I am officially an aunt!

Little Lindsee is officially Lindsee Porter! The adoption papers are signed! We couldn't be any more excited! There are many monumental moments in little Lindsee's life right now. On Tuesday, April 28th, she will be ONE! Unbelievable! Our families celebrated her birthday last Sunday. (Pictures coming soon....I am currently at my in-laws and I don't have my USB cable with me) That evening, Larissa calls me crying, telling me that Lindsee's took MULTIPLE independent steps! She has been pulling herself up for some time and walking herself along furniture, but has soon as she realizes she is on her own, she slowly lowers her body to the ground, the safe zone.

On Thursday evening, Lindsee got to enjoy the circus with Mommy, Grammy, and Aunt Shaya for the first time. I, personally, watched her more than the circus. I can't help it!

As I have been thanking God for our Lindsee, I have also been praising God for beautiful Bella McBride. Proud parents are Ross and Crystal (Taylor) McBride. God brought Bella into this world on April 16 weighing 6 lbs 6 oz. As many of you know, early in the pregnancy, it was revealed that Bella has spinal bifida. There were many unknowns, but the McBrides were chosen by God to be a witness. A witness, indeed, they have been. When Laura, Tab, and I visited them at Riley last Saturday, the entire family was praising God for every triumph.

Baby Bella has since endured surgery, various tests, casts placed from her precious thighs to little toes. On Friday, the McBride family: Ross, Crystal, big sister, Amaya, and Bella made the trip home together.

Continue to keep the McBrides and Baby Bella in your daily prayers. Their journey may be long, but their faith is even stronger.

I hope I am not alone in this, but sometimes I feel I keep my prayers too general. I find myself saying, "God knows the situation, He doesn't need every detail."
But here lately, I realize, that statement couldn't be further from the truth. God wants every detail of our lives shared with Him. The worries, fears, hopes, desires, praises, triumphs, etc. I now am more specific when I pray. If you find yourself in this "Prayer Routine," I encourage...no, I challenge you to be specific, to share every detail with our listening Father.

Okay, well I guess Smith Family Fun Night is coming to a close at Marc and Marilyn's..first sign...Jared has asked the infamous question, "Are you ready?"

Tonight, we grilled out, took a walk in the park, played games,watched TV, and caught up on reading blogs. In my opinion, this has been an enjoyable, productive evening with the in-laws and my favorite sister-in-law, Kristen.

I hope to post again before the two week mark! Until then, savor each step!

Spring Break is Officially Over!

Being back to school for two days, spring break is officially over. However, the past two days have gone extremely well. I think a break was exactly what I needed to become revived again. If I am not mistaken, we only have around eight weeks left till summer vacation. One by one, the items on my to-do list for spring break were placed on my summer to-do list.

Spring break was truly enjoyable. I started the break working Walk 38A at Camp Illiana. God's glory was evident and working is just much a blessing, if not more than when attending the weekend. On Tuesday, I had the joy of watching Camden in the morning. What joy he is! Then I went to Ross and Crystal McBride's to help with them get their house ready before they moved in this past weekend. Diligently working, they accomplished so much in such a short time. The McBrides have quite a bit on their plate currently. Next Thursday, they are welcoming their second baby girl into the world. Please keep praying for the McBrides We can't wait to meet her! When I returned home, Jared and I went to Vincennes to visit my Grandma Jones White at the hospital recovering from a hip replacement. One of her famous sayings is, "I'm good for the shape I'm in." She is definitely a fighter and is currently completing physical therapy at the Washington hospital each day. To finish off the night, we ate at Applebees.

On Thursday, Tabitha, Laura, and I went to Evansville for a differentiated reading instruction seminar. We also found time to eat, shop, shop, shop, and stop by Cold Stone before returning home! My idea of a great day is just this-eat, shop, and eat again! :)

Each morning during break, I was meeting Kallie at 6am at the Washington Park to walk. This week, I am desperately missing her and our walks. Her and I can not talk for a few weeks, but when we get together we quickly pick up right where we left off. As life gets more hectic, I appreciate this more and more in my girlfriends!

Friday morning when we are finished walking, I decided to grab breakfast for my Grandma Steen. Of course, McDonald's would suit her, she was craving Stop and Sea's biscuit and gravy..so that is what she got. Eating breakfast with my ninety-seven year old grandmom at 7:30 in the morning was extremely memorable. There are numerous opportunities like this every day, but many times I pass them up. God gives and God takes away. He has given some precious gifts-family & friends. I need to savor every possible moment and not always dwell on my to-do list.

Friday evening, Jared and I made plans to go to Evansville to eat with our good friends, Sherry and Danny Veeck. Meeting Sherry that semester at USI has been one of God's best blessings. Jared and I went down early to do a little shopping before dinner. Our dinner was at Max and Erma's, which I would recommend any day. It was a great time and we hope to start meeting once a month.

As I am writing this, I am getting more and more frustrated that I didn't take one picture during break.

Saturday was errand day, while Jared was at a farm sale all day. One highlight of my day was eating lunch with Jenn Wirtz.

Amy and Nate Alderson had a delicious dinnner, as always, prepared for us. We also got to share our evening with Cory Swartzentruber (Leslie had to work :( ) and Annie & Jordan Miller. Everyone had a great time! So much so that we all ended up falling asleep there. It was evident that only Cory and I knew how to really party---we made through both movies! Okay, honestly, I took a short nap during the first movie.

Getting with friends and family, exercising daily, and taking naps with your hubby...what else could you ask for?

The Past Month

Lovable Lindsee

Having Faith

As many of you know, my sister, Larissa, has had an amazing year. Being married for seven years and it looking that children may not be in God's plan, they received a call on a Monday night in September. By that Thursday, they had little, precious four month old Lindsee in their arms. Larissa & Denny became parents over night, I officially became an aunt, and Mom became "Grammy"; we can't imagine life without her.

The first week of November, I received a call from Larissa. She told me I probably should get off the treadmill to receive her news. She then said, "Will you be upset if I beat you to motherhood again?" I instantly started weeping. Of course, they were joyous tears. Our hearts were overflowing.

Her pregnancy was going well. She had an ultrasound Thursday, Jan. 30. Heartbeat was great, SHE was doing flips. Yes, that's right, that day they found out they were having a girl! As I said before, our hearts were overflowing.

This leads up to Friday morning around 4:00 a.m. Jared is standing over me & says he needs to tell me something. Mom had called Jared and now he was relaying the message. Then he says, "Larissa & Denny had a miscarriage during the night." My mind went instantly to my sweet sister.
Jared meets at 5 a.m. on Fridays with a group of men in Odon for devotion & discussion. He said when he returned he would take me to Bedford to be with them.
I quickly called Mom only to find out that as I was talking to my mom my sister was still at her home, holding her precious little girl in her arms. Larissa had unexpectedly delivered her baby. But only hours before, she was hearing the heartbeat watching her little one be a gymnast inside her. Apparently, two EMT vehicles got stuck at the bottom of their drive and were unable to get to her for quite some time. All these images & thoughts were going through my mind as I was praying for my sister.

Jared returned and we were off to Bedford with Travor & Mom. By the time we did get to Bedford, it was around 8 a.m. and they were releasing Larissa. So, we quickly ran by Wal-Mart and picked up some groceries to stock their shelves.

When I saw my brother-in-law and sister come into their door, my heart hurt for them beyond description. It was reality. Denny went to bring Lindsee home from his sister's house. Seeing Lindsee's sweet smile and simple actions, made me appreciate God's design. As I watched Larissa & listened to her words, I had a deeper level of admiration for my sister. Her strength & courage spoke volumes about her. Although, we don't know His plan, we know that Friday, Jan. 31, 2009 was part of His plan. This is a season of Denny & Larissa's life. Like winter, when the trees are bare, you know with time & patience that spring and new life is coming.

Like I said earlier, I had all these images in my mind. The hospital did take a picture for Larissa and Denny (they did get to hold her at the hospital). Larissa asked if I wanted to see the picture. God's design is miraculous and should not be taken for granted. She had long fingers and toes, perfect ears, eyes, nose, and mouth that seemed to have a smile of peace. The doctors told them she weighed 6 oz. Who can say that isn't a true, human life?

Jeremiah 31:3 God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again.

Larissa and Denny have faith that God will we do just this, so it seemed perfect that they name her, Faith.

Continue to pray for them, all those that have lost a child, and those that are expecting.


Later that day, I was trying to put Lindsee down for a nap. She was restless and of course, didn't want to miss out on what Daddy, Uncle Jared, and Uncle Travor were doing. As I was standing, I began to rock back and forth singing, "Amazing Grace", softly in her ear as I rubbed her back. Within seconds she was asleep in my arms, but I didn't stop singing. It is amazing how God gives you a song, scripture, or words, just when you need it.
I plan to keep singing His praises to Lindsee all of her life and letting her know what a true gift she is from God.

God is so good and has a way of reminding us that he is near and watching over us. On Sunday, what song do you think the worship team sang? You're right, "Amazing Grace." My eyes instantly filled with tears. Then later this week, we received our next Netflix movie (one of the best investments) and guess what movie.... Amazing Grace.

His grace is amazing and no matter what season of life I'm in, I will have faith that He will never quit loving me and start over with me again if I need rebuilding.

Savored Steps

From the beginning of our lives, we each have been taking steps to get us where we are today. Some have taken smaller steps, while others went for an enormous leap. And at some point in our lives, we probably did both. My goal is to appreciate each and every step I have taken thus far and savor the many more that are to come.

My goal for my blog is to capture the next steps of my life story. In high school and college, I documented practically everything and all the girls knew they could count on me to have a camera nearby. As life's pace begins to pick up, I find myself documenting life's happenings less and wishing after the fact that I had snapped that picture. Blogging will hopefully diminish those after thoughts and give Jared and I a new way to savor each step of our lives together.

Jared and I have been beyond blessed with supporting family and friends. We have a saying in our house that says, "May our house be too small to hold all our friends." This is exactly how I feel!

Here is our story:

Thank you, Lord, for sand volleyball. Our story begins on a sand volleyball court, but I didn't realize it that night. Nor did I realize it for a while. Jared was with one of his best friends, Brian Alderson, and we were at the Armes' for the traditional Sunday night show down in sand volleyball. To be honest, I didn't even notice Jared. But still to my amazement, he noticed me. I went into our first date, thinking and believing that this would be the ONLY date. WOW...was I wrong. Our date was nice. No, he didn't fly us to New York or have fireworks set off for me that night, but I felt a connection that I hadn't felt in a long while. I longed to learn more about him. At the end of the night, he make the comment if I wanted to ever hang out again to just give him a call. I thought, "Okay, God, that is your way of saying you are in the clear. Shaya, he doesn't want anything more and going into tonight, you didn't either. Let it be." So, I did.

That was Tuesday, August 19, 2003. On Friday, he surprised me with flowers with the hopes of another date. The surprising part of this story was that he asked my mom to deliver them to me. Mind you, this is how Jared introduced himself to my mom. He went to Mom's workplace, introduced himself, and asked if she would be kind enough to deliver these. He's a smart one; he had her instantly won over. Needless to say, with every additional minute spent together, every small step we took together, he was winning me over.

By the end of November that year, I knew he was the one I desired to spend my life with, take the next huge step beside. God as a way, a humorous way, of teaching us life lessons. God taught me patience. August 19, 2003=the year we started dating, April 1, 2006=the year we got engaged, and June 23, 2007=the year we were united in marriage.

During those years, I finished college earning my bachelor's degree in elementary education, moved back home from Evansville, was a bridesmaid for at least seven of my friends at this point, and was enjoying every step of the way. Mom has always told me not to wish my life away. This is one of my new year's resolutions. Enjoy this step, this season ,of my life.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

So, fellow bloggers and readers: I want to savor this season of my life: my first years of marriage, my twenties, the beginning of a life long career, becoming an aunt, learning about investments, insurance, and the other hundred million things adults have to try to understand.

I do not want to look back and say, "I wish I had written that down or captured that picture."

Here's to the beginning of the Smiths' Savored Steps!