Weekend Plans

I am feeling MUCH better, thank you. Not 100% but definitely better, unfortunately, Alex is sick now. That is definitely unfortunate since we are shooting two weddings this weekend. One tonight and one tomorrow afternoon. We are fairly excited about the weddings, though, because the last couple of months have been our longest break from shooting weddings. Which means that we will have renewed energy & creativity for the weddings. If you don't know what I'm talking about - then check out Alex's business Candidly Elegant Photography.

Other news. Yesterday my patience was tested pretty severely as Alex's doctor canceled our appointment at the last minute. He is going out of town for a MONTH. So I rescheduled for two weeks from now w/ his physician's assistant. Then, because I was so annoyed, I figured that our original fertility doctor could explain the test results to us. I called him - and he's out of town until June 12! So at the end of it all, I made appointments with each of them and called the urologist back to request that a copy of the results be sent to us - at least I can compare these tests to the November tests to see changes. (I have a copy of the original tests). Don't know what I'm talking about? Check below in the post titled Mature Content.

ugh

Hi people.

I've been in Orlando for the past two days at a conference on Women's Health. My presentation went well this afternoon - so that's good. I saw my aunt Mary yesterday for dinner and had a really nice early evening. She showed me the new house that they are building. I started getting a sore throat while at dinner and by the time I got back to my hotel it was full-blown.

I started feeling better in mid-day but by 4:00 - I started downhill again. My throat is SO sore and I have head/body aches. That's not good.

I'll keep you posted.
Shaleen.

whew

Oh man, I'm tired from this long weekend. Overall it was a very, very good weekend, though.

Friday, we met Arcolia and Khristina for tapas at some restaurant north of the design district. Yay! We socialized on a Friday!

Saturday, we did some random stuff, then I went to a baby shower, then I came home and we watched movies and TV in bed for the rest of the day - can't beat that with a stick!

Sunday, we went to church, had an awesome time with friends there. Then we met Alex's family at the beach. Apparently, each year they rent at this time share that is in Sunny Isles. It was AWESOME. Literally, the beach is outside the door to their villa. And it is super cheap in the off-season! We think we are going to start going there on our own. So we spent the day there hanging out with his family and playing in the ocean and pool w/ his niece and nephew. Highlight of Sunday: Alex's niece, Isabella finally started calling me 'tia'! She's 6 years old and I've known her since she was a baby and before we were married so she always called me Shaleen. For some reason she started calling me Tia!

Monday - got up early today to shoot head shots of our pastor Rick Blackwood. He is about to have his first book published and needed a photo for the jacket cover. It was fun to hang out with him. Afterward we went to the mall to get Alex some stuff and then came home. I packed my bag and headed to Orlando. Wednesday I'm presenting at a session at the Governor's Women's Health Conference. The drive was fine until I got near Orlando - then I always end up getting turned around here. The streets and highways change names all the time! So I finally got here at 9-ish and got to my room at 9:40.

Hope you all had a nice long weekend.

Reminder

I would like to respond to my own post from yesterday. I think that I was in error to make such a statement that I know what God is going to do. I do believe that He is preparing me and Alex for getting the results next week.

Today I read the following in Psalm 27:13-14 - "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

He is reminding me that He is control, regardless of which way the results go, I feel affirmed of what I came to believe a while ago which is that it is His will for us to have a baby - just in His timing. We will keep faith.

Warning: Mature Content

In my experience, I have begun to identify trends in how I am able to know that God is telling me something. In every instance in the past there is one commonality - peace. So Alex and I were somewhat saddened when we realized that we have both started to get a feeling for something, and in an odd, sad way - we have peace about it.

Alex and I have been trying to have a baby for over a year and a half now. It has been one of the most challenging and emotionally draining experiences of my life. It has also fed a considerable amount of growth in my walk with God and in our marriage. So that's good. In November we both underwent fertility testing and learned that we were most definitely struggling from primary infertility due to male factor infertility. Alex's boys were not healthy. The good news was that his situation is pretty much the most correctable - as male infertility goes. In January he had surgery to correct the problem. So we have been waiting since then to either get pregnant or to let a sufficient amount of time pass to redo his tests. (sidenote - it takes 72 days to 'recycle' the supply of sperm)

So this week, Alex had his tests done and next Friday we will see the urologist to look at the results.

Yesterday in my quiet time, I just really felt God putting on my heart that the results were only going to go one of two ways: either so much improvement that the MD would say there is no way we can't get pregnant on our own; or that there has just not been sufficient improvement to get pregnant on our own. The middle ground being - let's be conservative and see if it happens in the next couple of months. When I discussed this with Alex he said that he thinks that the results aren't going to be positive.

So please pray for us. Back in November when we learned about our infertility we had long conversations about how far we would tread into assistive reproductive therapies and we have made firm decisions in that area. I feel that God is preparing my heart to go down this road.

We have learned a lot from our more charismatic friends about prayer. They pray different than baptists - they pray with full expectations of miracles. So we will not stop that - but thankfully God is such a caring God that he does prepare us for the roads we head down.

best blog ever

And no, it's not mine. I continue to have a hard time articulating how much I love and am renewed, refreshed whenever I have the opportunity to see the beauty and love that is possible in other people.

I happened upon this blog as I made my routine stalking of other photographer's blogs. One of my regulars is Jessica Claire. She's in LA and she's just amazing. Anyway, Jessica happened upon the blog of Nate Lawrenson in NC. Nate is married to Tricia. Tricia has cystic fibrosis. CF is a terminal disease that effects the lungs, primarily. Most people CF are not expected to live past their adolescence without having a double lung transplant. Tricia was, in fact, placed on a transplant list when they discovered that she was pregnant.

She carried their daughter 24.5 weeks (just over 1/2 of a normal gestation period). They delivered Gwyneth after Tricia had become very very sick from complications of CF. After the c-section, Tricia was put in a coma for over a week. Soon thereafter she was placed at the top of the transplant list. She ended up receiving donor lungs. She and Gwyneth each endured time in the hospital.

For the rest - you should just visit Nathan's blog, Confessions of a CF Husband.

I hope that your heart is warmed as much as mine as you get to know this remarkable family. They have amazing strength, faith and kindness. They have been blessed and clearly they realize that they are in a position to share those blessings with others.

Alaska Pictures

Click on this link to see a slideshow of our vacation pictures.

ENJOY!

Photos - but not what you are expecting

Okay, I know that everyone is anxious to see Alaska pictures - I've seen them, they're great. Alex is so talented. Unfortunately, he's catching up on other work so our vacation pics have taken a backseat. He promised me they would be done by tomorrow, though. So that's good.

However, I want you all to check out the Trash the Dress session that we did the weekend before we went to Alaska. I am in LOVE with the session. I'll put a couple of teasers here - but you should check out the rest on our Blog. Also, I guess the margins of this blog are different than our photography blog - so the right edge of the horizontal shots are cut off - on Alex's blog they are alright.

Keeping you Waiting - and Sienna

Hi people - I'm sorry that I don't have pictures of Alaska up yet. I know that Alex has been doing some photoshopping and may almost be finished. I'm hoping that by tomorrow he will have had time to put up a slideshow.

I've also just been busy with work. I came back to over 240 emails! Yikes, and that was with my boss purposely omitting me from most of his email communication.

BUT, I do have other news that I have been grossly negligent in blogging about. My best friend Lourdes had her baby! Baby Sienna Isabel was born on May 6 at 4:46am. She weighed in at over 7 pounds - a lot for my little friend!

Here are some pictures stolen off of Lourdes' Blog:

This is my favorite - Lourdes is absolutely glowing!

Where to begin?

I have SO many different things to talk about from our vacation that I honestly have NO idea where to begin. I will definitely be posting pictures - probably in a slideshow - sometime this week. But that will take a little bit of time.

Here are some highlights:

1) Seattle rocks - seriously, we loved the place. The first weekend we were there we hung out with some photographer friends. Which was cool b/c they took us to some places we definitely would not have seen otherwise. They are Gerald and Airika Pope - check out their site. The Sunday that we returned we did our photo shoot w/ April Greer. Again, we got to see untraditional locales in Seattle and just had an all around amazing time. She has posted the very first shot from our session on her blog.

2) Alaska is beautiful. It reflects God's majesty at every turn.

3) Alex and I were consistently in the wrong place at the wrong times to see wildlife. Here's what we saw: Bald Eagles (cool, definitely), a porcupine (also cool, in its own prickly-rodent way).....that's about it. Here's what other people saw: pods of killer whales, sperm whales, seals, sea lions. Way cooler than porcupines.

4) We took a helicopter ride into the glaciers in Skagway - probably a key highlight of the trip. The ride was really fun - and seeing mountains from above like that is just awe-inspiring. additionally, I definitely didn't grasp the size of the glaciers until they landed the helicopters and they were towering above us.

5) We spent HOURS in the boat's 'Thermal Suite' - a part of the spa that was full of all kinds of whirlpools, hot tubs, heated beds, steam rooms, etc. The Suite had an awesome view from the front of the ship - so you could lay there on lounge chairs and read and watch everything go by - it was very relaxing.

6) Before the trip, I questioned myself at time that I might be overpacking or that I was being overly cautious in packing a heavy winter coat - I was not off-base. It was really cold (in the 30s and 40s). I have to thank Dominique and Ann Marie for lending me their warm clothes for layering - I would have been at a total loss without your clothes. You have no idea.

Ok, that's it for now. Today I'm trying to get started on laundry, dog-washing and re-stocking the fridge to eat healthy foods again. Don't worry, that definitely was not everything that I have to say about the trip!

Shaleen.

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Ok everyone - thanks for checking the blog. Tomorrow EARLY we leave for Seattle. I will be posting again in little over a week.

Take care!
Shaleen.