Our 2010 Garden

The is the first year that we have been able to fix a garden. Some good friends of ours decided to go in with us, so we decided to make a fairly decent sized one. We are doing it all by hand! It's a great workout, and will hopefully pay off in the end! After we got finished today, I realized we went a couple feet over into our neighbors property. (oops!) So I went back out and made it a little bigger on our side. Hopefully our neighbors won't be too upset with us (I'm sure they won't because they are super nice people) but I'm going to offer them fresh produce if/when we have some.

The area I picked out for the garden. It's in direct sunlight all day!

Us hard at work!

All finished! (day one anyhow!) Samps was tuckered out from all the digging!

My new hobby

I've always wanted to learn how to knit, and I recently met a new friend that knows how. She said she would teach me, so I took her up on it! She helped me start on a washcloth... and I still havent finished it, but I did complete another one. Now I am working on a scarf! The website http://www.knittinghelp.com/ has helped me tremendously. They have videos of pretty much everything, so you can actually SEE how to do it!

Although, I must admit, it has been a bit of a challenge. I should have thought about starting a new hobby with a ball of yarn and a new kitten :)

I really want to learn how to crochet also... I've found so many cute patterns that are for crocheting. Nick says I have to learn one before I start another, which of course makes sense!

My first washcloth. It doesn't look that great, but I'm pretty proud of it!

The scarf I'm working on now.

A little background on us

Nick and I were both raised in a small town in southeastern Missouri. We went to high school together and had alot of the same friends. We both were shy, too shy to let each other know that we had a "crush" on each other then. Nick joined the Coast Guard and moved away. After about 5 years (2004), we met up again and began dating. It was a long distance relationship (he was stationed in Alaska, I, still in MO). Soon, we realized we wanted to spend more time with each other. He was transferred to Oregon in the summer of 2005, and I moved out there as well. We married in our hometown in April 2006. In May 2007 we found out I was pregnant with our first child. We both were excited but more nervous and scared than anything! I was sick most of the pregnancy... I didnt have morning sickness, I had all day sickness! About 2 months out of the pregnancy I felt okay. On January 1 2008, our little girl was delivered by c-section. My water had broke earlier that morning and had meconium in it. Through out the day it worsened and later that evening they discovered that she was breech and she needed to get out! She is a healthy and spirited little girl! What a blessing she has been to both of us.

In Dec 2008 we felt like life was perfect! We were expecting our second child! At 17 1/2 weeks of pregnancy (March 2009), we lost our baby. During the d&c, I started massive hemorrhaging, the doctors had no option but to go into an emergency abdominal surgery. They found I had a condition called placenta percreta (the meaning is the abnormal adherence of part or all of the placenta to the uterine wall). In my case, the placenta had grown through my old cesarean scar and engulfed my uterus, attached to my bladder and muscles. In order to save my life, they had to remove my uterus.

What a devasting time it has been for us. Through it all we have stuck together. We have great family and friends that have helped us and continue to be there for us. We moved to North Carolina June 2009 and should be here a few more years. We are now pursuing adoption and watching our little girl grow up before our eyes. She has helped us more than she will ever know!