GIVEAWAY!!!

I follow this blog and it has truly inspired me...I love reading about other women going through the same experiences with IVF as it totally make me feel not alone! This sweet girl has a giveaway on her blog this week and I absolutely love it!!! And by the way , I would love to win it!

Please take a look!

http://fortheloveofshoesandababy2.blogspot.com/2010/04/giveaway.html

I Was Here by Lady Antebellum

I love this new song...it touches me deep down. Looking towards graduation (in just one month, 2 days), I know that I have chosen the right profession for me! I cannot wait to get started "making my mark" on this world, but actually I have already begun. I wanted to share this song's message with everyone. Enjoy!

You will notice me
I'll be leavin' my mark, like initials carved in an old oak tree
you wait and see
maybe I'll write like Twain wrote
maybe I'll paint like Van Gough,
cure the common cold
I don't know but I'm ready to start cuz I know in my heart

I wanna do something that matters
say something different
something that sets the whole world on its ear
I wanna do somethin better, with the time I've been given
and I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life
and leave nothin less that something that says i was here

I will prove you wrong
if you think I'm all talk, you're in for a shock
cuz this streams too strong, and before too long
maybe I'll compose symphonies
maybe I'll fight for world peace
cuz I know it's my destiny to leave more that a trace of myself in this
place

I wanna do something that matters
say something different
something that sets the whole world on its ear
I wanna do somethin better, with the time I've been given
and I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life
and leave nothin less that something that says I was here

And I know that I, I will do more than just pass through this life
I'll leave nothin less that somethin that says I was here, I was here, I
was here, I was here

Wanna do somethin that matters
somethin that says I was here
wanna do somethin that matters
somethin that says I was here, I was here.

Why do these always seem to speak directly to me?!?

TODAY'S WORD from Joel and Victoria

Sometimes it's easy to become so goal-oriented and so focused on our dreams that we overlook the simple things that we should be enjoying in our everyday life. But we have to remember that life is not really about the destination, it's about how we live all along the way. It's about the path we're on that shines brighter and brighter.

In this life, there is no such thing as a finish line. Once you accomplish one dream, God will give you another. When you overcome one challenge, there will be another. There is always another mountain to climb. If we make the mistake of just living for the destination, we'll look up one day and realize we've missed out on the biggest part of life because most of life is routine. Most of us get up every morning, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed and do it again. There are very few mountaintops where you graduate from school, or you get married, or have a child, or go on vacation. The high times are few and far between. Don't get stuck living for the mountaintops. Learn to enjoy the path you're on. Learn to enjoy the people in your life. Learn to enjoy the simple blessings of walking in the path the Lord has prepared for you.
 
A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father God, thank You for the gift of life. Thank You for the good plan You have for me today and for my future. Teach me to enjoy the journey of life, to embrace each day with joy and enthusiasm. Help me to see the blessings of every moment You have given me. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Tilapia and Mashed Yams with Pancetta-Sage Breadcrumbs

We made this a few weeks back and loved it…so we wanted to share!!
Makes 4 servings


30 minutes


Don't have 60 minutes to roast a root vegetable? Try cooking yams in a microwave for about five minutes on each side and you'll have yams that...melt in your mouth!
Ingredients


• 2 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped (I used regular bacon)


• 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (from French or sourdough bread with crust, ground in processor)


• 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage


• 2 pounds medium yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes), pierced all over with fork


• 3 tablespoons butter, divided


• 4 5-to 6-ounce tilapia fillets or eight 2-to 3-ounce fillets

Preparation

Sauté pancetta in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to small bowl. Add breadcrumbs and 1 tablespoon chopped sage to drippings in skillet; stir over medium-high heat until breadcrumbs are almost crisp, 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with pancetta. Cool (reserve skillet).


Place yams on plate and microwave on high until very soft, 5 to 8 minutes per side, depending on size of yam. Transfer yams to work surface. Cut yams in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp and place in medium glass bowl. Discard skin. Add remaining 11/2 teaspoons chopped sage and 1 tablespoon butter to yams; mash until almost smooth. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.


Sprinkle fish fillets with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in same nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish fillets and cook until golden brown on outside and just opaque in center, 3 to 4 minutes per side. If necessary, re-warm yams in microwave. Divide mashed yams among 4 plates. Top each serving with 1 fish fillet, sprinkle generously with pancetta-sage breadcrumbs, and serve.

Enjoy!

Monday Blues...

Yesterday was not a good day.

I got my protocol for our IVF cycle.

Embryo Transfer Day is the day of my grad school graduation. Boo.

I feel like this is the same protocol they give every woman in the clinic on "the first try".

Nurse stated, "this is what the doctor feels best for you right now".

...SURE...

I hope it works.

Ugh, I really hope it works.

I want a baby so badly.

I start my BCP's tomorrow.

Then, I didn't get to give my presentation in class, as I was supposed to.

Stupid professor.

Now I have to wait another week and try not to forget all the preparations that I did ALL last week for this 2 hour presentation.

I was going to take off next Monday.

Now I can't

Now I have to go to my classes.

Ugh.

At 4:00pm, I realized I had to go to this "Exit Interview" at school, to be able to graduate.

It's to make sure you realize that you have to pay back your loans...for the rest of your natural born life.

I will be in debt forever.

There goes my Lexus SUV.

Damn it.

Ugh, damn it, again!

I need a job ASAP.

Such a lovely idea to have it at the end of the day, when we have all been in class from 9AM, and now it's 7PM, and I'm sitting in traffic on the oh so lovely streets of Baltimore.

Man, I hate this city.

I will never come back to this disgusting place after May 21, 2010.

It's dirty.

It's gross.

It's loud.

There are nasty people.

This drunk guy followed Kim and I to our car, in the parking garage, up the elevator.

I held my mace, ready at any second.

He was stumbling.

And smoking.

Eww, get away from us!

Then the parking attendant said, with no teeth, by the way, "your girlfriend is gorgeous"...

I just took the money and drove out.

What just happened?

Kim and I laughed.

He was MR.

We shouldn't judge.

We are social workers for God's sake.

It was funny though.

And, Tim is sick.

Thought it was allergies.

Nope.

Sick.

My throat kinda hurts too.

I'm not acknowledging it.

Damn, I have to wake up at 5:45AM tomorrow for Terminex.

Tim met me at the door upon arriving home and said "we are under attack".

I hate ants!

I have a whole militia in my house.

Ugh.

I have therapy tomorrow.

Amen!

Wahoo!!!

So excited!! I just got tickets for Tim and I in the 5TH ROW to see Brad Paisley (along with Darius Rucker and Justin Moore) on May 22, 2010...yes, the day after graduation and the day before our one year anniversary! He is only like one of my FAVORITE country artists, not to mention, such a great performer!!!!! I checked for available seats and basically they were around where we sat last year when we saw him, so I was going to (possibly) pass but then it said there was a promotion for individuals with Citi Cards...and I so happen to have one! I put in the first 6 digits of my card, and up-popped..row E in section 103! How cool! They weren't even anymore expensive then the others! I'm so happy! Tim and I got into a huge argument last year at the Paisley concert so we vowed last night not to let it happen this year! Wahooooooooooo!!!!

Cherry Blossom Festival

On Saturday Tim and I went down to see the Cherry Blossoms in DC, along with the other thousands of people doing the same on a warm, sunny day! We ate hot dogs on the lawn and walked A LOT! We saw some interesting things, as always, and laughed and talked. There were so many people that it was really hard to enjoy it at times but we managed, however it was Easter weekend, so really was I expecting to be the only one there?? Everything was beautiful and in full bloom!

We can't wait to bring our kids to DC to see the Nation's Capital, it is one of the blessing of living here. People come from all over the world to visit DC and we live here! As much as we want to move to a rural farm in Montana or Colorado, we love living so close to DC!

Here are a few photos from our day (I am still having trouble with my photos in this blogger website and it's really starting to piss me off, so I hope when I post this they come out ok).

The tulips were so beautiful...

There were soooo many people!!!!!!

And of course the cherry blossoms themselves...

This was a pillow fight happening right on the National Mall...there are some crazy people out there I tell ya!

And some pictures at the Washington Monument..it was seriously like the only monument that I haven't been right up to and touched...so we had to go!

All and all it was a great day! Even with Tim having an allergy attack throughout the day and the hundreds of people, we enjoyed the day very much! After we went back and got the car from the parking garage, we went down to the Fish Wharf in South-East...where we always get seafood and got some blue-crabs and lots of oysters to take home and eat! We ate like piggy's and were exhausted!!

Things I’ve learned from working in a jail…good, bad and funny…

1. Never have your phone number and address listed in the phone book, because you never know who might look you up!
   
2. Never let your guard down…not even for one second.
   
3. Assume that someone's watching…
   
4. When you think you know everything about someone…think again.
   
5. Truth isn't always face value.
   
6. People can lie as easy as saying their name and you would never know…we (social workers) have a name for these people and it is; sociopath.
   
7. Remember…you just never know!!!
   
8. Great stories can come from working in an interesting setting.
   
9. When you think "you've heard it all", something else blow's your mind and you can't believe that it actually came out of someone's mouth, but you continue like you never even heard it.
   
10. Drugs/alcohol kills brain cells and thus the fact that we have so many stupid people in jail.
    
11. "Weed isn't a drug and it will be legalized"….SURE, keep telling yourselves that….
    
12. Looking at the face of a woman who killed her own children is an eye-opening experience, literally…and make sure a trash can is near you so you don't have to run far when you start vomiting.
    
13. Not all criminals are bad people, just most of them…(but that doesn't mean they can't be helped).
    
14. Telling someone over and over that they can't have sex with an 8 year old when they are 55 and they still don't get it…write a letter to the court explaining incompetency and suggest they be locked away for the rest of their life…and pray the judge sees it the same way.
    
15. We (tax payers) spend too much of our damn hard earned money on making it comfortable for individuals who have decided to go against the laws of our society.
    
16. Correctional officers are sometimes more incompetent than the inmates they supervise.
    
17. "Pet calling" is absolutely unnecessary and I will write your ass up in a heart beat for it.
    
18. "Fuck" is just another word.
    
19. "Hey girl…how you doin..are you my lawyer?"…makes me bite my tongue and wish I could say, "get a f***ing life and do not speak to me again" but instead politely say, "No sir, I am a social worker, not a lawyer and I don't think I'm here to see you".
    
20. That it could snow outside in September, and you would never know; there are no windows.
    
21. That sex abuse of a minor and murder cases would be my dinner table conversation with my husband each night.
    
22. CIU (Crisis Intervention Unit) is like a different world..(my favorite unit though)..you NEVER know what you'll see…and then you can't help but stare.
    

23. That inmates will do anything for you to be their social worker

I'm sure there are MANY more, but these are the ones that I came up with just off the top of my head…

I hate it when photos do not post in my blog...

especially when they show up on my Microsoft Word Blog Post!

So my question is...whay do they dissapear once I click publish???

What’s up with us?

Well, I know it's been awhile since I posted on here….but things have been busy (even over Spring Break). So here's what's been on our minds lately…

1. We are on Month 11 of TTC. This month we are again doing one last IUI before moving to IVF. I know to some of you, 11 months does not seem so long, but you have to take into consideration all that I have going on inside my body. First and foremost, I have Stage IV Endometriosis, which is the main reason I am not getting pregnant. My fertility doctor, who is amazing, does not want to do another surgery on me, but instead would move to IVF. Of course, this is a fertility doctor talking, and all they see is dollar signs when speaking of IFV. But even my endometriosis doctor agrees, it's better to take my chances on IVF, instead of another surgery right now. Second, I have very high cholesterol and have been off of my medication for almost a year now, which is not so good for my heart and body. I constantly am monitored and watched to make sure that I am healthy enough to carry a baby to full-term (or even two J). And third, and most important, I have like the best insurance in the world right now and IVF is COMPLETELY COVERED! That is like, unheard of! But the only bad thing is that I can only keep this insurance until July 31^st because it is through my graduate school and I am graduating in May. So it has taken us a long time to come to this decision. Two weeks ago, we said we would stick with the IUI's until the insurance ended and if nothing happened then we would see what my next insurance covered. We were fine (kinda) with that. And then on Monday I had the privilege of meeting some wonderful women and join their support group for women struggling with Infertility. There are seven of us, and many I had seen in the waiting room each month, right alongside of me. They are amazing, and most of them are going through IVF, which was great to get my questions answered. When it was my turn to talk about my journey of infertility, the women were jumping on me that I had to give IVF a chance, since my insurance covered it completely. To hear their stories of spending $60,000-$100,000 on IVF procedures and here was me, just thinking, nah, that's ok, I'm not ready. I was floored and as I thought about it on the drive home, I felt God was trying to tell me that this is what we need to do. It might not be what my heart really wants at this time, but it is what our minds/finances are telling us. We have prayed about it and really feel that if this is what God wants for us, then he will make it happen. We are ok, whichever way it goes, but to know that we gave it a chance when we could afford it, that will mean more to us than anything.

So IVF, it's going to be a lot of work, that's for sure. I thought I knew the basic process…yeah, NO, think again. We are excited and our families are excited but the medications, shots, hormones, procedures, blood work, sonograms and visits to the doctor is going to take every ounce of me! We both know it's going to be a long, hard process but we are optimistic and hopefully. Luckily, my internship ends in four weeks and school ends in 7 weeks. I have plenty of time from when my internship ends to when I can get a job after graduation. So hence just another reason, why this plan seems so perfect. But ya never know, it could happen this month and we won't need IVF. Who knows…it only takes one! We will keep everyone posted about the process. We want everyone know, we aren't ashamed of this at all and we feel it is good to share our story and give others hope.

2. Someone smashed into Tim's car last weekend and damaged it pretty badly (see photos below) and not to mention left the scene! So, we have no idea who hit it or when it happened. We asked all the neighbors and no one saw anything, so they said. Tim parked his car Friday after work and I noticed it Saturday evening when coming home from running errands. It just goes to show you that people out there really are not so nice. I know I wasn't raised to hit a car and then leave without telling the owner. Who does that? Stupid redneck kids in our town with big redneck trucks and then don't know how to drive them. Ugh, it made me really mad but Tim surprisingly took it really well. I was really shocked, knowing how much money we have put into that car of his…I hate it. This will probably cost around $3,000 dollars to fix, Tim estimated. We need another car so badly but just can't afford it at this moment..until I get a job that is.

 

So, that's about it. We were planning on going to the cabin and skiing again tonight through Sunday but with the 65-70 degree weather we are having, we decided to stay home and do more projects around the house. Oh, I'll have to post photos of some good recipes we have made and my new closet upstairs that Tim and I built last week!