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About Me

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Ryan and I began our journey together over 9 years ago, when we began dating. We became life partners in August of 2004, and this past fall we welcomed a baby into our family. Topher Van Sol was born Oct. 3, 2009. We have two wonderful dogs that bring joy everyday and are getting used to this attention stealer! I am a counselor in training, and Ryan is an Educational Assistant at a residential treatment center. He is also working on his MSW. We live to serve and love. We are blessed my our friendships and family.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The whirl of emotions...

And I am not just talking about my pregnancy hormones!

I am now 28 weeks pregnant and feeling very large and not at all in charge! As I enter into the last trimester of my pregnancy, Ryan and I are entering into a completely new phase of life... homeowners! If all goes as it is supposed to, then this afternoon, Ryan and I will close on our first home. We have been house-hunting since the spring and found the cutest, littlest, sweetest starter home for this little family of 3. We are so excited and nervous and every emotion in between.

The joy of looking at possible real estate sometimes changed to puking in the front yard because of the garbage + morning sickness experiences! The excitement of finding a home that would work, only to find that it is bank owned and the possibility of getting it would take months! And then finally, finding the perfect little home and the stress of gathering ALL our money for down payments and closing costs and moving, and the fear of doing the 'right' thing. There were moments of wanting to give up, moments of excitement and joy, and then paralyzing fear.

I am honestly awed at the support we have around us and the prayer that has been and that will be offered about us and this choice. I know that becoming a parent is going to be the biggest change in my life, but today, becoming a homeowner is coming in a close second.

Hopefully, tonight I will post pictures of my new home.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

A little of this and a little of that...

It has been a while since the last post and that is completely my fault. It has been a little crazy. With school ending and summer school beginning, buying a house, celebrating Chris' graduation, work, and registering for baby stuff, my summer has been completely crammed, and it's ONLY JUNE!

The semester finished wonderfully! I was super stressed about my Statistics class, but made it through! This semester was filled with learning about Group counseling and Career counseling, and of course Stats. I was able to complete my classes with good grades, despite the fact that starting the semester with the news of a pregnancy made it hard to concentrate sometimes. I even got "outed" in one of my classes about my pregnancy. My teacher sensed my stress and when she asked, my friend said to everyone, "Well, yeah she's stressed, she's pregnant!" It was a hoot!

But nonetheless, the semester came to a close and I began my summer class the following week. I took Ethics online and finished in about 2 weeks. It was so quickly paced that I can't believe I was able to read an entire text book that quickly. But I did it! So, now I can concentrate on my family and me for the next few months.

We had a wonderful time with Ryan's family as we watched Chris run his last High school track meet here in ABQ. It was the State meet and he did wonderfully. He placed in two events... and I should be able to recall what they are... but like I said, I just finished an entire class in 2 weeks! :-) We also got to celebrate Chris' graduation with a trip to Colorado. Ryan, Alan, Stanna, Chris, Baby and I traveled to Denver to watch The Rapids (MLS) play. It was pretty fun for being futbol! We spent time in Colorado Springs site seeing and hanging out. We drove up Pike's Peak, and although it was beautiful, Baby and I did not enjoy the altitude change. Nothing has ever happened to me before when at high altitudes, but this time, I couldn't catch my breathe and I felt pretty dizzy. I want to go back after I can reclaim my body and see how I react! Other then seeing the sites, it was nice to eat together and visit and even to watch some of the basketball championships and just be together. I sure am going to miss Chris when he travels to the Naval Academy this summer for college. But, don't tell him I said so!

I have also been super blessed by friends and family who have offered to throw Ryan and I some baby showers this summer. We are planning on heading to Lubbock this month and then to El Paso in July. But the best and worst part about this, is registering. YIKS is all I have to say! Ryan and I were released into this huge store of baby stuff and all we could think is, "Where's our mommas!?" We probably spent 20 minutes looking at strollers, just scratching our heads. Luckily, I have amazing friends who sent me lists and lists of what they considered MUST-HAVES, and boy, was it helpful! It was like having 20 of my friends there saying "Get this, not that!"

So, all in all summer has begun and we are excited about it. We are looking forward to getting our house together (another blog about that another time) and spending time with friends and family. I am not looking forward to growing in the heat, but am very much enjoying feeling my baby move and grow.