The New Year

If this week is a foreshadowing of things to come in 2013, then this may be a much better year than 2012.  I have had such a good week!  Monday, December 31, was my husband and my wedding anniversary.  Even though we are without an income right now, someone was kind enough to give us a gift card so we could go out for dinner to celebrate.  We were able to relax all day and then head out for our dinner date.  I made che thai (a Vietnamese dessert) for us to enjoy when we got home as we waited for midnight to roll around.  It was just the two of us, and we cherished every minute of it.

Then, on New Year’s day, we went over to my in-laws (who are rarely off work) to spend some time with them.  It just so happened that my husband’s grandmother was there, and we haven’t seen her in over a year.  We spent the evening relaxing by a fire and watching a movie with my parents at their house.

Today was also a fun day!  We went on a tour of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.  It is BREATHTAKING!  Any of you who live in or are planning on visiting St. Louis must get a tour of this church.  It doesn’t matter what your religious affiliation or beliefs are–the beauty and magnitude of the artwork and architecture in this church will blow your mind!  And the best part is it’s FREE!

Life definitely isn’t perfect right now, but I’m doing my best to stay calm, seek God, and trust that things will start looking up soon.  I have received so much encouragement from all of you.  Thank you.  It also helps that this month I am not using an ovulation predictor and stressing over whether or not I ovulate.  I never ovulate without medication (it’s only happened one time), so I don’t even know why I stress myself out peeing on sticks all the time anyway.  I am upset every month that I don’t ovulate despite the fact that deep down I know that will be the end result.  No reason to torture myself.  Besides, so many people get pregnant as soon as they stop trying, so we’ll just see if that really works.  😉

I hope you have had a great start to the new year.  May 2013 be filled with many blessings for us all.

New Orleans and Family

I know the week is almost over, but I have been too busy packing and visiting friends to write about our weekend trip to New Orleans.  My sister and her husband recently moved to New Orleans, and they are unable to go “home” for Thanksgiving this year.  So, Choi, me, and my parents all went to see them in their new city for the weekend.  It was a MUCH needed vacation for Choi and me, and it’s always wonderful to see family, especially when we can only get together for Christmas every year.

This was our first time in New Orleans, and let me tell you–the city did not disappoint!  We had some amazing food, which from what people tell us, is one of the main reasons people visit New Orleans.  Tons of fresh seafood, jambalaya, gumbo, beignets…

We also enjoyed the French Quarter.  The narrow streets, constant entertainment, adorable houses, and European architecture was a lot of fun to walk around and explore.

On Sunday, we went to mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which is also in the French Quarter.  It’s the oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use here in the United States, and they have continued to preserve the church’s original architecture and beauty.  Even the area around the church is pretty (I think it’s called Jackson Square).

Sunday after mass, Choi and I enjoyed a private little “mini” date.  That had to be my favorite part of our trip.  I don’t know if you can consider visiting family a vacation, but this was our first “vacation” together since we’ve been married.  Work and fertility treatments have always been in the way of a fun getaway, so this trip meant a lot to us, especially in the midst of the most stressful and painful time of our lives.  We took advantage of our hour alone together after church that day walking around the French Quarter, stopping for the entertainment that is randomly throughout the Quarter, and enjoying a sweet treat at a little cafe we found down the street from the church.

My second favorite part of the weekend was going out to the French Quarter Sunday night with the whole family, our 6 1/2 month old American Bully puppy, Xanh, included.  We were (are) SOOO proud of him!  He was very sick in the days leading up to our New Orleans trip, so the entire time we were there, he was on a special limited diet of boiled chicken and rice.  That’s all he could eat for several days.  So by the time we went out to eat that night, he was STARVING (rice and chicken doesn’t last long), and he was in a new loud place with lots of people, new smells, and unfamiliar places, yet he sat right by our table calmly and quietly while we ate.  He did the same thing when we went down the street to the famous Cafe Du Monde for beignets.

This weekend getaway brought such refreshment to my weary heart.  Who doesn’t feel good when they are surrounded by family?  Our stress was still waiting for us when we returned to Birmingham, but the fun memories we made during our short 3 day stay in New Orleans far outweighs this week of anxiety (over the blood pregnancy test I will have Monday morning), packing, and bittersweet goodbyes as we leave this city we have called home for the past 5 years.  I’m praying for a miracle, because it would be so wonderful to be able to leave our infertility behind us as we leave Birmingham.  Monday is creeping closer and closer…