Our life in years

I've heard a phrase that says "Every day is the start of a new year". When I first heard this it didn't make much sense but if you think about it for a minute it's the absolute truth.  365 days from today will be April 4th again and 365 days from tomorrow will be April 5th, a year nonetheless. Our life is changed by certain days that we celebrate or remember (depending on the case) every year and that is how we measure life. We measure our life in birthdays. We measure our education in school years. We measure our time in calendar years. We remember loved ones that are no longer with us every year on the date they passed away. We measure our marriage in anniversaries. Well you get the point.

I've been thinking about this because today is our 4 year wedding anniversary and even though at the end of 2012 I wrote a post on what we went through in that year, the "wedding anniversary measure" casts a different light on the same events. It's like a spotlight that points at a different character in the story. In the darkness of the theatre what this one light points at fills me with thankfulness, joy, humbleness, and oh so much love.

I know some men that would've probably walked this walk with as much dignity and integrity as he did, but I also know many others that would've walked away at the first sign of hardship. Not my Bruce. A couple of nights ago we were talking in bed and I thanked him for sticking by me and Evan when everything was so hard and painful he said "I cannot even fathom leaving you because our son was sick or passed away, that's something that never even crossed my mind as an option". Now I don't care how many faults this man has, this statement alone shows something far more important, it shows his heart. Bad habits can be changed, but a heart like this is worth pure gold.

This 4th year of marriage was probably one of the hardest we will ever walk through but I will always remember it as the one that showed my husband's true colors. The year that could have torn us apart but instead brought us closer together. The one God used to strengthen our love for each other and increase our admiration for each other. It wasn't an easy one but it was well worth it and I wouldn't chose anyone else to have lived it with.

Right now sitting in bed, typing these lines I am overwhelmed by love not only my Bruce's love but God's love for me that He would give me such a man for a husband... and now I look forward to what this new year will show me about him. We are writing a whole new chapter in which we live the role of parents of our sweet boy here on earth. I can't wait to fall even deeper in love with the father of my children as I see him interact, teach, and love our son as only he can. What an adventure and what good company I am in! Bring it on!

My gorgeous anniversary flowers!

Review and announcement

Time flew by and just like that 2012 was over then I blinked and February was here. I know this is not the most timely picture but this is how we made the announcement to our friends and family. It also is sort of our 2012 in review, certainly other things happened during the year or did they? It really doesn't feel like it, I mean they must have but when something such as a precious Evan and a new addition happen to you in the same year I don't think you notice much more, I didn't.

When we sent this to our friends and family some didn't quite get it so I'll clarify:

WE ARE PREGNANT AGAIN!

The picture on the left with the three hands is our hands holding our Evan's little one and the ultrasound is the sweet new member of the Coy family! Isn't he PERFECT?

We are 19 weeks and looking forward to Valentine's Day which is the day after we pass the 20 week mark and the day they scheduled my ultrasound when besides seeing our little one again we get to find out if it's a little man or a sweet lady. It cannot come fast enough, update to follow!

3 years into it... Part 2

So this is a bit overdue, I couldn't do it earlier but it's still april so it counts. Let's keep the memories coming!

In June 2010 I was hired by the Consulate, so our period of comfortable living begun. With the extra income we were able to a lot more relaxed with our spending (which we needed after being so tight in Mexico). We started looking into moving out of the apartment, into a house and buying a truck for Bruce. By the end of the year everything fell into place. We found a cute little house very close to CFA, we got Bruce a truck without going into debt and we had found out we were pregnant for the very first time.

Our first house!

The beater truck

Baby on the way!

In December my parents came over to visit, they stayed at our house during Christmas while we went to New York! That trip was kind of bittersweet because my parents were in our new house and we were away. It felt wrong but we had a good time together. When we came back we celebrated both Christmas and New Year together with my parents, it was a blessed time!

New York, New York

Celebrating!

After that one of the most difficult times of our life began. When the year started we had no idea what awaited us. On January 7th we miscarried our first baby. It was one of the most painful experiences ever. It is sweet though to remember how my husband held my hand through it all, it brought us closer together. Shortly after in March we found out we were pregnant again, it hadn't sinked in yet when we miscarried again. It was heartbreaking, it made us question God a lot and even give up on the idea of having a baby for a while. It took us a couple of months to get back on our feet and even desire to keep trying. We weren't doing anything to avoid getting pregnant but we weren't actively trying either. Not until around July I think. It didn't happen for a couple of months. In September I decided to quit working at the Consulate. At the end of the month I suspected something was a bit off so I took a HPT: negative, oh well. A week went by and I still thought something was not normal, I took another HPT: POSITIVE! Our hearts were overjoyed. Now the waiting, waiting and praying this little one would stick, every cramp was a scare, thank God I didn't spot till week 12 I was still scared but the ultrasound kept showing a strong heartbeat as well as his intestins and liver being ourside. Another journey began, a journey of prayer, faith, and tears. This particular journey is not over yet, more on that in another post. I am currently 31 weeks pregnant, we are very excited as the day when we will meet our little boy approaches!

Our little cutie!

Growing!

That on the baby front.

At the end of October I stopped working at the Consulate to start my own business and a full time housewife. During the months and now years that Bruce has being working at CFA he's grown and advanced, now he is a manager and his income has doubled from the one he started with. He does a wonderful job planning and executing Family Nights and I love that I can come help him! His boss loves him and his bosse's family has adopted us, they are such a blessing!

In November 2011 we went to Miami to my friend Zully's wedding and on our babymoon.

Fishing!

We spent Christmas at home just the two of us, a very beautiful time just bonding and creating memories!

Our feast!

By the end of the year we had to move ones more and we found an apartment close to our old house, it's smaller but we ara making it work! My mom came to visit and help us move, I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without her.

Welcome to our new home!

This year we started house hunting and we're waiting to hear about an offer we put in on a house in February. I'm loving being a full time housewife, and teaching Spanish and English! It's been a hard last year and a half but it has only made us grow. It has been wonderful to have Bruce by my side every step of the way and I wouldn't have it any other way. He is the best for me and I love him more than I ever thought I could love anyone.

Current family picture to follow, hopefully soon!

3 years into it... Part 1

Today is our 3rd year anniversary and to celebrate I want to do some reminiscing. Bruce and I were talking this morning and agreed on how fast time has gone by. It doesn't really feel like 3 years but at the same time we've shared so many things I think they are worth writing before we forget.

This is how it started:

You may kiss your bride!

Then off to our honeymoon, we spent a week in Cancun relaxing, enjoying and well you know doing what one does in a honeymoon ;):

Honeymooners dinner

In Jan 2009 Bruce had moved to Mexico City (where I was going to college) so we could get married. We found a tiny 1 bedroom apartment at walking distance from my school and really cheap. That was our very first home. We have so many memories of that little place, unfortunately we seem to have lost all the pictures. While living in that apt we added a member to our family, our ever faithful Booger:

He's brought lots chaos to our life but we love him!

We had our first Thanksgiving together which was a surprise for him, it was a good time:

First time carving the turkey as the
ma of the house!

 In December I graduated:

Cheers, with my college girls!

A couple of days later we got on a plane with 2 bags, 2 carry-ons, 2 personal items, and a dog on our way to California to spend the Holidays:

Happy Holidays 2009!

We spent the rest of the year in Cali and mid January we packed everything we owned in  the car God through my MIL blessed us with a we where on our way to Albuquerque, NM so I could do an internship at the Mexican Consulate here:

Yes, everything we owned fit in that little car!

Our first home in ABQ was a hotel room or 3. It didn't take us long to find a 1 bedroom apartment that we could afford which felt pretty big at the time:

No furniture at all!

 We filled it little by little and we barely spent any money in the process. God has always been faithful!:

The office

The diningroom

The entertainment center

In March, almost simultaneously I started my internship and Bruce found a job at what would become one of the bigget blessings in our life:

A very wonderful place!

This is how our family looked like in our first aniversary:

Cute little family

This will continue tomorrow...

The first of the year

2012 started at full speed. The main event: a non expected or planned move! Moving is always a huge amount of work, from finding a new place to packing the small stuff to moving the big furniture it is a crazy process. This particular move was more than physically tiring it was emotionally draining.

As I told you here we found out we had to move mid-November. We were not ready for it, we were not expecting it and most of all we DID NOT want to move. We've been looking into buying but have not been ready and we had such a great deal at that house: price, location, and space. It was hard to wrap our heads around the fact that we had to move. We tried everything to stay there but it is not what God has for us anymore and you know how that goes.

We looked for weeks. Places were to small, too far, too expensive, too inconvenient or they wouldn't accept Booger and we are not about to part with him, he is such an important part of our family! We got tired, discouraged, and angry. We decided to take a break for the Holidays and resume our look after New Year, when we did Bruce found a little place right up the street from where we used to live.

We went to see it, he loved it, we applied for it and the next day we had a new place to live. It wasn't that easy for me though. You see I want a three bedroom house, with a yard and enough room to fit all our stuff. Is that too much to ask? Well apparently there's more important things that I need to learn and that God wants to take care of. I threw my fit but we had already gone through the application process and to tell the truth we did not have more time to be looking, we had a lot to do and not enough time.

I was really worried that our furniture would not fit in the smaller apartment. I had a bad attitude about the whole situation and I gave Bruce a hard time! He, as usual, confronted me, listened to me, forgave me and loved me unconditionally. He does such a good job at representing Jesus in my life, I love my man. Anyway, to make an already long story not so long everything fit and I love it! I was reminded of God's care for us (we can move any time as long as we give a 30 day notice which works perfect for our plans to buy, might be sooner than we think!). I was reminded that is not the building or its size that make a home it's the people that share live with me(as long as I get to wake up to my hot man, a growing belly and a happy dog I am home!). God touched my heart by sending my mom to help us with the move and bless us with stuff we have been wanting for a while (I would have never been able to pull off all the cleaning/moving/settling by myself, specially because I get so tired and there's a lot of heavy duty work that needed to be done). All these goodness out of one move! How do I ever second guess God's moves? There another lesson! He never stops amazing me!

Now the pictures, not that you care too much but this is sort of my family's diary.

New home

Welcome to our love nest

The kitchen with the island my love got for me

The zebra moved into the office
side of the kitchen, hey I needed
to make it work!

The office on the other side of the kitchen

Livingroom and the awesome rug mom got for us!

Dinning room, so happy it fit outside of the kitchen

Panrty and Booger's food station

Guest bathroom, my decor fits!

Bruce did a great job picking the curtain

The bookshelf we transformed

Our bed fit beautifully!

The fish had to go in our room, bye bye tv,
it will be good for us!

Cool looking master bathroom, love it!

Have I mentioned how much I love making a house feel like our home? I think it worked out pretty good and no matter how long we live here we will be comfortable and happy because we have each other! What a crazy time and how many valuable lessons!

Happy 2012!

Loooong weekend, finally!

I've worked the past two Saturdays so I am really looking forward to getting this long weekend started. I have a few plans and projects that are exciting!

• My long weekend starts today at 2pm, I'm getting off work early! I plan to run a few errands and start working on a project for my husband is kind of a surprise and I am stocked!
• We finally finished a project we've been working on together for the living room. We had a vertical bookshelf and we decided to give it a face lift and use it differently. I love the result so much that it deserves a post of its own but I have to get some decent pictures first.
• I am in the process of making some fall decorations hopefully I will be able to finish them this weekend and have a fall-y house by Tuesday!
• I am quiting my job at the end of this month. I'm so excited! I am starting my own business and I am very nervous too. I'm working on my web page and my cousin is helping me design my logo and stuff it is Ah.mazing! Can't wait to spend more time at home and getting mu business going! Yaaaay!
• Since Bruce started school we haven't had much time off at the same time but it looks like this weekend we'll be able to spend some time together. That man makes my heart skip a beat!
• Monday I'm going bowling with Miss Laura, can't wait! I'm sure we will have a blast!

Life is good, happy Columbus' day weekend!

I remember...

...our vacation to Rio.

After we graduated I stayed in Brazil a couple more weeks and we planned a trip to Rio de Janeiro. Nathalie, you and I took the bus to Buzios where we had booked a hotel room with my parents' time share. It was beautiful. We had a blast at the hotel. We made food, swam, and went around town. One morning you came into the girls' room to wake me up and you smelled like heaven. You had just shaved and brushed your teeth and the mixture of smells between your after shave lotion and the toothpaste is something that I will never forget and if I smell it ever again you will come to my mind.

After our "rich" vacation in Buzios we decided to take the bus to Rio. We were short on money but we decided to stay anyway. We found a little one room apartment with a mattress. Us girls stayed in the room and you slept in the mattress in the livingroom. We went around town, to the beach and to the Christ statue in the picture. We had a lovely time. I remember you made me an apron with a plastic bag. We had a very serious talk which you were very nervous about ;). You woke me up with a beautiful pink rose one morning and a love note. It was a good time and I didn't want it to be over!

Driving on bittersweet lane

Last night we recieved some unexpected visitors. Bruce's brother J and family arrived at around 8:30 in the evening! They are on their way to California because they are moving there. He is in the army and is being transfered back home (the Coys are from Cali).

We are so happy for them because that's exactly what they wanted and at the same time it's kind of sad because they were the ones that lived the closest to us. They were only 7 hours away, ok it's not thaaaat close but consider that my family lives in Mexico City and Bruce's parents live 15 hours away in California. So a 7 hour drive to spend time with family wasn't bad at all!

We love spending time with them. It's so perfect, the kids are awesome, the guys have a blast and I never laugh so much as when they are together and us girls just love each other! We are so thankful for them and excited that they get to live by the beach. God's been good to them! Can't wait to drive to Cali for Christmas!

Ps Have I mentioned that I hate the feeling of an empty house after everybody leaves?

Unhealthy?

On Sunday my husband was reading my blog and he looked at me in a kind of concerned way. Later I asked him what that was all about, he said it was about the pictures and tickers I had added to my blog. He was concerned that I had added them because I haven't gotten over it or I am just holding on to my babies in a creepy unhealthy way.

So I got to explaining him that it is not the case. I mean it still hurts at times and I get teary when I think about what would be but I AM healing. The reason why I decided to put up those pictures and tickers is deeper. Since I read "Heaven is for real" I realised how real our babies are. They ARE persons, they ARE in Heaven, they ARE now part of our story, they ARE as important as any other kids we will have. So I did it as a memorial, as a way to remember them and (assuming they know or Jesus tells them what is going on here on earth) let them know that mommy and daddy love them.

There it is, I hope you don't judge and if you've lost a baby and are reading this that this will help you rest in the assurance that you will meet your baby one day!

Visitors and a broken pump

On Friday 10th I got out of work and drove home to find a full house. G (MIL), B (DIL), KL (SIL) and T (BIL) were already home. I was so good to see them after almosta a year. After driving 14 hours they were all passed out in the livingroom. We talked for a while, made dinner and we all sat and ate. Everybody went to bed early.

On Saturday we went to the flea market, that was a quick trip since the guys were done and the heat was beating on us. Then we went to pick up some more gorceries (not that we didn't have enough). When we got home that day B got a stainless steel pot set out of the car, it was my anniversary present from them! Oh how I wanted one of those, I love it and I love them! God keeps surprising me with the smallest details.

That night after dinner water slowly stopped flowing through our faucets! Catastrophe: We didn't have water to shower or wash dishes and we had visitors! Thankfully the company we are leasing from (BNM) is amazing so they immediately sent TLC to our house to fix the problem. Which they didn't but the guy that came managed to destroy our fence. Somehow his truck got caught on the side of the fence and he pulled it. Needless to say Bruce worked for weeks to put that fence up by himself, so he was pissed. So on top of not fixing the problem we already had they created another problem.

On Sunday we all went to church, then out for lunch and then the girls went shopping and the guys... I don't really know what the guys did. By Monday morning we still didn't have any water. So BNM offered to pay a night at a hotel, which we gladly accepted. We all went over there to take showers and only B slept there. On Tuesday no water yet. BNM paid for another night at a hotel but this time we didn't go for the cheap one we got a room ate the Radisson (which where we live has a water park). So we put on out swimming wear and headed there for an evening of water fun. God works things out in amazing ways!

On Wednesday the real useful pump (our water comes from a well) came in and in three hours it was fixed. Blessed running water! The only down side to it all is that we had to front all the money for useless TLC (that charged an outrageous amount of money for doing nothing and wrecking our fence) and the hotel rooms, so now we're waiting on BNM to send us a check.

Thursday was the last day they were going to be in town, Bruce had to work and B wanted to wander around town and buy a bicycle. So us girls and T went to the aquarium, the botanical garden and out for lunch. Around 7pm Bruce was out of work and since we wanted to celebrate fathers' day ahead we all went out for late dinner to a fancy seafood restaurant. We had a lovely evening!

Friday Bruce went into work at 5.45am and our guests headed back home at 6am. I suffered a major case of empty-nest which mught have led to a little bit of a meltdown but my good Lord conforted me and I was good for the rest of the day. I ran errands and  by 6pm I was in bed not to wake up until 9am next morning. It was a very blessed week! There is no doubt that THAT IS LIFE, the rest is what you do to be able to afford life, right?

Camp: I survived!

I'm back. Burned. Tired. Sore. But back and alive! My first real camping experience was a blast. We left on Saturday morning stopped at McD's for breakfast (because I totally left the pb&j and nutella sandwiches I made on the counter) and coffee. Then a quick stop at Walmart and off we went. After 1.5 hours or so driving we made it to the camp site. It was pretty full and we found a cramped little place and started unpacking.


Firs camp site

 As we started unpacking we noticed we hadn't brought the poles for our tent (thruth is our friend William borrowed the tent from his parent and the poles were not in the bag). Anyway we did bring a rope and that saved the day. We unpacked set up the tents and got in the car to head to town to get some stuff we needed. As we drove down the road the guys spotted the perfect camping site. Two tables together, a fire pit and tons of room for our tent. We decided it was worth it to go get all the stuff and bring it to this new perfect spot.

How we made the tent work with a rope

So I stayed saving our new finding while the guys went to get all our stuff. We settled on our new place and headed down to town. There was a beautiful river running right beside the road. When we came back the camp host told us that there was a pack of does close by. We went to see them and took some pictures. When it got late we started the fire as we chilled there and talked till 2 am. Next morning we went hiking -talk about a good work out- I realized I'm completely out of shape! Need to work on that ~sigh~. The view at the top of the mountain was absolutely worth the hike.


Our visitors



Happy campers!



The view from the top of the mountain



The fire



On Monday we went rafting (yes you guessed, my first time). I had a blast! It was windy and you know how wind and wet well it's not the best combination but I was having such a good time I didn't even notice. We went down some rapids and the best was to see Bruce smiling back at me as if saying "that's my girl!" (sometimes I do tough or adventurous things just to see that smile). After our rafting adventure we headed back home. We went home and cleaned up, oh blessed hot shower how I missed you!

Mixed feelings

This has been a weird week. On Saturday my brother-in-law (J) talked to Bruce and gave us the saddest news. They lost the baby. My heart dropped to my feet. I've been there twice and yet I didn't know what to say. I wanted to get in the car close my eyes and instantly be by her side. We couldn't get there that fast but thankfully we were able to take time off to be with her.

The situation was complicated. J is in the army and he is stuck in SC doing some schooling, he couldn't leave or he was going to loose his spot in that class. Her sister was with her at the moment but couldn't stay too much longer. The kids were with the neighbor but he could only watch them for the weekend. A was in the hospital because she didn't have a miscarriage what happened was that the baby's heart stopped growing and they had to induce labor. We felt like we couldn't get there fast enough.

We got there on Sunday afternoon right when A was getting home from the hospital. We hugged and cried together. I was so happy to be able to be there for her and understand what she is going through. We didn't talk about it for long, we mostly cried and hugged.

While the circumstances were not the desired ones we truly enjoyed the time with the family. Z is precious and it is amazing how he's growing. Remember last time I said he refused to say "bear", well now he does! He says Uggie Bruce and Poulina beautifully! He runs around and jumps and talks and dances, we even played in the rain, he is a true delight! I love that kid. Our other nephew T got honor roll in his school, so proud of him!



Eating breakfast wih Uggie Bruce



Running in the rain with Aunt Polina

Thank you God for allowing us to be there for our family and for bringing us closer together, all glory be to you!