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Prayers For Our Family

September 7, 2014

No Little Happies today.

I actually won’t be blogging this week.

Our family lost a beloved member this weekend.

My cousin’s wife, of eleven weeks, passed away suddenly Sunday morning. They’d been together for several years, so she was totally part of the family. She was only barely twenty-four years old.

You may remember me write about their wedding in this Little Happies post. It was such a great day filled with so much love.

Needless to say many family members are grieving the loss of the such a wonderful and beautiful person. I invite those who stumble across this post to pray with and for our family. Most especially my cousin, who undoubtedly is feeling this loss more than anyone else. Pray for eternal rest and happiness for her soul. And for peace and comfort to envelop all family members.

Thank you!

Catholicism, Uncategorized

Little Happies: A Friend Entered Religious Life

August 11, 2014

Welcome to the twenty-third edition of the Little Happies link-up here at True Good and Beautiful.

Here is what’s been going on in our world.

{one}

Brother Pio Mary!!!!!

Our dear friend Jeff entered the Dominicans a couple weeks back and just this past week he received his habit and religious name.

We are so happy for him! 🙂

{two}

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw

This song came out over a year ago and I’ve loved it since the first time I heard it.

Why it’s on the Little Happies list this week is because we sang it at Mass on Sunday. Between the Gospel reading (about Peter walking on water/doubting/Jesus saving him) and this song…my soul was resting in total peace. Thankfully that is more common these days. I won’t say my darkest days of infertility are gone forever but I think a majority of them are behind me and for that I am so grateful.

God’s is truly changing me through this. I cried during these lyrics of the song, since I know that through infertility God is answering this prayer of my heart:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

{three}

I was afraid this would end up going down in history as a Pintrest-fail…and my first attempt was.

But then I found a great tutorial on YouTube on how to make burlap bows and everything was made right in the world.

{four}

Can’t be a Little Happies without Wrigley making an appearance!

I really don’t know how he gets into half the sleeping positions he does.

He’s such a good pup and we just started Puppy Kindergarten Class for some basic training and socialization. Seeing fifteen puppies all meeting one another in a class setting had to be the most adorable thing I saw all week.

{five}

We saw Guardians of The Galaxy and it was awesome.

Best character ever?

Groot.

We saw it at an AMC in town that only has lounging recliner seats (awesome!) and brought along sushi and candy to complete our “dinner and a movie” night out.

I totally recommend the movie. And sushi. And candy. 🙂

That’s a wrap for this week. Catch ya later!

Uncategorized

Little Happies: A Birthday and Home Study

July 28, 2014

Welcome back to another round of Little Happies!

Want to join in the fun? Head over to Blessed to Be to check out what it’s all about and then start posting away.

This week’s posts may or may include many photos of a little lab puppy named Wrigley.

Sorry, not sorry.

Without further ado, here’s what made us smile this week:

{one}

Wrigley meets William (our friends’ little guy).

I would say they were mutually fascinated with one another and it was too cute.

{two}

When Wrigley is awake, he likes to…

Play!

Or eat his tail.

Or jump on dandelions.

Or crawl all over us.

Or chew his Kong intensely.

But he’s only 8 weeks old so very much still a babe.

His playing lasts about 30 minutes max until….

He passes out cold.

This guy can sleep anywhere but usually chooses dark areas such as under beds, under couches, under pillows, etc.

I’ll find him fast asleep in the absolute most random spaces.

Always makes me smile.

{three}

Our beloved friend Jeff Stephens entered the Dominicans this past Friday, July 25th, the Feast of St. James the Apostle.

We already miss him greatly and look forward to when we will see him again in God’s time.

Above is one (of the mannnny) Vine’s that Jeff and Jonathan filmed together.

{four}

I had my first Stitch Fix!

It was a ton of fun and I am glad I tried it out.

I ended up keeping the white blouse and scarf and am very happy with those decisions! 🙂

{five}

I had a birthday!

We had a great time celebrating that day but the Little Happy lies in the cupcakes Jonathan made.

I just thought they were so pretty! 🙂

And you couldn’t even tell they were gluten free, thanks to America’s Test Kitchen!

{six}

Friday we were in Downtown Denver on set for a FOCUS video shoot.

While meeting people and asking them to be in our video, Jonathan met a nice family visiting Denver. They happened to have two extra tickets to the Rockies game that night and wanted us to have them!

Hours later, we settled into our seats and watched a great baseball game thanks to these kind souls.

{seven}

Our first Home Study meeting is TONIGHT!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

It’s the first of three meetings with our social worker at our agency and officially the LAST LEG in getting approved as an adoptive family!

As the meetings progress and more details unfold, I promise to do a big adoption update on the process, puzzle, and next steps.

Have a great week!

Uncategorized

Little Happies: A Visit From A Friend

July 21, 2014

I am back on the Monday Little Happies track, linking up over at Blessed to Be!

It’s been a packed week with many happy memories I am glad to capture here so I can’t forget!

–one–

Don’t get mad at me Collin…

I found this note saved on my computer. It was saved under a folder entitled “random” which indeed this document was.

A great random, since it put a smile on my face that I have such a thoughtful and sneaky little brother.

–two–

I attended my very first concert at Red Rocks!

I had a friend in town and she invited me to come see Gregory Alan Isakov and a few other bands. The venue was awesome and the concert was a good time. I hope we go back someday!

–three–

Got this baby for $12.99 at Costco.

I love Orchids and had one in the past but killed it off. I really hope I care for this one well since it’s beautiful and abundantly flowering!

–four–

The left photo is Jonathan attempting to “wear” Wrigley. I think both of them enjoyed it.

The top right-hand side was Wrigley after I began to sing “Let it Go” from Frozen. He hid. I had no idea I could be so scary!

The bottom right is after I quieted down. Wrigley turned around and slowly began to poke back through to see if I was done singing.

–five–

I got to visit the Celestial Seasons Factory with my friend Katy, who was in town visiting. Free tea!!

If you are ever in Boulder, CO I highly recommend this Factory Tour – especially the Mint Room! 🙂

–six–

Katy and I had all sorts of adventures this week! 🙂

We hiked St. Mary’s Glacier and the last 200 yards to the top was all snow. We got nearly to the summit when we saw some potentially evil clouds brewing nearby and since two people have been killed in Colorado by lightening this past week, we opted to descend.

We used our tennis shoes as skis and more or less surfed down the mountain. There is likely a technical term for that…anyone know?

–seven–

This weekend we had company over and they brought us this sweet house-warming gift along with these phrases:

“Bread… that this house may never know hunger. Salt… that life may always have flavor. And wine… that joy and prosperity may reign forever.”

How clever and kind! I was very touched and am grateful for their thoughtfulness – especially for that Cinnimon Raisin GF bread…since 1. It’s hard to remember who’s GF anymore these days, and 2. I have always wanted to get that flavor but couldn”t get myself to splurge for it!)

–UPDATE–

THAT CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD THO!

Just devoured two slices and can’t wait for more.

–eight–

Another evening this weekend we had friends over to play the Dominion Hinterlands expansion game.

Nerds to the core.

Not ashamed.

It was an awesome expansion!

Uncategorized

Little Happies: A Visit, Haircut, and Puppy

July 15, 2014

Hi.

Sorry about going MIA on the interwebs! We launched our Adoption page, left town, came back and moved…which halted everything web related. We are just now getting back on the grid.

Quite a bit has been going on in the past two weeks and we have a lot of updating to do here on True Good and Beautiful! In the next couple of weeks we promise to get updates on the house, adoption, and fundraising front! For now, here are a few Little Happies that snuck in along the way.

–one–

In the move, I rediscovered this little gem.

My morning coffee and bowl of cereal just got a whole lot more enjoyable with Belle’s presence!

–two–

On the left is Cristiano Ranaldo. On the right is his stunt double look-alike.

Actually it’s just Jonathan…who recently joined a men’s soccer league and wanted to look like a World Cup soccer player. I gave him this cut a hour prior to the game. Complete with hot pink cleats, I would say he’s ready for the season.

–three–

I am in love.

This pic was sent to us by the family who’s raising the pups currently. I am not sure if that is our little guy or not but I don’t care. We pick up our pupper THIS upcoming Saturday!! 🙂

–four–

It wouldn’t be a complete move without Mom and Dad Nissen coming for a visit.

My dad is a handyman, so he helped Jonathan get various projects done around the house that I would have been no help with. My mom is a shopper, so she helped me run around town buying things we still needed for the house and various projects.

A lot of our visit was spent knee deep in project work but we did manage to get away for some fun. On the left – celebrating Mom’s birthday at Hibachi Grill. On the right – selfie while hiking Aderlfer Three Sisters Park.

–five–

Apparently our attic is full of exposed nails.

Friday night Jonathan and I were attempting to put some items into the attic for storage. Up the ladder went Jonathan. Next thing I know, he’s turned around and blood is literally gushing down his head all over his face (photo would have been too gross for the blog…and actually I didn’t snap a photo because you don’t do things like that when someone is bleeding, so good job to me).

Thankfully, I kept my cool and took him into the bathroom to rinse his head to assess the wound. Turns out it really wasn’t a very big gash at all…but boy did it bleed!!! The photo above is after it was rinsed and we held pressure for at least 2 minutes to stop the bleeding.

Items still needed to go to the attic, so next time around, Jonathan was prepared! 🙂

–six–

Cow Appreciation Day at Chik Fil A!

If you fully dressed up as a cow, they gave out FREE meals! Not just a sandwich but an entire meal! WHOA!! Thankfully they have a nice gluten free menu so both Jonathan and I were very happy. And that lemonade…mmm.

That’s a Little Happy wrap!

Uncategorized

Little Happies: Wedding Festivities

June 23, 2014

We are back from our trip to Omaha and it was one heck of a jammed packed and fun week.

The primary reason we were in town was for my cousin’s wedding. Leading up to the big day we had several shindigs with out of town relatives. We also were given the task of providing a few deserts for a mini-desert bar at the wedding.

The easiest way to throw these Little Happies together is just to do a photo collage from the week. Here you go:

–one–

A Severe Thunderstorm rolled through Omaha this past week while we were at a family barbecue.

Naturally many of us gathered in the open garage to be spectators of the hail, wind, rain, and lightening. The bolts were getting closer and closer to our location…so close that one intense and blinding bolt struck a nearby house!!! It was a serious rush of adrenaline for all and the house was fine with minimal exterior damage.

About that time Jonathan ran inside to get the camera and snapped the above photo. BEAUTIFUL and TERRIFYING right? Truly a wonder of nature!

Directly after the rain storm was a nearby Fireworks show.

Since Jonathan already had the camera out…he snagged this photo.

Getting excited for the Fourth of July! 🙂

–two–

The mini desert bar! 🙂

This was a lot of fun and a good portion of our time this week. My mother, grandmother, Jonathan, the Bride’s Mother and I were the busy bees working on various deserts while my Aunt Denise was the creative genius behind the decor.

There were various flavored mini cupcakes, white-chocolate covered oreos and pretzels, lemon bars, carmel apple bars, and brownies. Not to mention there was a three-tiered gorgeous cake these all were complementing.

As you can see in the photos – Jonathan more or less took charge of the desert bar both in making the items and in setting them out and frosting. His love of creating and making things really kicked in and the rest of us were shooed away while he entered his zone.

–three–

A pre-wedding photo shoot with my parents. We don’t get many family photos together so we took advantage of everyone being dressed up.

Of course, Jonathan and I had to slip some goofy faces in.

–four–

Jeff & Caitlin’s Wedding!!

We snapped some pics from the ceremony. It really was beautiful outside – one day after that severe thunderstorm!

My brother was the best man, so of course, we had to get a shot of him all snazzed up.

–five–

The reception was right indoors from the wedding, which was really convenient! We snapped some pics from a few of the special moments from the night as well as some silly ones.

I grabbed a photo of Jonathan playing with the kids…since he is really just a big kid himself and I love him for it. I also snagged a pic of my younger cousin who found an afro and proceeded to run around in it for a while.

–six–

Photo Booth!

At our wedding we had one of these photo booths but I never made it in there the whole night. It was a serious regret on my behalf.

I guess to make up for it, we took lots of photo booth pics for the Bride and Groom that hopefully leave a smile on their faces for years to come.

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