The {Other} McNabb Clan

Holding Up My End of the Bargain

2011-09-21T00:48:00.027-04:00

It's been a long summer, and until today, this blog had nothing to show for it. So for the sake of the grandparents, I'm going to remedy that. Here are the obligatory "what we did this summer" photos!

We celebrated a certain someone's 4th birthday about 12 hours after we arrived to post. Our amazing sponsors had a cake and presents waiting at the house the evening we arrived (not to mention all kinds of other goodies and amazing meals stocked in the fridge). Thanks again Cassie and Sandy... you guys literally saved the day!

When we first arrived, all we had was what we packed in our 8 suitcases, which sounds like a lot, but you try moving across the world with a dog and 2 kids, one still in diapers I might add, and see how many non-essential toys for the kids get left for another shipment. We were very lucky that our UAB (unaccompanied air baggage - roughly a 700 lb. shipment) was delivered within a week of arriving to post. And what better use of the UAB boxes are there than making forts for the girls. Many hours of fun were spent improvising with these boxes.

About 10 days after we arrived to post, we celebrated another certain someone's 1st birthday. It was a different sort of first birthday party, as we had just arrived to post and didn't really know a lot of people yet, so we just spent the day together as a family. We don't give our kids refined sugar until they are at least two, so there are no cutesie cake-face-smash photos, but Madison didn't mind. Her highlight of the day was that she got to have strawberries for the first time that day!

Through out the summer we've gotten out and about to explore the city and of course find out what would become our favorite spots. One of our favorite restaurants is an Italian place (if you know me, than this should come as no surprise) called Cucina. Great food with lots of vegetarian options for us, not many vegan, but hey we'll take what we can get over here in the Caucuses.

We spent a lot of time outside playing with water and teaching Madi to walk. She took off the week of her birthday and she never looked back. Soon she was trying to run everywhere she could. I was worried about bumps and bruises because our house has so much tile, but she is surprisingly agile and as of yet, she hasn't had any major spills!

The Embassy put on a great 4th of July community celebration, complete with fireworks and patriotic tunes. I must admit, as the fireworks were going off over the city of Yerevan, and God Bless America was playing in the background, I got a little teary eyed! This being our first 4th of July abroad, it was definitely a day to remember!

One of the best days of the summer was the day our HHE (house hold effects) was delivered. All 7000 lbs. of it. We started to really feel settled once that arrived! And Jason was thrilled that his "newly purchased before we left Virginia", flat screen, made it safe and sound! Actually we had very little hassle with the whole move. We only lost a few things and found a few scratches here and there on random things, but all in all, I'd say that it was a very successful global move!

Where to Start

2011-09-20T04:08:00.005-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that I've been absent for awhile. I've pondered over this post for quite some time. To be quite honest, I wasn't quite sure where to start, but during my silence over these past few months, I've realized something. I use this blog to process, as a journal of a sorts if you will. So without it, I've felt pent up and that's not such a good feeling. So lets just start off again, and this time I'll try to hold up my end of the bargain, which would be to create a post more than once every few months. And you, well, I guess your end of the bargain would be to just let me vent, ponder and process the going-ons of this crazy life.

Here's to new beginnings.

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

2011-06-13T13:44:00.008-04:00

If our walls could talk, that’s what they would be saying.

To sum up our housing assignment here in Armenia, a few words come to mind: Beautiful, New, Amazing, Dream Kitchen, and last but not least, Lucky!!

When you’re assigned housing in the Foreign Service, you basically have no say in the matter. You can give your preferences, as we did: family friendly and a fenced yard for the dog, but other than that, it’s based on the size of your family and your rank or time in the service and a little bit of luck. And since Jason is a Junior Officer, we’re not too high on the proverbial totem pole, so we didn’t expect that we’d be blessed with such an amazing house! Our house was built just this year and is brand new to the Foreign Service housing pool and because of the time of our arrival, this house was available for us. A lot of the houses here in Armenia have closed off floor plans and small kitchens, so when we walked into our house, we were VERY pleasantly surprised. Huge open spaces, 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, my dream kitchen, a finished basement, and a non-useable pool and sauna (bummer that we can’t use it, but it was the talk of the embassy community for a few weeks – we were the “family with the pool in the basement”). Not a bad start to this Foreign Service Life. The only down fall to our house is that because it’s brand new, there’s not a mature garden or any fruit trees, which most of the housing in our neighborhood has. But that’s a trade off I’d take because we are VERY happy with our house. We don’t have our HHE (Household Effects) yet, so it doesn’t quite feel like home yet, but for the time being we are loving our house. I know a lot of you have been waiting for some pics, so I’ll post a few for you to see, but after all of our stuff arrives sometime in July, I’ll be sure to give you a proper tour!

Our front entrance and foyer.

The view from our living room into the dining room. The foyer is on the left and the back door is on the right.

The view from the dining room into the living room.

Our amazing kitchen. Just look at all the cabinet and counter space. I'm absolutely LOVING it!

The sitting area in the basement.

We may not have a "secret room" like Donna had when they were posted to Armenia, but we do have a pool... that we can't use. This is the wall they had to build to close off the pool area in the basement.

The sign warning us of what's beyond the wall.

The DEEP "pool" aka the liability hole that they had to block off. Off to the right is the unfinished sauna.

The view from the upstairs balcony. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Ararat.

Another view from upstairs.

One more view.

Our side yard and the gazebo patio at the end of the yard.

Our front steps.

Dealing With the Emotions

2011-06-13T07:48:00.012-04:00

When I first heard this song a few years ago, I thought, "Oh my goodness that's how this whole Foreign Service Life feels to me". Because we'll be moving every 2-4 years for the next 20+ years, we won't really be putting down roots anywhere. And now looking back over the past few years of preparing for this life (selling our home, selling and closing our businesses, saying goodbye to friends and family) and having actually made the move overseas to our first posting, the reality finally hit me. We. Are. Officially. Nomads. The first few nights here in Yerevan were very hard for me. I didn't struggle during the day because I was with people all of the time, meeting new friends, going to the market and basically, just learning how to do life over here in Armenia. But in the quiet of the night, once the kids were asleep, and Jason had dozed off next to me in bed, the emotions would come. I felt so far away from all of my loved ones and sometimes the sadness just felt overwhelming. I would lay in bed and pray and talk it over with the Lord, trying to figure out if we had made a gigantic mistake. I would pray that He would take away the sadness and the guilt I felt about moving my kids half way across the world away from their friends, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and beloved cousins (although to be fair, we've actually moved a whole lot closer to one set of beloved cousins, so that's a nice feeling) And in those quiet moments, I remembered this song. So I thought it would be appropriate to post it here since it was a pretty accurate reflection of how I was feeling those first few days. This is "No Sound but the Wind" by the Editors.

The Trip Across the Pond

2011-06-13T06:42:00.006-04:00

After the craziness of trying to prepare for our move across the pond to Armenia, the big day finally arrived. For the sake of all of our emotional well beings, and so our kids don't learn to abhor airports, we didn't want any big farewells at the airport (thanks for the tip Justin and Ali). Both of our parents initially expressed a desire to be at the airport to say goodbye, but we all decided against it in the end. And I must say, the entire trip went pretty smoothly. I was extremely nervous about flying with Cash underneath the plane, but again, he did great!

We left DC on Friday afternoon sometime around 3 pm and arrived in Paris at 6 am (about midnight our time). Jordana did great on that leg of the trip. I'm thinking that the TV screen directly in front of her seat had a little something to do with that. Madison was another story. Our newly mobile, almost one year old was not to happy to be restricted to a four seat area and lets just say that she didn't make many friends on that trip, especially not the Parisian fellows in the seats directly in front of us. If you were under the impression that the Parisians didn't like kids before our trip, I can guarantee there are a few more that aren't to keen on them since. I don't know if I've mentioned it before on the blog, but our little Madison is a "screamer". She can't talk yet and so her main mode of communication is to scream. This phase is new to us and not that fun to us auditorily sensitive folk and we're hoping she grows out of it very soon!

But I digress.

We arrived to Paris and quickly collected Cash so that we could hang out with him before we had to recheck him at the gate. We had a six hour layover, so we had plenty of time to leave him out of the crate and let him go potty. The girls slept during this time since they hadn't slept AT ALL on the way over so we were happy for the break.

Although Jordana was not to happy to have to get back on the airplane, basically from that point on, it was pretty smooth sailing. We had about a 4 hour flight to Yerevan and luckily Madi and Jordana slept most of the way. We arrived around 9 pm and our sponsor (who happens to be the head Marine here at post, which made us feel very safe) was there to greet us and help us with our 16 bags, 8 carry ons, 1 stroller, 2 car seats, 2 kids and a dog. Thank you again Walter!! You and Sandy have been a God-send to us!! We arrived at our house around 11 pm on Saturday night and after touring our house and looking around, we tried to find what we needed to get the kids in bed pronto so that we were able to follow suit as soon as possible. When it was all said and done though, we didn't fall into bed until around 2 am. But not to worry, we didn't wake up until noon.

As I was getting Jordana ready for bed, Jason was supposed to be getting Madi changed and ready to nurse... but instead, this is what I found :)

Whirlwind

2011-05-29T01:16:00.019-04:00

Actually a more appropriate word to sum up our last few weeks in Virginia would be… Cyclone. Now that we’re actually here in Armenia and we’ve had some time to reflect on our last few weeks, we’re somewhat disappointed in how it all wrapped up. It was a flurry of activity and we feel like we didn’t even get a chance to relax and enjoy our visits with our families who all came out to be with us. From the time Jason finished language training at the end of March (hooray) until May 6^th, it was literally nonstop preparations. Even though we knew going in, that this was the nature of the beast, it still took us a bit by surprise. I’m not quite sure how it all got done, but in the end, it was mostly all accomplished and we started the pack out process on April 29^th. But our feelings of disappointment mainly stem from the fact that our families came for visits and we were just so busy (and a wee bit stressed) with the packing up and out process, that the time we could have spent hanging out and gaining some closure to this time got sucked up into the cyclone of activity that surrounded our last few moments of togetherness. But we were so blessed to have everyone come to be with us and now that we’re half way across the world, we definitely cherish those memories.

My Mom and Dad and Mike and Deb, Helaina and Sam all came to visit over Easter weekend. Aside from our craziness, it was soooo wonderful to all be together. The kids had a great time playing and we adults tried not to think of the impending goodbye that was looming. Everyone got in on Good Friday and on Saturday we hung out at the house and then went out to dinner for Jordana and Madison’s birthdays since we wouldn’t all be together for their actual birthdays. Jordana’s favorite “date” these days is to “Jason’s Deli” for dinner, then to the fountains at Fair Lakes and finishing it off with a trip to REI. So that’s exactly what we did as she wanted to share this with her cousins (she had been talking about doing a “cousin’s date” for weeks). On Sunday we woke up, colored Easter Eggs, hunted them, and then headed out to Arlington National Cemetery to walk around and then back to the house for dinner. On Monday Mike and Deb and the kids took off, and my parents stayed an extra day to help me around the house and just to have one more day together. Saying goodbye to everyone was pretty brutal and I do hope that in the future, with all of the goodbyes ahead of us, that these feelings of sadness and hopelessness subside. But as I said it was a wonderful time together, we only wish it could have been longer!

My Mom and Dad left Tuesday afternoon and then that evening Mom and Joe flew in to be with us. Again it was amazing to all be together, but oh my goodness, Mom and Joe probably didn’t realize what they had signed up for. They were such a blessing and basically watched the girls for us for the entire next week as we ran around like the crazy people as we were trying to get ready. We all moved into the hotel on Thursday and the packout was on Friday. I don’t really know how to sum up packout but it was 3 days of absolute insanity and I can only hope that we are more prepared and organized next time. We had a few moments of downtime over the weekend but we were also at the house packing, selling furniture on Craigslist and getting as organized as possible, while Mom and Joe ran errands for us and made sure kids were fed and bathed and pottied! We were able to squeeze in another birthday party with Nana and Papa (Mom and Joe) for Jordana and then, waaayyy to soon it was time for another excruciating goodbye. I’m so not good at the goodbye thing, and this was no different. What makes it even harder is that Jordana was having a hard time with the goodbyes and by the time Mom and Joe left, she was definitely not excited to move to Armenia.

The next few days were spent cleaning up our town home (Jason steam cleaned all the carpets until midnight on Tuesday) and packing and repacking everything that somehow made it into our 2 bedroom hotel room (which was amazing by the way). A full kitchen, dining and living area, 2 roomy bedrooms, a full breakfast each morning and dinner Monday thru Thursday, and right across the way from a Chipotle, Costco and Target. What more can you really ask from a hotel. Residence Inn Marriott in Chantilly, you rock! We did our walk through with the Land Lord and turned our keys in on Wednesday. Our KIA Sorrento was picked up on Thursday to be shipped over to Armenia, and on Friday we donated my 98 Chevy Cavalier to the Vietnam Vets. I was a bit sad to see that little piece of my history head down the road, as it was my very first car that I bought, and actually drove off the showroom floor at Gregg Sweet Chevrolet! It served us well, but there’s no way it would have survived in Armenia. In fact we’re hoping that the KIA doesn’t fall apart as well. Only time will be the tell.

I think that’s enough of a recap for now. Next up… the trip across the pond!

One last thing... a cute video that I had to include of Papa Morning tickling Madi while we were at Jason's Deli for the "cousins date"

Our first "post language" weekend

2011-03-28T10:44:00.017-04:00

He looks bilingual doesn't he!

And it was a glorious one!

Not that we did a whole lot. But that was exactly the point!

We all heard the Hallelujah Chorus on Friday afternoon around 2:00 when Jason called to inform me that he had, in fact, passed his language exam and fulfilled his language requirement for the Foreign Service. I guess the third time really was the charm :) To say that the past 9 months (and especially the past 3) have been stressful for all of us, but especially for Jason, would be an understatement. We didn't really know what to expect when Jason started language training back in July, but the emotional roller-coaster that we found ourselves on, just may have taken us a wee bit by surprise. The fact that Jason's tenure capability is attached to him being able to check off an itty bitty box on a US Gov form that reads "bilingual" or "language requirement fulfilled" or something of that nature, made it all the more stress inducing. Who doesn't like a little job security in this day and age, huh?

But I digress... back to the Hallelujah Chorus.

We had originally planned on heading down to DC this weekend to celebrate and do some touristy type things, but when the temps took a dip (yes we woke up to snow on March 27th), we decided that schlepping the girls around town in the not so warm temps didn't sound all that appealing. And besides, Jason just wanted to hang out at home and relax and play with the girls. So between fort building, making a mini tabletop snowman, finally going through some mammoth piles that have been brewing on multiple surfaces (Jason is quite famous for his "piles"), building fires fueled by some, now obsolete, Spanish notebooks, snacks and movies with Jordana, getting to go shopping and to a movie all by myself, and fun family time together, it really was a glorious weekend all around! Jason even got to lounge on the couch and read a magazine or two. For fun! In English!

Now if he could only learn Armenian... we'd be set!

Madi was happy to have Daddy at home too!

Jordana declaring herself "princess of the castle fort"

This kid loves snow and was so excited to wake up to snow on Sunday, even if it was only a dusting. The snowman lasted for about 3 hours!

"That Jason McNabb... now there's a cool guy"

2011-03-11T09:13:00.021-05:00

all pics on this post are circa 1997

That is the word for word description in my personal journal after the very first time that I met Jason.

Pretty deep, I know.

That was over 14 years ago, and little did I know then, the adventures that would await us in the coming years. I always feel a bit nostalgic at this time of year because Jason and I started "officially" dating on March 9th, 1997 and my journal from that time period is filled with warm fuzzies about getting to know Jason and the beginning of our journey together. We were young, we were adventurous and we were in love, or more accurately at the very beginning, we were quite enamored with one another. I had never been a "love at first sight" kind of gal, but I was pretty instantly taken with Jason. He was totally different than anyone I had ever met in my small town Ohio Midwestern upbringing. His earrings, bleach blond hair and hemp accessories, just screamed CALIFORNIA. In fact, those were the first words I ever spoke to him. I walked right up to him (pretty forward for a small town girl, eh), after playing eye tag across the room during our staff-in-training, and said "California, right?"

From that point on we were pretty much inseparable. We were both on Staff with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), which is an international Christian Missions Organization. And at that time in our lives, we both knew that we just didn't desire the typical American Life. Now don't get me wrong, I love the whole white picket fence scenario, but we just knew that the Lord's plan for both of our lives involved following Him wherever He would lead us, and if there was a white picket fence in our future, it would most likely be overseas somewhere. In our 20 year old young lives, we both felt "a call to the nations" if you will. We just assumed at that time because of our backgrounds and service with YWAM, that we would be fulfilling that through missionary service.

So 14 years later, with a 3 and a half year dating relationship (2 and a half years of it being long distance, thank the Lord for email, because Skype hadn't been invented yet), an amazing dream wedding, multiple jobs, college, 2 months backpacking Europe and dreaming of opening a Christian youth hostel (we totally thought this was going to happen), 2 graduate degrees, 2 fitness businesses started from scratch (one sold, one closed), 12 different moves, 1 house bought and sold (sans the white picket fence mind you), a shocking scary diagnosis, 2 amazing kiddos and a dog to boot, we are finally realizing the dream of what it may actually look like for us to be "called to the nations." Sometime in the next month or two (it's the government, so you never quite know until "wheels up" on the plane whisking you away), we are scheduled to move to Yerevan, Armenia for a two year post. And with that begins Jason's overseas career with USAID. What will that look like for our family and where will that take us in the future you might ask? That is a fabulous question, and one that will only be answered as our adventures unfold. We're clinging to that old adage "The Journey IS the destination."

But one thing that I know without a doubt and I'll always be confident in, is this: "That Jason McNabb... now there's a cool guy" and with the Lord leading us, I'd follow him anywhere.

he eventually won me over to the "hemp accessories are cool" line of thinking

Redefining Friday Night

2011-02-12T11:40:00.006-05:00

Parenthood.

It's a wonderful, rewarding and fulfilling experience, but it has definitely redefined our version of Friday night fun. Usually by Friday evening, Jason is so mentally exhausted from language training all week that all he wants to do is hang out at home to be with all of us. We've also been trying to institute movie night on Fridays so that we can just veg out after Jordana goes to bed. With endless amounts of streaming movies from Netflix, our options are limitless. And if we're feeling really spunky, we might throw in a little popcorn and maybe even dessert. So here's a little peak into our new definition of Friday night fun!

Peer Pressure

2011-02-05T16:43:00.016-05:00

Sydney * Jordana * Eden * Asia

We had been thinking about cutting off Jordana's beautiful long locks and trying out a short haircut on her to see what we (and she) thought. Even though she loved having her hair cut for the first time last year, she was hesitant about having her hair cut again.

Enter the cousins...

When Justin and Ali and the girls were here over Christmas, they were talking about doing a major cut for Asia and getting trims for Eden and Sydney. So Jason and I thought, "Hey what are cousins for, if not for peer pressure." So we decided that we'd talk it up and let the positive peer pressure work it's effect! And work it did, because by the end of their stay, Jordana was pretty excited to get her hair cut, but only with her cousins mind you. Nana blessed all of us by paying for all of the girls cuts and we turned it into a fun day out at the mall complete with a family photo session and lunch at none other than, Taco Bell! We took them to the Cartoon Cuts place at the mall and Jordana thought it was pretty amazing that she got to watch Dora the entire time, and claims that it was her favorite part of the whole experience. We thought it was pretty cute to see all of the girls lined up in the salon so I thought I'd share a few pics from the event!

Jordana went from this:

To This:

The consensus between all of us is that we're loving the short do and will most likely be keeping it for awhile. I hope they have kid friendly salons in Armenia otherwise I may need to invest in some good scissors!

Better Late Than Never: Christmas 2010

2011-02-04T22:40:00.035-05:00

One Magical Christmas...

One McNabb clan flew home from China, and came to visit the other McNabb clan in Northern Virginia. It had been over 2 years since these clans had been together and since that time another had joined their ranks. And it has been said that a wonderful time was had by all!

A lot of love and joy was packed into those two weeks as the clans reacquainted themselves with one another and the laughter of 5 little girls could be heard morning, noon and night!

One of those major joys was that the Aunts and the Uncles got to love on all of their nieces!

Not even the occasional fighting over toys or the sicknesses that they all shared and passed around amongst each other will mar the memory of those magical weeks!

A lot of crafting and creativity took place around the table, such as amazing ornaments to hang, rag dolls to love, gingerbread creations to munch and cookies to devour.

And not only did these clans get to be together, but others made special trips and joined their ranks. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to Cyndi and David for taking the time to come see us.

The Cousin Love was strong and their bonds of love and friendship were forged once again!

And on Christmas Eve, our most magical gift of all, in the form of Nana and Papa arrived on our doorstep right before the clock tolled midnight. And the 5 little girls awoke in the wee hours of the morn and were overjoyed at their Christmas morning greeting!

A Truly Magical Christmas Indeed!
Lets do this every year shall we!

I'm Lovin' It

2011-01-25T09:43:00.005-05:00

This might possibly be the best commercial I've ever seen.
Let's just say, I'm lovin' it!

The commercial spot was produced by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) whose founder and president is Neal Barnard MD, one of America’s leading advocates for health, nutrition, and higher standards in research. Dr. Barnard is also president of The Cancer Project, a nonprofit organization advancing cancer prevention and survival through nutrition education and research.

He had this to say about the commercial:

Sometimes doctors have to be a bit blunt in order to make a point. My organization recently produced a TV spot that shows a dead man on a gurney clutching a half-eaten cheeseburger. The golden arches appear above his feet. The ad ends with the words, “I was lovin’ it.”

This ad is definitely morbid. But over time, a burger-and-fries diet leads to heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers and other serious risks. Researchers have found that even a single fatty meal can raise blood pressure, stiffen major arteries and cause the heart to beat harder. As a physician and nutrition researcher, I think it’s critical that Americans know the dangers.

Cardiovascular disease kills thousands of Americans every day, and early signs of heart disease are showing up in children. In fact, one in five teens already has abnormal cholesterol levels. One in three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in life. Mortality and admissions for acute coronary syndromes are higher in regions with more fast food restaurants, according to a 2005 study in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

Our ad encourages viewers to consider eating less fast food and more vegetarian meals. That’s because conclusive scientific evidence finds that vegetarian and vegan diets can help prevent and even reverse heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some other chronic diseases. And unlike prescription drugs, plant-based diets have only positive “side effects.” Diets made up of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes have been shown to help people maintain a healthy weight, lower their cholesterol and lower their blood pressure.

The New Routine

2011-01-13T11:07:00.001-05:00

Winter can be tough.

It can be cold, snowy, rainy and just plain yucky. Another reason it can be tough for this momma, is that I have a 3 and 1/2 year old that loves activity. Enter the trampoline. When we used to go over to Nana and Papa's in the summer, Jordana loved jumping on Nana's mini tramp. She would say "I'm exercising" and I would think, anything that gets her nice and tired out, is a friend of mine. So when Nana suggested that we get her a trampoline of her own for the winter months when she can't run around a lot outside, I initially thought, "No, 'cause then we have to ship it to Armenia." But as any good Foreign Service family knows (and we are just learning), the government will ship close to 7,000 lbs of our household items to post for us! Suddenly the trampoline (and many other "necessities" mind you :) didn't seem like such a stretch. So for Christmas this year we requested a mini tramp for our crazy active little pea, and Mum and Papa (Kris' parents) were happy to oblige. Here's a little video of our morning and Jordana's new routine!

Thanksgiving on our own

2011-01-12T12:54:00.005-05:00

Somewhere in between my two trips home to Cleveland, we spent a very quiet Thanksgiving here in Northern Virginia. In our 10 years of marriage, this was our first holiday on our own. We've always lived close enough to one of our families to be able to spend the holidays together. But this year because of Jason's schedule,we were on our own. I think it was probably fitting as it marked the beginning of holidays to come for our family.

As much as we would have liked to have been with our families, we had a very relaxed and fun weekend just with our little family of 5 (that's including Cash mind you). I made a vegan feast complete with all the fixings, minus the bird. We watched movies and had popcorn, decorated one of our Christmas trees (we saved the other for when Justin and Ali and the girls were here), saw some of our closest friends from Lexington that were here visiting family about an hour away, and we even fit in a trip to see Santa. Jordana enjoyed meeting Santa; Madi... not so much!

Jordana and her bestest Ashley

On our way to see Santa; Madi is still happy here 'cause she hasn't met the big man yet!

Cold in Cleveland

2011-01-12T11:29:00.013-05:00

In trying to recap the past 2 months and our Christmas holidays, I decided the best way to do that was through a multi post recap. And really the major highlights in our last 2 months of celebrating the holidays was time with all of our family. So I'll begin our first recap here with our time in Cleveland.

Before Thanksgiving, and right after, I was able to drive up to my parents for about a week each time. This plan was two fold. Not only were we trying to see all the family up in Cleveland and spend time with everyone, but we were also trying to vacate our house so that Jason had ample time to study. We have learned that it is virtually impossible to learn a new language when you are married and have kids! It has been really challenging for Jason and I honestly don't know how he does it, but I thought I'd try to make it a bit easier for him and leave with the kids so he had some peace and quiet.

It was quite the adventure for me. I love road trips, but road trips by yourself with 2 kids and a Jack Russell is another story. Our easy 6 hour drive (which hardly qualifies as a road trip in my book) was stretched out to about an 8-9 hour trip, what with bathroom stops and needing to nurse Madison. But we made it each time and had a wonderful time with family and most importantly, Jordana and Madi got to spend time with Sam and Helaina! On our second trip up to my parents we actually got snowed in for 2 days and weren't able to drive home. I was supposed to leave on a Monday, but was unable to drive until that Wednesday. So for the extra couple of days we hung out, built snowmen (actually Jordana wanted them to be a snow momma and snow baby), baked Christmas cookies, decorated my parents tree, and watched a ton of Christmas specials on cable with my Mom. The only things I really miss on cable are all things HGTV and at Christmas time, I can not get enough of the cheesy Hallmark Christmas specials and the ABC Family 25 days of Christmas. But not to fear, on this trip, I definitely got my fill! All in all it was a fabulous time!

Helping Papa put the Angel on the tree

Spending time with Aunt Nancy * Madi and Helaina * Jordana and Mum and the snow momma, * Spending time with Uncle Rudy and Aunt Elaine

Cousin love * Sammy, Jordana, Madi and Helaina

Catching Up

2010-11-16T15:11:00.016-05:00

So I have not been a "good blogger" as of late. Life has gotten the better of me and it has gotten a bit hard to juggle it all! We are all doing well and I do intend to catch up with some recaps, but in the mean time I thought I'd post a few random pics from the last month to tide you over.

Some of our last family pics with Nana and Papa. They moved back to Cali on November 15th. We miss them soooo much and are so grateful for the time we spent with them out here.

Madison at 5 1/2 months

Jordana was a very cute bumble bee for Halloween this year (the only bee I'm not afraid of in fact) and Madi was a "recycled" pea!

Reflections On Heritage

2010-10-05T11:56:00.010-04:00

Joseph and Naza Ganim ~ circa 1940's

In Jason's effort to learn Spanish at FSI, he has been seeking out Spanish speaking groups that he can be a part of, so this past Sunday we found ourselves in the pews of a Spanish church. It was quite the experience for me as I'm not used to being immersed in a group where I'm literally lost for words (I know all of you Foreign Service vets out there are laughing and thinking "get used to it sista"). It was such a new experience for me to be on the outside looking in. I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and even landed myself in a chapter of the Spanish National Honors Society that met at our school, but being that that was nearly 20 years ago, let's just say that I couldn't quite keep up. I could recognize a few words during the pastors message, but that was about it. In fact I scribbled down this blog post on scrap paper about 30 minutes into the message, after my brain finally got tired of trying to listen for a familiar word here and there. It's at times like this that I'm reminded how interesting and isolating this Foreign Service life will be. I'm also reminded (in a very small way, mind you) what it must have been like for my great grandparents who immigrated from Lebanon in 1903.

But an interesting thing happened during the worship time. I found that the language barrier didn't really matter. We were able to sing along and enter into the joyful spirit that permeated the place. Music is so powerful and it truly is the universal language. It draws you into the fabric of an environment and makes you feel like you have a place there. I'm definitely counting on this fact when we move to Armenia in February. Because unlike Spanish, I will not understand even a few words of Armenian or Russian. But I do have hope. When we went to the Armenian festival in DC earlier this spring, there was a group of people dancing what looked to me, to be a very similar dance to the Dabke. When we walked up to the group, the sounds of Middle Eastern music rang out from the speakers and called me "home". And thanks to my Lebanese heritage (and to countless Ganim weddings, reunions and parties in general ), I can Dabke with the best of them.

This is some Dabke video from one of the Ganim reunions

Cash - Mama's Best Friend

2010-08-29T18:50:00.006-04:00

A lot of people have been asking me about how Cash has adjusted to having another little person on the move here at the McNabb household. So to put everyone at ease, I wanted to let you know, he could care less. Well, that's not true, he does care. At least I like to think so. I love to see people's faces as I walk down the street with Madi in her stroller, Jordana sprinting ahead of us and Cash keeping me company along the way. Their first response is usually, "Wow you have a Jack Russell and 2 little ones at home" asked in a sort of concerned grandparent kind of way. Jack Russell's are not normally known for their tolerance for little ones, but Cash is a champ. He did so well when we brought Jordana home when she was a baby, that I wasn't worried at all about adding another baby to the mix. He is a very laid back Jack (unless another dog walks into view) by nature, and he really loves kids, so adding Madi to our family really wasn't all that much of a transition for him. Honestly he was a lot more curious when Jordana was a baby, so I think that with Madi, he just feels "Hey, I've been there done that." However, he does love toes and he enjoys licking Madi's when she's in the infant swing. When I was in the hospital having Madi, we sent one of her baby blankets and hats home with Mom so that Cash could sleep with it in his bed and get used to her scent. We did this with Jordana and I think it really helped him acclimate to a new baby in the house. When Madi cries, this does seem to stress Cash out. He'll usually come and find me, wherever I am and give me a look like "Are you going to help her or am I?" As with Jordana, Cash is my little nursing buddy. When Madi was waking up in the middle of the night to nurse for the the first 2 months (yes she's 3 months now and totally sleeping through the night WAHOOOO), Cash would always wake up with me and keep me company which I really appreciated. I would nurse Madi in my glider and Cash would hop up onto my legs and hang out with me. I can't tell you how comforting that was in the middle of the night. My husband may have been asleep in the other room, but I can always count on my dog!

Nana and Papa

2010-08-15T17:40:00.012-04:00

Words can't really do justice to the amount of appreciation and gratitude that we feel for Mom and Joe (Jason's Mom and Step Dad). They have been such a blessing to us during this time in our lives and it has been so much fun having them here in Virginia.

At the beginning of this year, Mom and Joe found out that the house they were renting in Northern California had been sold and they needed to move by the end of April. They had planned on coming out here when we had the baby and helping out by staying with Jordana (and Cash too) during the time that we would need to be in the hospital. They had a lot of options with where they could go next, as they're both retired and love to travel and experience different areas. So when they told us they were praying about whether they should move out here to be near us, we were trying not to get our hopes up! But when they let us know that they felt like they should move out here to be with us until our move to Armenia next year, we were SOOOO THRILLED!!! We couldn't believe that they would actually move all the way across the US basically just to bless us and be able to be with us during this exciting, crazy, transitional time and we were so excited to welcome them to Virginia.

They found a house to rent and arrived here in May, a few days before Jordana's 3rd birthday. Having them here for her birthday was definitely a highlight for Jordana this year, and basically, she and Nana have been inseparable ever since their arrival! Nana can't be in Jordana's presence for more than a few seconds before she is tugging on Nana's shirt saying "Play with me Nana"! Papa and Nana are definitely Jordana's favorite play mates right now and we love going out to their house to visit and swim in the baby pool. We have spent many summer afternoons in their backyard playing and swimming and eating. They have a beautiful house out in Manassas and being out there feels like a mini vacation. Jordana loves the toys, and Mommy loves the cable TV, hee, hee! I have spent many afternoons nursing Madi while enjoying some much missed HGTV!

Jason and I aren't really sure how we would have gotten through the past few months without Mom and Joe. They have been amazing and have blessed us beyond words. They stayed with Jordana and Cash while we were in the hospital and took such amazing care of Jordan during that time. She had a really hard time while we were in the hospital because she had never been away from us overnight before, and she was not a big fan of the separation. But Mom knew exactly how to handle Jordana and her anxiety, and she coached us all through that tough time. And lets not forget all of the fabulous meals that Mom prepared for us when we got home from the hospital. Actually Mom started cooking for us before we even had the baby because I was technically supposed to be on bed rest by the end of the pregnancy. But I don't think I cooked a meal for close to 3 weeks after Madi was born. What a blessing! Jason was able to take off 2 weeks for Madi's birth, so he was home for the whole week after bringing her home. But when he went back to work, Mom and Joe would be here bright and early (braving rush hour traffic to get here) to help me in those first few weeks. They have even been cleaning our house for us on Fridays. They are spoiling us beyond belief and I feel like the luckiest daughter-in-law alive! I really don't know what we'd do without them... well, I'd probably have to clean my house a little bit more, that's for sure. They mean so much to us all, and we are so thankful for this time together. We will definitely look back on this time in our lives with such fond memories and remember how they gave of themselves so selflessly. Thank you Mom and Joe for who you are and for being such amazing parents and friends. We love you beyond words!

First Weekend Home With Madi

2010-05-29T16:32:00.000-04:00

Our first weekend home was kind of a blur. I think I forgot just how tiring the new born stage is, but throw in a toddler, and you've got the makings of pure exhaustion (which is pretty evident in all of the pictures that I'm in). We brought Madison home on Friday evening around 6:00pm and at 6:30 my parents arrived for the weekend. It was great to see them and introduce them to their new granddaughter. Mom Rachel (Jason's mom) had made a great dinner for us and we just relaxed at home and enjoyed being together. It was great to have my parents at our house for the weekend, but I felt badly that I was so out of it. I was upstairs a lot nursing (and pumping to stimulate more milk production) and I was in bed most of the weekend. It's strange because at the hospital I felt pretty good physically. I think I was still experiencing the "birthing high" hormones and we actually were able to get a little bit of rest in the night because we let the nurses do the 3:00 am feeding with the milk I was pumping and a supplemental bottle. But as soon as we got home, I was utterly exhausted and my blood pressure was still pretty high and I was supposed to be taking it very easy until that came down. So I was definitely needing to recover... in bed... A LOT! But obviously my Mom and Dad totally understood. My Mom stayed with us for 2 weeks after Jordana was born and she remembers how we like to recover in peace and quiet, spending a lot of time in bed, so we definitely didn't feel like we had to "entertain" them. In fact they took care of the cooking for the weekend and helped out with taking care of Cash and Jordana too. They even made Madi a "birth" day cake! On Sunday we all went out to Mom and Joe's house for dinner and had a great time hanging out. I love when our parents can all be together because they all get along so well and I know this will probably sound cheesy, but somehow it feels more complete when we're all together. I know totally cheesy, but true none-the-less. We were very blessed that Mom and Dad made the trip out to see us and even came bearing gifts for Madison and Jordana! Thanks Mom and Dad for always being there for us! We love you!

The NICU

2010-05-28T19:58:00.000-04:00

I really and truly enjoyed being pregnant. Aside from some pretty intense nausea and sickness, I didn't have any debilitating back problems or any other major trouble. That is... until somewhere around month seven. PIH. That stands for Pregnancy Induced Hypertension and for me, it kicks into gear in the third trimester. It was the thorn in my side (or more accurately "the thorn in my heart") during both of my pregnancies. With Madison, it was a bit more pronounced and it was probably the main reason for her lower birth weight (5lb 5oz) which in the end earned her a trip to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for a few days.

Right after she was born, she was doing great. Her vitals were strong, her temperature was good and she was eating well. But throughout the day on Tuesday she was having a hard time maintaining a normal temperature, which is quite common for smaller babies. They put her under the lamps a few times and we tried doing skin to skin for most of the day, but her temp was dropping into unsafe regions, so the docs deemed it best that she be put into an incubator in the NICU until she was able to maintain it on her own. When they came in to get her and take her down there, let me tell you, I was not a pretty site. I was extremely emotional as they rolled her away into the cold, dark unknown. OK, that may be a bit dramatic (especially because they were actually rolling her away to be put into the warm, cozy incubator), but when the nurses came to get her, that's exactly how it felt to this hormonal, postpartum mama . I was still under pretty tedious observation for my blood pressure because it was still very high, so I had to wait for them to take my vitals and give me the green light to be able to get up and go be with her. It felt very strange to be in one area of the hospital knowing that your baby was in another area, but once I was able to go and see her and be with her, then I think we adjusted to the change as best as we could.

In hindsight, it was actually a very peaceful recovery for all of us. Madi had her own private room with a bathroom and we could stay over there as much as we wanted. Except for a few hours to sleep and eat, we stayed in there the entire time. And because my nurses didn't come to find me over in the NICU, I wasn't constantly barraged with people coming in to check my vitals and all that other fun hospital stuff. In the end, we actually preferred this set up, because if you know me, then you know that I am not a big fan of the hospital world. Lets just say my "white coat syndrome" goes into overdrive.

I was released to go home on Thursday afternoon and we were hoping to be able to bring Madi home as well. She had to undergo a "car seat" test, where she sat upright in a preemie car seat (which we did not previously own, but a quick trip to Babies-R-Us solved that issue) for an hour and a half while she was all hooked up so that they could monitor her oxygen levels to ensure that she was not having trouble breathing. She passed this with flying colors and we were progressing towards check out. They unhooked all of her monitors and we had all the paperwork ready, we just needed them to come in and take one last temperature... and much to our surprise and dismay, it had majorly dropped again. So they canceled her discharge papers and she had to stay on. Again, that was quite the emotional time. The whole "being released without your baby" status really hit us hard and we had another emotional episode in her room. The doctors and nurses were great though and assured us this was all for the best, because they see a lot of babies get readmitted because of temperature issues and we really didn't want to go through that.

Luckily, Madison only spent one more day in the NICU and we were able to bring her home on Friday evening. It felt so great to finally be going home and even though we were completely exhausted from the roller coaster of emotions and the sleepless nights already, it was such a blessing to finally get home and get on with the task of learning how to function as a family of five (that's counting Cash of course)!

She's Here!

2010-05-27T14:52:00.013-04:00

Madison Leigh McNabb ~ The Gentle Child of the Mighty Warrior

It has been quite a week and a half. Getting right to the point... Madison joined our family at 6:39 am on Tuesday, May 18th 2010. In thinking back and remembering Jordana's labor and delivery, it begs the question, "Can 2 birth stories BE any different?" Thankfully for me, the answer to that question is OH HECK YEA!!! Here's a not so quick synopsis.

On Monday the 17th, I had another "high risk" ultra sound scheduled to check the fluid levels in the womb and the placental function. Because of my pregnancy induced hypertension, they were watching me pretty closely and they didn't like what they saw on the previous Friday. So over the weekend I was on bed rest and drinking A LOT of liquids to hopefully raise my fluid levels. So on Monday when I went into the office, I was pretty nervous that I was facing another induction. Well my fluids were a bit better, although my blood pressure totally betrayed me. It was the highest it's ever been at 160/110. So with the low fluid levels, and the crazy high blood pressure, the doctors were sufficiently convinced that we needed to deliver. I was at about 38 and a half weeks so that wasn't a problem, but I was just nervous because I was not dilated at all and my cervix was not ripe in the least and this was setting me up for the same kind of labor as Jordana's. I really was not interested in another induction that would take 4 days with all kinds of ripening procedures. Thankfully, that was not to be the case.

I checked into the hospital around 4:00 pm and after enjoying a quick dinner, they inserted the Cervadil (ripening agent) around 8:00 pm. Because I had this done with Jordana, and virtually nothing happened, they were not thinking it would work so effectively. Boy were we wrong. I started feeling crampy almost immediately, and basically I was in full blown labor by around 2:00 am. For some reason, the contractions were not being picked up on the monitor, so the nurse really didn't think that I was in labor yet. She kept asking me if they were more than a 5 (on a level of 1-10), and I remember thinking "If this isn't even a 5, I'm never going to be able to do this naturally." Around 3:00 am I asked Jason to come sit with me and just hold my hand because I was starting to feel like I couldn't control my focus any longer by myself (I was trying to let him sleep as we thought we were in this for the long haul). By 4:30 am, I was in so much pain, that they decided to remove the Cervadil early in hopes of reducing the contractions. Fortunately, and unfortunately, that didn't stop them. The crazy part was that when the nurse removed the Cervadil and checked me, I was still only 1 cm dilated. Holy Cow!! How. Could. That. Be. At this point, I was hurting so bad, that there's nothing I could do to get any relief. The contraction pattern was that I would have 2 huge ones right on top of each other and then about a minutes worth of a break before they would restart. I started to just try to focus on that minutes reprieve. I was trying to move around positions, sitting on a rocker, walking, standing, anything to find something that was "comfortable". Around 6:00 am I told the nurse that I needed to try to go to the restroom and it was at that point when we sitting in that particular position that I said "Oh my goodness, I feel like I need to push." In my mind though, I'm thinking, "Yea right, I'm still only a 1 and these aren't even real contractions." But this was enough to get the nurse to move me right back into bed and she checked me again. And much to all of our amazement, I was 10 Centimeters Dilated!! In less than an hour and a half, I went from 1 Cm. to 10 Cm. In laymans terms this meant I had endured the worst of it, I was able to do it naturally without an epidural, and I was ready to have a baby!! The only problem was that my midwife, and the doctor on call, were not at the hospital, so the nurses had to delay my pushing for about a half hour as the doc and my midwife were rushing through Northern Virgina to get there. I have to say, that may have been the hardest part to this whole labor, because all I wanted to do was push that baby out. After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only about a half hour, Karen (my midwife) ran through the door, got cleaned up, and about 3 pushes later, Madison Leigh McNabb was born weighing in at 5 lbs 5 oz. and 19 inches long.

This is quite the long post, so I'll finish up on our hospital and NICU stay for the next post.

Reflections on 3 of the Best Years of Our Lives

2010-05-08T20:53:00.007-04:00

It’s hard to believe that you have only been in our life for 3 years Jordana, because these past 3 years have been some of the best years we could possibly have imagined. Daddy and I always knew that we wanted kids, but what we didn’t realize until you came into our lives is how incredibly rewarding and joyful life would be once we were graced with your presence.

We have watched you grow into a little girl this past year and I can’t believe how much you’ve changed since your birthday last year. You have lived in 3 different houses this past year alone as we’ve moved around for Daddy’s job. You have been so easy going and laid back with each one of those transitions and have been such a joy to us through all of the stress of moving. You have such a soft heart and you love to help Mama do all kinds of things, from making our beds, cooking, helping to take care of Cash and doing crafts. You melt Mommy’s heart every morning when you give Mommy’s belly a kiss and say hi to the baby. I cherish our special time that we have each morning when you come snuggle with Mommy after Daddy leaves for work. Daddy loves the greeting that he gets from you everyday when he comes home from work and relishes the special Daddy/Jordan time that you share every night: playing tag, doing stretches on the ground together, your hide and seek games and story time before bed.

We are so grateful to God for our precious little pea and these past 3 years have shown us so much about the heart of God and His incredible love for us, His children. And you, Jordana, have been a teacher to us of that love. We are so proud to be your Mommy and Daddy and we know that you are going to be the best big sister to your new brother or sister that will be joining our family in the next few weeks. We love you so much and no matter how many babies Mommy and Daddy have in the future, you will always be our little pea!

Here are a few pictures from Jordana's "original" birth day, and her 1st and 2nd birthdays!

35 Weeks and Counting!

2010-04-25T22:54:00.003-04:00

I haven’t posted much about this pregnancy on this blog, because, well to be honest, aside from the crazy “morning, noon and night” sickness (as I like to call it) it’s been a pretty smooth ride. My pregnancies don’t usually get very interesting until the end anyways. I’m now 35 weeks and as was the case with Jordana, my BP is starting to inch higher. Now every time I’m at one of my appointments my “white coat syndrome” kicks in and my BP seriously skyrockets. I’ve never been one for the doctor, and I blame that on the scary pediatrician that I had all growing up (to be fair, he probably wasn’t all that scary, but I HATED going to the doctor as a kid so anyone would have been scary). But I really do like my midwife, so it’s pretty frustrating that I can’t keep my BP in check when I go to an appointment. This of course makes them nervous, but I have been keeping my numbers at home and they have been very stable. I have noticed them starting to crawl a little higher, but again that’s to be somewhat expected at the end of a pregnancy.

I have had a lot more back issues, or more specifically, hip issues with this pregnancy and I think this is mainly because I’m carrying this baby slightly different. I’ve been seeing a great chiropractor out here in Virginia at least once every 2 weeks and that is a huge help. With Jordana I was lucky enough to get adjusted once and sometimes twice a week and I literally did not have one back issue the entire pregnancy. We had an amazing set up with a chiropractor when we were business owners in Kentucky. We traded free advertising in our fitness club and he adjusted our entire family for free. Oh, how I do miss some of the perks of being self employed!! But I digress. I am hoping that all goes smoothly from here on out and that I can avoid another induction since the last one didn’t work out so well. The last I heard, I was still the longest induction on record at St. Joes East (almost 4 days), but at least I didn’t end up with a C-Section and I give that credit to my amazing midwife, Nancy, who really stuck her neck out with the docs for me.

As with Jordana, we decided not to find out the sex of the baby because we love the surprise element. The baby’s heart rate has been clocking around 140 which is pretty much smack dab in the middle. So the two things we’re sure of is that there is a baby in there and we really have no clue whether it’s a boy or girl, but if you want to make a guess, you’ve got a 50/50 shot of being correct. So I’ll keep you posted and soon enough we’ll have another little McNabb joining our ranks!

Flowers for Mommy... er, I mean Jordana!

2010-04-24T10:51:00.007-04:00

A funny little story. At least we thought so. You probably had to be there, but I thought I'd share anyways.

On his way home from work the other day, Jason stopped and picked up some "springy" flowers for me. As he was walking in, Jordana caught sight of them and started squealing, "OHHHH, look, Daddy brought ME flowers." She must have repeated it like 4 times before he unlocked the door and actually walked in. When he finally got through the door, she flung herself into his arms and gave him a huge hug and said "OHHHH, thank you for the flowers Daddy." It was sooo cute to watch and with a response like that, we didn't have the heart to tell her that they were actually for Mommy. But then again, with such an enthusiastic response, I guess she probably deserved them more than I did! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy getting flowers, but that response made Daddy feel pretty good. And Jason quickly realized that there are now 2 girls at home that LOVE thoughtful little gifts!!

My New Favorite Song

2010-04-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

The "I Love Song"

One chilly March morning, Jordana broke out into a random chorus of song. We had been talking about all of the guests that were coming to visit us in the next few weeks, so I think that's where her inspiration came from.

Kicking Off the Spring

2010-03-28T21:54:00.001-04:00

The Kite Festival

DC kicks off it's spring festivities with the Cherry Blossom Festival starting at the end of March. This year we decided to head down to the Mall area and partake in the festivities at the annual Kite Festival. What a site it was to see hundreds of kites flying on the Mall. Jason loves kites and he has most definitely passed this love on to Jordana. It was quite the father daughter bonding time for them as they tried to get this box kite to fly. Jason was having a few issues with it, but in the end, he persevered! I have the picture to prove it, honestly I do. On our way down to the mall we actually ran into one of Jason's colleagues in the metro station. He and his family were on their way to the mall also so we made a day of it and hung out. They have 2 girls right around Jordan's age so the girls had a great time playing together. The day was made complete with a ride on the carousel and a massive circle of ring around the rosey! All in all, it was a great way to kick of the spring season here in DC.

Flag Day

2010-02-28T19:57:00.008-05:00

February 19^th, 2010

This is a date that will be imprinted on our minds and hearts for a long time to come.

This is the day that it became real.

To be fair, not much changed in our circumstances, but the realization of our impending move to a very foreign nation became very real for us. When Jason started his DLI (Development Leadership Initiative) training with USAID in January, we knew that the climax of the program was graduation day also known as Flag Day. On this day each FSO is presented with the flag of the nation that he or she will be moving to for their first posting. You kind of live in limbo and wonderment (and maybe a little bit of fear) until that day, imagining all of the different places you could possibly end up calling “home”. Each FSO gives their preferences to the HR department, and then basically it’s a wait and see game. Jason and I really didn’t have a specific desire for any particular country as we’re pretty much willing to go anywhere, but what he did let them know is that we would prefer a “family friendly” post and that we do have a dog that will be coming with us to post.

It was a bit unnerving to know that such a huge decision that will affect our lives in such a profound way, was completely out of our control. During the whole process we tried to really just surrender it all to the Lord and trust that ultimately we would be assigned to the country where He wanted us. As the 19^th grew closer we were both getting pretty excited, but unfortunately the day before the ceremony Jordana came down with a pretty bad flu bug. I was soooo bummed when we realized that I wouldn’t be able to attend the Flag Day festivities (which including the ceremony, a reception and then a big dinner out with all of his fellow trainees). We had been looking forward to the day for almost a month so it was a big let down to miss it. I had an emotional morning as I was home feeling sorry for myself, and then around 1:30 pm, Jason sent the text.

One word and it all changed… ARMENIA!

From that point on the day got better. I spent most of the rest of the day on Google learning as much as I could about this little country that would soon become our new home. It’s amazing how one day and one text can change everything!

All of the flags eagerly awaiting their recipients

This is a little video that we took when Jason got home from Flag Day. I had been telling Jordana all day that we would be moving to Armenia next year and the whole day she kept walking around the house saying "Yea Armeaddia." But for some reason when Jason would ask her where we were moving, she would say "Yea Cookie!" Oh, the mind of a 2 year old. To be fair, she had been running a high fever all day :)

Snowmaggedon 2010

2010-02-15T16:17:00.000-05:00

The week we were getting settled into our new digs in Fairfax, the blizzard of 2010 hit the DC area. Now being from northeastern Ohio, I happen to love the snow! In fact, winter just isn't winter without at least a few feet of snow blanketing the yard. So when it started snowing on Friday afternoon, I was hopeful that we would in fact be getting some accumulation. Jason and I decided to go out to dinner that night because we figured there wouldn't be a wait at any of the restaurants and the normally crazy Friday night traffic would be minimal. In fact the restaurant was empty and the roads were nearly deserted. We just flipped on the 4WD and had ourselves a very relaxing evening out.

By Sunday afternoon it had finally stopped snowing and we were able to venture back outside of our townhouse doors. We quickly realized that snow in the DC area is a bit different than snow in the Chardon Ohio (my hometown) area. 2 words... Mass Humanity. In the rural area that I grew up, there is room to just push the snow aside, and get on with your life. However in the DC area, "room" is at a minimum, so 2 and a half feet of snow doesn't move around quite as easily. Case in point, trying to shovel out our cars. That feat took awhile and a lot of labor on Jason's part. He wouldn't let me help all that much since I was pregnant and just getting over some major back issues, so I was mainly on "Jordan duty". One great aspect of having to dig out was that it provided a great opportunity to meet all of our new neighbors. Another aspect that I particularly enjoyed was that Jason was off work until Thursday of the following week. You might be asking "Can the US government really just shut down for almost a week?" To which we would answer "Yes they can... and they did" and this pregnant mama was not complaining. During that week, we pretty much completely unpacked and got settled into our new lives in DC. Jason may have been bored out of his mind and longing for work by the end of the week, but I for one was extremely grateful for the help. Here's a few pictures from our week.

One of our crafts from the week... a gingerbread house we never got around to making during the holidays.

DC or Bust

2010-02-10T20:00:00.000-05:00

January 2010

When Jason and I got married almost 10 years ago, we always said we wouldn’t mind living in DC for a year or two. In all actuality, we’ve always said we would live almost anywhere for a year. Maybe that’s why we may be cut out for this Foreign Service life (the jury is still out on that one… check back in Jan 2011 for an update on that front). So when Jason accepted his dream job with USAID, we knew that we would get to live out one of those realities, and in January 2010 we moved to DC. Actually the good ole US of A moved us, which was, after all of our moves in the past 10 years, a VERY welcomed change (especially as I was 20 weeks pregnant and having A LOT of “morning, noon and night sickness” as I like to call it). Our packout from our Xenia, OH rental happened on Thursday January 14^th. We weren’t really sure how the day was going to go, but soon after the movers arrived we knew that I would not be staying at the house with Jordana during the process. She was not a big fan of watching all of her toys and books get packed away along with the other remnants of our lives, so she and I vacated early and drove the 4 hours up to my parents while Jason stayed to supervise and tie up the loose ends of our life in Xenia. It was quite the emotional experience for us because as we pulled away from the house, Jordana was crying in the backseat and just kept saying she wanted to go “home”. I couldn’t help but think to myself that this is only the tip of that iceberg. Will this be the beginning of the traumatizing of our children as we move them around the world every 2-4 years for the next 20 years? I wasn’t quite ready to address the issue on that cold January morning.

Our entire packout only took one day and Jason was even able to drive up to Cleveland to my parents that evening, which I was extremely grateful for as I had come down with the flu that night and Jordana was still emotional from the day. All of our belongings went into temporary storage in DC and they would be delivered to us when we had secured a place to live. In the meantime we would be staying at an extended stay hotel outside of the city. A friend of the family works for Marriott and she was able to set up an amazing hotel for us at a fraction of the cost and it would become our home away from home for the next 2-3 weeks (Thank you again Amy for the amazing hotel). Jordana loved the hotel and was a HUGE fan of the pool. In fact on the day that we checked out, she insisted that we actually go and say goodbye to the pool. She stood at the doorway and waved and said “Goodbye pool, I’ll miss you, but I’ll come back.” I didn’t have the heart to inform her that this would be another “home” for the history books. She also loved having cable as she was able to watch endless amounts of Dora. We’ve never had cable so this was a huge treat for her. We knew that she was watching waaayyy to much TV when she sat and dinner one evening after I reprimanded her for something and told me, “Mama, don’t get mad, get glad.” Another favorite activity was making herself chamomile tea in the lobby and watching the roaring fire.

All in all, our move to DC went really smoothly, and we were able to find a townhouse to rent in Fairfax, VA within a week of arriving to the area. It was actually the first place we looked at, and even though it needed some major cleaning up, we know that the Lord provided a great home for our family and we are so incredibly blessed. We moved in on February 1^st and lucky for us, we were just getting settled in before “snowmageddon” (the blizzard of 2010) hit the area.

This post makes me miss Xenia

2010-02-04T15:19:00.000-05:00

When we moved to Xenia, OH, we knew it would be a transitional move for us as we were awaiting USAID's offer for Jason's dream job. He searched high and low around the Lexington area for any type of employment for well over a year, but unfortunately nothing (and I mean nothing) came to fruition with his search. That is until he was offered a job with the Air Force. The catch... it was 2 and a half hours away from our home and business in Lexington. So after a lot of prayer and discussion, we realized that our time in Lexington was over and we took the necessary measures towards selling our home and trying to sell the business (which we ultimately had to close). As I said before, we knew our time in Xenia would be short, but what we didn't realize is how memorable it would be. We truly enjoyed our time there and one of the main reasons for that were our amazing neighbors! Steve and Nadja and their son Hans were such a comfort to us as we left our home and friends and our lives in Lexington. They were such a blessing to us and we were, and are, so thankful for their friendship. Jordana LOVED having a fellow 2 year old right next door to run around with and we spent many evenings doing just that between our adjoining backyards.

So when we received our next "assignment" with USAID and realized we would be moving to Washington DC in January of 2010, it was with heavy hearts that we said goodbye to our home in Xenia and to our good friends. Thanks again to Steve and Nadja and Hans (and new baby Ivan) for helping to make our time in Xenia such a wonderful experience and memorable time to look back upon!

Hans was always willing to share his toys with Jordana

Perspective

2010-01-30T23:13:00.007-05:00

A little bit of perspective is always a good thing. A lot of perspective is a great thing. I am sitting here in a very nice hotel room in Washington DC thinking about all of the things that we have to do in the next couple of days as we prepare to move into our townhouse. Sometimes with so much change going on all at once, it's easy for me to get overwhelmed. That's just my personality. But then I need to stop and ask the Lord for perspective. And I want to share some websites and blogs that have been giving me the most perspective as of late. They all have to do with Haiti and the efforts of various missionaries and ministries down there. The stories are crazy, heart wrenching and heart warming all at the same time. These stories will give you perspective. And they serve as a reminder to me as to why, as I sit here in a nice hotel with my daughter sleeping safely in the next room, knowing that my next meal will be breakfast in a few hours and I have clean water available at the turn of a handle, that my life circumstances really should not overwhelm me at all. So lets just all stop right now for a few minutes and gain a little perspective and check out the links below.

http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com - personal blog of a missionary family that is working in a medical clinic in Port Au Prince.

http://heartlineministries.org/default.aspx - A very cool ministry in Haiti working on the "frontlines".

http://thehowertons.blogspot.com - the personal blog of a family that has just brought their adopted Haitian son home after a 2 and a half year wait. They are advocating on behalf of adoptive families that have children that are still stuck in Haiti because of red tape and crazy political agendas. Their story and the other adoptive parent's stories which they are posting about on their blog are powerful and worthy of being told!

http://randybohlender.wordpress.com - a missionary who is an adoption advocate and has gotten involved with the plight of Haiti. He also has a lot of knowledge about UNICEF and how they are actually thwarting the progress of international adoption (specifically in Haiti, but all over the world as well). He writes about this specifically in this post here. Knowledge is power!

Happy New Year - 2010

2010-01-05T16:34:00.000-05:00

For New Years we drove down to Morganton North Carolina to visit our best friends Katie and Eric McNaughton and their fam. Being with Kate and Eric is really like being with our extended family and we had a great time hanging out. We were doubly blessed because Mindy (another one of our closest friends) was staying with Kate and Eric during New Years as well so it was a huge added bonus for us to get to be with her as well. We had an amazing time worshiping, praying and especially eating together. Katie made some amazing meals and we were quite blessed by our entire stay. They even welcomed Cash, who we are happy to report, got along fabulously with their dog Dallie. Jordana had been talking about going to visit “Auntie Yatie, Unc Er and the boys” for weeks so she was very excited to play with the boys. Caleb, Andrew and Gavin are great with Jordana and they do a wonderful job of including her in all their play time, even though she’s a lot younger, and a girl J. During our stay, I was mainly taking video so I actually didn’t get a whole lot of picures, but here are a few of the kids that we managed to get!

Lounging with the boys watching Veggie Tales

Jordana and her buddy Gavin

Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T15:02:00.007-05:00

Jordana's 3rd Christmas

Christmas was a bit of a blur this year as we were preparing to move our lives and our household once again. Moving twice in less than 6 months is not an easy feat, but having one of those moves so close to the holidays, well that's just a recipe for craziness! We spent the holidays at my parents house, although this was the quickest trip we've had yet. We arrived in Chardon on Christmas Eve night (Thursday), had a great dinner with my parents, Matt and Daniel. Jordana's favorite part of the evening was the birthday cake we made for Jesus. One of her favorite songs right now is Happy Birthday, so she was in her element singing "Appy Burtday to Jetus" in her sweet little voice. The next day was a very fun and, surprisingly, relaxing day. We enjoyed a quiet morning at Mom and Dad's and then Mike, Deb, Sam and Helaina came over and we had our exchange and then headed over to Aunt Nancy's for a great evening of food and fellowship. On Saturday we relaxed at my parents and Mike and Deb and the kids came over to hang out. Jordana has such a fun time with her cousins and Helaina and Sammy are soooo incredibly great with her. We so wished that we lived closer so they could have more times like these, but we will definitely cherish the times that we do have with them. On Sunday we headed home to Xenia and back into the pre-move stressfulness. The only thing missing from this years celebration was Aunt Vicki. She was able to go home to New Jersey and spend time with her family out there, but we made a little video on Christmas Eve that Matt sent to her in an email letting her know that she was missed!

"Appy Burtday Jetus"

Giving Papa smooches

Jordana loves being with Sammy and Helaina

Jordana's First Haircut

2009-12-15T11:43:00.007-05:00

Jordana was born with a lot of hair. But believe it or not, we never had to cut it. I did cut off the traditional lock of baby hair so that we can compare the color of her baby hair with whatever hue comes next, but she had never sat received a proper hair cut from a professional. I vacillated between just letting her locks grow as long as possible and cutting them into a short little bob. She doesn’t mind having her hair brushed, so it was never really an issue. But around Thanksgiving time, Jason and I thought that it started to look a little scraggly. So we decided to take the plunge and see how she would respond. Well, I’m happy to report that, although you can’t really tell from her expressions in the pictures, she absolutely loved getting her hair cut. Now every time we go by a Best Cuts, she says to me “I wanna hair cut Mommy”. I think we may have a girly girl on our hands!

Nana and Papa's Visit

2009-12-05T10:11:00.001-05:00

In November we were very blessed to have Mom and Joe stay with us for the whole month. It was so great to all be together and Jordana LOVED having Nana and Papa here for an entire month. They were such a blessing to Jason and me during their visit and it was hard to see them go in December. I thought they should just extend their tickets and stay for Christmas, but I guess they have lives too! :) We felt terrible though because right before they came to visit, our Cavalier started overheating and having a lot of problems. So most of the time they were here, we were without an extra car so they didn't have a ton of freedom to get out and explore the area. But I know that Jason was very grateful to Joe for his car expertise and for all his help trouble shooting our car. We finally got it figured out and by the end of their stay the car was in working order!

Joe and Mom were also a huge help around our house. Joe resurfaced all of our doors so they actually closed, Mom and Joe re-grouted our tile shower, we all raked our backyard together about 4 times and Mom spent many hours in the kitchen blessing us with some amazing meals. We both appreciated that so much since I had been feeling so lousy with morning sickness and hadn't been cooking very much. Nana and Papa were also fabulous baby sitters for Jordana and I was able to get a lot of appointments checked off my list like the dentist, eye doctor and our first baby appointment. I was also quite thankful that Mom was here to walk me through the experience of Jordana's first ever fever. She showed me how she used to give the boys alcohol baths and gave irreplaceable support through the 2 day ordeal! Cash also got in on the perks as Joe spent many hours outside throwing the ball for him. He was quite depressed to see Joe leave (just like last time).

In the middle of their time here, they were able to rent a car and drive down to Atlanta to visit Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Glen (Mom's sister and husband). They had a great visit with them down there and kept them from going to stir crazy from being stuck at our house, hee, hee! And at the end of the month we all ventured up to my parents in Chardon for Thanksgiving. What a treat for me to have so much of our family under one roof.

All in all, we had such a wonderful visit and it was a huge blessing to have them here for such a long visit and we eagerly look forward to our next visit all together. We love you Nana and Papa!! Here are some pictures from the month.

Thanksgiving '09

In the midst of her fever she was so cute and cuddly!

Visiting Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Glen

Another trip to Youngs Dairy

Jordana LOVES her Papa and Nana

Mastering the Trike

2009-11-18T20:29:00.000-05:00

For Jordana's 2nd birthday, my parents gave her a Radio Flyer Tricycle. She loved it, but was unable to reach the pedals even on the shortest setting. But the great thing about this particular trike is that there is a wonderful handle for the "lower back challenged". Jason and I both fit this bill, so we LOVED this feature of the Radio Flyer. However, in October, Jordana mastered the whole pedaling issue and therefore rendered the handle virtually useless. Now instead of wanting us to push her around the neighborhood, she is feeling her independence and does not want us anywhere near that handle. She wants the satisfaction of doing it "All By Myself" as she likes to say these days!

Mum and Papa's visit

2009-11-16T18:18:00.000-05:00

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, my parents came down for a visit. Jordana loves being with Mum and Papa and always has fun when they come for a visit. She calls my mom "mum" because whenever she would hear me talk to her, I would call her mom. So when she started talking she picked up on that and started calling her "mum" (her version of the word mom). We all decided it was too cute so we didn't correct her and the name stuck. What's funny is that because she calls Jason's mom "nana," she really doesn't know the word Grandma!

We went to good ole Youngs Dairy up in Yellow Springs. They have a ton of free activities for kids Jordana's age and we got to experience our first corn maze. And what's a visit to Young's during the fall, without the obligatory pumpkin pictures! It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun with with my parents here. They knew it would be their last chance to come visit us in Xenia since we knew that we were most likely moving in January. These pictures were actually taken on 2 different visits, but only the detail oriented would catch that one!

John Bryan State Park

2009-11-15T23:42:00.000-05:00

This was a beautiful park about 10 minutes from our house in Xenia. We enjoyed walking around and looking at all the beautiful fall colors. And what's a trip to the park without finding at least one dirty slide. Jordana loves slides, so whenever one is in sight she does a bee line straight for it. This one was no different.

The Many Faces of Jordana McNabb

2009-11-15T19:39:00.010-05:00

This video is from March of 2009, but I've been meaning to put it on the blog so I thought this was an appropriate post for Jordana's looks, which include but are not limited to: "The Look," "Cute Face" and "Excited Face." Another favorite not shown here is "Big Eyes".

"Wanna Help Mamma"

2009-11-15T18:57:00.008-05:00

This is a phrase that I hear uttered on a daily basis and I have to say that I love hearing it. Jordana loves to "Help Mamma" in many of my daily tasks, although I must admit that Jordana's "help" really isn't that helpful in the literal sense of the word. But I'm trying to remember to use these times as little teaching moments. I'm a task oriented person so I usually want to get something done in the quickest, most efficient manner, and let's just say that's not really the philosophy of a 2 and a half year old. But I love the fact that she's willing to help and wants to be involved. Her favorite things to help me with are making the beds in the morning, putting away her clothes, feeding Cash, picking up Cash's poop outside, raking leaves, making our fresh carrot and cucumber juice, and especially cutting up veggies (or really anything cooking related)! We put on her little apron (that used to be Jason's childhood apron), pull a chair up to the island, and with her plastic knife in hand, she's ready to go. All I can say is watch out Emerill, I think we have a contender... BAMM!!!

It's Potty Time!

2009-11-09T15:36:00.013-05:00

What's that saying... "There's no time like the present." Well, I took that to heart a few weeks ago and finally began potty training Jordana. Actually I've had a little potty in the house since she was about nine months. When we first brought it home she loved to sit on it and actually used it a few times but we never got serious about actually potty training her back then, so it pretty much sat on the bathroom floor and functioned as hip decor. I haven't read up a lot about potty training, but I have a lot of friends who have walked this road already and I've learned from them. But the little that I have read, said not to begin when you have major life changes going on. So that basically ruled out the previous 6 months, what with all of our moving in back and forth between Lexington and Xenia. But now that the dust has settled and we are finally moved into our lives up in Xenia OH, I decided I better get a move on since it looks like we'll be moving again in January.

I started on a Monday evening, just letting Jordana get used to her pretty "pannies" (as she calls them) and within an hour she had peed through about 4 pairs. I thought yikes, this is going to be a long road. However, much to my delight, the following day she only had 2 accidents the entire day. And on Wednesday, she only had 1 accident. These accidents were when she was outside playing with her friend Hans, so she was a bit distracted from all the fun! So that was a couple of weeks ago and right now she rarely has an accident. In fact she uses the potty for going pee pee all of her own volition, and she is just starting to use the potty for poo poo. She had a few mishaps going poop in her panties (4 in all), but she is definitely starting to get the hang of that as well. We have even used the potty out in public. She just tells me that she has to go potty and we take her little Elmo seat in the restroom and she does her thing.

I think that Jordana has been quite inspired as well by our rewards system. Every time she goes pee pee she gets a "small cookie" (basically a tiny piece of an already small cookie) and when she goes poo poo she gets a "big cookie" (an organic fig cookie). Jordana loves cookies, and rarely gets to have them, so this has been all the motivation that she has needed. In fact she goes to the potty so much during the day that Nana (Jason's mom) recommended replacing the cookie with a sweet pea veggie stick and she loves them (and Mamma feels much better about not giving her cookies the whole day, even if they are tiny). Nana has also been helping Jordana use the big potty without her Elmo potty chair the last few days and Jordana loves it. I think she mainly likes performing for Nana, but hey, whatever works! Plus this will be one less transition in the future. So all in all this has been a rather stress free potty training journey and for that I'm glad because the morning sickness is definitely in full swing these days!

These are her "small cookies" that she loves. I break them into about 6 pieces and she gets a piece when she goes pee pee.

This is one of the first times Jordana used her potty. It's been in the house since she was nine months old. I wanted her to get used to sitting on it so it wouldn't be traumatic when we asked her to start using it!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-05T16:27:00.005-05:00

Well, I think it's safe to say that we now participate in Halloween. Jason and I never really took part in any Halloween festivities before we had kids, but how can you pass up a chance to dress up your already cute baby/kid in an even cuter outfit. So for the last 3 years we have done just that You can see the 2007 and 2008 outfits here and here! The good thing about this year was that Jason and I didn't have to come up with any costumes and thanks to Nana we already had a costume in waiting for Jordana. Jordana's first party was a couple of weeks ago at the Air Force base. Jason's building had a fall Halloween/Harvest party for all of the kids so we dressed her up and showed her off! Then on Halloween night our good friends (and neighbors) little boy Hans and his dad Steve came over and Jason and Jordana trick or treated along our little street with them. Steve and Nadja know everyone so it was a good opportunity for us to meet all of the other neighbors. The kids didn't last to long and at the end of the evening we ended up over at Nadja and Steve's (as we do many nights) to let the kids warm up indoors and play! All in all it was a fun season and we are happy to report that Jordana could care less about the candy. There were some crackers in her basket of goodies and that is what she gravitated towards. I'm not sure how long that will last, but for now, we're thankful that there are no candy wars at the McNabb household.

Our New Favorite Fall Hobby

2009-10-18T22:03:00.017-04:00

Pumpkin Carving

Can I just say that pumpkin carving is so much fun. I don't think I had ever carved a pumpkin before last Saturday, and boy was I missing out. Jason has been talking about carving pumpkins this fall and I just thought, "ehh, what's the big deal." But I have to say, I have caught the pumpkin fever and I think I've found a new hobby. We bought a few pumpkins last weekend and decided to carve them up with Jordana. We only carved the cross pumpkin last week, and decided to leave the others for another weekend so that we could draw out some of our festivities. So this weekend we decide to finish them up, and since we actually don't even really celebrate Halloween in our family, we decided to combat the evil of the season, we would do happy faced pumpkins and a cross. Jason is the artist (said in a cheesy french accent) in the family so he drew out all of the faces and then we carved them out together. He did the 2 bigger pumpkins and I did the smaller ones. Jordana carved (stabbed with a pen) her "baby pumpkin" (as she likes to refer to it) and was quite fascinated with all of the pumpkin guts. I had plans to make some pumpkin bread and cider for our festivities, but alas, morning sickness has claimed the better of me and all of my good intentions for cooking/baking have flown out the door. In fact the smell of fresh pumpkin was almost to much for me to bear today and I had to leave the room a few times. But every time I look out onto the patio at our smiley faced pumpkins , I decide again that it was worth it, not to mention the amazing pumpkin seeds that we have been roasting! In fact we're enjoying this new hobby so much, we're already talking about doing some more next weekend.

The Best Cure For Morning Sickness

2009-10-16T23:25:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm definitely feeling pregnant now. The morning sickness is back. Actually it lasts all day so I'm not really sure why they call it "morning" sickness. I can't really complain though because I've only thrown up once and that is A LOT better than my pregnancy with Jordana. So believe me, I am counting my blessings. Some days are better than others, and I've found that when I don't stray off of our vegan diet, that is splurging on having a little dairy, usually cheese, that I feel soooo much better.

But today was a bad day and I was frustrated with just feeling lousy for the past 2 days so I decided to try to just forget about it and go on with my day. I have really been looking forward to the fall, especially here in Xenia since this is considered the "Bicycling Capital of the Midwest". So even though it was a frigid 42 degrees today, I decided to go for an invigorating ride on the Little Miami Trail that runs through Xenia. For my birthday this year, my entire family (both sides) went in together to get me a bike trailer for my favorite little passenger. The great thing about it is that I can zip it all the way up and she's totally warm and protected from the elements, which is a very good thing when the fall has been completely rainy and freezing. So we went about 8 miles today and even stopped at the grocery store on the way home for a few snacks. All in all it was a very fun morning ride, and the thing is, I was so busy trying not to freeze, I almost forgot I was feeling sick... almost!

A Season Of Change

2009-09-26T13:34:00.012-04:00

"Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginnings End"

We closed on our house this last week, and let me just say, this was a really hard process for me. Letting go of our beloved home in Lexington was a real challenge and I've been trying to analyze the reasons why and what made me so emotional. I think for me, when a season of our lives comes to a close, I always go through a period of "mourning" if you will. Before I can joyfully move on to the next season that the Lord has for us, I need to come to terms with the closing of the previous one. It just so happens that the closing of this season, also involved selling our home. I loved making our house a home in Lexington not to mention the friends we've made and our awesome neighbors Jamie and Robby and their little girl Kylie, whom Jordana played with at least 4-5 times a week! So leaving behind this season, also meant saying goodbye to all of our friends and our home and all of the memories there. I am extremely grateful that our house sold so quickly (in 3 months) as the financial burden of having 2 households was becoming quite the strain, but I still had a hard time saying goodbye. After we had packed up the entire house into the Uhaul (with the irreplaceable help of Jason's best friend, Eric) we sat outside and let Jordana and Cash play in our backyard one last time. I was crying like a baby and it was a really special time for our family to just say goodbye to our wonderful home. Another reason I think it was so hard for me is that usually when you sell your home, you know what you're moving on toward. For Jason and me, this is a time of trusting in God's leading. We know that we are in Xenia, OH for the time being as Jason is working at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, but he also has a job offer with the Foreign Service (USAID). So most likely, we will be moving to the Washington DC area within the next few months for about a year and a half and then will be moving/posted overseas in the developing world. So the final piece of letting go of our home in Lexington, was also, in a way, saying goodbye to this way of life. Life will surely be changing a lot for us in the next few years and we will just continue to cling to our Lord and trust that He will guide us.

And now for the biggest "change" of all:

We just found out this week that Jordana will be a big sister next May. We are very shocked but VERY excited! The baby is due on May 29th, 2010 so Jordana and the baby will be exactly 3 years apart, as her birthday is on May 8th. And just for the record, we were not "trying" and this was quite the wonderful surprise and we are soooo ecstatic!

As I said before. this is most definitely a season of change for our family!

West Coast Highlights

2009-09-01T16:01:00.053-04:00

I decided to go back a few months because I never posted the pics from our trip to Cali in May. I have to start off by saying again that I love having a husband from California! What an amazing place to be able to call home! It was such a wonderful time of visiting family and friends. We packed a lot into that 2 weeks and literally went all over the state We spent some time in Yosemite (one of our favorite places in the world, which is saying a lot because we've been all over the world), day tripped up to Tahoe, hung out with Mom and Joe in Auburn and also got to go back to Santa Cruz (Jason's home town). Visiting Mom and Joe up in their new home in the Auburn area was definitely a highlight and we LOVED it! What a great area of California. It's about an hour from Tahoe and it's just absolutely beautiful! We're excited for many more trips to that area of Cali. We also celebrated Jordana's 2nd birthday during our trip and we were blessed to be with Mom and Joe and our friends Jared, Nikki and their adorable son Josiah on Jordan's actual birthday. All in all, it was an incredible time and we can't wait to be out there again, hopefully sooner rather than later. I hope you enjoy our pics!

Tahoe

Tahoe

Nikki and Jared and Josiah

Jordana LOVED her Vegan birthday cake with tofu frosting!

Watching the surfers on East Clff at Pleasure Point

Jordana was adjusted by her favorite chiropractor, Poppi (Jason's Dad)

Cruzin' with cousin Jaylon

Yosemite Falls

Nana and Jordana with El Capitan,
Half Dome and Bridal Veil Falls in the background

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-08-06T23:17:00.003-04:00

I love birthdays. Particularly when it's mine! I don't mean to sound egotistical, but I've always liked a good celebration and what a better chance to celebrate than a birthday! Even if it is just another day to the rest of the world, I love waking up with the expectancy that life is to be celebrated. It's also strange to realize that I am the same age that Jesus was when he died. That is a totally random thought, but I just kept thinking about it all day yesterday. So this year, even though we've had a lot going on lately, and unfortunately we couldn't stay out all day and night to celebrate because Jason had a big exam today (he's taking a training class at his new job right now) we took a little time to pause and enjoy the day!

Jason had to work, so Jordana and I enjoyed a beautiful day here in Xenia and spent the majority of it outside. I laid a blanket out in our awesome backyard, and we hung out there most of the day. We read books, ate our meals, played with toys and played with Cash for most of the morning and afternoon. The weather has been fabulous up here, in the low 70's with low humidity, so it's just not right to be indoors. Later in the day, Jason came home with roses, which was a totally unexpected surprise, and we headed out to explore a fun little hippy town about 15 minutes from here. Yellow Springs is such a fun little town, and we had to keep reminding ourselves that we were actually in Ohio, because it just didn't feel very midwestern, but rather very Santa Cruzean (my own words, hee, hee). We had a nice dinner, walked around and explored and just enjoyed checking out all the area has to offer.

All in all, it was a wonderful day and I'm looking forward to this 33rd year of my life with great expectancy. Each year of our lives seems like an adventure so it will be interesting to see where we are at this time next year.

Bittersweet

2009-07-31T11:53:00.005-04:00

Beware to Reader: this is a long post. I'm using the blog to journal my thoughts and emotions during all this so I can look back and reflect on this season in our lives.

As of today July 31st, 2009 we will no longer be operating a Curves Franchise. This has been a long, blessed, hard, joyful, stressful, rewarding, crazy, amazing adventure to say the least. How's that for my list of adjectives. That explains the name of my post. There have been bitter moments, but there have been many many sweet moments along the way as well.

Here's the story:

We had always intended to sell our Lexington Curves location as we did with our club in Versailles, but with the economy as it is right now, lets just say the banks were not looking to favorably upon those that were seeking loans to acquire a struggling business. Gee, can't imagine why! :-) We had a handful of very interested buyers, but for one reason or another, none of them worked out. Then about 3 weeks ago, our landlord let us know that he had a new tenant that he was working a deal with, and they wanted our space, so he would relocate us. Well, the problem was that he would not pay out the necessary monies that it would cost to outfit the space to make it suitable for a Curves workout facility. We would be stuck with that bill, which we could not afford; and to make matters worse, the Krogers grocery store which is our plaza's anchor store, has a right to the new space we would be moving into, and they plan on exercising that right because they are planning on expanding within the next 6-12 months. So we would be stuck with the relocation bill, and then we would possibly be kicked out of that location sometime in the near future. SOOOO our only other option was to close our doors.

It has been a long stressful month, and it has been a challenge to stay positive and not let bitterness set in as we feel like we have been forced into this decision. My biggest regret is for my members. There have been so many ladies that have had such great success at Curves. The stories are varied, such as our youngest member (that came in and worked out with her mom), who at 12 years old was showing signs of type 2 diabetes and reversed those symptoms through diet and exercise, all the way to our oldest member at 90 years old that worked out 3 times a week and maintains an excellent quality of life and is an inspiration to us all! That is my biggest regret, that the club will not be available to them to help them succeed in their goals in living healthy active lives. But my prayer is that they will continue that journey on their own now, whether that be at another Curves club, or a different workout altogether.

We had an member appreciation open house this past Wednesday to give us all a chance to say goodbye and it was extremely touching. We had a great show of ladies, and they were just wonderful and very understanding of the whole situation. There were tears and many well wishes for Jason and I and Jordana!

Change is always hard. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way, or if it's just because we like to cling to what we know because we like security. I have been trying to see beyond my emotions and cling to what I know is true, and that is simply that the Lord is Good. I know that sounds soooo trite, but in the midst of crazy insane situations, He is ALWAYS there with us, and He is ALWAYs out for our highest good. And more than anything ,He wants to know us and be in relationship with us. So Jason and I have been trying to dwell on this truth and to let this bring us closer to the Lord instead of letting bitterness grab hold of us.

Jason and I are excited about whats next for us, although we're still pretty unclear of what that is. We know that a new season awaits us and I'm sure it will hold all of the aforementioned adjectives, as most adventures usually do! Here is a song that I recently came across again, that the Lord has been using to speak to my heart. It is a pretty good reflection of how I've been feeling this past month. My favorite lyrics are these

"And you say, Be still my love,
Open up your heart, And let the light shine in,
Don't you understand, I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin"

We Miss Daddy!

2009-07-21T23:29:00.005-04:00

It's now going on week three away from Daddy, and Jordana and I are missing him like crazy. Jason took a job with the Air Force, working at Wright Patterson Air Force Base up in Dayton Ohio. We moved him up to Xenia Ohio, which is an amazing little town outside of Dayton. He's renting a little house up there that we fixed up and repainted (literally the entire thing). He's up there from Sunday until Friday and then drives home here to Lexington for the weekend, well, lets be honest, basically he's home for Saturday and half of Sunday. So Jordana and I are adjusting to this new schedule and we are praying that the house will sell quickly here in Lexington and things will wrap up with the business so that we can join him up there full time. It's a bit challenging to be a part, especially as we have had A LOT of stress going on with the business here in Lexington, more on that later, but it's probably been the most stressful month we've ever experienced with regard to the business. But the Lord has been faithful and we are so grateful for His presence during all of this craziness.

So today we were looking through pictures because Jordana was missing Daddy again and we came across some of our wedding picts. Jordana was mesmerized by them so I decided to take it a step further, and I got out my dress and veil and we played dress up. It was so fun and Jordana loved wearing the veil, and I must say I love having a daughter to play dress up with. We had so much fun that we forgot to "miss" Daddy for that entire half hour!

Introducing...

2009-07-04T19:23:00.010-04:00

...My New Favorite Craigslist Purchase!

The Daisy Cruiser by Electra!

At the end of April I went for a ride on my mountain bike... and I haven't quite been the same since. I'm not sure if it was the hunched over position while on the bike or what, but I slipped a disk in my back again and was pretty messed up for awhile. As I was laid up for a couple of weeks, I found myself wallowing in self pity and getting pretty frustrated and discouraged. I love to bike and I need to stay active to have any sort of a quality of life. So I thought that my time of biking was over, because an hour of biking enjoyment is not worth two weeks of being laid up with a slipped disk.

Enter my mother-in-law, Rachel, and a trip to Yosemite National Park. In May, while we were out in California visiting Mom and Joe, we took a trip to Yosemite and Mom really wanted to rent bikes in the Valley. Now I was pretty hesitant as I had just started feeling functional again. But I found that biking around the valley on the rented cruiser felt wonderful and didn't bother my back at all! So that experience opened up a whole new world of possibilities for recreational biking and gave me a sense of hope that I would be able to bike again! Thanks Mom!

When we got home from Cali, we decided to sell my mountain bike on Craigslist and we began the search for a cruiser! And on July 4th, that search came to an end as we brought home my new Electra Cruiser. Call it my very own "Independence" Day (totally melodramatic I know). This is simply the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden, and to make matters even better, we got it almost half off of the retail price, and it was barely ridden by the previous owner (gotta love craigslist). I did have to get over the fact that this is not a mountain bike, and I have now entered the recreational cruiser category. It's also a bit girlie and I never thought I would own a bike with Daisy's plastered all over it! But once I dealt with that, I decided if you're going to ride a criuser, you might as well ride the coolest one available! I may be a bit biased, but this bike is just tooo much fun! So all in all, I am pretty excited (if you can't tell by my devoting a whole post to a bike), and I'm looking forward to some pretty relaxing rides ahead, with no residual back pain (typed with my fingers crossed)!

Happy Father's Day Jason

2009-06-21T23:13:00.009-04:00

If there's one thing that brings joy to my heart, it is watching Jason father our little Jordana! He is such an amazing dad and I am so blessed to be able to watch him with Jordana every day. Jordana loves her daddy so much and it is a sight to behold to see her face light up when she sees her daddy. So here are a few of my favorite pictures of my favorite daddy and my favorite little pea!

Changes

2009-06-18T23:31:00.004-04:00

It's official... The house is on the market.

After a flurry of activity the past few months, we've officially listed our home for sale here in Lexington, KY. After a lot of prayer and seeking, we are feeling that our time here in Lexington is drawing to a close. And with that comes the need to sell our remaining business and also our home. Selling the business has not been hard for me as my desire to be home full time with Jordana has overshadowed my desire to be a self employed business owner. But the realization that moving on to whatever the Lord has in store for us next, meant that we would be putting our first home on the market, has been a bit of an emotional transition for me. If you know me well, then you know that I love "making" a home. I'm definitely a homebody and with this being the first home that we have owned, it was not without emotion, that I have made this transition. I know I sound sappy, and our house isn't even sold yet, but in my heart of hearts, I know that our time here in Lexington is nearing it's end. I hate goodbyes, so for now, I am determined to enjoy the end of this season and will try to embrace all that the Lord has in store for us next. Sometimes that can feel like denial, but I'm choosing to think of it as living in the moment!

My Favorite New Look

2009-03-26T14:45:00.006-04:00

So I know it's been FOREVER since my last post, but I'm back... hopefully. Life has been a bit crazy for us lately so I have a few months to catch up on. But I figured I'd get it started off right by showing you one of my favorite new looks on Jordana. Pigtails. Gotta love 'em. I loved pigtails when I was a kid and I've loved them on all of my nieces (Helaina, Asia, Eden and Sydney), so I was anxiously awaiting the day when I could get all of Jordana's hair up into 2 cute little piggies.

2008 - Year in Review

2009-02-09T21:07:00.034-05:00

This is Jason and I've been procrastinating this post for a good month. I wanted to reflect back on 2008 and write about the good times and the bad and then list our 2009 New Years Resolutions. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am a list maker and always make a new years resolution. I am also the first to admit that many of my new years resolutions get lost after the second or third month because I hand write them on paper and later loose it. So this year I am not only blogging about it but saving my resolutions in a word doc on my laptop. And if I do that every year, I'll be able to look back when I'm 65 and laugh about the goals and aspirations of my thirties.

So here we go with some of the highlights of 2008...
(in no particular order)

Jordan turned 1 year old...its a big deal for first time parents. And no she didn't actually eat the cake. It was for my brother Daniel too. Jordana enjoyed her piece of watermelon with a candle for her first birthday cake!

I completed my second and last graduate program at The Patterson School of International Commerce and Diplomacy, University of Kentucky. No more schooling for the time being!!

All of our trips to California and Ohio to see family.

My best friend did the Ironman in Louisville, KY!

We sold one of our two Curves fitness clubs....hurray! One down, one to go!

We got rid of all personal debt, minus our car loan and home mortgage of course. Thanks Dave Ramsey!

Kris and I changed our diet and have been eating vegan (approx. 60% raw) and drinking lots of "green smoothies" and are loving it. We're hooked!

I got a new Nikon digital SLR camera and have thoroughly enjoyed my new hobby!

The Presidential Election was an exciting experience throughout 2008, regardless of which candidate won, I still enjoy politics and the political process. I am truly grateful for this country!

We have made some incredible friendships through our church!

There have been many other blessings of 2008, but I should move on or this blog will never end. So my biggest personal challenge of 2008 was chronic back pain. I've been specifically dealing with Piriformis Muscle Syndrome and a bulging disc at L5/S1. This has been the most mentally, emotionally and physically difficult thing for me to deal with all year long. I have learned a lot about how pain affects every area of life and how limiting it can be. I would like to say that it has made me a better person, but I don’t honestly know if it has. So my top goal for 2009 is to rehab my back and see at least a 60% improvement in the pain level and frequency. Which brings me to our new year resolutions. So here are a few of mine:

#1 Rehab my back, which is already improving.
#2 Sell our remaining Curves club
#3 Find a decent job here in Lexington for the short term.
#4 Read through the Bible in a year. Click here for the plan that we are following and really enjoying.
#5 Do a Century Bike Ride (100 miles in a day).
#6 Read one new book each month.
#7 Last but not least on our new years resolution is to give Jordan a little sister or brother....maybe....

On another note, here are a few lists (one can never have too many lists) of some of the books, movies, music, websites and blogs that we've enjoyed this past year.

Favorite Books:

"The China Study" by Colin Campbell
"Walking With God" by John Eldredge
"The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne
"Jesus For President" by Shane Claiborne
"The Shack" by William Young
"The Hallelujah Diet" by George Malkmus
"The J-Curve" by Ian Bremmer
"Green for Life" by Victoria Boutenko
"The Great Game" by Peter Hopkirk

Favorite Movies:

John Adams, Expelled, Maxed Out, 21, Sicko, The Future of Food, Evan Almighty, Crazy Sexy Cancer, Fireproof, Healing Cancer, Trade, Born Into Brothels, Bigger-Faster-Stronger, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?

Favorite Websites/Blogs:

Dropbox, Pandora, Craigslist, Google Reader, Green Smoothie Girl, Log Me In, Wikipedia, Visual CV, Around the Globe, Running Raw, The Art of Homemaking, Ecopolitan, FB, Kristen's Raw

Favorite New Music:
Jesse Cook

Ice Storm of 2009

2009-01-28T19:46:00.045-05:00

It's Jason here and the following are some pictures I took yesterday during our Ice Storm of 2009. For those outside of Kentucky and the Midwest, these pictures will give you a taste of what an ice storm is like and the damage it can do. I had never experienced storms like this until moving here. The main problem with these ice storms is that the weight of the ice that gathers on trees and branches cause them to break and fall into power lines, cutting power to thousands of people. This of course isn't a major problem for us that live in new developments because we do not have any big trees, just little saplings. In the "famous" storm of 2003, over 175,000 people lost power in central KY. This time there are only about 39,000 people in Lexington without power right now, and we are not part of that group. I guess we finally found one plus to living in the "land of no trees." So here are some shots of the day...just click on them to blow them up.

Jordana's 2nd Christmas

2009-01-28T13:09:00.002-05:00

Christmas 2008

Isn't it funny that we now name holidays in reference to how many Jordan has celebrated. I mean isn't this Mommy's 32nd Christmas and Daddy's 31st Christmas. Why do we do that and when does it stop. I guess it will probably stop when we have the next child, and then the whole cycle repeats itself! As my sister-law, Vicki says, "once you have kids, it's all about them now"! I think she's right because when you're seeing everything through the eyes of your child, it becomes new again. And for this I am thankful. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, not only because we are celebrating the birth of our savior, but also because it is always a time to be with friends and family! This year was no different. We spent a week at home in Ohio with my family. And after a sketchy ride home because of the crazy winter weather (it was -2 degrees when we arrived that Sunday evening) we were able to pack a lot into our time at home. Not only did we have the holiday festivities and all that comes along with that, but we had a going away party for Katie and Eric (they moved to Morganton, about an hour west of Asheville in the mountains of North Carolina), a wedding to attend where we were able to reconnect with some dear friends, and Jason and I even got to go out to see a movie (in the actual theater, with popcorn, treats and the works, Yipppeeee!!!) . So all in all it was a great time home and we were blessed once again by my parent's hospitality in hosting us for the entire week. Here are some picts from our Christmas week, and yes, I realize I didn't get any of my family (except for the kids). You see, sometimes we're just so into enjoying the moment and making the memory, that we don't remember to "capture" the moment on film. But here is what we were able to remember.

This is us, getting ready to unpack the car in -2 degrees. And let me tell you, the car and our luggage carrier was filled to the brim, so we were out there awhile!

My parents gave Jordana an Amish rocking horse for Christmas. She loves her horse, and don't you just love her "so not Christmasy" pink leopard pajamas! I've never been a mom who matches the pj's to the ensuing holiday

All tuckered out after a very fun day of celebrating!

At the wedding, with one of our closest friends, Mindy Stewart

Jordana loves her cousins Sammy and Helaina

Ornaments: the temptation of "forbidden fruit" was sometimes to much for Jordana to endure.

See what I mean!

The Happy Fam!

Thank You President Bush!

2009-01-20T21:39:00.003-05:00

Inauguration Day

I read a beautiful post by "Isle Dance" today and I wanted to echo what she said. But she put it so eloquently that I'm just going to link it here. With that said, I also wanted to comment on today's events. Even if you didn't vote for Obama, which I did not, you couldn't help but be inspired by history in the making today. I was at Curves working so I wasn't able to watch the actual inauguration, but I had an interesting conversation at work that really impacted me. I had a member come in today and there was no one else in the club, so we got to talk during our entire workout together. She is a new member, so I'm still getting to know her and learn her story. We were talking about the inauguration and what her plans were for the day. While we were talking, she teared up telling me a bit about her family. Her parents were involved with the civil rights movement and her only wish was that her parents had lived to see this day! She is an African American woman who lived in Louisiana during her childhood, and endured some bitter days as she experienced firsthand, the harsh realities of racism. I felt so blessed to be able to hear her story and learn from what she has been through. As I said before, for my own personal reasons I did not vote for Obama, but I fully support him as the 44th president of the United States of America. I also feel a sense of joy for all of those who have fought so hard for the civil rights in this country, that like my friend, were able to witness their hard fought trials come to fruition on this historic day!

Here are a few quotes from Obama's address that really resonated with my spirit.

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

"To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

And this is my favorite quote:

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

Jason was at home today and he and Jordana were able to watch all of the news coverage at home. Here is a quick video of Jordana's reaction to the new Prez!

While We Were Away...

2009-01-14T17:06:00.010-05:00

... The Pup Got to Play!

A huge thanks goes out to my Mom and Dad who took care of our other baby while we were traveling! When we went up to my parents at Thanksgiving, they graciously agreed to take care of Cash for us for a whole month. Because we were traveling so much during December, we were only going to be home a total of about 10 days the entire month. So we left Cash in Ohio after Thanksgiving and picked him back up at Christmas when we came home for the holiday! Cash loves going to "Grandma" and "Grandpa's" and he has a whole lot of fun playing with his "cousins" Murphy (my parent's Golden-Doodle) and Target (my parent's Jack Russel)! Plus he LOVES the snow, so lets just say he was in heaven! The only problem is that Cash is a bit of a crazy dog when he's at my parents, and has a huge issue with barking like crazy. He's not usually a dog that barks a ton, so we have no idea why he does this when he's visiting at my parents. I think a month may have been a bit to long of a stay to keep on my Mom and Dad's good side, hee, hee! I know they love their grand-dog, but I know they are equally as happy to have their peace and quiet back! So thanks again Mom and Dad for taking care of our other baby!

Deleriously Happy

2008-12-22T23:57:00.000-05:00

While we were on vacation, we discovered something quite funny. When Jordana gets insanely tired, she is hilarious. When we're home, Jordana usually has a pretty predictable routine. She gets an afternoon nap and then is usually to bed by a reasonable hour. But while we were on vacation, routine pretty much flew out the window. Most days her naps consisted of a quick snooze in the car driving from here to there. And then there was bedtime. We were out and about most nights until 10:00 or 11:00 pm so she usually went to bed around midnight. We discovered 2 important facts from this schedule. One: we have a VERY flexible baby and are so incredibly blessed by this fact. And Two: Jordana gets "punchdrunk" when she's exhausted. Oh my goodness, it was so funny to watch her when she hit this point of exhaustion. She hardly fussed or whined when she was tired, she just got crazy funny! If we were in the hotel room, she would run around and then just bang into things and laugh so hard at herself. If we were in the car when this happened, she would laugh and let out these crazy screams. It was just to funny for words so I tried to capture it on video! It may be one of those "you had to be there moments" and you may want to turn down the volume during the "screaming" parts, but for the sake of posterity, here it is:

Our First Family Vacation

2008-12-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

Florida, December 2008

I'm really really behind on this blog but I didn't want to skip all of our Decmeber happenings. It was a crazy month of traveling but we had such a great time. After we returned from Cleveland for Thanksgiving we had a week at home before we headed south for our first ever McNabb Family Vacation (the first ever for just the three of us that is)! We had a package that we have been holding onto for about 4 years and it was about to expire so we figured we might as well use it or loose it. We're rookies when it comes to vacation packages, so lets just say it wasn't quite what we were expecting, but it was a learning experience none-the-less and we had fun. This picture (if you can read it) is of a sign that was in our room in Ft. Lauderdale. Let's just say that wasn't a good omen for our time here! I'm writing this blog about a month after the experience so it's a lot easier to look back and laugh now, although at the time, it wasn't quite as funny! We had 2 nights in Ft. Lauderdale at a very "interesting" hotel, a 2 night cruise to the Bahamas and 3 nights in Orlando with free tickets to Universal Studio.

Ft. Lauderdale wasn't really our cup of tea, and it was a bit colored by the whole "timeshare" sales routine, but we were really looking forward to the cruise. Now we've never been on a cruise before, so we had nothing to compare it to, but lets just say that other people on the boat were not so happy with the accomodations. The Regal Empress is the oldest cruise ship in operation today and there was a "lovely" smell about the boat. Some people may call it a musty/moldy smell, but I prefered to think of it as the boat's "history", hee, hee!! But like I said we had no prior experiences to compare it to, so we had a good time and just decided to stay positive. In our book, it's always nice to get out of the US and experience another culture even if it is only the Bahamas. And we didn't get motion sickness so that was a huge plus for us! Then it was back up to Orlando and Universal Studios. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Orlando and Univeral Studios and we found the most wonderful little town I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. Celebration Florida is the quaintest, sweetest town I've ever been to. Now Jason didn't quite share my enthusiasm for Celebration, but he did humor me and we went to visit the town 2 nights in a row. If we ever had to live in Florida, you would definitely find me in Celebration. I mean come on, any town that plays Christmas music over loud speakers in the downtown during the month of December gets an A+ in my book. We enjoyed dinner at a local bar and grill and had tea and desserts at Sherlocks, the local tea house. We spent a whole day at Univeral Studios and had a great time there as well. They have their own version of the Macy's Parade and Jordana loved looking at all of the floats. Another highlight of our trip was that on the way to and from Florida we spent the night in Atlanta with Jason's Uncle Glen and Aunt Marilyn. What a wonderful time it was to be with family and Cyndi and David and the kids came and hung out as well. We hadn't seen this side of the family in quite some time so it was a huge bonus for us! Thanks to you all for having us. It was the nicest accomodations of the trip, hee, hee!!

All in all we had a wonderful time and it was so fun actually taking a vacation where you're not just visiting each side of the family. Not that we don't love our families, but ususally our vacation time is spent visiting at one of their homes. So it was fun to feel a sense of adventure as we took off on our own to explore and make memories with just the three of us! Enjoy these pics from our time away!

Beach time with Daddy
."Sour Lips" on the beach

Ft. Lauderdale

I do love the Florida beaches!

The Bahamas

Palm tree in the Bahamas

Jason loves flowers and snapped quite a few picts of them

More flower Pics

This was at the Lego store in Downtown Disney. How cool would a Lego set like this be!

Main Street USA at Universal Studios

Hanging with the family. Us, Cyndi, David, their son Nathan, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Glen