Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Away & Away
I was 21 years old and sitting in a conference room at my old high school, making phone calls to our alumni asking for donations to help our current students and upcoming school plans. My fellow classmates and I had called dozens of previous Marian girls. I looked down at my calling chart to see who I was calling next and noticed she lived out of state. I began wondering why would you leave Omaha. I was naive, newly engaged, grew up in the Omaha area and lived in the same house my entire life. My roots were securely planted and I had zero desire to ever leave my hometown. The thought panicked me, the fear of the unknown was enough to make me want to do anything to stay exactly where I was and I was determined to do just that.
A couple years later, my fiancé, Mike, and I were in our spring semesters at college and graduation was quickly approaching. Our wedding date was planned for a month later and we needed to secure jobs in order to support ourselves. In my mind we were staying in Omaha, it never crossed my mind to have a plan B or plan C. One night, Mike called to say our hopes of staying in Omaha for his potential job fell through and he needed to begin applying elsewhere, meaning out of state. My stomach sunk and the fear swallowed me. I had irrational thoughts about calling off the wedding, questioning whether we were really meant to be together and if this really was going to work, he graciously took each fear and reassured me we would do this together. It would be our adventure, just the two of us.
After a couple different interviews, accepting one job in Pittsburgh, then declining, we took a job with the government outside of Washington, D.C. in Rockville, Maryland. Our world was about to be rocked. We flew out together Easter weekend in 2009 in search for our first apartment. We looked at what felt like hundreds of complexes, trying to find our first home. The cost of living was enough to make us sick, but we were so confident with our new adult job and our salary seemed like we could afford the world. After much searching we found and signed away for our first place together. It was a small 700 sqft apartment on the fourth floor, with no elevator, overlooking the pool and a price tag of $1500 a month. We felt like we were living large.
When we moved to Maryland, Mike started his job and I began searching for mine. I was unemployed the first three months and those days were the longest and loneliest days of my life. I spent everyday in our apartment reading, applying for jobs, waiting for interviews and for Mike to come home. Our laundry was always done, his shirts were always ironed and hung. The bed was always made, the apartment was always cleaned and dinner always made. I did my best to keep myself busy, but those days were sad. I cried almost everyday, homesick, missing all our friends and family. Feeling like I was missing out on our life back home. I desperately needed a job to connect with other people and I had high hopes for all the friendships I would soon make. But I quickly learned to stop dwelling on past, or looking too far into my future because I was missing my present adventure with my husband.
In September I was asked to come in for an interview at private preschool near our apartment. I was ready to start working and once hired I felt like a different person. Getting up in the morning, going to work and teaching gave me a whole new purpose and I loved what I was doing. But those friendships I longed for, they weren’t there. The culture of our new area was different than back home and making friends as an adult was much more difficult than when we were in school.
It wasn’t until the following spring Mike and I met what we call our family couple, Phil and Tiffany. They were also new to the area and we had been introduced at a church brunch one Sunday. As newly married couples in a new area we were desperate for friends and planned a double date the following weekend. We went out for pizza and a movie and the rest is truly history. We spent nearly every weekend with each other. Trying new restaurants, exploring new places, discovering D.C., we walked through family cancer diagnoses together, we celebrated holidays together. They became our family away from family.
After two and half years, Mike and I knew we couldn’t afford the lifestyle we wanted for our future family and decided to move back to Omaha once a job became available. In December 2011 we were expecting our first child and packing up our stuff to drive back to Omaha with the thought of finally grounding ourselves back in our hometown. Obviously, today we’re no longer in Omaha. in 2013 we could feel the uncertainty of Mike’s job and began searching for something new. We didn’t want to move away from family again and it was almost harder the second time. How were we going to explain another move to them; we were so excited to be with them again. We wanted to buy a house, celebrate our daughter’s birthdays and holidays with them. It really was a bizarre season for us and I can only explain it by God. We felt he was leading us where we needed to be, not necessarily where we wanted to be. This year marks five years since our move to coastal north carolina. It’s been an adventure to say the least. We’ve expanded our little family with two new additions. We built our first house, renovated it, we found a home church and we’ve met some of the most amazing people.
We often get asked how do we do it. How do we maintain life and family with no family support around us? What do we do for holidays? Why don’t we travel back home more often? Why doesn’t more family visit? The answer is we just learned to focus on our family and keep God centered in everything. I wish I could say our time here has been carried on friends just like in Maryland, but it hasn’t, at least not in the same way. The friendships we’ve formed here are good, really good in fact, but it seems Mike and I have constantly been in a different season than most of our friends. We were the first ones to have kids and it was like that for awhile. We couldn’t drop everything at the last second for a spontaneous double date without finding a sitter or stay out too late because we had a child with a nap time and a bedtime. It was hard, it still is hard. We celebrate every holiday on our own, creating traditions and making memories. So far almost all my closet girlfriends I’ve met have moved away, whether it’s across the state or across town. We keep in touch, we still have great friendships, but we don’t see each other and we lack that connection of physically hanging out together. Through it all and I know it sounds harder than easier, I’ve learned to lean on Mike, my mom and sister. I talk to my mom and sister (on the other side of the country) almost everyday. My husband and I are best friends, spouses and partners. Even though I know I need that girlfriend connection, a relationship with other mothers, I’m getting there. Honestly, with every move and lost friend I guard my heart a little more because with each move the hurt is deep, but we learn to adapt and work through it. We allow ourselves to enjoy our current season with the kids and try and focus on each other.
So if you’ve felt the same as me then hang in there mama, I see you. I see your loneliness, your hurt, your frustration. Give yourself grace for where you are right now. It will get better and those lifetime friendships you’re longing for, they’re coming.
“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.” - Eckhart Tolle
A couple years later, my fiancé, Mike, and I were in our spring semesters at college and graduation was quickly approaching. Our wedding date was planned for a month later and we needed to secure jobs in order to support ourselves. In my mind we were staying in Omaha, it never crossed my mind to have a plan B or plan C. One night, Mike called to say our hopes of staying in Omaha for his potential job fell through and he needed to begin applying elsewhere, meaning out of state. My stomach sunk and the fear swallowed me. I had irrational thoughts about calling off the wedding, questioning whether we were really meant to be together and if this really was going to work, he graciously took each fear and reassured me we would do this together. It would be our adventure, just the two of us.
When we moved to Maryland, Mike started his job and I began searching for mine. I was unemployed the first three months and those days were the longest and loneliest days of my life. I spent everyday in our apartment reading, applying for jobs, waiting for interviews and for Mike to come home. Our laundry was always done, his shirts were always ironed and hung. The bed was always made, the apartment was always cleaned and dinner always made. I did my best to keep myself busy, but those days were sad. I cried almost everyday, homesick, missing all our friends and family. Feeling like I was missing out on our life back home. I desperately needed a job to connect with other people and I had high hopes for all the friendships I would soon make. But I quickly learned to stop dwelling on past, or looking too far into my future because I was missing my present adventure with my husband.
In September I was asked to come in for an interview at private preschool near our apartment. I was ready to start working and once hired I felt like a different person. Getting up in the morning, going to work and teaching gave me a whole new purpose and I loved what I was doing. But those friendships I longed for, they weren’t there. The culture of our new area was different than back home and making friends as an adult was much more difficult than when we were in school.
It wasn’t until the following spring Mike and I met what we call our family couple, Phil and Tiffany. They were also new to the area and we had been introduced at a church brunch one Sunday. As newly married couples in a new area we were desperate for friends and planned a double date the following weekend. We went out for pizza and a movie and the rest is truly history. We spent nearly every weekend with each other. Trying new restaurants, exploring new places, discovering D.C., we walked through family cancer diagnoses together, we celebrated holidays together. They became our family away from family.
After two and half years, Mike and I knew we couldn’t afford the lifestyle we wanted for our future family and decided to move back to Omaha once a job became available. In December 2011 we were expecting our first child and packing up our stuff to drive back to Omaha with the thought of finally grounding ourselves back in our hometown. Obviously, today we’re no longer in Omaha. in 2013 we could feel the uncertainty of Mike’s job and began searching for something new. We didn’t want to move away from family again and it was almost harder the second time. How were we going to explain another move to them; we were so excited to be with them again. We wanted to buy a house, celebrate our daughter’s birthdays and holidays with them. It really was a bizarre season for us and I can only explain it by God. We felt he was leading us where we needed to be, not necessarily where we wanted to be. This year marks five years since our move to coastal north carolina. It’s been an adventure to say the least. We’ve expanded our little family with two new additions. We built our first house, renovated it, we found a home church and we’ve met some of the most amazing people.
We often get asked how do we do it. How do we maintain life and family with no family support around us? What do we do for holidays? Why don’t we travel back home more often? Why doesn’t more family visit? The answer is we just learned to focus on our family and keep God centered in everything. I wish I could say our time here has been carried on friends just like in Maryland, but it hasn’t, at least not in the same way. The friendships we’ve formed here are good, really good in fact, but it seems Mike and I have constantly been in a different season than most of our friends. We were the first ones to have kids and it was like that for awhile. We couldn’t drop everything at the last second for a spontaneous double date without finding a sitter or stay out too late because we had a child with a nap time and a bedtime. It was hard, it still is hard. We celebrate every holiday on our own, creating traditions and making memories. So far almost all my closet girlfriends I’ve met have moved away, whether it’s across the state or across town. We keep in touch, we still have great friendships, but we don’t see each other and we lack that connection of physically hanging out together. Through it all and I know it sounds harder than easier, I’ve learned to lean on Mike, my mom and sister. I talk to my mom and sister (on the other side of the country) almost everyday. My husband and I are best friends, spouses and partners. Even though I know I need that girlfriend connection, a relationship with other mothers, I’m getting there. Honestly, with every move and lost friend I guard my heart a little more because with each move the hurt is deep, but we learn to adapt and work through it. We allow ourselves to enjoy our current season with the kids and try and focus on each other.
So if you’ve felt the same as me then hang in there mama, I see you. I see your loneliness, your hurt, your frustration. Give yourself grace for where you are right now. It will get better and those lifetime friendships you’re longing for, they’re coming.
“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.” - Eckhart Tolle
Friday, January 12, 2018
Happy New Year!
Happy (late, really late) New Year! The last few weeks have been catch up for us since traveling over Christmas. We’re happy to be back home and into our routine again after being sick with three different viruses. We started our trip on the plane with Finn getting a fever and a terrible cold with the works including discharge from his eyes. All of our kids were miserable by the end of Christmas night and having a delayed flight was just icing on the flying cake. We ended up taking the kids into a pediatrics office by our second day in Omaha. Luckily everything was viral and we just needed to let it run its course, but a couple days later we were hit with a stomach bug. Of the twelve people staying at my parents, ten of us had been sick and Mike had made his own trip to the urgent care for a sinus infection. We ended up having to cancel my family Christmas just so everyone could recover. By the time Monday rolled around we were so happy to have it pass through all of us, start a new week and finish off our trip with a bang pop.
Mike was so sweet and planned an overnight date for us while we were back. It was amazing to say the least! If we get the chance to have a date outside of the house it’s usually a few hours tops, but we’ve never been away from our kids more than that. We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel in downtown Omaha, where we spent out wedding night. We had dinner downtown at one of our favorite spots and had drinks at the hotel bar before making our way back to the room for the night. In the morning he had breakfast and a couples massage all lined up for us. It was amazing and sooooo needed! I’m forever grateful for my parents and sister + brother in law for watching our kids so we could thoroughly enjoy some time together and get some much needed R+R. What a great way to start the new year!
Looking back at 2017, it was a second hard year for us. Mine and Mike’s relationship was tested in ways we couldn't imagine, but we learned a lot of about each other, our marriage, our finances and how strong we are. We learned we are fighters. We learned the importance of putting each other before our kids, and the blessings that come when we put God above all else. We made it a point to date each other more and although I blogged about several of our dates, I had hoped to share more, but didn’t. We continued dating but kept a lot of our dates simple the second half of the year with rented movies and dinner on the living room floor. This last year we also learned to let go and relax more. Saying no more and saying yes less to obligations. Making more time for family and embracing the spontaniety of fun. Through all of it, I fell deeper in love with my husband, my kids and our little family. Last year was definitely our year to reflect and decide where and what we wanted to spend our time.
This year we’re keeping a lot of the same intentions a priority as we can always do better when it comes to our marriage and family. On top of it all we look forward to bettering our health and our home. I can’t wait to see what this year has for us as long as it doesn’t include any more sickness, I can definitely do without that! Cheers to the new year, new beginnings, new hopes, new dreams and a new vision for our lives!
Mike was so sweet and planned an overnight date for us while we were back. It was amazing to say the least! If we get the chance to have a date outside of the house it’s usually a few hours tops, but we’ve never been away from our kids more than that. We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel in downtown Omaha, where we spent out wedding night. We had dinner downtown at one of our favorite spots and had drinks at the hotel bar before making our way back to the room for the night. In the morning he had breakfast and a couples massage all lined up for us. It was amazing and sooooo needed! I’m forever grateful for my parents and sister + brother in law for watching our kids so we could thoroughly enjoy some time together and get some much needed R+R. What a great way to start the new year!
Looking back at 2017, it was a second hard year for us. Mine and Mike’s relationship was tested in ways we couldn't imagine, but we learned a lot of about each other, our marriage, our finances and how strong we are. We learned we are fighters. We learned the importance of putting each other before our kids, and the blessings that come when we put God above all else. We made it a point to date each other more and although I blogged about several of our dates, I had hoped to share more, but didn’t. We continued dating but kept a lot of our dates simple the second half of the year with rented movies and dinner on the living room floor. This last year we also learned to let go and relax more. Saying no more and saying yes less to obligations. Making more time for family and embracing the spontaniety of fun. Through all of it, I fell deeper in love with my husband, my kids and our little family. Last year was definitely our year to reflect and decide where and what we wanted to spend our time.
Monday, December 25, 2017
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas from our little family to yours! I’m so excited to finally have taken the time to put all our favorite memories from this Christmas season into a video using iMovie for us to cherish forever!
// Song: Jingle All the Way by Dan Bremnes //
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Christmas Baking + Vegan Royal Icing
It almost feels like we’ve been hibernating, at least from the blog the past couple weeks. It’s so easy for us to get caught up in the rush of Christmas and we consciously made the decision to slow down, and make a break from the blog this month. It’s been great! We’ve spent countless nights cuddled up on the sofa with blankets and bowls of soup watching all the Christmas movies, building telephones and skyscrapers with legos, we’ve covered our fridge with drawings of Christmas trees and snow scenes. This month always seems to fly by and it’s been so nice to enjoy it!
This week is our baking week so the kids and I have been busy making our traditional Christmas favorites of graham cracker toffee, cinnamon rolls, gingerbread, and of course sugar cookies. Every year we love to make a Christmas motto for to remember the season and they’re usually a cliche saying from a movie or song. Kensi and Finn came up with “Jingle All the Way” because this Christmas season is so much fun and Finn loves Turboman from the 1996 movie that we just can’t get enough of this year. We literally watched it four or five times on Finn’s birthday and it was so much fun, I am really loving this season with kids and all the messy chaos that comes with it!
This year I also had to mix things up and find a royal icing Olivia can enjoy since she has both a dairy and egg allergy. Typical royal icing uses meriguine powder which is a huge no no for Olivia. Instead I searched for a vegan friendly recipe and it turned out great for sugar decorating purposes! I’m not sure how this would hold up for the glue on a gingerbread house, we won’t really know until later next week when we build those at grandma’s house. Olivia is happy to munch on the festively decorated cookies Kensi and I did (Finn was only interested in sprinkles and eating). Below, I’m sharing the vegan icing recipe we used for our sugar cookies. I hope you can all find some time during this busy season to sit down and enjoy icing some delicious cookies!
Vegan Royal Icing
4.5 cups Confectioners Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Arrowroot Powder (I buy mine here)
1 pinch Salt
1/3 cup Water (plus a little more to get the icing to your desired consistency)
Food Coloring (I use these! and they can be found at Michael’s Craft Stores)
-Combine confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, arrowroot powder and salt in a stand mixer or bowl and mix with the whisk attachment on low for 1 minute.
-While the mixer is running, drizzle the 1/3 cup water and increase the mixer speed until the sugar is blended. Beat the icing on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. The icing should be thick at this point (better for gingerbread glue). Here is where I added a little bit more water and continued to mix to thin the icing out for the cookies.
-Divide the icing into separate bowls and color with food coloring as desired. Place each colored icing into a piping bag or a plastic zip bag and begin icing sugar cookies!
This week is our baking week so the kids and I have been busy making our traditional Christmas favorites of graham cracker toffee, cinnamon rolls, gingerbread, and of course sugar cookies. Every year we love to make a Christmas motto for to remember the season and they’re usually a cliche saying from a movie or song. Kensi and Finn came up with “Jingle All the Way” because this Christmas season is so much fun and Finn loves Turboman from the 1996 movie that we just can’t get enough of this year. We literally watched it four or five times on Finn’s birthday and it was so much fun, I am really loving this season with kids and all the messy chaos that comes with it!
This year I also had to mix things up and find a royal icing Olivia can enjoy since she has both a dairy and egg allergy. Typical royal icing uses meriguine powder which is a huge no no for Olivia. Instead I searched for a vegan friendly recipe and it turned out great for sugar decorating purposes! I’m not sure how this would hold up for the glue on a gingerbread house, we won’t really know until later next week when we build those at grandma’s house. Olivia is happy to munch on the festively decorated cookies Kensi and I did (Finn was only interested in sprinkles and eating). Below, I’m sharing the vegan icing recipe we used for our sugar cookies. I hope you can all find some time during this busy season to sit down and enjoy icing some delicious cookies!
4.5 cups Confectioners Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Arrowroot Powder (I buy mine here)
1 pinch Salt
1/3 cup Water (plus a little more to get the icing to your desired consistency)
Food Coloring (I use these! and they can be found at Michael’s Craft Stores)
-Combine confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, arrowroot powder and salt in a stand mixer or bowl and mix with the whisk attachment on low for 1 minute.
-While the mixer is running, drizzle the 1/3 cup water and increase the mixer speed until the sugar is blended. Beat the icing on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. The icing should be thick at this point (better for gingerbread glue). Here is where I added a little bit more water and continued to mix to thin the icing out for the cookies.
-Divide the icing into separate bowls and color with food coloring as desired. Place each colored icing into a piping bag or a plastic zip bag and begin icing sugar cookies!
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