Our Journey

From the day B and I got married we knew we wanted to be parents. I knew B would be an amazing father when the time came. I knew that God had blessed me not only with a great husband but also with a great father for our future children.

B and I have been waiting for the right time to start our family. The first year we were married we spent a lot of time apart due to B’s job and him working all over Ontario. When B was finally home for more than a few weeks at a time we needed to reconnect as us before we could even think about starting a family. And then job changes came for me, and a new adjustment period of a new schedule.

So now almost 2 years after we’ve been married we’re ready for our family to start. We just spent an amazing week in Mexico for vacation just reconnecting and relaxing, and we came to the realization that we were finally really ready.

We’ve always been open to starting our family, but we also knew there was a wise time for us to start. When we’re able to financially support our family, and emotionally support our family. A time when B and I knew that our relationship was more than strong enough to stand up to the trials that come with being parents. That we could be an example of a good healthy loving relationship for our children to look up to.

So we’re starting our journey to start our family. For the two of us to become 3. for our love to create someone else for us to love.

Appreciation

Sometimes I think I take B for granted. Not that I don’t realize how hard he works for our family, or how blessed we are to live where we do and have the family that we do. But I take for granted how much he pays attention when he seems to be so aloof.

If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE scrapbooking. I love being creative and creating cards and layouts that I can have forever or give to someone. But sometimes I think B takes it for granted a bit. I work for hours (literally) on a card for his mom’s birthday, and he’s like “oh that’s nice”. Well, my opinion totally changed in the last few weeks.

B and I have started thinking ahead to when we start to increase our family (don’t get excited mom!), and decided that we will need two bedrooms upstairs, one for the kids, and one for a spare room. So subsequently we need to find a new home for my scrapbooking desk and storage and B’s desk and our office. So to the basement it went. Now this is not an easy job. I have a huge, gorgeous desk that my daddy built me, and then a pantry full of stuff, and then more stuff on top of that. I can’t believe how blessed I am to have so much stuff.

The move went in stages. We started with all the stuff from around the room, and then moved the furniture and then the rest of the stuff. So after everything was in the basement we started organizing. I can’t do a lot of heavy lifting because of the car accident I was in earlier this year, so I was relying on B a lot more then I usually would. While during the process of deciding what goes where and what should go or be donated, B finds some post-its that I had used for a specific technique. I told B that they could be tossed, and his response was, “well what if you ever want mask again”. Seriously – did you just use the right word for that technique? At that moment I realized that B does really pay attention to what I’m saying and what I’m working on even if he looks like he’s just watching sports.

That moment just confirmed to me that B does pay attention and he does appreciate all the work I put into cards for his family, or layouts for our family scrapbook. I just have so much more appreciation for B that he really pays attention to what I’m doing and my hobbies. I love knowing that he actually gets it.

So after two weeks, well not quite two weeks, the basement is finally in order and my scrap desk is ready to use. And use it I have been. I’ll post the link to my scrapblog when it’s up and running for real.

 

Ten Years

Ten years ago I received one of the most precious things I could ever own. Not because of it's physical presence or value, but because of the emotional value and heart behind it.
My Grandmother was such an amazing woman, with a giant heart. She may not have been the overly emotional Grandmother giving hugs and kisses all the time, but I never once doubted how much she loved my mom, and my family.

I loved celebrating birthdays with her; she always put so much thought and care into giving the perfect gift. Not just something that you asked for, but something that she new you would enjoy or benefit from.

Ten years ago I received my second last birthday gift from her. I had been looking forward to my 16th birthday for years. You see for my sister's 16th birthday she received her first string of pearls, something she would have forever and always treasure. So I knew that I would be receiving something just as special, and I did.

For my 16th birthday I received a gorgeous sapphire and diamond ring, something that I have worn every day for the last ten years. My birthstone isn't a sapphire, but hers was. And to set a pearl on tiny hands like mine would not look elegant, the way she always did.

This birthday gift was the hardest birthday gift to ever receive, because I knew it would be the last one I would ever get from her. She has suffered a series of strokes in the month before my birthday, and was in the hospital not doing too well. She passed away a month after my birthday.

It's so hard to believe that ten years ago I was 16. Young, naive, never been on a date, or kissed or in love. And today I'm married to a man that I love with every fibre of my being.

I wear my sapphire every day as a reminder of who my Grandmother was, and how I can only hope to be as amazing and elegant, and stoic as she was. So even though there are some scratches and it's not as shiny as it was ten years ago, I figure every scratch helps me get one step closer to being like her.
Ten years has passed a lot faster then I thought it would.

**for those wondering, the last birthday present that I received from my Grandmother came on my 21st birthday. My Grandmother always wanted me to have her pearls, and so for my 21st birthday my mom gave me my Grandmother's pearls. The same pearls that I wore walking down the aisle to marry my best friend.**