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!
***********

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!

2010 Ultimate Blog Party For Moms!

This is my first time participating in the Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes For Moms~
Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to say hello! 
If you're a regular reader, then let me send along a giant thank you!- it's extremely gratifying for a writer to have an audience

For those who don't know me and aren't familiar with my blog...
Welcome, my name is Bethany and I've been married for 12 1/2 years

my best friend and partner in life, Bill

pardon the sweat- we love to go on hiking "dates"

and I'm a little obsessed with self portraits, ha!

We've lived in New Hampshire our whole married life (I grew up here too)

and we love to be outside

We have three terrific, fun, talented & crazy sons

Ethan, 10

Jonah, 9

Caleb, 7

And our prayers for a little girl were answered when we adopted our princesa from Guatemala in 2008

Isabelle Kate, 3

We traveled to Guatemala in June 2008 to be reunited with our Isabelle-

it was a precious but very difficult time

(for more details, click on the adoption or Guatemala labels on the sidebar)

 

We'd been in Guatemala just a few days here

Bill had already returned to the States

Caleb on his weekly horse ride after church

Ethan and Jonah had already gone back to New Hampshire
where, thankfully, our family helped take care of them while Bill went to work each day-
I missed them dreadfully!

my favorite picture of Isabelle and me

outside our second apartment in Guatemala after Caleb had gone home for school

it would be another month before I would be reunited with my sons and Bill

So now we are three sons plus one girly girl!

I adore my children and my family, and it's tempting to say that our life is perfect and easy and all that...but it isn't!   Right now we are struggling with a mood disorder with one of our sons and all the confusion and frustration that comes along with it; funding their increasingly expensive activities (and the sneakers, oh my goodness!); trying to keep a healthy balance with practices and game schedules, music lessons, Cub Scouts and ballet class; and of course the never-ending trips to the grocery store, the millions of meals to be prepared, and the massive piles of laundry to be tackled.

We are an active family, and we like to have fun!  We're often playing mini-golf, hiking, swimming, playing at the park, sometimes skiing and boarding, going for walks or bike riding, roasting marshmallows in our fire pit, fishing, sledding, shooting hoops, cooling off on hot summer nights with a good old fashioned water balloon fight, and just playing around in our backyard together. 

PROOF

See?  We really tire them out!
(I think that's the ONLY time all 4 fell asleep on the way home...and check out Isabelle's freaky half-open eye- yikes!  HaHaHa)


You will always hear music in my car, in my home- anywhere I am!- and I love to sing, play the piano and write my own songs.  I think I still want to be a musician when I grow up. 
I love to garden and take pictures...of everything!
  I used to teach high school English and Spanish, and I love that age group!  
I don't know if I'm brave enough to announce that I'm currently 280 pages into writing my first fiction novel...no, I'm not...never mind.     :)



I love Jesus with all my heart, and I am trying to remember to seek Him first in all that I do, to cast my burdens upon Him, as I know He is much more capable than I am!  I'm still learning to be a better wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, and I'm so thankful that God loves me and never gives up on me!

Lastly, in honor of the spirit of PARTIES, I thought I'd include some of the cakes I've made for my children over the years- with 4 kiddos, it seems as soon as one celebration ends, another is right around the corner!

 Though of course sometimes I cheat, gasp!

One of the perks to having a Christmas birthday- Carvel snowman cakes are always available, yum!  (apparently storm troopers like cake, too!)

I hope you've enjoyed this little snapshot of my life!
Come back and visit or become a follower to stay up to date~
Happy partying!