Further Reflection

I have been thinking a lot about my blog post from January, “Let’s Get Real,” and I guess I wanted to take this opportunity to further expand and/or reflect on it. I was able to further share the feelings and frustrations I had regarding that blog post with a few dear friends, and although that blog post was not directed at any one person, but rather the “world in general,” I still wanted to clear things up based on some great guidance from these friends.

I understand that sometimes you (the collective you of the world) may feel stuck between a rock and a hard place about bringing up what I am going through. If you bring it up and I’m not thinking about it, then you worry I might get sad. Perhaps you want to bring it up, but you aren’t sure what to say, so you just don’t bring it up at all. You know you want to avoid Christian platitudes like “God is in control” or pregnancy words of wisdom like “Just relax” or “If you adopt, then you’ll get pregnant,” knowing these words may not help either. So you just feel caught between the middle. My good friends helped me to understand this perspective, and for that I am very grateful.

So where do we go from here? In my opinion, I rarely mind discussing what I am going through. With that being said, if you happen to catch me on a rough day, I might not want to elaborate for fear of my emotions being too close to my heart and wanting to “keep it together.” I’m not trying to shut you out, but I haven’t told many people about this, and I might not be ready to open up completely either.

I have come up with this example, which I understand isn’t the best, to hopefully shed light on how it feels to me.

Infertility is a disease that robs people of doing what others are able to do naturally. If you knew someone who had a different disease or health problem, like cancer, you would probably ask them how they were feeling, was the effects of the chemo manageable, has there been any progress this week, what can I pray for you regarding this situation, etc. I don’t see infertility being any different. I was reading several great Christian books about infertility, and I learned from The Infertility Companion that “infertility patients are second only to cancer patients in terms of what they will endure for a cure.” This floored me, but I definitely believe it to be true. So whether it’s me or another friend who is going through this issue, I pray that the Lord would give each of us wisdom on how to comfort, support, and be Jesus to that person. We will each miss up, me definitely included, but hopefully the Spirit will speak through each of us during those situations.

If your heart leads you to learn more about this issue, I highly recommend the book Hannah’s Hope. (And if you are dealing with infertility, miscarriage, secondary infertility, adoption struggles, etc, I can’t recommend this book enough) It is a very easy read, and at the end of each chapter the author writes specifically to individuals who are watching others walk through this journey. The words of wisdom this author shares are invaluable. I hope this post is able to express a small part of the infertility journey half as well as this book.

Three different cities, three different days

The title of this post pretty much sums up our busy travel week. Last Friday we left Seattle to head for Vancouver, site of the 2010 Olympics games. We had planned this trip last April once we knew we were moving and would be so close to the Olympics. Jon really had an excellent post about our overall experience at his website, but suffice to say we had a great time. We both enjoyed the bed and breakfast we stayed at, and our seats to both events (hockey and moguls) were perfect. We got to witness history as the first Canadian won gold on home turf in men's moguls, and we also got to cheer on an American to a bronze metal in the same event.

Vancouver was, as many of you have heard, very warm for this time of year. Although it rained on Friday and Saturday, similarly to what we have experienced in Seattle this time of year, Sunday was gorgeous with blue skies and highs in the 50's! Both Jon and I enjoyed the city which was very clean, and the Canadians were all so friendly and nice. I purchased my pair of red mittens which is supposedly all the rage this year, but when we found them on Friday night (same day as the Opening Ceremonies) there were plenty left to be had. Speaking of Opening Ceremonies, we were right outside of BC Arena when the event started and saw lots of motorcades taking dignitaries to the event.

After a busy weekend in Vancouver we left the next day for Phoenix for a short, 69 hour trip. It really did fly by. In fact, on Tuesday I left the house at 9:10 and didn't go home until after 5:00PM! I was able to (finally!) see Heather and meet Matthew, her new baby boy, have lunch with Troy and Kelly, catch up with Garrison while babysitting him for the day, and even managed to get a quick meeting with Ericka before leaving. I was happy that I got to catch up with friends and family as well as stop in to see my work "family" from Copper Ridge. Since I was there for six years I knew many of the people a very long time, and many knew me before I even knew Jon! It was really nice to be there and catch up with everyone. It reaffirmed for me why it was so difficult leaving my job in the first place.

Since we returned late Thursday night Seattle has had beautiful blue skies and highs well above normal this time of year. It always helps to return to Seattle with weather like this since I get so spoiled in Phoenix (it was in the 70s there!). We're not sure when we will be back again, but hopefully it won't be seven months from now like our first time out.

Birthday

Updated February 20th: More pictures!

One of my friends said it best: this is the last year in my 20's. Yikes, that's scary! I guess it's a good thing this birthday was stretched out as long as possible.

The festivities began on January 22nd. Jon found an awesome deal for a dinner cruise around the sound with views of Seattle.

It was a wonderful four course meal with a live band and beautiful city lights. Then, my parents came out to help celebrate the weekend immediately before my birthday. We showed them a few more spots around Seattle we hadn't covered before, went to a movie (Leap Year), attended church, visited the Boeing Flight Museum, and just had a great time hanging out. My mom cooked me a huge birthday meal: roast beef, oven baked rolls, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and of course our family's mocha cake. It was all very delicious.

Then, to cap it off, Jon took me out to California Pizza Kitchen on the actual "big day." I think their BBQ chicken pizza and field greens salad with candied walnuts and pears is pretty awesome. Then, we sat down to watch LOST, one of our favorite shows. It was a very nice evening.

As I get older I am learning more and more that these events are about the people instead of presents, but I know people might be interested so I'll share what I received: Troy and Kelly bought me three different CDs (Hillsong, Casting Crowns, and a praise and worship set). I'm actually listening to Hillsong as I write this! My parents helped me support our ASU Sun Devils with some great apparel and some gift certificates to a local spa I went to once after Christmas for reflexology.

I made my appointment for Monday, so it should be fun. Bruce and Joan and Jon's grandparents were very generous and gave me some money to spend on whatever I want (!), and Jon broke the bank with a necklace from Tiffany's. There's something about that little green box with a white ribbon that is pretty cool. Maybe it's the mix of understated elegance and chic modern design. Whatever the case, it was a beautiful gift.