Oh God, How I Need You

This post is going to be very candid and I'm not going to censor myself because I just can't do that anymore. I'm exhausted with holding in things I need to release. So read this with an open heart and mind as I give a look into a window of my struggle with faith. I'm not going to edit this. I'm not going to change anything to be more eloquent. This is a rare glimpse at my heart in its rawest form, words written as they come to me.

 "For He has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy. He has not turned His back on them, but has listened to their cries for help" - Psalm 22:24

If I was asked last week if I would continue on with Christianity and faith my answer would have been no. Absolutely not. The past year of losses has been extremely hard on me and my faith. I was just beginning to trust God with my heart again when we lost Baby O. My walls instantly built themselves back up, my heart was turned to stone against Him. I would be laying in bed at night, saying prayers to Jesus with Rocket Baby and struggle with teaching him such bullshit. That's what my faith had become. Bullshit.

We are great people, I think. We are kind and generous.  We are law abiding, we are fantastic parents. We are stable. So our losses don't add up to me. Why the heroin addict on the streets can pop kids out like tic tacs and we struggle...it's still a sore spot in my heart. So much so that I actually questioned how strong my desire to raise Rocket Baby in the church was. I began to abandon all hopes of restoring my commitments to God and myself and my family.

We had a night last week where I can comfortably say I hit bottom. I could tell that I had reached my lowest point and I had to decide if I was going to stay on a destructive broken path or if I was going to let God in and heal. I evaluated myself and my life, who I am and who I desire to be. I evaluated my morals. It's in that broken, bottom of the barrel moment that I realized God's promises are not bullshit. He did not put me on this earth to kick my while I was already down o to watch me slowly self destruct. He just didn't.

The bible says God is the same. All day, everyday. Nothing about Him has changed since the beginning of time. His love for me is strong. I don't know why we had to lose Angel Baby and I'll never understand why we had to give up Baby O either. It hurts. I miss them both. I miss who they could have been with us and my heart aches to hold them and love them the way I've held and loved our darling Rocket. In all the confusion and all of the hurt and all of the why's, I feel myself trusting God again. Trusting His word and trusting His desires for me. Trusting His plans. I'll never understand them, but I can learn to live with them.

Losing a baby is life changing. We are not the same people. I just don't care about the things I cared about before. Losing a baby changes your world view. Things that were once important are now so painfully mundane, but in a good way. In a way that changes everything. I'm more focused on my family and nothing else really matters. And I'm ready to start talking. I don't think Baby O would want to look down from Heaven (where I truly believe his soul rests) and see his mama so broken and hurt, so I'm doing everything in my power to change that for him and for Rocket Baby, who deserves to have as much of me back that I can give.

"Teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus, You're my hope and stay"

Tomorrow, You're Only A Day Away

It's almost here! Tomorrow is our Foster Parent orientation, and we are so excited. My sister is all lined up to watch Rocket Baby (who has his first Vacation Bible School experience in the morning) and Trevor and I are very much looking forward to this first step! At the orientation we will listen to a local case worker talk about the process and requirements and at the end we will be able to ask questions. I do know we have to complete a safety course as well as a CPR course before we can get our license, then we wait!

I have a ton of questions I want to ask, but the most specific is the extent of our parental rights. Will we be able to make decisions on things that are important to us? Will I be able to nurse? Things like that. Breast feeding is definitely the most important thing to me since Rocket Baby nursed for 28 months and I would love to have that same relationship with our future child.

A lot of people have asked if we would like a boy or a girl, or if we care about ethnicity. We have chosen to keep our options as open as possible, with only one possible restriction that I am choosing not to share here. I'm not so secretly hoping we end up with a beautiful Mexican girl (I'm part Mexican), but would be thrilled to add any child to our family. We are so ready to love another little. I have baby carriers ready to snuggle and a 2.5 yr old tot isn't always the best snuggle buddy.

In the meantime, we are still taking financial donations. Foster To Adopt *can* be free, but we aren't sure if our case will be that way and want to be prepared. Any money left over will be donated to other families working through the adoption process, as we are excited to join in the adoption community as a whole and would love to support them. If you would like to donate to us, you can do that here. And since I haven't shared any photos here recently and words get boring, I'll add some updated photos of us and Rocket Baby. Enjoy!

Thoughts

I told Trevor today how glad I am to never be pregnant again. We decided at the beginning of my pregnancy with Baby O that we were not doing it again. It completely messes with our family dynamic. I spend the majority of my pregnancies hovered over the toilet, our house gets destroyed, and Rocket Baby is parented by the tv. It just isn't worth it for our family. It isn't worth the risk or the heartache.

I hear so often of women who know they're done having kids feeling a bit sad that they've come to the end of their birthing years, but I could not be more excited that this chapter is over for us. I don't get emotional about it at all. And maybe those things will come one day, but for now I have non existent feelings on the matter.

What I am excited for is adoption. Just thinking about our Foster To Adopt process brings a smile to my face. I cannot wait to get this ball rolling. I cannot wait for our child who is created for us. Our orientation to become foster parents isn't until July 15th and I really wish it was tomorrow. Or yesterday. Or last week! I've already started communicating with other foster to adopt moms and I feel like I'm entering into a special community of parenthood. One I'm very excited for.





If you'd like to donate financially to our adoption, click here!

Abundant Blessings

I apologize in advance for any typos, as I'm writing this post from my phone. I just couldn't wait to get to a computer to write about this amazing day filled with blessings!

It started a few days ago when we received some amazing donations for our fundraising garage sale. The items we received are amazing! Some of these things I can't believe anyone was willing to donate and not sell themselves. If that wasn't enough this morning i woke up to find a friend in the Babywearing community bid on an auction I had going, won, and told me to keep my wrap for our future baby. Instant tears. Rocket Baby thought I was nuts and was disappointed I had delayed our game of Super Mario.

We had a great day at the park with another friend and it was so nice being out with someone who wasn't afraid to be around me. It's been almost 6 weeks since Baby O left us and I still find it hard to be around people. A lot of the times I can tell when they're feeling awkward around me or they say intrusive things. I dont mind talking about Baby O and would prefer if people gently asked questions to get it all out there. It's much better then feeling out of place and like I'm a freak of some sort. Since that's not what this post is about, I will repeat that it was wonderful being with a friend who treated me like normal.

I can feel my faith being restored. It's so odd. I was expecting it to be a slow turn back to my faith, but when God is so blatantly pulling for you, tugging at your heart, it's hard to ignore. He is fighting for me. He isn't sitting by waiting for me to come around, He is fighting for me. I can feel it. M important enough to fight for. My husband, our sons. We are important enough to fight for. What an honor to know the Lord is hard at work for our faith in Him. And I cannot wait to see what comes of our story, of our loss.

Baby O And Moving Forward

A large part of our adoption journey centers around pregnancy loss. We have had three. The first was four years ago before Rocket Baby, an undetected molar pregnancy I carried for eighteen weeks. The second was just this past October, we found out at fifteen weeks that Angel Baby passed at twelve weeks. The most recent was Baby O.

I knew something was off, but I was also convinced that it wouldn't be serious. Or maybe it would be serious, but not life threateningly serious. Maybe amniotic bands (which a friend in the baby wearing community is dealing with, though for now all looks good), or maybe our baby would have needed a surgery after being born or would have just come early. I was a bit scared I would end up in the hospital trying to hold onto our baby just long enough for survival, but I really wasn't overly concerned.

I had called my ob the Friday before we went camping with friends, our first camping trip as a family of three. I had been cramping and was a touch concerned. My ob was out but my previous ob said it sounded like dehydration and drinking would help, which it did. I didn't even bother telling my husband the ob told me to take it easy because I didn't want to ruin our first camping trip, which thankfully isn't relevant to Baby O's loss. Camping was fun, I was enjoying it and Rocket Baby was thrilled to have endless outdoor time, but the cramping continued. It got worse when I moved around too much and eventually I started spotting. Trevor and one of our dear friends assured me everything would be alright and I just took it easy and relied on Trevor to help chase Rocket.

We ended up leaving early because the spotting wasn't stopping and whenever I moved the cramping got worse. I honestly wasn't expecting bad news. I wasn't expecting to have our world rocked for the third time in our near seven years of marriage. You just cannot be prepared to hear your child, your sweet baby you've felt moving inside of you no longer has life. When it takes a trained ultrasound technician longer then a few seconds to find a heartbeat, nerves take over. At a certain point, I just knew. Trevor knew. He saw them use the thermal portion of the machine. He saw that our baby had no color.

We aren't exactly sure when Baby O passed, but based on his weight it was likely between sixteen and eighteen weeks. I had just heard his heartbeat four weeks prior. Losing a baby at twenty weeks is rough. I want to be vulnerable with everyone and share our experience for the sake of understanding our decision to adopt, but there is something so devastatingly special about his birth, I'm not sure I can share it with anyone that isn't family and since they have yet to hear the details, now five weeks later, I don't think it's fair to share it here with the world. I don't know if I'll ever share it, it means to much to me.

We knew at the beginning of this pregnancy we weren't going to do it again. Baby O was meant to be our second miracle baby, as we now realize what a true miracle Rocket Baby is. His feisty spirit likely helped him survive to birth. We also knew that adoption was always on our radar. We both wanted at least four kids (although I will always push for five+) and we knew we wanted to add kids that weren't created from us, but were created for us.

Today I made our appointment to attend a Foster To Adopt orientation. I'm scared, I'm anxious, but I'm so excited. We both are. Scared because it's still a possibility a foster to adopt baby would be taken away. Anxious because we are so ready to expand our family and love another child, and excited at the possibilities of it all. We did look at private adoption agencies with plans on fundraising and accepting donations, but the costs were so daunting I was getting discouraged.

Private adoption agencies seem less risky then foster to adopt. It seems less likely that a birth mother will change her mind. Talking to some of my friends helped me realize that no matter what, there will be risks, and foster to adopt is truly where my heart has been all along. So we are taking a giant leap of faith and following our hearts and hoping for the best.

In the meantime we are still going to be fundraising and taking donations. We are planning a garage sale in the coming weeks and also have a GoFundMe set up to reach our Foster To Adopt goal of $4000. If we raise more then the amount needed for this adoption, we will save it for future adoptions. If we choose to keep our family a family of four, any extra funds will be donated to other families to help them expand their own families.

My relationship with God is hanging by a thread, but I'm holding on. I'm holding onto His promises and I'm believing He truly cares about our desire to grow our family. Somewhere a child is being designed for us. A birth mother is making tough decisions. She will chose to trust us to love her child because she loves her child enough to let them go. My heart is already so in love with this unknown baby. So bursting with joy at what the future holds for all of us. We have been chosen to join a throng of people lucky enough to be entrusted with a child they did not birth, and I'm honored to enter into this community.

A For Adventure - Adventures In Adoption

I figured now was as good a time as any to dust off the ol' blog. As much as I love writing, I just haven't had the time, patience, or resources to do so. A lot has happened since my last post. My husband and I have lost two pregnancies. One at 15 weeks in October 2012, and one more recently at 20 weeks, just a few weeks ago. In total we have three children, although two we wont get to hold until we meet again in Heaven.

This blog is now going to serve a bigger purpose. To keep those interested in our adoption process in the loop. We have no plans on ever trying to have kids of our own again. We feel strongly that God is pulling us in the direction of adoption, to what capacity we are unsure of. But we're ready. We've been ready. Although our faith is on shaky ground, we are once again choosing to trust God's plans for our lives. We are choosing to believe that our heartache will serve a divine purpose. We are choosing to believe that we will have more children.

Adoption has always been on our radar, although I do admit it was a distant plan. Now everything is so real. Research is happening and plans are being made. I don't think I've ever requested more information on any particular topic in my life. And all the information out there is so overwhelming, but exciting at the same time. Things are getting real around here and we will anxiously await the arrival of our new little one.

Rocket Baby's 3 Part Tutorial On Preventing Mom From Cleaning

Important lessons on keeping your toys all over the place. Because having them put away is inconvenient to our plots for mass destruction.

1) get ridiculously upset when she starts picking up blocks. So upset that it irritates your already sore throat and you break out into a nasty coughing fit. The added sympathy of being sick works well in your favor.

2) escalade from just generally being upset to full blown crocodile tears. At this point the sore throat has now caused you to become raspy/lose your voice. Put on your most pathetic face and get ready for the final step.

3) decide you need to nurse for 30minutes. It's also imperative you don't bother your mom too much or she will threaten to take your milk away. Apparently being repeatedly smacked in the face makes her cranky.

Congratulations. You have now wasted an hour of her time.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sneaky Treats - Rocket Chocolate Hummus

I can't be the only parent dealing with an extremely picky eater. I vaguely remember when Rocket Baby would eat anything we put in front of him, now he rarely strays from his (limited) favorites.

In a sneaky attempt to get better nutrients in him, I have been adding veggies, chia seeds, or hemp to his foods. It's worked for the most part, but even my best green smoothie recipes are currently failing.

I'm pulling out all the stops. Insert Rocket Chocolate Hummus. In all honesty I was convinced I created a brand new recipe until google crushed my dreams. In any regard I did create this recipe on my own, without any outside resources.

In all of its delicious glory, it can be used for just about anything! Today we used it as a fruit dip. It's the consistency of pudding and I must say I'm excited to try it with a little dairy free whipped cream! It can also easily be spread on toast or make yourself a nut butter and Rocket Chocolate Hummus sandwich! I promise it won't disappoint.




You will need ^^^ these ingredients and a food processor, I used my Ninja Food Prep.
*drain and rinse 1 can of garbanzo beans, dry, and place in food processor
*add 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
*add 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup
*add 1TBS of chia seeds
*add 1tsp of vanilla extract
*add a splash of coconut milk (add in more until you get a desired consistency with blending).
*blend and serve, store in refrigerator.




It's that easy! It took me 3 minutes to make this and it really is a tasty treat. Hope your little ones (and you!) enjoy.

Rocket Baby Fashion

Our Darling Rocket has been getting a lot of compliments on his infinity scarf, so I figured I'd write a quick post with a link to one of my favorite shops.




Trevor's cousin owns a great little shop called freeFALLEN. She has made so many cute things for Rocket Baby as well as all of his cousins and even some friends! We love everything we've gotten from her and highly recommend you check her out

Xoxo -
Jasmine

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A For Adventure : Adventures In Parenting

A For Adventure was originally intended as a series to write about the outings Rocket Baby and I enjoy together. To be honest it's probably the only thing I have going for this blog that sets us apart. As Trevor and I enter into a new adventure in parenting, I thought that a parenting specific edition would be fun and hopefully inspiring to other parents.

On December 2nd, our darling Rocket turned 2. I knew when I was pregnant that there was something truly special about this boy of ours. Aside from the way he healed our hearts after a pregnancy loss, or the way his name came to be, I just knew there was something else.

Rocket Baby has always been spirited, sensitive, and particular in nature. So much so that I wrote out an extensive list of his behaviors to discuss with his Dr. I honestly believed he may have a high functioning form of Asperger's. After discussing my concerns his Dr very confidently told me he does not believe Rocket Baby has Asperger's, but he is highly sensitive. Well, duh! I knew that! I just didn't know this was something Dr's actually "diagnosed". I assumed a diagnosis would be Asperger's.

I'm so thankful that Trevor and I have chosen a path of peaceful parenting. We do not hit or spank, we take Rocket Baby's feelings into consideration and we've always tried to accommodate his sensitive spirit. Over the past 6 weeks, after suffering another pregnancy loss, Rocket Baby's behavior took a major turn. He was very, very aware of what was going on, although at not even 2 he certainly didn't understand. He has been hitting, spitting, throwing things, and not responding well to any forms of peaceful discipline we have tried. Yes some of this stuff can be chalked up to him being a toddler, but unless you have a highly sensitive child, it's a bit hard to understand.

We try our best to be patient, kind, and respectful. These are all things I want our son to know well. It's so hard to do when you're basically at your wits end trying to redirect negative behaviors. I belong to a Babywearing group with some seriously awesome mothers and I saw someone recommend The Highly Sensitive Child by Elaine Aron. After visiting amazon and taking the short quiz determining if your child is HS, I knew I needed this book. I knew I needed it even more when his Dr said he is definitely HS. So today we stopped at Barnes and Noble and picked up a copy. I'm so anxious to dive in and will be doing a book review and my first giveaway after completing this book.

In the meantime, if you believe you may have a HSC, I would encourage you to take the short quiz and educate yourself on the best ways to parent a HSC. I truly believe God gives us kids to grow us and shape is into better people. Rocket Baby has taught me so much patience and understanding. I would not be the person I am without him and above all else, I want to parent him the way he deserves. The way he needs me to parent.

One last thing. If your child is highly sensitive, you are not alone!

Simplifying Gift Giving

So I'm sure most of you have hear the cute little rhyme that has been circulating for a few years. The basic premise is to simplify gift giving.

• Something you want
• Something you need
• Something to wear
• Something to read

I've decided to adapt this into our own family dynamic. I want Rocket Baby to grow up being appreciative of the things he has. I want him to be gracious and kind and generous. Teaching those qualities begins early and a perfect time to teach this is during the holidays. 

I remember growing up and having the best Christmas mornings imaginable. Tons of presents, wrapping paper and bows and ribbons littering the living room, and a barrage of new games and toys to occupy us ll day long. And while those memories are fantastic and I treasure them, I also think they set my siblings and I up for disappointment as adults. Christmas isn't as epic as it was when we were kids. Now we have bills and families and practical expenses that don't make it easy to splurge and go all out. 

I believe that this season is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, whom we believe to be our Lord and Saviour. There is so much focus on getting that the reasons for giving are lost in translation. I believe we give to reflect Christlikeness. To celebrate a birth of a Saviour. Giving shouldn't come with conditions, long lists, and frustration. Giving shouldn't be stressful. It shouldn't give you a headache. It should come from a pure heart and be received with gratitude and grace. 

For me the idea of simplifying Christmas is to grow Rocket Baby to know and understand that we celebrate to honor Jesus. Our pastor mentioned two Sundays ago that we are blessed to be a blessing to others. This is especially true suing the holidays. I want things like volunteering and giving to others to be commonplace for Rocket Baby. I want him to look forward to helping out at the local shelter then to open a ridiculous amount of gifts he really doesn't need. 

Want. Need. Wear. Read. Four things. The most important gift we can give him is a humble heart and a eagerness to do good things. 

Seasons

Again, this poor neglected blog!! We have been walking through such a crazy season in life. It escaped my mind that this thing even existed. I'm hoping to get back on track in several ways.

1 ~ I think people probably get annoyed with how much I talk about Rocket Baby on my Facebook page. I'm going to start doing an update on how awesome he is and brag, brag, brag. I love this sweet baby of mine and life with him is an adventure.

2 ~ I still love the idea I had behind A For Adventure and I want to keep up with that and explore the great NW with my darling Rocket.

And 3 ~ To write away emotions. Like I said, this season for us has been crazy. We recently lost a pregnancy. I was 15 weeks along. This is the second pregnancy I've lost in 4 years. One thing I've learned is how amazingly supportive my community of friend and family are, but I have also learned that others are not always so blessed. In a loss like this it's easy to feel alone or like you are a burden to others and that simply isn't true. Unfortunately these types of losses are far too common and I'm passionate about normalizing the discussion of it.

So there you have it. A short and sweet and real update

Words Of Affirmation - Uplifting Our Children

We have all had bad days as parents. You know the day. When your child wakes before the birds, thinks naps are for the weak, tantrums galore....you know. This was our day today. We hit a point where I wanted to cry right along with Rocket Baby. I decided to do something else instead.

Our toddlers don't always have the ability to communicate with us. They can't tell us their needs or wants. Today reminded me of this. Crying wasn't going to help the situation. Instead I started talking to him.

"I know you aren't feeling well today, buddy"

"It's ok to be cranky. Everyone has cranky days"

"This day has been hard, but I want you to know Mama loves you very much and God loves you even more"

It just dawned on me how much I want positive words to influence my child. I've overhead and even read people calling their children names like "asshole" or "little shits". These aren't words I ever want my son to associate himself with. Sure these words aren't always spoken in the presence of the child and it's often said as a joke.

I don't get the joke.

We all vent and release angry and frustration in different ways, but I don't ever want to be someone who chooses to release my issues on my child. I know I'll slip up. I know I'll fall short but it's so important to try my hardest. To do my best.

It's become second nature for me to tell Rocket Baby how much I love him, how special he is and how awesome he makes life, daily. Our kids will be teased and picked on and see so much negative in the outside world, we don't need to bring that home. And I know we all love our children immensely. This is in no way an attack, but hopefully an eye opener. What are you saying to your children? Are your negative words more frequent then the positive? Really pay attention to your words. I chose to be positive today and despite the bumps in the road, this day was still a blessing. Rocket Baby is still a precious gift. He deserves to be loved and nurtured not cut down and beaten up.

I encourage anyone reading this to use your words wisely! Use them for uplifting and healing and helping. Use them to nurture and love. This is important stuff. After all, kids are our future and no one wants to end up in an old folks home ;)

- Jasmine

Playing Catch Up

This very poor and neglected blog! We have been so busy that I haven't had the energy to write at the end of the day. Toddler life is crazy and Rocket baby is definitely giving us a run for our money. So between fun crafts, insane tantrums, park trips and a toddler that doesn't sleep...well, you get the picture. Sleep is actually what this post is about.

We decided months and months ago not to sleep train Rocket Baby. After several failed past attempts and growing in our abilities to make decisions on our own (pesky docs and well meaning family!) we decided to play it out and see how he does on his own. We have finally come to a head and something has to give. I've considered weaning him, which he is not ready for so we will wait. We successfully transferred him to his crib for part of the night. Then all hell broke loose.

He has never consistently slept through the night (friendly tip - from a doctors perspective sleeping through the night is 5 consecutive hours, so if you're getting that be grateful!!) and while that is the ultimate goal, we are approaching it gently. Oh, I totally lost my train of thought, thanks mom brain. So all hell broke loose by way of Rocket Baby climbing out of his crib or freaking out and throwing himself in the rails, which I assume is by accident since he throws himself during tantrums all day long.

After hearing tons about Montessori Floor Beds, I decided why the heck not? Let's give it a go. There are several moms I follow on instagram that use floor beds and many blog posts about them. The basic idea is that everything should be on your child's level. It helps them feel comfortable, safe and secure in their space. This means pictures, mirrors and any other decor at their eye level. I spent most of today working on this

Naptime started out great, but ended badly after Rocket Baby woke up screaming with a stinky diaper, which also meant no nap today and darn it this Mama is tired! Bedtime went much better. I nursed him as usual until he was sleeping. This is something I haven't done in awhile, but I knew with how upset he got during our nap attempt, he was going to need some help. So I nursed him, laid him down and he popped right up screaming. I ended up nursing him again while awkwardly lying in bed with him then I moved myself to the floor and laid there until he fell asleep and snuck out. He has been asleep for almost 2 hours as I write this! We peeked in on him sleeping and he is cuddled up into his giant lion (its kind of like an oversized pillow pet) on the floor. At some point he rolled off of his bed, but hey..he didn't wake up and that's all that matters!

Hoping tomorrow we have a better naptime experience. I'm sure a park playdate will help ensure a tired baby at 1.

-Jasmine

A For Adventure

For some strange reason, Rocket Baby has been taking two naps again (I'm blaming the fact that he wakes with the birds). Normally this throws off our day and plans have to be shuffled but yesterday it worked out well. We ended up taking him to The Starlight Parade in Portland, Or. This was a very last minute decision, we left our house at 815 and got to the parade at 845, about 15 minute after we arrived. Parking wasn't as hellish as I anticipated and we were able to find a place only two blocks from the action.

I wish we had planned a bit better since I ended up with Rocket Baby on my shoulders for quite a stretch of time, just so he could see. Staking a claim would have been an adventure in and of itself since typically people arrive hours early to get a great spot and that task with a high energy 18 month old sounds like a freaking nightmare. In all, I'm glad we braved the crowds. I don't even mind my sore neck and shoulders from holding Rocket Baby up most of the time we were there.

6 years ago on June 2nd 2006, my now husband proposed to me. Last night was also Rocket Baby's 18 month birthday. So to be standing in a crowd, watching floats and bands go by, was truly a surreal moment. Carrying my darling son with my husband by my side on a night that held great signfigance for us. I'm glad we took this adventure together. I'm so thankful Trevor sacrificed a night at home after a 10 hour work day to stand in a crowd with us. I imagine the twinkle in Rocket Baby's eyes was worth it for him. Rocket Baby has taught me so much. Life is an adventure and I'm glad I have these men in my life to enjoy it with.

 - Jasmine

And So We Begin

Writing is something that gets me by. I am by no means a genius writer, it is strictly something I enjoy doing. Sharing my thoughts. Writing away the day. This is the general premise behind this blog for myself. Ideally I can get Trevor on board to share his thoughts as well, although his posts I assume will be few and far between (especially since I have yet to mention it to him). While this venture is mostly for my family, it is also for the reader and input on topics is always welcome! Here's to hoping we all get something out of this together.

- Jasmine