Craziest year, ever.

2010 will definitely stay a memorable year for Aaron and I forever. Our hearts were broken in January when the earthquake hit Haiti. By February, we were beginning the process to become licensed foster care providers in case Haitian children needed homes. In March, we knew that God was calling us to continue the foster care process for orphans in our own town. April and May were full of checklists, documents, and signatures. I taught my last day of school in June, knowing I wouldn't come back in the fall. Looking back now, July was slow. Then again, all months of life before August now look slow! Then came August. August 2nd. The sweetest little one's were standing behind our front door at 8 pm that night, and our hearts were even more broken than before. Yet instantly, our hearts were also connected and longing to show love. September and October all blur together, but thankfully in a good way. We finally established a routine into our new life as a family of 4 and things were much simpler.
So here's the new, news for the Mullins' family. Aaron started a new job. A job that fits him so perfectly. After working for the last commercial contractor and supervising our new church campus being built, the company decided to part ways, and we were left wondering what we were going to do. I honestly can't remember how everything came together or was thought up, other than God had been working in Aaron's heart and planting some seeds years prior that would lead way to a new job. Our church, Austin Stone Community Church, began a non-profit for the city of Austin called For the City Network. It's goal is to connect those with a heart and passion to see the city of Austin restored by the grace of God. Aaron has started a construction non-profit through the network.
"Name to be determined" company (: will work to rebuild and provide affordable housing for families in Austin. Right now there are 39,000 families that could be living in affordable housing, but those homes just don't exist. While renovating and building these homes, people from the community will be brought on the jobs to learn a skill that will make them a marketable employee. They'll learn this trade to help them find a job to provide for their own families. Amazing right? Aaron just started his job this week, and I'm so proud of what's already happening.
So with this new job comes some life changes. We'll be putting our house on the market sometime very soon. We'll be moving to a town east of Austin named Taylor where we already have some fabulous friends living, and where housing is more affordable. We love our home, our neighborhood, and our neighbors, but we don't want to be owned by our home. We've also come to realize that we can live on much less than we have been and want the freedom to be able to use our money for more than ourselves.
When will all this happen? Not a clue! Really wish we knew, but we trust in God's timing because we've seen His faithfulness time and time again. We are looking for homes in Taylor, trying not to get attached, and working on getting the house prepared to go on the market.
Now I just have to figure out how on earth to keep this house together each day for potential buyers... Really considering putting a sign on the door when people do come that says "A family of 4 with 2 kiddos under 2 years old live here... Please show us some grace and realize that clutter doesn't equal dirty. Thank you, A Busy Mom". Will that work?
So, like I said we'll be sad to leave our first home, but we are equally excited about what we know God has planned for us. Our Taylor friends are also in the process of becoming foster parents and I'm overjoyed at the thought of being right in town to help them when their son and daughter comes along.
What's funny is the first time Aaron and I drove through Taylor probably the first year we were in Austin we both were really quiet in the car and then I said, "We could never live here". And Aaron said, "It looks just like Indiana..". Now don't get me wrong, we will always have a HUGE love for the wonderful state of Indiana, but when we compare the rolling hills of Austin to the flat farm land of Indiana, there's no comparison. Taylor reminds us a lot of our hometown LaPorte, which we find humorous :) We've had a huge glimpse into how God can take what you planned your life to look like and put it in a blender.. yet what He's had planned is far better than you could have imagined.
This would be where I would post a picture of the 2 cutest kids ever.. but sadly I can't do that. I can just tell you that their big brown eyes and cheesey grins (one full of random teeth and one still gummy) make my day, every day. Their little faces were never something I had planned, but thank the Lord that He did.

Here's what's going on..

In bullet points..

• Kids are doing great! They had a court date last Friday (that we don't have to attend since they're so little), and all I can really say is that it'll be 4 months before the next one. Not sure of any outcomes as far as what 4 months from now will be like, but we just live each day as a normal day as a normal family.
• And by normal family.. I mean still adjusting to life as a family of 4 for the past 3 months now. We're into the whole solid foods phase with little miss, which is always entertaining every night. And I should probably start looking into potty training since little man loves him some potty. He won't be 2 until March, so I think I still have plenty of time...
• The fact that Thanksgiving is next week is cra-zy. We'll be staying here with the kiddos and celebrating with the wonderful Michners that are letting us crash their dinner!
• Christmas will be spent here with both sides of our family. That's right! Both the Mullins' and Stishers will be heading to Austin for the week before and after Christmas. I extra excited because my family hasn't met the kids yet :)
• The 2nd weekend of December, Aaron and I get the pleasure of going on a mini-5 year anniversary-vacation! Kind of :) Aaron's roommate from college is getting married, and he's in the wedding so we're extending our stay a little longer to make sure we get to celebrate the past 5 wonderful years of marriage. 5.. wow! Get ready for some sarcarm now... Guess where our vacation is?! Minneapolis, Minnesota! In December! De-cem-ber. Oh goodness, I'm expecting to be frozen the whole time we're there, but boy will we be excited to celebrate with old friends!
• 2010 has been crazy, and the year isn't even over yet.. a seperate blog post will be coming about how the end of our year is looking.

Living like a movie star..

Or something like that.

I told Aaron the other day that I felt like I was living in the movie "50 First Dates". Have you seen it? It is a cute one... definitely a chick flick even with Adam Sandler in it. It's the one where Adam Sandler falls in love with Drew Barrymore only to find out that she had been in a car accident that causes her to wake up each morning thinking it's the morning of the accident.

The characters I'm currently relating to are actually the dad and brother of Drew's character. Every night once she goes to bed, they prep the house to look just like it did the morning of the accident. This involves re-wrapping a birthday present every night, painting an art room white every night, getting out an old newspaper every night. That way when Drew wakes up, she will never know anything has changed in her life.

Well, I do this every night. Or at least it feels like it! I'm not real good at keeping up with the house right now. Not sure if typing "right now" is smart because I'm not sure if that's going to change. So, every night once the kids are sleeping I pick up the toys, clean up the kitchen, rinse out all the bottles, and start the dishwasher. I've revolted against washing bottles. I run them in the dishwasher every night. I know some people don't put any plastics in theirs, but this girl does. I just hate getting sprayed by the bottle cleaner. And after a long day, popping them in the dishwasher takes the least amount of time.

So, as I'm going through this nightly routine I now think of that movie and have the urge to sing the Beach Boys "Wouldn't It Be Nice" at the top of my lungs. If you haven't seen the movie or it's been a while, you should rent it this weekend :)

3 weeks in!

I think this is an easier way to update you.
Here's the good, the bad, and the weird of what's happened!

THE GOOD

• We're learning how to live with 2 kids a little better each day, and they're learning to live with us
• Baby girl rolled over for the first time the other night! It was during a 3 am diaper changing fit of rage, but then she continued to roll over back to tummy 3 times yesterday. So lucky to get to see one of her firsts
• Big man has learned to take off his shoes by himself. He loves shoes or at least to say "shoooz"
• I'm starting to have somewhat of a schedule throughout the day. It being 100+ degrees lately has really made it difficult to do things like.. well going outside, but if we stay home all day I literally go crazy. So we're setting up playdates and making unnecessary Target runs just so I can regain some sanity! Plus the kids are awesome when we go out which is a huge plus
• Big man loves him some pool time. We've gone a few times and he just loves loves loves it, especially when Mr. Aaron throws him way up in the air to make a big splash :)
• Unrelated to our lives, my best friend Rachel that lives in CT had a beautiful baby girl last Sunday and I could not be more excited for her and her family! The added plus is that Rachel now shares her birthday with not only my sister but her baby girl as well. What a perfect birthday present
• Then we had another friend add a baby girl into their family of 3 yesterday! Can't wait to meet baby Shelby
• Our sister-in-law and brother-in-law are in the process of buying a house! It's been a long journey but they have been faithful in prayer to trust that the right house would come along and it did :)

THE BAD

• Let's just say I've been a bit emotional lately and leave it at that. My husband is a saint for putting up with me.
• Aaron had the flu this weekend which meant no touching babies or anything to do with babies for a few days. BUT he's better now and that's all that matters
• Big man's favorite thing to do is pull the on the dog's ears, tail, fur, and/or whatever he can get his hands on. We're working on this... Thankfully the dogs are being wonderful about it! Although, I'm guessing they are actually searching for new homes on the internet as soon as we leave the house
• Baby girl's new favorite thing is to be held which clearly isn't bad! The bad is that I then have no hands to do anything else during those times, like pry tiny hands off of Cooper's ears. She doesn't like the carrier that we have so we might have to purchase something else if this continues
• Our A/C went out 2 times last week and my amazingly handy husband fixed it as best as he could until the thing was finally defeated by the Texas heat. So that's one bad thing.
• The next point deserved it's own line because you see paying for a whole new unit is not fun. Not fun at all.

THE WEIRD

• I'm not at school. That's pretty darn weird. Aaron and I had planned long ago that when kids came along I would stay home with them. Having the first day of school come and go and not being a part of it was quite strange, although that was the day the A/C went out for good so it's not like I was laying around the house watching movies instead of enjoying the frantic first day
• My baby sister is 18. 18! She started her senior year of high school and talks about things like college and ACT scores instead of Barbies and the Puppies movie (101 Dalmations was her favorite as a little one). I'm using all my effort to convince her to move in with us and go to the University of Texas next year
• The fact that these kids have been in our home for 3 weeks! I can't figure out if it feels like yesterday that they came or if they've been here forever :)
• Whipping a double stroller out of the trunk of my car is pretty strange. I met a friend at happy hour yesterday in a trendy restaurant bar.. except that I was pathetically thrown together since baby girl wanted to be held while I got ready, big man woke up from his nap a bit grumpy, and I now carry around a fully loaded diaper bag just in case of emergencies. Loved seeing Marie but definitely didn't fit in with the crowd

By the way since I've had some people ask, I sadly can't post pictures of our cuties on here :( You'll just have to come to Austin to meet them!

Life lately..

We are definitely due for an update since we have doubled the size of our family this week!


That's right, this Monday we opened up our home to 2 cuties.
16 month P and 3 month T.
We are all adjusting well and taking each day about an hour at a time as we all get to know each other. Both kiddos are making this pretty easy by sleeping through the night!


Big brother P is loving that he now has two doggies, which he walks around loving on all day long. He is very sweet to say thank you for snacks. It's been fun learning what he can do and all the words he already knows.
Little sister T is a typical 3 month old with the schedule of eat, "play" for a few hours, and sleep! She's very good at these things, and we love when she smiles during those play times.

Aaron and I are taking things step by step. The full nights rest has definitely been the biggest blessing so that we aren't starting and ending each day a bit crazed. They really are adjusting much quicker than we could have imagined.


Aaron said to me tonight, God is really showing us that this is what we're supposed to be doing. We know that this isn't an easy road to go down, and we're trying our best to start this journey realistically knowing that it is a long road. But I can't even begin to explain how blessed we already feel. Our friends and family have been a HUGE help with these sudden additions. The best part, complete strangers are helping as well. Here's some crazy stories:
-Customer of our brother-in-law that has gone through 2 adoptions wants to give us a crib (we were only prepared with one)
-After our friends ask a complete stranger in the diaper section of the grocery store about which diapers are good, the stranger says we can have a car seat that they are no longer using (we had actually just gotten a car seat from another set of friends that day)
-My sister-in-law found us a stroller on Craigslist (a double stroller, because that's how we roll now) and we went to pick it up tonight... Just so happens the husband is the pastor at a large church in Round Rock--they just happen to have a friend over that used to be a foster care case manager--they just happen to have a small playscape that we can have for free--and some crocs--and tell us that there's a couple from their church that live 2 blocks from us in our neighborhood that were foster parents and just adopted their foster kiddo--and they no longer want us to pay for the stroller.

I mean seriously. Seriously. How amazing. We are blessed. God is good :)

Ta da!

When I opened the paint I had a bit of a panic attack.

I always get this way right before I'm about to paint!

About half way through this wall I thought my arm was going to fall off.

You see. . .

I always tape and do the edging while Aaron does the walls due to my lack of upper body strength. Since Aaron was working on the shed, I was all on my own. I made Aaron come in and watch me so that he could tell me why I was having such a hard time. He then explained that the brush was practically dry and that you didn't have to use your whole body to lean onto the roller. :)

And ta da!

I can't wait to start moving furniture back in! I'm going to paint the twin bed we have white (hopefully soon). We're borrowing all the baby furniture from Linds and Kai, and then I'm going to get a bookcase as well. It'll take me awhile before I post anymore room pictures. We're not really decorating until we have kiddos with us. That way the room will fit them!

Saturday plans

Big working weekend here at the Mullins' Home.

Aaron's finishing up the shed.


And I'm painting our future kiddos room.
After 6 paint samples, I've found one I like :)

I'll post when I'm done!

I blame Amy Bean.

I have been thinking, dreaming of crafts for the past 3 days.
Friday night Aaron and I spent some time with our good friends the Beans. Amy started showing me some fun things she was thinking about doing for little Miss Ainsley's 1st birthday party.

Let me say that I have large ambitions when it comes to crafts.
I could wander around JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby for hours.
I've never really done anything too crafty though.
Until now.
After Friday night's craft fair, I was out Saturday morning buying 150 sq. feet of freezer paper and a bedside table to see if I have some hidden craft talent.
I actually have today off of work, and I have big plans for the day.

I'm hoping to make some freezer paper stensils. I've been reading up on it, and it really does seem simple enough. I figure if there are several websites that make it look easy, I should be able to do it!

I hope to have some pictures to post of my newest hobby soon :)

Next steps

Big news in the Mullins home:

In June, we're opening up our home for foster care!

It's easiest to start there, and then go onto explain how we got to this point.

Let me start by saying, we could not be more excited!

Here are some FAQs about this new stage of our life:

The big one... What made you guys decide to do this?

Great question! Sit back because it's a long answer...

We honestly had no idea this is where our lives would go. We've had a confused look on our faces for the past 2 months asking each other, "So, you know what we're supposed to do yet?".

It all started when a more than devastating earthquake hit Haiti.

Our hearts were broken.

Side story (because I love rambling): Aaron has been to Haiti 2 times. We always made excuses for not going, although we really wanted to go together. Last November we finally said we were going to go. We talked with our small group to see if anyone else was interested in going the summer of 2010. We wanted a night of prayer and discussion about going with them. Aaron and I had pictures and information to share with the group. Guess what day we planned to meet to talk about this? January 12th. We were literally loading pictures when we found out the earthquake had hit. Coincidences give me chills..

And back to my point :)

We watched the news. I literally checked the reports and news lines every hour.

We heard that there might be Haitian children brought to the US that had major medical needs. They would be hosted by families, and the families needed to be licensed in foster care to be able to take them in. Aaron and I talked and prayed a lot about what this meant for us. Could we actually do this?

We don't even have kids!

What help would we be?

We quickly discovered we were actually in the ideal situation of being able to give our undivided love and attention to a child. So, we spent 3 days taking 30 hours worth of foster care training classes with 6 other couples. The classes are typically taken over a 4 week period or longer. Through those 30 hours, our hearts were broken again. We heard story after story of abandonment, failing systems, and utter sadness.

YET!

These people that work with our agency found true joy in their jobs. They saw children after children beat the odds. They saw them reunited with rebuilding families. They saw them fit into families as though they'd never been apart. It was amazing, to say the least.

Once the class was over, it did not look like any Haitian children would be brought to the US. We were at a T in the road. Do we continue with the foster care requirements so that we are certified? Or.. Do we stop the process?

I knew in my heart what we were meant to do. My selfishness got in the way and I started asking God lots of questions, demanding answers in a timely manner.

Um really God? This is not what I had in mind.

What if I get too attached?

What if that child goes back to a home that isn't loving?

How will I be able to handle this new life as a "mom"?

Through all of that, it couldn't have been more clear. We were going to take in children that needed a temporary or forever home. I am going to have to step out and actually live by faith that this is possible. Because I know that it is.

How does Aaron feel about all this?

Aaron was ready to take in a child when we ended our first day of class. He waited patiently for me to see what he already knew :)

Do you give an age/gender range?

You can be as specific as you want. We are hoping to be able to take in little ones. No gender preference.

Will this lead to adoption?

Our hearts are completely open to giving a child a forever home.

So, are you going to have like 10 kids?

Well, I can say that we can't, by law, fit 10 children in our home, praise the Lord! We are trusting that when we get the call, we will know what we're supposed to do. It's quite funny to me that 22 8 year olds don't scare me at all, but 1 that I'm fully responsible for.. oh goodness.

Why June?

School will end the first week of June, and that's when we will say that we are able to take in kiddos. Though I love teaching, I will not be going back to teach in the fall to be able to stay at home. That'll be another blog, for another day.

Are you certified now?

Nope. There are many requirements for each person, the home and more. We've checked many things off the list: TB tests, fingerprinting, building a cabinet with a lock to store cleaning supplies (have I mentioned how amazingly handy my husband is?!), paperwork, paperwork, paperwork...

Here's what we still need to do: build a shed to hold our non-kidfriendly garage items, finish filling out the story of our lives (ie. 24 page home study questionnaire-we're about half way done), install fire extinguishers on both floors of the house, fire and health inspection on the house, and finally have our home study to actually certify us.

So.. that's our big news! Like I said, we couldn't be more excited about the thought of having kids in our home. I'd like to say this will make me better at updating, but let's be honest... we know that's not going to happen. I will keep you posted through the process, and can't wait for the day that I can post about "our" kids :)

Girlfriends

I've always been the person that had girlfriends.
I wasn't that girl that had a guy as a best friend growing up.
Although, I guess my husband fits that mold pretty well.

Ever since I can remember, my best friend was a girl.
And I didn't always just have one. I had a whole bunch of them.
I can picture the birthday slumber party pictures from when I was probably 8.
My dad made a comment one time, asking me if all my friends were blond.
Apparently I had some sort of complex because it's true.
Up until middle school, most of my friends were blond...

Anyway. I realize that this had always been the case.
I mean, God obviously knew a little about me by giving me a sister.
Who by the way is 17! Wow. I still remember when grandma let me wear bright pink lipstick to the hospital to visit her for the first time.
My mom just loved that :)
But I was 8 at the time, and had no idea that tiny baby was going to end up being my best friend for life.

I've just always had girlfriends.
And I love it.
I love talking about life with other women.
I love all things girly.
Such as painting nails, chick flicks, talking about boys.
I love that I have girlfriends I've cried with about pretty much everything.
I've gone through the huge milestones with them:
first boyfriends, high school drama, graduation, careers, marriages, babies.
I love that.

Moving away from all the ladies that I relied on was scary.
I knew no one in Texas.
It's hard to believe the ladies I'm living life with I've known around 3 years or less.

All this to say... I feel so blessed for all the ladies I call my friends.
I love my girlfriends and all the joy that comes with them :)

Ps. I'm on spring break. Going to really, really try to blog a couple times this week!

The past 10 years...

Warning... LONG post, but full of lots of pictures!

2000...
Aaron and I rung in the new year as a couple for the first time.
We had been dating for 4 months.
Here's a picture of us at our first prom :)


2001...
Aaron and I went to our 2nd prom.
He graduated that June and went on to study Mechanical Engineering at Purdue.


I went to my first concert in true style... :)
Don't judge us for our awesomeness!
And yes, I still know every word to every song on the No Strings Attached CD.


2002...
Our final prom together.
I graduated in June and decided Purdue seemed like a nice school.
I also went on a road trip with Aaron and his parents. We headed to Amarillo, TX to visit some of his family. That was my first trip to the giant state, and I definitely didn't leave thinking I could live there one day!
At Purdue, I majored in Elementary Education and was very much looking forward to having my boyfriend and best friend in the same town!





At the Big Texas Restaurant.

2003...
Aaron and I came back to LaPorte for the summer and spent a lot of time at the beach!



I moved into my first apartment with a great group of girls.
Had many, many naps on the coma couch.


2004...
Typical college life... Both of us moved into new apartments once again.
That summer, Aaron tried to do a lot of water skiing.
He stopped when shortly after this picture was taken we ended up in the emergency room, and Aaron left with 4 bright and shiny staples in his head!



2005...
Big year!
Got engaged.


Got married!



Funny story... Aaron and I worked really, really hard to paint that background on the church wall so that we could have a true winter themed wedding.
Or, the church decided a few weeks before the wedding to do a "Chronicles of Narnia" theme.
You can imagine my excitement when I saw it for the first time!
The running joke was that there would be a mechanical lion that would pop out when we said "I do."

And of course, went on our honeymoon! We went to San Jose del Cabo...


2006...
We were very thankful we each only had 1 semester left of college.
Aaron was now going to graduate in Civil Engineering.
I was student teaching in the most adorable Kindergarten class.

We decided to grow our little family a little bit...


We graduated on a very cold Saturday in May.
Loaded all our newlywed belongings into a Uhaul and headed to Austin that Monday.
We then became "Texans".

We visited the Alamo to learn some Texas history.

We had our awesome group of friends come visit us in our new place.


We had been going to the Austin Stone Community Church and were loving it.
That fall we took a class for "newly/nearly" wed couples.
We didn't realize God was using this class to grow our marriage, as well as give us an awesome group of friends!

2007...
We bought our first house!


Aaron quickly started fixing it up


Now that we had a yard, we decided Molly needed a friend.

Meet Cooper P. Williams Scott Jr. III

2008...
Biggest thing of the year was our trip to Italy.


2009...
Started the year off by visiting Peter out in California.

Traveled to the Texas coast for a sand castle competition

And then I pretty much started blogging, so you know the rest!

Wow, lots of pictures I know.
But looking at the past 10 years in photos is the best way to remember it.

Stay tuned for the next years of fun!

Not to brag or anything...

But you are looking at Stone Oak subdivision's 2009 Christmas light winners!

Way to go husband!

(since I had absolutely nothing to with putting them up... other then making sure he didn't fall down!)

The other day, Aaron was getting out of his truck and he had a nice conversation with another woman in our neighborhood:

Woman-Do you live here?

Aaron-Yes.

Woman-I just love your Christmas lights!

Aaron-Thank you.

Woman-I just think they are so beautiful. It makes my day seeing them when I drive past your house. It almost makes me want to cry thinking they'll be coming down soon.

Aaron-It makes me want to cry too!

What sweet neighbors we have :)

New Years Visitor

Yes, yes... I'm actually blogging within a week of my last post.
I'm off work for 1 more day, and figured I'd better try and do this now!

Aaron's college roommate Will came in from Atlanta to spend New Years with us.
We hadn't seen him since quick lunch in Indiana this past summer.
But you see, Will is very lucky.
He works for Delta.
He makes me question why I don't work for an airline.
He's able to travel cheaply all the time, which leave Aaron and I very jealous.

We'd been trying to get him here for quite some time, and it finally worked out!
He got in New Years Eve, but we began an early celebration with the Allisons.
Brad, Rachael, Aaron and I enjoyed our last meal of 2009 the way everyone should....
stuffing ourselves FULL of Chuy's *free* nachos.
Yes. Free.
How have we lived in Austin for almost 4 years, eaten at Chuy's 1000 time, and never knew that happy hour meant self-serve nachos?!
We knew about the chips and salsa at the bar, but not everything else they have to offer.

So, after our amazing waitress gave us a free chicken quesadilla, we decided our actual table wasn't needed, and we would just order a la carte at our bar table.
Cheapest meal ever.
Did I feel fabulous afterwards?
Not so much.... But it was enjoyable in the moment.

Then, Will go in so Aaron and Brad picked him up.
Rach and I started watching 17 Again but haven't gotten to finish it yet.
We all rung in the New Year just talking and hanging out.

New Years day we took Will downtown and around The Domain (outdoor shopping area).
The real highlight was dinner at Salt Lick.
Will said he was bringing people with him next time to try the famous bbq.
We worked off all the wonderful food by playing Rock Band.

Today, we just hung out, which was nice.
We did try out the 620 Cafe, which was full of deep-fried goodness.
Don't think less of us by what we eat...
This post seems to be full of the healthiest of food choices.
Pictures to follow!
Maybe this is why I feel the need to join a gym this year...

Pictures!

Aaron and Will

I have been wanting to take this picture for a long time :)

The before dinner shot

Photo taken with smokey goodness!

Chicken Fried.... bacon. It might have been delicious.

Can I just say that as I type this, my techy husband is turning lights in our off and on by using the computer!? His electrical knowledge astounds me!