Sharing a Love Story ♥

Future Mama: Expecting a Blessing

An Adoption Story

Our story is not unlike many love stories.  Future Papa and I met in high school.  I thought he had a cute smile.  We started dating our senior year.  I guess you could call us high school sweethearts!

 We went to college and spiraled further and further into love.  After we graduated, we got married!!

We got real jobs.  We were giggly newlyweds!  We adopted an unrefined dog.

And now, we are having a baby!  But we aren't pregnant...we are adopting a child from Taiwan.  And we couldn't be more excited!

The first thing people usually ask us is if there is something wrong with our baby-makers.  As far as we know, there isn't!  :-)  We feel called to adopt.  To welcome and love a child without parents.  To make him or her eat their veggies and clean their room.  Currently, statistics state that there are 147 million orphans in the world.  We can't save them all.  But, we hope to make a difference in the life of just one.

Our story is a story overflowing with love.  The love we feel for this little baby is nearly indescribable.  Our family aches for the little one who is meant to be in our family.  And we would love for you to be a part of our love-filled journey!  As most people are aware, adoption is expensive.  There are fees associated with our application, country, home study, legal documents, notarization, translating, background checks, fingerprinting, travel, visas, and more.  Is your head spinning?  Because mine sure is!!!  We'll certainly be writing checks to our agency, but our money will also be flowing into our local and state governments and various institutions in Taiwan (like the orphanage, courts, etc.).  Airlines won't fly us around the world for free, doctors need paychecks to buy their kids dinner, and social workers like money to buy a cute top from time to time. 

How can you be a part of our love story?  By participating in The Twenty for Taiwan Campaign.  Basically, the idea began as this: if 1,250 people each donated $20.00, our fundraising would be over.  Finished!  Kaput!  Exciting, right?!  If you are reading this, you can make a real difference!  For the cost of one dinner out, you can help give an orphan a home.  For the cost of one shirt at the mall, you can help a husband and wife become a mommy and a daddy.  So, please consider donating just $20.00 and joining our love story!  And after you do that, write about us on your blog or make this post your facebook status for a day!  It would mean so much to us.  We can't wait to have a toddler in our kitchen on Saturday mornings, eating pancakes and getting sticky fingers.  We want to see how high we can swing on the playground.  We are looking forward to snuggling on the couch after bath time, before bedtime, reading a book.  Many of you already enjoy these moments with your child (or children).  Will you help our child get home?  As of now, WE ONLY NEED 1,200 MORE PEOPLE TO JOIN THE CAMPAIGN!  Will you make this number 1,199 by donating just $20.00? 

TO DONATE, CLICK HERE AND SCROLL DOWN TO THE PAYPAL BUTTON: http://expectingablessing.blogspot.com/p/donate.html

We would love for you to follow our adoption journey through our blog: http://expectingablessing.blogspot.com/

Much love,

Future Mama

All stories will be archived here. We would love to read your story so if you would like to share please visit for details ♥:

Our Home.

I love our home. I should rephrase that.. I'm IN love with our home. There's so many reasons why, they may sound silly but here's a few off the top of my head:


♥ We have a beautiful Bay Window, that you can see from the picture. Peanut and I fit perfectly, and the two small side windows cause the most pleasant breeze to hit us both.
♥ It belongs to Charlie and me. My best friend who also happens to be the greatest man in my life. The cherry to my sundae... The curtains to my window.... The microwave to my popcorn... okay you kind of get it :)
♥ It was move in condition, really. The people before us remodeled the entire house. Best part of it all is that the living room and kitchen is green. Yes, my favorite colour!
♥ Our kitties have so many cool places to hide and venture off too since they're deprived of the outside.
♥ The sun does not hit every window, which at first you would think... 'that stinks..' but it doesn't. I like having some rooms that only have shade, it keeps it cool in the summer and nice for the eyes when they need rest.
♥ We have a sweet counter in the kitchen, that I like to call our breakfast nook even though it does not look like one. I guess I don't know exactly what a breakfast nook looks like? Lol.. I just like saying it I suppose..
♥ All of our friends and family say that it's so comfortable being here, they feel at home. I love that!
♥ We have a lot of hardwood floors. The home I grew up in had wall to wall carpeting, I always dreamed of hardwood floors one day :)
♥ I can sit on the couch with all the windows open, no TV on and just hear all of the birds. I know there's birds everywhere, but I feel that they're singing just for us and our home only..
♥ It's petite, we really don't have a big home at all. I'll have to do a post with pictures one day. But it's a ranch and it's so cute. I love calling it petite, because it is. We all fit in here so it's just the right size!
♥ I feel safe. That's what makes a home complete. That feeling of security, which I finally have being here.

I love our home.

Sharing a Love Story ♥

Today I share with you a beautiful, young couple in love. So very in love! You'll read about how they met as well their future plans together. Love is powerful. Keep on spreading it ♥

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Nav: NavLand: Style, Tips, My Life

Ryan (my boyfriend/Fiancee) met at a university we attended 7 years ago. At the time, we were both dating other people. We had 2 classes together and I used to get pretty annoyed with him bec whenever the professors would ask questions, he was always eager to answer. Being the keener and nerd that I was, with him answering every question in class drove many students crazy, including myself.

Well we started talking once because I sat by him and asked him for his math textbook to check a question. He whispered something with his friend - he thought i was hitting on him. But I wasnt (we still disagree to this day) on that. As we got to hang out more and more into the semester, and having lockers in the same hallway helped lots to get to know each other. My goodness! Was I wrong? He was the nicest guy I had met in a LONG time. There was a mutual understanding between us that we got along, but it couldnt be more than that bec I was seeing someone else.

The guy I was dating at the time - cheated on me with my best girlfriend at the time. I was heart-broken. Lost a guy and my best friend with it. Ryan supported me throughout this hard time. I wanted to drop out of school, things were crazy at home bec my parents were mad (mainly my mom) at me that I dated a guy like him (Well I didnt know beforehand what him and my best friend was planning behind my back!) but Ryan mostly kept me on track. He constantly reminded me education is important and maybe things happened for a reason and that maybe I would meet someone better, little that I knew I would fall head over heels in love with this guy. I remember hanging out even more than usual at this point in time. We even studied together at the library after classes and friends had started commenting - if we were dating yet?

When school ended, I went back home over summer - 2 months to India and Ryan and I would e-mail each other every week and set phone dates but bec of the 12 hours time diffeernce, we only got to talk for 5 minutes once.Thats when we both knew that we were more than friends. We both told a mutual friend of ours - Tanya and she ofcourse told both of us seperately that we had liked each other. Well when I returned from India back to Canada, Ryan asked me out with a blue rose. Just so you know, I am a "blue-fanatic" annd had told him on randomnly once that I don't think I have seen a blue rose. Well, him and his grandma got together and searched in many flower stores to look for a blue rose. They found one and first day back to school, he asked me out. And guess what? I said no! and didnt even give him a hug. I didnt think my parents would EVER ACCEPT US! I thought about it for about 3 weeks and he had told me that he would date other girls if I couldnt make my mind. I remember thinking to myself - I dont know if this will work but I cant let him go either! It just felt so RIGHT to say yes!

I bit the bullet and said yes! We dated for 3 years - happiest days of my life. And I had Ryan coming over to my place sometimes to "drop off my textbooks" or as Ryan - the nice white guy from School come over for movies on a weekend - it felt like my parents liked him but that was all "as a friend". We also had his parents over for some East-Indian food for lunch. That all was part of the "Strategy" to introduce both sides. This was all nice, we had high hopes that it was time to tell my parents and we were hoping things might not be as worse. Well, were we wrong? The minute Ryan and his family came over to ask my hand for marriage (thats how its done traditionally in India), my dad didnt say yes or no. He said he needed time to think. My dad had asked me if it was possible for Ryan to get to learn some Punjabi - my native language. I talked to him and we said yes, he will learn it and I remember we spent all our summer evenings learning the language from youtube. God bless youtube! Luckily for us, the university he was doing his masters at, started offering Punjabi language classes and he enjoyed them immenself. He can make sentences now! He has come so far :) I am so proud of him!!

With all that was going on, the hard phase had started and I have to say it was (and still is) the HARDEST thing we went through as a family. Times were tough, I had to quit a great job that I had gotten into, Ryan was doing his masters and was super stressed out. My brother couldnt handle the stress at home and had dropped out of school. It was all a bad phase. I dont remember how many nights, I cried myself to sleep and felt guilty that everything was my fault. I would pray everyday to god to make this work. Some days, I just wanted to run away from home and end all the drama. But Ryan and I made committment to each other to make this work and do it the "right" way. We didn't want to run away and wanted to have their blessings and love. Ryan is my rock and always will be. I am very sensitive and emotional but he is very strategic and thinks from his brain. It makes us very different individual but works like magic as a couple!

Fast forward 2 years of this tough phase, Dad flew to India to talk to his extended family and introduced the idea of marrying into a different culture. I am such a PROUD daughter of my DADDY to take such a big step against his family wishes and support me! I owe him one for letting me choosing what's right for me and supporting me for it. I respect him so much, I dont have words how much I love him. My mom is having harder time accepting it, she is very traditional. And I try to accept that.

But the good news is - We are kind of planning an Indian wedding next year in Feb 2012 in India and then come back to Canada for a summer Canadian wedding. Nothing is set yet but things are in much better shape.

Thats my love story, crazy but we are so in love. I cannot wait to start to live our lives and grow old together and spend our 20's, 30's ...........and 80's, 90's together. Now I need your best wishes and prayers to make this work for us - come follow me along on my journey at my blog :)

 You can visit Nav at:

Blog

Chictopia

Twitter

All stories will be archived here. We would love to read your story so if you would like to share please visit for details ♥:

Sponsor Love: Lady M & Yeah, That's Macho and Tough

Hi Love is Everywhere Readers! It is lovely to meet you all! My name is Monique from blog Lady M!

I started my blog originally because I had a love of fashion and I wanted to make the most out of my wardrobe! I am a university student full-time so it is hard to be able to afford a large wardrobe, so I am slowly learning how to make the most of the wardrobe I already have!

 I would love for you to join me on my journey!

My Blog

Follow me on Twitter

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*Do you have any features you created on your blog? Each Tuesday we have a Tutorial Tuesday.  We usually cover a fun, easy, and inexpensive craft.  Although, one day I locked myself out of my car so I gave a really lovely tutorial on how to do that.  I also have a Friday freebie called Happy Free-day that includes some sort of printable free for everyone to print off.  This last week was an inspirational printable that deals with one of my favorite quotes. 

*What do you want to do with your life, do you have a passion for something you’re working towards? I would love to be a stay-at-home-mommy-graphic-designer-web-developer; fighting diapers by day and fighting HTML by night.  I also would love to play soccer everyday and sell my jewelry in a cute little shop somewhere.   

*Is there something you do to ‘de-stress’? Normally I go for a run or Facebook and blog stalk people to no end.  Only one of those things is productive, can you guess which one? 

 

*Do you have a funny/embarrassing story you’d like to share? In the past month I have locked myself out of the car and my house three times.  I also have locked myself just out of the house like 2 other times.  I have become VERY good at crawling through my window. 

*What is a perfect day in your eyes? Everyday that I get to be with Husband is a GREAT day.  But, I must tell you that today was probably the most perfect day ever (I'm really glad that today happened so I could tell you what a perfect day is!).  It started off with a 5k that I ran and Husband took pictures at.  Then, we went to the farmers market to buy some super awesome raw honey, produce, jewelry, and other odds and ends.  We continued on to get breakfast and stopped by the animal shelter to play with the kitties.  Afterwards, I took a nap with my own kitties while Jared watched Dilbert.  Out to dinner we went for my mommio's bday and then home for some movie watching on the projector screen.  Seriously, I'm full of ice cream and sunshine, and today has been a day of unicorns and rainbows. 

 You can visit Cody at:

Blog: Macho and Tough

Etsy: Cdot Designs

Friends make a difference in our lives.

I wanted to take a step away from photos for this one post. I wanted to tell a story about how one choice can redirect your path in life. We all know that, a simple yes versus a no, or a left versus a right can change the rest of your life in a just one moment. Of all these choices we make, making a new friend does too.

When we were younger, there is always a small group of friends that we'll remember from our childhood. As the years pass, you not only grow out of your clothes, but you grow out of that group of friends. You no longer share the same interests and you just take off in different directions. It's natural, it's a part of life and yes it's always sad. However, when you step out of something you step right into something new.

I feel that throughout my life, I've stepped out of many groups of friends, which I've always kept in touch with. Now that I'm in my 'late' 20s I've found myself surrounded by an extraordinary group of friends that I feel confident that I will grow old with. They are spread out and I share different interests with them all and I love the friendships we have for those specific reasons.

There is one friend I wanted to write about today, Alisha. She's become one of my best friends over the past 4-5 years. Charlie and I have spent a great deal with her and her husband, Ryan. They recently had a beautiful baby, RJ who I've mentioned quite a bit recently. Ryan is a Marine and he's been stationed out west, in which this week they will be leaving. I find myself in tears for my own selfish reasons because we will not see them as much. I find myself in tears out of happiness as well.

I think back to the first time I met her in Elementary School. She went to a different school but we shared a common friend. I always saw her each year at our friend's birthday party. It wasn't though, until Jr. High I got to know her a little more. Our lockers were next to each other up until the point when we graduated, so we always said quick hellos in passing and smiled. I always felt strongly on how sweet of a person she was; however, we did not have a strong friendship as we spent time with different groups of friends. It was not until years back that we truly built our friendship.

It's strange yet amazing, in life how you can pass someone bye and you never would think that in 10-15 years from that point you two would be part of one another's lives. You never think that you'll be there as the other is getting married and giving a speech about the lovely couple. You never think that you'll be visiting the day the other gives birth to their first child. It never crosses your mind to think you'll experience some rough times in life and that person that you just say hello to as you get your books out of your locker, will be the friend to console you. Alisha has been that friend.

We've been trying to get in as much free time together as possible before she leaves. I think to myself everyday, what will I do without her? Then the waterworks come pouring out. But the truth is, we'll still keep in touch while they're gone for the next 3 years. Charlie and I look forward to visiting them. They will begin a new life out West and they are such a strong trio that things will work out beautifully for them. Even though there is distance between us, we know we'll still be apart of their lives.

Life is amazing and the choices we make, the directions it takes us is so worth while. I'm sure if you took a moment to think, you'll find yourself agreeing with me and perhaps right now someone came into your head that fits this story in a similar way. Everyone who is in your life or has left, was there for a reason. They played a special role to help you move forward with your life in some way. I'm looking forward to what the future brings but at this time I'm happy with living in the moment with these wonderful friends that I have. ♥

Do you see what I see?

Last week when I was walking around my yard I put this little picture together. I said that every week I'll try to find objects around me shaped like letters. I'm trying to prove that putting just a few little items together can create complete beauty and most of all L.O.V.E. So today all the effort I put into finding these?.. Well, I literally sat my butt on my couch with a glass of wine and looked around. Every one of these pictures was within the distance that my site could reach. I challenge each of you to do the same! ♥

L = The pretty grapevines that I bought at Big Lots that light up. They surround our doorway going into our kitchen. The picture require me to tilt my head but the letter was so clear :)
O = What else but my wine glass. Yummy...
V = Our front door is open and that is actually part of the railing going down our front steps.
E = My pretty curtains I spent a little too much money for, because in my eyes they were the perfect touch to completing our living room. This is part of the design embroidered throughout ♥

A Prom and a Blog Meetup = One Fine Day!

There are two great things that happened for me yesterday, that I felt the need they are mucho importante to share ♥

The first..
Timmy who is my cousin, but he's that cool and we're that close.. I call him my little brother, went to his Junior Prom yesterday. It's hard enough knowing he's 10 years younger than me and a whole foot (and then some) taller than me. To see him all dressed up, looking incredibly handsome with his beautiful date made me realize that yes, he's growing up now. I can't imagine what all you moms go through when your children hit milestones in their lives. My heart goes out to each and every one of you!

The second... We had officially our first CT Blogger Meetup last night.
We went to Olive Garden which I know at this very moment you're all thinking or perhaps saying out loud..."mmmmm..". Yes, everything was delicious and our bottles of wine were put to good use! We all discussed our blogs, how we began writing, who and what was our inspiration. We talked about things going on presently in our lives. I simply adore each one of these ladies that I had the honor of being apart of their company. It's a great feeling to know how one moment can change your life. Meeting them has changed my life ♥

These are the fabulous women I got to share wine, food, and tons of laughs with. You will love them too ♥

Kim from Book Worm Runs

Kat from Living Like Kings 

Emily from Life on Food 

Molly from MK and an MBA

Kari from Running Ricig

 We had this wonderful waitress Jenn, who took our photos. We explained that it was our first time meeting each other and when she brought the bill out to us, she included this cute little message:

Living it up on a new Saturday!

Welcome to the weekend! I've been keeping my excitement under control for the first CT Blogger Meet Up tonight, but now it's time to let it out! I cannot WAIT to meet all of these other beautiful bloggers. We're looking forward to a yummy dinner, delicious drinks and of course getting to know one another. I'll be bringing my camera with me to share with you our first event. For those who were unable to attend, we promise we'll be doing more ♥

My wish for you today is:

♥ try something new.

♥ say hello to a stranger as you pass bye and be sure to share your beautiful smile.

♥ spread your love.

♥ and most of all.. live.

Also, today Love is Everywhere is being featured at the one and only Shine Project. So head on over and visit the very beautiful Ashley. She's truly amazing and what she's taken on in her life by starting up the Shine Project is out of this world. Get ready to be inspired ♥

1,000 Followers

Today is quite an amazing day on all different levels. Let's just start with the Sun is out ♥ When I came home, you had to see my face when I looked at 1,000 followers. I never thought that Love is Everywhere would reach that many people. When I began writing my hope was to make a difference in just one life and that would comfort me. As time went on, I began receiving such amazing feedback how people love to see what is posted, because it makes them smile or it turns their days around. Just that alone is inspiring to me.

I thank you all so much for being apart of Love is Everywhere, for spreading the love in directions that are closer to you than me. For making choices in your lives that are best for you and no one else. For staying positive during tough times and looking at the bright side of things.

Thank you for being you. I love you all so much ♥

I'm sending you all tons of hugs & kisses, x's & o's, just know you are all such extraordinary people :)

With all my love,
Katie