Bye Sophie :(

If I were to fill out a profile on Match.com (hypothetically), it would most definitely say that I love dogs. I mean, I LOVE dogs. I have never been a cat person, although I will say there are a handful of those that I do like. I grew up always having a dog in the house. We were never without a pet, until now.

Sophie was my most special dog. She was very much a part of the family. In fact, I am convinced that she was more human than animal. I will confess that Sophie was actually my "baby", until precious Shadow came along. For those of you who love dogs as much as I do, I know you understand!

Sophie had been with our family for 14 years. She was there for every move from one home to another, every birthday, every holiday and every "meet-my-new-boyfriend-dinner". We all grew very attached to Sophie, and we are all so sad that she is gone now.

I will always have fond memories of days when I stayed home from school sick. It seemed like Sophie just knew I didn't feel good and she would lay in bed with me. When I went to Murray State for school and only came home for weekends, she would be so excited to see me come through the door. Sophie was a miniature schnauzer and I swear she could wag her little tail so fast it might look like it would fly off any second. And goodness, what funny tricks she could do. Sophie brought lots of laughter, joy, and comfort into our home.

I know dogs can be very intelligent so I like to think that Sophie knew exactly how much she meant to me and to my family, how much she was loved, and that we needed her as much as she needed us.

I will miss Sophie greatly, but look forward to the day where I can have another little puppy for my new family. I hope Jordan, Shadow and myself will be blessed with a wonderful pet someday that will give us many happy memories, just like Sophie has given me.

Bye Sophie :(

A word from Shadow Smith

Hey everyone!

I thought it was time I said hello. I'm still too little to type so mommy is doing that for me. I have to tell you about my horrible day!

It started off just fine. I woke up, watched TV while mommy and daddy got ready for work, and then went to my babysitter.

It was just a normal day but mommy and daddy came to get me at 10:30! I was so excited! I never get to see them during the week at that time. I felt so special, I knew we must be going to have fun. Why else would they come get me early? Well, we went to the doctor and I got to play and play and smile at the nurses. The doctor lady was so nice. She kept saying how cute and strong I was. She said I could start eating some cereal! Yay!

Then daddy was making funny faces at me. He is so funny! I was laughing so hard and having such a good time then...Ouch! Something poked me! It did NOT feel good. Now I see that I had been betrayed. Mommy and Daddy did not have fun times planned at all. I had to get my shots! After the first poke, I had enough! No more laughing at daddy, I screamed and screamed in his face! After the poking stopped I was just so sad, nothing mommy sang to me would make me feel better. Well, OK, after a while it did. (I do like it when mommy sings to me.)

I finally calmed down and they took me back to my babysitter. Boy, it was just awful. From now on, mommy and daddy can just stay at work all day. No more coming to get me early and make me feel special, just to have me get poked! If they do that again, I am going to insist that I stay with the babysitter forever!

The family begins

Growing up, I was never one of those girls that dreamed about her wedding day. I didn't sit and plan and fantasize about every detail. As I grew older and started dating and having serious relationships, I realized that I wanted a marriage more than I wanted a wedding. So, when Jordan and I were faced with the endeavour of planning a wedding in just over 3 months, all while traveling every week for work, I never felt too daunted by the task. Of course I wanted us to have wonderful day, a memorable time with family friends, and I wanted to look very pretty. But what I wanted more was the every day that would follow after we said "I Do."

Jordan and I were married on November 21st in Murray, KY. We were blessed to have all of our family and our close friends in attendance. My colors were black and white as I am always a fan of the simple, practical, and classy. I actually found my wedding dress in under 30 minuets. It was the fifth one I tried on and I was sold. Plus, it had pockets, which was a great perk since I always like to have my chap stick close by! The reception was held a block off the court square in a restored ballroom. I wanted a lot of candlelight and a chocolate fountain :). We had dinner, dessert, toasts, and Jordan and I shared our first dance as a married couple. It was a lovely night, and I always knew it would be.

We chose Cancun as our honeymoon destination. I love the beach. Again, I LOVE the beach! The resort was fabulous and all inclusive. We had a great time just laying outside, enjoying the sun and the water and the unlimited amount of pina coladas. After our first couple of days there, the bartenders would see Jordan coming up and immediately start pouring "one alcohol, one non-alcohol." Our trip to Cancun ended and we headed back to Kentucky, ready to start our life together and to enjoy the last few months of it being just "us."

Baby Shadow Reagan Smith was born March 29th. There are no words to describe the amount and intensity of emotions that followed after he arrived. I could sum them up by saying they were all some form of love, but I'm afraid that doesn't even do it justice. What a place to be in, emotionally and physically. It was wonderful and almost horrific at the same time. I remember feeling so relieved that I wasn't pregnant anymore, so happy to finally meet this tiny little person that had been growing inside of me. I was finally face to face with the human being that started to change everything for me, for Jordan, for us as couple, and still does today. The challenge had officially started. And not only the challenge of a new marriage and a new role as a wife, but the added challenge of being a new mother. Someone shared a quote with me,"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." - Elizabeth Stone

I never made the decision to have children, someone that knew me better than I knew myself made the decision for me. But that quote really hits home to what I'm trying to say. So, there you have it. The Smith family was finally complete.....for now.

Summer 2009

I'm inviting all of you to gag at any moment, but the Summer of 2009 will forever live in my memory as the summer when I fell in love with Jordan Smith. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so I will let them do most of the talking. Jordan and I were busy making plans, having adventures, going out on dates or choosing to stay in. It was perfect, and way too good to be true.

We would take several trips to KY lake

We took a trip to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina......

and to Kansas, my homestate. We would visit my grandparents farm, Wichita, the Eisenhower Library....

and we made a stop at the Bob Dole institute for Politics.....

My favorite trip that summer was to New York City. (I could go on and on about how much I love New York, but maybe later.) I had never been and this was Jordan's third trip. We had an incredible time touring the city and I remember thinking this was "it". "It" as in something life changing. I had found the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and it was scary. I figured it was too soon to really start sharing these feelings with him, but apparently this was Jordan's plan from he start. During our trip to New York we thought about other places we could go to and experience together. Places we wanted to live one day, things we wanted to do, jobs/careers we wanted to pursue, things we wanted to buy, etc, etc, etc!! We were very much in love and we felt unstoppable.

God must have been looking down on us laughing so hard, because he had other plans for Jordan and I. When the summer ended, He handed us challenge, a surprise. This little plan B would be a perfect wake up call to remind us that God is in charge of our lives, no matter what plans we make for ourselves.