Greetings, and welcome to my little slice of the blogosphere!!
Blogs are about as common these days as latte stands in Seattle (what ... do I have a thing for lattes?!) so I'm glad you're spending some time here to find out about mine.
Blogs are about as common these days as latte stands in Seattle (what ... do I have a thing for lattes?!) so I'm glad you're spending some time here to find out about mine.
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| Hi!! This is me. Photo by Jen Fox Photography |
Where I'm From
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest (Bellingham to be specific), I am a Washington girl to the core (Washington State, just in case there's any confusion). I did some time in Southern California (for college, not for any crimes committed), where I earned my BA in English Literature. Many of my friends stayed put after graduation, but the abundance of smog and strip malls held no allure for me at all. I couldn't wait to come back to clean air, green grass, and easy mountain and ocean access. After returning, I started working full time doing work that had absolutely nothing to do with my degree, and stopped being so snobby about my book selections, meaning that I started reading books by people that are not dead.
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| This is the husband, James. |
Love & Marriage
One of the good things that came out of my SoCal exile was meeting my husband, James. We didn't date in college and we weren't really good friends either. We had a mutual friend and had a handful of conversations over the course of my four years there, so you could easily say our path to marriage was longer and more circuitous than just about most people who "met in college." It took about nine years, an ATV rollover accident in central Kansas which resulted in his broken neck, and Facebook to bring us together again. Yep, Facebook. It's a long story which you can read here, though I maintain the husband tells it better. We've been married since May 23, 2009 and though very little of it has been a honeymoon (more on that in the coming paragraphs), I am happy to know for certain that of all the people on this planet, this is the one man in the world to whom I could be married.
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| Wedding Day Photo by Jen Fox Photography |
Our Babies
We welcomed our first child, a beautiful boy named Ewan Eliezer on September 18, 2010. We learned at our routine 20 week ultrasound that we were having a boy (he was not shy!!), and that he had a terribly broken heart. We were never big fans of this (obviously), but we were happy to fight for him.
It's true what others so often told us, that doctors are able to do a lot with those tiny broken hearts these days, but congenital heart defects are nothing to sneeze at. We were incredibly hopeful for him when he arrived -- he looked so perfect, not sick at all. But nothing went right for Ewan. His heart was too broken and there were too many setbacks -- too many things just didn't go his way. He fought hard and loved us well, but at 16 days old, we sent him back to Jesus. Our hearts have been just as broken ever since.
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| Ewan Eliezer at 4 days old |
It is definitely the case that Ewan taught and continues teach us more than we could have possibly taught him. You can read all about Ewan and our journey through grief and embracing life again at his very own blog here.
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| Ewan Eliezer at 12 days old |
We are also excited to be welcoming Ewan's little sister Austen Brielle in January 2012. She appears to be every bit as feisty as her older brother, is an incredible kicker, squirms a lot (especially when her mama is trying to sleep), and if ultrasound photos are any indication, is also incredibly cute. We are happy to report that her heart is healthy and whole, and we can't wait to tell her all about her older brother one day. And seriously, I can't wait to get her into some cute little girl clothes!
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| Austen Brielle, due 11 January 2012 |
Where We Live
If all of that wasn't enough change in our lives, we recently relocated. And I'm not just talking about we moved into a new apartment down the street, or a few towns over from where we had been. There are well over 3,000 miles between Issaquah, WA and Casselberry, FL and I've driven them all! After two years of unemployment and not a single job interview in Seattle (yeah -- that was fun), James was offered a job in Orlando, Florida. Could we get much further and still be in the continental US?
Because it was a goal of ours for me not to work (outside the home, that is) and to pursue creative endeavors like writing, photography, and raising sweet babies, we jumped at the chance. Knowing I would never have to drive in the snow and ice again was a big selling point, too. He came at the end of April 2011 to start the job, and I came a few months later in July, 14+ weeks pregnant with our baby girl, a big moving truck filled with all our stuff, and for the first time ever, no job at all -- at least not one with a paycheck.
And just in case you've never tried orchestrating a cross-country move with a whole household's worth of belongings while pregnant and nauseated, working full time, and dealing with an expired lease in the middle of it all -- I don't recommend it.
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| Yep. That is a long drive. |
Despite the absence of snow that Florida has going for it, I still miss Washington: the hills, the trees, my family, and the friends and community I had there. Washington will always be home! Florida really is growing on me, though: enjoying 70 and 80 degree weather in mid-November is unheard of where I'm from!
This Blog
So, back to lattes. Truth is, seeing as I'm pregnant (again), I'm really not drinking lattes these days (despite the quintessentially Northwest-y title of this blog), so you need not leave me any comments about the dangers of caffeine during pregnancy. I haven't had any for months! Even though I don't live in Seattle anymore, I'm keeping the Northwest-y blog name because it conveys both contemplation and whimsy and truth be told, I just like the way it sounds. It needs to be said that even though coffee and rain both evoke images of Seattle, even central Florida has rain and Starbucks going for it.
But I digress.
This blog is really just about me: the faith I practice, the things I think about, the pictures I take, the issues I care about.
Check out the "About the Blog" section to read more about what this space is all about.
So, welcome to this place. Cozy up on the couch and grab a cup of something you love (a latte, perhaps??). You are welcome here.
