Monday, May 28, 2012

Lucky Seven...another year to celebrate!

How does he love me that much!  This man who counts me as his first love.  Who is such a servant to me.  Whose cute looks just seem to keep getting cuter!  Who has learned to deal with my many struggles and is such an encouragement to me.  Who is such an amazing father to his girls (and smiles when we sit down to dinner - stating he wants to fill the table with our children).  Who thankful enjoys cooking and does so for us everyday, even after a long day of work.  Who works hard to take care of of our family even when it is such a struggle to him.  Who complements my weakness (and I his).  This man who seven years today I committed to for the rest of our lives.  Sometimes I have to fight all the world's distractions (good and bad) to be present with him to realize how fortunate I am.

For your amusement I included a pic from when we went to prom together ('96) - Beach's not to happy smile and my hair falling down.  Yes, we dated way back then but just remained friends for the years to come.  This was actually from a scrapbook we made together (he kept everything - even our receipt from dinner that night- I'm telling you he loved this girl!)
This was his ring with a verse that we used in our wedding.  Beach practices this with me daily!
We enjoyed a night out...a rare treat now a days that is for sure, for just us.  Thinking about our anniversary!
Of course...with coupon in hand we had a great dinner!
Shrimp and grits for the Mr. and a goat cheese and chicken salad for the Mrs.
We headed down stairs to a cool coffee spot....Cafe Chartier, where they treated us to some AMAZING deserts.  For sure recommend this place if you enjoy great coffee and yummy treats!  I mean look at all those layers of love!  Beach used to manage a coffee house that was there years ago and it brought back many memories (and hopes for the future!).

May we continue to cling even harder to the Lord and, in turn, each other as we face the many challenges to come.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

It's finally Coffee time

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" 
Not usually something you ask your husband but it was a real convo we had after I married Beach and he was struggling with what he REALLY wanted to do.  In college, as a freshman at 25 years old, he had put school off partly due to the mystery of this question.  He did not know, or perhaps he did know and the dream was to far away or unrealistic or scary to verbalize.  But I pressed and he finally admitted, owning a coffee house.  Wow, that is a big dream, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work towards that or that I wouldn't support him in anyway that I could.  After all, if the creator of the universe wants it to happen,  He will make it happen.

In my heart I was thinking this has got to be the scariest thing!  Our own business, so much I don't know, so much I have to rely on faith for.  Perhaps that's part of the reason God made Beach with such a passion, so stretch our faith and reliance on Him.  Part of me says, I don't want to be stretched, even being a missionary in another country does not seem as scary for me, but this....OK Lord.

It has been a long journey, through years and many small steps on the way, towards this dream.  Beach worked at and managed a coffee house while in college for a bit.  When they went under (due to their location and lack of church funding) we scooped up most of their equipment.  It was a large investment on something we knew was not going to happen for awhile but we had scraped by and budgeted and had the money saved up for the "future business."
Beach loves creating latte art!
Beach, also, did an internship at a local roasters, Turtle Creek, and learned even more about that side of coffee.  He enjoyed it and the owner greatly.  He also tried working at Starbucks for while but the whole franchise craziness just wasn't his style.  He wanted to connect with people, invest in their lives and get to know them for them, not just hand them their cup of joe.  The position just wouldn't allow for that.

So he got a "real" job....for awhile.....for a hard while.  We are very thankful that the Lord provided it soon after his graduation and right before our daughter was born.  But it's just not him, you know when your meant to do something, when it makes you feel alive.....I want that for him, for him to find his place!  So the more unhappy he was the more I wanted more, more of life for him.
Then one day on the way to a Dr. visit Beach went a different way there.  And what did he see on the way?  Well a drive through coffee kiosk for sale of course!  Hummmm....he called them up.  Come to find out that the man that was trying to sell it passed away a couple of days before.  So they were offering it at an even better rate (thousands less than before).  And it was soooo much cheaper than a new one would of cost.  Well we had saved up more money that the Lord had provided, so we bought it.  Then we had another baby girl come along in our life and much morning sickness that put me out of commission for a few months....so he stayed at his job and dreamed some more.

Now we are really putting things in the works and God continues to work out the details.  Check out the new logo!
We just filmed a video with the company Fisher Films for a Kickstarter companion that will be beginning at the end of the month. It's hard trusting that anyone can capture your vision and everything just the way you want it.  But we are excited about it and hope it goes well.
If you are in town June 1st and want to come to our kickstarter party we would love to see you!  You can find more info at : https://www.facebook.com/lovelandcoffee
Don't you want to try some of this greatness!

Pray for us.  We hope to open the kiosk in the fall.  (And perhaps a true coffee house down the road.)
Spread the word....I would love you to follow the blog to walk along with us, like Loveland Coffee on Facebook, share us as well and tell your friends!  Please support our local business and our dream and look out for the video to come soon!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Diving boards

I always HATED the high dive.  Why anyone in their right mind would want to do such a thing was always beyond me!  One summer in my youth, though, I had to try it.  Go all out, suck up all the fear of heights that surrounds me and go for it.  It's not like there is any danger of being hurt or anything, but sometimes what your mind creates is the scariest.  So I jumped, just to see if I was missing anything.  And nope...sure enough there was no fun to be had with such torture.  I would have no need to do it again.  Even as an adult now I don't think I could make myself do it.
Yet here we are in this place emotionally.  The life swimming pool laying before us and the only way I can seem to get in it is from the high dive.  Why, why Lord does this have to be the way to go?  Oh, I'm sure I could find my own way, if I tried hard enough and wore myself out in the process, but then who wants to go swimming at that point.  No, this is what He has for us right now.  But this time you can get hurt, we could lose, a lot.  But our faith and relationship with Him can grow.  Growing  hurts so much and is so scary.  Beach and I remind each other a lot that we have each other, our family (and Him), and that's all that matters.  If we loose everything, we still have that.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

A mother's messy High Tea

Oh to be a mother.  
I love my mom dearly.  She is willing to do in and everything for me without even counting the cost of how it will effect her.  She is a woman of service setting such an amazing example for her daughters.  I wish I could be more like her and not so selfish with my time.  Lord continue to mold me to be more like her, as she lives You out so freely!    
How blessed I am to have her in my life.
I, also, loved this idea of painting a tea set with a nice lunch to go with it as a well to celebrate our mom.  The Arts Academy in Irmo did such a cute job. 
Complete with personalized name tags waiting for us. 
Mom wore her mommy bird's nest necklace I gave her for her birthday the week before.  Melody rocked it out with this idea (I also got one for myself for mother's day).  So pretty!
It took us so long to paint...theses crafty ladies had to stay for two paint session.  Must get it just right!
Aren't they so beautiful!  Inside and out. 
 
 The crew.  We love you mom! 


To the girls that have enabled me to be called a mom, too.  What a title and life adjustment that I wouldn't give up for anything.  May I continue to grow and learn how to love you even better. Happy Mother' day to me for all the joy you bring!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

2 months down...but how can it be?

My little girl already does not feel so little anymore!  How is it that she has grown so fast!
Shiloh got to meet Beach's parents for the first time this month!  We enjoyed their quick visit (although I wish I got more pictures of everything)!
We took them to our zoo again for a beautiful day with the animals.  (Beach's birthday lunch was not as beautiful, as the girls were worn out -and wore me out - pretty sure I got food poising there too - at least it was out of the system quickly but made for a very not so fun night.)
"Peace out"
Shiloh is becoming an expert at this zoo thing...although we didn't quite make it to the garden for her feeding this time....and had to start doing so as we waited for the tram...she didn't seem to mind....and I'm minding less and less.  It sure does make things a bit easier not to care as much!
Zoe got pretty worn out, too, luckily she loves to go "up" with daddy and I took over holding Shiloh for a bit. 
So apparently I have strong babies.  Shiloh rolled over on the 10th of April (when she was 5 weeks old).  I thought it may be some weird fluke, but she did it again the next time I put her on her tummy a couple days later.  Zoe did so for the first time at 8 days....but a Dr. said that was just a reflex (which was probably true, as she was screaming mad from being in pain at the time).  Shiloh also likes to stand up a lot....just like her sister did (I didn't take a good pic of it though....but you get the idea)!
Speaking of tummy time....I've TRIED to have Shiloh do so everyday.  Zoe is so funny, she will very excitedly announce it (not quite clearly which makes it that much cuter) and lay down next to her.  I love theses girls and their adorableness.
Shiloh has begun to find her hand, at times, for some comfort.  Although, she does not have much of a chance as I am still swaddling her a lot for sleeping times.  She still waves those hands around crazily, bothering herself many times.
So I decided to cut out the dairy again, and that has seemed to help with Shiloh's mood.  I'm not totally sure that that is her issue BUT I also know that her crying all the time and seeming pain was a lot on me....so we are going with it.  Bye bye lattes, Greek yogurt, and CHEESE!  Not sure what I'm going to do without you....but we made it through our long distance relationship one time, I suppose we can do it again!  (This time, though, it is hard in that I'm serving it to Zoe all the time!)  On a side note, praise the Lord that the results came back from the doctor with an all clear, nothing was wrong with Shiloh's blood work this time!
This latte maker gets a break in the mornings....however, he still blesses me with a regular cup of joe.
Oh, pretty girl of mine, I love how your talking even more.  The ahhhs and ohhhs of the cooing that you speak back to me just makes me melt.  How I love that the Lord has made the young able to communicate so early in life, pure awesomeness.  And that smile, how I could stare at it all day.
I'm so blessed that Shiloh began sleeping through the night at 5 weeks.  Now, she does not make it every night....but most at this point.  It allows me to sleep on my special neck pillows for awhile.  I still love our morning snuggling feeding time and naps are just THE BEST and highlight of the day.  When the  house is quite, and I can just be still, thanking the Lord for this gift and time!
The thought of going back to work has been hard (most of the time), bringing tears to my eyes.  How I feel that Shiloh is growing soooo fast and I just don't want to miss it.  Theses moments seem to flee and I want to breath in every second with her.  There have been a couple of times, though, when I think the girls have gained up against me and a break with the outside world does seem a little appealing.