You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2010.
The day after Christmas we had family photos taken. We had a fabulous photographer, Joe Willis out of North Augusta. We bought the rights to this picture, and we’re using it for our pass along cards. Kami Clark is designing our cards, and hopefully we will have those done soon 
Today I had a really great testimony-strengthening experience. I went to see the Stake President about the music for the upcoming youth dance, but we only talked about that for a few minutes before our conversation was directed elsewhere. He asked me about my mia maids, and gave me some very good counsel about them. When he asked me if there was anything he could do for me, I revealed that Ben and I are looking for our family, and would he please think of us if he came across a child needing a home. He then gave me some much needed counsel and comfort about trials and the reasons we have them.
I felt so much that the Stake President relied on the Spirit to direct our conversation, and that he said the things the Lord wanted him to say. It reminded me of something that happened when I was a single student in Columbia, SC. I went to the institute building for a Saturday session of General Conference, I believe. This institute building had a limited number of comfortable seats, and I got there early so that I could have one instead of having to sit in a hard chair. I got up just before conference started to visit the ladies room, and when I got back my chair had been taken. I wasn’t really worried about this, maybe a little bit disappointed but not upset or mad at all. It happens, I’m the one who got up and left my seat open to invite someone else to sit down. Unfortunately, the few other people who were there thought I was mad and they chastised me for having a bad attitude. This upset me, because I didn’t have a bad attitude, I didn’t care about the chair. I was feeling really depressed as conference started. It sounds silly now explaining it, but I was fresh out of high school then and my crazy emotions were very real. As the choir was singing the opening hymn, the institute director came up to me and said, “I feel impressed to tell you that you are a very special woman,” in such loving tones. I cannot tell you how that lifted my spirits right there.
I learned several things from that one statement. I learned that my teacher was attuned to the promptings of the Spirit, and heeded them. I learned that my Heavenly Father loves me, that He knows my needs, and He sends me what I need in very real ways. It was such a small incident, and wouldn’t have had a lasting effect on my self-esteem. I’m sure that I wouldn’t even remember the chair incident today if my teacher had not said anything. But it served a higher purpose than just helping me to enjoy that session of general conference. It strengthened my testimony of our priesthood leaders, that they are called of God to do His work. That my Heavenly Father loves me and knows me. I felt that same Spirit today as I talked with the Stake President, and I was able to recognize that what he was telling me came from the Lord. I’m so grateful for people who are able to recognize the promptings of the Spirit and have the courage to follow through. I pray that I can hear the Spirit when He speaks to me.
–Sarah
Well I said I’d give a review of the EA Sports Active for Wii…. So I guess I will. I’ve been using it for a few days now, and I love it! I’ve been doing the 30-day challenge, which has 20 workouts you spread over 30 days. You can choose one of three intensities. I’ve been choosing mostly high, but I’ve thrown in a medium here and there. High will kick your butt. It measures the time you spend exercising more accurately than the wii fit does. It also measures the calories you burn…. Not sure how accurate that can be though. It mixes some sports and games with strength exercises.
Pros:
-It sure beats going to gym when the temp is negative anything. It’s very easy to do at home, and I save a lot of time by not driving to the gym. I don’t have to fight anybody for machines, and nobody stares (I don’t have an issue with that, but some people don’t like going to the gym because they think people look at them. So this solves that problem).
-You have to do the exercises at a certain tempo with the game, and it will hold me down in a lunge much longer than I would if I were doing the exercise on my own. You can’t speed through the exercises, which helps you benefit more from them.
-Choosing different intensity levels makes me more likely to put the game on at the end of a long day.
-You can switch out resistance bands for a harder workout. It doesn’t come with extra bands, but those are pretty cheap and easy to get at any box store.
-The trainers and other figures on it wear Tshirts and pants, not skimpy clothes. That’s a plus for me.
-I feel like I get a good strength workout from it.
Cons:
-The cord between the nunchcuk and remote get in the way, and sometimes the way you have to hold them is awkward. Hand positions are very important because that’s how the game reads what position your body is in, and you can get “stuck” in the game. All these are minor though, and it just takes doing an exercise a time or two to work out the kinks in it.
-Not enough cardio, stretching, or abs. I don’t know about the cardio, but I know that the new version of this game, EA Sports Active More Workouts has improved on the stretches and ab workouts. I want to get the next one when I finish the 30 day challenge.
-It mixes up the exercises a little, but it’s a lot of the same. It almost feels like eating at the DFAC three meals a day for a year…. The food was decent, but it got REALLY old after a while. Hopefully I can find ways to mix it up, maybe switching between this one and another game will help that.
So it’s got some good and bad points. But overall, I like it, and I’ll definitely continue to use it, hopefully every day.
If you want to see a video review, here’s a good one
–Sarah
Sunday school lessons with 14-year-olds is always a joy in one fashion or another. It could bring me back to my middle school teaching days, but in this case the group tends to really impress me. Sure, they like to joke around a goof off here and there, but who doesn’t, including their teacher? So, even with the all the noise, the weird questions and comments, games, and whatever else gets thrown in, every time, they tend to be a nice spiritual discussion that leaves a nice feeling at the end. Of course I give most of the credit to those who are there to listen and learn. What an easy job it is to teach when put in a situation like that. If all my teaching career could be like that, it would be amazing to see what could be learned or accomplished in a short amount of time.
–Ben
Frequently Asked Questions
I just compiled a list of questions we commonly get. Please ask questions. Chances are someone else wants to know too but doesn’t want to ask. I’ll post the answers here so they will benefit everybody.
Question: When you find your baby who is he/she going to live with? How long until the army will let you live together as a family?
Answer: Some background first. Ben and I (Sarah) are not living together right now… Not by choice. I am stationed in Alaska (brrrr) and Ben is in training in Georgia. When he finishes his training in June, we will be eligible for the Army Married Couples Program which will allow us to be stationed together. Until then, we are doing our home study in Aiken, SC. When we have a child (or children) placed with us, I will be able to leave the army early to raise babies with Ben. So long story short, we are separated now, but when we have kids we will be able to live together.
Question: Are you interested in adopting a child that’s already a toddler or older, or are you only interested in newborns?
Answer: We haven’t made any firm decisions yet, but we haven’t ruled out a pre-school age child or sibling group. We want the children that are SUPPOSED to be ours, and we don’t want to rule them out by saying we’ll only take a baby. We’re kindof taking that on a case by case basis. Maybe not actively looking for older children like we are a newborn, but if we are approached with the option of taking an older child or sibling group we will pray about it. We have decided though that a certain age might be too old… Right now we are putting the age limit at the number of years we have been married, which at the moment is 5. But again, we are taking this on a case by case basis and if you know of children who don’t fit that, we welcome you to let us know.
Question: Have you considered adopting kids from China?
Answer: We have considered international adoption. The short of it is, it’s just too expensive. Most countries are closed to international adoptions. The handful that aren’t require both adoptive parents to make several, sometimes lengthy, trips to the country before the adoption is finalized. Our jobs can’t accommodate trips like that now, not to mention the sky high plane ticket prices. And extra international legal fees and translation costs.
Question: Have you considered foster care?
Answer: There are several reasons why we are not going that direction. The biggest is because I (Sarah) can not be separated from the army because of fostering a child like I can when we adopt. Both of us are working, and neither of us thinks it is the right thing to be a single working parent, which we would essentially be. We feel that I need to be a stay at home Mom, especially since Ben is planning on staying in the Army. Maybe if we haven’t found our children before we get to live together again we will reconsider. There are some other reasons why this is not the right option for us, but right now this is the deciding factor.
My new favorite Geico commercial.
–Sarah
I’ve been trying to decide what to write on here. I ran out of ideas about the first day I posted anything. And getting Ben to write something can be like pulling teeth 
Not really, he does it if I ask him to write something specific. But again, the problem of nothing to write about. I want this blog to be a place for people to come to learn more about us. So I dug up this book I bought a year or so ago, The Complete Book of Questions. It has 1001 “conversation starters,” questions on all sorts of topics. I thought maybe that would be a good book to get ideas from if I can’t think of anything else to write about. The first question I picked was “What is something that always brings a smile to your face?”
I get a smile when I read a good book. Or when something unexpected and exciting happens in one of those books. Like when Neville Longbottom kills the snake in the last Harry Potter book (If you haven’t read it, sorry for giving it away, but you should go and read it RIGHT NOW!). Chocoate makes me smile ALWAYS. Four day weekends are great. I got a really big smile when I was called to Young Womens. I love seeing my girls make a good decision. Being with my family always makes me smile. I love seeing my family that I don’t get to see nearly often enough. Meeting my neices this Christmas was great. Lacey, my sister’s daughter, took to me so fast, and she made me smile the whole time we were there together. And my Ben is the best. He’s always doing something goofy, or just something sweet that makes me happy.
–Sarah
Ben’s response:
uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh…….. food that smells good. Or how about the idea of never having to do writing assignments ever again, except that one doesn’t work because it’s part of my living now. Good jokes make me smile, but they usually only work once or twice. Babies always make me smile, especially friendly ones. My nieces’ ability to get me never wore off. Getting notes from people that say nice, friendly positive things will get me every time. If the compliments are sincere and well-meant, no matter the source, then they can always get a big grin on my face. So, I guess the things that will always get a huge grin on my face no matter what are food and sincere compliments I get on the receiving end. Then again, my Sarah makes me smile all the time just by being around and loving me. She really makes me crack a smile when she gets excited about things like a kid. Very cute!!!
Greetings! I’m Ben, and I’m a whopping 33 years old. I am the oldest of nine kids where my youngest sibling is 18 years younger than I am. Four of us are boys and 5 are girls. Being the oldest was unique because it made me automatic babysitter for the family, taking care of other kids from months-old to teenager age at the same time when I was a teen myself. In high school, I played trumpet in the band, participated on the Math and All-Around Academics team, and ran track. In college I decided to major in music performance on trumpet at East Tennessee State University. After my freshman year, I served a mission in Fort Worth, TX and areas west of there for two years. I returned to school and finished my degree in music in 2002, and I decided in order for my degree to be worth anything, graduate school was a must. So, I went to University of South Carolina further my music education. The first day I moved to Columbia, SC, I met Sarah. We married nine months after that, and it was time to find work. I taught music and chorus in the public school arena for three years. During my third year, Sarah decided to join the army (see about Sarah for details.) Instead of continuing my teaching profession, I followed her footsteps by joining the Army myself eventually as an officer. I am happy to serve and look forward to learning more about my career ahead of me. I still have a lot of training ahead, but I already enjoy many aspects of being a part of the army. I look forward to what the future has in store for us. I like to travel and explore new places and things. I think the army will provide that for Sarah and me. On my free time, I enjoy playing games, reading thriller and mystery novels, and playing, writing, listening to music.
Hi! I’m Sarah, and I’m 25 years old. I am the oldest of 4 kids, with a younger sister, 23, and two younger brothers, 21 and 16. In high school I played the clarinet in the school band, and had the opportunity to be the drum major for the marching band my senior year. I went to college for two years, majoring in choral education and vocal performance. That’s where I met Ben. We got married after my sophomore year, and I had to postpone the rest of my schooling. I started working full time, moving a few times with Ben for his job, until I joined the Army in 2008. People ask me a lot why I joined the Army. I can only tell you that it was what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do, so I did it. I have learned a lot about myself and what I can do, and it was definitely the right decision for me and my family. I deployed to Iraq in August of 08 as a medic. While I was there, among my other medical experiences, I took online classes and learned how to crochet. Crocheting is one of my new favorite past times. I also love to read, and my favorite books are the Narnia Books.
We’re working on getting our pass-along cards ready, and everything is working out. We had a great photographer, Joe Willis, take our family’s pictures after Christmas. If you live in the Aiken-Augusta area, I totally recommend him.
www.joewillisphotography.com We also have a great card designer helping us out. Kami Clark is one of Sarah’s friends from high school, and recently started her own wedding announcement design business. We were hoping for an opportunity to work with her, and now these cards are the perfect job for Kami. She does lots of work at wedding shows, and is featured on the wedding site theknot.com If you need any announcement or card work done, go to www.bellaannouncements.com
Thanks to everybody who voted in our poll! We’re going with this picture:
http://www.bellaannouncements.com
