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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Winnie and Brady


A Stellar Year? Well....

I had to chuckle to myself the other day when I opened up a Christmas card from an old friend. The message on her picture-perfect photo card read, "It's been a stellar year for us" and it went on to list her anniversary in Europe and the darling things about her two young children. I was happy for them but I just had to laugh... The fact is, we didn't really have a stellar year from the world's perspective. Both of us had career challenges, the furthest we traveled was the Oregon coast, and we continue to struggle with infertility after more than six years. However, we are so blessed. We have the important things in life: a loving God, each other, a supportive family on both sides, great friends, our house, our puppies, jobs and the list goes on and on!

Now that I'm opening up about our infertility journey, I'd like to share a little more. A year and a half ago, I started a group with my church called Hannah's Hope. We meet once a week and help each other to "thrive in the garden of infertility." It's been an amazing transformation for me as I've been able to reach other women and find healing along with them. In October '08, Bryan and I tried Invetro Fertilization for the first time and it was unsuccessful. It was really comforting to have the group for support during that painful time. Our next step is saving for IVF again, this time applying for a "guarantee" program (basically buy 2, get 1 free). If you don't take a baby home, you get 70% of your money back. We're thinking about adoption as an option as well, but we feel lead to try this last round of IVF first!

As I mentioned, we've had some career hurdles this year, but it's going much better now. Bryan is working at Heritage High school in the SKIP program for students with autism. He's grown to like the job quite a bit and develop some great relationships with the kids. He has been working part time at Costco as well over the Christmas season. I'm greatful for his hard work and determination.

Last February, I was laid off from SC Design in Lake Oswego and boy was that a blessing! I didn't realize how ready I was for a break. During my months of unemployment, I worked on building up my private design studio, At Home Interior Design. I have to admit, I also spent a great deal of time hanging out with friends and pretending to be a housewife. In November, I signed on with Macadam Floor and Design and went back to working full time. I continue to do side jobs with @home and so far I'm not tearing my hair out!

So, was it a stellar year? Yes, I think it was.
Have a Merry Christmas! I hope you have a fabulous 2010.

Love,
Jenny

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