Magic Kingdom Day 2

Our first full day at Disney (day 2) began bright and early.  We rode the monorail to the Contemporary Resort and had breakfast at Chef Mickey's.  I heard great things about this character breakfast and loved the idea that it allowed the kids the opportunity to meet some of the main staple characters at the very beginning of our trip.  I also loved that it meant we didn't need to go wait in lines in the parks to meet these characters!  Win Win!

This picture was just to prove mom and dad were there on the trip and we were happy to start our vacation!!  

I'll start these blogs by mentioning-- check out Miles face in almost every picture from the week.  By no means am I saying don't look at Gavin and Brooklyn, but you just have no idea which face you're gonna get from Miles and some of them are hysterical!  I may have to make a montage of just his faces when I'm done blogging about our daily adventures.  Miles was so skeptical of every place we went to, every character we met and it showed on his faces.  This child can NOT pretend anything!

Breakfast was a buffet and the kids experienced their first Mickey waffles!!  They were impressed and ate multiple waffles.  When we made our reservations, I noted that Gavin would be celebrating his birthday even though his birthday is at the end of the month.  To our surprise, he received a birthday card at each restaurant with the characters signatures and was sung happy birthday too and always given a cupcake or treat of some kind to blow out the candles on!  He loved it!  

 

One of Gavin's favorite memories was here at breakfast when the whole restaurant busted out in music and signing happy birthday to all those celebrating and everyone waved their napkins around in the air. He held onto that memory all week!

The kids met Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey Mouse, and Minnie Mouse who were all dressed as Chef's.  It truly was magical watching their expressions and excitement as each character came to our table.

Miles could not get enough of THIS Mickey.  He was all about it.

If you ask Pluto if he knows any tricks... he will sit on his knees and hold his paws up!  Cute!

Now, THIS was a precious moment!  Brooklyn embraced Minnie and was glued to her.  I had a matching Minnie Mouse dress for Brooklyn to wear but she wasn't interested in wearing it.  However, she was quick to tell Minnie how she has the same dress!

After breakfast the kids couldn't wait to get to Magic Kingdom.  They knew they were going to "The princess castle" as Brooklyn called it all week and wanted to get there quick!  Sadly, the last 20 minutes of our breakfast we watched the storms rolling in, the sky turned black, and lighting and thunder were roaring from a far!  We had a fast pass reservation scheduled for 9:30am so we had to get to the park if we wanted to make that ride!  We rode the monorail to the park and went through the entrance and it was just pouring.  We knew rain was in the forecast all week, every day, but man, it was a bummer to start our day off like that.  Thankfully, we were prepared... ponchos, rain jackets, water proof shoes, stroller rain cover, and a tarp... we pushed through even in the rain and NO ONE COMPLAINED or slowed down!  Our kids are amazing!!

Right off the bat we decided to take the traditional Magic Kingdom pic even if it was pouring!  We wanted to remember this moment as it was!  

Our first ride for the day was It's a Small World and I have to say.. there is something to be said taking your kids on this ride.  It's something both Brooks and I remembered going on when we were their age and then experiencing it with our kids was, well, magical!  It was also neat because Gavin recognized MANY of the different cultures that were shown throughout the ride and knew the Thai, German, Switz, Arabic, and other representations!  It was pretty cool to think he had been exposed to so many of those in his life!  Loved it.  Once again, Miles not so sure, not too interested and very reserved!

Next up was Peter Pan's flight, then the Little Mermaid ride, and meeting Ariel in her Grotto.  The kids were familiar with this movie, knew who all the characters were, and had fun thinking they were under water!  Ariel was sweet and very talkative.  Her fin even moved, which amazed our kids!!

 

*Miles... well, not too sure what's going on and if he likes it.  Brooklyn on the other hand couldn't stop trying to rub and touch her tail.

We had a fast pass for the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train ride and when we got there learned that Brooklyn was tall enough to ride.  We contemplated whether or not we should let her and then decided if her height was able to ride then it wouldn't be that bad for her.... well... hmmm!  Here's what I will say, the ride would go fast but then it would stop or slow down. In those moments she loved it and was smiling from ear to ear.  Brooklyn kept saying, "hold my hand mommy!"  Miles wasn't too sure about this ride the first time, but we rode it 2 more times in the week and then he was ALL ABOUT IT!  Gavin was ecstatic and you could probably hear him screaming with excitement over every other person on our ride.  He was impressed, amazed, and going for it!

At this point in the day the rain was finally starting to let up and everyone was coming out!  The kids started noticing things all around and found so much excitement that they were in Disney World and wanted to soak up as much of it as they could!  

We spent most of the afternoon in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland and had a blast!  Kids rode rides that they enjoyed and weren't scared of, we had Disney snacks, and played all around the park.  The two littles each got about 20-30 minute naps, which, thankfully sustained them for the day!   Between the mad tea cups, driving cars on the speedway, and Buzz Lightyears shooting ride the kids were loving their time at Magic Kingdom.  They finally "got" what Disney World was and they were all about it.

We were able to meet Buzz Lightyear!  Both the boys were ecstatic to see him, larger then life self, and even pose with him.  He doesn't talk but makes great gestures that the kids tried following.  Buzz uses a stamp to "sign" autographs, which the kids were so intrigued with.  We were so glad we ran into Buzz and gave the kids this moment!!  When it rains, the characters don't really come out so the fact that the rain was stopping allowed for this type of opportunity!  YAY!

 

Gavin had it in his mind from the very beginning that he wanted to meet the Brave girl.  He couldn't tell you her name, but he wanted to meet her. We stood in line waiting for her to come out and as we got closer and Gavin watched her meeting and greeting people in front of us, he was so bummed.  He wanted to see and use her bow and arrow and she didn't have it.  He started acting like he wasn't impressed and not interested in needing to see her anymore but we told him to still go say hi and talk to her about her bow and arrow.  Miles, who was alseep in the stroller up until right before it was our turn, walked straight up to her and said, "where's your bow and arrow?" We were shocked he showed interest and willingness towards her and was actually happy to be near her!  Yes! We were making progress!  **Side note: this girl acted, talked, and did gestures just like one of our sweet friends Mali.  We could not get over how alike they were!  Fun memory for us.  Brookyln was sleeping during this meet and greet and missed out on this princess.

 

They worked HARD at trying to pull the sword out of the stone and LOVED riding the carousel!

 

 

Brooklyns favorite moment of the day came at the end of our day when we just so happened to be standing by a stage when music came on and out walked Mr. Incredible, Elasti- Girl, and Frozone.  They do some kind of dance party nightly and we happened to be there.  Brooklyn was all over the characters, dancing with them, following them around while they danced, and jumping all around.  Miles... not so much.  Two minutes after looking at the characters, who wouldn't sign autographs or take pictures with you, he hopped back into the stroller.  Gavin started to hang out and dance, but then I think he was too cool for school!

To say the kids had a blast on their first full day at Disney World would be an understatement.  You should have seen their faces when we told them we were going back to Magic Kingdom in a few days!  So cute and so exciting!  

(yikes... mama's eyes!)

Epcot Night 1

From the time we left our resort Sunday afternoon until we made it to Epcot the rain STOPPED!! Hallelujiah!  When the kids saw the giant "golf ball" they were so excited and couldn't wait to get to it!  So, after taking a family picture, we went straight to the ride inside the Epcot ball!  The kids were mesmerized with the idea of the ride and that's all it took. They were hooked and wanted to find all the other rides.  

 

 

We started walking around and literally ran into Snow White, she was our first character, one that the kids really didn't know, but it was a great person to be a starter character.  You'll notice Miles was hanging out by the wall and not too interested in meeting her.  Brooklyn, was a little skeptic and did her little arms crossed, guarded body thing, but eventually she was willing to touch her and talk to her. Miles on the other hand needed some encouragement.  

They couldn't figure out what their books were for until Snow White started signing it and then they couldn't wait to find other characters to sign!  Brooklyn got a kiss from Snow White when we said goodbye!

 

After a few more rides and sight seeing- we went to eat.  Dinner that night was a character meal at a place called Garden Grill.  Supposedly, some of the food that is served there Disney grows below the restaurant.  We went on a little ride about it and saw some of the food growing, too.  The restaurant spins a full circle in one hour so the kids thought that was really neat!  Pluto, Chip and Dale, and Farmer Mickey were the characters that evening that came to our table and the kids HAD.A.BLAST playing with them, seeing all the gestures, and getting their books signed!  Our dinner was family style, home grown style foods, and it was DELICIOUS!

*I gotta say this about our meals all week-- because the kids have allergies, we put it in our dining plan reservations what they were allergic to and at every meal the chef came out and told us what foods were safe for our kids or provided us with allergy free menus.  It was WONDERFUL and took so much pressure off of us in the food department!   It was also a pain at buffet restaurants because we felt like we had the ability to determine by looking at the food whether it was safe or not for them, but once you notify Disney of an allergy they take it serious and you HAVE to wait for a chef!  No matter what!  

The characters do soooo good with the kids to entertain them and such.  It was great!  Miles definitely warmed up to the characters and didn't act like he didn't want them around.  Now, Gavin, there was something that happened when he saw Farmer Mickey and walked straight up to him and embraced him.  No words, just a hug.  Brooks and I just sat there in shock.  Like, it just meant something to him and it was neat to watch!

 

Our first night at Disney was great and we saw the kids excitement building and their questions about what was coming next were adding up and they couldn't wait to find out what was next! 

We're Going to Disney World

January 2015 I started planning our family vacation to Disney World for August 2015.  This was a trip we talked about taking for years and finally felt like this was a great time to go.  The kids were at perfect ages to enjoy their trip, really take it all in, and understand the magnitude of what Disney World was all about.  I used a Disney travel agent, Dana, with Your Fairytale Vacations, that a friend of mine recommended and I can't even describe how much she helped make our trip truly "Magical".  She was always there to guide me with options and kept our focus on things that were important or mattered for our first trip.  I shared with her attractions and activities I knew we wanted to do and she helped me create a schedule that worked for all of us.  I just can't say enough about how wonderful it was to not plan this huge trip on our own!  We were extremely happy with her!  Not to mention, the amount of personal time she gave to us, whether it was quick texts back and forth or 2 hour phone calls... she was there offering her services!  

So... we decided to surprise the kids with our trip in an effort to prevent all the weeks and days leading up to the trip of hearing, "Are we leaving today? when do we get to go? what are we gonna do?" etc, etc.  However, we also knew our kids weren't really gonna know what Disney World was so we spent the months prior to our trip finding ways to introduce them to Disney World being a place, where characters from their favorite movies and tv shows are, how you can ride various rides, etc.  We would randomly show them Youtube videos about stuff, or every commercial we saw we used it as a teaching moment.  Eventually, we realized if we told them we were going to Disney World they would at least know it was a place that existed and is fun! 

We found it was easier and cheaper for us to drive to Dallas and fly a direct flight via Southwest from Dallas to Orlando!  We drove to Dallas Saturday afternoon and told the kids we were gonna stay at a hotel.  They had no idea the back of the truck was filled with suitcases and that mom and dad had been ninjas all week hiding clothes and packing belongings.  That was extremely fun to do!  We went to bed somewhat early since we had to be awake at the crack of dawn.  It was 6am when we were surprising the kids in the hotel room. Brooks had them in the bathroom brushing their teeth and fixing their hair while I set up their Disney themed clothes and their new travel backpacks on a bed. To help their focus be Disney... I brought every Disney character we had from home and laid them throughout their new stuff.  When the kids walked into the room and saw all their stuff they were "excited". They were definitely more interested in their new gifts then recognizing what they meant.

In all reality- I should have just said, "okay kids we're going to disney world .... get dressed and lets go!"  Instead there were several minutes before the below video of me asking them questions and trying to prompt them which only led to Brooks giving me a gesture of "hurry this along, babe!".  In all honesty, even when we told the kids, their reactions didn't surprise me.  Notice they just stared at me.  Miles eager excitement was solely because he wanted the noise maker I had in my hand. I just rested in the idea that once we got their and they saw Disney World, their excitement would eventually come!  And... it did!!

The kids are pro's when it comes to airplane rides and traveling so we really were excited that the next few hours being a piece of cake and the kids were pumped about their new rolling suitcases and all the fun goodies they had never seen that were inside those backpacks!

We all got to sit across from each other on the same row.  Brooks took the boys and Brooklyn and I sat together.  Domestic flights for us are kinda a joke (and I don't mean that insensitively) so the kids were rockstars when it came to hanging out, being entertained, and playing with their new toys! Within a few hours we landed in Orlando and ended up eating lunch at the airport since we had a little while before check in at our resort was!  At some point horrible, horrible, horrible weather hit Orlando.  You couldn't see outside the airport windows because of how black the sky was and the tremendous amount of heavy rain.  The airport lights went out for 10-15 minute intervals at a time so we just hunkered down a bit.   Eventually, we made our way towards the Magical Express transportation and headed to Disney World, it was still raining, but didn't look like hurricane weather anymore.  

At this point, it was 2pm and we had been up since 5:30am.  It was nap time and kids were a little tired, yet the excitement for what was to come, kept anyone from falling asleep!

Once we arrived near our resort, the rain was continuing to pour!  Mom and dad had to mentally prepare ourselves for all the rain that was to come!

We decided to stay at the Polynesian resort for several reasons. 1)I remember staying their years ago and loved it 2) It's one of the resorts on the monorail, which I just felt like with the kids at the age they were and taking the double stroller everywhere it would make life EASY!

When we got checked in, I had surprise bags for the kids that we gave them filled with their autograph books I made, mickey ears (from their bday parties last year), stuffed animals I bought on sale, and some glow in the dark bracelets, necklaces, and sticks for the evening parades.  I think it brought more excitement for the kids and made them ready for the week!

Eventually, our bags arrived, we got situated in the room, covered up in rain gear and headed out to Epcot to spend the evening!  

The beginning of a new experience and journey

I've found myself wondering for days, wait, actually weeks months on how to write this blog.  I've asked close friends and a few family members, "should I share this on my blog?"  I've gone back and forth with all the what if's? all the misinterpretations that could arise.  All of the the questions that might be asked and really searched myself as to whether or not I'm ready and prepared to open this up to others.

I found myself in a place of excitement and hopefulness.  I found my mind thinking of how to educate others and inform others of this "arena" if you will.

So I find myself more and more with a desire to share our news because at some point it will get out.  At some point there will be lots of questions.  At some point there will be lots of assumptions.  Prayerfully, there will be lots of prayer warriors willing to take this journey with us and be a support to us.

Having said that....

I am becoming a gestational carrier.

In other words, a surrogate.  If you are unsure what that means... basically, I am offering up my body to a family who has a desire to have a child of their own, but for one reason or another are unable to carry that child themselves, and so I will.

Now, before your mind gets filled with a 1000 thoughts, your eyebrows raise at the screen, and you mouth or speak out loud the words, "what in the world?"  I'd invite you to read this post and those to come to get a glimpse of my heart with this experience, attempt to recognize where we're coming from and what our purpose and hope is, learn a little about how to walk through this with us, as well as gain an understanding of what this journey will somewhat be like.  I'd also like to invite you to pray.  Pray for health- not just for myself, but for the pregnancy.  Pray for our intended parents.  Pray for their sweet baby or babies that will come about through this.

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Our story began almost 3 years ago.  Brooklyn was born (2012) and we were experiencing life events that affected those close to us and I remember sitting at our dining room table in Saudi when the thought first popped up in my head, "What if I had a baby for them?"  Now, at the time, emotions were flaring, we had an infant ourselves, and my mind was shocked that the thought occurred to me, but my heart felt this sense of peace.  I let it sit there for months and kept it to myself.  Over time, I remember through various conversations and prayer times and other means the thought never left, "what if I had a baby for someone?"  I spent time praying about it.  I tried pushing it out of my mind.  I wondered what that would look like.  How that would affect me, Brooks, our kids, our family, our life.  But still, I kept it to myself.  

I remember the media began reporting stories of various celebrities who used surrogates and realized  this is real and it is something people do.  I found myself, unintentionally, seeing story after story of families who were blessed with a baby via surrogacy and it always intrigued me.  Anytime the thought or idea presented itself I just prayed about it.  "Lord, what does this mean?  What are you trying to show me?" Over time, my prayer became, "Lord, reveal yourself to me in this! Is this something you would have for me? for us?"  

I spent almost a year praying over this idea, thinking of what it would look like, trying to picture myself in it, thinking of this "other family" and what they were enduring at that same time.  At this point, I realized that the idea wasn't going away.  I found myself thinking of it often and feeling more and more at peace and ease with the idea.  One day, it clicked and I realized, "oh my goodness, what if I'm actually suppose to do this?"

At Christmas 2012, almost 11 months since the thought first popped into my head Brooks and I were driving and I told him I needed to tell him something, but I wanted him to hear me out first before he responded, judged, or dismissed me.  In that moment, I still remember where we were driving, I poured out my heart to him.  I told him every thought I had, every prayer I prayed, my vision and idea of this, I expressed all the uncertainty that came with it, all the what if's of my own, and then all the excitement and hope I felt with it.  

I watched his face carefully looking for ANYTHING that would reveal his thoughts.  I know Brooks well enough that you have to give him time to process things so I was prepared for the "waiting". He listened and even asked a few questions.  I was thankful he saw my heart and was eager to learn the part of this journey I had already taken semi by myself the past year.

Within minutes of me finishing the conversation he turned to me and said, "Lindsey, I think this is amazing and I love the idea!"  I sat there in shock actually filled with relief because now I wasn't alone in this, but still amazed that the Lord took a desire of my heart and within minutes it became a desire of my husbands!  We both truly believe that was from the Lord.

From then on we talked and talked and talked... "what does this mean?  what does this look like?  Is there someone we know we can go through this with? when do we want to do this? (mind you at this point the kids were 4 years old, almost 2 years old, and an almost 1 year old).

We felt like the best thing to do was spend a year praying together over this.  Researching it.  Learning the ins and outs of surrogacy.  Learning what it entails, the process, aspects of the good, bad, and ugly. We decided we would seek counsel, we searched the bible for direction, we read up on any and every blog we could find.  I learned about the medical process.  I watched E! Giuliana and Bill's story.  We grasped for every thing we could to learn and become familiar with surrogacy.  We prayed A LOT.  We prayed for wisdom, guidance, peace, direction, clarity.  We prayed for the Lord's timing and ultimately came to a place of if this was merely to be obedient to the Lord's calling, then that's what we were going to do.  In our hearts and together we said YES to this process and handed it over to the Lord, summer 2013.

At that time, we finally went to our parents and shared what was on our hearts.  At this stage for us, it wasn't whether or not should we, but instead, we are going to do this and we want you to be apart of our journey.  After the initial shock wore off on all our parents, ultimately we were embraced with support and love as we began a new phase of this journey.

Fast forward another 10 months (April 2014).... we felt it was time to get the process started.  Brooklyn was now 2 years old and we were extremely confident that our family was complete, which made our decision to make the surrogacy happen.  I researched and researched agencies, attorneys, programs searching for any that lined up with our biblical standards and our stance of pro-life among other things.

We were put in touch with a private attorney who specializes in Surrogacy in the Woodlands through a mutual friend.  We went through the process of applying, interviews, and ultimately accepted into this program.  WOW.  It was finally happening and we COULD NOT believe it.  Within a week of my application being accepted we got a call saying their was a couple who would like our profile.  We eventually spoke on the phone and after a few days of praying, just felt like this wasn't the couple for us so we declined going any further.

A few things happened post this decision that we received CLEAR confirmation that we needed to sever ties with this attorney and remove ourselves from her program.

We had received counsel from our current pastor about making sure we went into covenant/contract with like minded people and through that experience we realized we were NOT like minded with the attorney and her business.  And that was okay.  Lesson learned before we got too deep into the process.

Then, we went back to the drawing board.  At this point, we found out about a close friend who herself used an agency in Houston that she connected us with.  We were a little hesitant from our previous experience, but also knew we were being obedient and needed to take a step of faith and just trust that the Lord would ALWAYS reveal himself to us and we would allow him to direct who we worked with and what agency we were apart of.

Once again, we went through an application process, we were interviewed, we did everything under the sun you could possibly imagine to show ourselves, and in the end we were accepted into this program.

Now, what you may not know about surrogacy is there are MANY aspects of this that could easily go against core beliefs so we made sure to make ourselves, our beliefs, and our stance known from the beginning regarding choosing life, looking for a heterosexual couple who preferably were believers, and so on.  The agency was very upfront with us and shared that while we were an ideal couple for any intended parents to choose from, because of the strict restrictions of who we would be willing to go into contract with and the unwavering stance of NO TERMINATION WHATSOEVER, it would be extremely difficult to match us.  We were okay with that.  We truly believed that if this is something the Lord has called us to there will be that couple who values life the same way we do, who lives their lives according to God's word and if it meant being in their database for months or years, we were content with that.  Brooks and I believe that no part of this is our doing, rather the Lord's work being done through us and we are willing to sit back and in his timing allow everything to work according to his will and his purpose.  

We were accepted into our current agency in June 2014.  In September, we still hadn't heard from them.  I remember emailing our rep just to touch base, but was told there was no couple matching our criteria.  During our waiting period, there was a huge sense of peace over Brooks and I.  We were content knowing that we were being obedient to the Lord's calling and continued to pray for our hearts and patience as well as "that couple" who would eventually go to our agency searching for a surrogate.

October 17th, we got a phone call and as I heard a lady say her name I had to say, "who is this?"  It was our rep from the agency!!!!! I mean, it had been months and while the surrogacy was ALWAYS on the back of my mind, I just wasn't expecting that phone call.   She said she received a profile from a couple who she thought would be PERFECT for us and wanted permission to release our profile to them!  We said YES!!!

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Thanks for taking the time to read all of this and learn of our new journey.  We realize gestational carrier may be something you've only heard of and never experienced with someone directly to you..
feel free to ask questions rather then assume.  We are more then happy to shed light on this journey for those who don't know much about it.  I'm working on a Most Frequently Asked Questions post as that aspect of this journey is FREQUENT!!!

Due to confidentiality purposes I will be limited as to what I'm able to share on this blog, but really wanted those of you who have kept up with our lives since before we moved overseas to be apart of this and to know what is happening!  We have a lot of exciting things happening in the near future and are just so glad to be able to share our news!  Send me your email address if you'd like our private updates!

Oklahoma Visit

Labor Day weekend was full for us.  It started Thursday night (Gavin's actual birthday) and we drove to Oklahoma to visit Micah and Steph while they were stateside.  It's so important for us to see them when they are in the USA so we let Gavin miss school on Friday even though it was the first week of school.  The Sperling's had a busy schedule as well so we planned to spend Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning with them and we were busy!!  Between four wheelers, cow viewing, riding the gator, exploring, and running around our kids had a blast playing and being with Jake!!  After kids would go to bed, we got to stay up and hang out.  

I brought a cake with us to celebrate Gavin's birthday.  I forgot candles so we used matches instead!  He loved it!

 

  

Of course, we took a trip to Eskimo Joes for lunch!

 

We LOVE spending time with the Sperling's and can't wait for baby Hailey to arrive!!  

Gavin's 6th Birthday

Gavin turned 6 on August 28 and we had a special time together as a family with him.  I have officially learned my lesson in that the end of the summer, the beginning of the school year are BUSY for us and for the 2nd year in a row Gavin didn't have a birthday party with friends (mom fail) because time just got away from us.  That didn't stop him from LOVING his day all about him.  The morning started off with his birthday breakfast, the kitchen decorated, a special lunch, and cupcakes brought to his school.  He got to open all his presents that night with us and couldn't open them fast enough.  He loved showing things off to Miles and Brooklyn and happily shared his gifts with them.  

We are loving this age with Gavin.  He continues to show maturity, has a strong ability to care for others, shows compassion, and LOVES being responsible!  He makes us laugh daily and sometimes has the funniest expressions ever.  He loves school and has SOARED in first grade.  He enjoys sports, reading, and his love language is tied between gifts and quality time!  We love our big guy!

Gavin was surprised with a set of drums and fell in LOVE!  He had been asking for drums for months because he wanted to play for worship at our church (how sweet) so we went with it.  Eventually, our hope is to get him lessons and we're praying he has a passion for this instrument years to come!