If You Give A Girl Some Friends….

…. She will be able to create a wonderful dinner.

It all started with this.

8 years ago when my sister threw me a bridal shower she asked all the gals attending to give me a spice and a copy of their favorite recipe. And for the last 8 years I have religiously ONLY used this recipe for my pie crust, this pastry blender, and this pastry cloth that Lynne Westphal gave to me.

Lynne was the wife of my basketball coach at Point Loma Nazarene University. She was the one who offered up her lovely peaceful home to me during the week before my wedding in San Diego and fed me all of her delicious healthy food. It was such a respite. 

And I wouldn't have met her if my high school coach Roger Tate would not have pushed me all 4 years to be able to play basketball in college.

Lynne also gave me the recipe for Scotch Pie. I adapted it over the years and turned it into just sprinkling cinnamon sugar over the pie crust scraps and baking them! But every time I make them I think of her.

So 3 years later when I started making pot pies, I started using the pie dish she bought for me also.

As I started to make the rest of my pot pie for dinner, I thought of JoAnn Johnson, whom I got the pot pie recipe from.

I met JoAnn at church up here in Tacoma, WA and really got to know her and her amazing cooking over the years as we ate together on a weekly basis in our community group. 

She also is the one whom now that we are in different community groups walks with me once a week and shares life with me as a sweet sister in Christ.

As I made the pot pie, I grinned as I grabbed the bag of frozen veggies that my sweet friend Laura Euler gave me right before the Air Force moved her. Another person I adore was taking part of our dinner and didn't even know it! I still have your baggie clip friend!

As I looked at my dinner I also noticed that the dressing on my salad was one that I took from another friend Kristen Robbins.

She invited us over for dinner one night and all we had to do was bring salad. So I decided to be suzy home maker and make my own dressing. Welp the salt got a little crazy and lets just say that she had made this dressing and we ended up using it instead.

And now it is the salad dressing that Thomas and I use on a daily basis.

There are the glasses curtsy of Thomas' brother Christian. One was from his Australian adventure and the other from his bachelor party. 

And then of course the Apple Cider was pressed in the real wooden press that a co-workers uncle had that has been in their family for ages.

And the apples were from our tree that we rent every year at the Curran Apple Orchard in University Place, WA, which we would not have known about had it not been for Randi Samples doing and then telling us about.

Needless to say, dinner tonight made me so incredibly thankful for not only every person I mentioned above, but every single friend I have, because you all have had a very profound impact on my life. Even if only for a second, I can guarantee that I have a memory of you and it comes up at the most random times and makes me thankful.

And yes, as I was thinking about this post, all I could think of was, "If you give a mouse a cookie." But more along the lines of, "If you give Mica some friends, she will forever be thankful."

So Lynna, JoAnn, Tate, Laura, Kristen, Christian, Lana, and Randi…. Thank you for joining us for dinner tonight. :)

The Aftermath of Miscarrying

I realized that I have not yet written anything about the weeks after miscarrying and that is just as unknown as the waiting and the actual process.

The Aftermath:

After I miscarried, I ended up continuing my cycle for a full week. The thing I was not expecting was to continue spotting for another 2.5 weeks on top of that. I was still having crampy feelings and although the miscarrying process itself went rather smoothly, I was still a little nervous that there was still tissue in my uterus. That was the last thing that I wanted because of the chance of infection and endometriosis hindering our ability for future babies!

So at about 2 weeks of cramping and bleeding, I finally called the nurse. Keep in mind at no point did I ever have any of the symptoms of tissue still being there (dizziness, excess bleeding, intense pain), but I wanted to make sure! So she said that she wanted me to come in for blood work to see that my HCG levels were coming down appropriately (they needed to be below 5). She assured me that cramping was normal, my uterus did have to shrink back. We made an appointment, but it was for 3 weeks away because my DR was on vacation. Naturally.

So I went in that day, gave some blood, and waited for my call back. When they didn't call back the next day, I called them. When I finally got the call back, my HCG was at 36, so they asked that I come back in 2 weeks to test again. This was still before my appointment on the 3rd. I asked her again because I was still bleeding at this point, how I would know if I had any excess tissue. She told me that I would be doubled over in pain if it had been 3.5 weeks already. And of course I stopped spotting the next day.

I went in 2 weeks later and my HCG had gone down to 6. I was good to go and cancelled my appointment because I was feeling fine.

What to Expect:

• The nurse said I could spot all the way up until my next cycle. I did not, but it is normal.
• Your uterus does have to go back down just like after giving birth. Even if it is the size of a grapefruit not a 8 lb baby (lets be real, mine will be WAY bigger then 8 lbs!)
• There will be funny pains/twinges. Just like after giving birth.
• Your hormones will be WAY off and you will have blemishes for weeks! Bummer.
•  Each and every one person is different in who quickly they heal physically and emotional, so be aware of that.

Whats Next:

I finally went into my IVF Dr after I started my cycle again 6 weeks after I miscarried. Everything looked perfect from miscarrying and for starting up our next round of IVF.

We missed the end of Feb-Mar window, so we will be doing the next round at the end of Mar-Apr.

But we are cleared! And I am on birth control, so here we go ROUND 3!!!

Third times the charm right?!

Love God's perfect promises lately. 

What Do You Want to do with Your life?

The other day I was texting a friend of mine and can I just tell you how awesome it is to have friends that you can text random questions too and they answer without the “why?” question? Cause let me tell you, I always ask why. But this sweet friend did not. So when I asked her, “what are your hopes and dreams in life? Your bucket list?” I got some beautiful answers. And they made me love her more because I got to know her deeper. 

But what really got me was the next day when she asked me back, “what are your hopes and dreams?” Man. It felt like a trick question. If you would have asked me a year ago, I would have given you my huge list. In fact, back in 2013 I wrote my bucket list out for you all. But now?

Now all I want is to live a simple life. A simple life where I love the people around me the best way I know how. Like Jesus. I want to have some children whom I love and who I can teach to love and serve. And I still want to travel. I want to travel and take my children to places where they can see that people are in need. But ultimately? I just want to love the people around me.

It feels nice to get rid of that list. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to visit Greece, visit the Amish, and go sky diving, but if I die before that happens? That is just fine. Because I want to live well. I want to not be the mom who is so busy she doesn’t have time for her kids unless it is scheduled. 

I am still figuring out how to live an unscheduled life and not feel like it is wasted, but I can actually do things last minute. I haven’t been able to do that since high school. And it feels darn good. 

Really I can thank In Vitro for that. Having months where you cannot schedule anything has been amazing. I guess you can say that what God has taught me through IVF has not only been patience and His timing, but also how to slow down.

And for that I am thankful.

So, so thankful.