Fall 2014

I'm officially a bad blogger. I admit it. I really miss blogging regularly, but by the end of the day when the kids are in bed, I still have the kitchen to clean, laundry to finish and some time to hang out with Aaron. Blogging is the bottom of my priority list. But life continues to move and God continues to bless us. Abel and Belle are loving their 3K homeschool. We do about 3 days a week for 40 minutes - a worksheet (focusing on either letters, numbers, shapes or colors), Bible and reading time, and a craft. Sometimes we throw in some extra things like music or flashcards. If we haven't done school yet, they will ask "Can we do school now?" Haha! The pictures above were taken at a local pumpkin patch on a homeschool field trip with our church. They are dressing up next week for Halloween as a football player and cheerleader. I have mixed feelings about Halloween. I always thought I wouldn't celebrate it with my kids. But then the first Halloween after Abel & Belle were born, I thought "What is the harm in dressing up like something that isn't satanic or evil in nature? And getting candy?" Abel & Belle play dress up at home almost everyday of their lives and they eat candy occasionally as well. Also, awhile back, I read a post from another Christian who said "Every day belongs to the Lord. Why should Satan have a holiday? He doesn't have the right to take what belongs to the Lord. So, take back Halloween to the glory of God." That is what we try to do with Halloween...eat candy, drink cider and be merry to the glory of God! Of course, we respect those Christians who have different opinions too and don't participate in Halloween at all. And we know other Christians who celebrate "Reformation Day" on October 31st, which is the day that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses. Whatever you're doing or not doing this month, Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

Jennifer :)

Easter 2013

We wish you a joyous Resurrection Day! - Aaron, Jennifer, Abel & Belle

Fall Festival 2012

Abel and Belle went to their first ever Fall Festival this past weekend. Abel dressed up as a scarecrow and Belle dressed up as a pumpkin princess. They were so adorable! We only stayed out there for about an hour, which was plenty of time for them. They rode a kiddie ride with Aaron and me, ate some cookies and looked at all the fun sights while enjoying the crisp fall air. Their Pops and Mimi (my step-dad and mom) as well as their great-granddaddy and great-grandmama (Aaron's maternal grandparents) came with us too. We all had a great time!

Fun with Family!

Both Mimi (my mom) and Mama Niecey (Aaron's mom whose name is Denise) along with Aaron's sister, Bethany and her husband, Matt came down for a visit on Wednesday. Aunt Bethany took lots of pictures and unfortunately, mommy isn't too great at taking pictures regularly so we are glad for some new candids! The 2nd picture is Abel & Belle about to get in the car to head for Cracker Barrel with everyone and the 5th picture is Abel with Uncle Matt. Abel and Belle wore semi matching Osh Kosh shirts to Cracker Barrel with their blue jeans - Abel's was a snowman shirt in 6 mos size and Belle wore a Christmas candy cane/gingerbread house shirt in a 3 mos size. As you can see in the pics, Abel is much bigger than his sister. Also, notice our dog, Toby hidden between our legs for our family shot...yes, he came and got between our legs himself! Ha - we love our mini dachshund (aka our third baby)!

Oh and it is quite possible that these are the cutest babies ever!...Ok, we are admittedly biased. :)

2010 in Review

2010 may very well have been the most eventful year of our marriage (or our lives) thus far! Here is what God did over the past year in the Wilson home...

1) Got a call on January 14th from the NEDC to schedule our mock transfer for March 29th.

2) Started taking meds and had the mock transfer in March.

4) In June, we looked through embryo profiles and chose the ones we wanted to adopt.

3) Found out that Aaron was being transferred to Gastonia, NC on July 19th.

4) Had our 1st embryo transfer on July 20th. Received a negative beta on July 29th.

5) In August, Aaron took on his new store in Gastonia and we looked through more embryo profiles and chose new embryos to adopt. He stayed in an extended stay while looking for housing and I stayed in Columbia with his family.

6) Bought our first house in September.

7) Had our 2nd embryo transfer on September 19th. Got 2 positive HPTs at 10 and 11 days past transfer. Very weak beta on 12 days past transfer. Entirely negative 2nd beta.

8) In October, we chose more embryos to adopt.

9) Had our entire house painted in November.

10) Had our 3rd and final embryo transfer on November 16th. Took my first HPT after my beta was drawn on November 29th. HPT was positive and the beta result was 1123! 2nd beta on December 1st was over 3000!

11) Had our 1st ultrasound at 6w0d on December 9th - saw TWO fetal poles and yolk sacs, but no heartbeats yet.

12) Had our 2nd ultrasound at 6w5d on December 14th and saw TWO heartbeats!

13) Had our 3rd ultrasound at 9w0d on December 30th and saw TWO growing babies with beautiful heartbeats!

Aaron and I have experienced more grief and joy combined this year than I can even begin to explain. Through the loss of our 8 children, we learned to trust His goodness and sovereignty while we just didn't understand... And like I previously posted here, this song rings more true now than ever...truly "behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face!" And I know that we are by no means "out of the woods" yet with this pregnancy, but we're praying and hoping that 2011 will bring the birth of TWO healthy babies!

Hello 2010!

Happy New Year! I have been meaning to blog for awhile now, but life has been too busy! We spent Christmas with my family in Atlanta and New Year's with Aaron's family in Columbia. Nothing has progressed with our adoption at this point...we continue to wait for the NEDC to call and schedule my mock transfer. Since I know that they book appointments MONTHS in advance, I would think that if I were to have it scheduled during the summer, that I'd know by March. If we don't hear from them by mid-late February, we will probably call and touch base to see where things are. But, for now, we are just waiting...which is SO HARD! I hope and pray that 2010 will be the year that our babies are transferred to my womb with a successful pregnancy!

Below are some pictures that we took on New Year's Eve - Aaron's family bought a murder mystery game, taking place in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. He was Chef Cayenne Pepper and I was Maid Elise St. Gresch - and neither of us were the murderer. :)

Celebrating 4 Years!

On Thursday, Aaron and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary! (Though we had to wait until Sunday to make it to Outback to celebrate due to work on Thursday, and being snowed in on Friday and Saturday) I am married to the best husband ever...I LOVE BEING AARON'S WIFE! :)

AND - His little sister, Bethany, got ENGAGED on our anniversary! We are so excited for her and her new fiance, Matt! They will have a year and a half engagement so that they can finish up college and we're praying that by the time they get married in June 2011, I will be (Lord willing of course) pregnant from a sucessful embryo transfer! That would be so perfect. We'll see what God has in store, though!

Have a Merry Christmas - as we celebrate the joy of God becoming a man to save wretched sinners such as ourselves!

Memorial Day Weekend '09

My sisters, Ashley and Lindsay, with us

This past weekend, we visited my dad in Mullins, SC which is only about an hour from the beach so we were able to at least see the ocean (we didn't stay too long though because it was biker weekend) and ride some roller coasters at a small amusement park in Myrtle Beach. We hadn't been on a roller coaster in about 3 years (or more) so that was a lot of fun for us! :)

Easter Weekend '09

We took these pictures while in Columbia this past weekend. The top picture was taken at Aaron's grandparents' house after eating with them at Shealy's (a great bbq restaurant in Batesburg-Leesville, SC) and the bottom two were taken before church on Sunday morning.

Happy Valentine's Day, Aaron!

Warning - This will probably be the longest blog entry that I will ever type!

Aaron and I met almost exactly 5 years ago working at LifeWay. The first words we ever spoke to one another were when I asked him to help me find a cd for a customer and he pointed me in the right direction to find the cd (I hadn't even introduced myself to him at work yet...it was my first day at the Columbia LW and I had been told that his section was music and thought he could help me). Not a romantic thought went through my head - If I had realized that I had just laid eyes on my future husband, I probably would have found something sweeter or more sophisticated to say to him (maybe, I would have even been so polite as to say "Hi - I'm Jennifer" before asking him where the cd could be found)...

He apparently thought that I was really pretty the first time he saw me and over the next few weeks started liking me...I was both oblivious that he liked me and disinterested in him during those few weeks. He was even asking to work 12 hour shifts on Saturdays just so that we wouldn't miss each other working opposite shifts! Valentine's Day (which is also my birthday) was about 3 weeks after we had met and he wanted to buy me flowers but thought that would be a little too forward of himself and so he bought a single rose for every lady that worked in the store! He picked out the prettiest rose (I didn't know this at the time) and left it with a birthday card for me in the breakroom. Still, I had no clue and I don't like flowers (he now knows that he should just spend his money for me on something that doesn't die) so I put it in the cupholder of my car where it sat for a few days and then died (again if I had known this rose was from my future husband, I probably would have dried it and saved it in our memory box).

About a week or so after my birthday, he casually asked me at work if I would ever want to hang out. Not wanting to be rude, I said okay. Looking back, I'm not sure why I said "okay" because I didn't want to hang out with him and I usually would have politely said "no" as to not lead a guy on in the wrong direction. This time was different, however, as the providence of God was at work in my life. He asked for my phone number which I gave him but was secretly hoping that he wouldn't call...but 3 days later...he did call! And, since I had already agreed to hang out, I thought that I would hang out as friends 1 time and that would be it. We agreed to meet at Fazoli's on a Friday night and when Friday came, I was really nervous and dreading the whole ordeal but knew that I should follow through with my commitment. Ironically though, after my classes that day, I found myself in my college dorm changing clothes a dozen times. My roommate, Sarah, said, "But, this isn't a date?!" And I strongly replied "NO - it's not a date!" So strange that even though I didn't have any romantic feelings for him (or so I thought), I found myself wanting to look attractive to him. I had a back-up plan to speed the night along and leave as soon as possible - at a specific time, I had agreed to meet my roommate at the movie theater. Well, I immediately told him that I had to leave at a certain time to meet my roommate and he did the unthinkable....He invited himself to join us! I couldn't be rude, and so I again said "Okay." During dinner, we found out that we both had the same favorite band and were listening to the same cd in our cars.

After what I thought wasn't a great "love at first sight" kind of night, he got the nerve to ask me to hang out again - And again the quiet providence of God was at work because I don't know why I said "Okay" yet another time. The next time we did hang out,though, I was struck with how amazing this guy was and thought that the girl he would one day marry would be incredibly blessed...And wow - that girl is me! My assumptions were correct and I am indeed incredibly blessed to be Aaron's wife!

Happy Valentine's Day, Aaron! I'm so glad that you pursued my heart in the past and continue to pursue me each day! Your love for the Lord and leadership in our home make me so thankful that God chose me to be your wife! I love you!

This picture was taken at a cheap photo booth in the mall about a week or two after we started "hanging out." Such a great story with a very happy ending! :)

Holiday Catch-Up

We greatly enjoyed our Christmas trip to SC last week...it was all too short (even though we were there 5 days!). Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of the festivities or with family...things were too busy to think about our camera, but we did manage to have one taken of the two of us in front of my mother-in-law's tree. Since we both had New Year's Day off, we used the day wisely and took down our Christmas tree, washed laundry, and got things back in order around our home from the holidays.

Toby had a blast seeing so many of his favorite people...he even got a Christmas sweater from his Uncle Chris and Aunt Bethany (which makes him look like such a preppy boy). :)

As you can see, he is not enthusiastic about his new sweater...don't worry though, we didn't make him wear it for too long!

Thanksgiving 2008

Below are the pictures that were taken while we at my dad's house in SC for Thanksgiving. We only got to stay for a day and a half because Aaron had to get back to his store for Black Friday, so it was a quick trip. But, it was still nice that we were able to see my dad's side of the family for even a little bit.







Toby and his new friend, Ralphie, were two tired pups after a day and half of playing together.



My three sisters and me...ranging from age 4-23!

Operation Christmas Child 2008

On Friday, Aaron and I went shopping for our annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox. Samaritan's Purse is a ministry that we respect and have faith in giving to and participating in their projects. We have been making boxes since before we met each other - For some reason though, we didn't make a box in 2007. We usually make both a boy and a girl box, but with money being tight for everyone right now, we decided to just make one box this year. We chose to buy for an elementary aged boy. Samaritan's Purse requests that if you are only going to make 1 box, then to do that for a boy because they always have more boxes donated for girls than boys. We bought items from LifeWay, Target, & The Dollar Tree...we had so much fun shopping together. Being with Aaron even makes The Dollar Tree exciting (Did I mention that I adore my husband?!) Below are some pictures of our box. :)

And just for fun...here's a picture of Toby...he enjoys fruit snacks almost as much as his daddy (for those of you who didn't know...Aaron is a fruitsnackaholic) Except, daddy ate all of the fruit snacks so poor Toby had to settle for the bag!