Happy New Year!

Well...we made it to California! Only 2 hours late! We had a pretty uneventful trip and have really enjoyed time with friends and family out here! The weather has been good and we have eaten a tremendous amount of food!
I am reading a book that has been really good. The title is, "23 minutes in Hell" I know it sounds twisted or weird, but for those who are Christians it is a great book and those who are not I think would find value in it. It is about a man who based on his account went there and came back to write about it. Of course there are those who say he was dreaming or that he is crazy, but I have really enjoyed the book. It reminds me of 90 minutes in Heaven which was another great book....just thought I would share that I was reading a book because that doesn't happen all too often!
Hope everyone is having a great week!

The Reason for the Season!

Merry Christmas!
Melisa and I are sitting in the Chicago airport hoping that we are not to delayed tonight! I always enjoy a good time to sit and reflect what we are thankful for! We have had such a tremendous year, from moving from Phoenix to Prescott to Chicago! We can't make up our mind and who knows what God has in store for us next. There is some uncertanty at work, but we are keeping our heads high knowing that we are not in control and wherever we are we are thankful to have each other! I think all this moving has brought us closer to each other and it has been wonderful!
There are so many who are in tough positions this year whether the loss of a loved one or loss of a job....just know that we are praying for you!
Heres to a great 2009! Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas!

We are heading out to warmer weather in just a week or so! It has been so cold here in the windy city, it was 16 yesterday.....as a high!!! People are not meant to live in that kind of cold! I always joke that it is -100 but it really felt that way yesterday, the winds make it bitter!
Tomorrow is Melisa's 28th b-day, we met her parents tonight for dinner, that was great!
Hope everyone is doing well!

Thanksgiving #2

We just got back from the Mersman family Thanksgiving and we had an awesome time! I can honestly say that I am glad to be finished with all the over eating I did over the last two weekends, but it sure was great seeing everyone! We got to spend some time with our newest niece McKenzie which was great!

Here are some pictures of the event, we even got some great family shots to go up on our wall....

hope everyone had safe travels this very busy weekend!

Hope to see you all soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008! What a wonderful Thanksgiving! It has been a great reminder of what we are truly thankful for this year! We made it out to California for Aubrey's 4th birthday and the famous McDougall family Thanksgiving! And today we are with the Mersman's in West Michigan for their annual Thanksgiving!

I actually filled up my tank for $1.59 today, I almost wanted to take a picture of the gas station, too funny!

Here are some pictures of the events!

Land of Gracious Living!

It has been a very long couple of days for a lot of my family in So Cal! They had to evacuate yesterday and have been allowed back in this afternoon, but there have been several homes around them that have been destroyed....it is so sad how many people lost their homes. There is one piece of positive news, there have been no reported deaths because of it, there have been 6 firefighters injured in YL so far. Please pray for them and their families! My Uncle and cousin are both firefighters in So Cal, but as of right now neither of them are fighting in these fires, but a lot of their friends are so your prayers would be greatly appreciated!
As I get pictures I will post them, it sounds like a lot of stores have been destroyed as well....

Adoption update #357

Well now that we are living in Illinois we have to get re certified for adoption in this state. It wasn't a big surprise that Illinois makes it even more difficult to do a domestic adoption, gotta love all this government control! Melisa has found an agency and has already started the process, she has done some classes online and we have an orientation class next week Monday! So we could be re certified in just a month or so if we really focus on getting this done!
Melisa also had a doctors appointment to get a referral to a fertility doc....she found out she has to go from our Primary Care Physician then to a Gynecologist then to a fertility doc even though we did all this in Arizona! So that has been put on a short hold as well, but we might be going straight to invitro fertilization once we get to the fertility doc.
Just wanted to keep everyone up to date!
Hope everyone is doing great!

New President

Well, I am sure a lot of you are waking up rather excited today, I am waking up nervous. I think I understand more why we want there to be a balance of power so we can keep things more towards the center.
I will be perfectly honest, I am going to support our new President and I will hope and pray that the upset Republicans will support our new President more than the Democrats did of our current President. I remember how upset many of us got when the Democrats literally threw Bush's name in the mud and you will not hear me doing that to Obama. I may disagree, but I want Americans to rise above ripping apart our leaders because it makes us feel better, thats not very American of us! We all want the best for this country, we are just divided on how we can achieve that goal.
I will pray for the leadership of our country....

Election 2008

I know that most of you agree that Wednesday November 5 will be a relief, either you will be happy or disappointed in the outcome but we will not have to endure the crazy adds or overwhelming negative responses from the media. I just recently saw a study done that showed how incredibly skewed the media has been in this election and it is frightening!
There are several people who read this blog that will vote for Obama and several who will vote for Mccain, and it shouldn't be a surprise to most that we are supporting Mccain/Palin. I think we need a change in Washington and that Obama has been successful in convincing many that he is that person to change Washington. If he wins on Tuesday I pray that you are all correct. Of course, my fear is how he will change Washington, but that is a pretty difficult discussion for some so I will not get into that.
Melisa and I are praying that God will give us the leader he wants in office and I truly believe that whoever gets to be our next President will have his blessing. Pray for our leaders as we go through this difficult transition!

Infertility

Today i was visiting a friends blog and on it she had a video that really hit me...it was about what couples go through when they are dealing with infertility issues....Shaun and I are still trying to get pregnant but are not having any luck... we have heard that there are some great fertility doctors here in Naperville, IL, so i am looking forward to finding one that will be willing and able to help us out...the video is very touching and helps people who haven't gone through this issue, kind of understand where we are and how we are feeling inside...we would appreciate you keeping us in your prayers..we know that God will help us get through this time in our lives, as we know he has a great plan for Shaun and I...we so look forward to seeing what that may be...below is a link to the video that our friend posted...MelisaTears and Hope - the infertility awareness project

The Windy City

So Melisa already found a job, she will be a nanny 3 days a week in Wheaton, IL about 15 minutes away! It doesn't take long for Melisa to win over a family with children, anyone would be lucky to have her as their nanny!
My job is going well, a lot different than my job in Arizona! I am really enjoying the people and the area is just beautiful right now. We are in the middle of the fall colors and wow, this is the part that I missed most in the midwest.

We sure are looking forward to enjoying the big city, I have already been downtown for work, but plan on going down there over a weekend soon so Melisa can do some shopping, if anyone out there wants to do some shopping you are more than welcome to come and stay at our house! Hope all is well!

We made it!

We drove into Naperville late yesterday and the moving trucks came today! Wow, what a road trip....even with the long days we had a good time! We saw parts of Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Memphis, and St. Louis. We were in 9 states during our adventure to the windy city 4 of which I had never seen before! We do live in a beautiful country!
Well now the true work begins, we did some unloading today and Melisa is doing more of it the next couple of days while I go to work. My first day on the job is tomorrow, so wish Melisa luck as she makes this our new home!
I will post some pictures once I download some of them....hope everyone is doing well!

on the road again...

well, we have hit the road to head to naperville, il...i am blogging in the car in arkansas on the way to memphis, tn...we should be in chicago by tuesday afternoon/evening...then the fun begins of unpacking everything....we have had great weather and very little traffic so far...
today we went to the oklahoma city bombing museum/memorial...that was so sad to see, but glad we were able to see it while we were in oklahoma city...what a tragedy that was...tonight when we get to memphis we are going to check out the elvis museum...and tomorrow we will head to st. louis, mo...we will keep you posted...until then
melisa

Moving....again......

We are off to another adventure. We are moving with Chase to the windy city! We are going to be there by October 1. We definately feel that God is leading us back to the Midwest, we are not sure why, but understand that we have been very prayerful about this and off to Chicago we go! We will be living in Naperville, IL, a suburb of Chicago and it is a great place. The downtown is amazing and it is only 25 miles from downtown Chicago! The weather is going to be rough, but we have been through it before!
Our ultimate goal is to be out West where it is a little warmer, but feel that this in a weird way will get us closer to that final goal! Please pray that our move goes smoothly and that we have a safe trip across country. We leave this Friday and our driving through to Chicago!

Matt and Al's Wedding!

This weekend we were in Detroit for Matt and Allison's wedding....it was a good old Eastern Michigan reunion! We had a great time and Melisa even got in a little dancing!

Pray for Baby Maule!

I just wanted to send a post to pray for our Cousins. Jennifer and Cheyne were expecting a baby and she went into premature labor today. They gave birth to a baby girl at 20 weeks, so the baby died. I am just sick about this, I am asking for everyones prayers for them.....I know God has his hands on them right now, we love you Jen and Cheyne!

2 Years!

I heard from a friend that marriage gets better and better, I don't know if at the time I either understood or agreed. But it has been 2 years now for me and Melisa and I have a much greater understanding of that statement! How is it possible to love your wife more than you did on your wedding day, but I do! She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and through each challenged we have faced, she is so supportive and the rock I turn to!
So just a post to share with all those in a happy and loving marriage, I am blessed and wanted to share that!

Decisions decisions.....

It seems that we are always in a position to be deciding on something that is life changing! I think that God is always testing us in ways that we will never really understand. We have some things going on that I will post about soon, but it is all good, just difficult decisions that I know will work out in the end!

Baby update......

We met with Dr. Patel this morning and we discussed the options for eventually getting pregnant. We went down to see him expecting to set up IVF, in vitro fertlization, but the process is long and there are some real ethical and moral issues with IVF. Because we strongly believe that life begins at conception, we would require the doctor to only fertilize the embroys that we would be willing to carry to term. We are thinking the doctor will eventually pull 6 eggs and fertilize all of them and inject 2 at a time and pray they both make it....by making this decision we need to be prepared for 6 kids, but the likelyhood would be slim. For those of you who also feel the way we do about conception, the doctor actually offered to check the viable embryos for certain genetic abnormalities and we could "discard" or kill them.....very disturbing. This process has taught us a lot and helps me understand even more why education is so vital.
We have decided to try one more thing before IVF, Melisa is starting Metformin today and will be on it for the next 3 months, it will make her sick so please keep her in your prayers. This drug has been successful in helping patients with PCOS ovulate which inturn should help us get pregnant. It will require a lot of tests and patience. The doctor also told us to continue our weight loss because for every 10 pounds we loose it really increases our chances of conception especially with the PCOS.
So that is my long winded update, sorry for the drawn out explanation, hope everyone is well!

Camping Trip 2008! Mammoth, California!

We went on our annual family camping trip to our usual camp site, Upper Soda Springs in Mammoth, California! We spent several days hiking, fishing and staying in tents. Most of the girls tolerate the tent camping because of the family time, but Melisa I think is one of the best up there! She loves the hiking and the outdoors, truly an outdoor kinda girl!

The picture with all the family is 25 of us standing/sitting in front of where my grandparents want to be burried, a little twisted, but a really awesome picture!

Melisa decided to lead a few on a dance party in the dirt! Too fun!!!!

Melisa got a Promotion!!!

Melisa is the newest Kindergarden teacher at the Prescott YMCA school! I am so proud of her, clearly her gift is working with Children and now she will be able to impact a lot of children to follow God and many other important life lessons that you learn in Kindergarden....of course I have no idea since I cannot imagine teaching a Kindergarden class for even 1 day! YIKES

I wanted to drop a note to everyone to let them know about her new role, please reach out and congratulate her if you get a chance!

Hope everyone is great!!!

Sedona!!! We went on some 4x4 trails with a Jeep!

We went with Chris and Rachel to Sedona on Saturday and rented a Jeep to take down the "Broken Arrow" Jeep trail and "Soliders Pass"......they were awesome! Here are some pics of the trip! We also went to Jerome a little town built on the side of a mountain and had awesome hamburgers at the Haunted Hamburger!

Adoption update

We have gotten word on the latest birth family to receive our book and they have chosen another family. Melisa and I are confident that God has just not matched us up with the family that he has chosen for us.
Melisa has just finished her latest round of tests to figure out if she actually has PCOS, we should find out in about 1 1/2 weeks. We are confident that we can concieve once we get these tests finished.
Please keep us in your prayers, we are slowly learning patience, it will happen in God's time!

Independence Weekend

We had the whole family out here for the 4th weekend and we had a blast! The girls had some fun on Saturday night having a dance party in the living room. Caleb joined in the fun that night.

We also celebrated Kylie's 1st birthday with Aunt Wisa and Uncle Shaun since we were not able to make it out to California the weekend before. We sure love those kids....they are a true gift from God.

On that Saturday morning Caleb and Aubrey, went with Uncle Shaun to the Prescott 4th of July parade, we walked with Chase bank, of course! Reagan did a good job playing Chase the dog as well! We had a blast that weekend!

Adoption update #2

Melisa just got an email from Laura our counselor from our adoption agency, http://giftoflifeadoptions.com/ and they are sending out our "book" today to a potential birth mother. Basically what happens is they send out 2-3 books of different adoptive parents to the birth mother and they choose from there. We do not have any information on the birth family yet, but if we are selected then we will get more information and we will have the choice to say "yes" or "no" at that point.
We are pretty excited because this is the first time they have actually sent this to a birth mother that has agreed to do an adoption. Keep us and the birth family in your prayers!

Happy 4th of July!

I just wanted to take this opportunitiy to thank all those who are currently and have served our country! We owe you for your sacrifice and God bless you for what you have done.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th with family and friends!

Doctors Visit

We met with Dr. Patel this morning in Scottsdale and we got some news. Dr. Patel thinks that Melisa might have PCOS, Polycystic ovary syndrome. www.pcosupport.org/
The Doc did an ultrasound and believes that she has this syndrome. There are several things we have to do in the next few weeks to determine with 100% certainty that this is what the issue has been.
We are both somewhat relieved that we now know what the issue might be and the Doctor feels really good that there are several options for us to conceive a child.
Please remember us in your prayers, we are learning patience through this and I know God will use us to help others in the future.
We are still actively pursuing the adoption and this process, our hope is to do both!
Hope everyone is well!

Say a Prayer

We are going to visit a new fertility doctor this weekend! This is a very good doctor that is hard to get in for an appointment. They will hopefully give us some new options to help us get pregnant!
We know it will happen in God's time, but we are prayerful that this will happen with a little help from the doc.
Hope everyone is well!

We Found a Church in Prescott!

God is good, it was about a month ago that Melisa and I brought Reagan (our dog) to the dog park here in Prescott. We had just visited a church in Prescott that we were not happy with and that was the 3rd church we had tried.
At the park we met a great couple Chris and Rachel who have two very large dogs, Damar and Guiness, they are Great Danes. We found out that they attend Prescott Heights Church:: Heights Church ::, and they loved it. Well we had the chance to attend the church today and we couldn't have been happier! We felt right at home as soon as we walked in! We are definately going to get involved!
Chris and Rachel are awesome people and we are blessed to have met them! We went to BW3's today and had lunch with them and played trivia and Texas Hold'em.....Clearly Rachel and Chris are better at the games than either myself or Melisa....but we had a blast!

Adoption Update

We have recently gotten a response from our agency that there are some new girls that are early in their pregnancy and they might be a match for us. It is a while off though, before we hear anything. I am absolutely convinced that God is using this experience as a way to teach me patience. I have to admit most of my life I really did not let God teach me this, but as I am learning, this is out of my hands and he will decide when to make me and Melisa parents.
Please keep the process in your prayers, we are excited but I am really trying to learn patience through this!

Eastern Michigan University reunion!

We were in Toledo, Ohio last night with some friends from EMU! It was so great catching up with everyone, we spent the evening barbequing and playing games outside, the weather was beautiful. Just about all of us are now married with Al and Matt tieing the knot in September! Starr and Rob have two little ones Aiden and Keelin, they are getting so big!

It is hard to remember what it was like living back on campus, but being together with everyone helps remind me!

Chris getts hitched!

We arrived in Virginia on Thursday and it was HOT! Chris and Lindsey got married on Sat the 7th! The wedding was awesome, very hot but we all had a blast!

Lindsey was beautiful and Chris was looking pretty sharp!

Chris and Lindsey we pray for you to have a very blessed marriage together!

First Post-New Niece!

We are in Michigan busy visiting with family and friends, enjoying our short trip.....we have a new niece, she was born on 6-7-08....our family is getting larger and larger! Mckenzie and Mom are doing great, Amanda and Michael are getting used to their new addition, but they both look like they have been doing it for a long time!

We took Granda Max over to meet her new Great Granddaughter last night and she was so happy!