Usually, I love Christmas, winter, and all of the festivities therein, but since my grandma passed away last December and since I didn't get to see my family for Christmas this year, I just wasn't feeling it. We did, however, get to spend Christmas with some of Aaron's family in Richmond and that was enjoyable. It's always nice to reconnect. Aaron's brother and his fiancee will be here Saturday to spend the weekend with us. That will be fun, too. I'm excited to see them (Ryan & Stacy, if you're reading this, I'm really excited to see you both!!), but I'm just not in the holiday spirit. I'm ready to box up the decorations, ditch the tree in the woods, and optimistically plan warm weather activities. Come on, spring!
I'm hosting a "lunch and learn" Liberty chapter meeting for IDS on January 21st at Ferguson Enterprises (where I work). Guess who the featured speaker is! =) Not too shabby! I just remembered I need to pay my dues... haha.
Aaron and I watched "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" tonight (for free!). I loved it! I didn't watch the first movie, so I had a hard time following the beginning of the movie, but I eventually caught on to his personality. The cinematography was so cool! I loved the ending, but I don't want to spoil it. It was a really clean movie. I don't recall a single swear word and there was only one "nude" scene... of a fat, ugly man... no one was stumbling from that lol.
A few weeks ago, I found a bedding set I really liked at Macy's, but it was roughly $200. Earlier this week, I saw almost the exact same set at Ross for $31. Heck yes. Bedroom makeover for $160. The best part is that this quilt is machine washable, unlike the one we had before (that was always covered in dog hair). Decorating tip: don't make assumptions about discount stores (Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Goodwill, etc.) being grungy. Sometimes you can find really cool stuff and you can buy more of it because it's so much cheaper.
Funny story!! Last night, Aaron and I were hanging some pictures in our room. Right when I laid down, I noticed a stink bug crawling up the wall, so I asked Aaron to kill it. Poor guy. He didn't want to squish it, so he let it crawl onto the little cardboard package that the screws and anchors came in. He escorted it to the toilet and gave it a pass on the porcelain express. Well.... as he was dispatching the big, he also dropped a 3" screw into the bowl. I told him it would mess up the pipe if he didn't get it out. Aaron is a total germ-a-phobe. But he finally, begrudgingly shoved his bare hand into the cold, scary toilet water to retrieve the screw. Only (this is where it gets really funny), he got it jammed even worse! So he had his hand down the toilet for at least 15 minutes, all the while he exclaimed about how gross it was. By the way, this happened after midnight. Love him!! =)
-Jen
Good night.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Family Planning
Today, we scheduled an appointment with an Endometriosis specialist in Charlottesville.That initial visit will be January 23rd. I'm having mixed feelings about this. It's been out of our grasp for such a long time (3 years) and there has been so much heartache, anxiety, jealousy, depression, and disappointment involved... I feel like I'm used to it. That's life. That's what we've known for years. But most of all, I'm most afraid we'll get that definitive "no". I know "no" is the answer... it would have happened by now if it was going to happen naturally. But there's always that minuscule, minute, one-billionth of a chance that gives us some hope. And I'm afraid a doctor is going to take away what little hope we have left. On the contrary, I can look at the optimistic side: we've been very blessed to have amazing health insurance in 2012 (through my employer) that will finally cover this. There might be a simple solution to our "problem" after all. I don't want to get my hopes up though. The higher they go, the harder I'll fall if we get bad news. So anyway, the next few months might hold loads of trips to Charlottesville, surgery, harsh medications, etc. It would all be well worth it though if we can have a family. And, best of all, even if we are still unable to have kids, I'll finally get some relief from my condition.
Some people have also asked me where we stand on IVF. The answer to that question is simply that IVF is not the right choice for Aaron and me. We have our reasons for it (moral, medical, ethical, financial). One of the reasons is financial. IVF costs $20,000/cycle. It also has a very low success rate, especially on the first try. So, essentially, in 4 months time, a couple could spend $80,000 and still not get pregnant. Unless I have a millionaire uncle I don't know about pass away and leave me his money, there's absolutely no way we could afford even one round. We would rather spend what money we do have on adoption (if we are unable to have kids of our own). I certainly didn't mean for any of that to insult anyone who has different views on the topic. This is my blog and my opinion.
Old Blog Link
I figured... we're entering a new year... so I'd make a new blog. This new blog is going to be written on by both Aaron and me. We're also both deleting our facebook accounts on 01/01/12, so there will likely be new posts more often. You can still visit our old blog here.
-Jen
-Jen
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Change of Plans
It looks like 2012 could be a very exciting year for us, which would be a pleasant change.
Let me emphasize that we had the next year mapped out. Aaron is up for a promotion at work and I should be eligible for a raise in a few months. We were going to buy a new car early in the year. We were going to sell our townhouse and buy a single family home in the spring. We were going to start a family. We were looking at the adoption process and weighing our options there and we were finally (after three years!) going to be able to afford a reproductive endocrinologist (infertility doctor). Yes, our plans for 2012 were ambitious.
But God had other plans.
Coming up on five years ago, Aaron graduated from Liberty with his BS in commercial aviation. He knew before he graduated that he did not want to become a pilot. He couldn't find other jobs in the aviation industry that didn't require certifications and skills that he didn't have. He eventually gave up on that dream. He fought and struggled with himself over what he should do with his life... for years. We both even got to the point that we figured that must be all God has in store for him. (In reality, it was us being lazy and wanting God to drop endless opportunities in our laps.) Meanwhile, he was working on his master's degree in business in hopes that it would bring him more career prospects. Some of you may never have even known what a difficult time he was having with this serious identity crisis and constant inner struggle. Aaron is good at putting on a happy face and pretending everything is fine. It's rough to see a grown man in that kind of struggle, especially when you're doing all you can to help and it's getting him nowhere.
Recently, God reawakened this passion for aviation in Aaron. He has two careers in mind, both of which he is diligently pursuing and sorting out. First, he is interested in air traffic control. Of the two careers, this is definitely the more difficult to break into just because opportunities do not come around as often. Second, he is interested in aircraft maintenance, specifically in becoming an A&P. He has been getting information on both career paths and their requirements. He has already talked to people from two A&P schools (and gotten preliminarily accepted into one). He has also talked to a friend he went to college with who is now an ATC and to his former flight instructor.
Please pray for him over the next several months as he will be deciding which career to fully pursue, the specifics involved, and for potential career opportunities. This is an exciting time in life for both of us. It is exciting to see my husband this excited about something again! Life is not going to turn out the way we planned... which is no big surprise because our plans always seem to go awry (lol). But I really want us to be where God wants us to be.
I am so thankful that God gives people specific passions and desires and that God fits certain people together through friendships, families, and marriages. I am thankful that His plans are so much better than anything we could scheme or settle for. I am thankful that He shares that plan with us bits at a time and sometimes through strange means. I believe that God puts everyone on earth for a purpose. Many people die never knowing their purpose, but through their life, touch the lives of many. It's not necessarily through a job that this happens, but through opportunities that may present themselves through a job. We both want to go on missions trips and travel and share God's love with others and this would lead to phenomenal opportunities.
Thanks for reading,
Jennifer
Let me emphasize that we had the next year mapped out. Aaron is up for a promotion at work and I should be eligible for a raise in a few months. We were going to buy a new car early in the year. We were going to sell our townhouse and buy a single family home in the spring. We were going to start a family. We were looking at the adoption process and weighing our options there and we were finally (after three years!) going to be able to afford a reproductive endocrinologist (infertility doctor). Yes, our plans for 2012 were ambitious.
But God had other plans.
Coming up on five years ago, Aaron graduated from Liberty with his BS in commercial aviation. He knew before he graduated that he did not want to become a pilot. He couldn't find other jobs in the aviation industry that didn't require certifications and skills that he didn't have. He eventually gave up on that dream. He fought and struggled with himself over what he should do with his life... for years. We both even got to the point that we figured that must be all God has in store for him. (In reality, it was us being lazy and wanting God to drop endless opportunities in our laps.) Meanwhile, he was working on his master's degree in business in hopes that it would bring him more career prospects. Some of you may never have even known what a difficult time he was having with this serious identity crisis and constant inner struggle. Aaron is good at putting on a happy face and pretending everything is fine. It's rough to see a grown man in that kind of struggle, especially when you're doing all you can to help and it's getting him nowhere.
Recently, God reawakened this passion for aviation in Aaron. He has two careers in mind, both of which he is diligently pursuing and sorting out. First, he is interested in air traffic control. Of the two careers, this is definitely the more difficult to break into just because opportunities do not come around as often. Second, he is interested in aircraft maintenance, specifically in becoming an A&P. He has been getting information on both career paths and their requirements. He has already talked to people from two A&P schools (and gotten preliminarily accepted into one). He has also talked to a friend he went to college with who is now an ATC and to his former flight instructor.
Please pray for him over the next several months as he will be deciding which career to fully pursue, the specifics involved, and for potential career opportunities. This is an exciting time in life for both of us. It is exciting to see my husband this excited about something again! Life is not going to turn out the way we planned... which is no big surprise because our plans always seem to go awry (lol). But I really want us to be where God wants us to be.
I am so thankful that God gives people specific passions and desires and that God fits certain people together through friendships, families, and marriages. I am thankful that His plans are so much better than anything we could scheme or settle for. I am thankful that He shares that plan with us bits at a time and sometimes through strange means. I believe that God puts everyone on earth for a purpose. Many people die never knowing their purpose, but through their life, touch the lives of many. It's not necessarily through a job that this happens, but through opportunities that may present themselves through a job. We both want to go on missions trips and travel and share God's love with others and this would lead to phenomenal opportunities.
Thanks for reading,
Jennifer
New Blog
Hello Readers,
First of all, thank you for taking time out of your day to let us share with you these moments of our lives! We both work full-time and have very busy lives, so we do not have enough time in our days to call or e-mail everyone we would like to talk to. We understand that communication is a two way street and blogs are one sided, but at least you will know what is going on in our lives.
Second, we want to let you know that we are shutting down our old blog, "Life with the Jensens." For the past several months, we have not actively updated it and we didn't feel that very much of our life was interesting enough to be written about or to be read about by others. Many (ok most) of you are unfamiliar with that blog anyway. This blog is a fresh start.
Third, we will not be using Facebook actively anymore. For now, we will keep our accounts active, but that could very well change. Instead of posting news on Facebook, we will post it here. Some posts will be written by Jennifer, some by Aaron.
We have a lot of big changes ahead as we enter our 5th year of marriage in a few months. (We're very excited about that! We can't believe it's been 5 years!) We will try to only post important/interesting information on here. No "going to the store" or "watching The Office" types of posts here. ;) We don't want to waste anyone's time, least of all our own.
If you would like to stay updated on where life is taking us, please "follow" our blog.
Thanks,
Aaron and Jen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)