The Blues Travelers

28/03/2024

These two turned 8 today!

Here are 8 things that I love about them
Raegan:
1. She loves Jesus
2. She has a generous heart
3. She is a great big sister
4. She’s so goofy
5. She has a beautiful singing voice
6. She loves beets
7. She gives the tightest hugs
8. She loves quality time

Ezra:
1. He loves Jesus
2. He gives compliments to whoever he meets
3. He has a crazy amount of energy
4. He loves making others laugh
5. He’s sentimental about a lot of things
6. He’s one of the most selfless kids I know
7. He’s such a great brother
8. He loves to cook

They have so many other talents and qualities that I love! They are such great kids and we thank God everyday for their lives.

🎈 🥳 🎂 🎉

09/11/2023

We don’t live by any immediate family currently and we have one vehicle. Neither of those have ever been a huge challenge until now.

Dustin took Nora to the ER and neither of us thought that she might need to be admitted let alone transferred to another hospital even farther away.

Words can’t express how thankful we are for our dear friends for dropping everything to be by our side and help anyway they can. I needed a ride to go get the truck so that I could go see Nora, there was no hesitation, they were there to the rescue. My eyes fill up with tears when I think about timing and a growing friendship. They have become family and I’m so thankful for their lives.

We’ve had countless friends and family from afar praying for Nora since Sunday. Now since yesterday so many that don’t even know her are praying for her. I’m so thankful for this side of Social Media.

We are overwhelmed by those that have reached out, sent gifts for our little Nora and encourage Dustin and I. My mom and Dustin’s dad were both willing to drop everything to fly down to help for as long as we needed. I know Dustin’s mom said she would love more than anything to be able to come down to help as well. I’m so thankful for all of these generous offers 🙏

Regardless of any outcome in our lives, whether it’s with Nora now or in the future or anyone else in our family, God is in control. He will use others to bring us hope and encouragement, to lend a helping hand, and comfort us in our trials.

I will spend the rest of my life trying my hardest to keep Nora (Raegan & Ezra too) healthy. Nourishing their bodies with good food, laughter, love, and most importantly teaching them who Jesus is and why we need Him.

Reality is Nora’s lungs might struggle or even fail, a day I dread. Sickness is a part of this world and it makes us question a lot, especially when it’s sickness in children. I never want to focus on just the here and now. This world is fleeting but in eternity Nora will have a perfect body. We won’t know the reason for why things happen and sometimes that makes it really hard to accept Jesus into our hearts. Despite not being able to fully understand why things happen, I know I’m never alone, for Jesus is with me wherever I go.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ♥️♥️

09/11/2023

Early on in Nora’s life I learned what her future might look like having Cystic Fibrosis (CF).
Lung infections, hospital stays, antibiotics, breathing exercises, chronic coughing. These were words that filled my brain as I stared at my new baby.

As the months grew into years and her healthy body continued to grow those terms slowly faded into the back of my brain.

She just turned four and aside from staying in the hospital after her cleft lip surgery at 6 months old, these walls were not familiar to us. We are beyond thankful for that, unfortunately the cf community knows all too well how it feels to call the hospital “home”.

All three of the Blue kiddos got sick a few weeks ago. Nora getting the least sick. Raegan was tested positive for RSV so naturally when Ezra and Nora got sick we assumed RSV.

After staying home and fighting it off we thought we were in the clear. Then Nora had a cough that would come and go. We weren’t really concerned about it, we just kind of thought it was a lingering cough from the virus. Then she started almost choking on her cough in the middle of the night.

We decided to take her to the ER last Saturday night where it quickly turned into an admission and a transfer of hospitals to where her CF team is from.

Those thoughts from when she was a baby quickly flooded my brain. We were now entering the part of CF that became so foreign to us.

Our baby girl went from having just a “cough” to low oxygen, rsv and pneumonia. After a day of being in the hospital she was moved from a regular floor to Picu to be monitored more closely. She was given steroids, antibiotics, breathing treatments, cpt, high flow oxygen, IV drip, and a clear diet that moved to no eating at all until her oxygen liters decreased.

We are now going into day 5 of being in the hospital and she has improved so much. She no longer needs IVs and the need for extra oxygen is coming to an end. Her lungs sound better and better every day and she is able to eat real food. To say she is a happy camper would be an understatement.

Unfortunately we do have to stay for another 9/10 days to finish her antibiotics and monitoring.

More to come in my next post.

01/11/2023

Unpopular opinion….I hate Halloween.

I hate scary costumes, gory stuff, and the darkness that Halloween brings.

But the kids love to figure out their costumes and I love taking pictures of them!

This year Ezra was a garbage man, Raegan was Hermione, and Nora was Bell.

Thankful it’s November 1st 🤣🤪

Busting out the Christmas decor and jamming to Christmas music. Yep! We are those people and I am proud of it 🤣

24/10/2023

I’m a huge procrastinator and late for everything. I have wanted to do “school” photos since last year 🤣

So here we are, almost in November and I finally took pictures of our two second graders and preschooler.

This is our second year of doing curriculum. We love it and we are so thankful for how well the twins have been doing.

So here’s to our 2023-2024 school year!

24/09/2023

Happy 4th birthday to our Nora Rose! She is funny, kind, sarcastic and such a blessing to our family! We love her so much and thank God everyday for her precious life!

23/09/2023

Taco Saturday with our friends. Thankful for nights like this!

03/09/2023

I had radishes that needed to be used so I found a recipe online for a radish appetizer. Luckily I had everything else too.

I toasted some sourdough bread and it was incredibly delicious.

I grated about 9 small radishes, added almost a cup of sour cream, 2 Tbsp of mayo, 1/4 tsp sea salt, and diced 3 green onions.

I found this recipe at theviewfromgreatisland.com
I did change the amounts of each ingredient but still very close to the original.

Next time I might add jalapeño.

Eat it with tortilla chips, sourdough bread, crackers or it might even be great on a beef sandwich.

11/08/2023

It’s definitely hot in Florida 🤣

It's hard to get used to the hot temperatures in Florida. ...

02/05/2023

Homemade Blueberry/Peach Cobbler recipe!

Dough:
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 Tbsp of baking powder
1 stick of unsalted butter (cubed)
1/4 cup of boiling water
1/2 tsp of salt
Mix everything really well. It might seem crumbly but keep mixing until is all comes together and is a smooth dough. I did it by hand but a mixer will work too!

I brought frozen blueberries and peaches to a simmer with 1/2 cup of sugar. Once everything was soft and juicy I poured it in my baking dish.

Tear off pieces of the dough and flatten them out and
lay on the top of your fruit. You can sprinkle the top with sugar if you want.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. It depends on how thick your dough is!

I topped mine with a homemade whipped topping by mixing heavy whipping cream and a little sugar until it thickened.

Enjoy!!

26/04/2023

The twins got to spend their birthday at Disney. See why being 7 is a big deal at Disney World. Have you ever been to Disney for a birthday or anniversary or other celebration?

We go to Disney World for the twins 7th birthday! We all had a blast at Magic Kingdom and of course Red Robin lol.*Follow us:​​Instagram: http://www.instagr...

28/03/2023

I can’t believe these two turned 7 today! Seven years ago our little family doubled.

Raegan loves to sing, dance and play her guitar. She asked for a skate board for her birthday so she was excited to get her first board. She is strong willed but also has a gentle and kind heart. She loves being a big sister and playing house with Nora. She wants to be a hairstylist when she grows up, her favorite food is pizza and pickles, and her favorite subject is reading.

Ezra loves learning new things. He loves school so much. He loves to scream, dance, run, and ride his bike. He is incredibly kind and thoughtful with a tiny bit of stubbornness. He wants to be a garbage man when he grows up. He didn’t give us any ideas with what he wanted for his birthday so we got him a “corn hole” set and he was over the moon excited. His favorite subjects are reading, math, and science. His favorite food is Mac and cheese.

They both love going to Disney and now they finally get to ride some coasters without Dustin or I right next to them. Ezra’s favorite ride is slinky dog dash and Raegan’s is Rise of the Resistance.

They are loved by so many and they bring so much joy to our lives.

04/01/2023

It’s been 10 years since my dad left this earth. Every year I would make a post on this day, his birthday and Father’s Day, until last year. It almost seems like it’s harder now than it was before. I think early on I mourned losing him but now I mourn everything he is missing out on and I think that is harder. But as I sit here, thinking about him, tears rolling down, I can’t help but write.

I had 25 years of memories with him. Memories that I most definitely took for granted. Dustin and I had our wedding just a month prior and I was looking forward to the future.

In a blink, we had to figure out this new life. They say time heals and to some extent it does. But the farther we get away from January 3rd, 2013 the more my mind day dreams about the “could be’s” if my dad was still here.

Longing for a tangible thing in my life and struggling to get it is challenging. But longing for the intangible can force the air right out of me.

I will never see him play with my kids or teach them everything he knows. Describing to them the kind of man he was will never measure up to the actual man he was. They will never hear his dad jokes or witness his incredible strength and ability to fix anything. He had the talent to whip up a delicious meal in no time, made from scraps in the fridge.

I often wonder how he would be today. What he would think of the decisions that I have made over the past 10 years.

I don’t doubt that I will see him in eternity and I am incredibly thankful for that but losing him has never been easy.

He left this world too soon but he also made an impact bigger than I could ever fathom. The amount of lives he touched throughout his life is overwhelming. He was a good man.

02/01/2023

All of our feeds are flooded with posts, and rightfully so.

This year more than any other year I read post after post of how difficult 2022 was. These weren’t just “ugh! That was a terrible year” kinda posts. Many dealt with loss after loss, major financial struggles, family/child/spouse challenges, mental battles, and so much more. I continued to read how so many were hanging on by a thread, treading water just to continue to breathe. Walking around like a zombie became the norm and just surviving another day.

As I read, I could feel the pain in their words and the longing to start a new year. I think each and every single person knows that the moment between December 31st and January 1st doesn’t have the power to change anything. But it’s the clean slate thinking, the fresh start mentality that helps us through our struggles.

I could relate to so many of these people that had these hard struggles. I’m not one to rush time but, I too, am looking forward to a new year.

I’m given the opportunity to spend more time with those that I love. The chance to make more memories, reach goals, take chances, and to just be here.

2022 was hard, one of the hardest. It was a rollercoaster. Some highs but too many lows. I questioned my life and what my purpose was. I questioned my ability to be a mom to 3 incredible kids. Longing for change internally but losing the light of hope to seek that change.

I felt like I was the furthest from Jesus than ever before and yet I could feel His protection and presence over me.

I’m so dang thankful for the man I married. He has given me this never ending, selfless, unconditional love and support through the hardest moments of my life. He became my life support.

Despite all of that, 2022 taught me things that I never knew about life, and for that I’m thankful.

To those that struggled or are struggling, storms come and go. Seasons change and the hard will pass. Never forget how valuable and loved you are. Even if it’s a challenge to see it, you have a purpose and you are needed.

My hope for 2023 is to consistently find joy in the mundane and to be content in every season.

01/01/2023

Happy New Year!

We hope 2023 is your best year yet!

#2023

04/12/2022

When I started this gram account back in 2020, I wrote something almost daily. That slowly shifted to every few days to once a week. Then I was lucky to post once a month to eventually nothing.

I never wanted to just post all the epic moments we had, I wanted each one to have purpose. I’m not implying the epic posts are purposeless, just not what I want my page to be about. But then I started to feel that my words didn’t have room anywhere. That it wasn’t worth spending the time. So I went silent.

About 6 weeks ago I met a new friend. As I was chatting about my thoughts and whether or not my posts are worth it, she reminded me that encouraging just 1 person would bring value.

It’s so easy to get distracted or to have this picture perfect viewpoint and if it’s not that way then we dump it.

I have to remind myself that my home doesn’t have to be in mint condition to take pictures, or all three kids smiling perfectly, or just the right angle for me to post a picture of myself. As I am given each new day I want to remember the story of Jesus’s birth. There was nothing perfect about it. And yet it’s extraordinarily powerful.

My vision for this account was skewed in moments of distraction. My mind was in one place but my heart was in another. I felt I needed to have everything in order just to be able to speak about things. Ill be waiting a lifetime if that’s the truth.

I often compare myself to others. Not out of jealousy but thinking I don’t have the talents or ability to do what they do. If only….x, y, z…

The things I want my children to hold onto and remember for the rest of their lives are the very things I find the most challenging to do for my own life.

I was designed for a specific purpose despite how I planned it in my head.

I’m not really quite sure the specific reason for this post. I often think of things and find myself going on 85 different tangents and then max out my word capacity.

Life will never be perfect despite how much effort you give. In that imperfection can come a powerful story. A story that can help just 1 person would make it worth everything.

30/11/2022

When I was in my 20s, I desperately wanted to find the one I could spend the rest of my life with. I always seemed to be the single friend.

I was tired of constantly being in “search” of Mr. Right. Looking back, I wasted so much time “looking” instead of living.

After too many wasted years, countless first dates, crying over my future the way that I could only see it, I begged God to help me be content. I didn’t want to look anymore, I wanted it to just happen, in its own timing. I wanted the next person to be the “one”.

I made a list. One column was filled with all my “wants” in my future husband and the other was filled with all my “needs”. Despite the ridiculousness of some of the wants, I prayed over that list each day.

Fast forward, I met Dustin. Day 1-I knew I was going to marry him. Looking over my list I checked off every single need and believe it or not every want.

Today we celebrate 10 years since we became one. Our marriage has been easy, even in the face of life’s challenges. You only get what you put into your marriage. Each day is a new day to devote more time, energy, and love to build a stronger bond.

These are the 10 most important things in our marriage. In no particular order, except for #1.
10. Laughter
9. Respect
8. Communication
7. Intimacy
6. Make decisions together/compromise
5. Know your own and each other’s love languages
4. Change &/or be still together
3. Dream/plan together
2. Be spontaneous
1. We can do nothing apart from Christ

If you’re single, longing to find the right one, be still. Waiting is hard and not fun but the waiting period is where we are shaped and prepared for what’s to come.

If you’re married but not happy, keep holding. When we are weak, He is strong. There is no broken marriage that can’t be healed, but not on our own account, only by grace.

If you’re divorced and broken, let yourself heal. You are not worthless or incapable of love. God is good, always, even when we don’t think He cares.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Give me your best advice for a good marriage ⬇️

23/11/2022

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