage cheese, sugar substitute, brown sugar and vanilla in food processor or blender; process until smooth. Stir in 1 tablespoon mini chips with wooden spoon.
2. Spoon about 1/4 cup ice cream into each stemmed glass. Top with heaping tablespoon cheese mixture; sprinkle with 2 teaspoons graham cracker crumbs. Repeat layers. Freeze parfaits 15 to 30 minutes to firm slightly.
3. Garnish each parfait with remaining 1 tablespoon mini chips and remaining cracker crumbs.

10 Things Tuesday: My Blessings

There are things that happen to you in life that make you wake up and realize the things that are really important.  They  make you stand up and count your blessings.  I have so much to thank God for.  If I allow pain and stress to make me forget, then I've given the Devil a foothold in my life.  He would love that wouldn't he?
So instead, today I choose to count my blessings.

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
John 1:16 NIV

Here are just a few:

1. My Amazing Husband
2. My Mom and Dad
3. My Sisters, Erin and Melinda
4. My Brother, Andrew
5. My Aunt Honey, my Grammie, and my best friend, Shere
6. The best friends anyone could ask for
7. These precious girls make me smile.
8. These incredible people are my family.
9. Lizzy Ann Hostetler! The bestest friend in the world.
10. My Oasis friends.  I miss you guys!