27 Days

27 days. I can't believe that after waiting for 30 months to get pregnant, I only have 27 days until little, miss Loerop is supposed to enter the world. It seems like a million years ago that I found out I would have great difficultly becoming pregnant and now it seems so surreal that our little family of two, will become a family of three in 27 days. 

Right before we started the IVF treatment, some good friends of ours gave us a very thoughtful gift. I am sure when they took time to make us the gift, they probably didn't think how much it would really mean to us and how we would use the gift. The gift consisted of perfectly chosen bible verses written on pieces of paper to encourage us as I was injected with medicine through needles, going to check the progress of my eggs every other day, having my eggs retracted, having our embryos conceived, having the perfect, little embryo implanted, and finally waiting the long 2 weeks to find out if the whole process worked. Every day, Matthew and I would take a bible verse, read it, and then tape it to the nursery door. The door became some what of a place where Matt and I would tape things up to encourage us through out my pregnancy. 

The items on the door consisted of more than just pieces of paper with Bible verses on them, but also the place where we taped up her first ultrasound pictures. The pictures include her embryo (which is basically an arrow pointing to where she was implanted), her amniotic sack (she was still too small to be seen in an ultrasound), and finally her "teddy gram" photo (her first picture is of when she was the size of a teddy gram, so that is how we refer to it). Another object, we included on the door is our positive pregnancy test. It may be creepy that a pee stick is taped to the door, but it holds such encouragement to me specifically, as it was the first positive test I had ever seen in the 2 1/2 years I had been waiting. To finally see a positive test after so many negatives is celebration and reason to hang on our door. 

The picture below is of the door, pretty early on into our pregnancy, with most of the bible verses, pregnancy text, and her embryo photo. 

I obviously am not keeping all these items that have been our encouragement on her nursery door. I decided I have to do something significant with the Bible verses. This past month, I have been heavy into the nesting part of pregnancy and took a lot of time to decorate and make her nursery my "dream" nursery (Blog Post coming soon with pictures of the finished nursery). I decided that part of the nursery decor should be a wall hanging with the bible verses that encouraged Matthew and I.  

The wall hanging was made using an art canvas, Modge Podge, and scrapbooking stickers. I wanted, "For With God Nothing Shall be Impossible" as the focal point because that will be the life verse for her baby dedication as it was a huge part of the day she was implanted and an encouragement to me as I waited to see if I was pregnant or not. 

27 days. I can't believe in 27 days the prayer and dream I have had for a long time will finally come true.

Classroom 208

Goodbyes are a hard fact of life.

This past week, I had to say good-bye to Room 208. Room 208 has been my classroom for the past 3 years. It was my first ever classroom to serve as a homeroom for my first two graduating classes. It was the first classroom that became my domain for teaching reading to 8th grade in. It was the classroom where I laughed, cried, yelled, danced, and listened with students in. It was the classroom where I found out from the doctor that I was pregnant after waiting for so long. I absolutely loved this classroom.

Room 208 has been my home and last week I packed up all my things to put into storage because I will be moving positions and coming back in the middle of the year. It was a strange feeling taking down bulletin boards, putting books away, packing up my desk, and making sure it was left clean for the next occupant. My heart was heavy and saddened knowing that the room and job I love so much is changing.

Goodbyes may be a hard fact of life, but hellos can be far better.

This past week, I realized that I have something far more important to plan for than Room 208 and teaching Literature. I get to have the important and honoring task of being a mother to my very own baby girl. A baby girl that I get to say hello to in 10 weeks. I may be loosing something that I completely love, but I am gaining something that I will love with all of my heart.

And who knows, it is possible that the next classroom I say hello to, will serve me even better memories.

Endings and Beginnings: A Tribute to Lucy

Four years ago, Matthew and I took in my parent's dog, a Golden Retriever named, Lucy. At the time she was 10 years old. My mom asked me if Matt and I wouldn't mind keeping her for the summer, the summer turned into four years. Yesterday, we said good-bye to Lucy. Lucy was more that just a dog to Matthew and I, she was our family, our buddy, our pal.

Her sickness came on quickly, in matter of three days, her hind legs went from giving out on her occasionally on Wednesday to losing the ability to walk completely Friday. The vet said she had neurological issues. We knew her life had served it's purpose Friday morning when she was unable to walk herself outside for her morning pee. I immediately contacted my family, her first family that raised her from puppy, to let them know of Lucy's condition. Friday night was spent with my brother Taylor and Fiance Jamie, my sister Hailey (who actually spent the night and was there when Lucy passed), Matt, and myself. My siblings were there to say their good-byes; Matthew and I were grateful that Lucy  had people around her who loved her.

Lucy lived a full 14 years and a great life. A life I would like to share a glimpse of...

She loved my husband deeply and wouldn't be content until he came home. She was especially his buddy, his pal.
She was a silly dog, who was afraid of brooms, rakes, lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, swiffer wet jets, and thunderstorms. We would often find her tucked into our closet during thunderstorms when we came home from wherever we were.
She loved any sort of human contact or the rub down, as Matt called it.
She was always eager to see who came in the door when we had company. She loved sniffing every inch of our guests, always wagging her tail. She just loved people.
She was a gentle spirit, never to bite a single soul. Even when we played "rough" she never bit down if our fingers were near her mouth.
She had to be where ever Matt and I were, if we were outside she wanted out, if we were inside she wanted in. Often she would follow us around the house or yard, just to be close.
She had two favorite toys and both of them happen to be stuffed owls. They were called her two "Hooties". She took them everywhere.
She absolutely adored going on walks. I wish I had taken more walks with her.
She had many nicknames, mostly given by Matt: Lucy Goosey Pudding Pie, Little Lamb, Lucy Love Button, and Monkey.
She will be greatly missed. We are happy to have been her caretakers for the past four years. She couldn't have been a better dog and friend.

She was a huge part of our marriage, 4 out of our almost 5 years, and we considered her our practice daughter. She was a huge comfort to us, while we waited to get pregnant and was always there for us when we needed someone to talk to. She was our perfect transition into parenthood because in just four short months a new life will come into our lives that will give us so much more joy than we can imagine. And knowing my husband, our daughter will be his new Little Lamb.