Ultimate Blog Party Hop 2011

 Hi, I'm Bethany, and I'm so glad you're here!
If you visit often, thank you!  You rock!  I have enjoyed getting to know each one of you & you make my day that much brighter!
If you're new here, welcome!  I hope you'll browse around and come back to visit again!

**updated**
I must apologize for monopolizing the linky lists at the party- I jumped the gun linking up only to realize I'd joined the wrong list, and then I couldn't delete it, so I went ahead and linked up again...and THEN I actually read the different options and realized I should've linked up to the Christian category...sorry for that!  You'd think after all these years (and I was a teacher, gasp!) I'd remember to read the instructions FIRST!
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Here's a quick overview of my life, though knowing me, it won't actually be all that quick, ha!

I married my best friend when I was 22 {wow! that was a l-o-n-g time ago, ha!} years old- it was one of the best, most exciting days of my whole life.

As newlyweds, we suffered the loss of babies who are in heaven now- I ended up in the hospital with suspected appendicitis, only to learn that I was carrying a double abdominal ectopic pregnancy.  Many doctors told me I was lucky to be alive, and my chances of conceiving again and carrying to term were extremely low, but...

then came along handsome little fella number one in 1999...Ethan

And handsome little fella numero dos in 2001...Jonah

AND big, wonderful surprise fella #3 in 2002...Caleb

It was actually April Fools Day '02 when I found out we were expecting this little fireball...9 whole years ago today!

His birth was pretty traumatic and he almost died in utero- poor little baby had 2 blood transfusions after birth and when I finally got to hold him at 19 hours old, he was covered head to toe in tubes and wires. That was so hard...but he has always been a fighter and is now the happiest, brightest 8-year-old on the planet!

Our prayers were answered when God led us to our daughter through the miracle of adoption
meeting Isabelle for the very first time- Sept 2007

love at first sight!

God really opened my eyes to the plight of the orphan, and He is at work again, stirring our hearts in big ways like only He can...I will be blogging about this in the very near future, I'm sure.   :)

I used to be a high school teacher, and now I get to work with the high school kids in our youth group at our church- I loooove them!

Music is a huge part of my life and it's rare that we aren't listening to a great CD or Air1

Oh, how could I forget these lovelies?  L-R: Sneakers, Luke, & Sophie
See what happens when I don't tackle that laundry right away, ha!
This pile o' cats is usually what's pining down my feet each morning, too.  :)

With four kiddos- and three of them messy, loud, silly, adventurous, messy...did I already say that?...boys- I've finally learned the value of trading in my perfectionist ways and fully embracing the value of a "good enough" kind of attitude.  Life really is too short to fuss over trivial things (like perfectly folded laundry and spotless kitchen floors), and I don't want to wake up one day and realized I've missed out on what mattered most.

These guys certainly give me lots of "fuel" for the blog, but I also enjoy writing about our many remodeling endeavors, decorating, baking & cooking, photography, sewing, and our family adventures.  

If you want to read some random, fun things about me, click here and scroll down a bit.  I'm also about 500 pages deep into writing my very first novel, a love story with lots of twists and turns.  Whew!  It's hard but I know it's what I'm meant to do.

In our family, we love adventure...

 
cheering each other on...

and having fun!

I've met some really wonderful people through blogging, and have been inspired in more ways than I could ever express!  Looking forward to making some new friends this week- parties like these are awesome!   :)

If you want, you can read my blog party post from 2010.

Well, that's about it...I hope you have a wonderful day!

ps- Happy April Fools' Day...this is what it looks like outside our home right now, and it's supposed to snow all day!

 Oh, and NO SCHOOL...guess the joke's on me!
HA!