Privacy

Due to some changes in our lives, I'm going to be changing my blog to a private blog- by invitation only. Feel free to email me and be added to the list at melissa {at} Snap in time photography {dot} com.

The Apartment

The apartment we are living in is amazing. Hardwood floors, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, 8th floor. And we have access to coffee/cookies/water 24/7, two gas grills, two fire pits, a heated swimming pool, gym, club room(if we're hosting a big party and need more room!) and a cyber cafe. Its luxury apartment living at its best!



Here's a view of the kitchen. to the left is the front door. and to the right is the living room and the bedroom doorway

This is our dining room:



The doors behind the table is our washer and dryer! I love having the ability to wash our cloths in our apartment and not have to carry our cloths to a laundromat



Here's the living room:

Our entire apartment has beige walls, no white walled sterile looking apartment for us! And each room has a colored accent wall! Its really easy to see the texture walls with the living room picture! We have a nice balcony too! It overlooks the courtyard and the Merritt River =)



The bedroom view 1:


The bedroom view 2:


((FYI- The picture on my dresser is a picture of my first ultrasound when we were pregnant with Robin. Jim and I have decided that we wanted to keep our first ultrasound picture visible.))

The bedroom view 3- the outside view is incredible! I love how much natural light we get in the apartment. It'd be nice if said light doesn't start at 6am making it impossible to sleep past sunrise. But the rest of the day I love it!



My closet:


We each have our own closets. but unfortunately Jim's is in the second bedroom. The master bedroom closet isn't big enough for both of us to store our cloths with only 3 drawers in our dresser each. So I gave Jim the bigger closet since he's up earlier, and has more cloths than I do. :P

Master bathroom view 1:


Masterbathroom view 2:



There are 2 rooms I didn't get to photograph yet- the guest bathroom and guest bedroom. I will do those when I get back to CT after Brian and Amy's wedding!! Though both rooms are almost completely unpacked, I wanted to wait till they're 100% before I took pictures. We left our good computer at home so that I had it for the next two weeks while I'm here!

Moved!

Jim and I are now living in Norwalk, CT at The Merritt River apartments. Its beautiful here. But its going to be a huge adjustment living here! I'm not sure how I feel about the way of life out here

yet...its so much busier than we are used to. But we will adjust =)

as soon as we are more unpacked I will take some pictures. This place is REALLY nice =)

Taiwan

Danielle and TC left for Taiwan last Monday morning, full of nervous anticipation. They were going to get their little boy. 1 month earlier than they had expected.

This morning, Danielle posted a picture of the three of them. This little boy has already captured our hearts, and I cant' wait to meet him and get to hold him in a few weeks <3

Landon is going to be so loved, and already has a better testimony than most people! His biological mother chose to give birth to him, she chose to place her son in an adoption agency so that he could fill Danielle and TC's hearts, arms and home. God has been so faithful to Danielle and TC through this journey. Its so awesome to be such a big part of. I cannot wait to watch him grow in his Faith in God and be a part of his life. He's already got more love surrounding him than he's going to know what to do with! I love you buddy!

Going away

I am so not ready to be moving in two weeks. Instead, I've been canning an absurd amount of fruit, sauce, jams,and pickles.

So far I have done 3 dozen jars of Jam- Triple berry, Strawberry, Blueberry vanilla and Peach. Each batch of Jam makes about 4 jars..so I've done 9 batches of Jam. Lots of work, but lots of fun!!

my first smaller batch of peaches, and the blueberry vanilla Jam!

My friend Jen and I canned 5 pecks of peaches yesterday. Out of that we got 11 quart size jars, 23 small jars (would have been 24, but one shattered in the canner)

The five pecks before

The 5 pecks after!

I did one batch of Sweet pickles, and got 5 12 oz jars and 2 quart jars out of that deal! We opened the pickles last week, and they were so amazing we plan to do another batch or two of pickles before we move!

I have done 2 batches of tomato's, one batch was 1/4 peck, the other was a 1/2 peck, so I could get an idea of how long it would take to can it all! I'm hoping to do at least one full bushel(4 pecks) before we move, and if I can get two done that'd be awesome. Fresh, homemade sauce all winter? yes please!

In our garden we have lots of big tomato's and peppers. So I'm going to use the rest of those to make a batch of hot pepper Jam, and the rest will be made into salsa! Jim is super excited for the Salsa, but he won't be so excited when I put him to work making it with me!

25 weeks

25 weeks ago you were conceived
23 weeks ago we got a positive pregnancy test
19 weeks ago we had our first ultrasound
18 weeks ago we had our second ultrasound. And found out you were in Jesus' arms
16 weeks ago my pregnancy was over, and we found out "officially" you were a girl, even though we knew that already
14 weeks ago Jim and I went to Jamaica to begin healing
9 weeks ago I went to a youth conference that changed my life forever
5 weeks ago we should have been finding out your gender on an ultrasound and preparing for your arrival
This week, my heart is empty. I love you Robin, I would give anything to be your mommy this side of heaven. Rest in Jesus' arms until I get to meet you someday.

Just Those few weeks

Just Those Few Weeks
For just those few weeks I had you to myself. And that seems too short a time to be changed so profoundly. In those few weeks, I came to know you...and to love you.You came to trust me with your life. Oh what a life I had planned for you! Just those few weeks...when I lost you, I lost a lifetime of hopes, plans, dreams and aspirations. A slice of my future simply vanished overnight. Just those few weeks...It wasn't enough time to convince others how special and important you were. How odd that a truly unique person has recently died and no one is mourning their passing. Just a mere few weeks...And no "normal" person would cry all night Over a tiny unfinished baby, or get depressed and withdraw day after endless day. No one would, so why am I?? You were just those few weeks, my little one. You darted in and out of my life too quickly. But it seems that's all the time you needed to make my life richer and to give me a small glimpse of eternity. ~S. Erling

Why?

A friend asked me the other day why Jim and I decided to be so open with our journey of infertility/miscarriage. I'm sure some of you are wondering the same thing...the answer is simple. Because its a real medical issue, because the pain if it is so deep that no one can fully fathom it..unless they are going through it. But mostly, because 1 in 6 couples struggle with starting a family.


I don't share our journey so anyone feels bad for us. I don't share it so that anyone feels bad telling us they're expecting (I promise I will rejoice with you in your amazing news). I don't share so I can hear your advice ("it'll happen when its meant to happen" doesn't really help. But "I'm praying for you" does).

I share to help my friends who are struggling with the same journey. I share because I'm not ashamed that Jim and I are struggling right now. I share because chances are you know more than one couple struggling with infertility. I share because I am strong enough to endure the ridicule, the hurtful comments, the ending of friendships over hurtful words. I share because some days I need a little extra encouragement through the tears.

But, mostly, I share because I have amazing friends and family loving us, and praying for us on a regular basis. Your prayers are felt more than you know.

Check out this video I saw a while back. It really explains a lot about the infertility journey.

http://www.tearsandhope.com/emptyarms_video.html

We are MOVING!

Yes, you read that right. We are moving. At Xerox their employee's change positions every 18mos-3 yrs. This is their business plan so the employee's get a better overall view of how the company runs.

About three months ago, Jim's boss approached him and asked if he would be interested in taking his next position at corporate headquarters in Norwalk, CT. So we talked about it, and we agreed that he should find out more about the position/move. Next thing we know, he's had two phone interviews, and a job offer to move in September.

So, over the weekend we went down to Norwalk (which is right on the long island sound...beautiful area) and checked out the area, met his potential boss, and checked out a few apartments. We found one we liked, and its less than 1/4 mile from Jim's work.

So, Jim and I are moving in September sometime..either the 15th or 30th. We are going to be renting a two bedroom apartment so come visit us!! And we are only a $20/ 45 min train ride from NYC!! =) We will be living there for 2 years, although we will be home a lot to spend time with our families, friends & church family. It was a really hard decision to leave everything we know here but we spent a lot of time praying about it, and really feel this is the right decision for us.

Jim and I will miss our friends and family VERY MUCH while we are gone. But we have skype, and web cams, and we expect to use them often!!

**Photography clients** I will be scheduling photo shoots still for Rochester through the end of October, on a very limited basis. Book your fall photo shoots now!

Infertility in the bible

There are 8 stories of infertility in the bible. I cannot tell you how much comfort that gives me on bad days. For a while I was made to feel like our struggles with infertility should have been kept silent. I was told that by telling anyone at all, I was allowing it to be a part of my life. I was made to feel horrible about how much I want to be a mom. Jim and I felt like it had to be a big secret, that we were struggling. But it doesn't, we are struggling with starting our family, but we won't always struggle, Lord willing. We have been given so much love and support over the last three months, I can't begin to say how much it means. Endless cards, texts, conversations, and hugs mean so much.

Every month when you find out you aren't going to be a mom..again..is heartbreaking. But nothing can equate to the pain of actually losing a child. I would have given ANYTHING to keep my little girl, Jim and I would give anything to be 21 weeks pregnant this week. Instead of in this perpetual state of limbo, of not knowing what the future holds. We know we will be parents, weather we get pregnant, or weather we adopt. But knowing doesn't heal the pain. Knowing the future holds your dreams doesn't make you forget the pain of the past or present.

Bad days are made better by the promises in the bible, out of the 8 stories of infertility in the bible, only one of them did not end happily. There is so much hope in that knowledge. God wants to give us the desires of our heart. And Jim and I desire so much to be parents. It may be one month before we are pregnant, or it may take us 2-3 years to adopt a child, but I'm going to be a mom eventually.

For now I'll steal the cute kids that make my heart smile, and know that someday I'll have one of my own!