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 :)