You Asked…Part 1

*What are your favorite stores to shop at for clothing?*
Hmmmm….the first place I always look is Nordstrom.  With free shipping and free returns, they really do make it SO easy for me.  They also have wide range of prices, everything from home decor to Christmas pajamas, AND it’s so cute!  


Some other places I like to shop are Anthropologie {however, I think it’s SO much easier to shop in the store than online}, Vici {I tend to look here if I’m looking for something a little different or for a special occasion}, Jane.com {who knew I’d get so much love from that orange sweater I wore last week?  But this is where I got it along with a few holiday graphic tees.}, Athleta is my favorite spot to grab workout clothes, and Old Navy/Gap occasionally have some things I like.

*How did you decide to stay home instead of teach??  Second year teacher and expecting!*
If you’ve been reading here for a while, then you’ve heard my infertility story.  We struggled to get pregnant with Ebby Lee, and it took us a while.  You know how-in the midst of the struggle it’s hard to see how God is working?  Now on this side of that struggle…{actually right after she was born} I could see how God was hard at work.  If we’d have gotten pregnant on our time, earlier than we did, I would have had to keep working.  Financially, we wouldn’t have been at a place to make that possible right after we had Ebby Lee.  Since it took a while, Tab was getting more established in his job and financially we had the opportunity for me to stay at home.  When we realized it, we were both like…THAT was a total God thing.  And like our children do to us when we refuse to let them do something because we know the timing just isn’t right…I pitched fits, got angry that it wasn’t happening and just didn’t understand, but now…on THIS side, I have a different perspective.  🙂  It was just a personal decision Tab and I both agreed on.

*What has been the most challenging part of the adoption process?*
The most challenging part for me was simply saying, “yes”, and not knowing what the outcome of that would look like.  How would this child act?  How would another child change our family dynamic?  What if this kid cried all the time?  What if she didn’t bond with us?  What if she hated us?  And on and on.  Those were the questions that circled in my brain.  Simply surrendering to God’s call for our family even when we knew those questions were out there was by far the hardest part for me.  And let me add-Britt has been a dream!  

*Why all the hats lately?*
Whoever asked this must have missed this, but I had some random bumps {can’t remember the name of them} removed on my forehead.  I thought I had three, the lady with the numbing cream saw six, but the lady with the laser found thirteen!  ha!  So for a week or so I had lots of scabby bumps {gross, i know} on my forehead.  I wore hats to hide them.  🙂

*How’d you choose to adopt from China?*
The simple answer would be because our daughter was in China.  🙂


At the time when we began the process of international adoption our agency asked what criteria we were hoping for…boy/girl, age, etc.  When we responded, we were told the best option at that time was China.  I understand that some countries are opening/closing adoption all the time, but after talking to our agency {whom we completely trusted} experiencing first hand some amazing adoption stories from China through friends, and praying about it, we felt like China was the place for us.

*Are you going to adopt again?*
I’m going to begin this response by saying when I announced I was pregnant with Bowen, Andrea made me some cute little graphic and it said something about our family “being complete”.  A lady from our church {who had five kiddos and adopted two more} commented on that post saying, “Never say never. :)”.  At the time, I laughed at it…thinking NO WAY!  


But GOD… 🙂  


I will tell you we think our family is one hundred percent complete, but I’m afraid that lady will comment and something crazy will happen.  haha!  At this time, the answer is no.  We do feel “done” in the children department.  {And complete!}

*Have you ever ordered the meal kits like Hello Fresh, etc.?*
No, I haven’t.  With great food blogs {Hello, Mix and Match Mama!}, Pinterest, and Google in general…there are so many resources out there to make meal planning so easy!  Along with grocery pick-up…I mean SO EASY!  There are “chores” I do I really do not enjoy {enter the word, LAUNDRY}, but meal planning and groceries isn’t something I mind doing.  I also enjoy having some leftovers for my lunches throughout the week.  I haven’t even looked into them so I could be really wrong about this, but I envision if I ordered enough to make a meal for all six of us {as well as extra for leftovers} through one of those companies it’d cost an arm and a leg.  

*Do you hire a cleaning service to help at your house?*
YES!  Have I told this story before?  If I have just skip right over it.  🙂  In 2013, {ha! I even remember the year!} I went on a little girl’s trip with the ladies in my family for a long weekend {and please know I’d been begging Tab to let someone come in to help with cleaning}.  Tab had all the kids-at the time-four-year-old Ebby Lee, three-year-old Nixon, and three-month-old baby Bowen.  Bowen happened to be a pretty cranky baby for a few months in there.  It worked well for me that this particular weekend seemed to be a challenging one.  When I returned home, Tab quickly agreed to have someone help with the cleaning.  


I kid you not…Tab and I would both start eating grass to save money so that we can continue to have the cleaning help.  It’s SO worth it!  And it’s so nice to have our entire house clean at one time.  When I did it, I’d clean a little a day and the entire house was never clean at the same time. 

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for today.  Some of you asked some questions I’m going to turn into their very own blog post.  Be on the lookout for those and I’m answering some more questions tomorrow!


Hope to see you then!


XO