A Family Like Mine

I have been blessed with having the greatest family on this planet. I've grown up in a good Christian home and I've never had to experience the things that typically go on otherwise. I take for granted sometimes how much God has really given me.

My parents are quite possibly the most loving and caring people you will ever meet. God has given them a gift of being so welcoming to anyone they come across. Growing up, my parents took all of our friends in as their own kids. Everyone at church would walk around saying they were adopted into our family. Were my parents taking over and trying to be their mom and day? Of course not, but it always made kids feel good to know they had my parents to fall back on.

They're aren't many people who are as realistic as my dad. In our house, my mom's the dreamer and my dad's the one who brings her back down from the clouds. I'm not saying he spoils everything and we live a very boring life because of it, I'm just saying that he's smart; very smart. God has given him more wisdom than anyone I know. He's a leader. He's funny. He's blessed.

My mom is a good person to talk to. My dad is too, but like I said, he'll tell you how it is while my mom sympothizes with you a little bit first. She makes things happen. She pulls things together when it's coming apart. All those people I was talking about, they wouldn't have gotten through certain things without my mom. She has a gift.

So, as you can see, I've grown up in the best house there is. My brothers are loving and more protective than anyone wants to find out. My parent's have led us in the way of the Lord since birth. Now a day, so many parents are much more concerned about being 'cool' that they forget about teaching their kids how important Christ is. That wasn't the case in my house.

I thank God everyday for giving me the family that He did.

A Best Friend

I'm not sure how it is for boys {I'm not one}, but I can tell you how growing up is for a girl. Atleast for me, my best friend has always been important.

For a girl, they become very close to their best friend. They play together after school and eat dinner at each other's houses. Their parents adopt your best friend as their own child and you're tempted to call them 'mom and dad'. On weekends, you knew you were having a sleepover with your best friend. During the summer, it wasn't a question of if there would be a slumber party, but where it would be that night; your house or hers. All too soon, you start to grow up. You're no longer getting home from school and running across the street to see if your best friend can play. You still talk to her every night, but you may not see her every day. It seems like life starts getting in the way of the most important friendship you have. Before you know it, a boy comes into the picture. Even still, you have a boyfriend and you have a best friend. You would tell the boy you were busy because you were hanging out with your best friend. You would find out news you weren't suppose to tell anyone and you would run straight to the girl you've grown up with to let it all out.  In a matter of months, you fall in love with that boy. He becomes your life and you want to be with him every moment of the day. You realize he's the one you want to marry and spend forever with. Suddenly, your boyfriend becomes your best friend. He's the one you're with everyday. He's the one you talk to most. It starts to seem like that best friend you've had for so long doesn't matter anymore.

Katie Nowak has been my best friend since I was 8 years old. She's the person I've always been closest to. A little bit over a year and a half ago, I started dating Sebastian. At first, it wasn't too big of a deal. I had my best friend time and I had my boyfriend time. Eventually, the boyfriend time grew and the best friend time lessened. After a few months, Sebastian was all I cared about. It was hard for me to do something if he wasn't able to go too. Some people call it obbsession or what not, I call it love. Everyone started to think Katie wasn't important anymore {maybe even Katie}.

Unless God has other plans, I'm going to marry Sebastian one day. I'm going to be with him forever and we will grow old together. On the other hand, Katie Nowak will always be my best friend. There may be a boy in my life and I may not see her as much, but there is nothing that could make her any less important to me. She will be my maid of honor, my children's aunt, and, if dreams come true, she and I will be sitting in our rocking chairs right next to each other in the nursing home. I have so many memories with her and we will continue making them. I love her like she were my family and I could never see my life without her in it.

God gave me the best when He gave me Katie Nowak.

The Tide

Tonight, Sebastian and I thought it would be nice to ride The Tide {a light rail} down to MacArthur Mall to have dinner. When we were pulling into the parking lot, the train was pulling up. We parked and ran up to the station. As we were walking up the ramp, the train pulled off. We thought that we would probably have to wait, so neither of us were upset about it. We were together, so we were good. :)

We stopped a half a dozen times before we arrived at the mall. We wanted to walk around a bit before we ate, so off we went. Hand in hand, we jay-walked a couple of times before getting to the mall entrance. After making our way up the stairs and through the Apple Store, we decided it was time to eat. Max and Erma's sounded good to us. We went, had a mini photo shoot, got our soup, ate our soup, got our salad, sent Sebastian's back, got a new one, ate that, and paid. Then, it was time to go.

By the time we left, the mall had closed. Therefor, we went out a different entrance and went to a different train station. We knew it would be coming soon, so we hurried over to buy our tickets in enough time. There were five other people there already waiting when we went up the ramp. We were waiting for our tickets to come out of the kiosk machine when The Tide rolled up. The tickets came out, we turned to get on the train, the doors shut, and the train left. We were standing there confused. It was there for 7 seconds max. After calling my dad to ask if he would talk to someone important and tell them how rude the encounter was {I dream big}, Sebastian and I picked our corner to wait in. We thought nothing else could possibly happen. After about a 25 minute wait, we saw the next train turn the corner and head our way.





Finally, we were home bound. We sat down excitedly knowing we were so close to being in our car again. As the train pulled off, a man came on the intercom and informed everyone that we would have to get off at the Norfolk State University station because that train was done running for the night. Great. Not only would we have to do more waiting, but it was almost 10:00 at night and NSU wasn't the safest place to be. I called my dad and he said to go ahead since they would probably have another train ready to pick us up. The man said we wouldn't have to wait more than 5 minutes, so we went ahead with the rest of the group.

When we arrived at our forced stop, everyone got off to wait for the next train. After the promised 5 minutes had passed, Sebastian and I began to sing. Just a Kiss by Lady Antebellum is one of our favorite songs, so we started off singing that. We were quiet and people we so scattered that no one would hear us. Once we were done, we wanted to sing something else. A few people had looked over at us and we thought that if people were going to listen, we wanted to be sharing the message of Jesus Christ, not how much we love each other. We sang a couple of VBS songs and then sang Amazing Grace. There was something about knowing someone could be listening that made me feel wonderful inside. Everyone needs to hear about Jesus. :)

About 15 minutes later, the train came and took us to our stop. We walked away and promised each other we would never ride The Tide again. It may not be as bad during the day, but our experience wasn't the best. Fortunately, I had the love of my life that made the whole night worth it.



Bergey's Dairy

Last night, we went with Sebastian's church youth group to Bergey's Dairy. It's a farm. It looks like a farm and smells like a farm. The good ol' country.

I spent the better part of last night with my fantastic boyfriend and pregnant sister-in-law. We got there, waited in a nice long line for a one person bathroom, went on a hay ride, and then it was time for the corn maze.

We went in, took a few wrong turns, and ended up nowhere near a path. We made our way through the blackness and found our way back. After completely failing when it came to the maze, we decided to retire the thought of trying to find all of the stamps and just go back to the campfire.

We sat on bales of hay and watched the flames get higher. Before we left, we sang a hymn and thought about how magnificent our God is.

It was a good night. Although, when I'm with my boy, it's always a good night. :)

There's Nothing Like Puppy Love

My grandparents' dog had nine puppies last month. They're Red Fox Lab's and the cutest things on earth. One of the puppies was still borne and another one died within the first week, but the ones that are still here are wonderful!

When they were born, they always had to be touching each other and their Momma. It kept them safe and warm. Princess {the Mom} was more protective over her puppies than anyone had ever seen.

At one point, Princess got an infection and wasn't able to nurse, so we bought some bottles and did the job for her. 7 puppies ~ bottle feed ~ every 3 to 4  hours. Can you say exhausted? My grandparents are major troopers!

The puppies are 6 weeks old now and have soft floppy ears. They love to play and be held {which is fortunate for me and Stacey}. Going outside it their favorite thing to do. They go through the little slits in the fence and tease the others who haven't figured out how to do that. They're adventurers.  

Not everyone gets the chance to be around small innocent puppies. I'm so glad I'm one who does. :)

Rook

Not many people have a family game. We do; Rook. It's something that's been played for generations and keeps getting passed down. My Grama has now started a "Rook Club" every Wednesday night. {Cute, yeah?}

Everyone starts off by making a bid. Everyone is reasonable usually. If you have a bad hand, you pass, but if you have a good hand, you go for it. It's just how the game works. My wonderful boyfriend tends to do the opposite.

Not the worst hand, but certainly not a bidding hand either.

My grandparents argue. If they are on the same team, my Grandaddy had better go get his things because he's sleeping on the couch. If Seth and Stacey are on the same team, he'd better go on home or he'll never hear the end of it. If Sebastian and I are on the same team, we shouldn't sit next to each other {That's bad for us. ;)}

Rook if fun. It's a time when all of the grandkids can hang out with our wonderful grandparents until early hours of the morning. It's a time when our grandparents can really feel just how special they are. I don't think it's a game most people would naturally enjoy, but it's in our blood. :)

Seth and I wrote a song that maybe you will enjoy. It's the night we wrote it and the second time we sang it, so the harmonies are off a lot. We've gotten much better now. :)

Auntie Hannah

As you may know, I'm going to be an aunt, Seth's going to be an uncle, and Jesse's going to be a daddy. This is exciting! I've always wanted to have a little niece or nephew and now I finally will.

I, personally, don't want to be called Aunt Hannah. It sounds too old. Auntie is much better for me. I keep thinking about how it's going to be:

• "Daddy, Auntie Hannah gave me candy since you said I couldn't have any."
• "Can I spend the night at Auntie Hannah's?"
• "Yay! Auntie Hannah is coming!"

Call me crazy, but I can't wait. :)

Pumpkin Patch

Moday, after our picnic, Sebastian and I wanted to go to a pumpkin patch. He had looked up online where a nice one was that was open on weekdays and he found "Carl's Farm". It had great reviews {probably written by the people who work there} and it sounded like a winner! He printed off directions and we were on our way.

We drove down a long rode next to strawberry patches and corn fields. It seemed legit to us. We pulled up and went inside to by our tickets. Where we were, you had to ride the hay ride to get to the pumpkin patch {cool, right?}. We handed over the $4.00 and went around back to get on. There was only a Grandma and Grandpa with their little grandbaby already there. We went to the back corner and waited excitedly.

After about 10 minutes, the tractor finally started moving. We rode through a path in the middle of a strawberrry field, turned the corner, and stopped. We were there. We could have walked there and saved 4 bucks, but it was the expierence that mattered, right? We hopped of the wagon and looked around. It was flat ground covered in dirt. There were about twenty pumpkins placed around for you to choose from. Again, not what we had pictured, but we went with it.





Behind him, you can kind of get the idea.

We walked around trying to find nice pumpkins. Most of them were small and rotting and you really had to hurry if you didn't want the others to get the good ones. We found the ones that we liked best and went back to the wagon.

Once everyone got back in, we set off again. This time, the tractor man went around a bigger field to make us feel like our $4.00 was well spent. We never had that feeling. We could see the building we started out at the whole time. Oh well.

We got back and bought our pumpkins. Together, they costed $21.21{Weird}. We walked out to the car and made our way back home.

Although the pumpkin patch wasn't exactly what we had in mind, we were together and it was fun. Unless you want to make some memories and have stories to tell, I don't recommend Carl's Farm.

Over all, we had a fantastic day. All I do is fall more and more in love with him with every second that passes. God has blessed me so much.

"So Happy Together..."

I have been dating the same handsome man for a year and half. He's a charmer and his smile gets me everytime. Yesterday, we had our 18 month anniversary {1 1/2 Years}. He wanted to do something special and he planned our day perfectly.

We started off loading our picnic basket and setting off to a park neither of us had been to. He'd driven by signs that had said it was a good picnic spot, so we decided we'd try it out. When we got there, it was more like a wild life trail you could walk through with picnic tables in the parking lot. We got out of the car and went over to look at the map {a huge sign like they have in malls} and we saw that there was a lake.  After agreeing we'd rather not eat next to trash cans and parked cars, we grabbed our things and set off to find the lake.



I don't take many pictures of just the scenery, but I'll work on that. ;)



After taking a few wrong turns and getting lost in the forest, we finaly found the lake. There were trees covering the view so we had to walk down a small hill to be able to see the water. There was construction going on to the right and million dollar houses straight ahead. Not exactly the lake we had invisioned.



Again, just us. :)



We walked back up to where we would have our picnic and set our things down. It was an open square patch in the middle of the woods. You knew water was just beyond the trees, but the only view you had was the concrete slab going into it. Before one could ask the other if they wanted to stay, I had four new mosquito bites on my legs and he was getting them too. We grabbed our things and headed back to the car.

We decided we would eat in the designated picnic area. We found an open yet secluded spot away from the parking lot that was under a nice shady tree. We put {again} put our things down and grabbed the blanket {which happeded to be a very soft sheet.} Sebastian got one end and threw me the other. It was a fitted sheet. {Genius me.} I thought for sure I had checked to make sure it was a top sheet... but I guess not. After laughing rightfully, we headed over to a picnic table.  





We had a table cloth. We weren't planning on using it, but when the sheet fell through it really came in handy. My dad got my mom a picnic backpack one year for Christmas and we gladly brought it along.



It has everything you need. Plates, silverware, napkins, cups {great for Gatoraid}, cutting board, butter knife, "steak knife", and a wine cork opener popper thingy {no one in my family drinks.} :)

Although it didn't go exactly as planned, we had our picnic. PB&J's, Goldfish, Potato Salad, Honey BBQ Chips, Gatoraid, and Water. Weird mix, but delicious.

This wasn't the end of our date, but that's a whole nother blog. :)