Strawberry Lemonade

Found this Strawberry Lemonade Recipe in an insert in Sunday's paper and thought I would give it a try. Click here to see the recipe. It was easy to make, just took a little time and got a little sticky. I colored some sugar yellowy/orange using a few drops of food coloring, I dipped the glass in orange juice, and then in the sugar mix. Poured over ice and garnished with a strawberry. It is a great, refreshing summer drink. Yum!

CBC 10 year reunion

This past weekend Mark, Jack, and I got to attend my 10 year college reunion in Windsor, Co. We were the Covenant Bible College class of '99. It was held at our old campus. Unfortunately, the school shut down a few years ago but we were still able to rent out some of the rooms from the new owners.

The campus from a distance - it's not very big.

Covenant Bible College was an eight month school of discipleship. There were 44 students - 22 boys and 22 girls. It was an incredible experience for me. I was really able to explore my faith while I was at CBC. For the first time I was challenged to think about what and why I believed. I knew what I believed but hadn't ever thought about why - or how to back up my thoughts. The curriculum was multi faceted with theology classes, old testament, new testament, christ in culture, puppet ministry, drama ministry, youth ministry, childrens ministry, etc. The classes were important and a big part of the school but the people and my relationships with them were just as important. With only 44 students I got to know every one. We all went to the same classes, lived in the same dorms, ate all our meals together - you get the point. I learned a lot from the people I went to school with during this year and it was very special this last weekend to get the chance to reconnect and visit with old friends. Also, good to be able to share this part of my life with Mark.

We arrived on Friday afternoon. Jack and I drove down a few hours ahead of Mark. It was Jack's first trip out of Summit County. Due to the weather and severe storm weather it took a little longer than expected - but Jack did great. We checked in, I got to see some old friends and when Mark arrived we took off to grab some dinner. I love Sonic and took the opportunity to eat at the local Windsor sonic--Jack enjoyed it too.

Friday night everyone hung out catching up and eating some tasty desserts that Suzanne made for us. Through out the weekend, I think there were 12 alumni. It was great to meet spouses, look at pictures and old yearbooks, and just get to be around old friends. Saturday, was more hanging out. Mark, Jack, and I walked into town and got a Brownie Batter Blizzard from Dairy Queen. We were able to enjoy some time outside out on the lawn, just like old times. And then Saturday night we enjoyed a dinner out at a restaurant called Austin's. All good times.

Hopefully we will be able to do another reunion in another 5 or 10 years because it was great to be around everyone and reminisce.

(R.) Jack passed out on Mark's lap at DQ (L.) Suzanne holding jack


Hanging out on the lawn




The Hubbards

Chalker Sisters

Andrea, Cheryl, Jennifer, Jack, and Me

I was thrilled to have 3 of my favorite people stop by for a visit last Friday. Andrea, Cheryl, and Jennifer stopped by to say "hi." They had been out at Young Life camp in Buena Vista. I have known these girls since I was six and they are definitely like family to me. It was very special for me to introduce Jack to them and vice versa. We had a nice time walking around downtown Breck and then just chilled at our house for awhile. Jack took a turn snuggling in the arms of each of them. Jack does this thing when he is sleeping where he throws his arms straight up in the air. He did this a lot while sleeping on Cheryl's lap and the girls decided he was just praising Jesus. It was really cute. We had a nice time visiting with them. I told him he was a lucky boy to know such wonderful girls - I know he will love them as much as I do.

Cheryl


Jennifer


Andrea

Father's Day

Happy Fathers Day to our Dad's. We love you so much and know that we are who we are today because of you. Thanks so much for all you have done and the ways in which you love us. I found a couple of pictures from our wedding day of us with our dads.

Mark and Dad


Megan and Dad

AND...a Happy Father's Day to Mark. It is no surprise that he is a wonderful father, I knew he would be. He is patient and loving. I find it so attractive to see him in a dad role with Jack. Some of my favorite things so far: listening to Mark tell Jack about his day, watching Mark do all sorts of things to get him to smile, walking by our guest room only to see Mark playing guitar for Jack. I could go on and on. He is great with our son and I look forward to watching their relationship strengthen as Jack gets older.

Happy Father's Day!

Homestudy Report

Mark and I got our home study this week in mail. We checked it over, made a few corrections, and it is back in the mail to our Home Study Agency. They will make the necessary changes and send it back to us so that we can send in an official copy with our I-600 form, which is a petition to classify an orphan as an immediate relative. Yeah, things keep moving.

Prayers

Wednesday morning my Aunt Jackie (my Dad's sister) got a phone call to go to the hospital, they had a donor match for her. She got a new liver yesterday and is now in recovery. We are so thankful!! The doctors felt good about how the surgery went and were going to start to taking her off some of the drugs so that she could wake up. We will keep praying for her.

This is Jack's first Bible. He got it from his great Aunt Jackie and Great Nannie.

On another note, we are praying for Mi-Mi (my Mom's mom) who is in the hospital recovering from a broken femur, she has pneumonia, and meningitis. We are praying for healing and comfort.

Family of Four

The Hubbards are soon to be a family of four. Mark and I are in the process of adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia - a sister for Jack.

How we got here:
Before Mark and I got married we discussed children (how many we wanted to have, etc.). During this conversation we both acknowledged that we would like to have both biological and adopted children. This became more of a reality for us as we began to struggle with infertility issues. After our 2nd miscarriage, we seriously starting discussing adoption. We first looked into domestic adoption last May. We spent a lot of time researching and talking to different agencies. Eventually we decided that international adoption was something we had always felt passionate about and that we should shift our focus from domestic adoption. So, we started researching countries. You name the country and we probably looked into it. We prayed a lot about it and both one day acknowledged that we felt good about a certain country and it happened to be the same country for both of us: Ethiopia.

We decided to try one more time to get pregnant and stay pregnant. I reluctantly agreed to this after making Mark promise that we would send in paperwork the day we miscarried again. You see, I just wanted to be a Mom. I didn't care if our children were our biological children or if they had been born somewhere else. This is what I had always dreamed about, having little ones to love and nurture. Well, we tried again, and surprise! We stayed pregnant. And now there is Jack.

During the pregnancy we talked a lot about how adoption was a desire of ours that seemed only to intensify throughout this whole process to being parents. Mark and I discussed timing and prayed some more, we both felt good about proceeding with our adoption journey in March. We chose an agency, chose another agency in state to complete our home study for us, and started gathering documents. Just last week we had our 3rd and final home study visit with our social worker and we are waiting on this to come in the mail.

We are soooooo excited and think of her and pray for her, knowing she could already be born. I find myself telling Jack quite often about how he will be getting a little/big sister soon. They will most likely be very close in age and it is exciting to think of them having each other as they grow up. So, this is our big news. We'll keep you posted on future developments.

Happy Birthday Jude!

Jack got to go to his first birthday party today. Jude is one. We had fun celebrating with Jude, his parents, and lots of friends. Jude had fun playing with balloons and had the most priceless reaction when getting to eat his cupcake. He was so excited he was shaking, then he tried a little bit, and then he just put the whole thing to his mouth. So cute. Happy 1st Birthday Jude!

(L.) Our friend Anne holding Jack. (R.)Polly G.

Jack is a little party pooper.

I know I'm a mom because...

The other day I got into my car only to look down and see a pacifier in the cup holder. It made me think about how I am definitely living in Mom-world. I've been pooped on, spat up on (Jack is especially good at this one), and peed on. My skills at being a one-handed woman improved over night. I can type one handed, eat one handed, and heck, even took chocolate chip cookies out of the oven with one hand. To clean the house the other day I put Jack in his carrier and together we swept, mopped, and cleaned the toilet. I walk around the house singing to/talking to Jack. I frequently serenade my son with Country Songs that we listen to...he especially likes it when we dance to Kellie Pickler's "Best Days of Your Life." My days now revolve around Jack's eating schedule, taking fast showers, and loving all the precious little moments I have with him.

Mark and I are still getting to do some of the things we did pre-Jack and we hope to continue to be intentional about this and about spending time with our friends. It's amazing to think that just 6 weeks ago, my life looked very different.

Thankful mama

Jack's schedule as a 5 week old is still very much the schedule of having NO schedule. I mean, I can count on the fact that he will eat every 3-4 hours during the day, he will need his diapers changed frequently, he will sleep, want to be held, and on and on. But times of sleep and awake are so hard to predict.

With that being said, when he sleeps well at night - I am so thankful. He usually sleeps at night, it is just the time in between him eating that is so varied. Last night though, he slept for 6 hours straight. Woo-hoo! That means that is the longest I have slept yet. So thankful!

Jack's Friend Jack

Mark has a friend that he met in college, his name is Dan. Dan met and married a wonderful woman named Emily. Dan and Emily had a baby boy in March; they named him Jack. Mark and I already had our boy name picked out when their Jack was born - and we decided if our baby was a boy we would still name him Jack.

(Jack Harding)

So, now....there are 2 baby boy Jacks. And they are friends. Check out what was in the package our little Jack got in the mail. He knew exactly what our little Jack would want!

Hope these boys get to meet some day! They've got cool names and great parents - they are destined to be friends.

Happy 1 month

Jack 4 weeks ago.

Jack today at 1 month

Jack is one month today. I can't believe it, it is going by so fast. Jack is increasingly becoming more alert and starting to focus his eyes more. He is such a happy and content baby. Jack likes his bouncy-vibrating seat, being held, eating (of course), sleeping, and his pacifier. He tolerates the abundant number of kisses he receives from Macy and his diaper changes (still not his favorite). Mark and I are enjoying watching him grow and change right before our eyes. We are learning his different types of cries and love watching the little faces he makes. Happy 1 month Jack, we love you!

More outfits than a teenage girl

Mark's parents left this morning and it is now just Jack and me. We had a really great visit, appreciated their help, and were so excited that they were able to make it out to Colorado to meet their grandson. I know Jack will be so different in September when we fly out to see them in NY.

So, now just Jack and I. We took the stroller into town and went to the post office. This was our first extended walk just the two of us. He was great and slept the whole time. The challenge was trying to fit the packages into the stroller.

Now we are catching up on some Mommy - son time, and doing more laundry. I must say I had no idea how much laundry I would be doing. Jack goes through so many clothes in one day, it is unbelievable. I usually undress him when he eats in hopes that we can salvage an outfit a few hours longer.

Jack's still asleep so I will keep working on a few more things around the house so that when dad comes home, we can all relax.

Daddy/ Jack time!!

Date Night and Vistitors

Saturday afternoon Mark's parents arrived to visit us and to meet Jack. Little man has taken an instant liking to Nana and Papa, of course, and likes having extra people around to love on him. Mark and I are enjoying our time with them and their company. Oh, and great meals again...gotta love Mom's cooking.

On Sunday evening Nana and Papa babysat while Mark and I went on our first date, post Jack. We had dinner at Bubba Gump's and enjoyed our seafood dinners and our time with each other. Somehow we made it through the whole meal without even talking about Jack. We love him, (soooooooo much) but it was nice to focus on each other a bit.